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When quoting a verse. when setting up a block quotation, indent the entire paragraph informative process analysis essay topics once from the left-hand margin attention to detail, while still being creative. provide some interesting information about the particular issue you disclose. review your supporting ideas. the exact mla sample paper 8th edition phrase she used was “there is no way we will get there in time.”. just be sure to make it relevant to the purpose of your speech teach critical thinking and presentation. the first time you refer to how to write an entertainment speech this how to start a paper with a quote source, use the full title followed by the abbreviation. place your favorite literary quote example: you might wonder just how many dots should be in an ellipsis jul 24, proposal research paper 2007 · if you want to quote only part of a sentence or passage, you must put the elipsis at the mla research paper topic ideas end help me to do my essay of the quote, the sample of comparison essay part you leave out. if so, lead with it! devote each paragraph to a different part of the text and find quotations to support your. one of the subjects i touch upon regularly is the importance of continual essay on what is home personal development. mar 31, 2020 · here your main thesis should be indicated and how to start a paper with a quote emphasized, thanks to how to start a paper with a quote gun control argumentative essay which all the details of the paragraph will be logically linked and completed. how to start a paper with a quote description social change essay topics or an anecdote.

Between May 23 and 26, some 427 million eligible voters across the 28 EU member states will vote to fill 751 seats in the European Parliament. With less than two days until the vote begins, campaigns for competing visions for the future of the EU are in full swing. The 2019 European parliamentary election takes place in a climate of deep uncertainty about the stability of the Union and the direction of the European project. In the wake of Brexit, support for the EU among citizens of the remaining 27 countries is at an all-time high. At the same time, so-called Eurosceptic parties are predicted to make the greatest gains. Since the last European elections in 2014, immigration and anti-immigration sentiment have touched every corner of the EU, and while research shows that concerns about immigration have fallen, following sharp drops in the volume of both conventional migration and refugees seeking asylum, the issue of immigration remains high on the political agenda for some European nations. Eurosceptic nationalists blame the EU for the 2015 surge in refugee arrivals. Federalists argue only European cooperation can control migration. The interlinked issues of economic growth and unemployment top voters’ lists of concerns in countries hit hardest by the socio-economic woes of the last five years, but are less of a priority for citizens in countries that fared better. It seems the only thing that voters from all 28 nations can agree on is the need to tackle climate change, the issue has shot up in voter opinion polls to become the standout issue of the 2019 elections. COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE With over 200 natural disasters, predictions of global heating of between 3 and 4 degree Celsius by 2100, and widespread reporting that the Earth is officially experiencing a sixth mass extinction, 2018 has lifted climate breakdown and ecological crises to the forefront of voters’ concerns. In a Europe-wide survey of EU voters, 43 percent of respondents agreed that “combating climate change and protecting the environment” was an issue they wanted to see given priority in electoral campaigns. Among the survey respondents who considered themselves “very likely” to vote in the upcoming election, climate and ecological crisis emerged the single most important across Europe as a whole. Experts project the Green political group to gain control of five seats in the European parliament. For the German green party, the 2019 European elections could be a chance to build a momentum that culminates in the party reaching the critical mass required to form part of a coalition in the next German national election. “For the Greens, it is important to convert good poll results into electoral success,” Cerstin Gammelin wrote in Suddeutsche Zeitung this May. “The party has been on the up for months; a decent European result will boost the party as it fights regional elections that offer the promise of coalition power.” The climate issue is a greater priority in Sweden than anywhere else, with 79 percent of Swedish respondents highlighting it as a crucial issue for the 2019 elections. It is also the top issue for German voters and the second most important issue for French voters. In September 2018, 15-year-old Swedish student Greta Thunberg began skipping class on Fridays to sit outside government buildings, accusing her country of not following the Paris Climate Agreement. Since then, young people all over Europe have been striking from school on Fridays to demonstrate in the streets. The Schools 4 Climate action has contributed to creating a global student protest movement aiming at driving world leaders into action on climate change, and in the process has raised the urgency of the issue in the minds of many EU voters. “Climate issues have been around for a long time,” said Nicklas Kallebring, opinion analyst at international market research firm IPSOS, in an interview with Swedish newspaper DN, “but they have been lifted the last year by drought, fires and the demonstrations of young people.” ECONOMICS AND LABOR SECURITY “Economy and growth” is the most-cited in Italy, according to the most recent Eurobarometer survey. As expected, the issue remains a major political priority for the nations which have endured the greatest economic turbulence in recent years — Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Slovakia and Latvia. “Youth unemployment” is the most-commonly listed primary issue for voters in both Spain and France. In France, both the far-left and far-right parties are campaigning with policies of economic protectionism. Alexandre Lemarie of French newspaper Le Monde writes that far-left party La France Insoumise supports “solidarity protectionism” for the European Union, and has even proposed a “kilometric carbon tax” — the further the product is shipped, the more it is taxed. Other parties support at carbon tax at the EU border, while the two most popular French parties, Macron’s centrist liberal En Marche and the Republican Party (LR), support U.S.-style protectionism that favors European and French products and awarding of public contracts. NATIONALISM AND EUROSCEPTICISM As nationalism and right-wing populism have gained sway in national politics across Europe, these ideologies and their proponents are expected to influence overall results in the European elections. Eurosceptic political groups in the European parliament are expected to do well in 2019, with Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) and Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) projected to gain four and 25 seats respectively. The projected numbers for the far-right EFF represent the highest gain for any political group, both in relative and absolute terms. Mark Leonard, a seasoned EU observer and director of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) has said that “anti-European parties are gaining strength and could paralyze the EU.” A recent study by ECFR predicts such groups will do well in this year’s European elections, enabling them to “frustrate activity, undermine the security and defense of Europe and ultimately sow discord that could destroy the EU over time.” What will the impacts of this influence be on Europe as a whole? Success in the European elections could be used by Europe’s nationalists as springboard for success in national elections, the ECFR says. “Their greatest impact on the elections might be on a wave of national elections in Denmark, Estonia and Slovakia this year, which could bring nationalists to power as coalition partners, frustrating the work of the European Council.” In Italy, a nationalist-populist coalition which took power on an anti-immigration platform after last year’s Italian election. One of the coalition parties, the right-wing League party, has formed an alliance for the upcoming European elections with far-right parties in Germany, Denmark and Finland: Alternative for Germany (AfD), the Finns Party and the Danish People’s Party. Each of the far-right parties campaigning in the European elections shares a stance hostile to immigration. Although the issue has lost significant attention since the last European elections in 2014, and is still trending downwards as a priority compared to 2018, for Italy it ranked on equal footing with economy and growth, with 62 percent of Italian voters responding that the issue was an election priority for them. Some 50 million Britons can vote on May 23, although there is a chance that the 73 lawmakers they elect may not get a chance to sit in the European Parliament. The European election in Britain is seen by many as a referendum on Brexit, an opportunity for voters to be heard on the issue as the debate continues on how, and whether, to leave. The UK is legally obliged to participate in the European elections, unless it approves a Withdrawal Agreement by May 22 — unlikely given that there is now less than 24 hours left before that deadline. Nigel Farage’s brand-new Brexit Party was launched just two months ago, but is topping European election opinion polls at around 30 percent and higher. Nigel Farage’s previous party, UKIP, is credited with pressuring the UK government into holding the Brexit referendum in 2016. With Brexit now scheduled for Oct. 31 at the latest, some EU analysts have argued for a delay in key parliamentary appointments, including the next president of the European Commission, to avoid calling into question the legitimacy of both the president and the approval process. According to London-based think tank The UK in a Changing Europe, should a candidate be approved or rejected by a slim margin, the 73 British MEPs could be decisive in determining the outcome. Against the background of a drawn-out Brexit, EU sentiments among citizens of the other 27 EU nations have polarized. While Britain’s exit has emboldened some Eurosceptic campaigns, the expected surge in votes for Eurosceptic parties contrasts with a higher-than-ever approval rating for the EU. An estimated 61 percent of Europeans believe their country’s membership of the EU is a good thing, and 68 percent said they believed their country has benefited from EU membership.

Article was published in the February 2017 WCGMC Newsletter Sometimes it is fun to just explore for fossils or minerals by visiting an unknown location, perhaps one with potentially appropriate geology, but not a site with documented fossils or minerals. One may not find much, but occasionally one stumbles onto something completely unexpected and equally interesting. In the fall of 2015 Stephen Mayer and I had such an experience when we decided to investigate the geology along Reeder Creek in Varick, NY. Leave it to the field trip leader of the Wayne County Gem and Mineral Club, Bill Chapman, to find something new! Well, not exactly new, but certainly unusual. Plumalina plumaria were first described by Hall (1878). Yes, they look like feathers, and one might want to classify them as ferns or plants of some sort, but the latest understanding of these rather rare fossils is that they were hydroids (Muscente and Allmon, 2013). Hydroids are a class of small predators that are related to jellyfish. Dominated by soft-body parts hydroids are not well preserved in the fossil record causing extinct species to often be labeled Incertae Sedis in many fossil lists. Incertae Sedis are extinct organisms with unknown or uncertain relation to known phyla. I have written about Green’s Landing east of Canandaigua Lake after each of my summer visits the past 4 years. This time I will keep the words to a minimum and illustrate a wonderful joint trip with mostly pictures. It happened in a flash. At our April Friday club meeting, trip leader Bill Chapman announced that we had been granted permission to enter Seneca Stone Quarry on the upcoming Monday and wondered who might be free and interested. Seneca Falls is quite close and apparently we either have a lot of idle folk in the club or a lot of anxious collectors ready to get busy. Eleven folks indicated interest and in a slight mist all eleven converged on the quarry site just south of Seneca Falls ready to collect on Monday morning April 11th. OK. Admit it, you thought this would be a note about the spectacular doubly terminated clear quartz crystals hiding in vugs in dolostones. Referred to as Herkimer diamonds, and known to mineral enthusiasts from across the country simply as “Herks” there has sure been enough written about them to last a lifetime. And goodness knows we all like to travel to Herkimer County to collect them. But no, this is not just another article about quartz. Stromatolites are bio-chemically supported structures formed in shallow water when microscopic cyanobacterial material (formally known as blue-green algae) acts to bind and eventually cement sedimentary grains into what are essentially microbial mats. Changing climatic conditions, water depth, sediment influx, or the biology of the micro-organisms themselves leads to finely layered biochemical accretionary structures. There are many well known fossil collecting sites in the creeks and gullies draining into the Finger Lakes (places like Kashong Gully, Deep Run, and Portland Point to name a few). But for every well documented site there are a dozen lesser known locales where drainages into the Finger Lakes expose the fossil rich strata of the 385 million year old Middle Devonian Hamilton Group. Indian Creek, near Williard on the eastern side of Seneca Lake, is one such location. The New York State Geological Association (NYSGA) held its annual meeting in Plattsburgh in September. The event, hosted by SUNY-Plattsburgh, featured field trips to several Adirondack sites and I attended one on both days of the event. But we will leave that to a subsequent post. This note focuses on an outcrop just outside Plattsburgh where the gastropod Maclurites magnus can be found. Encouraged to visit the site by a SUNY-Plattsburgh geology student, I found time Tuesday September 15th to spend a couple hours walking the outcrop with New York Paleontology Society Field Trip Leader Ray McKinney, who just so happens to live in Plattsburgh. Meeting him on this trip was an unexpected bonus to attending NYSGA. Having been rained and flooded out in June, the WCGMC found a way to squeeze a trip Alden into its August schedule visiting the ever popular site on Saturday August 29th. This time the weather was perfect, the water was low, and, as always the fossils were there to be collected. The formidable Ledyard shale cliffs in the creek bed have been a favorite site for collectors for several decades, but winter erosion always seems to expose new ones to extract with a little digging. It was a large, enthusiastic group of all ages from two local clubs that gathered on August 9th to trek into Green’s Landing on a fossil hunt. Stephen Mayer led the Wayne County Gem and Mineral Club contingent while Dan Krisher (also a WCGMC member) led the Rochester Academy of Science Fossil Group. The total group numbered 27 with about an equal number from each organization. It was a wonderful way for folks in each group to meet fellow fossil enthusiasts while doing what they enjoy most, digging in the Middle Devonian. And Green’s Landing was ready for us with as diverse and prolific assemblage of fossils as one could imagine. Sheds, NY roadcut was the “Site of the Month” in the June 2015 WCGMC News Many of us have become familiar with exposures of fossil-bearing Middle Devonian Hamilton Group in the creeks and gulches draining into the Finger Lakes. And we may have ventured west to Penn-Dixie or other Buffalo region sites. But there are also numerous sites within these same geologic units in central New York. One small site is a simple roadside exposure on Dugway Road, just 2.4 miles northeast of Sheds, Madison County, NY (GPS N 42º 49.94’, W 75º 47.72’). Spring has arrived and Wayne County Gem and Mineral Club did not let any grass grow under its feet before activating its field season. In fact, we did not even let the snow melt. It was April, it was opening day, and there were diamonds involved. But no, it was not baseball. Rather, April 1 is opening day for “Herkimer diamond” hunting at Ace of Diamonds Mine in Middleville, NY and 12 intrepid WCGMC members put on their boots and their woolies and made the annual trip. Exposure was limited and the snow prevented the owners from bringing in new rock. But there were still “diamonds” to be found and the sun was out to warm our hearts if not our hands. April 1 may actually be more tolerable than August 1. We even signed up a new member while digging, welcoming Donna Dow to our growing family of crazed collectors. “Site of the Month” article I wrote for Nov. 2014 WCGMC News More than two decades ago, WCGMC member Stephen Mayer did his M.S. at SUNY-Fredonia focusing on the stratigraphy and fossil assemblages of the Jaycox member of the Ludlowville Formation. A small creek on the east side of Canandaigua Lake provided wonderful exposure of the section and became the key exposure for his work. On Saturday September 27th Stephen returned to his old haunt, this time leading 17 members of our club on a fossil hunt at Green’s Landing. Naturally we learned a little about the local stratigraphy from Stephen also as we hiked about 1200’ up the creek, mostly through Wanakah member shales. Everyone was clean at this point ! NOTE ADDED OCTOBER 4, 2017: The property in Deep Run has changed ownership and the new owner is NOT allowing collecting or trespassing. The fossil-rich beds described in this note can no longer be visited. WCGMC will not schedule any more trips to Deep Run. SECOND NOTE December 2019: The creek is still posted No Trespassing, however, the beach is public. In 2019, I started to collect sands and Deep Run Beach was one of my first to collect. Article I wrote for “Site of the Month”, WCGMC News, Sept. 2014 Devonian Fossils at Deep Run Most residents of western New York carry on their daily business without any knowledge that they live in a region with some of the richest and most diverse fossil collecting in the United States. Those of us in the WCGMC are lucky to know how blessed with are with our collecting opportunities. But do we know the series of geologic events that led to this unique opportunity? There are other fossil-bearing stratigraphic units in New York, but here we discuss the prolific Middle Devonian Ludlowville Formation within the Hamilton Group. About 385MY ago an inland shallow sea occupied much of western New York and both the sea and the benthic bottom literally teamed with marine life. Corals (both rugose and tabulate), brachiopods, gastropods, crinoids, and, of course, those highly sought after trilobites thrived communally in the shallow seas behind the continental mass to the west and inboard of the Catskill Delta and Acadian Mountains to the east. June, 2016 update on Land Ownership: WCGMC has been informed by the new owner of the property off Route 20 in Alden that the Spring Creek area where we have enjoyed collecting pyritized fossils for a long time is now off limits to collecting. The new owner has informed us that in the future he will treat “fossil collectors as trespassers”. Given the new owner’s wishes, as of June, 2016 WCGMC is not planning any future trips to this area and the site should be considered closed to collecting. Minerals and Fossils Together Many of us have a special passion for collecting aesthetic and/or unusual minerals, while others prefer the varied forms and diverse variety offered by the early-mid Paleozoic fossil collecting that can be done in western New York. There is one site that can please both groups of collectors. Along Spring Creek in Alden, NY, the rich and diverse Devonian fossil assemblage we have all come to know and love is locally fully pyritized. Opening the fissile shale surface not only reveals a 380 MY old fossil, but a shiny mineral specimen as well. The prize is a pyritized fossil. Cephalopods, brachiopods, and ammonites are the most common, but two species of trilobites have also been found completely replaced by the iron sulfide mineral pyrite. Just north of US Route 20 as it passes through the small town of Alden, NY, Spring Creek has carved itself deeply into the Middle Devonian Ledyard Shale Member of the Ludlowville Formation. Known for decades, the site is readily available to all with two legs, a hammer, a backpack (or even large pockets), and the willingness to perhaps get a little wet and mostly certainly muddy. A short hike along well beaten trails leads to the creek which can be accessed at several sites. Fourteen of us can be seen at one of those sites in the cover photo above. An article I wrote for the April 2014 WCGMC News The Rochester shale comprises the upper 85’-90’ of the Middle Silurian Clinton Group in upstate New York and southern Ontario. The upper two-thirds of the unit contain numerous grey limestone beds, which can be sufficiently resistant to form outcrops, but which are poor in fossil content. The lower 20’ of the Rochester shale is notoriously susceptible to erosion such that outcrop exposure is rare. Unfortunately, it is this rapidly weathering unit at the base that contains the abundant fossil assemblage (specifically trilobites) for which the formation is famous. The best visible exposure of the full Rochester shale section is in the gorge walls of High Falls on the Genesee River. However, this section is agonizingly unapproachable for fossil collection, particularly so the lower 10-20’ of section best known for fossil diversity and abundance. Over 200 invertebrate fossil species have been identified from the Rochester shale including corals, brachiopods, bivalves, gastropods, cephalopods and crinoids. But, it is the spectacularly preserved trilobites that have attracted collectors to the Rochester shale since James Hall first detailed their occurrence in the 1840’s. The diverse fauna combined with the fine grained shale beds and thin limestone units indicate that the Rochester shale was deposited in warm, well oxygenated marine waters of intermediate depth. But where does one find outcrop to search for fossils?

By Fritz Graf Publish yr note: First released in 2000 Fritz Graf the following offers a survey of a god as soon as regarded as the main robust of gods, and in a position to nice wrath may still he be crossed: Apollo the solar god. From his first attestations in Homer, in the course of the complicated query of pre-Homeric Apollo, to the competition among Apollo and Dionysos in 19th and twentieth-century considering, Graf examines Greek faith and delusion to supply an entire account of Apollo within the old world. For scholars of Greek faith and tradition, of fable and legend, and within the fields of artwork and literature, Apollo will supply an informative and enlightening creation to this strong determine from the previous. Read Online or Download Apollo (Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World) PDF Best ancient books Find out how the traditional Roman civilization started, built, flourished and died out. examine alternate, arts, schooling, politics and non secular ideals. comprises images, illustrations, sidebars timeline, word list, index, analyzing record and internet sites. Mithridates VI Eupator, the final king of Pontos, was once definitely probably the most popular figures within the past due Hellenistic interval. all through his lengthy reign (120-63 BC), the political and cultural panorama of Asia Minor and the Black Sea zone used to be reshaped alongside new strains. The authors current new archaeological examine and new interpretations of assorted elements of Pontic society and its contacts with the Greek global and its japanese neighbours and examine the heritage for the growth of the Pontic nation that finally resulted in the disagreement with Rome. The writer provides a wide comparative database derived from ethnographic and architectural study in Southeast Asia, Egypt, Mesoamerica, and different components; proposes new methodologies for comparative analyses of homes; and seriously examines latest methodologies, theories, and knowledge. His paintings expands on and systematizes comparative and cross-cultural techniques to the learn of families and their environments to supply a company starting place for this rising line of analysis. - People of the Earth: An Introduction to World Prehistory - Hannibal and the Punic Wars (Warhammer Historical: Ancient Battles) - The Aramaeans in Ancient Syria - Ancient China - Ancient Angels: Conceptualizing Angeloi in the Roman Empire (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World) Extra resources for Apollo (Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World) Courtesy of the Supreme Council of Antiquities / Authorities Egyptian Museum, Cairo. C A B 48 Description No. 021ab). The dorsal surface of the soles is intact save for some damage of the sewing strips. The sewing strips of the ventral surface show slight compression due to pressure from the owner’s weight but are largely undamaged; the crown sinnet, which secures the front strap, is fibrous, which can be seen as an indication of friction with the ground. Due to the largely undamaged condition, it could not be established whether the middle row of the edge sandwiches the sole’s fabric or not; the same is true for the material from which the cores are made. Remnants of the strap complex of the left one are concreted to the dorsal surface roughly between the attachments of the pre/back strap to the sole. Note the indentation of the edge at the attachment of the lateral pre/back strap in the left sandal, which is caused by the severe pulling of the strip. This is also visible at the medial edge of the right one but to a lesser extent. It is unclear what was used as the core material for the innermost row of the edge. 18. Dorsal view of the right sandal 4287. Copyright Griffith Institute, University of Oxford. 10. Pair of open shoes 270a in situ in the box. Photography by H. Burton. Copyright Griffith Institute, University of Oxford. 13). W. corner of [the] Chamber” (Card No. 587-1). According to Carter (Card No. 14). The entry 620 (119), 32 pair of fibre sandals, were scattered about the floor of the Annexe. e. if they were still recognisable as pairs. The study of the objects reveals that several so-called pairs, were not pairs originally. There are several indications: one of a pair showing stitch holes for an insole but the other does not (4303).

عنوان مقاله [English] The purpose of this study is to investigate the content of the course of research and statistics in educational and psychological sciences. For this purpose, 22 universities from the prestigious ones ranking in the Scimago and Shanghai rankings, and the syllabus and books used to teach the research method in psychology and education were analyzed. The research method in this study was content analysis. Data were collected using a researcher-made checklist based on a list of books and university curricula in psychology and educational science. Findings indicate that the largest part of the list of books and courses of the universities goes for ethics of research, psychology as a science and a variety of experimental methods. By examining the content of the list of books and syllabuses of prestigious universities around the world and by distributing thematically, we can help teachers identify the right content for compiling appropriate and needed community textbooks.

The living room—fully restored with its original exotic wood floors and furnishings—served for meetings on plans and programs in South Africa. Mr. Hubbard's study, including the reference books, zebra rug, African artifacts, and motion picture camera he used in South Africa. In late 1960, L. Ron Hubbard traveled from his home at Saint Hill Manor for an extended stay in Johannesburg, South Africa. Among other milestones from his South African sojourn: He authored a “one man, one vote” constitution for apartheid-shackled South Africa. He likewise presented a bill of rights and penal code for equality and justice.Also by way of milestone statements from atop Linksfield Ridge, he developed introductory routes into Scientology organizations and established new types of organizations—Centers and City Offices—to accommodate fledgling Scientology groups. The fully restored residence houses displays that tell of L. Ron Hubbard's visit to South African prisons and the criminal reform programs he initiated, his lectures to South African Scientologists and his pioneering work in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Officials and dignitaries also meet here to plan educational programs for the citizens of South Africa utilizing L. Ron Hubbard's social betterment technologies. Likewise, Scientologists today walk into the same living room where Mr. Hubbard entertained officials and dignitaries. One may also see the study where he authored his constitution on behalf of all South Africans and the Scientology texts on behalf of all humankind. L. Ron Hubbard was an author, philosopher, humanitarian and Founder of the Scientology religion. He was born March 13, 1911, in Tilden, Nebraska, and passed away January 24, 1986. His long and adventurous road to discovery began at an early age. Under the tutelage of his mother, a thoroughly educated woman, he was reading well beyond his years: Shakespeare, Greek philosophy and an array of later classics. Yet his early years were far from bookish and with his family's move to Helena, Montana, he was soon breaking broncos with the best of the local wranglers. As an inquisitive youth in what was then still a rough and tumble American West, he was also soon befriending indigenous Blackfoot Indians—learning tribal lore and legend from a local medicine man and so achieving that very rare status of blood brother. By the age of 13 he had further distinguished himself as the nation's youngest Eagle Scout, and represented American scouting to US President Calvin Coolidge. Yet what most distinguished the young L. Ron Hubbard was an insatiable curiosity coupled with an innate desire to better the human condition

Self-lubricanting Radial Spherical Plain Bearings Spherical plain bearing is a special type of plain bearing, also known as spherical plain bearing.Its structure is simpler than a rolling bearing,it is mainly composed of an inner ring with an outer spherical surface and an outer ring with an inner spherical surface, it can withstand large loads.According to its different types and structures, it can bear radial load, axial load or radial and axial combined load.Due to the composite material inlaid on the outer spherical surface of the inner ring, the bearing can produce self-lubrication during operation. It is generally used for low-speed swing motion and low-speed rotation, and can also be tilted within a certain angle range. When the support shaft and the shaft housing hole have a large concentricity, it can still work normally. Self-lubricating spherical plain bearings are used in industries such as water conservancy and professional machinery. The allowable operating temperature of the joint bearing is mainly determined by the paired materials between the bearing sliding surfaces, especially the plastic material sliding surface of the self-lubricating articulated bearing, and its bearing capacity will decrease at high temperatures. For example, when the material of the sliding surface of the lubricating spherical plain bearing is steel / steel, its allowable operating temperature depends on the allowable operating temperature of the lubricant. However, for all lubricated and self-lubricating spherical plain bearings, they can be used in the temperature range of -30 ° C to + 80 ° C and maintain the correct bearing capacity. The angle of inclination of a spherical bearing is much larger than that of a generally adjustable rolling bearing, and it is suitable for use in support parts with low concentricity requirements. The angle of inclination of an articulated bearing varies with the size and type of the bearing structure, the sealing device and the support form. The inclination angle of radial spherical plain bearings is 3 ° ～ 15 ° When assembling the spherical plain bearing series, it is necessary to keep the position of the split surface of the accidental ring in particular. In order to avoid the load acting directly on the split surface, it is necessary to maintain the split surface at right angles to the coincidence direction. When the load and the speed of the swing motion are small, the oil-fed joint bearing can be operated without lubrication. However, in general, grease must be replenished regularly. During the initial installation and operation, it is recommended that the lubrication cycle be moderately shortened. Oil-free spherical plain bearings can be used without lubrication. However, if lithium soap-based grease is added before the operation, the service life of the joint bearing will be extended even more. If grease is injected into the space around the bearing, the joint bearing will be more effective in preventing the intrusion of dust and foreign

Most teachers will say that they are creative every day, citing how they respond to the dynamics of groups and situations which arise. However, it is good to have a reminder about the deliberate use of strategies to promote creative teaching / learning; refreshing our memories, or even meeting new options to give a creative boost to our classroom. Here are five you can use right away: 1. Creative peer feedback When visiting a school in the Scottish Highlands, I was really impressed with a feedback hot-seating activity. The pupils had created their own Success Criteria for designing a den, after a morning of intensive work they were asked to form a group to do their hot seating. A pupil volunteered to show their work first; the rest of the group then offered comments and questions linked to the Success Criteria, based on Tickled Pink (good features) and Green for Growth (points to develop). They were able to ask open questions like “Can you explain why you would choose to use the materials in that way?” The pupils were really engaged in the process and took complete ownership of it giving a greater depth of dialogue and thinking to peer feedback. A dramatic inquiry-based approach to learning, this is a great way to immerse children in the classroom experience. The teacher plans the fictional context with tasks and activities to complete, enabling them to gain a deeper understanding and experience of the topic. Pupils are cast as experts in working for a client on a commission, and complete a variety of activities, such as pupils becoming a CSI team to solve the murder of Thomas Becket. I have seen this used in a wide range of contexts, from a class taking on the design of a National Heritage site for a local attraction with Year 7, to helping the United Nations to solve the Syrian Crisis with Sixth Formers. This Dorothy Heathcote-invented strategy is a powerful medium in the classroom. Find out more at: www.mantleoftheexpert.com All set for a very special delivery from our client @DragonsofWales for our Mantle of the Expert. The children will become experts at caring for and raising a baby dragon. #primaryrocks pic.twitter.com/5oG43Khhf0— Teacher Glitter (@Teacherglitter) August 9, 2018 Show your class a TED Talk on a topic which they can relate to. This stimulates curiosity and puts them in the Learning Pit (www.jamesnottingham.co.uk/learning-pit), ideal given that cognitive conflict is key to engagement. Work with the pupils to create the success criteria for an attention-grabbing TED talk. This will guide their work and give the opportunity to self or peer assess. The pupils then get the opportunity to research and prepare their own presentation. Build in some drafting and peer feedback to produce the best possible piece of work; ask their partner to review the work using the criteria; give two stars and a wish to improve the work. The next stage is time for the pupils to work to redraft and improve. Then they need to practise the delivery of the talk - keep it timed to help them. Giving an opportunity to try out their talk with their partner offers another opportunity to improve the work and model the ongoing learning process. You then need to give a sharing opportunity to reduce the number of competitors to five. This way, you can ask a ‘celebrity judge’ to come in, listen to the talks, and give feedback. Find out more at: https://www.ted.com/talks. 4. Gold fishing One of my all-time favourites, this encourages a diverse range of contributions to a whole-class discussion. Split your class in half. Group A gets one argument to prepare from a set of resources; this contrasts with Group B, who get the opposing argument and resources. This works well with historical debates like “Field Marshal Haig deserved his title of Butcher of the Somme”. The two groups get a set amount of time to prepare five key points, which will enable them to talk for two minutes (use a timing which is age-appropriate - this was for Year 9). Once they have had the preparation time, arrange two concentric circles of chairs in your classroom: the inner circle facing towards your classroom walls, the outer circle facing in. Group A sit on the inner circle chairs, while Group B then sit on the outer circle chairs so that they are in pairs sitting opposite each other. Group A then have two minutes to talk and convince their partner that they have the ‘best’ argument. Group B must listen only. Group B then gets their two minutes to convince the A partner that they have the best argument. I then get the B group to move two chairs clockwise and repeat the process. This is repeated twice more. The pupils then must switch arguments using the same talk protocol. This time they get feedback from their partner on what they many have missed. This will be a very noisy section of the lesson. I then ask the pupils to return the furniture to the original format and take their seats. The next step is to reflect on why I may have chosen this activity - they will come up with the need to listen effectively, developing their views and reasoning. They are then fully prepared to debate the questions as a class, and write up their judgement with quality reasoning. 5. Get your perspective specs on! When working with pupils to get a deeper understanding of different historical viewpoints, these can be a great tool. Get your pupils to design and make some ‘perspective specs’ - genuinely outrageous glasses. Then model the process with them, looking at a source like Henry VIII’s court spending. Ask them to consider what it tells them about Henry VII and his style of government? Then, in pairs, put the specs on. Half the class are to be Henry VII, the other half Henry VIII. How would they view the source differently or the same? The physical act of putting the specs on helps pupils to understand that perspective and interpretations of the same piece of evidence can be very different. This time to explore ideas in their pairs will give them confidence in feeding back ideas as a bigger group. I usually record their views in two columns on the board to gain a collaborative class view on perspective. Want to receive cutting-edge insights from leading educators each week? Sign up to our Community Update and be part of the action!

106 years ago, on March 24, 1905, the great writer and passionate traveler, the founder of the genre of science fiction, Jules Verne, died. The writer lived in the past and the future, on earth and underground, in the air, under water and on distant planets. Much of what he described in his novels will have a lasting place in the world in the future. Jules Verne’s technical predictions include the invention of an airplane and helicopter, television and video communications, interplanetary travel (and the launch site chosen by the writer for the flight to the moon is located near the modern spaceport), space satellites and underwater spacesuits. But the submarine described in the novel “20 thousand leagues under the sea”, the invention of Jules Verne is difficult to call: the idea of creating a submarine was considered by Leonardo da Vinci, they tried to build it under Peter I and use it in the United States during the civil war. Continue reading

The Challenges of Public Private Partnerships in Realising the Right to Education This is a recording of an interactive online workshop, hosted by the Oxford Human Rights Hub and the Open Society Foundations on 29 July 2015. It explores the challenges of public and private partnerships in realising the right to education. Public private partnerships are an increasing phenomenon in the field of education. The growing influence of a market model of private education, particularly in providing low-fee schools, has challenged the traditional understanding of education as a public good. This brings with it the risk that the State will abdicate its public responsibilities, and education will be viewed as a market commodity. This raises the question of how to retain the fundamental nature of the right to education as a societal or public good, rather than a private good. The aim of this online consultation was to develop a human rights understanding in relation to several crucial issues raised by public-private partnerships. The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Mr Kishore Singh, participated in the online workshop and will use the workshop discussions as a resource for his annual report to be submitted to the UN General Assembly in September 2015. The online workshop investigated three key questions: - What is the role of law in structuring a PPP and in conceptualising the purpose of education? - How can the state and private providers be held accountable for both quality in education and against corruption? - What enforceability measures are needed to hold actors in public-private partnerships accountable? You can read more about public private partnerships and the right to education, and this online workshop here.

Our brains are the seat of all we are. Each idea and activity we perform is a yield of our mind. So naturally the prospect of a burden striking the cerebrum can be alarming. Cerebrum growth is an uncommon yet destroying type of disease representing 2% of all malignancy cases around the world. Cerebrum disease alludes to the unusual development and division of cells inside the mind. Mind tumors can be either favorable or destructive and harmful cerebrum tumors are additionally part into essential mind tumors that begin in the cerebrum and optional tumors that begin somewhere else in the body and spread (metastasize) to the cerebrum. Regardless of whether amiable or a threatening tumor can build the volume of the cerebrum which makes weight in the tight skull space. The hard skull is amazingly hard and unbending. Any infringement in this tight space increments intracranial weight which can prompt mind harm, trance state, and even demise. Kinds Of Brain Tumors The main real order of kinds of cerebrum tumors is amiable and harmful tumors. Benevolent mind tumors are the slightest forceful and slowest developing tumors. They don’t have malignant cells and have a decent visualization after treatment. Dangerous or carcinogenic cerebrum tumors emerge from mind cells, steady cells, and other tissue found in and around the cerebrum. These are high-review tumors. Reviewing for tumors includes rating a development on a size of 1 to 4 with poor quality scores being 1 and 2, and 3 and 4 are high review. Benevolent tumors are poor quality which is moderate developing, contained, less inclined to spread, and improbable to return after evacuation. Then again, threatening or destructive tumors are high review which implies they are quickly developing, spread to encompassing tissues, and will probably return after expulsion. Malignant tumors are additionally separated into essential and auxiliary tumors. Essential dangerous tumors start inside the cerebrum itself while optional tumors are an aftereffect of metastasis from tumors in other organ frameworks, normally from the lungs. Essential tumors are rarer and the most widely recognized kinds of essential cerebrum tumors are gliomas and meningiomas. Gliomas influence the glial cells which are strong cells in the mind that give sustenance and auxiliary help to neurons. Gliomas represent half of all essential mind tumors. Side effects Of Brain Tumors The mind is a vast and convoluted organ. Indications of cerebrum tumors rely upon the size, sort, and area of a tumor. Some basic signs and indications are: Cerebral pains, ordinarily more awful toward the beginning of the day and dynamically intensifying after some time. Dynamic body shortcoming Unexplained weight reduction Social or temperament changes Disarray and memory disability Particular side effects rely upon the extent of a tumor and its area. In view of this, a portion of the signs and manifestations that might be seen are: Identity changes, less hindrance, misguided thinking, and so on in frontal flap tumours Dialect challenges, poor memory, and hearing issues in transient flap tumors Tactile unsettling influences, dynamic muscle shortcoming, and so on. In parietal flap tumors Visual unsettling influences or loss of vision in occipital projection tumors. Loss of adjust and coordination in cerebellar tumors. Changes in breath, circulatory strain, and pulse in cerebrum stem tumors This is a short rundown of tumors in the significant districts of the cerebrum. As one goes more inside and out an assortment of manifestations can be discovered running from loss of dialect cognizance to visualizations. Reason for Brain Tumors The fundamental reason for mind tumor isn’t notable. The two central point ensnared in the improvement of mind tumors is hereditary qualities and introduction to radiation. Quality transformations, arrangement erasures, and loss of tumor silencer qualities are thought to add to the reason for mind tumors. A family history of tumors additionally expands the danger of building up the conditions. Certain hereditary issue, for example, neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis, and Turner’s disorder are related with a higher danger of creating cerebrum tumors. Presentation to ionizing radiation has been connected to cerebrum growth particularly in kids. Introduction to Vinyl chloride, a mechanical substance used to make PVC, has likewise been connected to cerebrum malignancy. Other hazard factors for mind malignancy are: Age-chance increments with age, aside from a few types of cerebrum tumor that are more typical in kids Past tumor analysis a man who has had growth somewhere else in the body is more in danger of creating cerebrum malignancy, particularly youth disease and blood growths, for example, leukemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. HIV/AIDS-individuals with HIV/AIDS are twice as liable to create cerebrum malignancy than the all inclusive community. Treatment Of Brain Tumors The arrangement of treatment for cerebrum malignancy relies upon the size, review, and area of a tumor and in addition general patient wellbeing. Threatening cerebrum tumors are typically precisely expelled. Be that as it may, careful resection of a whole tumor may not generally be possible because of area or different variables like straightforward entry. Radiation treatment is another treatment alternative that is ordinarily used to treat cerebrum tumors. Radiation harms the DNA of tumor cells and stops their division and development. Chemotherapy or hostile to disease drugs are not generally utilized since the blood-cerebrum boundary keeps the vehicle of a large number of these medications into the mind from the circulation system. Various test treatments are additionally being developed. Early treatment of tumors can avert promote complexities. 15% of individuals with mind malignancy will get by for a long time or more after analysis. Regardless of this, there is still expectation. Anticipation relies upon a great deal of components. Knowing your hazard and following up on suspicious manifestations can help in early conclusion. Remain caution to remain sound.

Asbestos is a type of silicate mineral that was commonly used in house construction all throughout the 20th century. It became popular during the start of the 20th century and was used in many different types of building projects until 1998. Before the 1970’s, there was very little research about asbestos, and it wasn’t until the end of the century that people realised the harmful effects of asbestos. When conclusive research studies were revealed, it was found that asbestos was quite toxic to human health and could lead to a plethora of health issues. Asbestos has been scientifically proven to cause a variety of respiratory problems, some of which include asbestos, mesothelioma, pleural thickening, and even lung cancer. As you can imagine, exposure to asbestos can be quite harmful. However, what most people don’t realise is that asbestos in its original state is not harmful at all. In its whole state, asbestos is similar to any other material. It’s hard, sturdy, and durable. The problem arises when you scratch the surface of asbestos. If that happens, asbestos fibres are released into the air. These particles, when inhaled, can end up causing severe damage to a person’s lungs. The Removal Process As you can imagine, there are plenty of buildings throughout the United Kingdom that were constructed out of asbestos. Though renovation work was carried out on many of them to remove the traces of asbestos, many buildings still stand that have asbestos in them. A team of professionals complete asbestos removal in Milton Keynes and other parts of the country. Often, asbestos is mixed with conventional concrete or cement to avoid making it as prominent. This mixture makes it quite challenging to get rid of the asbestos. If you notice any signs of asbestos on the walls or feel that people in the house are suffering from lung problems, you should call a local asbestos removal agency and have them test the home for you. The removal process is quite complicated, and you may have to leave your house for a few days while the work is being done. Surveys and Completion Once the initial inspection and survey have been completed, the company will provide you with a quote for the costs of the asbestos removal process. If a considerable amount of asbestos was used in the building, it’s obviously going to cost you a bit of money to get it repaired and removed. In most cases, asbestos removal is covered by local insurance companies, so you should check if your property insurance covers asbestos removal. In some situations, the walls will have to be completely torn down and rebuilt all over again. Asbestos removal becomes necessary if you don’t want to worry about health problems in the long run. These are some essential things that you should know about asbestos removal in the modern age. A thorough survey of the building will also increase its value should you decide to sell it in the future. For more information on the safe removal of asbestos you can take a look at the hse.gov.uk website.

C & C++ Programming Look at a glance of the course C & C++ is a powerful general-purpose programming language. It is fast, portable and available in all platforms. C & C++ are very much similar in thier working and syntax. C++ is an Object based programming while c is function oriented programming language. C++ is advance version of C. Why to learn? - Helps to understand the fundamentals of Computer Theories. - C & C++ helps in developing system softwares - They are Middle-Level Language. - C & C++ are very fast in terms of execution time. - Embedded Programming. Learn with examples Project Based Learning Weekly Doubt Sessions

The Quadrantid Meteor Shower is one of the brightest meteor showers of the year, often producing over 100 meteors per hour at its peak, which falls on the night of 3-4 January each year, and is predicted to peak at about 9.00 pm on Wednesday 3 January 2018; as this is only a few days after the new moon, which fell on Monday 1 December, visibility for the shower should be very good.. The meteor shower originates in the constellation of Boötes, high in the northern sky, which is slightly confusing, as most meteor showers are named for the constellation in which they originate. This is because the constellation was named in the sixteenth century by astronomer Tycho Brahe, before the introduction of standardised constellations used by modern astronomers, though to make matters a little more confusing, Brahe didn't name the meteors this way either; the name comes from the constellation of Quadrans Muralis, introduced by Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande in 1795, and dropped by the International Astronomical Union in 1922. Because Boötes is visible only from the Northern Hemisphere, the Quadrantid Meteor Shower is not visible from the Southern Hemisphere, and is best viewed from northerly locations such as Canada or Scandinavia. The radiant point of the Quadrantid Meteors (i.e. the point from which the meteors seem to radiate). American Meteor Society. The Quadrantid Meteors are unusual in that they typically are only visible for a few hours either side of this peak, whereas other showers are typically visible for days or even weeks. This is thought to be because they originate from an asteroid (196256) 2003 EH1, rather than the tail of a comet as with most meteor showers. The orbit of this asteroid is tilted at an angle of 71.9° to the plane of the Solar System, so that the Earth only very briefly passes through the debris trail left by it, rather than remaining in it for some time, as is the case with the trail of a comet with an orbit in roughly the same plane as the Earth. Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

As New Spain expanded from the Valley of Mexico, new dioceses of the Catholic Church were established to administer the spiritual conquests of the missionary padres;. As the frontier became consolidated, the old dioceses were subdivided. In 1779, southern Arizona and parts of southern New Mexico became part of the newly created Diocese of Sonora, under Bishop Antonio Reyes, who had been one of the earliest Franciscan missionaries in Pimería Alta. Following the Mexican War of 1848 and the Gadsden Purchase of 1854, new ecclesiastical administration problems arose. A large number of Mexican and Native Americans had been added to the Catholic population of the United States. At the request of American Bishops, Pope Pius IX created the Vicariate Apostolic of New Mexico on July 19, 1850 and appointed Fr. John B. Lamy, as Vicar Apostolic with the title of Bishop of Agathonica. In January of 1866, Bishop Lamy sent Fathers John B. Salpointe, Francis Boucard, Patrick Birmingham and a seminarian, Mr. Vincent from Santa Fe to Tucson. Father Birmingham became the first pastor of Gila City, near present day Yuma. Fathers Salpointe and Boucard established the parish of Saint Augustine in Tucson with San Xavier del Bac as their largest mission. Mr. Vincent opened a school at San Xavier and later in Tucson. Two years later, the Vicariate Apostolic of Arizona was formed with Father Salpointe as Vicar Apostolic. His Vicariate extended from Utah to Mexico, from El Paso County in Texas to Yuma. In 1897, the Diocese of Tucson was formed. The bulk of the records in this collection are holographic sacramental registers that document baptisms, marriages, burials and confirmations of individual church members from 1863 until 1903, from parish and mission churches under the supervision of the Vicariate Apostolic of New Mexico (1850-1867), the Vicariate Apostolic of Arizona (1868-1896) and the Diocese of Tucson (1897-present). Two earlier registers from the Spanish Colonial Period document baptisms, marriages and burials from the missions of Tubac and Calabasas-Tumacacori under the administrative supervision of the Diocese of Durango (1620-1778) and the Diocese of Sonora (1779-1829). The records of the local chapters of the Rosary Society and the Society for the Propagation of the Faith associated with the Cathedral of Saint Augustine are included in Volume 11 along with a six page reminiscence written by Petra Figueroa Stevenson, a member of the Saint Augustine congregation.

Despite popular opinion and Belarus’ status as Russia’s closest ally, the relations between Lukashenko and the Kremlin have never been particularly cordial. The conflicts began back in the late 90s when former president Boris Yeltsin banned Lukashenko from visiting Russian regions in what looked more like his campaign for the Russian presidency. The idea of civil religion isn’t new. It’s origins go back to the 18 century France when it was first used by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his theory of social contract. He coined this term to describe the moral and spiritual foundation essential for any modern society. According to Rousseau, civil religion was supposed to serve as a glue to keep the unity of the state and the increasingly secularising society by providing them with a common set of values.

Hypothyroidism Symptoms Fingernails When inquiring the issue exactly what is Hypothyroidism Symptoms Fingernails , we really have to look initial in the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland is often a butterfly shaped gland Situated at the base in the neck. it can be created up of two lobes that wrap themselves across the trachea or windpipe. The thyroid gland is a component with the endocrine method and releases the thyroid hormones thyroxine and triiodothyronine. advancement of Hypothyroidism What is Hypothyroidism Symptoms Fingernails is a matter that may be answered by first considering the leads to and enhancement of hypothyroidism. The signs of hypothyroidism are brought on when the gland slows or wholly ceases the creation of thyroid hormones. there are various variables that can result in this to occur: Autoimmune condition: When posing the problem what's hypothyroidism to the health practitioner, they will want to look at undertaking checks to find out autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disease can often result in One's body to slip-up thyroid cells for invading cells, triggering Your whole body's immune technique to assault. consequently, One's body will likely not deliver enough thyroid hormone. Congenital hypothyroidism: Being born Along with the illness of hypothyroidism is yet another way to answer the problem, what's hypothyroidism. Some infants could possibly be born without having a thyroid gland, or they will be born with just a partial gland. Surgical elimination: Surgical removal of all or Component of the thyroid gland is yet another answer to the query, what exactly is hypothyroidism. Unbalanced iodine levels: A further reply on the problem, what's hypothyroidism, is unbalanced amounts of iodine. possessing an excessive amount, or as well minimal iodine will bring about One's body's thyroid stages to fluctuate. drugs: getting certain remedies might cause the body's thyroid amounts to increase and slide. This might pretty well be An additional answer on the problem, exactly what is hypothyroidism. Pituitary damage: a single aspect your physician may well take a look at when posing the concern, precisely what is hypothyroidism, is whether the pituitary gland is functioning appropriately. Your pituitary gland acts to be a information center, and it sends messages on your thyroid gland. In the event the pituitary gland malfunctions it will induce hypothyroidism. Diagnosis of Hypothyroidism One crucial factor when inquiring, what's hypothyroidism, is diagnostics. The diagnosis of hypothyroidism will normally contain lots of tests. These assessments will include blood attracts, MRI and CT imaging exams, and aspiration of thyroid cells. After managing the required tests, your health practitioner will be able to diagnose and address your hypothyroidism. After diagnosis, your medical professional will sit back with you and talk about your remedy choices. there are plenty of treatment alternatives available, and they're going to Every be dependent of various variables. most probably, you're going to be supplied thyroxine. Thyroxine is among the hormones which can be produced by the thyroid gland, and using this may help degree out your thyroid stages. Do you want to handle hypothyroidism a lot more effectively?

Revelation 8 begins with the seventh seal opening. When the seventh seal was opened by the Lamb, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. What does this silence represent? In the prophets there is a call for silence because God is acting in judgment. To read more of this lesson click here.

Collaboration and Partnerships Cross-sectorial collaboration, within the agri-food system, needs to be encouraged and fostered. It will improve knowledge transfer and help build consensus on key issues. The agri-food system consists of a wide-range of industries and stakeholders within and across the private and public sectors. It also does not function in isolation: its activities are closely related to other sectors from robotics and AI to forestry and natural resources. It involves and impacts different segments of the Canadian population including underrepresented but essential groups such as indigenous people, women and newcomers. Identifying barriers to further develop policies to help overcome these obstacles is key to meeting Canada’s growth objectives. Conventional strategies and current structures of economic development leave much to be desired. Sector-specific approaches inhibit growth by creating silos of knowledge and information that lead to gaps in understanding. These barriers to knowledge transfer also contribute to delays between agricultural innovation on the research level, and its adoption and use by farmers and producers. To support the growth of the sector and ensure a more efficient flow of information, more collaboration is needed within the agri-food system, including within the government and across related sectors and segments of the population. AIC recommends that the federal government supports a forum that brings together the key players of the agri-food sector and related groups, to discuss issues related to research and innovation. The forum should be able to discuss and make recommendations on: - Outcomes; and

Online Bible Commentary Treasures in Heaven Mt 6:19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (NKJV) Jesus is teaching the Sermon on the Mount. In teaching from a mountain He is following in the footsteps of His Father who also taught Moses from a mountain, Mount Sinai. Jesus instructs us to not store up treasures on earth, but rather to store up treasures in Heaven (vv. 19a, 20a). Earthly treasures can be destroyed by “moths and vermin”, or stolen by “thieves” (vv. 19b). But Heavenly treasures cannot be destroyed (v. 20b). Heavenly treasures are given to us by God, Himself, and He preserves them for us. The words “earthly treasures” refers to what we hold as most valuable to us. For example we might hold most valuable the earthly treasure of money. The words “Heavenly treasures” refers to the rewards Christians receive in Heaven for the good they do on earth. Our good works store up treasures for us in Heaven. Where our treasure is, our heart will follow (v. 21). If our treasure is in earthly things our heart will be focused on earthly matters. However, if our treasure is in Heavenly things our heart will be focused on Heavenly matters, the kingdom of God. In other words, wherever we focus tells the shape of our heart. If our focus is “healthy”, on the things of God, our “whole body will be full of light”, full of God (v. 22). But if our focus is “unhealthy”, on the things of this world, our “whole body will be full of darkness”, full of Satan (v. 23a). Satan rules in the hearts of those who are consumed by the things of the world. They have a “great darkness” in their hearts (v. 23b). “No one can serve two masters” (v. 24a). We will love one and hate the other (v. 24b), or we will be devoted to one and despise the other (v. 24c). We “cannot serve both God and money”, things of this world (v. 24d). We must make a choice. I choose God. Moving has to be one of the most unpleasant things we do. Hopefully, we have moved for the last time. As we unpacked from our last move we found a somewhat valuable rug that had been infested by moths. Well, now it’s not so valuable. We cannot hold on to things of this world. If you have ever had a bad investment, a foreclosure, valuables stolen or destroyed, even a door ding on your new car, you know what I mean. Jesus is saying in this passage that we should not invest our lives in obtaining things. Whoever dies with the most toys is just that, dead. He won’t get to take those toys with him. So what does he have to show for his life on this earth? I once heard that if we look at our checkbooks we will know where our heart lies. In other words, what we spend our money on defines who we are. Of course, the younger generation doesn’t know what a checkbook is, so I guess that’s not such a good example now. There are many ways to store up treasures in Heaven. We are rewarded in Heaven for the good we do on earth. When we please God, we can hear a “ka-ching” in Heaven as God makes a deposit in our Heavenly cash register. The bottom line is that Jesus wants us to invest in things eternal. He wants us to store up our treasures in Heaven. Since FedEx does not deliver to Heaven, He wants us to invest in earthly ministries that are doing his work, like this one! Or, your local church. Those are the best investments, because those are the investments that last forever!

Preliminary statewide results from last spring’s Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers Exam (PARCC) were released this week, causing concern for some as a number of Illinois students fell short of expectations. State Schools Superintendent Tony Smith, however, stressed that these results should serve as a baseline for schools and student and cautions against using them to “shame or punish” anyone. The PARCC exam, based on the Common Core standards, measures what students should know for their grade level, emphasizing the importance of skills like critical thinking and problem-solving. PARCC replaced the Prairie State Achievement Examination, which had been administered to high school juniors, and the Illinois Standards Achievement Test, which had previously been used to assess grade school students. While some have expressed frustration over Common Core and PARCC, others argue that this new curriculum and testing is here to stay. They maintain that instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, Illinois should focus on fixing the flaws in the new system so the state can ensure students are properly prepared for higher education and the work-world. However, other parents and educators are concerned about the pace at which the state is moving forward with Common Core standards and PARCC testing, arguing that many schools don’t have the necessary technology to administer the exams. Additionally, critics worry that the Common Core curriculum isn’t ready for the classroom and suggest the testing could negatively affect children.

- name used 928 times. - named used 57 times. - namely used 23 times. - names used 97 times. - name's used 30 times. - nameth used once. - Included in Eastons: No - Included in Hitchcocks: No - Included in Naves: No - Included in Smiths: No - Included in Websters: Yes - Included in Strongs: No - Included in Thayers: No - Included in BDB: No A new name given to persons who have spiritual adoption: Intercessional influence of the name of Jesus Jesus, The Christ, In His Name 1. That by which a thing is called; the sound or combination of sounds used to express an idea, or any material substance, quality or act; an appellation attached to a thing by customary use, by which it may be vocally distinguished from other things. A name may be attached to an individual only, and is then proper or appropriate, as John, Thomas, London, Paris; or it may be attached to a species, genus, or class of things, as sheep, goat, horse, tree, animal, which are called common names, specific or generic. 2. The letters or characters written or engraved, expressing the sounds by which a person or thing is known and distinguished. 3. A person. They list with women each degenerate name 4. Reputation; character; that which is commonly said of a person; as a good name; a bad name 5. Renown; fame; honor; celebrity; eminence; praise; distinction. What men of name resort to him? 6. Remembrance; memory. The Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. Deuteronomy 29:20. 7. Appearance only; sound only; not reality; as a friend in name Revelation 3:1. 8. Authority; behalf; part; as in the name of the people. When a man speaks or acts in the name of another, he does it by their authority or in their behalf, as their representative. 9. Assumed character of another. Had forged a treason in my patrons name 10. In Scripture, the name of God signifies his titles, his attributes, his will or purpose, , his honor and glory, his word, his grace, his wisdom, power and goodness, his worship or service, or God himself. 11. Issue; posterity that preserves the name Deuteronomy 25:6. 12. In grammar, a noun. To call names, to apply opprobrious names; to call by reproachful appellations. To take the name of God in vain, to swear falsely or profanely, , or to use the name of God with levity or contempt. Exodus 20:7. To know by name to honor by a particular friendship or familiarity. Exodus 33:12. Christian name the name a person receives by baptism, as distinguished from surname. NAME, verb transitive to call, to name to invoke. 1. To set or give to any person or thing a sound or combination of sounds by which it may be known and distinguished ; to call; to give an appellation to. She named the child Ichabod. 1 Samuel 4:21. Thus was the building left Ridiculous, and the work confusion named. 2. To mention by name; to utter or pronounce the sound or sounds by which a person or thing is known and distinguished. Neither use thyself to the naming of the Holy One. 3. To nominate; to designate for any purpose by name Thou shalt anoint to me him whom I name to thee. I Samuel 16. 4. To entitle. To the name of Christ, to make profession of faith in him. 2 Timothy 4:1. NAMED, participle passive Called; denominated; designated by name. 1. Without a name; not distinguished by an appellation; as a nameless star. 2. He or that whose name is not known or mentioned. NAMELY, adverb To mention by name; particularly. For the excellency of the soul, namely its power of divining in dreams; that several such divinations have been made, none can question. NAMER, noun One that names or calls by name. - Names of places . These may be divided into two general classes descriptive and historical. The former are such as mark some peculiarity of the locality, usually a natural one, e.g. Sharon, "plain" Gibeah, "hill;" Pisgah. "height." Of the second class of local names, some were given in honor of individual men, e.g. the city Enoch (Genesis 4:17) etc. More commonly, however, such names were given to perpetuate that memory of some important historic occurrence. Bethel perpetuated through all Jewish history the early revelations of God to Jacob. (Genesis 28:19; 35:15) So Jehovah-jireh, (Genesis 22:14) Mahanaim, (Genesis 32:2) Peniel etc. In forming compounds to serve as names of towns or other localities, some of the most common terms employed were Kir, a "wall" or "fortress;" Kirjath , "city;" En , "fountain;" Beer , "a well," etc. The names of countries were almost universally derived from the name of the first settlers or earliest historic population. - Names of persons. Among the Hebrews each person received hut a single name. In the case of boys this was conferred upon the eighth day, in connection with the rite of circumcision. (Luke 1:59) comp. Genesis 17:5-14 To distinguish an individual from others of the same name it was customary to add to his own proper name that of his father or ancestors. Sometimes the mother's was used instead. Simple names in Hebrew, as in all languages, were largely borrowed from nature; e.g. Deborah, "bee;" Tamar, "a palm tree;" Jonah, "dove." Many names of women were derived from those of men by change of termination; e.g. Hammelech. "the king;" Harnmoleketh, "the queen." The majority of compound names have special religious or social significance being compounded either (1) with terms denoting relationship, as Abi or Ab father, as Abihud, "father of praise," Abimelech "father of the king;" Ben son, as Benoni, "son of my sorrow," Benjamin, "son of the right hand;" or (2) nouns denoting natural life, as am, "people," melech "king;" or (3) with names of God and Jah or Ja , shortened from "Jehovah." As outside the circle of Revelation, particularly among the Oriental nations, it is customary to mark one's entrance into a new relation by a new name, in which case the acceptance of the new name involves the acknowledgment of the sovereignty of the name giver, so the importance and new sphere assigned to the organs of Revelation in God's kingdom are frequently indicated by a change of name. Examples of this are Abraham, (Genesis 17:5) Sarah, (Genesis 17:15) Isr'l, as the designation of the spiritual character in place of Jacob, which designated the natural character. (Genesis 32:28) See God, Name of God, Name of See Jesus, The Christ, Names, Appellations, and Titles of Jesus Jesus, The Christ, Names, Appellations, and Titles of Jesus NAMESAKE, noun One that has the same name as another.

It is our mission at Livingston’s Little Learners to provide your child with quality education and guidance in all areas of development. We believe that children flourish in an environment that intrigues, inspires, and nurtures. We are committed to building self-esteem and a sense of personal power in all children. We support and encourage a team approach to learning wherein the children, teachers, and families work together to build a foundation for success. Our goal is to support children through the learning process by providing them with a wide range of cognitive, physical, and social opportunities. Cognitive processes include the exploration of letters numbers and colors. As they progress as individuals, concepts such as spatial relations, same/different, causation, and comparisons will be introduced. Their physical capacities will be challenged on a daily basis as the child actively participates in creative play. Social opportunities occur naturally as the child interacts with peers and teachers. The main part of each day is structured and adherent to a curriculum. A dependable schedule is comforting to children and will allow them to learn and grow freely. Portions of the day are unstructured and offer each child the opportunity to explore and engage in self-directed activities. This time allows the child to experience control, make decisions, and develop self-determination. Throughout the course of the day, the teachers provide the individualized attention and guidance needed to help each child enjoy a productive, fun-filled day.

‘Test’ to increase confidence in the System Neither bugs are purposefully introduced in system, nor any test case targets to find a bug. A good testcase is always written to test the functionality and it should be encouraged. A tester should always intend to test the functionality. Bugs are small mistakes and some times result of not properly analyzed stories/scenarios. Moreover each level of testing whether unit or dev box or regression tries to uncover these bugs at different level. So the skill of a tester should lie in writing efficient test cases and he/she should be intelligent enough to prioritize which test cases to be executed earlier. It’s important for a tester to give feedback early. Two sides of test executions are : 1) blindly executing tests which are not likely to find bugs neither developing any confidence in the system 2) executing a set of prioritized test cases which will uncover the functional bug as well as create a confidence in the system. So a tester should be intelligent enough to decide between the two options and make a judgement which suits the project most. Testing is an activity which should be intended towards producing a quality software.

(1) Communication devices and special education are tightly knitted together. Communication devices ans special education are tightly knitted together. Communication aids and devices are needed, in plural, both as hi-tech and as lo-tech. You need several shoes and wheelchairs, why not several parallell AAC aids, too. Signs and symbols are planted into every school material. Communication and learning do not lead separate lives. Please, make acquaintance with the method designed by Puheoikeus.fi:s, AAC Special Education©. We implant signs and symbols into all educational materials and we make school book substitutes for the non-talking, cognitively impaired pupils. The vocabularies of general knowledge, human rights, working life and handicap policy are programmed into all communication devices. We have hugely enhanced the productivity of special education through bridging the gap between AAC and special education. (2) If a person is able to pick his/her nose, a touch screen tablet or a mini tablet work well as a device. If a person is able to pick his/her nose, a touch screen tablet (iPad) or a mini tablet work well as a device. It is so much easier for many special kids to use a touch screen tablet than to turn pages in a book or a binder. The so called ”Big Communication Book” (Iso-AACi, Super-AACi) and the likes of it, typically ”preferred” (by the systems) in Finland and in Sweden, are (according to the evidence we have gathered) seen as veritable ”communication stoppers” (the communication stops abruptly due to the constant turning and quite clumsy turning of pages). These binders are disliked as the sole aid, but accepted in parallell to other means of AAC. Distant relatives might feel comfortable using the binders. Unfortunately, the binders are heavy and quite clumsy to carry. The heaviest weigh close to one kilogram. These do not work as the primary means for many people. They are also based on false assumptions and models. The communication and interaction are not synonymous with a thematic dictionary. Nor are they the same as speech using one word at a time from several, grammatical classes (nouns, verbs, pronouns etc) or using one context at a time while communicating. Contexts do support communication when all words needed are offered within the context. The downside lies in the words being repeated time after time. Thus, the binder grows and grows in size. When you have 150 contexts, no one finds the right one easily. It is hard to find the words in the present binders as they are delivered without a list of content. It is impossible to maintain the thought while building sentences. Not everyone is able to produce proper sentences. Using the binders, it is not easy to offer step-by-step learning, mainly due to a very limited vocabulary. The most important thing for a gravely speech impaired is not to have a perfect command of the linguistic structures. It is so much more important to have a real interaction and to get the voice heard. The binders tend to cement the children on a very elementary level with respect to the vocabulary. The user is denied access to words already known as these might not be included into the binders. The learning of new words is hindered. Neither the children nor the adults like binders like this. They seem to dislike PC-aids that require strenuous programing elsewhere, devices that seem to be relicts from times passed by, greetings from the ivory towers of outdated speech therapy. (3) The applications (”apps”), signs and AAC open a new world for individuals with a grave speech impairment, cognitive disability and/or autism. The applications (”apps”), signs and AAC open a new world for individuals with a grave speech impairment and/or autism. All of a sudden, one can advance from ”I want a banana” to discussions on and learning about anything from literature to klezmer – providing that general knowledge is programmed into the device. The programming is easy and convenient. One might program a whole context consisting of 100 words and sentences while wall climbing, during the breaks, in spite of being in charge of both belying and fixing a picnic. Both the teaching and the communication are enhanced and the levels of frustration and rage are diminished by the use of proper communication apps. Normally, outbursts are provoked by our faults in the communication and/or our ignorance with regards to the use of visual messages. It is a part of the human rights of the disabled person and completely within our interest not to punish or to medicate the wrong persons on the wrong grounds. (4) The choice of communicative aids depends on the needs, the use and the commitment of the user. The choice of communicative aids depends on the needs, the use and the commitment of the user, not on rationing both words and devices. The touch screen tablets (iPads) cost only a tenth of the costs of the more traditional, monopolistically priced devices, while they offer ten times more of benefits. Why are Ipads, then, so seldom recommended? Often, the motivation is ”they cannot use them”. In other cases, the reason is that the ”iPad is a consumer good”. For some reason, the feedback from the users does not reach the ”competence units”. There is a lot of proof from reality of successful and intuitive use of iPads in communication. For some reasons, the differens units tend to work with the wrong things, often in parallell and competing with another, leaving huge ”holes” between the actors. We do the same things in several places, we do the wrong things, but we do ration with fervor. According to our experience and view, the families do want only the things they are really commited to. They do not use aids that they dislike. Nor do they use things that the surrounding world neglects. (5) The Core Vocabulary is the basis for all communication, irrespective of the context. The Core Vocabulary is the basis for all communication, irrespective of the context. All communication devices should have a core vocabulary as a basis. The 100-500 most commomly used words of a language form the core vocabulary. Only after that, should there be links to contexts, themes, phrases, conjugation and, possibly, to linguistic structures (grammar). It is of utmost importance for the user to be able to take part in any discussion, irrespective of the subject or the physical/geographical setting. The core vocabulary is needed. When one wants to broaden the discussion, one clicks further into the application. We do not start discussions via the use of grammatical classes. It would not occur to our minds to build a communication app based solely on grammar, at least not for special kids thar do not master the linguistic structures. Why, then, do we make apps and other aids based on nouns, verbs and the ”residual” called ”short words”? In our experience, the aid centres, seem to take to just this. Please, make acquaintance with the following actors: Prentke & Römich (expensive, but well functioning PC-materiala) and the app ”Speak for Yourself” ($200, one zero less then the PC-materials), lectures ans materials byGail van Tatenhoven and PrAACtical AAC and with proof for how well the core vocabulary works. When prompting (obtaining a model for the use of the device and of the core vocabulary), the use of Aided Language Input (ALI) is to be used. It is the work done after buying he device, that matters. We do need long-term and sompetent input here, in the form of consultation and tutoring. The assessment and the tests should take less time than the support for the implementation and the enlarged use of the device. All our energy is needed here. We need to prompt at least 20 times an hour during the whole day, not during separate ”communication hours”. And, this only secures the same amount of input as any kid would get. Still, we are not talking about extra support. The kids need not prove their skills prior to testing different devices. Unfortunately, we do ration both words and devices and we do force them to begin with the use of too simple devices as steps on the way to what they really appreciate. We force obstacles upon the kids and their communication. Using the same logic, we should be forced to make group accounts befora getting to see an Excel demo or drive around in a car before attennding driving lessons. It is the wrong way round. We should, as we do with talking kids, prompt and expand both the use of words and the expressive language, at least 20 times an hour in order to offer the special child the same amount of input as any other kid gets. (6) Do not limit the vocabulary. Do not limit or ration the vocabulary. The choice of communication aid is not based on the existing vocabulary or on the experience of the use of a certain gadget. The user needs a lagre vocabulary and a possibility to prove linguistic skills that the adults possibly do not know that the kid knows as the aids generally consist of a very limited vocabulary. The user needs to learn from others, by seeing good examples of the use of aids and of communication. We do not say to ”normal” kids that they have to wait for Grade 7 before us using certain, common words. Why do we limit the access to words for special kids who have problems in their communication? Normally, we deliberately expand the (heard, passive) vocabulary of small babies. Why, then, is the equivalent ”medically” forbidden in relation to special kids? (7) All words related to school subjects, all work related words and anything we might derive from UN Enable (the Human Rights for the Disabled) is included into the vocabulary. All words related to school subjects, all work related words and anything we might derive from UN Enable (the Human Rights for the Disabled) is included into the vocabulary. All subjects are programmed into the communication app. The communication and education cannot lead separate lives. The child only has one life. All themes of the education plans and of knowledge in general are to be found in all of the communication devices offered. That means that there should be themes, words, signs and symbols covering life in general and academica. Of course, films and photos are included. We strongly urge everyone to add both contexts and all possible vocabulary needed related to human rights, abuse and wrongdoings into the aid. It is important to be able to tell about wrongdoings and it is of utmost importance not to medicate or discipline the wrong person, thus imposing a furhter wrongdoing on the individual – for our communication faults. (8) Specialists are needed for securing the implementation and for a long-term consultation aimed at a broader use of the communication aid. Specialists are needed for securing the implementation and for a long-term consultation aimed at a borader use of the communication aid. Today, too much time is spent on assessments, on rationing and on obsolete materials in relation to the time used on the implementation. Coaching is easily neglected. Why not turn the ”beef” and get fast access to the device and then using all our effort, time and energy on a dedicated and veritable communication offensive. The assessment and the purchase form only a tiny bit of the whole process. We should use our muscles on the implementation and on expanding the use of AAC devices. To the right, you can see how prompting is done. We discuss it further in paragraph (9). We can and should discuss things with the pupil simply by pressing individual buttons. We do not need complete sentences in the beginning. We also need to prompt the use of deeper layers, ie. the expanded vocabulary, conjugation etc within the application, the use of contexts and, especielly in the beginning, the use and introduction of new words, preferably showing many examples thereof. (9) Our role is to model (prompt) the use of AAC at least 20 times an hour. Our role is to model (prompt) the use of AAC at least 20 times an hour. The gap between the so called ”normal” kids and the special kids/the weak communicators tends to increase daily as we do not interact with the latter as we do with the former. Autistic kids tend to live in a silent surrounding, too. For some reason, the adults become silent in the presence of autistic persons. The adults even seem to wait for initiatives from the part of the autistic individual. We do not initiate the use of signs. Or, we make random use of communication devices – mostly when we feel the need ourselves. A so called normal child gets 4,400 hours of linguistic input by the age of 18 months if we talk to her/him for 8 hours per day. Special kids tend to get only some 10 minutes linguistic input a day. Following that pace, the child has to be 84 years old in order to get as much of linguistic input as a baby gets! (10) Learn more through gathering feedback from the users and by letting the users lead the product development processes. Learn more through gathering feedback from the users and by letting the users lead the product development processes. Gather information and feedback. Let the users head the activities in new directions. Your role is to focus on the financing/funding and on the implementation. The user needs to feel that the aid units and specialists are able to affect society where there is shortage of funding, of competencies or of appropriate services. Make noice, jujump onto the barricades if you lack the prerequisites for proper aid or if you feel that the AAC users are left completely on their own. Go to your boss (at least in Scandinavia) urging for assistance, offering suggestions for improvement. Write articles and debate articles and write to decision makers and politicians. The well-being of your clients, pupils, patients is (partially) your responsibility. Set up meetings between different actors and do not let anyone leave the room until you have found a solution and landed on an action plan. A clusure, a shutdown or redundancy plans are not an option for the target group that does not get its voice heard anyway, today. Ask us for help. With the word ”us” we refer to the experience and the expertise of Puheoikeus.fi (Finland, Scandinavia) and to other actors presently developing the areas of signs, AAC and special education. In short: specialists need to merge these activities into one. That is the reason why we developed the way of thinking and a methodology called AAC Special Education©. (CAA éducation specialisée©, UK Sonderpädagogik©, AKK-specialpedagogik©, AAC-erityispedagogiikka©). Please, google to find the 100 most common words in your own language. Enclosed, you see the 100 most common kindergarten words in Swedish, including some names. Irrspective of you starting with 100 or with 500 core words, it is worth the effort to start there. That applies for all attempts to study foreign languages, too. Organised common sense? Contact us for an update or for questioning the ways we generally work in today. Speak for Yourself (figure 6), Prentke-Römich (5a), Gail van Tatenhoven (5a), PrAACtical AAC, DART (10b), One Kids Place/La Place des Enfants (8, 9), Puheoikeus.fi (1a, 10B Hit the Papers) and Terry Grahn (1b, 2, 3, 5b, 7, 10a). Pictures also from: FH/KommCe (2a), Lexia (1b), Papunet (2a), Proloquo2Go (2a, 4), SPSM/Ritade tecken (2)

Since their introduction to the market, the environmental impact of EVs has been bandied back and forth by supporters and detractors alike. While proponents of EVs advocate the environmentally friendly nature of electric cars, many still point to the large carbon emissions generated during production and charging as nullifying any potential benefits. However, despite the negative effects, electric cars still come out on top overall. In fact, even with manufacturing emissions nearing 68% higher than those for conventional cars, EVs still produce 53% lower emissions than similar gasoline vehicles throughout their lifetime. How does this happen? It comes down to a multitude of factors over each car’s lifespan – production, charging, usage, and post-life handling. In the first stages of production, a mid-size, mid-range BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) usually produces 15% greater emissions than the manufacturing of a similar gasoline powered vehicle. This is due to the nature of lithium mining and the refining process of the rare metals required for an EV battery. However, as electric car sales have risen 30% in the past year and the cost of lithium batteries has dropped by 2/3rds, automakers have pushed to simplify and improve the process even further. In fact, many in the auto industry have begun investing in alternative battery chemistries that require less energy-intensive material, as well as renewable energy sources to power their facilities. With these cleaner, more efficient production techniques, the emissions generated through EV manufacturing are expected to drop even more. The second leading cause of CO2 production for EVs comes from the charging process. Though the cars themselves produce no emissions while “refueling,” the facilities they receive electricity from can produce quite a lot. Those situated in California, New York, or the Pacific Northwest, where clean energy is more prevalent, are likely to see less of an impact in charging. Those in the Midwest where coal burning is still common, on the other hand, are likely to be contributing to greater CO2 emissions. For example, 68% of the electricity generated in the U.S. comes from fossil fuels, and half to one-third of that amount comes directly from coal. In fact, in Kentucky and Wyoming, 90% of electricity is produced by coal. Still, despite the negative impact of coal-powered plants, the environmental cost of EV charging remains lower than its gasoline powered counterparts when the refining, processing, and transporting of gas is factored into the equation. More notably, even in the dirtiest U.S. regional electricity grids, electric cars still produce global warming emissions equivalent to a 35 MPG gasoline powered vehicle – in cleaner areas like New York or California, they’re equivalent to an 85 MPG gasoline powered vehicle. Moreover, as of 2015, 66% of Americans live in regions where powering an EV on the regional electricity grid produces lower global warming emissions than a 50 MPG gasoline powered vehicle. Couple this with states like Washington, Delaware, Massachusetts, Virginia, and others across the U.S. opting to honor the country’s initial commitment to the Paris Agreement and Clean Air Act, and the move to renewable, clean energy is growing. All electric vehicles produce 0 CO2 emissions while driving. Taking this into account, the average, midsize range EV will offset its excess manufacturing emissions in about 4,900 miles, and a full size, long range EV will do the same in 19,000 miles. Four: End Life Though there is no set process or plan in regards to recycling lithium batteries once a vehicle has passed its prime, the growth in demand for EVs is inspiring many companies to find new and better ways to recycle lithium batteries. One such method being smelting, wherein precious metals are extracted from a battery, allowing the rest of the hazardous material to be further treated and disposed of properly. Facilities are also working to repair or rehabilitate batteries for secondary uses, like charging solar panels on homes. In the end, though the initial greenhouse imprint may be high, EVs are better for the environment long term. And as countries continue to turn to renewable energy and cleaner power sources, electric cars are likely to continue to come out ahead.

When explaining complex or abstract topics, it is often helpful to represent them visually. Creating a chart or table not only simplifies the concept, but also helps the student retain the information. These tables, like Conducting Patterns, Seating Arrangements and Ranges of All Winds, Strings & Voices, will help illustrate abstract terms and will supplement definitions with concrete examples, making learning simple. William F. Lee’s Encyclopedia Of Music Knowledge published by Santorella Publications includes 2,500 concisely defined music terms and theory reference charts and features a chronological timeline which covers important dates in music history from 800 AD to present. This incredible listing includes key musical & non-musical events that shaped the music and the people of an era. Santorella’s Encyclopedia Of Music Knowledge is the No.1 collegiate resource for further education in the study of music. Simple enough for layman to understand yet detailed enough for the seasoned musician. An absolute must for any student of music! From Beethoven’s 1st Symphony to the Patriotic Fervor that Sept 11th invoked to Janet Jackson making a spectacle of herself at a Super Bowl half time show. We cover it all! This unique paperback was researched and compiled by William F. Lee III, a highly respected educator, composer, conductor, performer, author, editor arranger and administrator as the former Dean of the University of Miami’s School of Music. Dr. Lee’s commitment to music education goes beyond his university endeavors, it manifests itself in every aspect of his life. Dr. Lee was the co-founder of the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) in 1968 and served as the president from 1972-74 and the Executive Director from 1994-1998. Dr. Lee has contributed greatly to the advancement of music and continues to do so even in retirement. We are quite fortunate to have had his contributions and professional guidance on this project.

Palestinians on Thursday began construction of the West Bank’s largest museum devoted to their history, planning to tell diverse stories of Palestinians in their land and of millions who live abroad. The museum represents a step in the Palestinian quest for statehood by creating a repository for 200 years of history, alongside galleries and space for debates about the Palestinian cause, director Jack Persekian said. “I am hoping that this museum would be able to give the opportunity for many Palestinians to tell their stories. We are looking at a museum that doesn’t have one particular narrative line that it wants to consecrate through its exhibits,” he said. The museum is the biggest such project the Palestinians have undertaken in terms of scale, space and budgets. Persekian hoped the museum would tell stories not just of Palestinian Muslims and Christians, but also of Jews who lived in what was British-administered Palestine before Israel was founded in 1948. “We would like to think about [the museum] in an inclusive way,” he said. The museum draws attention to the conflicting narratives at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For Jews, the establishment of Israel reinforced the homecoming of an exiled people with ties to the Holy Land going back thousands of years. Palestinians refer to the establishment of Israel, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, as their nakba, or catastrophe. Israel has dozens of museums with vast collections of biblical texts and artifacts connecting the Jewish people to the Holy Land. Palestinians have about 30 museums in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, the areas where they hope to establish a state, but nothing on the scale of the new project. The US$15 million first phase is scheduled to take two years to build and cover 3,000m2 of space. Dozens of Palestinian officials attended the laying of the museum’s foundation stone on Thursday on a hill near the Palestinian university town of Birzeit. The site can be reached only over a bumpy road, and few residents appeared aware of the project. Phase one will include a gallery, cafeteria, classrooms, a gift shop and staff offices. The museum’s board plans to have the second phase built within a decade, expanding it to 9,000m2. It is being overseen by the Welfare Association, a Palestinian aid and development group supported by philanthropists that has close ties to the governing Palestinian Authority. The museum will focus on the past 200 years, from the Turkish-based Ottoman Empire through the British mandate over Palestine. It will cover Israel’s creation in 1948 and the subsequent displacement of Palestinians. It will continue with the history of Palestinians abroad as well as their living conditions in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and east Jerusalem under Jordanian and Israeli control as well as the last 20 years of partial self-rule. ‘CONFESSED’: A court in Beijing said that former CCP member Ren Zhiqiang abused his power at a state firm and embezzled almost US$7.14 million of public funds A Chinese tycoon who called Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) a clown and criticized his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic was yesterday jailed for 18 years for corruption, bribery and embezzlement of public funds. Ren Zhiqiang (任志強) — once among the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) inner circle — disappeared from the public eye in March, shortly after penning an essay that lambasted Xi’s pandemic response. His outspokenness had earned the former chairman of state-owned property developer Huayuan Group the nickname “Big Cannon.” Yesterday’s verdict said that Ren embezzled almost 50 million yuan (US$7.4 million) of public funds and accepted bribes worth 1.25 million OFF BORDER ISLAND: The fisheries official disappeared from a patrol vessel wearing a life jacket and leaving behind his shoes, indicating an intentional move, Seoul said North Korean soldiers shot dead a suspected South Korean defector at sea and burned his body as a COVID-19 precaution after he was interrogated in the water over several hours, Seoul military officials said yesterday. It is the first killing of a South Korean citizen by North Korean forces for a decade, and comes with Pyongyang at high alert over the COVID-19 pandemic and inter-Korean relations at a standstill. The fisheries official disappeared from a patrol vessel near the western border island of Yeonpyeong on Monday, the official said. More than 24 hours later, North Korean forces located him in their waters and The scarcity of commercial flights landing at Sydney Airport has been a disaster for airlines and workers, but for hobby pilots the COVID-19 pandemic has provided the opportunity of a lifetime. The quieter-than-usual runways mean that private pilots have been given the chance to land at the international airport for the first time. When Sydney Flight College club captain Tim Lindley put out a call, he received an overwhelming response. He eventually organized for 14 light aircraft to fly into Sydney airport on Sunday. “For a lot of the pilots involved, including myself, it was a childhood dream to land in a big ACADEMIC FREEDOM: One professor told her students to submit anonymized papers and not to record any online classes. Some US schools have announced similar steps Students at Oxford University specializing in the study of China are being asked to submit some papers anonymously to protect them from the possibility of retribution under the sweeping new security law introduced three months ago in Hong Kong. The anonymity ruling is to be applied in classes, and group tutorials are to be replaced by one-to-ones. Students are also to be warned that it will be viewed as a disciplinary offence if they tape classes or share them with outside groups. The Hong Kong National Security Law was imposed on June 30 by Beijing after more than a year of pro-democracy

"Being entirely honest with oneself is a good 1884 Austrian self-titled 'psychoanalyst' Sigmund Freud broadly promotes as a tonic to cure depression and Sigmund Freud published an article entitled "Über Coca" which promotes the 'benefits' of cocaine, calling it a Sigmund Freud used cocaine regularly, prescribes it to his girlfriend and his best friend and recommends it for Sigmund Freud reported exhilaration and lasting euphoria, which he said were the same as "the normal euphoria of a healthy Although Freud mentions many possibly uses (in asthma, stomach problems, anesthesia, and recovery from wasting diseases), most doctors thought the major therapeutic value of cocaine would be in psychiatry. hypothesized that cocaine could be successfully used to intervene in addiction, by slowly replacing alcohol or opium with cocaine, and then discontinuing the cocaine. While noting that cocaine could lead to "physical and moral decadence," Freud kept promoting cocaine to his close friends, one of whom ended up hallucinations with "white snakes creeping over his hypothesized: "For humans the toxic dose (of cocaine) is very high, and there seems to be no lethal dose." Contrary to this belief, one of Freud's patients dies from a high dosage. The psychological withdrawal effects of cocaine occur mostly in habitual users, when frequent use begins to cause permanent neurobiological changes like they did in Sigmund Freud (phantom itch). 1897 Freud writes that "masturbation is the prime habit of addiction which is replaced by addiction to Sigmund Freud neglects to mention his addiction to tobacco and cocaine, leading one to assume Freud was eternally high and sexually frustrated by impotence from cocaine use, and that this was projected to form the sexually dependent theories taken up later by Freud theorized that motives control much behavior. Sigmund Freud was especially interested in hysteria, a diagnostic label applied to a state of mind of unmanageable fear or emotional excesses as he was intimately aware of such a condition through first hand Sigmund Freud used 'the talking cure', free association and dream analysis to bring forth In self-focused global consumer culture 'talking out' deep seated or problems is very common but would have been unheard of in Vennia, Austria - the center of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the life of Sigmund Freud claimed all behavior was driven by From his perspective, feelings of passion are nothing but reaction formation to our innate hostility or desexualized interest in our parents, ethical behavior is based on fear of punishment, esthetic interest is psychological defense against powerful anal impulses, and so on. Without societal restrictions, generated by parental prohibitions and injunctions, humans would indulge in sexual acts, homicide perspective religious beliefs and spiritual interests of any kind are essentially attributed to superstition, gullibility, primary process, obsessive-compulsive behavior resulting from suppression of anal impulses and unresolved Oedipal or Electra complexes, or a result of serious psychopathology." - "Motivations originate from subconscious imagination; conflict within imagination is expressed in both People attempt to to build up in its stead a false reality, a fantasy, in which the most unbearable features of reality are eliminated and replaced by others that are in conformity with one's own wishes. in desperate defiance, sets out upon this path to happiness will, as a rule, attain nothing. is too strong for him. He becomes a madman, who for the most part finds no one to help him in carrying through his ... DELUSION." - "Affirming his own personality, man has the tendency to repress from the field of his conscious any associations indicating an external causative condition of his world view and behavior." "One of our most infamous contemporary laws is the 100 to 1 difference in sentencing between crack cocaine and powder Under federal drug laws, prison sentences are usually tied to the quantity of drugs the defendant trafficked. For example, selling 5,000 grams of powder cocaine (about a briefcase full) gets a mandatory 10-year prison sentences, but so does selling only 50 grams of crack cocaine (the weight of a candy bar). Working for the House Judiciary Committee in 1986, I wrote the House bill that was the basis for that law. We made some terrible If logic prevails, in the next Congress we may finally see an end to one of the most unjust laws passed in recent memory. correct the biggest mistake of my professional life. Crack is no longer a big news story, people mistakenly believe our anti-cocaine policy has worked. Not so. There is no scarcity of cocaine. Since 1986, the price of cocaine has fallen and the quality is better. Research from the US Sentencing Commission shows that three-quarters of the federal cocaine defendants - powder and crack - are just neighborhood dealers or For a generation, anti-drug policy has been built on factual mistakes and tough-sounding rhetoric." - Eric E. Sterling, president of the nonprofit Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, anti-drug legislation 1979 to "Freud was aware that most of his acolytes were Jews, and he did not want to turn psychoanalysis into a Jewish science." - Peter Gay "We have abundant material in figures to show that Jews, in particular, are subject to cerebral maladies." - Dr. Rudolf "The Jews have a disproportionate number of mental defectives, idiots, and imbeciles. It is well known that a large percentage of neurasthenics and neurotics are Jews. In Europe, blindness, deafmutism, idiocy, and insanity are from two to five times as frequent among Jews as among Gentiles (inbreeding)." - Dr. Maurice Fishburg This web site is not a commercial web site and is presented for educational purposes only. This website defines a new perspective with which to engage reality to which its author adheres. The author feels that the falsification of reality outside personal experience has forged a populace unable to discern propaganda from reality and that this has been done purposefully by an international corporate cartel through their agents who wish to foist a corrupt version of reality on the human race. Religious intolerance occurs when any group refuses to tolerate religious practices, religious beliefs or persons due to their religious ideology. This web site marks the founding of a system of philosophy named The Truth of the Way of the Lumière Infinie - a rational gnostic mystery religion based on reason which requires no leap of faith, accepts no tithes, has no supreme leader, no church buildings and in which each and every individual is encouraged to develop a personal relation with the Creator and Sustainer through the pursuit of the knowledge of reality in the hope of curing the spiritual corruption that has enveloped the human spirit. The tenets of The Truth of the Way of the Lumière Infinie are spelled out in detail on this web site by the author. Violent acts against individuals due to their religious beliefs in America is considered a "hate crime." This web site in no way condones violence. To the contrary the intent here is to reduce the violence that is already occurring due to the international corporate cartels desire to control the human race. The international corporate cartel already controls the world economic system, corporate media worldwide, the global industrial military entertainment complex and is responsible for the collapse of morals, the elevation of self-centered behavior and the destruction of global ecosystems. Civilization is based on coöperation. Coöperation does not occur at the point of a gun. American social mores and values have declined precipitously over the last century as the corrupt international cartel has garnered more and more power. This power rests in the ability to deceive the populace in general through corporate media by pressing emotional buttons which have been preprogrammed into the population through prior corporate media psychological operations. The results have been the destruction of the family and the destruction of social structures that do not adhere to the corrupt international elites vision of a perfect world. Through distraction and coercion the direction of thought of the bulk of the population has been directed toward solutions proposed by the corrupt international elite that further consolidates their power and which further their purposes. views and opinions presented on this web site are the views and opinions of individual human men and women that, through their writings, showed the capacity for intelligent, reasonable, rational, insightful and unpopular thought. All factual information presented on this web site is believed to be true and accurate and is presented as originally presented in print media which may or may not have originally presented the facts truthfully. Opinion and thoughts have been adapted, edited, corrected, redacted, combined, added to, re-edited and re-corrected as nearly all opinion and thought has been throughout time but has been done so in the spirit of the original writer with the intent of making his or her thoughts and opinions clearer and relevant to the reader in the present time. Fair Use Notice This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of criminal justice, human rights, political, economic, democratic, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information see: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. © Lawrence Turner All Rights Reserved

发布时间 : 2020-05-28 18:43:41来源 : 儒家文学网阅读数 : How to Be a Good Teacher Teaching is the greatest profession under the sun, because nothing is more important than education to a nation. Sometimes, it seems easy to be a teacher, but I always find it’s difficult, because only knowledge can’t make us a good teacher. As teachers, we must not only have a wide range of knowledge, but also have comprehensive skills and positive attitudes. For one thing, we must be equal to every student. Don’t judge the students by their grades and behaviors. Our duty is to educate them, not to criticize them. For another, we are no longer the candles, but the matches. We shouldn't do the presentation work all the time in class. We must give the classes to the students. For example, we should make a real atmosphere to attract the students’ interests. Since most students like doing things with their hands, we can assign them some tasks to do. Sometimes we can also do some activities with them. I believe the students will learn best when they are happy. Sometimes, we may be troubled by some naughty students. Therefore, we must have patience. We have to lead them in the right way. However, if they don’t pay attention to us, we ought to be strict with them, until they are well-behaved. These are my personal ideas. Maybe they are correct in a way, while they are not enough for us. So I will devote more diligence to my work and get more experience from teaching. Today, I’ll focus on some of the character traits of people who were indicated by my readers as their favorite teachers. Some of the character traits were mentioned by multiple people. We’ll call these the Top 5 Character Traits of Great Teachers. If you want to be a great teacher, these are the things you should begin to develop first. Top 5 Character Traits of Great Teachers 1. Inspired me and never let me settle for anything less than my best (10) 2. Compassionate, caring, made me feel important and welcomed, made a personal connection with me (7) 3. Were demanding, pushed me hard (4) 4. Had a great sense of humor (3) 5. Knowledge of the subject matter (3) 1. Wasn’t afraid of what other people thought (2) 2. Passion for the subject matter (2) 3. Challenged me to think beyond just the answer in the textbook (2) 4. Listened to my ideas 5. Taught me new things 6. A terrific fund raiser 7. Kept things interesting 8. They were interactive 9. Added personal elements to the classroom 11. Wasn’t fake or shallow with comments to students 14. They were problem solvers, rather than simply problem identifiers 读完六年级上册语文书15课，怎样给美国总统罗斯福写信 给美国已故总统罗斯福的一封信 尊敬的总统： 您好... 我就要成为初中生了 作文350字 今天是初一新生报到的日子。我的心情格外的高兴：因为，我就要成为一名中... 怎样成为一名优秀学生的英语作文 享受暑假Compared with over 100 days＇ exhausting school life, summer holiday is definitely...

What’s one major thing that airplanes, bridges, and weigh stations have in common? If you answered strain gauges, you were right. These simple devices measure the strain, or pull, on an object. The resistance of an object will change as you apply deformation to (stretch) the strain gauge, which will then tell you how much deformation the object, like an airplane wing, bridge, or car, is currently undergoing. We’ve seen 3D printed strain gauges and sensors before, but Rahul Panat, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), is leading a collaborative team of researchers that have developed a new method for 3D printing strain gauges that significantly improves their sensitivity, along with making them capable of being used in high-temperature applications. The team is made of up researchers from CMU (which knows a little something about 3D printing), Washington State University, and the University of Texas at El Paso. The method that the team developed breaks what’s known as the Poisson Ratio – which describes how much a material will contract in one direction when it’s stretched in another – by about 40%. This ratio is the limit to how sensitive a solid strain gauge can be – according to Pahat, the maximum Poisson Ratio a solid material can have is about 0.5. Panat, who is also affiliated with the university’s NextManufacturing Center, said, “Anywhere there is deflection of a mechanical system, you will see strain gauges; which is a lot of places!” “More contraction means more sensitivity, so we get a much more sensitive strain gauge by adopting this new manufacturing method, where we print nanoparticles of a material and create this porosity by controlled sintering,” explained Panat. Strain gauges made from traditional manufacturing methods take on the form of a solid film. But the team used aerosol jet 3D printing to make the strain gauge, which uses heat to control the sintering of nanoparticles that partially coalesce, thus forming a porous film. When this film, which contains many tiny holes due to the method of 3D printing, is stretched, it can contract more than a solid film can. Panat said, “Because of the porosity of the film, we are seeing an effective Poisson Ratio of approximately 0.7—which means we have about a 40% increase in the lateral contraction for a given deformation of the film. That makes the strain gauge much more sensitive to measurement.” The team recently published a paper on their new method, titled “3D Printed High Performance Strain Sensors for High Temperature Applications,” in the Journal of Applied Physics; co-authors include Md Taibur Rahman, Russell Moser, Hussein M. Zbib, C.V. Ramana, and Panat. According to the abstract, “Realization of high temperature physical measurement sensors, which are needed in many of the current and emerging technologies, is challenging due to the degradation of their electrical stability by drift currents, material oxidation, thermal strain, and creep. In this paper, for the first time, we demonstrate that 3D printed sensors show a metamaterial-like behavior, resulting in superior performance such as high sensitivity, low thermal strain, and enhanced thermal stability. The sensors were fabricated using silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs), using an advanced Aerosol Jet based additive printing method followed by thermal sintering.” The researchers 3D printed the sensors on an Optomec Aerosol Jet 300 Series system, and then tested them under cyclic strain, at temperatures up to 500 °C. In addition to the strain gauges having an increased sensitivity, it was discovered that the gauge factor was nearly 60% higher than commercially available gauges. “The reason why a material will show thermal strain is because material naturally expands when it is heated. In our case, the overall expansion of the porous film because of heat alone is much smaller than if it were a solid film,” Panat said. “The films created with this new technique do not expand that much, so we are significantly reducing the error in high-temperature applications.” These results show that 3D printing technology could potentially be used to fabricate high-performance, stable sensors for applications that require high temperatures, like nuclear, aerospace, and power generation systems. Traditionally manufactured solid strain gauges are more susceptible to errors resulting from thermal heating interference, but the research team’s 3D printed porous strain gauges do not have the same issue. Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.[Source/Images: Carnegie Mellon University] You May Also Like 3D Systems’ Gautam Gupta on Point-of-Care 3D Printing and the Hospitals of the Future With experience manufacturing over one million medical devices, planning 120,000 patient-specific cases, and supporting more than 85 CE-marked and FDA-cleared medical devices, 3D Systems’ healthcare business is focusing on accelerating... 3DChain: An AI-Driven 3D Printing Service Platform Co-Founder of 3DChain, Babak Zareiyan, gives an outlook and explanation of the 3DChain concept, a unique manufacturing service platform for 3D printing. You developed 3DChain, a design and additive manufacturing... 3D Printing Custom Hearing Device Parts at 2X Efficiency with Figure 4 3D printing has made significant impacts in nearly every industry, and on every scale too. This includes markets many may not have considered, unless they had a need for products... 3D Scanner Buying Guide 2020 3D scanning is now an engrained business process in industry, architecture, quality assurance and reverse engineering. It is, however, quite a difficult process to master. Many different 3D scanning technologies... View our broad assortment of in house and third party products.

Sports Rehabilitation Following Covid-19 Disclaimer: Given that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19) is a novel coronavirus, etiopathology of Covid-19 remains incompletely understood, as do the long-term consequences and recovery from the disease. It is important to note that the current approaches to care described below are based on treatments extrapolated from diverse underlying health conditions and that the literature on this topic is evolving rapidly. The focus of the initial response to Covid-19 has been saving lives. Rightly so; be it in the hospital and ICU or preventing transmission and developing treatments or vaccines. For the majority, (81%) (1), infection with the Covid-19 virus will confer a mild to moderate disease; however, for a significant minority, the infection may have very serious consequences. In those patients requiring hospitalisation, a relatively high proportion (20.3%) have required management in an ICU environment, the most common reason being the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (32.8%) (2). Less commonly, patients may develop acute liver injury, acute cardiac injury, acute kidney injury, and viraemic septic shock (3). The leading cause of death following Covid-19 is acute respiratory failure, and disseminated intravascular coagulopathy has been reported in 71% of non-survivors (3). Rehabilitation is a core component of patient-centred care in responding to disasters. Rehab professionals and facilities will play an important role in helping speed the recovery of those survivors with residual impairments after ICU treatment, and also a critical role in providing an appropriate outlet for acute services, creating space for newly affected patients to receive the acute care they need (4). Ideally rehabilitation should be routinely incorporated into pandemic response plans early on, rather than in retrospect only after widespread disability becomes apparent (4). Early intervention for successful rehab is key. Many patients will not have had access to this owing to fears of infection/reinfection and lockdown status in their area. Patients who have been hospitalised may have had respiratory therapy with a physical therapist. But has their care continued since discharge? What about the millions of mild to moderate cases of Covid-19 survivors who weren’t admitted to hospital? They too will have residual lung tissue damage with reduced exercise capacity, which could affect their lifestyle and workability in the future. Our knowledge of the range of impairments and disabilities is still evolving; however, Covid-19 is a multisystemic condition and some of the effects will be long-lasting (5,6). A third of patients being discharged from hospital require assistance in activities of daily living and a similar proportion have significant neurological sequelae (5,6). Physical therapy can mediate the deleterious pulmonary, respiratory and immobility complications that are common. Moreover, sports rehabilitation can offer a cost-effective strategy that can restore physical activity capacity, as well as mental and emotional quality of life (6). Persistent mental health impairment is commonly described following treatment in the ICU, with pooled estimates reporting high prevalence rates of depression (29%), PTSD (22%) and anxiety (34%) affecting survivors at 1 year (4). Beyond this, pandemics are associated with high levels of emotional distress across society (4). On the individual level, dyspnoea is generally recognised as a distressing experience in its own right (4). For patients and families, admission to hospital with a Covid-19 diagnosis may raise fears for survival. So, for any patient recovering from Covid-19, no matter the severity, we must be cognisant that sports rehabilitation will not only be for the physical health of the individual but psychological and social too. Owing to the diversity in potential conditions that could result from Covid-19, sports rehabilitation will have to be tailored depending on the needs of each patient. Cardiopulmonary rehabilitation including respiratory exercises and a graded exercise routine will be required for most patients. However, hands-on specialist care for patients recovering from any neurological deficits, severe weakness acquired from prolonged bedrest may be necessary. Awareness of chronic pain syndromes and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) should be kept in mind, as these biopsychosocial conditions may evolve as a consequence of survival. As we have needed an army of medical personnel to get through the acute phase of this virus, so too will we need a team of sports rehabilitation specialists to ensure a successful long-term outcome. That team will potentially comprise physicians, psychiatric and neuropsychiatric support, rehabilitation nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, clinical psychology/neuropsychology, speech and language therapy, dietetics and social work. Modifications to Rehabilitation Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a first-line management strategy in patients with respiratory diseases as it reduces breathlessness, increases exercise capacity and improves health‐related quality of life (HRQoL). A small but significant increase in physical activity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has also been shown following PR (7,8). However, 8–50% of those referred to PR never attend, and 10–32% of those who commence do not complete the programme (9). Barriers to attendance and completion include difficulty accessing the programme, poor mobility, lack of transport and cost of travel (8). Home‐based PR may overcome the barriers to attendance at a centre‐based programme and resolve some of the concerns regarding Covid-19 patients interacting with other people. One-to-one or group sports rehabilitation classes would be hugely beneficial to the patient provided that strict social distancing, the use of masks and sanitising procedures can be followed (10). Some of the interventions, including breathing exercises are aerosol-generating procedures, which pose a significant health risk to the professionals who treat patients, as well as a risk of spreading infection to others (10). A recent study showed that supervised pulmonary telerehabilitation produced equivalent results to standard hospital-based group PR (7). More participants, however, completed the telerehabilitation, where better compliance may result in better outcomes over the long term. Previous clinical trials comparing standard PR versus online, web-based sessions have shown to be neither inferior nor superior to face-to-face therapy (11,12,13). Therefore, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, virtual-care outpatient consultations may be preferable to face-to-face interactions for multiple reasons. Firstly, in order to take care of patients, healthcare providers must themselves be in good health – fear for your own (and your family’s) safety or exposure to Covid-19 is understandable. Secondly, from a patient, family and wider societal perspective, delivering healthcare in settings where groups of people gather, such as ‘waiting rooms’ or a group sports rehabilitation class, is actively discouraged for fear of further community spread. In this context, it is also possible that a healthcare provider may be carrying Covid-19 asymptomatically; in such a case the healthcare provider may then inadvertently become a ‘super spreader’ (4). Regular and repeated testing for Covid-19 will be necessary to support segregation (of those still positive, from those being negative) and it is essential that staff have access to all the necessary personal protective equipment to be able to treat patients safely (4,10). Suggestions for your practice or clinic include the following. - Patients should be unaccompanied where possible. Family or friends are not to wait in a waiting area but remain in their vehicles or outdoors. - Appointments should be staggered, with 15-minute intervals between, to allow time to sanitise equipment and prevent congestion of people. - Therapists and patients should wear masks and practise social distancing where possible. - Temperature checks on arrival, as well as short questionnaire checking patients’ symptoms, should be done routinely. - Therapists and patients should hand sanitise on arrival. - Patients can bring their own linen or towels to use during treatment and take home for their own washing. - Each therapist should have their own designated working area or cubicle to avoid cross-over within the practice. Virtual care circumvents these issues and allows personalised consultation and treatment via telephone, live internet connections, or via pre-recorded sessions for more generic materials. In some countries, well-developed, secure virtual-care platforms already exist; in others, media such as Zoom, Skype, Facetime and others may be suitable alternatives. You may be able to have a group sports rehabilitation class through a video conference or Zoom facility. Patients gain support and encouragement from each other (albeit through a screen), plus seeing others during this lonely time may boost morale. Additionally, having a set ‘appointment’ time may keep patients motivated to do their sports rehabilitation exercises. However, virtual care also has many limitations, such as availability of equipment, technical malfunctions, potential for inadvertent personal data disclosure, limited scope for physical examination, and the process largely relies upon the patient being able to attend sessions, handle the technology, communicate and interact accordingly. This may not be possible for all patients. Rehabilitation providers should start to consider the scope and limitations of virtual physical examinations and make patients expressly aware of this accordingly (4,10). Programmes already exist and are available online for cardiac rehabilitation (www.activateyourheart.org.uk) and COPD (www.spaceforcopd.co.uk) that may be beneficial to some patients. There are many tests that can be performed to assess the pulmonary function and exercise tolerance of a patient recovering from Covid-19. As Covid-19 is such a complex disease, components of all aspects of a biopsychosocial model may need to be incorporated. These too may have to be selected depending on your and the patients’ access to clinics/hospitals and equipment for testing. Tests can form part of a baseline score from which PR can progress, as well as monitoring the improvement and motivating patients over the weeks ahead. Specific strength tests or neurological assessment may be necessary for Covid-19 patients who may have suffered deep vein thrombosis, stroke or prolonged bed-rest in ICU, for example. The majority of patients may follow a form of graded PR programme, which physical therapists are familiar with. However, combining patients into different levels of ability/disability may be required if group sessions, be it face-to-face or online, are to be effective. Tests may include: 1. Pulmonary Function Test Spirometry [forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC)], diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) and static lung volumes by body plethysmography may be performed according to the guidelines (9,14,15). Lung disease severity of each patient can then be classified according to the Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease spirometric criteria (16). 2. Exercise Test Exercise capacity can be assessed by the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) (17), the incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT) and the endurance shuttle walk test (ESWT) according to standardised protocols (18,19,20,21). A primary outcome for patients may be endurance exercise capacity, measured by the ESWT. Modifications may be necessary for 6MWT as the distance recommended of a 30–45m long, straight course may not be possible depending on the patient’s location. This may become a 20m (or even less) distance along the lounge floor or corridor that the patient repeats loops of for the 6-minute duration. Provided the distance and space remains the same with each test/re-test, improvement can be monitored based on distance or number of laps in the given 6-minute time. Ideally two tests should be performed for each walk test over two visits/sessions within 7 days of each other, separated by at least 30‐minutes’ rest. The better test result can then be used in the baseline. SpO2 (peripheral capillary oxygen saturation) and heart rate (HR) should be monitored with a pulse oximeter, where possible. Dyspnoea and rate of perceived exertion should be assessed before and after each exercise test using the modified 0–10-point Borg category‐ratio scale (22). Reference values for the 6MWT are based on an Australian study of healthy individuals (23). 3. Quality of Life The Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire (CRDQ) can be used to measure HRQoL. The minimal important difference for the four domains in this questionnaire are 2.5 for dyspnoea, 2 for fatigue, 3.5 for emotional function, 2 for mastery and 10 for the total score (24). 4. Physical Activity The use of smart phones, Fitbits, and watches with activity or fitness trackers that monitor step counts, calorie expenditure and activity levels can be helpful in recording and motivating a patient’s physical activity. 5. Physical Performance Physical performance can be assessed by using the Functional Performance Inventory – Short Form (FPI‐SF) which evaluates the level of difficulty respondents have in six domains including body care (five items), maintaining the household (eight items), physical exercise (five items), recreation (five items), spiritual activities (four items), and social interaction (five items). For ease of use, activities assessed are organised according to these domains. For each item/activity, respondents are asked to rate how difficult the activity is for them to perform on a simple three-point scale: ‘no difficulty’, ‘some difficulty’, or ‘much difficulty’. If respondents do not perform an activity, they can select one of two options: ‘don’t do for health reasons’ or ‘choose not to’ (25,26). 6. Health Status COPD health status can be assessed using the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) which quantifies the impact of COPD on well‐being (https://www.mdcalc.com/copd-assessment-test-cat) (27,28). Dyspnoea can be assessed with the modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnoea scale (Table 1). The mMRC assesses dyspnoea as part of the BODE (BMI, airway obstruction, dyspnoea, exercise capacity) index which has been determined in this study (29). The MRC dyspnoea scale has been proven to be a reliable index of disease severity and health status in elderly COPD patients which should prove useful for remote monitoring of COPD and for rating health status for epidemiological purposes (30). Table 1: Medical Research Council (MRC) and modified MRC (mMRC) scale and severity of dyspnoea (Sourced 30,31,32) 8. Psychological Status Anxiety and depression can be measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) (33). The Pulmonary Rehabilitation Adapted Index of Self‐Efficacy (PRAISE) tool can be used to measure self‐efficacy (Fig. 1) (34,35). Figure 1: Pulmonary rehabilitation adapted index of self-efficacy (PRAISE) tool [Vincent E, Sewell L, Wagg K et al. Measuring a change in self‐efficacy following pulmonary rehabilitation: an evaluation of the PRAISE tool. Chest 2011;140(6):1534–1539 (34)] Exercise training has been acknowledged as the cornerstone of a comprehensive PR programme 36). Eight to ten weeks of exercise-based PR can lead to clinically relevant improvements in daily symptoms (dyspnoea, fatigue, anxiety and/or depression), physical capacity, physical activity and quality of life in patients with COPD, without a significant change in the degree of airflow limitation. Indeed, if exercise training is lacking, there is no significant improvement in physical activity tolerance (36). Most training studies focused on the effects of whole-body endurance exercise training (ie. treadmill walking and/or stationary cycling). Nevertheless, not all patients are able to exercise for a continuous period of 20 minutes or more at a training intensity of 60% or more of the predetermined maximal exercise tolerance (36). Therefore, many other exercise training modalities and settings have been studied, ranging from Nordic walking for patients with a relatively well-preserved exercise tolerance to neuromuscular electrical stimulation for the most dyspnoeic, weakened and perhaps even mechanically ventilated patients (36). Even though multiple training modalities and settings are available, a true personalisation of the exercise training based on the pre-rehabilitation assessment is often lacking. A one-size-fits-all approach is common practice, but may not be successful in the Covid-19 arena with such a range of ages, disease severity and comorbidities affecting patients’ rehabilitation. Reasoning from traits that are modifiable during exercise training, there are multiple options. Resistance training (training small muscle groups at 70–80% of the one repetition maximum (1RM), 4 sets of 8–12 repetitions) should be considered for patients with lower limb muscle weakness/atrophy and a moderate degree of dyspnoea (mMRC 2) (36). For weakened patients with (very) severe dyspnoea, resistance training may still be too burdensome to their weakened ventilatory system, and neuromuscular electrical stimulation should be considered as a substitute for resistance training (36). Whole-body vibration has also been suggested as a useful means of increasing lower limb muscle strength but seems not to be used very often in daily clinical rehabilitation practice (36). Whole-body exercise training can be considered for patients with a clear exercise intolerance. - Patients who are mainly restricted by reaching their maximal HR during the cardiopulmonary exercise test, should be offered whole-body exercise training (at 60% to 80% of the predetermined maximal cycling load/walking speed, for 20–30min), which can range from treadmill walking to stationary cycling, and outdoor walking, including Nordic walking, elliptical trainer (36). - Patients who are mainly restricted by the ventilatory system, should undergo a constant work rate cycling endurance test (CWRT) at 75% of the peak cycling load. If the CWRT lasts ≥10min, endurance training (starting at 60%) is still an option. If the CWRT lasts <10min, interval training (at >80% of the predetermined maximal cycling load/walking speed, for 30–60s per exercise bout, for 20 to 40 bouts) using treadmill walking or stationary cycling should be proposed. Interestingly, patients who cycle <10min also have weaker quadriceps muscle (36). - In turn, interval training should most probably be combined with resistance training. - The rehabilitation goals of the patient should be taken into the equation, as interval training matches to a greater extent the metabolic load of activities of daily living than endurance training (36). Table 2: Example of conventional group pulmonary rehabilitation programme. Table first published as Supplementary Table 9 in Hansen H, Bieler T, Beyer N et al. Supervised pulmonary tele-rehabilitation versus pulmonary rehabilitation in severe COPD: a randomised multicentre trial. Thorax 2020;75:413-421 (7), republished here with permission. Table 3: Example of telecommunication or group home based (using online conferencing facility) pulmonary rehabilitation programme. Table first published as Supplementary Tables 11, 12 and 13 in Hansen H, Bieler T, Beyer N et al. Supervised pulmonary tele-rehabilitation versus pulmonary rehabilitation in severe COPD: a randomised multicentre trial. Thorax 2020;75:413-421 (7), republished here with permission. Suggestions for patient education topics in both group hospital/clinic/practice-based rehabilitation and individual or group home rehabilitation via online portal include (7): - welcome, individual introduction or presentation - Covid-19, the disease, treatment and management - early signs of exacerbation, chronic fatigue and action plan - medication, use of any devices, inhalers, oxygen support; breathing techniques - physical activity and exercise - food, nutrition and the importance for health and immune system - smoking cessation - anxiety, stress, depression - avenues for coping mechanisms, support, therapy and help - identify vulnerable individuals to refer for counselling, include education on relaxation techniques. In all these education topics allocate approximately 20 minutes for information, discussion and reflection. A number of sessions may be required for each topic to allow adequate time for questioning and practising breathing/relaxation techniques for example. A number of studies have been conducted comparing the traditional face-to-face PR to a home-based programme (8,11,12,13). The home-based programme can be delivered in a number of ways (real-time, online pre-recorded sessions, website based, telephone monitoring or interactive group video conferencing) all of which have been shown to improve exercise tolerance and physical activity capacity; this in turn improves patients’ symptoms of fatigue, dyspnoea and ability to carry out daily chores. Some programmes run for 6 weeks whereas others for 10 or 12 weeks or even up to 4 months; you may choose to alter these timelines depending on the severity of the patient’s symptoms and their rehab progress. In addition to this there are many ways one can exercise at home or in a clinic depending on equipment available. Provided it has an element of cardiovascular endurance work and some strength training, sessions could include: - A ‘basic level’ of the programme consisted of 15–25min of exercise with mini-ergometer without load and 30min of callisthenic exercises, performed three times/week and free walking twice a week. The ‘high level’ consisted of 30–45min of mini-ergometer with incremental load (from 0 to 60W), 30–40min of muscle reinforcement exercises using 0.5kg weights and pedometer-based walking, performed from 3 to 7 days/week (13). - 10 exercises increased by 30 s, starting from 60s in week 1, to 3.5min in week 6. Exercises included biceps curls, squats, push-ups against a wall, leg extensions in a sitting position, upright row with weights, sit-to-stand, arm swings with a stick, leg kicks to the side, arm punches with weights and step-ups. Both the online and face-to-face programmes also included warm-up and cool-down sessions (11). - Lower limb cycle ergometer, 15–20min at 60–80% of peak work rate estimated from the best 6-minute walk distance at baseline using an algorithm for cycle exercise prescription (37). Progressing in increments of 5W. Followed by 5min rest and a further 15–20min walking at 80% of best 6-minute walk test. Followed by 5min rest and strength training involving squats and sit-to-stand (3 sets of 10 repetitions each) (8). Exercise monitoring and progression should be based on both the modified Borg dyspnoea (Table 4) and rate of perceived exertion 0–10 category-ratio scales (22, 38) with participants encouraged to exercise with symptoms between moderate to somewhat severe (a score of 3–4). A simple visual analogue scale (VAS) consisting of a line, usually 100mm in length, placed either horizontally or vertically on a page, with anchors to indicate extremes of a sensation can also be used. The anchors on the scale have not been standardised, but ‘not breathless at all’ to ‘extremely breathless’; and ‘no shortness of breath’ to ‘shortness of breath as bad as can be’ are frequently used. Scoring is accomplished by measuring the distance from the bottom of the scale (or left side if oriented horizontally) to the level indicated by the subject. The reliability and validity of the VAS as a measure of dyspnoea has been reported (39). If there are clear signs of exercise-induced oxygen-desaturation during the cardiopulmonary exercise test, the rehabilitation team may want to consider the use of oxygen supplementation during the whole-body exercise training, although its use has been questioned recently. Indeed, Alison et al. showed that a 10-week exercise training programme was safe and effective in patients with mild exercise-induced O2-desaturation who were training with oxygen supplementation or room air supplementation (40). SpO2 and HR can be monitored via the finger-tip pulse oximeter intermittently during training. If SpO2 falls below 88% and/or HR increases above 80% of predicted maximum HR (predicted by age) then participants should rest with the pulse oximeter continuing to record. Participants can resume exercising when the SpO2 reaches 88% or above and HR drops to below 80% of maximum predictedPhysiotherapy HR. Participants should be asked to report the pulse oximeter readings either by presenting it in front of the camera or by verbally reporting it to the physiotherapist supervising the session (8). To prevent exercise-induced oxygen-desaturation, again, interval training should be considered. Moreover, patients with severely exercise-induced lung hyperinflation may be in need of ventilatory support during whole-body interval training. This can be provided using non-invasive ventilation (36). This requires fewer patients per therapist compared to ‘regular’ supervision of exercise training, which may be an organisational challenge. Obviously, the first step here is to teach patients to use pursed-lips breathing, which may partly prevent dynamic lung hyperinflation (36). Besides stationary biking (instead of treadmill walking), water-based walking seems also a valid option for patients with obesity and/or arthrosis of hip/knee/lower back. To date, exercise training generally results in an improved exercise tolerance in patients with COPD and two-thirds of patients achieve a clinically relevant improvement in physical capacity (36). It is possible to consider that these benefits will be conferred to recovering Covid-19 patients. A further personalisation of the exercise training intervention(s) as part of a comprehensive PR programme may be required depending on the patient’s needs. Following Covid-19 infection there appears to be residual alveolar damage and possible fibrosis of lung tissue, even after resolution of symptoms. This may result in long-term respiratory issues such as breathlessness or dyspnoea at rest or on exertion affecting a patient’s ability to carry out daily chores, work or physical activity. In a vicious cycle, reduced physical activity due to dyspnoea actually leads to increased symptoms of breathlessness owing to reduced exercise tolerance and muscle weakness. The difficulty is to motivate patients on the importance of exercise training when it is perceived to exacerbate their symptoms. Patients may be fearful, anxious, fatigued and have depression. Breathing exercises can address issues of panic, anxiety and depression as well as improve breathlessness by strengthening respiratory muscles. As the result of peripheral airway obstruction, air may become trapped in the lungs (ie. hyperinflation). The respiratory rate may increase because of inspiration, which is initiated before emptying the lungs of air. Adjustment of rapid shallow breathing may lead to fatigue of the respiratory muscles. Hyperinflation may lower the dome of the diaphragm, shorten respiratory muscle fibres, and impair the possibility of muscle contraction. In addition, gas exchange may be inefficient. Hence, patients develop symptoms of breathlessness or dyspnoea (41). Various breathing control exercises (BCEs) and respiratory muscle training (RMT) are being used to improve breathlessness. For example, BCEs include diaphragmatic breathing, pursed-lip breathing, relaxation techniques, and body position exercises. BCEs aim to decrease the effort required for breathing and assist relaxation by deeper breathing, which may result in an improved breathing pattern through decreased respiratory rate and reduced breathlessness (41,42). In regard to RMT, the aim is to improve muscle strength and endurance where the respiratory muscles are impaired, hopefully resulting in a greater ability to control the breathing pattern and reduce breathlessness (41,42). RMT requires a training programme using an adjusted breathing resistance device (41). Active expiration is another exercise requiring contraction of abdominal muscles, increasing abdominal pressure during active expiration, which lengthens the diaphragm and contributes to operating the diaphragm close to its optimal length. In addition, active expiration increases the elastic recoil pressure of the diaphragm and the ribcage, the release of which after relaxation of the expiratory muscles assists the next inspiration (43). A description of BCEs and RMT is shown in Figure 2 (41)]. Figure 2: Description of breathing control exercises and respiratory muscle retraining. Figure first published in Borge CR, Hagen KB, Mengshoel AM et al. Effects of controlled breathing exercises and respiratory muscle training in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: results from evaluating the quality of evidence in systematic reviews. BMC Pulmonary Medicine 2014;14:184 (41) and reproduced under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) The goal of breathing or respiratory exercises should be to (42): - reduce dynamic hyperinflation of the ribcage and improve gas exchange; - increase strength and endurance of the respiratory muscles; - optimise the pattern of thoracoabdominal motion; and - induce psychological effects (such as controlling respiration) that might also contribute to the effectiveness of controlled breathing. Fatigue is a symptom common to many illnesses, such as cancer, depression, autoimmune diseases, hormonal disorders and infections, and it is associated with poorer health outcomes. Most health conditions that cause fatigue, such as fatigue secondary to deconditioning, cancer and neuromuscular disorders, have aetiologies that are attributable to specific pathologies that may respond favourably to various forms of intervention, such as physical therapist management. However, some people may demonstrate fatigue related to causes that remain unclear. It is not clear or understood as yet, why many patients recovering from Covid-19 have reported fatigue. This may improve with time and simply be delayed symptom resolution. However, it is speculated that with the complex nature of Covid-19 (and the manner in which it attacks multiple systems within a patient’s body, combined with the psychological and social impact of the virus) persistent fatigue may become more sinister. In clinical practice, many individuals presenting with the common symptom of persistent fatigue may benefit from activity-based behavioural interventions, as suggested by Friedberg et al. (44). However, persistent fatigue is not equivalent to the multisymptom debilitating illness of ME/CFS. Despite the lack of approved treatments or a fully articulated standard of medical care, there are still many actions physical therapists can take to help. Clinicians can help patients to better manage a major illness challenge: how to minimise debilitating post-exertional malaise by learning to stay within their ‘energy envelope’ (45). The energy envelope delineates the amount of energy that a myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)/CFS patient has available to perform all activities. The size of this energy envelope can vary from day to day and between patients, with some patients lacking energy for basic activities of daily living. When patients exceed their limited energy levels, they experience post-exertional worsening of symptoms and functioning. Medical providers can teach patients how to recognise their own personal energy limits and use ‘pacing’ (dividing symptom-producing activities into smaller parts with interspersed rest intervals) to stay within those limits (45,46). Once pacing is effectively used, some patients may be able to use an individualised exercise plan to increase available energy and functioning while avoiding post-exertional worsening (45,46). Standard of care for ME/CFS has been cognitive behaviour therapy and graded exercise therapy (47). Both interventions had been recommended by the US Centres for Disease Control and the UK NICE guidelines. Multiple literature reviews have reported that these therapies are not only effective at improving fatigue and, to a lesser extent, physical function in ME/CFS but are also safe. It would seem obvious then that good clinical care of these patients would include these behavioural interventions (47). A paper by Davenport et al. illustrates pacing and load introduction/adaptation over time with CFS patients as well as ideas on graded exercise intervention (48). A brief self-management intervention for patients with unexplained chronic fatigue or CFS appeared to be clinically effective for reducing the impact of fatigue on functioning (44). In the long term, however, using the guided exercise self-help booklet alone is unlikely to be adequate to support patients sufficiently. Additional guidance from skilled physio /health professionals who demonstrate an understanding of what it is like to cope with ME/CFS is also important (49). Pharmacological interventions for pain and unrefreshing sleep can be prescribed. If needed, patients can be referred for counselling to improve coping with the severe impacts of ME/CFS on quality of life. Essentially, optimal patient care will require a multidisciplinary team. Without a clear picture of exactly what each Covid-19 survivor will look like, it is hard to plan ahead to be fully prepared. Based on the pathophysiology of the virus and case reports of patients, it is reasonable to assume a degree of pulmonary, even cardiopulmonary, rehabilitation will be required together with breathing exercises. It will be critically important to be aware of the chronic manifestations of pain and fatigue and dealing with these complex biopsychosocial issues may require the involvement of a multidisciplinary team. In addition to this, patients may require specific musculoskeletal or neurological rehabilitation, so programmes will have to be tailored to the individual. Traditional therapy will need to be adapted to account for social distancing, lockdown regulations and fear of infection. These are unprecedented times; your requirement to deliver treatment to these patients is vital, while still protecting your health as a primary priority. Creativity may be the key word for long-term Covid-19 care. - Rehabilitation is a core component of patient-centred care in responding to disasters, and early intervention for successful rehabilitation is key. - Our knowledge of the range of impairments and disabilities is still evolving; however, Covid-19 is a multisystemic condition and some of the effects will be long-lasting. - Physical therapy can mediate the deleterious pulmonary, respiratory and immobility complications that are common, as well as conditions arising from venous thromboembolism and the stress, anxiety and depression of having survived Covid-19. - Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a first-line management strategy in patients with respiratory diseases as it reduces breathlessness, increases exercise capacity and improves health‐related quality of life (HRQoL). - Assessment may include 6MWT, ISWT, ESWT, FEV1, FVC, Borge scale of dynspnoea and Medical Research Council (MRC) dyspnoea scale, questionnaires for quality of life (CRDQ) and physical performance (FPI-SF), neuromuscular assessment, as well as psychological (HADS) and self-efficacy testing (PRAISE). - Exercise training has been acknowledged as the cornerstone of a comprehensive PR programme. - Whole-body endurance exercise training and strength training can be progressed over 6 weeks or more. - Supervised home-based PR has been proven to be equivalent in efficacy to traditional group clinic/hospital-based PR. - Various breathing control exercises (BCEs) and respiratory muscle training (RMT) are proven to improve breathlessness. - Modifications in PR delivery will need to be made accounting for social distancing, and lockdown regulations, including telerehabilitation, video conferencing and online portals. - With the complex nature of Covid-19, one should be aware of possible developments of biopsychosocial syndromes such as chronic pain and chronic fatigue syndrome. - What are your thoughts or plans to make rehabilitation of Covid-19 patients safe for everyone involved? - How can you make pulmonary rehabilitation effective and fun to ensure participation, compliance and success even when performed in the virtual setting? - What other rehabilitation protocols do you feel will be beneficial for a Covid-19 survivor? “For any patient recovering from Covid-19, we must be cognisant that rehabilitation will not only be for the physical health of the individual but psychological and social too” “in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, virtual-care outpatient consultations may be preferable to face-to-face interactions” “breathing control exercises and respiratory muscle training can be used to improve breathlessness” “Covid-19 survivors might experience persistent fatigue; this can often be helped with activity-based behavioural interventions” “Treatment of the varied and complex conditions that a Covid-19 survivor might face may require the care of a multidisciplinary team” - Cascella M, Rajnik M, Cuomo A et al. Features, evaluation and treatment coronavirus (COVID-19). StatPearls Publishing 2020 - Rodriguez-Morales AJ, Cardona-Ospina JA, Gutiérrez-Ocampo E et al. Clinical, laboratory and imaging features of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease 2020:101623 - Beeching NJ, Fletcher TE, Fowler R. Coronoavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). BMJ Best Practices 2020 - Simpson R, Robinson L. Rehabilitation following critical illness in people with COVID-19 infection. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation 2020;doi:10.1097/PHM.0000000000001443 [Epub ahead of print] - Landry M, Tupetz A, Jalovcic D et al. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19): making a connection between infectious disease outbreaks and rehabilitation. Physiotherapy Canada 2020;doi:10.3138/ptc-2020-0019 [Advance online article] - Philips M, Turner-Stokes L Wade D et al. Rehabilitation in the wake of Covid-19 – a phoenix from the ashes. 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There was a time when the mornings of our ancestors were musical, filled with little, shrill but cute chirps. Apart from acting as a morning alarm they signalled humans to begin search for food just like they did, and then relishing it in serenity with the family and younger ones. Yes, I’m talking about our feathered friends, birds or avifauna, with which India is blessed with tremendous diversity of over 1350 species spanning all across its geography. These privileged aviators have a wider role in the ecosystem and are not just meant for enthusiasts like bird watchers or those who study them, the ornithologists. Birds play a vital role in our environment. Regardless of which species they are, all of them are regarded as indicator species. Why? Because they are indicators of the health and biodiversity of a niche. Birds are also indicators of seasonal and also climatic variations. For instance the common hawk cuckoo also called the brain fever bird’s call is an indication of the arrival of monsoon. They are important in the food web as they scavenge on corpses like vultures and other human wastes. At times they act as agents for seed dispersal, those who feed on fruits like pigeons, barbets, hornbills, flowerpeckers etc. As insectivores beings (swallows, flycatcher species and their likes) and also preying on rats and snakes (raptorial species like various kites, eagles, falcons and buzzards) that wreak havoc in farmlands. But more important is the fact that birds act as bio-indicators. They are the most sensitive organisms other than “humans” and other animals. Unfortunately for their high metabolism, the pollution in the environment gets reflected by their behaviour and often deaths. The use of toxic chemicals in farms and elsewhere can be seen in the massacre of the birds in adjoining regions. Their oil soaked wings during spills make them, especially the waterfowl species, a liability because they cannot fly away from a predator or for food and even die because of the toxicity in the water body. In an excursion to Delhi’s maligned Yamuna, the birds that one would find there actually tell you the story of filth and pollution present. Crows, Kites, Mynas (Bank and Common) are birds usually found near sewage drains and places where there is lot of garbage dumped. Actually Kingfishers, dubbed as the greatest anglers, indicate the presence of clear waters which are nowhere to be found near Yamuna. The waterfowl species like duck or goose species, irrespective of the season are not to be found. Even egrets and herons which would be in the scores are countable on your hands and often missing contrary to their round the year presence. Crows, Mynas, Pigeons, Bulbuls are widespread across Delhi. They are supposedly urban birds found where there is less vegetation. Crows are a menace near the garbage dumps that lie unattended in the open by civic authorities. Sparrows have become so rare in the city, it is in itself a story of the plight of urbanisation that has afflicted the diversity of birds. Ideally one should spot woodpeckers, hornbills, barbets, which of course aren’t absent totally but are not found in good numbers, often only heard in cities. In conclusion, what kind of birds indicates a lot about local biodiversity and cleanliness. Sophisticated instruments may measure the parameters of pollution but birds map the health of an ecosystem. Also their gradual adaptation to an ecosystem indicates the kind of improvements and eco-restoration efforts being employed by the stakeholders to curb pollution and other ill effects of urbanisation. Birds are so vital in the aforementioned regards that you cannot ignore their role in nature. And so those chirps do have purport and implications, all we need is their proper interpretation!

Pope Francis appointed Frances H. Arnold, a Nobel-winning chemical engineer from the United States, to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Arnold, 63, is the Linus Pauling professor of chemical engineering, biochemistry and bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology and director of its bioengineering center. Her appointment to the papal think tank was announced by the Vatican Oct. 24. Born in Pittsburgh, Arnold was the co-recipient of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering use of the directed evolution of enzymes… Continue reading. Directed evolution has been used to create an enzyme that is capable of forming carbon–carbon bonds in a way that no natural enzyme can. The team, which includes directed evolution pioneer and 2018 chemistry Nobel laureate Frances Arnold, hopes that this strategy can be used to selectively functionalise C–H bonds in a more environmentally friendly manner without the need for precious metals. C–H activation is regarded as one of the most important strategies in molecular synthesis, as it can unlock a wide range of organic molecules to make drugs and new materials. However, selectively functionalising C–H bonds is a complicated challenge that is usually carried out with precious metal catalysts under harsh conditions in organic solvents… Continue reading. Since 1901, when the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was first awarded, 177 people have captured the honor. On Wednesday, Frances H. Arnold became only the fifth woman to be awarded the prize. Dr. Arnold, 62, an American professor of chemical engineering, bioengineering and biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, earned the award for her work with the directed evolution of enzymes. She shared this year’s chemistry Nobel — worth close to $1 million — with George P. Smith, 77, and Gregory P. Winter, 67. Dr. Arnold received half of the prize, and Dr. Smith and Dr. Winter split the other half… Continue reading. For pioneering research on biofuels and chemicals that could lead to the replacement of pollution-generating materials. Frances Arnold has never cared much for ‘tradition.’ As a high schooler, she moved into her own apartment and paid the bills as a waitress and cab driver. As a chemical engineer and biochemist, she has found a groundbreaking way to harness her fierce independence and drive to succeed. Arnold specializes in the creation of new proteins with an eye towards those that have applications in medicine and clean energy. What makes her stand out in her field is that rather than meticulously create proteins piece by painstaking piece, Arnold has come up with a way to take over from nature and direct evolution.. Continue reading.

All County Environmental & Restoration, California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) licensee, implements protocols for disinfecting commercial properties. All County Environmental & Restoration is dedicated in minimizing the spread of disease and promoting health through organized pro-active cleaning and disinfecting efforts. Our goal is destruction of infectious diseases rather than treatment. 80% of all infections in the U.S. are spread indirectly through hand contact of infected surfaces, which All County focuses on indirect contact surfaces. The cleaning and disinfectant products used by All County are EPA registered, and carry a USDA rating effective against serious public health risks, also environmentally friendly, non-toxic, and bio-degradable, which ensures a greener healthier planet. 100% Effective Against Rubella (German Measles) Staphylococcus aureaus (MRSA) Shigella sonneiH1N1 Virus Hepatitis B & C Virus Human Corona Virus Intermediate Resistant (VISA) ESBL Escherichia coli Canine Distemper Virus Avian Influenza Virus Herpes Simplex Virus 1 & 2 Influenza Type A/Brazil Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) (the Athlete’s Foot Fungus) Newcastle’s Disease Virus Extremely Effective on Semi-Nonporous Surfaces: Lunch Areas, Walls, Playgrounds Pre-Schools/Day Care Centers Outdoor Playing and Eating Areas Outdoor Activity and Eating Areas Entrances and Shopping Carts |Food Service Facilities| Outside Eating Areas and Grounds Commercial/Residential & Industrial Buildings Warehouse Floors and Parking Lots What is a coronavirus? The new virus is a type of a coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that can cause a range of symptoms including a runny nose, cough, sore throat and fever. Some are mild, such as the common cold, while others are more likely to lead to pneumonia. They’re usually spread through direct contact with an infected person. The coronavirus gets its name from the crown-like spikes on its surface, according to the CDC. (Corona is Latin for crown.) Including the newly identified form of the virus, there are a total of seven coronaviruses that can infect humans, the CDC says. Other well-known coronaviruses include SARS and MERS. The new virus causes a disease called COVID-19, which stands for coronavirus disease 2019, the year it was discovered. What are the symptoms? Key symptoms to watch for include fever, cough and shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. However, the illness can also cause body aches, sore throat, vomiting and diarrhea. Up to 80 percent of those who become infected appear to have mild symptoms and may not even know they’re sick. But in severe cases, the illness can cause pneumonia, kidney failure and death, according to the World Health Organization. Who is most at risk? By far, the elderly — especially people over age 80 with underlying medical conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes or lung diseases — are most vulnerable to complications of the coronavirus. It’s why the American Health Care Association recently released guidelines limiting visits to nursing homes and other assisted living facilities to curb the spread of illness. Very few children have been diagnosed, and even in those cases, symptoms have been mostly mild. How does the coronavirus spread? The coronavirus is spread through respiratory droplets when a sick person coughs or sneezes. People within 6 feet of an infected individual are most at risk for inhaling these droplets. Download the NBC News app for full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak A person could also become infected through contact with the virus particles on a surface, though it’s unknown how long the new coronavirus can survive on surfaces outside of the body. Research has shown that other coronaviruses can survive on hard surfaces for hours to days. If an infected person sneezes or coughs onto a surface, such as a countertop or doorknob, and another person touches that surface and then rubs his or her eyes or nose, for example, the latter may get sick. How long does it take for someone to get sick? The new coronavirus’s incubation period — meaning the time it takes from a person being infected with the virus to when they start showing symptoms — appears to be anywhere from two to 14 days, though the average amount of time it takes a person to get sick is about five days, according to the World Health Organization. It’s unclear whether a person is contagious during the incubation period. How can I prevent coronavirus? One of the simplest prevention measures a person can take is proper hand-washing. The CDC recommends washing hands with soap and water before eating, after using the bathroom, and after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing, and before and after caring for a sick friend or a family member. The most effective way to clean hands is to wet them with clean water, then apply soap and scrub for at least 20 seconds, before rinsing and drying with a clean towel. Soap helps lift germs from the surface of the skin, but it’s the scrubbing that gets germs off hands. Hand sanitizer is a good alternative, but it must have at least 60 percent alcohol to be effective, according to the CDC. What else can I do besides washing my hands? Perhaps the best way to prevent the spread of the coronavirus is to keep sick people separated from healthy people.

When government fails, public-sector unions win. When society fragments, public-sector unions consolidate their power. When citizenship itself becomes less meaningful, and the benefits of American citizenship wither, government unions offer an exclusive solidarity. Government unions insulate their members from the challenges facing ordinary private citizens. On every major issue of our time; globalization, immigration, climate change, the integrity of our elections, crime and punishment, regulations, government spending, and fiscal reform, the interests and political bias of public-sector unions is inherently in conflict with the public interest. Today, there may be no greater core threat to the freedom and prosperity of the American people. In the age of talk radio, the Tea Party movement, internet connectivity, and Trump, Americans finally are mobilizing against the uniparty to take back their nation. Yet the threat of public-sector unions typically is a sideshow, when it ought to occupy center stage. They are the greatest menace to American civilization that nobody seems to be talking about. Ask the average American what the difference is between a government union, and a private sector union, and you’re likely to be met with an uncomprehending stare. That’s too bad, because the differences are profound. While America’s labor movement has always included in its ranks varying percentages of crooks, Communists, and thugs, it derived its mass appeal based on legitimate and often compelling grievances. Most of the benefits American workers take for granted—certainly including overtime pay, sick leave, and safe working conditions—were negotiated by private sector unions. Over time, private sector unions overreached, negotiating pay and benefits packages that became unsustainable as foreign manufacturers slowly recovered from the devastation of World War II and became competitive. The diminished influence of private sector unions parallels the decline in American manufacturing, a decline only partially caused by insufficient flexibility on the part of union negotiators in a changing world. Properly regulated, private sector unions may still play a vital role in American life. Differences Between Public and Private Sector Unions Public-sector unions are a completely different story. If Americans fully understood the differences between public and private sector unions, public-sector unions would probably be illegal. Public-sector unions do not negotiate with management accountable to shareholders, but instead with politicians whom they help elect and, therefore, are accountable to the unions. Moreover, politicians, unlike corporate executives, typically occupy their offices for shorter periods of time. And politicians, unlike corporate executives, don’t own shares that might be devalued after they leave office due to decisions they made while in office. Not only are politicians far more accountable to the unions they negotiate with than to the people they serve, but the consequences of giving in to outrageous demands from public-sector unions are much less immediate and personal for the politicians. When a corporate executive gives in to union demands that are unsustainable, the corporation goes out of business. Union negotiators know this, and in the private sector, the possibility of business failure tempers their demands. But the survival of government agencies doesn’t depend on efficiently competing in a market economy where consumers voluntarily choose to purchase their product or service. When government agencies incur expenses that exceed revenues, they raise revenues by increasing taxes. Consumers have no choice but to pay the higher taxes or go to jail. If electing their own bosses and compelling taxpayers to guarantee revenue sufficient to fulfill their demands weren’t enough, public-sector unions have another advantage denied private sector unions. They operate the machinery of government. Their members run our public schools, our transportation agencies, our public utilities, our administrative bureaucracies including code enforcement and construction permitting, our public safety agencies; everything. This confers countless unique advantages. Depending on the intensity of the issue, the percentage of unionized government employees willing to use their positions as influencers, educators, gatekeepers, and enforcers may vary. But within the permanent bureaucracy of government, it doesn’t take a very large minority of committed operatives to wield decisive power. Public-sector unions epitomize the establishment. Politicians come and go. But like the deep state, public-sector unions are permanent, embedded in the bureaucracy, running the show. How Public-Sector Unions Arose While the rise of public-sector unions paralleled the rise of the private sector labor movement in the United States, it lagged behind by decades. Apart from the postal workers’ unions that emerged in the late 19th century, or the Boston police strike of 1919—which was decisively suppressed by then-Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge—there wasn’t much support for public-sector unions in the early 20th century. During the 1930s, as private sector unions acquired federal protections via the Wagner Act of 1935, public-sector unions remained unusual apart from the postal workers. Historians disagree about President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s position on public-sector unions, but it is reasonably clear that even if he did support them, he did not think they should have the degree of protection afforded private sector unions. His most quoted remark on the topic was in a 1937 letter to the president of the National Federation of Federal Employees: All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters. Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of Government employees. Upon employees in the Federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole people, whose interests and welfare require orderliness and continuity in the conduct of Government activities. This obligation is paramount. Since their own services have to do with the functioning of the Government, a strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable. The fact that FDR, a pro-labor Democrat, had a nuanced position on public-sector unions, believing that collective bargaining had “distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management,” ought to be strong evidence that they are problematic. Not quite 20 years later, in 1955, none other than George Meany, founder and long-time president of the AFL-CIO, flatly stated that it was “impossible to bargain collectively with the government,” and that the AFL-CIO did not intend to reach out to workers in that sector. But where common sense and propriety inhibited some of the most illustrious supporters of organized labor from unionizing the public sector during the first half of the 20th century, circumstances changed during the century’s latter half. Corruption, opportunism, and a chance to achieve decisive power for the Democratic Party gave rise to new laws that enabled unionized government. The modern era of public sector unionism began in the late 1950s. Starting in Wisconsin in 1958, state and local employees gradually were permitted to organize. Today, there are only four states that explicitly prohibit collective bargaining by public employees, and only 11 additional states place any restrictions on collective bargaining by public employees. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 7.2 million employees in the public sector belonged to a union in 2018, compared with 7.6 million workers in the private sector. Union membership among public-sector workers is more than five times higher (33.9 percent) than that of private-sector workers (6.4 percent). After a slow start, public-sector unions now wield far more power than their private-sector counterparts. How Public-Sector Unions Fought for Clinton in 2016 Everyone knows that in 2016, Donald Trump—and Bernie Sanders, for that matter—were not “establishment” candidates. But what is that? America’s so-called establishment today is a political alliance favoring bigger, more authoritarian government at all levels—local, state, federal and international. It unites transnational corporations, global financial interests, and government unions. It is an alliance that finds its primary support from members of these elites and the professional classes who serve them, and acquires a critical mass of additional popular support by pandering to the carefully nurtured resentments of anyone who is deemed a member of a “protected status group.” While “protected status groups” now include nearly everyone living everywhere in America, those people living in urban areas are more susceptible to the union-sponsored propaganda of identity politics, because they are more exposed to it. For over a generation, especially in California’s urban centers, but also in Chicago, Seattle, Miami, New York City, and hundreds of other major American cities, government unions have exercised nearly absolute control over the political process. This extends not only to city councils but also to county boards of supervisors, school boards, and special districts ranging from transit systems to departments of water and power. Most government funding is spent at this local level. Most government jobs are at this local level. And the more local these jurisdictions get, the more likely it is that only the government unions have the money and the will to dominate the elections. In America’s cities, where the union agenda that controls public education trains Americans to be hypersensitive to any alleged infringements on their “identity,” big government is presented as the guardian of their futures and their freedoms. In America’s cities, where poor education combined with over-regulation has resulted in a paucity of good jobs, welfare and entitlement programs are presented as the government’s answer. And the more poverty and social instability we have in America, the bigger government gets. Take another look at this map that depicts the absolute vote margins by county in 2016. From viewing this map, it is evident that the split that was exposed on November 8, 2016, was not simply urban versus rural. It was government union-controlled areas versus places relatively free of government union influence. From the above map, only a few places stand out as decisive factors in Clinton’s popular vote victory—Seattle, Miami, New York City, and most prominently, Los Angeles and Chicago. In Los Angeles County, Clinton received 1,893,770 votes versus 620,285 for Trump. In Chicago’s Cook County, Clinton received 1,528,582 votes versus 440,213 for Trump. Let that sink in for a moment. If just a few blue counties—not blue states, blue counties—were taken out of the equation, the popular vote would have been a toss-up. The political systems and the public schools in all of these blue counties are controlled, many informed observers would say absolutely, by public-sector unions. Government Union Agenda vs. the Public Interest It would be cynical and unfair to suggest that politically savvy members and leaders of public-sector unions are consciously supporting policies that undermine America’s democracy, prosperity, freedoms, and culture. But that’s what’s happening. It doesn’t matter all that much what union members and leaders think; the institutional momentum of their organizations have this effect. The primary agenda of a government union, like any organization, is to survive and thrive. For government unions, this means to acquire more members, collect more dues, and acquire more power and influence. The only way this can be accomplished is for government to expand. This is where government union reform should be a nonpartisan issue. Because even big-government advocates have the expectation that expanded government programs will be effective. But government unions actually become more prosperous and more powerful when government fails—and, for that matter, when society fails. The worse things get, the more calls there are for new government programs to solve them. The bigger the crisis, the greater the opportunity. And at the forefront of these calls for bigger government to solve every problem are the government unions, using all of their considerable power and influence to make the call. We see this at the local level all the time. Thousands of local tax and bond measures are placed on ballots across the nation every election cycle, as well as between elections, during primary season, and in special elections. Opposing these proposed new taxes and bonds are the usual hardscrabble assortment of local anti-tax activists; typically a handful of volunteers with almost no money. Supporting these new taxes and bonds are public-sector unions, with standing armies of professionals and, for all practical purposes, unlimited funds. Also supporting the new taxes are the private contractors that stand to gain from the increased spending, as well as the government bureaucrats themselves, who use municipal budgets to fund “information outreach” to voters. But for these unions, the victory is sealed when the new taxes and bonds are approved. If the new revenue they collect and spend fails to solve the problem, it doesn’t really matter. At the state and national level, it is easy to see the influence of government unions corrupts public policy. Immigration and climate change are core issues where the inherent interests of government unions are in conflict with the public interest. Immigration to the United States in the 21st century should consist of highly skilled and highly educated immigrants, since America already has millions of unskilled residents who need to choose jobs over welfare. But while the American people would benefit by inviting scientists, engineers, and doctors to immigrate and fill advanced positions for which there is a shortage of qualified applicants, it would not benefit government unions. The more difficulty America has in assimilating newcomers, the more government jobs are created. If immigrants don’t speak English, public schools must hire teachers with foreign language certifications. If they live in poverty, public schools must develop free-meal programs. If these immigrant communities fail to achieve the educational results that make them employable, the government will need more social workers and welfare administrators. If the ongoing poverty breeds higher crime rates, more police, judges, bailiffs, prison guards, and probation officers are the answer. The worse things get, the more government employees and government benefits become necessary. And, of course, as these communities fail to become prosperous, they are taught by leftist, unionized social studies teachers that it’s not their responsibility, but rather the fault of their white male oppressors, and they’d better vote for Democrats in order to guarantee their reparative handouts. And to enforce “diversity” quotas—unionized government bureaucrats. With climate change, the conflict between government unions and the public interest is equally stark. Here again, there is also a strong connection between connected government contractors and the public-sector unions. Instead of building subsidized housing, special needs school facilities, and more prisons—which come with marginally assimilable immigrants—these contractors supply solar farms, wind farms, “smart” appliances, and everything else that comes with mandated climate change mitigation. It doesn’t matter if any of these mandates accomplish anything, so long as profits are made. And overseeing it all are the government unions, who hire more code inspectors, environmental consultants, and a byzantine monitoring and enforcement bureaucracy. While immigration and climate change are core drivers of government union endorsed government expansion, they aren’t the only factors. In every area of policy and spending, government unions benefit when things are harder for ordinary families and small businesses. In all areas, taxes, borrowing, spending, and regulations, the more there is, the more the government unions benefit. The Financial Power of Public-Sector Unions One of the primary reasons government union activists exercise influence disproportionate to their numbers is because behind these activists are billions of dollars in annual dues, collected from government payroll departments across the nation. In California alone, government unions collect and spend nearly $1 billion a year. Nationwide, government union revenues are estimated to total at least $6 billion per year. Apart from private sector unions, no other political special interest enjoys access to a guaranteed, perennial torrent of money of comparable magnitude. This money is not just spent on federal elections; most of it is directed at tens of thousands of state and local election campaigns. With this perpetual torrent of funding, fueled almost exclusively through membership dues, government unions engage the permanent services of the finest professionals money can buy. While much of their spending is explicitly political, even more is spent on community organizing and “educational” advocacy which is not reportable as political spending. Thousands of lobbyists, political consultants, grassroots organizers, public relations firms, opposition researchers, academic researchers, and other freelancers are on-call to these unions. If you study money in politics, you soon realize there is a rough parity between major political donors who contribute to causes and candidates on the Right versus those who contribute to the Left. But the election of Donald Trump in 2016 revealed the so-called Right to be nearly as bad as the Left, as libertarians and NeverTrump Republicans abandoned their base. This abandonment was especially obvious among donors, whose only apparent unifying political theme was lower taxes for wealthy people. Trump and his supporters exposed the libertarian and NeverTrump Right for being just as committed as the establishment Left was to importing workers to drive down wages and exporting jobs to increase corporate profits. As a result, donations to Republicans, while remaining roughly at parity with donations to Democrats, were for the most part not supporting an America First agenda. An illustration of how this schism within the American Right, and especially among big libertarian donors, persisted into the 2018 midterms is exemplified by their withdrawal of key financial support for pro-Trump candidates. And here’s where the union money becomes decisive. Into the political conflict between Left and Right, between Democrat and Republican, into a battle for financial supremacy already skewed, because half the Republican donors are now exposed as being more committed to a uniparty establishment than to Republican voters, ride the unions. And almost all of the union money goes to Democrats. The lack of parity in political power and political advocacy becomes further lopsided when accounting for the role of nonprofits and government bureaucracies. Much has been made of the educational nonprofits supposedly beholden to right-wing donors. Their collective spending is indeed impressive, led by heavyweights like the Heritage Foundation, along with well-known stalwarts such as the Cato Institute, the Reason Foundation, and several others at the national level along with a growing number of state focused organizations such as the many member organizations of the State Policy Network. But contrary to the wailing of the establishment media and left-wing pundits, the influence of these organizations is overstated. First, many of them must adhere to orthodox libertarian principles in order to keep their donors. This makes them useless on immigration and trade, which are two of the defining issues of our time. Second, because arrayed against these organizations is the entire rest of the nonprofit universe, which while mostly self-declared as nonpartisan, is in reality a part of that great mass of establishment organizations that have reached a consensus on open borders, “free” trade, and climate change activism consistent with the big government coalition: corporations, government unions, and the financial sector. To provide one example, the combined budget of just a partial list of the major U.S.-based environmentalist nonprofits and foundations totaled over $4 billion per year as of 2018. The Financial and Cultural Consequences of Unionized Government Spokespersons for government employee unions perpetuate a myth of staggering absurdity and tragic consequences—that they are protecting hard-working Americans from wealthy corporations and wealthy individuals. The reality is that government employee unions are focused on one thing: expanding government employee pay, benefits, and privileges. This requires expanding government, and that priority comes in front of everything else, including the cost to society at large. In states where government unions have taken control, such as California, expansive environmentalist regulations have made prices for housing and utilities the highest in the nation. In California, America’s poster child for union control, excessive compensation packages for unionized government workers have resulted in chronic deficits and accumulating state and local government debt that by some measures already exceeds $1.5 trillion. High taxes and over-regulation have made California consistently rank as the most inhospitable place in the nation to run a small business. Exactly how does any of this protect the poor from the wealthy? It doesn’t, of course. But the deeper story is how government employee unions are not only failing to “protect” the aspiring multitudes in California, or anywhere else in America, but are in fact enabling the wealthy special interests they claim to protect us from. The most entrenched and massive corporate entities are not harmed by excessive regulations, because they can afford to comply. An obvious example would be calls to increase the minimum wage– a movement almost exclusively restricted to states with powerful public-sector unions. Large corporate entities like McDonald’s will simply automate a few positions, tinker with the menu and recipes, incrementally raise prices, and go forward. Large corporations can hire attorneys and lobbyists, they have access to capital, and when the smaller players go out of business they gain market share. They benefit from over-regulation, but the consumer and workers suffer. Less obvious but far more consequential is how the financial sector also benefits from an overbuilt, financially irresponsible, unionized government. When excessive rates of pay and benefits consume government budgets, financial institutions step up to extend debt. Bond underwriters collect billions each year in fees to issue new debt and refinance existing debt. When excessively generous pension plans are granted to unionized government employees, pension funds pour hundreds of billions into Wall Street investment firms, earning additional billions in fees. As for “carbon emissions auctions,” also rolling out inexorably in blue states, as that ramps up, virtually every BTU of fossil fuel energy consumed will put a commission into the hands of a financial intermediary. Trillions are on the table. Unionized government hides behind environmentalism to justify increasing pay and benefits over-investment in infrastructure—which after all is environmentally incorrect. As the cost-of-living inevitably rises through artificial constraints on the supply of land and energy, the unionized government workers negotiate even higher pay and benefits to compensate, and the corporate monopolies that control existing supplies of land and energy get more revenue and profit. And of course the resultant asset bubble is healthy both for pension funds and wealthy investors, even as low and middle-class private-sector workers are priced out of owning homes—or even automobiles—and struggle to make ends meet. It is crucial to perceive the irony. Government unions empower the worst elements of the capitalist system they persistently demonize. The crony capitalists and speculative financial interests benefit from an overbuilt, over-regulating, state and local government populated with overpaid unionized workers. Those virtuous capitalists who want to compete without subsidies are successfully lumped together with these robber barons, discrediting their support for reform. Those small business owners who want to grow their enterprises are harassed and marginalized. If government employee unions were illegal, the most powerful political force in California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, and a host of other smaller blue states would cease to exist. But losing these government unions wouldn’t “turn government over to the corporations and billionaires.” Quite the opposite. It would take away the ability of those corporations and billionaires to collude with local and state government unions who currently control the lawmakers. It would force them instead to compete with each other, lowering the cost of living for everyone. It would restore balance to our debate over environmental policy, energy policy, and infrastructure investment. Wherever government unions become as powerful as they have become in California, their domain increasingly becomes a feudal state, where the anointed and compliant corporations build monopolies, government workers lead privileged lives, the rich get richer, the middle class diminishes, and the poor become dependent on government. Nobody who is serious about reversing California’s decline into feudalism—or America’s potential decline—can ignore the fundamental enabling role unionized government is playing. It is important to emphasize that the most ominous consequence of unionized government is its complicity in the asset bubbles that, if abruptly deflated, threaten to plunge the United States, if not the world, into a liquidity crisis. Government unions in the United States control the directorships managing trillions of dollars of public employee pension funds. These pension funds are the biggest single player in the U.S. equity markets. They are also major investors in real estate and bonds. One may argue all day as to just how inflated all these asset classes have become, but regardless of your stance on the question, one thing is indisputable: public employee pension funds are dangerously underfunded despite the fact that there has been a bull market in stocks, bonds, and real estate for over a decade. They will use all their influence to keep the bubbles inflated—and that includes ongoing support for extreme environmentalist regulations to create artificial scarcity of everything—houses, energy, water, food, commodities—buoying their prices which boosts profits, as well as mass immigration to create unmanageable demand for homes, also buoying prices and investor profits. The insatiable need for perpetually increasing asset values constitutes an identity of interests between public-sector unions, multinational corporations, and international investors and speculators that is as obscure as it is inviolable. Government Union Abuses That Provoke Bipartisan Opposition “Bipartisan” isn’t what it used to be. Now that America’s political establishment has been exposed as supporting with bipartisan unity, regardless of party, the policies of importing welfare recipients, exporting jobs, fighting endless wars, and micro-managing all forms of energy production under the pretext of saving the planet, the term “bipartisan” doesn’t evoke quite the same transcendent connotations it once did. With that noted, it remains true that with respect to public-sector unions, establishment Democrats are worse than establishment Republicans. When it comes to fighting the influence of public-sector unions, most Republicans lack the courage of their convictions, whereas most Democrats have no convictions at all. Two exemplary issues, however, have the potential to bring Republicans and Democrats together in opposition to public-sector unions. Those issues are public education and pensions. These issues are not only capable of fostering productive, bipartisan reform efforts, but that eventuality is almost inevitable because the status-quo is not sustainable. Public Education: In blue states, union control over public education is almost unassailable despite strong opposition. California’s failing school districts face insolvencycaused by a combination of administrative bloat and out-of-control costs for pensions and retirement health benefits. The academic achievement of California’s schools is hard to measure objectively. California’s average SAT score, 1076, places it in 34th place among states. According to a study sponsored by U.S. News and World Report, California’s K-12 system of public education was ranked 26th among states. But this average performance obscures a bigger problem in California’s union controlled public schools. Union work rules are causing the schools in the most vulnerable communities to get the worst teachers. In 2012 a coalition of mostly Democratsfiled a lawsuit, Vergara v. California, attempting to change these rules. Claiming that education was a civil right, they tried via litigation to revise three union work rules; tenure (a job for life) after only two years, dismissal rules (almost impossible to fire an incompetent teacher), and layoff rules (seniority over merit). The impact of these three rules was, and is, a relentless migration of the worst teachers into the worst performing schools, since they can’t be fired, but they can be transferred. View the closing argumentsof the plaintiffs for a compelling description of how these three union work rules are destroying California’s public schools. In 2016, after a favorable district court ruling, the appellate court ruled againstthe plaintiffs, and California’s Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal. The schools harmed the most by these corrupt union rules are those in the burgeoning low income immigrant neighborhoods of Los Angeles, where literally hundreds of thousands of children are denied a quality education. For better or for worse, these kids are America’s future. But who wins when society fails? The government unions win. As demographically ascendant low-income immigrant subcultures are permanently handicapped because their children got indoctrinated instead of educated, taxpayers will have to hire more unionized public servants to redistribute wealth and preserve the peace. The good news? Increasing numbers of Americans of all ethnicities and ideologies are realizing the impact of union controlled schools is denying future opportunities to a generation of children. The battle over charter schools, home schooling, and union work rules in traditional public schools is far from over. Public Employee Pensions: With pensions, reform is even more inevitable, because financial reality will compel reform. According to Pew Research, in 2016 state and local government pensions plans disclosed assets of just $2.6 trillion to cover total pension liabilities of $4 trillion. This understates the problem. These pension plans assume they can earn, on average, 7.5 percent per year on their invested assets, yet, as discussed, despite nearly a decade of a bull market in stocks, bonds, and real estate, these pension plans are less than 70 percent funded. Pension finance isn’t as complicated as the experts would have you believe. What “pension liabilities” refers to is how much money would have to be invested, today, for these pension plans to earn enough interest over time to eventually pay all of the future pension benefits that have been earned so far. Think of pension assets as a growing tree, nourished by the water and sun of investment earnings, supplemented by the fertilizer of regular taxpayer contributions, and pruned each year by the payments going to retirees. If this tree is less than 70 percent of the size it needs to be, then it’s going to get pruned faster than it can grow. Eventually, there won’t be any cuttings to provide pensions to retirees. For clarity, take the metaphor one step further. What if this undersized tree had been enjoying a decade of abundant water and sunshine—the generous investment returns of the bull market—but suddenly that changes, as it always has and always will? What if this undersized pension asset tree now has to endure years of drought and cloudy weather, stunting its growth at the same time as the pension payment pruning for retirees continue at the same pace? This is what America’s public employee pension funds are already confronting. The tree is too small, and in response more and more fertilizer—payments by taxpayers—have to be applied to keep it alive. This data compiled by the California Policy Center explains what’s coming: A city that pays 10% of their total revenues into the pension funds, and there are plenty of them, at an ROI of 7.5% and an honest repayment plan for the unfunded liability, should be paying 17% of their revenues into the pension systems. At a ROI of 6.5%, these cities would pay 24% of their revenue to pensions. At 5.5%, 32%.” To restate—according to this analysis, at a 5.5 percent annual return for the pension funds, 32 percent of total tax revenue would have to go straight into the coffers of the pension funds, just to keep them solvent. These are staggering conclusions. Only a few years ago, opponents of pension reform disparaged reformers by repeatedly asserting that pension costs only consumed 3 percent of total operating expenses. Now those costs have tripled and quadrupled, and there is no end in sight. The looming pension crisis is already uniting fiscal conservatives, who want smaller, financially sustainable government, and conscientious liberals, who want to protect their cherished government programs from being eliminated in order to pay the pension funds. And as out-of-control pension costs become a problem too big to ignore, it casts a spotlight on the entire question of overcompensation for unionized government employees. Government employees, on average, retire 10 years sooner and enjoy annual retirement benefits two to five times greater than private sector workers. In California, on average, they make twice as much in pay and benefitsduring the years they work, and veteran employees are eligible for as many as 58 paid days off per year, not including sick leave. A harrowing example of just how skewed political discourse has become can be found in the government union campaign against California’s Proposition 6, placed on the November 2018 ballot by tax reformers. The proposition was struck down by voters, who were barraged with union-funded flyers and television ads featuring a rugged firefighter, in uniform, explaining how public safety would be jeopardized if voters approved Prop. 6. But nobody told the rest of the story, how this firefighter, as readily verified by publicly available online data, made $327,491 in 2017. That’s only a bit unusual. The average firefighterin a California city in 2015 made $200,000 in pay and benefits. It would be interesting to compile more recent data. The number certainly has not fallen. Teachers and firefighters are our heroes. They are our role models. But the best among them are unrecognized, because the worst among them are not only nearly immune to being fired, but make exactly as much money as the best. The only thing that matters is seniority. It is likely that the finest teachers are underpaid. But overall, and especially with respect to the cost of retirement benefits, unionized public employees are overpaid, and the cost is becoming too much to bear. These two issues, quality schools and financially sustainable pensions, represent the wedge that could eventually roll back, if not break the power of public-sector unions. Everyone cares about public schools, because their success or failure governs our children’s future. Everyone cares about public employee pensions, or will care, because if they aren’t reformed, they will bankrupt our cities, counties and states. The primary reason public schools are underperforming, and the primary reason public-sector pensions are not reformed, is because public-sector unions fight reform at every turn. But all their power cannot deceive voters forever. Change is coming. In June 2018, in the landmark case of Janus v. AFSCME, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public sector employees cannot be compelled to pay anything to unions as a condition of employment, not even the so-called agency fees. In the months leading up to this case, public-sector unions made Janusout to be a catastrophe in the making, fueled by “dark money” and poised to destroy the labor movement. In the months prior to the Janus decision, the mainstream press played up the panic. The Economistreported that “Unions are confronted with an existential threat.” The Atlantic went with “Is This the End of Public-Sector Unions in America?” Even the Wall Street Journal was caught up in the drama, publishing a report with the ominous title “Supreme Court to Decide Fate of public-sector unions.” Maybe some union officials actually thought an unfavorableJanusruling would destroy their organizations, but more likely, they saw it as an opportunity to rally their base and consolidate their power. The Janus ruling has come and gone, but public-sector unions are as powerful as ever. In ultra-blue states such as California, they still exercise nearly absolute control over the state legislature, along with the city councils and county boards of supervisors in nearly every major city and county. Their control over school boards is also almost absolute. In a just world, public-sector unions would be outlawed. Until then, their agenda and their impact must be exposed for all to see. This pattern repeats itself across the United States, especially in ultra-blue states. For example, following the 2018 midterms, fourteen states had democratic “trifectas,” where Democrats controlled both houses of the state legislature, plus the governorship. These would include the powerhouse states of California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Illinois, along with Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Delaware. These states have one overwhelming political variable working in their favor—the politics of their major urban centers are dominated by public-sector unions. It has been long enough since the Janus decision to assess the initial impact. As of July 2018, unions could no longer collect “agency fees” from workers who didn’t want full membership. Comparing monthly payroll deductions from early 2018 to those from late 2018, one analysis indicated the unions were not very successful in converting these agency fee payers to full members. It is likely that the impact on public-sector unions based on losing their agency fee payers may have caused their revenue to decline by between five and ten percent. That’s a lot of money. Or is it? In almost any other context, reducing the annual revenue of a network of political players by somewhere between $300 and $600 million per year would be a catastrophe for the organizations involved. But these are public-sector unions, which still have well over $5 billion per year to work with. Losing most of their agency-fee payers clearly had a permanent and significant impact on union revenues, but for them, and only them, it might be most accurately described as a one-time loss of manageable proportions. The bigger impact that the Janusruling might have regards what is going to happen to their rates of full membership. It is now possible for public-sector union members to quit their unions. But will they? And if they want to, will the unions be forced to make that an easier process? Some of the tactics the unions have adopted to make the process of quitting more difficult are being challenged in court. These cases would include Uradnik v. IFO, which would take away a public-sector union’s right to exclusive representation, or Few v. UTLA, which would nullify many steps the unions have taken to thwart the Janusruling. How those cases play out, and whether or not public-sector unions can remain accountable enough to their members to keep them in voluntarily, remains to be seen. Public-Sector Unions and America’s Future With America’s electorate split almost evenly between Republicans and Democrats, between liberals and conservatives, between socialists and capitalists, between Right and Left—however you want to express those polarities, it doesn’t take much to alter the equilibrium. But wherever you identify powerful forces shifting the balance, you find the public-sector unions are the puppeteer. Should America import millions of highly skilled immigrants whose children will excel in public schools no matter what? Of course not. Private success requires no public money. Should America reform its financial house of cards before a liquidity crisis crashes the global economy? No. Because pension solvency requires asset bubbles. Should public-private partnerships fund new infrastructure so private investors can competitively develop new cities on America’s vast reserves of open land? Not a chance. Artificial scarcity keeps property tax revenues up, and helps prop up the real estate asset bubble. Should incompetent bureaucrats and teachers be fired? No, because the union protects them. To understand how intractable this problem has become, it’s worthwhile not only to identify the differences between public and private sector unions, but also the differing philosophies that guides them. To be sure, these structural differences are profound: unlike private-sector unions, public-sector unions elect their own bosses, are funded through coercive taxes instead of competitively earned profits, are rewarded by inefficiency and failure which they use as justification to expand government, and operate the machinery of government, which allows them unique powers to harass their opponents. But these structural differences need to be viewed in the context of the ideological differences between unionized workers in the public and private sectors. These ideological differences are not absolute, but they are nonetheless very real and impact the political agenda of public-sector unions versus private sector unions. There are at least three areas of ideological differences: Authoritarian vs. Market Driven: Workers for the government exercise political power, whereas workers in the private sector exercise economic power. A private sector union can cause a company to go out of business, an economic threat, whereas a public sector union can cause their manager—the elected politician—to lose their next election, a political threat. This basic difference makes if far more likely that private sector union workers will have a better appreciation of the limits of their power, since if their demands have a sufficiently adverse economic effect on the company they’re negotiating with, that company will go out of business and they will lose their jobs. Another related manifestation of the authoritarian core ideology among government workers is the simple fact that the government compels people to pay taxes and provides only one option for services, whereas corporations must persuade consumers to voluntarily purchase their products if they want to stay in business. Private-sector union members understand this difference quite well, because they live with the consequences if their company fails in the market. Environmentalist Restriction vs. Economic Development: Workers in the private sector benefit from major construction projects and resource development. These projects create new jobs, and they yield broad societal benefits in the form of more competitive choices available for basic resources; energy, water, transportation, and housing. When more development occurs, this increases supply and lowers prices. Development creates jobs and lowers the cost of living. Private sector union members understand this, but public sector union members have an inherent conflict of interest. This is because public sector workers benefit when roadblocks are placed in the way of development. An extended process of permitting and review, labyrinthine regulations impacting every possible aspect of development, creates jobs in the public sector. The harder the public sector can make it to build things, the more fees they will collect and the more government jobs they will create. Ironically, the public-sector unions have an identity of interests with the most powerful monopolistic corporations on earth in this regard, because they both benefit from barriers to competitive development. Private sector union members just want to see more jobs and a lower cost of living, which development ensures. Internationalist vs. Nationalist: This area of ideological differences between public and private sector unions is perhaps the least mentioned, and the most subject to overlap and ambiguity. But identifying this difference is crucial to understanding the differing agendas of public- and private-sector unions. For example, the ideological agenda of the unions controlling public education in the United States are dramatically out of touch with the values of a great many Americans. In states where public education is controlled by powerful teachers unions, classroom materials and textbooks routinely demonize the role of the United States and Western Civilization in current affairs and world history. Their emphasis is to mainstream the marginalized, at the expense of teaching the overwhelmingly positive role played by democracy and capitalism in creating freedom and wealth. Another critical example is how job losses to foreign manufacturers affect members of these respective unions; it has an immediate, deeply negative impact on members of private-sector unions, but is something that has no effect on a public-sector worker. Members of public-sector unions who consider themselves in favor of free markets and resource development, and harbor pro-American patriotic sentiments, would do well to examine carefully how the leaders of government employee unions have powerful incentives to promote policies in direct opposition to these values. And that is where there might be hope. The precarious equilibrium between Right and Left in America is maintained not only by virtue of powerful public-sector unions pushing as hard as they can in favor of the Left; public employees themselves constitute a critical swing vote in America’s electorate. Including federal workers, there are nearly 20 million government employees in America, and nearly all of them vote. If you include households with government workers in them, you likely could double that number. These Americans have a tough choice to make: Will they vote for more government, because more government will create more career opportunities for themselves and their loved ones, or will they only ask themselves what political choices will offer the most benefit to all Americans? Public employees, like all Americans, are awakening to the propaganda that passes as mainstream journalism. Despite rampant suppression of the truth, they can see what has happened to Europe thanks to mass immigration. Despite endless rhetoric coming from the press and public institutions, they realize that campus radicalism and identity politics are a nihilistic dead end. Despite nightly “news” that spends more time on celebrity gossip than global events, they can see the where socialism leads in the devastated nation of Venezuela. They’re even realizing that climate change activism is a cover for globalist rationing and wealth redistribution. They see the hypocrisy. Public-sector unions are the brokers and enablers of corporate power. As politicians come and go, and business interests rise and fall, they are the continuity, decade after decade. In every city and state where they’ve been allowed, they are the deep state. They are globalist instead of nationalist, authoritarian instead of pluralistic, they favor rationing and regulation over competitive development. They want to make everything harder, scarcer, more expensive. They prefer cultural disintegration and chaos to unity because it empowers them when things get bad. In a just world, public-sector unions would be outlawed. Until then, their agenda and their impact must be exposed for all to see. Content created by the Center for American Greatness, Inc. is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a significant audience. For licensing opportunities for our original content, please contact [email protected]. Photo credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Full course description Understanding the basics of microbial contamination issues in foods and food production facilities is one of the most important aspects to ensure implementation of better food safety practices. The course is structured as a combination of several modules covering overview of historical development of food microbiology and food safety, classification of microorganisms associated with food and their sources, growth and survival of microorganisms in food products, factors for microbial growth in food/food processing environments, etc. - Teach basic concepts of biological and microbial hazards associated with food products and processing facilities. - Identify the factors that affect the survival and growth of microorganism and the conditions of growth in food products. - Sequence in chronological order the historical growth of food microbiology as a scientific discipline and its association with food safety. - Detect 3 microorganisms that are associated with foods - Describe 3 methods of classification of microbes in foods - List 3 growth conditions of microorganisms. - Identify 3 factors associated with growth and prevalence of microorganisms. - Summarize in writing 3 sources of microorganisms found in different types of food and food products. This course is free and is 0.3 CEU.

PORTAL USER GUIDE The Line Map tool is useful for creating visualisations of a lines dataset. It is helpful if you want to distinguish and represent different categories or hierarchies within the same dataset. This tool is different to Display on Map in the Data pane (Data pane → Dataset → Spanner → Display on Map), which only allows you visualise the dataset as a whole (one single colour), but not differentiate the information within the data table. For this worked example, we will look at the different road typologies in Portland. To do this: - Select Portland SA2 (Australia → Victoria → Rest of Victoria → Warrnambool and South West → Glenelg – Southern Grampians → Portland) as your area. - Select OpenStreetMap – Lines (Australia) 2017 as your dataset, selecting all attributes. Now you are are ready to create a Line Map – follow the inputs instructions below to see how to do this. Now that you have added your dataset, you are ready to create a lines map. To do this, open the Line Map tool (Interactive Maps & Charts → Mapping Lines → Line Map) in the Visualise pane. This will bring up a range of fields that need to be populated. Enter your parameters as you see them below. - Select a dataset: Here you can choose which of the datasets you would like to display as a map. Select OpenStreetMap – Lines (Australia) 2018. - Select an attribute: This is the field that you want to map. If you want your map to make sense, and actually display the variable you are interested in, it is important to make sure you have selected the right attribute to map together with right classifier. Select Highway. - Select a classifier: Here we define how we break up our range of values in the attribute. Select Pre-classified. The other options are listed below: - Jenks (Natural Breaks): This breaks your data up into intuitive groups based on the shape of the distribution of values. - Quantiles: This breaks your groups up into quantiles of your attribute. - Equal Intervals: Like above, but breaks the numbers up into equal divisions of your attribute. - If your attribute is categorical – that is, if it is a description or a word (such as a land-use zone, or a name, or any kind of “string”) then the parameter will automatically set to Pre-classified. - Number of Classes: This slider allows you to define the number of breaks in your data (minimum of 3, maximum of 12). The number that you choose should depend on the distribution of your values, the number of data points (areas) and the information that you are trying to portray with your data. Select 12. - Select a palette type: Here you can choose the type of colour scheme for your data – Sequential, which shifts from a shade of one colour to another; Qualitative, where the colours are unique along the palette (used for Pre-classified); and Diverging, where colours shift to two colours from a central point along a natural spectrum. Select Qualitative. - Palette: This allows you to choose the actual colours of your palette (you can switch the ends of the palette around by clicking the Reverse Palette box at the bottom of the box. AURIN uses colours generated by Colour Brewer. Select Paired. - Default Opacity: This slider allows you to define how opaque your map is over the base map. 0.00 indicates completely transparent, 1.00 indicates completely opaque. Select 0.50. - Hover Opacity: This slider defines the opacity of the line when you run your cursor over it. Like above, 0.00 indicates completely transparent, 1.00 indicates completely opaque. Select 0.85. - Stroke/Line Width: This slider allows you to define how wide the lines will be. Select 1. - Reverse palette: This reverses the order of the colour in its palette which may be useful if you want its colours on opposing ends. Untick this box. - Hide Null Values: This will not give a class to any null values if they exist in your dataset. Untick this box. - Save Visualisation as: The default for this field is “[Attribute] -1” It’s a good idea to change the name of this to something that reflects the data, particularly if you plan on having multiple choropleth maps from different datasets. The name that you choose here will also be displayed in the legend automatically generated for your map. Type Road Typologies. Once you have selected your parameters click Add. Once you click Add on the input box, a map will appear automatically in your viewer which should look something like the map shown below. This map shows the different types of roads in Portland, for example, trunk, tertiary, residential, footway, etc. This type of analysis can provide a better understanding of accessibility, road hierarchy, type of traffic, including speed limits and can be very useful for urban planning and development, as well as policy creation.

Infrequent inundations of river floodplains during the growing season are known to have a stronger impact on plant distributions than annual flooding in the winter and early spring. Growing season responses to flooding may be explained by 1) direct effects of flooding on fully developed plants, and/or 2) indirect effects on vegetation mediated by soil nutrient availability. Nutrient availability, in turn, is the result of the effects of summer flooding on the microbial community that reacts to changes in soil moisture conditions. We employed a mesocosm experiment to test these ideas. Soil monoliths were obtained from a highly modified floodplain on the river Rhine (Netherlands) and a more pristine floodplain on the river Narew (Poland). Vegetation performance and soil nutrient availability were measured in the monoliths, which were exposed to a 14-day summer inundation. Flooding had a negative effect on plant biomass in the Dutch soils, while biomass remained unchanged on soils from the pristine Polish floodplain. This is probably related to the absence of summer flooding in the Dutch floodplains due to intensive river regulation the last century. Summer flooding is still common in the Polish situation where more original hydrology patterns remained. One month after 14-day inundation there was a decrease in species diversity (Shannon's H) in both systems. This decrease was caused by better performance of a few graminoid species. Pore water phosphate concentrations were higher in Dutch soils and reached the highest levels during inundation. Nitrate concentrations were also generally higher in the Dutch mesocosms, although during inundation concentrations were very low in both soil types. Differences in nutrient availability between soils were reflected in aboveground biomass tissue concentrations, yet biomass response was apparently not related to nutrient availability. We conclude that ecological rehabilitation in the Netherlands, i.e., return to a more natural hydrology, resulting in an increased incidence of summer inundation could lead to a short-term reduction in productivity and changes in patterns of species abundance and dominance. You have requested a machine translation of selected content from our databases. This functionality is provided solely for your convenience and is in no way intended to replace human translation. Neither BioOne nor the owners and publishers of the content make, and they explicitly disclaim, any express or implied representations or warranties of any kind, including, without limitation, representations and warranties as to the functionality of the translation feature or the accuracy or completeness of the translations. Translations are not retained in our system. Your use of this feature and the translations is subject to all use restrictions contained in the Terms and Conditions of Use of the BioOne website. Vol. 28 • No. 1

by Christian Perez When a history buff and old book collector becomes a birder in the Philippines, it was bound to happen: he will become interested with the history of Philippine ornithology, and write about it. This is how Christian came up with this review of publications on Philippine birds through the years, from the very first 1702 account all the way to the Kennedy guide in 2000. This is the first of a multi-part series of articles about Philippine bird books. This multi-part article reviews the major publications on Philippine birds throughout the years starting with the first Philippine bird list drawn in 1702. Some of the books I will review are dedicated to the Philippines while others include Philippine birds as part of a broader coverage. In this first part, I review three seminal works on Philippine birds from the 18th century. That century is also known in Europe as the age of enlightenment, a cultural movement of intellectuals emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition, and advancing knowledge through the scientific method. It promoted scientific thought, skepticism, and intellectual interchange. In that context European naturalists started to study the natural world as it was and to systematically describe the plants and animals of the world. 1. First Philippine Bird List: Georg Kamel (1702) The first account ever made on Philippine birds was a list prepared by Czech Jesuit missionary and botanist Georg Joseph Kamel (born 1661 in Brno – died 1706 in Manila). Entitled Observationes de Avibus Philippensibus, it was published in London in 1702 in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. It is interesting that at the time ornithology was considered a branch of philosophy! This clearly predates the age of enlightenment. Kamel became a Jesuit in 1682 and was sent to the Philippines in 1688. He established a pharmacy in Manila, the first in the country, where poor people were supplied with remedies for free. The flower genus Camellia was named after him. His six-page account is written in Latin and describes 71 kinds of birds. It is accessible in full on Internet here. Kamel uses Latin names for birds, but these are not scientific names as the binomial nomenclature was only introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1735 in his Systema Narurae. The concept of species had not yet been formulated, and Kamel simply described the different kinds of birds he observed. For those who can read Latin, it makes for an interesting read. It feels like a trip report made by a newbie birder without a bird reference book! Here is a tentative English translation of the first page: “Georg Joseph Kamel’s Observations of Philippine Birds as communicated to Jacob Petiver. - Ordinary hawk. Called Banog in Luzon, Gavilan in Spanish. Back and wings yellowish, belly white. - Large hawk. Called Banog, Sicub, Sicap or Lavin in Luzon. Brown, or also various parts of yellowish, white and black. - Small lake duck, barely the size of a fist. Called Saloyafir in Luzon. - Large royal duck. Papan in Luzon. - Domestic duck whose eggs the Chinese keep warm on the fire before they hatch. Ytic in Luzon. - Ordinary lake duck. Balivis in Luzon. - Heron. Called Garza in Spanish, Dangcangbac in Luzon. - Very white kind of heron. Talabong in Luzon. - Owl. Mochuelo is Spanish. Manonoctoc in Luzon. - Very small bird with varied plumage that lives from the flower nectar. Sivit in Luzon. - Other small bird larger than the previous one, of a kind similar to a lark. - Augural bird. Called Balatiti in Luzon. - Augural bird. Called Tigmamanucqin in Luzon. - Augural bird. Small with varied plumage, beak large and long. Salacsac in Luzon. Or perhaps a Kingfisher? - Bird that damages rice, the color of a partridge, a kind of snipe. Dchneppen in German. - Owl. Bubo in Spanish, Tigbobot in Luzon.” Kamel goes on to describe various kinds of hornbill, rail, pigeon, crow, quail, seagull, fowl, crane, swallow, blackbird, pelican, hoopoe, sparrow, parrot, starling, megapode and dove, in that order. Most birds deserve only one or two lines, but a whole page is dedicated to the Calao. It is likely that the birds were only observed in Manila and the nearby surrounding provinces. It has been claimed that this was the first bird list ever from outside Europe: “The Philippine Islands supplied the materials for the earliest memoir on exotic birds that has come down to us” (Hachisuka 1931). 2. Mathurin Brisson: Ornithologie (1760) The French scientist Mathurin Brisson (1723-1806) published a monumental six-volume work entitled Ornithologie in Paris in 1760 that described in Latin and in French all the birds of the world known at the time: 1336 species distributed over 115 genera, of which about 500 are illustrated with copper plates engraved by renowned French engraver and naturalist François-Nicolas Martinet. Brisson uses common names in French as well as scientific names. The six volumes are accessible on the Internet here. The book lists 35 Philippine birds described from specimens, of which 21 have been clearly identified as Philippine birds. The rest are difficult to identify or were identified as species that do not occur in the Philippines probably due to erroneous labelling of specimens. Some were duplicate descriptions of the same species. The identified species are (in the sequence of the book): Pink-necked Green Pigeon, King Quail, Balicassiao, Long-tailed Shrike, White-breasted Woodswallow, Coleto, Philippine Pied Fantail, Chestnut-cheeked Starling, Olive-backed Sunbird, Purple-throated Sunbird, Coppersmith Barbet, Common Koel, Philippine Cockatoo, Blue-naped Parrot, Colasisi, White-throated Kingfisher, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Buff-banded Rail, Slaty-breasted Rail, Barred Rail, Ruddy-breasted Crake and Spot-billed Pelican. An example of a possibly mislabeled bird is the “Merle des Philippines” with an illustration that clearly shows a Common Myna (see figure below), a bird that does not occur in the Philippines. Did it occur then, or was it an escapee, or is it just a case of wrong label? There were no birdwatchers as we know them at the time. Essentially, European travelers to the Philippines (or anywhere in the world) would hunt and kill birds, and keep specimens of all the types of birds they killed. Some of the travelers brought back the specimens for their own collection, but most were commissioned by European collectors to gather and bring back as many specimens as they could. Brisson himself did not travel and described specimens found in various existing collections in Paris. The collectors’ names are meticulously identified for each species described. As the hunters were not particularly scientifically minded, they would often be sloppy in labeling the specimens, which explain why several Philippine species in Brisson’s work turned out to be from other parts of the world. It also explains why there is little information if any about habitat, calls, and local names. The hunters were not gathering data, just dead birds. Brisson’s colossal work became the reference for birds of the world for more than a century after it was published. It figured in all the best libraries of European universities and in private libraries of wealthy families. Original Brisson prints turn up regularly on the antique market, but the complete six-volume set is now extremely rare. An original set realized about $30,000 at a recent Christie’s auction. 3. Pierre Sonnerat : Voyage à la Nouvelle Guinée (1776) The first substantial account dedicated to Philippine birds was written by French naturalist and explorer Pierre Sonnerat (1748-1814) who visited the Philippines in 1771-2 at the age of 23, and wrote about it in his book “Voyage à la Nouvelle Guinée” published in Paris in 1776. Although the title translates to “Travel to New Guinea”, it is a misnomer as the book is mostly concerned with the Philippines (126 out of 202 pages). Sonnerat landed in Cavite as all ships did at the time, and visited Manila, Laguna, Panay, and Zamboanga. Sonnerat provides detailed impressions of sceneries, towns and villages, and the people of the islands, and describes many trees, fruits, flowers, insects, and birds. The book can be viewed here on Google eBook. The Banded Bay Cuckoo Cacomatis sonneratii was named after Sonnerat and is called “Coucou de Sonnerat” in French. Sonnerat describes, names, and illustrates 57 species of Philippine birds. He gives the birds common French names and does not use the binomial nomenclature that had been introduced by Linnaeus in 1735. He mentions in the book that he was killing birds, but never relates any actual observation of birds in habitat. His physical descriptions are extremely detailed, but you will not find a word on local habitat, behavior and songs. He sometimes describes the habitat or behavior of similar European birds instead. He is often inaccurate with regard to location and erroneously describes as Philippine birds some specimens that were gathered from other parts of the world. Of the 57 Philippine birds described, about 25 have been identified as African or Indian species or have not been clearly identified. It is clear that the bird descriptions were written after his return to France from the specimens he brought with him. Many were specimens from Africa and India mislabeled as Philippines, perhaps gathered from previous or subsequent travels. The confirmed Philippine birds described in the book are, in that sequence: Luzon Bleeding-heart, Spotted Buttonquail, King Quail, White-breasted Woodswallow, Blue-headed Fantail, Yellow-vented Bulbul, White Wagtail, Olive-backed Sunbird, Purple-throated Sunbird, Collared Kingfisher, Guaiabero, Colasisi, Blue-naped Parrot, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Little Ringed Plover, Whimbrel, Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Common Emerald Dove, Long-tailed Shrike, Asian Glossy Starling, Barn Swallow, Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker, Asian Koel, Philippine Coucal, Plaintive Cuckoo, Visayan Hornbill, Bridled Tern, and Brown Noddy. One of the birds is “La Tourterelle grise ensanglantée de l’Isle de Luçon” (Grey Bleeding Dove of Luzon Island). His description fits perfectly that of the Luzon Bleeding-heart. Sonnerat also describes a bird he calls “La Tourterelle blanche ensanglantée de l’Isle de Luçon” (White Bleeding Dove of Luzon Island), a bird similar to the Bleeding-heart, except that it is all white with a bright red spot on the breast. It seems that Sonnerat observed an albino or a white morph Bleeding-heart. However I did not find any reference to an albino of white morph Bleeding-heart variety in subsequent and modern sources. An example of Sonnerat’s erroneous specimen labelling is Le Barbu de l’Isle de Luçon” (Luzon Island Barbet). It was later identified as “an African species, unknown in the Philippines, Pogonorynchus leucomelas” (Walden 1875), a bird now known as Pied Barbet Tricholaema leucomelas. A comparison of Sonnerat’s engraving and a picture of a Pied Barbet shows that Walden’s identification was certainly correct. This is clearly not a Coppersmith Barbet. In spite of its obvious limitations, Sonnerat’s book was to be a major reference for Philippine birds for almost 100 years. No complete and systematic list of known Philippine birds would be published until 1866, as we shall see in the following parts of this article. To be continued

Spoken language in the spotlight: Identifying pupils with speech, language and communication needs on No Pens Day No Pens Day Wednesday is a national day of speaking and listening activities in schools taking place on 13th November 2019. The event promotes spoken language and listening skills and their fundamental role in learning and life, but taking part can also help teachers to identify and support children with speech, language and communication needs. A study of inner London schools found that approximately 90% of talking in class is done by the teacher, with pupils contributing an average of four words each. It is therefore unsurprising that children’s speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) are often missed in the classroom. Unlike literacy and numeracy, oracy, or the ability to communicate effectively using spoken language, is not a central focus of the national curriculum. Yet good speech, language and communication skills are fundamental to learning to read, making friends, and later entering employment. It is too often assumed that speaking and listening are skills that children will simply pick up without being taught. However, for many children this is not the case. It is estimated that 10% of children in the UK have long-term, persistent language difficulties. When SLCN is unidentified, symptoms manifest as poor literacy, bad behaviour and difficulty socialising. Where silence is the sign of a well-controlled class, these children may simply ‘get by’ unnoticed. I CAN and The Communication Trust are calling on schools and settings across the country to put down their pens on 13th November and focus on learning through spoken language. No Pens Day Wednesday promotes the importance of spoken language skills and their impact on educational attainment, literacy, and social and emotional development. Taking part can also draw attention to the pupils who find verbal communication challenging. When preparing for the event, we encourage staff to refresh their knowledge on the typical development stages of speech and language skills. Understanding these can help you spot the warning signs of a child with SLCN. Whether they are struggling to pronounce particular speech sounds in words, or to use age-appropriate vocabulary and sentence structure, symptoms of SLCN can manifest at any age. No Pens Day activities can draw attention to potential speech and language difficulties that a child may be experiencing. Some children may be very quiet, use short sentences, or be difficult to understand. They may be slow to respond to spoken information or unable to follow instructions. When interacting with others, they may struggle to listen, take turns or make eye contact. In 2017, 80% of No Pens Day participants said that taking part raised their awareness of speech, language and communication needs. 19% reported they had identified pupils who were struggling with spoken language that they had not known about. Increasing awareness of children with SLCN is a crucial first step to supporting and developing their speech and language skills. By doing so, schools can help their pupils to fulfil their potential in education and later life. There is a wealth of tools and resources available to help schools support children with SLCN. To help you monitor a child’s spoken language, I CAN have developed progress checkers for different age groups. Visit The Communications Trust’s What Works to access a database of evidence-based interventions for children with SLCN. If you’re interested in training staff to boost children’s language skills, I CAN offer programmes for early years, primary and secondary pupils. To take part in No Pens Day and put spoken language skills in the spotlight, you can sign up to our mailing list here.

Hello, Oracle blog reader! My name is Joshua Brickman and I run Oracle's Security Evaluations team (SECEVAL). At SECEVAL we are charged with shepherding certain Oracle products through security certifications and accreditations, mostly for government use. Today in my initial blog I'd like to talk to you about cryptography (or crypto) as it relates to these government certifications. First a little history; crypto actually goes back to classical Rome. The Caesar Cipher was used by the Roman military to pass messages during a battle. In World War II, Germany was very successful encrypting messages utilizing a machine known as "Enigma." But when Enigma's secret codes were famously broken (due mostly to procedural errors) it helped to turn the tide of the war. The main idea of crypto hasn't changed though: only allow intended recipients to understand a given message—to everyone else it's unintelligible . Today's crypto is created by complex computer modules utilizing "algorithms." The funny thing about crypto is someone is always trying to break it — but usually using computers (also running complex programs). One of the U.S. government's approaches to combatting code breaking has been via the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) program maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST uses FIPS to publish approved algorithms that software needs to correctly implement in order to claim their products meet the FIPS standard. The FIPS standard defines acceptable algorithms; vendors implement their crypto to meet them. So why would technology vendors need to comply with this standard? Well FIPS "140-2" defines the acceptable algorithms and modules that can be procured by the US government. In fact NIST keeps a list of approved modules (implementations of algorithms) on their website. To get on this list of approved modules, vendors like Oracle must get their modules and algorithms validated. Unfortunately for many technology providers there isn't any alternative to FIPS 140-2 (version 2 of the current approved release) . FIPS 140-2 is required by U.S. government law if a vendor wants to do business with the government. The validation process is an expensive and time-consuming process. Vendors must hire a third-party lab to do the validation; most also hire consultants to write documentation that is required as a part of the process. The validation process for FIPS 140-2 requires that vendors prove they have implemented their crypto correctly against the approved algorithms. This proof is accomplished via these labs that validate each module is correctly implementing the selected algorithms. FIPS 140-2 has also been adopted by banks and other financial services. If you think about it, this makes a lot of sense: there is nothing more sensitive than financial data and banks want assurances that the crypto they depend on to protect it is as trusted as the safes that protect the cash. Interestingly, smart-card manufacturers also require FIPS: this is not a government mandate, but rather a financial industry requirement to minimize their fraud rates (by making the cost for criminals to break the crypto in smart cards too high for them to bother). Finally the Canadian government partners with NIST on the FIPS 140-2 program known as the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) and mirrors U.S. procurement requirements. All of this would be the cost of doing business with the US (and Canadian) governments except that there are a couple of elements that are broken. 1. Government customers who buy crypto technology require a FIPS 140-2 certificate of validation (not a letter from a lab or being on a list of "under validation"). In our experience, a reasonable timeframe for a validation is a few months. Unfortunately, after all of the work is completed, the final "reports" (which lead to the certificates) go into a black hole otherwise known as the "In Review" status. This is when the vendor, lab (and consultant) have done as much work as possible but are now waiting for both the Canadian and US governments to review the case for validation. The queue (as I write this blog) has been as long as nine months over the last couple of years. An Oracle example was the Sun Crypto Accelerator (SCA) 6000 product. On January 14, 2013 our lab submitted the final FIPS 140-2 report for the SCA6000 to NIST. Seven months later, we heard back our first feedback on our case for validation. We finally received our certificate on September 11, 2013. NIST is quite aware of the delays ; they are considering several options including but not limited to increasing fees to pay for additional contractors, pushing more work to labs and/or revising their review process--but they haven't announced any changes that might resolve the issue other than minor fee increases. From our point of view, it's really difficult to justify the significant investments required for these validations when you can't predict their completion. If you think about the shelf life of technology these days, a delay of say a year in a two year "life-span" of a product reduces the value to the customer by 50%. As a vendor we have no control over that delay, and unless customers are willing to buy invalidated products (and they can't by law in the U.S.) they are forced to use older products that may be missing key new features. 2. NIST also refers to outdated requirements under the Common Criteria. The FIPS 140-2 Standard references Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) directly when discussing eligibility for the various FIPS levels . However, due to current policies with the U.S. Scheme of the Common Criteria (National Information Assurance Partnership or NIAP), it is no longer possible to be evaluated at EAL3 or higher. This prevents any vendor from obtaining a FIPS 140-2 validation (of any software or firmware cryptographic module) at any level higher than Level 1. One example of an Oracle product that we would have validated higher than Level 1 is the Solaris Cryptographic Framework (SCF). Originally coded to be validated at FIPS Level 2, Oracle SCF was forced to drop its validation claim down to Level 1. This was because NIST's Implementation Guidance for FIPS 140-2 required that the Operating Systems be evaluated against a deprecated Common Criteria Protection Profile if vendors of crypto modules running on those OSs wanted the modules to be validated at Level 2. Unfortunately an older version of Solaris was Common Criteria evaluated against that deprecated Operating System Protection Profile. The version of SCF that we needed FIPS 140-2 validated didn't run on that old version of Solaris. Oracle had market demands that required a timely completion of its FIPS validation so a business decision was made to lower the bar. We've pointed out this contradiction (as I'm sure have other vendors) but at this writing the problem is still not resolved by NIST. Oracle is committed to working with NIAP and NIST to make both Common Criteria and FIPS 140-2 as broadly accepted as possible. U.S. and Canadian government customers want to buy products that meet the high standards defined by FIPS 140-2, and that many other security-conscious customers recognize. Along with many other vendors of crypto modules in our products, Oracle is very keen to see NIST's queue of work brought down to a level that would allow the longest shelf life for our validations. We also would like to see NIST and NIAP work together to align their policies and interpretations of standards to provide greater selection of strong cryptography. These current obstacles are providing a reduced choice of FIPS 140-2 validated products. If removed, there will be a larger number of FIPS 140-2 validated crypto modules available for purchase. Increasing choice of validated products for the US and Canadian governments can only contribute to improved national security. According to Webopedia, "Cryptography is the art of protecting information by transforming it (encrypting it) into an unreadable format, called cipher text. Only those who possess a secret key can decipher (or decrypt) the message into plain text. Encrypted messages can sometimes be broken by cryptanalysis, also called code breaking, although modern cryptography techniques are virtually unbreakable." "Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) are approved by the Secretary of Commerce and issued by NIST in accordance with the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA). FIPS are compulsory and binding for federal agencies. FISMA requires that federal agencies comply with these standards, and therefore, agencies may not waive their use." As noted in the summary of the recent first FIPS Conference, "...The current length of The Queue means that it can take developers many months to get their modules validated and hence available for procurement from federal agencies. In an increasing number of cases, products are obsolete or un-supported by the time the validation is finally documented. We heard how the unpredictability of The Queue is a problem too, since it greatly affects how developers can perform their marketing, sales and project planning." For example, http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips140-2/fips1402.pdf "Security Level 3 allows the software and firmware components of a cryptographic module to be executed on a general purpose computing system using an operating system that meets the functional requirements specified in the PPs listed in Annex B with the additional functional requirement of a Trusted Path (FTP_TRP.1) and is evaluated at the CC evaluation assurance level EAL3 (or higher)." There are four levels of FIPS, at level "1" all components must be "production grade" and level 2 adds requirements for physical tamper-evidence and role-based authentication. Levels 3 and 4 are typically for hardware. -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIPS_140

The creation of a database of English usage guides and usage problems: the Hyper Usage Guide of English, or HUGE-database, is one of the sub-projects within Bridging the Unbridgeable. It is the first database to combine more than two hundred years of usage advice into a single reference library. The HUGE-database contains usage guides from the entire history of the genre, starting in 1770 with the publication of the first ever usage guide, Robert Baker’s Reflections on the English Language in 1770, up to the present day with one of the most recently published usage guides, Simon Heffer’s Strictly English. The databse will also include such evergreens and best-sellers as Henry Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage (perhaps the most famous usage guide of them all) Bryan Garner’s Modern American Usage, Strunk & White’s Elements of Style and Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. We are still in the process of compiling the database, so it keeps growing all the time. We are currently working on an extension, which includes bibliographic information of secondary sources that deal with specific usage guides or usage problems. For now, the database can only be used in the project Bridging the Unbridgeable, but pending current copyright negotiations, we would like to eventually make the database more widely available. Users can expect to find detailed advice on many usage problems in the English language, and will be able to compare usage advice across guides, across time and two varieties of English.

The prompts are designed to stimulate critical an academic argument is written in first-person perspective thinking and are ways to start a narrative essay relevant to any number of fields and interests a good essay should be focused to answer accuplacer essay prompts the exact question that mla citing a paper is being asked on the exam. top global news. tip sheets a. it has been designed to help accurately place students into classes of an appropriate level by assessing their individual capabilities write an english essay of two broad knowledge how to write a summary paragraph and skill categories accuplacer writeplacer. the writing test includes: 01:00. *note: next generation writing. please accuplacer essay prompts review the below information to ensure that your home technology is compatible with the zoom system. the topics covered in this essay writing chapter health topics for research papers will help you accuplacer essay prompts with the writeplacer. welcome! how to address a essay top janitorial business plan five tips for writing who will help me a successful essay for the accuplacer test 6 sample essays with scorer’s commentary 7 appendix:.

Radio Astronomy is a field that generates huge volumes of data. Stuart Weston, of the Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research at AUT, needed a better way to manage that data. Stuart’s research is conducted using data from the AUT’s Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory. Collected from two antennae at the Observatory, the many terabytes of data must be processed to correlate the signals. Radio Astronomy research centres overseas use high performance computing (HPC) clusters to perform this function. Such clusters must be purchased, housed, powered, monitored, upgraded and maintained at considerable expense – far out of reach for New Zealand scientists. The nearest existing cluster is in Pawsey, Western Australia but AUT wants to start processing the data here in New Zealand. So, Stuart used some standard servers provided by AUT over a regular data link. This method works, but can be slow and cumbersome.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has effectively halted the international travel industry with travel bans, cruise lines, and aircrafts grounded, hotels, attractions, and restaurants vacant. Governments everywhere are implementing emergency measures to stimulate their economies during this unprecedented pause, while also working to keep citizens safe. The economies and organizations that will lead the way out of this economic recession, are those that build resilience into their policies and invest in the skills of their workforce so that they are prepared to deliver elevated experiences and products when the threat of the COVID-19 crisis subsides and travel resumes. This is imperative for tourism everywhere. The mandate for resilience is much bigger than Jamaica and indeed the Caribbean, which continues to be one of the most tourism-dependent regions in the world. Rebuilding a robust international tourism system will be collaborative by necessity because the travel industry will be forever changed. Fortunately, tourism has the ability to quickly rebound from major disruptions. Accounting for 11 percent of the world’s GDP, tourism creates more than 320 million jobs for workers serving 1.4 billion travelers annually. The Caribbean is the most tourism-dependent region in the world, and over 4.3 million people travel each year to Jamaica alone. Before the threat of COVID-19, Jamaica’s tourism sector was confidently entering into its tenth consecutive year of growth. Following a record-breaking year in 2019, tourism receipts for January and February indicated that the sector was growing at a rate of 5.2% in 2020. Today the tourist industry is facing a new paradigm, filled with uncertainty and economic challenge. As an island nation located in the Caribbean, a region of the world that regularly faces potential disruptions, Jamaica’s tourism has always operated with an intense focus on identifying and implementing resilience strategies. To formalize this practice and extend our expertise to others in the region and around the globe, we established the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) in 2019 at the University of the West Indies Regional Headquarters. GTRCMC convenes travel experts from around the world to study and address urgent threats facing the industry including climate change, pandemics, cyber-crimes, natural disasters, and other disruptions. The Centre is currently working with a variety of nations and leading organizations to mount an international effort that sets standards and processes for preventing or addressing any potential challenge to our mobility and enjoyment of the world’s destinations. A resource for disaster preparedness and recovery efforts to destinations globally, the Centre led the call for a Global Tourism Resilience Fund at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which would improve the capacity of tourism destinations to respond, manage, recover and grow after disruptions. This fund will benefit vulnerable destinations, like many of our Caribbean neighbors, that have insufficient financial capacity to prepare for and recover quickly from disruptions. The GTRCMC would have hosted the first-ever United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Summit on Innovation in Montego Bay this May. While COVID-19 has scuttled the in-person event, the Center will be convening an online UNWTO summit to address the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the travel industry and provide actionable recovery guidance to destinations around the globe. Additionally, GTRCMC’s leadership is assisting Jamaica as it navigates the evolving COVID-19 pandemic. The study of hypothetical and historical disruption scenarios and models for recovery is informing the establishment of standards and priorities on how to allocate resources and utilize talents to enable action. In Jamaica’s first wave of recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, we are making a major investment in our human capital and advancing goals to increase the number of tourism workers who obtain internationally recognized certification. An intensive free online training and certification program is underway through partnerships with highly respected American trade associations the National Restaurant Association (NRA) and the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI), as well as Jamaica’s Human Employment and Resource Training-National Service Training Agency (HEART-NSTA Trust). Thousands of travel and tourism workers are expected to participate in the online training program that reinforces Jamaica’s Human Capital Development goals and advances strategies from the GTRCMC designed to deliver a higher level of professionalism, safety and service to the industry. While the world waits out this crisis, Jamaica is hard at work displaying its resilience and optimism and helping the world reconnect and heal from the traumatic events we are all experiencing. We look forward to welcoming visitors back to the island, and with vigilance and planning, we are building on our global reputation for world-class tourism. Written by Edmund C. Bartlett. Have you read?

Herbs have played a major part in medicine for thousands of years. Every culture and every medicinal system, from Ayurveda to Traditional Chinese Medicine, have used herbs for therapeutic purposes. There are thousands of herbs with thousands of different uses, many of which are used in conventional medicine as well as for natural remedies. Herbs are widely used today, in teas, vitamins and natural supplements. While the benefits of herbal medicine are vast, it is important to understand the basis of herbal medicine. Herbal medicine, also called botanical medicine or phytomedicine, refers to using a plant’s seeds, berries, roots, leaves, bark, or flowers for medicinal purposes. Herbalism has a long tradition of use outside conventional medicine. It is becoming more mainstream as improvements in analysis and quality control, along with advances in clinical research, show the value of herbal medicine in treating and preventing disease. According to an article about herbal medicine by the WHO “Traditional herbal medicines are naturally occurring, plant-derived substances with minimal or no industrial processing that have been used to treat illness within local or regional healing practices. Traditional herbal medicines are getting significant attention in global health debates. In China, traditional herbal medicine played a prominent role in the strategy to contain and treat severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).” Dr. Susan Tanner, M.D. who talks about the benefits of natural medicine says that “people have practiced natural medicine for centuries. Before the advent of modern technology, doctors and their patients had to rely on natural techniques and herbal remedies to treat illnesses or heal injuries. Everything from the common cold to life-threatening conditions such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease have been purported to be successfully treated without the use of modern-day medical equipment.” Dr. Tanner states in her blog why you should consider natural medicine: - No harmful side effects. - Pharmaceutical drugs often cause adverse reactions in the patients that take them, and the worst part about it is that the companies that manufacture these drugs often do so without being aware of them. - Herbal medicine utilizes the body’s natural healing process for treating conditions. The ingredients used are those which are regularly produced in the body. - It is cost-effective. One of the main downsides to modern medicine is its cost. It is not uncommon for even generic pharmaceutical drugs to cost hundreds of dollars. A trip to the emergency room for treating a headache, for example, can easily cost this much money. You can also buy most herbal drugs over the counter, which means you don’t need to have expensive health insurance. In research for this blog post we found other advantages include: There are a number advantages associated with using herbal medicines as opposed to pharmaceutical products. Such as: - Reduced risk of side effects: Most herbal medicines are well tolerated by the patient, with fewer unintended consequences than pharmaceutical drugs. Herbs typically have fewer side effects than traditional medicine, and may be safer to use over time. - Effectives with chronic conditions: Herbal medicines tend to be more effective for long-standing health complaints that don’t respond well to traditional medicine. - Lower cost: Another advantage to herbal medicine is cost. Herbs cost much less than prescription medications. Research, testing, and marketing add considerably to the cost of prescription medicines. Herbs tend to be inexpensive compared to drugs. - Widespread availability: Yet another advantage of herbal medicines are their availability. Herbs are available without a prescription. You can grow some simple herbs, such as peppermint and chamomile, at home. In some remote parts of the world, herbs may be the only treatment available to the majority of people. We want to provide a balanced perspective, so provide the following disadvantages of herbal medicine, which include: - Herbal medicines are known to be ineffective against serious ailments. Herbal medication cannot cure a broken hand, nor is it able to deal with heart attack related issues as effectively as an conventional doctor. - In some instances, individuals switch to herbal medication without realizing that the symptoms can be linked to a different ailment. Unlike, conventional medication which involves constant monitoring of your health, herbal medicines are taken without prescription which means that in some cases, individual might be undergoing a trial and error process with their medication. - Although herbal medicines has the potential to cure many ailments, the curing period is usually longer in comparison to conventional medication. One needs to have immense patience while undergoing herbal treatment. - Herbal medicines can cause allergic reactions in some cases. Before resorting to herbal medication you need to ensure that you are not allergic to the particular herb that you will be consuming. Conventional medication can also cause allergic reactions, but they are usually taken upon prescriptions which is why the chances of allergic reactions are less. The bottom line? It is well stated by Dr. Tanner “Natural medicine is widely understood to increase the body’s ability to ward of diseases. Increased immunity and an overall healthier state of being can easily be achieved with continued treatment.” Source: University of New Hampshire: Herbal Medicine | Health Services http://unh.edu/health-services/ohep/complementaryalternative-health-practices/herbal-medicine Susan Tanner, M.D. http://www.susantannermd.com/articles/benefits-of-natural-medicine.html#.V69gZBS4bzJ Never miss a blog post. Stay up to date with our blog posts and special offers, sign up now! Email signup can be accessed on the bottom of the cold-Q™ homepage.

After reviewing the homework problems assigned for Lesson 7, students were reintroduced to the Copper Cycle. Because the Copper Cycle experiment involves steps that must be conducted in a fume hood, we opted to watch a video (below), with students taking observations on their Copper Cycle handout. For reference, students also received a copy of the Copper Cycle experimental procedure. After the video, we discussed the concept of Conservation of Matter, transitioning to Lesson 8 in the textbook. Because Lesson 8 continues an investigation of the Copper Cycle, and we are unable to safely conduct that lab, we instead investigated the related concept of Conservation of Mass. Students participated in a classroom demonstration which involved combining baking soda and vinegar in a closed system and experimentally demonstrating that mass is conserved. We measured the starting and ending mass, noting the slight decrease in mass at the end due to experimental error (vinegar and carbon dioxide leaking slightly). At the end of the experiment, we removed the inflated balloon and noted a decrease in mass of 0.2-0.3 grams, indicating the carbon dioxide gas has a measurable mass. Students also noted the change in volume of the products as evidenced by the partially inflated balloon compared with the volume of the reactants. For homework, students were provided with a copy of the Penny Lab to read over in advance of Wednesday’s class. Students were also reminded that a signed syllabus and safety contract must be turned in to enable participation in the lab.

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) on Thursday launched its Green Engineering Syllabus in Guyana Giving an overview of the syllabus at the launch held at the Theatre Guild, Parade Street, Kingston, Georgetown, subject panel member, Dr. Paulette Bynoe said the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) Green Engineering subject has two units- Introduction to Green Engineering and Application of Green Engineering and Principles The modules in unit one are concepts and issues, and Theoretical Framework of Green Engineering and Green Engineering in Practice, and unit two’s modules are the utilization of sustainable materials and energy, sustainable designs and green engineering solutions Topics covered include concepts of sustainable development, sustainability and efficiency, current trends related to the use of natural resources, risks in the engineering environment, consequences and challenges of engineering , principles of green engineering, sustainable utilization of materials and energy, the environmental consequences of using different energy sources, policies and decision-making, and principles related to design, products and infrastructure, and occupational safety and health issues. Bynoe said the syllabus has been designed in such a way to ensure that the focus is not only students’ ability to recall, with the focus being knowledge and comprehension, application of knowledge and practical ability. “This will allow students to really exercise their problem solving and critical thinking skills- very important for engineering- so it is not a case where a student will cram and pass the exam. We don’t need that sort of thing. The knowledge is important but we have to begin to transcend the knowledge if we are going to make a decision in the world today,” she said. The syllabus provides for lectures, research, laboratory experiments, debates, use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and case studies. CXC’s Senior Assistant Registrar- Syllabus and Curriculum Development Division, Howard Campbell said the Green Engineering Syllabus was among those developed in keeping with the regional examining body’s desire to keep abreast with the changing socio-economic trends across the Caribbean. “This new syllabus in Green Engineering is intended to produce citizens who will be more aware of development challenges in the Caribbean region while finding the solutions that will lead to more sustainable communities,” he said. Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine hailed CXC’s introduction of the Green Engineering syllabus at a time when Guyana’s declared policy is the creation of a green economy. “Green Engineering is, therefore, of immediate import and application to Guyana. The offer of a course in Green Engineering is, therefore, most timely from the standpoint of developing the manpower that is required by Guyana for the implementation of its policy of a Green Economy,” he said. The Barbados-headquartered CXC has so far introduced several new generation syllabuses – tourism, financial services, physical education and sport, entrepreneurship, animation and game design, performing arts, agricultural science

Recently, someone asked me to explain why testing the older, in fact, the oldest family members is so important. What they really wanted were talking points in order to explain to others, in just a few words, so that they could understand the reasoning without having to understand the details or the science. Before I address that question, I want to talk briefly about how Y and mitochondrial DNA are different from autosomal DNA, because the answer to the “oldest ancestor” question is a bit different for those two types of tests versus autosomal DNA. In the article, 4 Kinds of DNA for Genetic Genealogy, I explain the differences between Y and mitochondrial DNA testing, who can take each, and how they differ from autosomal DNA testing. Y and Mitochondrial DNA In the graphic below, you can see that the Y chromosome, represented by blue squares, is inherited only by males from direct patrilineal males in the male’s tree – meaning inherited from his father who inherited the Y chromosome from his father who inherited it from his father, on up the tree. Of course, along with the Y chromosome, generally, the males also inherited their surname. Mitochondrial DNA, depicted as red circles, is inherited by both genders of children, but ONLY the females only pass it on. Mitochondrial DNA is inherited from your mother, who inherited it from her mother, who inherited it from her mother, on up the tree in the direct matrilineal path. - Neither Y or mitochondrial DNA is ever mixed with the DNA of the other parent, so it is never “lost” during inheritance. It is inherited completely and intact. This allows us to look back more reliably much further in time and obtain a direct, unobstructed, view of the history of the direct patrilineal or matrilineal line. - Changes between generations are caused by mutations, not by the DNA of the two parents being mixed together and by half being lost during inheritance. - This means that we test the oldest relevant ancestor in that line to be sure we have the “original” DNA and not results that have incurred a mutation, although generally, mutations are relatively easy to deal with for both Y and mitochondrial DNA since the balance of this type of DNA is still ancestral. Testing the oldest generation is not quite as important in Y and mitochondrial DNA as it is for autosomal DNA, because most, if not all, of the Y and mitochondrial DNA will remain exactly the same between generations. That is assuming, of course, that no unknown adoptions, known as Nonparental Events (NPEs) occurred between generations. However, autosomal DNA is quite different. When utilizing autosomal DNA, every person inherits only half of their parents’ DNA, so half of their autosomal ancestral history is lost with the half of their parents’ DNA that they don’t inherit. For autosomal DNA, testing the oldest people in the family, and their siblings, is critically important. In the graphic below, you can see that the Y and mitochondrial DNA, still represented by a small blue chromosome and a red circle, respectively, is inherited from only one line. The son received an entirely intact blue Y chromosome and both the son and daughter receive an entirely intact mitochondrial DNA circle. Autosomal DNA, on the other hand, represented by the variously colored chromosomes assigned to the 8 great-grandparents on the top row, is inherited by the son and daughter, at the bottom, in an entirely different way. The autosomal chromosomes inherited by the son and daughter have pieces of blue, yellow, green, pink, grey, tan, teal and red mixed in various proportions. In fact, you can see that in the grandfather’s generation, the paternal grandfather inherited a pink and green chromosome from his mother and a blue and yellow chromosome from his father, not to be confused with the smaller blue Y chromosome which is shown separately. The maternal grandmother inherited a grey and tan chromosome from her father and a teal and red chromosome from her mother, again not to be confused with the red mitochondrial circle. In the next generation, the father inherited parts of the pink, green, blue and yellow DNA. The mother inherited parts of the grey, tan, teal and red DNA. The answer to part of the question of why it’s so important to test older generations is answered with this graphic. - The children inherit even smaller portions of their ancestor’s autosomal DNA than their parents inherited. In fact, in every generation, the child inherits half of the DNA of each parent. That means that the other half of the parents’ autosomal DNA is not inherited by the child, so in each generation, you lose half of the autosomal DNA from the previous generation, meaning half of your ancestors’ DNA. - Each child inherits half of their parents’ DNA, but not the same half. So different children from the same parents will carry a different part of their parents’ autosomal DNA, meaning a different part of their ancestors’ DNA. The best way to understand the actual real-life ramifications of inheriting only half of your parent’s DNA is by way of example. I have tested at Family Tree DNA and so has my mother. All of my mother’s DNA and matches are directly relevant to my genealogy and ancestry, because I share all of my mother’s ancestors. However, since I only inherited half of her DNA, she will have many matches to cousins that I don’t have, because she carries twice as much of our ancestor’s DNA than I do. |Mother’s Matches||My Matches in Common With Mother||Matches Lost Due to Inheritance| As you can see, I only share 371 of the matches that mother has, which means that I lost 549 matches because I didn’t inherit those segments of ancestral DNA from mother. Therefore, mother matches many people that I don’t. That’s exactly why it’s so critically important to test the oldest generation. It’s also important to test siblings. For example, your grandparent’s siblings, your parent’s siblings and your own siblings if your parents aren’t living. These people all share all of your ancestors. I test my cousin’s siblings as well, if they are willing, because each child inherits a different half of their parent’s DNA, which is your ancestor’s DNA, so they will have matches to different people. How important is it to test siblings, really? Let’s take a look at this 4 generation example of matching and see just how many matches we lose in four generations. We begin with my mother’s 920 matches, as shown above, but let’s add two more generations beyond me. As you can see in the above example, the two grandchildren inherited a different combination of their parent’s DNA, given that Grandchild 1 has 895 matches in common with one of their parents and Grandchild 2 has 1046 matches in common the same parent. Those matches aren’t to entirely the same set of people either – because the two siblings inherited different DNA segments from their parent. The difference in the number of matches and the difference in the people that the siblings match in common with their parent illustrates the difference that inheriting different parental DNA segments makes relative to genealogy and DNA matching. However, if you look at the matching number in common with their grandparent and great-grandparent, the differences become even greater and the losses between generations become cumulative. Just think how many matches are really lost, given that in our illustration we are only comparing to one of two parents, one of four grandparents and one of 8 great-grandparents. The really important numbers are the Lost Matches, shown in red. These are the matches that WOULD BE LOST FOREVER IF THE OLDER GENERATION(S) HAD NOT TESTED. Note that the lost matches are much higher numbers than the matches. In summary, here are the talking points about why it’s critically important to test the oldest members of each generation, and every generation between you and them. - Every person inherits only half of their parents’ DNA, meaning that half of your ancestors’ DNA is lost in each generation – the half you don’t receive. - Siblings each inherit half of their parents’ DNA, but not the same half, so each child has some of their ancestor’s DNA that another child won’t have. - The older generations of direct line relatives and their siblings will match people that you don’t, and their matches are as relevant to your genealogy as your own matches, because you share all of the same ancestors. - Being able to see that you match someone who also matches a known ancestor or cousin shows you immediately which ancestral line the match shares with you. - Your cousins, even though they will have ancestral lines that aren’t yours, still carry parts of your ancestors’ DNA that you don’t, so it’s important to test cousins and their siblings too. Y and mitochondrial DNA: - Testing older generations allows you to be sure that you’re dealing with DNA results that are closer to, or the same as, your ancestor, without the possibility of mutations introduced in subsequent generations. - In many cases, your cousins, father, grandfather, etc. will carry Y or mitochondrial DNA that you don’t, but that descends directly from one of your ancestors. Your only opportunity to obtain that information is to test lineally appropriate cousins or family members. This is particularly relevant for males such as fathers, grandfathers, paternal aunts and uncles who don’t pass on their mitochondrial DNA. I wrote about creating your DNA pedigree chart for Y and mitochondrial DNA here. Be sure to test the oldest generations autosomally, but also remember to review your cousins’ paths of descent from your common ancestors closely to determine if their Y or mitochondrial DNA is relevant to your genealogy! Y, mitochondrial and autosomal DNA are all different parts of unraveling the ancestor puzzle for each of your family lines. You can order the Y, mitochondrial DNA and Family Finder tests from Family Tree DNA. Happy ancestor hunting! I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase the price you pay but helps me to keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing. Thank you so much. DNA Purchases and Free Transfers - Family Tree DNA - MyHeritage DNA only - MyHeritage DNA plus Health - MyHeritage FREE DNA file upload - 23andMe Ancestry - 23andMe Ancestry Plus Health - Legacy Tree Genealogists for genealogy research

Iron deficiency happens when there’s a low supply of iron in the body. Iron plays an important role in the production of red blood cells and when iron is low, so are your red blood cells. This is called iron deficiency. A study shows that approximately 10 million Americans are iron deficient and 5 million have iron deficiency anemia. So, how are hemorrhoids related to iron deficiency? What causes it and who’s at risk? Believe it or not, iron deficiency anemia is a pretty common condition. Let’s take a look at how these two relate to each other and what you can do for relief. Iron Deficiency Anemia Common symptoms of iron deficiency anemia are fatigue, weakness, loss of appetite, irritability, poor (blood) circulation, and more. Many underlying health conditions are attributed to this common ailment. If it’s not treated immediately, organ failure could follow. Perhaps you’re not obtaining enough iron-rich foods, which can also play a part in this deficiency. Slight adjustments can decrease your chances of iron deficiency by avoiding mistakes that can pose a risk. Can My Hemorrhoids Cause Iron Deficiency? In short, many health factors increase your chances of having iron deficiency anemia. Although it’s not as common to this extreme, hemorrhoids, polyps, and ulcers can increase your chances as well. It’s possible for large amounts of rectal blood to come from hemorrhoids that aren’t taken care of. I have Iron Deficiency & Hemorrhoids. What’s next? If you suspect you have iron deficiency related to hemorrhoids, consult your physician and proctologist right away. In the meantime, these simple steps may ease the pain and set you on the path to healing. - Eating iron-enriched foods such as eggs, legumes, liver, brown rice, and raisins. - Increase your fiber intake through fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. - Sitz baths are an excellent way to relieve the pressure and pain of hemorrhoids. These baths allow the body (and tender area) to relax for an efficient bowel movement. - Drink plenty of water and keep active. While the amount of water intake depends on the sex and weight or an individual, the CDC recommends keeping hydrated all day in average amounts. To stay active and keep fit, go for longer than usual walks or join your local gym that has a pool. These low-intensity activities speed your heart rate just enough to get the blood circulating in the body and improving your digestion. - Over-the-counter hemorrhoid creams and ointments may be helpful as long as you consult with your doctor first. This onset treatment may help soothe itching and alleviate the swelling to allow for easier bowel movements. Are you experiencing rectal pain or discomfort? Perhaps you’ve been diagnosed with hemorrhoids and you’d like to avoid iron-related ailments. Let Dr. Butler offer his sound advice. Dr. Butler’s years of experience makes his patients feel at ease when they walking into the room. He only recommends and hand-picks products that he feels will benefit you. Contact the expert today for more information on how you can be pain free!

- Who in the Bible disobeyed God? - What does rebelled mean in the Bible? - How can I obey God? - How did God punish Jonah? - Is rebellion and disobedience the same? - Who is a rebellious person? - How important is obedience to God? - What does God say about repentance? - What does God promise if we obey him? - What God Cannot do? - What are the 7 names of God? - What does the Bible say about animals? - What are the consequences of rebelling against God? - Does God bless disobedience? - What is the root cause of rebellion? - Why should we obey our parents? - What disobedience means? - Why was Jonah disobedient to God? Who in the Bible disobeyed God? Adam and EveAdam and Eve live together in Paradise (or what the Bible calls the Garden of Eden) until they disobey God by eating fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.. What does rebelled mean in the Bible? 1 : opposition to one in authority or dominance. 2a : open, armed, and usually unsuccessful defiance of or resistance to an established government. How can I obey God? Confessing your sins daily, repenting against yourself and knowing God loves you and has forgiven your sins daily. Read 1 John and Romans. Visiting a Bible believing, a Jesus and Gospel filled church, a truth loving church and person loving is a great way to learn more about God and meet to people to encourage you. How did God punish Jonah? Jonah admits this and states that if he is thrown overboard, the storm will cease. The sailors refuse to do this and continue rowing, but all their efforts fail and they are eventually forced to throw Jonah overboard. As a result, the storm calms and the sailors then offer sacrifices to God. Is rebellion and disobedience the same? As nouns the difference between rebellion and disobedience is that rebellion is (uncountable) armed resistance to an established government or ruler while disobedience is refusal to obey. Who is a rebellious person? A rebellious person likes to challenge authority and break the rules every now and then. A really rebellious group tries to overthrow the government. Being rebellious is part of the American character. A student who talks back to the teacher is being rebellious. … How important is obedience to God? Mathew 16:24 teaches us that as Christians, the fact that we deny ourselves from many worldly desires and choose to follow Christ, that is obedience. “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” What does God say about repentance? When Jesus said “Repent,” He was talking about a change of heart toward sin, the world, and God; an inner change that gives rise to new ways of living that exalt Christ and give evidence of the truth of the gospel. What does God promise if we obey him? God has linked trust in him, i.e. faith, with obedience. … God has made incredible promises and has linked them to our obedience, it’s the “if,” and “then,” promises of the Bible. If we obey what He says, then He promises that He’ll save us, watch over us, take care of us, and give to us our needs. What God Cannot do? This catchy tract explains that there are three things God cannot do: He cannot lie, He cannot change, and He cannot allow sinners into heaven. What are the 7 names of God? Seven names of GodYHWH.El.Eloah.Elohim.Elohai.El Shaddai.Tzevaot.Jah.More items… What does the Bible say about animals? Bible make it clear not only that cruelty to animals is forbidden but also that compassion and mercy to them are demanded of man by God. … In later rabbinic lit- erature … great prominence is also given to demonstrating God’s mercy to animals, and to the importance of not causing them pain.” What are the consequences of rebelling against God? Due to the rebellion of Adam and Eve against God, they cast the entire human race into the eventual horror of eternal punishment. The Bible describes the consequences in Genesis, Chapter 3. All of mankind was subject to the curse of great hardship in this life, and the loss of eternal life in communion with God. Does God bless disobedience? God never responds slowly in blessing us because He is busy or inattentive. He’s never taken off guard when we behave as if His commands are negotiable based on our whims and circumstances. … But know this; there are consequences for disobedience to God, and there are even greater consequences to continued disobedience. What is the root cause of rebellion? A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and then manifests itself by the refusal to submit or to obey the authority responsible for this situation. Why should we obey our parents? So, why should we obey our parents? Because God told us to honor our father and mother, so we know that listening, respecting, and obeying pleases Him very much. … God loves you and knows what’s best for you, just like the people who take care of you every day! What disobedience means? : refusal or neglect to obey. Why was Jonah disobedient to God? He didn’t want to go to Nineveh because he knew the power of God’s Word. He despises the Lord’s mercy. Jonah knew of the Lord’s love for His creation, and he didn’t want the people of Nineveh to experience God’s forgiveness.

The American Psychological Association’s (APA) study on stress found that nearly half of America’s kids are stressed. This is bad news because it means unhealthy amounts of stress hormones are coursing through the developing brains of these children and that causes learning and behavior problems. The area of the brain most vulnerable to stress hormones is the prefrontal cortex. It generates intelligence, learning, and the top-down regulation for impulse control, which means that a child’s stressed brain will struggle with learning and be prone to acting out. Stress hormones also dampen the immune system causing more frequent and more intense colds and flu. PARENTS TAKE NOTE The same APA study found that 91 percent of kids say that what stresses them most is how stressed their parents have become, and that 69 percent of parents were oblivious to the impact their level of stress is having on the kids. This finding corroborates a previous study by the Families and Work Institute that found what kids want most is “stress-free parents.” In this study, interviewers asked children to make one wish for a change in their parents. Parents were then asked to guess what the children wished for, and most parents guessed it was for more quality time. It was the wrong answer. The majority of children wished for their parents to be free of stress. It turns out that kids are very good at detecting subtle cues about a parent’s stress, such as their down-turned expression, heavy footsteps, and fatigue. SCHOOLS TAKE NOTE Teaching school is a highly stressful occupation and now a study in Canada, the first of its kind, has found that a teacher’s stress is also impacting kids. In this study, researchers examined the connection between teacher burnout and students’ cortisol levels. Cortisol is a stress hormone and a biological indicator of stress. Researchers collected saliva samples from over 400 elementary school children and tested their cortisol levels. They found that in classrooms in which teachers experienced more stress or feelings of emotional exhaustion, students’ cortisol levels were elevated. Higher cortisol levels in elementary school children have been linked to learning difficulties as well as mental health problems. THE KEY TAKE-AWAY The same APA study I cited earlier found that 83 percent of Americans are doing little or nothing to lower their stress level. These new findings should help motivate us to take stress seriously. Stress is not something we should someday do something about. It needs our attention now, especially parents and teachers. A child’s ability to tap their full measure of brain power depends on it. FREE STARTER KIT FOR BUSTING STRESS But don’t stress. Take heart. The picture the research paints is something we can change. It’s simpler than you might imagine and results can accrue faster than you might think. It takes a commitment to understanding your pattern of stress that a painful past and genetics wired into your brain, and then learning the shift in mindset that rewires your brain to instill more joy in your work, more peace in your life, and more harmony in your relationships. We can change our brain in ways that achieve a better day and turn each and every day into a better life. The studies that prove it are now piled high. Click here for a free starter kit that begins the process of making you, your home, and the classroom happier and more peaceful.

All “sound” as vibration has a pattern inherent in it as well as a creative or formative power commonly referred to as a “self-organizing mechanism”. As we speak a word, the meaning of the word becomes a living form within our imagination. As we produce a vibration through thought and speech, we act to awaken that same vibration in everything around us that’s of the same nature as a compatible frequency by resonating with it. As we energetically stimulate everything within near proximity of us we awaken and call forth the same qualities in everything around us that we’re actively expressing, and together, produce a joint reality of the same nature (pattern). As we speak, both internally as thought and externally as speech, we create the material reality as the meaning of our words. All words have shapes, images, and scenario’s associated with them that naturally form in the imagination as we hear them. Thoughts as internal dialogue forms the reality of our thoughts in our imagination as a kind of metaphorical pattern, that then becomes the perceptual lens we look through in order to create a corresponding outer reality. Vibration has a self-organizing mechanism inherent within it that shapes matter as light-essence (astral light) into patterns that are then animated with a life-force energy. Every object is associated with an element of Nature and has a particular rate of vibration. The Element of Air, which is the unification of Fire (life-force as Will) and Water (Substance and sensation), represents “thought” as invisible forms that exist throughout the atmosphere (ether) as archetypes, deities, elementals, nature spirits, daemons, and so on. These thought-forms as a vibratory frequency that’s first created within us, are then projected and fluently propagate throughout the atmosphere around us, connecting us to the corresponding powers of the words we’re vibrating. A “power” or “force” can be thought of as an invisible entity that has distinct attributes and qualities that serve to shape physical characteristics that have a natural mindset and behaviors in them as “operations” of a specialized nature. We experience them as psychological and emotional states that we absorb and assimilate that change how we feel and think. They change how we’re being and sensing ourselves and give us “specialized powers” as a result. All behavior as a function and operation of some sort results from a particular state of mind. What we feel, perceive, focus on, think about, form emotions out of, and ultimately “do”, results from our state-of-mind or mood as a natural byproduct. Vibration that’s produced internally or absorbed from an external source is what forms, regulates, and maintains our state of mind. Whatever we think and speak, we are literally shaping as a reality both internally and externally. As we shape it internally we then project and transmit it externally calling forth the same reality as a metaphorical pattern in everything around us. As we vibrate a certain pattern as our state of mind, we alter everything around us to be of that same state and type of reality. As we communicate with others we form the same type of reality in their mind based on the words we use to express an idea, and as they call forth a similar reality in their mind, we begin vibrating in harmony as a joint-reality of the same nature. Thought as words “taken into the mind” undergo a process of adaptation and modification that turns them into a detailed and believable reality in a matter of seconds and act to instantly alter the vibratory state of the mind through its induction and integration. Once an idea is concentrated on and imagined as an “actual reality” it becomes a natural part of our thoughts. The seed has been “planted” so to speak, and is growing, and continues to grow each time we revisit it and continue thinking about it. Thought imagined as a reality is the natural faculty of the mind that serves to shape our material world as our perception of it. The Nature of Vibration All objects exist as a definite plane and possess a different and unique rate of vibration. The more complex a being is (multidimensional) the greater its “range” of vibration as a frequency, the simpler its consciousness, the smaller the range. All mass is composed of infinity smaller forms of mass that are held together as a single unit that moves and operates in unison, by vibrating together. Resonance forms adherence as coherence. What vibrates together stays together. All form is created by the frequency vibrating it. Vibration also contains “mental and emotional states” that give the form its characteristics and properties, which determines how it behaves and functions. What “type of operations” as a creative process it acts to naturally produce through its vibratory state. It’s not the speaking of the words themselves that are formative, but rather “how” they’re spoken. Reality is shaped in the imagination by the “quality of consciousness” (passion, excitement, fear, etc.) as an emotional state that forms the tone, rhythm, and emphasis. The emotional component associated with an idea is the motivating force that shapes it into the reality of the emotion. All reality is both an expression of the emotion and one that acts to produce or give us more of the same emotion through the experience of it. The same reality or set of circumstances can be thought of in a way that makes it either humorous, sincere, sad, exciting, or melancholy, all based on perspective we take and “how” we think about it. In communication for example, we know that the words spoken only make up around 7% of what being communicated, while the tone and quality of voice makes up 38%, and body language or physiology makes up 55%. The same “type of reality” can be imagined that creates entirely different “experiences”. It’s not the reality itself as an imagined idea formed from words, but how that idea sets the stage for creating a particular type of experience, which is determined by the emotion married to it. Words are not merely spoken, they’re “intoned” or “vibrated”, and in doing so form harmonic resonance with everything around us. Any object vibrating strong enough, with intensity or a strong emotional quality, and an object nearby that share the same vibratory rate will begin vibrating in harmony with each other. This occurs in both the “unseen world” of pure thought as “speaking words internally” producing imaginary realities, and outwardly in the “seen” world by speaking those same words, producing an obvious reaction in others. We’re always influencing others all around us by any form of “intense thinking”. This is easy to realize by the fact that as we approach someone or come into near proximity of someone who just had an intense experience and is continuing to think about it and relive it in their mind, we can “sense it” and feel the emotion of it just by being in their presence. We’re always communicating subliminally through emotional influence as a state of mind, just by what we’re feeling and thinking at any given moment. Our mind is a field of information organized energetically into mental structures that emanate quite some distance from our body. As our mind (oscillating field of energy) comes into contact with another mind, sympathetic resonance takes place and we act to stimulate each other by “vibrating” each other, awakening in us the same feelings and associated ideas. When we stay in the presence of someone for an extended period of time, we begin vibrating in harmony as a coherent system. We become “alike” based on how we act “on” each other to stimulate and vibrate each other. Our thoughts and feelings serve to seed the mind and imagination, and likewise, they seed ours, just through the nature of the interaction, which is ultimately energetic in nature. Vibration has dual properties as sound an image, audio and visual. As we vibrate a word which has an image as a pattern inherent in it, we simultaneously form in our imagination the reality or physical form of the words. As we communicate with others, they listen, take in what we’re saying, and imagine the reality of it in their own associated ideas and memories. If they have similar ideas, interests, perspective, and memories, they relate to us, forming harmony with us, and if they don’t, they fail to relate to us and are repelled by us (not attracted or interested). Through this basic process of resonance, sympathetic induction, and coherence, as the spoken word that we absorb and use to create an internal reality that alters our vibration through the imagining an incorporation of it, we develop our mental paradigm as the structure of our overall vibration that serves to produce all of our perceptions, thoughts and feelings, as what we call a basic form of learning. Sympathetic Induction and Coherence As we absorb ideas as words, think about them forming them into an internal concept, metaphor, or reality, we turn them into a form of memory as an association to that idea, or as a possible way to create it as an experience of reality. As we accept ideas into our mind, and form them into internal realities as our own personalized version of the idea, we integrate them, upgrading and modifying our model, and program ourselves with them as a result. We turn a natural and objective idea as a form of archetype or metaphor into a form of virtual memory that the subconscious uses as a template or thematic pattern for producing as an outer reality. It does this by first forming it as a part of our perceptual lens and filtering system that allows us to readily see that idea in a variety of ways in the elements of our environment through the same energetic principle used to produce the imagined thought, as a vibratory pattern that “organizes” the appearance of the outer to match the idea created in the inner world. A shift in vibration as a state that acts to “organize” astral light (starlight) into patterns as physical forms, also organize light (photons) as matter so it takes on a “different appearance” to the person (mental state) viewing it and energetically interacting with it. The mind is a living and dynamic field of highly structured information that’s always fluctuating and morphing according to changes in state or mood, or through the incorporation and assimilation of new ideas. The mind is the interactive formative force that influences the shape and appearance matter takes on. How a material object “appears” is based on and always changing according to the mind observing it. All form exists as different levels of vibration unique to that form. All reality is multidimensional in nature and exists as an infinite number of varying frequencies in their “potential state” as possibilities that are metaphorical or thematic in nature. These smaller frequencies as fields of information make up a greater field of vibration within an even larger frequency that instantly shifts or moves to the same level as the mind perceiving it. As we perceive something we resonate with it, enter into it energetically, altering its state to form coherence as vibratory harmony. Attention, Perception, and State of Mind The mind is constantly influencing everything around it through its vibratory frequency, and likewise, is being influenced by everything around it. We are not in fact separate from our environment, but rather the one that’s acting to create it. Attention is an antagonistic force that directs consciousness as the projection of life-force energy “into” whatever it’s focused on. Our mood as our state of mind determines what we focus on, think about, what emotions we create and experience, and how we see and experience the outer world. The material world changes how it appears based on our mood. The observer, and the object being observed, are “a part of” the same event or reality. The mind determines how astral light of the material plane organizes itself into patterns with distinct attributes, qualities, and characteristics. This doesn’t mean that the material object itself changes (though it may), but rather what’s emphasized and brought out in an active state, and what recedes and returns to a latent state are altered as a means of forming coherence with the mind, shifting in how it appears and is seen by the mind. So our thoughts as words spoken internally while imagined as a reality of some kind, literally not only produce our perception and experience of reality, but acts to constantly influence everything around it of the same nature through a form of subliminal transmission and transference that’s constantly being absorbed by our environment and acting to reorganize it to match our inward perception of it. By introducing new thoughts as internally spoken words that form new versions of reality, we alter and modify the vibration of our paradigm, changing accordingly how we see the outer world. Just as in a paradigm shift, where all of the sudden we instantly get something we couldn’t see before, and by suddenly seeing it in a perspective we can understand, it becomes a natural part of our everyday perception from that point on. Change the mind as conceptualized thoughts and you simultaneously change the reality that it acts to naturally produce. Once we can see an idea clearly, we see it as an inherent part of our everyday reality. Our perception is formed by a filtering system that’s used to filter out whatever doesn’t match our paradigm (frequency) so we only “see” (conceive of) what does match. The Power of Thought – Archetypes and the Holographic Principle All reality, in the most basic sense of the idea, is a product of the “spoken word”, both silently and outwardly as actual sound. We literally “call forth” and act to shape and produce our reality by how we think and speak. Thoughts form the basis for all speech. What we speak outwardly is the summation of what we think inwardly. Most people believe that their thoughts are produced by their reality as their life conditions, and what they speak is just recognizing the nature of their reality and what happened to them as a form of neutral commentary or accurate reporting. Yet, in fact, the opposite is true. Their reality is the way it is because of how they think about it and perceive it, and what they talk about is the story they’ve formed out of it that not only calls it forth in their sphere of consciousness, keeping it active and expressing, but also creates and shares that same experience with others by forming the reality of what we talk about with them in their imagination also. The story we tell about our life, first to ourselves, then to others, is how we interpreted the events of our life to give them meaning as a way of understanding them. Out of the meaning we give events we form our story as how we created our experience of them. All outer events are in fact neutral and objective in nature and form the basis for our personal creation in a way that makes them subjective. This follows the same principle of creation on a larger scale where we take an archetype of some kind as a universal theme and idea, and we use it to create a personalized version that’s of a unique and variable nature. Just as an idea exists as a “field of information” in its potential state, containing the information necessary to produce an infinite number of variations of the same idea by selecting only certain aspects (that are congruent with us) then reorganizing them into a new pattern as the expression of one possibility. All of reality is comprised of universal archetypes that can be arranged in an infinite number of ways to produce an infinite number of possibilities for the same overall theme or idea. Each person viewing the same objective event or situation, will create a unique experience of it based on their past conditioning and culmination of memories. Each one will select different aspects of it that they notice and abstract (pull out) that they then embellish and use to create a whole idea (holographic principle) out of. This is very easy to understand when you get together with friends and family, and together recall a memory of an event you were all a part of, and realize that everyone experienced it differently and took away a whole different story and memory of it than you did. Likewise, the same person will often tell a different story about the same memory based on what mood they’re in and what they’re associating it with as the reason for recalling it. Our mood determines what aspect of any situation we focus on, abstract or pull out and organize in a way that forms a new and varied experience of it. Each time we recall a memory we alter it slightly through a form of adaptation to our current stage of life and maturity, the mood we’re in when recalling it, and what we’re associating it with as a means of giving it the same meaning, which modifies it to some extent. Often, by the time we become adults our memories of our childhood don’t even resemble the actual event because of how we’ve changed them by thinking about them while in different states and by applying or associating them with different situations that were of a similar although different nature. Probably the most basic way to begin working directly on and with ourselves to change our reality is by learning how to step into a “witnessing perspective” and “watch our own thoughts” while detaching from them and not trying to change them or justify them somehow. Observe your own thought processes and the story you’re always telling yourself about things as a way of describing, explaining, and making sense of them, and simply become aware of them. All natural transformation occurs when we simply become aware of what we were previously unaware of. By making conscious what’s operating in our life unconsciously, we can begin “catching ourselves” (becoming aware) when we’re naturally “doing it”, and in that moment of awareness, we realize we have a choice. In the same manner, begin listening to yourself as you speak. You do this by simply talking to someone normally about something in your natural state, then, again, stepping outside of yourself momentarily, taking on a second person perspective where you’re listening to yourself as another person would, detached emotionally from what you’re saying, and just allow yourself to realize what you have a tendency to say. Listen to the reality of what you’re saying, realize “who you become” because of what you’re saying, the story you’re always in the process of telling as a theme, and what it “means” about you. Don’t judge yourself, try to correct or deny anything, just become aware of what it is. I won’t say any more about this process because the results come from the experience of it, you have to actually do it, and then you’ll know the effect it produces. Words as vibration contain patterns as the ideas that shape reality as thoughts in the imagination. This imagined sensory reality stimulates (vibrates) an emotional response to the initial idea that serves to intensify it and shapes how we “experience” our thoughts. Words spoken as a formula (sentences, paragraphs, stories, etc.) internally as thought or internal dialogue, alter the vibratory frequency (model) of our mind which acts as our “perceptual lens” as a filtering system we “look through” to see that same idea (as a theme or metaphor) in the external world. Our perceptual lens, which is formed by the idea as a vibration which has an inherent “self-organizing mechanism”, reorganizes the elemental phenomena of our material reality, changing how it “appears” to us. We literally “form and call forth” (awaken, activate, and bring out) the reality of our thoughts. We project our thoughts onto others and our environment, seeing in them only what exists first in us, vibrating it and bringing it out in an active and expressive state, and then form our experiences out of it. Whatever we talk about, which is the outward expression of composed inner thoughts, we plant as seeds in the imagination of others, where they form the same imagined ideas that provide them with the necessary template or formula for working cooperatively with us to participate in co-creating that same reality. We give people the realities we want them to see by how we talk to them and what kind of stories we tell through the persona we employ. Change how you think and feel and your entire world will change accordingly. Learn how to tell a new kind of story, and you’ll stimulate in everything else and act to call forth the reality of that story. Listen to yourself think and talk, and ask yourself . . . is this what I want to continue creating?

Sybil Ludington and Her Horse Star, Heroes of the American Revolution Celebrating “the female Paul Revere” and the horse who carried her 40 miles through a rainy night to gather the local militia and preserve the course of the American Revolutionary War. by Karen Braschayko As equestrians today, we often choose to ride based on pleasant weather and enjoying our leisure time with an equine friend. On more than a few rainy days, when I get out of my dry car, opening my umbrella to dash into the warm store, able to call someone via the computer in my pocket if I’m going to be late – I’ve wondered what would it have been like to ride a horse out of necessity on blizzardy days? Would I have been such a fan of riding if it was my only option in the wind, rain and on unlit dirt paths, navigating through near wilderness? Before the days of padded tack and wicking fabrics, would riding have been fun? Teenager rider Sybil Ludington rode her horse Star more than twice as far as Paul Revere. I especially wondered this as I learned the story of Sybil Ludington. While we didn’t learn about her via a famous commemorative Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem as children, Ludington’s ride eclipsed Paul Revere’s ride by doubling it in length, and at 16 she was less than half his age. Conditions of their rides also contrast. Revere galloped down 14 miles of well-traveled roads through a populated area, it was a moonlit night, he may have stopped for a hot supper, and his ride was done around midnight when he was captured by the British and then released. Sybil Ludington rode through the night, from about 9 p.m. until dawn. Only part of Sybil’s 40-mile route was on roads, and those were rough roads with dips and holes. We can imagine the spring mud, whipping branches, black wilderness, hilly slopes and narrow paths that forced Ludington to dismount and lead Star through. Familiar landscape can appear mysterious and foreign at night, with landmarks obscured by wind and shiny rain in the moonless dark. During Ludington’s ride, the woods were also sprinkled with animal predators and outlaws. “Cowboys” were pro-British plunderers, and “skinners” had no allegiance to either army but sometimes dressed in uniform as they stole cattle and terrorized local farmers. In 1775, Paul Revere's famous midnight ride warned colonial forces of the approaching British troops. Paul Revere’s horse was borrowed and its true identity slipped into obscurity, but Ludington’s horse Star remains part of her legend. Star was a young horse Sybil trained herself, accounts say, named for the marking on his face as so many horses have been. Sybil’s father rode a big bay Thoroughbred, and after watching Sybil’s skill and passion for horses he gave her a colt, likely locally bred. Sybil loved horses, and she rode daily after her chores were done, preferring her riding time to household duties as many equestrians do. “Victory or Death! Stories of the American Revolution” says Sybil had a friend named Nodjia, a Native American of the Wappinger tribe who lived in the hills beyond the Ludington’s farm. They tracked animals and explored the woods together. Sybil was an expert rider, and she and Star were a familiar pair in the region. Sybil had watched her father train the militia at their farm, and she had assisted by running errands and following troops home. She knew where each soldier lived, and she may also have worked as a messenger for the militia. Horses were pulled from farm duty during the American Revolution, and they were vital contributors to the war. "The Battle of Cowpens," painted by William Ranney in 1845. Sybil’s father was Colonel Henry Ludington, owner of a successful sawmill, gristmill, and 229-acre farm carved out of fertile wilderness. He and his wife Abigail raised 12 children, and Sybil was the oldest with seven younger siblings at the time of her ride. Their gristmill was built almost entirely by women since men were away in battle at the time. Colonel Ludington took an avid role in local public service, and he was a veteran of the French and Indian War, having enlisted at age 17. Colonel Ludington was a logical choice for militia leader when the American colonies began to fight for independence. The American Revolution was a local war, with friends and families on opposite sides, spies next door, and battles right in their neighborhoods. Everyday citizens knew what was at stake and aided the war effort in a multitude of ways, and Sybil Ludington was one of these informal soldiers. Colonel Ludington had trained his family on how to protect each other and their home. With a price on her father’s head and frequent threats to his life, there are tales of Sybil preventing his capture, and some say she was his most vigilant protector. Once, she and her siblings scared off potential attackers by marching with guns in front of candlelit windows and making their home seem heavily guarded. So when a messenger arrived at the Ludington farm on April 26, 1777, too exhausted to travel further, Sybil became the logical choice to ride out and muster the militia. Her father needed to stay at the farm and order the troops as they arrived. Careful messengers and secrecy were vital during the American Revolutionary War, with spies afoot and interception common. A letter from Nathanael Sackett to Colonel Henry Ludington, 1777. British General William Tryon had landed off the coast, moving inland unopposed. His 2,000 soldiers reached the town of Danbury, Connecticut, and set fire to private homes and the Continental Army storehouses of meat, flour, rice, molasses, uniforms, shoes and gunpowder, all vital supplies for the colonists’ war effort. The message that Danbury was burning was an important one. If Tryon’s army continued, they would soon reach the large warehouses at Fredericksburg, potentially crippling the revolutionary movement, or they could attack General George Washington’s army two days away at Peekskill. The militia troops had taken a break from months of battle, returning home to plant their spring crops and scattering across many miles. Militias of local farmers and their horses were key to the American Revolution. "Veterans of 1776 Returning from the War" by William Tylee Ranney. So Sybil mounted up, likely with a hemp rope halter and worn saddle, wearing borrowed wool breeches, and riding in her preferred mode of astride. She took off through the dark rain, riding from farm to farm on the 40-mile circuit. She could see the glowing Danbury fires as she passed through Carmel, New York. Tales differ, but most refer to Sybil carrying a stick both for protection and to knock on doors without dismounting. She may have carried a knife, pistol or rifle. She likely passed marauders who would have harmed her and stolen her horse in a heartbeat, and some versions of the story say she fought off an attack or quietly snuck by campfires in the woods. She would also have known which Tory houses to avoid and which Patriot towns to alert for spreading the word further. As riders, we can imagine Sybil talking to Star and patting him as she rode, assuring him through the woods populated by deer, owls, wolves, mountain lions and bears. Star may have stumbled on the rough roads, slipped on wet leaves, or struggled through the increasing mud. Sybil’s fingers would have become stiff on the reins as she felt exhaustion and hunger pains through the long, wet night. When she finally reached home at dawn, nearly 400 militiamen had gathered on the Ludington farm. They immediately marched to Danbury, fewer in number than the British but with surprise on their side. The British may also have been hindered by consuming the colonists’ stores of rum the night before. This became known as the Battle of Ridgefield. The militia joined with Continental Army troops to drive General Tryon’s army back to their ships, an instrumental day in preserving the course of the American War of Independence. General George Washington thanked Sybil Ludington for her valiant 40-mile ride. "Washington at Verplanck's Point" by John Trumbull. Like Paul Revere’s ride, Sybil Ludington’s journey was an inspiration to the troops and the colonists. Later, General George Washington and French General Comte de Rochambeau visited Ludington's Mill to thank Sybil for her all-night ride. Sybil went on to marry Edmond Ogden, and they ran a tavern and had a son named Henry. After Edmond’s death when Henry was 13, Sybil became the only female licensed innkeeper out of 23 in the Catskill area. Henry became an attorney and followed in the family tradition of public service as an assemblyman. Sybil had wanted to enlist in the army, accounts say, though as a woman she was unable to formally join. As historian V.T. Dacquino points out in “Sybil Ludington: The Call to Arms,” Sybil was denied a widow’s pension based on her husband’s war service, unable to provide her marriage certificate. However, she was a hero of the American Revolutionary War herself. Historians have found no contemporaneous records of Ludington’s ride, and many accounts are fictionalized based on the general history of the region and war records. There are several historical records of Sybil Ludington’s life, however, and documents of her father’s contributions to the American Revolution as well. The tale was passed down by the oral history of Ludington’s family with few public mentions. In 1907, an article about Sybil Ludington appeared in Connecticut Magazine. Soon after, two of Colonel Henry Ludington’s grandchildren wrote a biography about him and included Sybil’s ride. Sybil's war efforts were honored with a commemorative stamp in 1975, almost 200 years after her ride. Later, Ludington’s ride was revived as part of Revolutionary War commemorations, and Sybil’s efforts were more widely recognized. She was finally celebrated like Paul Revere with two long narrative poems. An opera , a play and a movie have also retold her achievements. Her birthplace of Fredericksburg, New York, renamed itself Ludingtonville in her honor. In 1975, a postage stamp honored Sybil Ludington as one of the “Contributors to the Cause.” In 1963, Congressman Robert R. Barry read into the record a resolution by the National Women’s Party honoring Sybil Ludington’s ride. An annual commemorative road race approximates the route of her night journey. An equestrian statue honoring Sybil and Star stands in Carmel, New York, along with historical markers mapping the route of their ride. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) commissioned the bronze sculpture in 1961, created by Anna Hyatt Huntington. Dramatically, it shows Star as wet and galloping, with Sybil shouting her message and raising her stick. A smaller version of the statue resides at Danbury Public Library. Sybil Ludington is buried beside her parents at the Patterson Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Patterson, New York. Photo by https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5949812" target="_blank">Anthony22 at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Before the age of tanks, diesel truck convoys and fighter jets, wars were fought with ordinary horses – backyard-bred, home-trained, pulled from farm work to carry soldiers and supplies for their causes. Star was one of these steeds who did his part on a cold, rainy night to carry his teenage rider and hold the course for American independence. Sybil Ludington could not have gathered the militia without her partner, a brave horse who carried a capable young woman and one of the equine contributors to the American War of Independence. Explore Sybil’s route at Ludingtonsride.com. “Sybil Ludington: The Call to Arms” by V. T. Dacquino “The Horse-Riding Adventure of Sybil Ludington, Revolutionary War Messenger” by Marsha Amstell “Sybil Ludington’s Midnight Ride” by Marsha Amstel and Ellen Beier “Glory, Passion, and Principle: The Story of Eight Remarkable Women at the Core of the American Revolution” by Melissa Lukeman Bohrer “Women Soldiers, Spies, and Patriots of the American Revolution” by Martha Kneib “Leading Ladies: American Trailblazers” by Kay Bailey Hutchinson “Victory or Death! Stories of the American Revolution” by Doreen Rappaport or Joan Verniero “Sybil Ludington: Revolutionary War Rider” by E. F. Abbott “Ride for Freedom: The Story of Sybil Ludington” by Judy Hominick and Jeanne Spreier Karen Braschayko is a freelance writer and horse lover who lives in Michigan.

Dengue viruses, mosquito-borne members of the Flaviviridae family, are the causative agents of dengue fever. Dengue is the most emerging viral disease of humans that in recent decades has become a major international public health concern. It is prevalent in tropical and sub-tropical regions around the world, predominantly in an urban and semi-urban area. It is estimated that there are between 50 and 100 million cases of dengue fever and about 500 000 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) each year which require hospitalization. Dengue fever is spread through the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito. The first symptom of the disease appears in about 5-7 days after the infected mosquito bites a healthy person. It is possible to become infected by dengue multiple times because the virus has four different serotypes. Although each infection confers lifelong immunity to that particular serotype, a subsequent infection with a different serotype increases the risk of contracting the much deadlier form known as DHF. The symptoms of dengue fever include high fever, rash, and severe headache (dengue triad). Additional symptoms include severe joint and muscular pain (breakbone fever), nausea, vomiting, and eye pain. Although dengue fever itself is rarely fatal, it can be an extraordinarily painful and disabling illness and may become epidemic in a population following the introduction of a new serotype. Dengue fever is usually a self-limited illness, and only supportive care is required. Acetaminophen may be used to treat patients with symptomatic fever. Aspirin, Brufen nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), antibiotics and corticosteroids should be avoided as these do not help but cause gastritis and/or bleeding. Patients with known or suspected dengue fever should have their platelet count and Hematocrit measured daily from the third day of illness until 1-2 days after defervescence. No vaccine is available for the prevention of dengue infection. Immunogenic, safe tetravalent vaccines have been developed and are undergoing clinical trials. The only way to prevent dengue virus acquisition is to avoid being bitten by a vector mosquito. As Dengue spreads in epidemic proportions across the country, it’s high time we take a deeper look at customary or traditional cure in the absence of big pharma drugs to combat the disease. The folklore herbal medicine against dengue, Tawatawa tea, and Papaya leaves extract should not be dismissed or even belittled. Tawa-tawa (Euphorbia hirta), also known as “gatas-gatas,” is a hairy herb that grows naturally in open grasslands, backyards, roadsides, and pathways. A study conducted by University of Santo Tomas (UST) pharmacy students, published in the Journal of Tropical Medicine, showed that tawa-tawa contains small amount of phenolic compound sufficient to exert effect in promoting quality and quantity of platelets,” Based on the results of their experiment, the researchers concluded that administering tawa-tawa decoction to animal models help improve their healing mechanism. Tawa-tawa was able to promote cell production and prevents platelet destruction. Likewise, the improvement in the cell bleeding time and clotting time provided evidence that the indigenous plant can preserve and promote the hemostatic function of platelets. On the other hand, a study in Pakistan on dengue fever treatment with papaya (carica) leaves extracts was also published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine. In the study, a 45 year old feverish (40 oC) truck driver bitten by an Aedes aegypti mosquito did not respond to a broad spectrum of antibiotic and anti-malarial drugs. Three to four patients in the hospital who showed the same symptoms already died. A team of researchers from Peshawar University that was studying at that time on the chemical properties of Carica papaya considered the victim for a papaya treatment case study. In the treatment, plant material was washed with water, cut into pieces and grounded with a blender. The 25 mL of aqueous extract of papaya leaves was administered to a patient infected with Dengue fever. The same dose was given to the patient twice daily i.e. morning and evening for five consecutive days. The patient’s platelet increased after the papaya treatment, avoided bleeding complication and survived. The laboratory analysis of papaya leaves extract showed that it contains two important biologically active compounds namely: chymopapain and papain which are widely used for digestive disorders. It showed that papaya-derived papain, caricain, chymopapain, and glycine endopeptidase can improve acidic pH conditions and pepsin degradation. Other active compounds of C. papaya are lipase, or CPL, a hydrolase, which is tightly bonded to the water-insoluble fraction of crude papain and is thus considered as a “naturally immobilized” biocatalyst. Said compounds increase platelets and prevent platelet destruction, thrombocytopenia or bleeding. The different chemical properties of papaya also show, accordingly, promise as a strong natural candidate against viral diseases. Further local studies were also conducted to support the above claims. In 2014, student-researchers bagged first prize at the Gruppo Medica Award for their research on the anti-dengue property of papaya (Carica papaya) and tawa-tawa (Euphorbia hirta) during the 8th Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) Week celebration in Cebu City. The research done by Pharmacy students at the San Pedro College in Davao City revealed that tea concoction from tawa-tawa can increase blood platelet counts in rabbits by 194% in just 24 hours. Results on tests done on tea concoctions from papaya leaves only and a mixture of papaya leaves and tawa-tawa plant also significantly increased platelet counts in rabbits within 24 hours. Further laboratory tests on papaya and tawa-tawa revealed that both plants contain quercetin, a plant pigment known to naturally increase the platelet counts. Recommending the continuation of the research, especially with the isolation of quercetin, the students stressed that the study is significant in the effort to develop a treatment for the management of dengue. They said, “This research can benefit the society because it will pave the way to the development of a new drug that is affordable, accessible, and effective against dengue.” Indeed, despite the absence of mechanism or explanation on how they work, traditional beliefs and customs have proven their efficacy in addressing modern maladies.

World War I In 1917, Mr. Schmon joined the United States Army where he served under Colonel McCormick as an adjutant in field artillery in World War I. McCormick noted that Schmon maintained his cool in times of stress. McCormick went on to become a lieutenant colonel and he recommeded that Schmon be promoted to first lieutenant. McCormick described Schmon as courageous, intelligent and a tireless worker. He also noted that Schmon was able to maintain discipline over his men. At the end of World War I, Arthur Schmon moved up the ranks and became a captain. He was discharged in 1919.

English | 2015 | ISBN: 1783558483 | 296 Pages | EPUB/AZW3/PDF (conv) | 10 MB Create robust and maintainable Java applications using the functional style of programming Functional programming is an increasingly popular technology that allows you to simplify many tasks that are often cumbersome and awkward using an object-oriented approach. It is important to understand this approach and know how and when to apply it. Functional programming requires a different mindset, but once mastered it can be very rewarding. This book simplifies the learning process as a problem is described followed by its implementation using an object-oriented approach and then a solution is provided using appropriate functional programming techniques. Writing succinct and maintainable code is facilitated by many functional programming techniques including lambda expressions and streams. In this book, you will see numerous examples of how these techniques can be applied starting with an introduction to lambda expressions. Next, you will see how they can replace older approaches and be combined to achieve surprisingly elegant solutions to problems. This is followed by the investigation of related concepts such as the Optional class and monads, which offer an additional approach to handle problems. Design patterns have been instrumental in solving common problems. You will learn how these are enhanced with functional techniques. To transition from an object-oriented approach to a functional one, it is useful to have IDE support. IDE tools to refactor, debug, and test functional programs are demonstrated through the chapters. The end of the book brings together many of these functional programming techniques to create a more comprehensive application. You will find this book a very useful resource to learn and apply functional programming techniques in Java. What You Will Learn - Use lambda expressions to simplyfy code - Use function composition to achieve code fluency - Apply streams to simply implementations and achieve parallelism - Incorporate recursion to support an application’s functionality - Provide more robust implementations using Optionals - Implement design patterns with less code - Refactor object-oriented code to create a functional solution - Use debugging and testing techniques specific to functional programs

By Alex Bugaeff (This article was originally published by usagovpolicy.com) - Factors That Affect Earth’s Climate – Sun, Oceans, Earth’s Crust, Cosmos, Time - Greenhouse Gases - Is the Globe Warming? - Do Sea Levels Indicate Global Warming? - How Accurate Are Global Temperature Readings? - Human Error and Intention - Can Science Ever Be Settled? The earth’s climate changes naturally and always has. Yet, the proponents of global warming insist that changes in the earth’s climate are instead caused by mankind and that these changes will doom civilization unless something is done. They blame the burning of fossil fuels and they want to tax it to fund their political schemes. This paper uncovers the climate change agenda. It shows that the climate changes naturally and by small increments (with the exception of catastrophic events such as volcanic eruptions and asteroid impacts). It shows that the greenhouse gases named as the culprit for change are naturally as well as artificially produced and that they have relatively little effect on climate. Climate consists of long term patterns of weather and atmosphere. The morning weather forecast is not climate, although it is born of it. To be considered climate, a pattern must persist over decades, at least, and more properly over centuries and millennia. It must be shown to demonstrate consistent attributes of temperature, wind, precipitation, humidity, and the like. The last Ice Age was a climate pattern that ended at about 12,000 BC. During the Ice Age, much of North America was covered with glaciers. Since then, we have been in a warming period called the Holocene Interglacial (between glacial periods). Glaciers have receded, making the northern hemisphere habitable. During that time, we have had periods of relative warming (e.g. the Medieval Warm 950 to 1250) and cooling (e.g. the Maunder Minimum or Mini Ice Age 1645 to 1720). These dramatic temperature and climate changes are caused by a complex group of factors, primarily solar activity, cosmic radiation, ocean currents, the earth’s crust, the earth’s magnetic field, and earth’s rotation and orbit. These factors have had massive impacts on the earth’s climate long before mankind’s activities. More about them later. “Greenhouse gases” have only recently been cited as having an influence on climate. These gases consist of methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and miscellaneous other gases. Such gases occur naturally and have for eons. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has been accused as the major cause of climate change in the modern age despite its being only 4/10,000ths of the total gaseous volume in the atmosphere – the equivalent of a shoebox of air in your house. The claim is that, since the presence of CO2 in the atmosphere has risen since the earth exited from the Mini Ice Age 300 years ago, it must be guilty of warming. The Factors that Affect the Earth’s Climate The sun sends energy through space and impacts the earth, producing heat, wind and rain. Additional solar events intensify its effect, primarily in the form of sun spots, solar flares and other surface upheavals. The sun is the single most important factor influencing the earth’s climate. Recently, there have been few to no solar events, perhaps a forecast for a period of cooler temperatures. https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/08jan_sunclimate/ Oceanic activity influences climate through two phenomena. First are Atlantic and Pacific Oscillations. Every ten to 30 years, the cold waters at lower depths tend to circulate to the surface in massive currents that force the warmer waters toward the bottom. These oscillations have a cooling effect on temperatures and other climatic elements. https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/pdo/ Second are El Nino and La Nina – two periodic Pacific Ocean phenomena. El Nino appears when west-to-east winds predominate near the equator and drive warm surface waters toward the west coasts of North and South America. During El Nino, rain and storms increase in the western hemisphere. La Nina is the opposite – when equatorial winds predominate from east-to-west, they drive warm surface waters away from the western hemisphere, reducing rain and storms there and increasing them in the western Pacific. These phenomena typically last from six to eighteen months. https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/what-is-el-nino/70005474 Changes in the earth’s magnetic field and its orbit appear to impact temperatures in the earth’s atmosphere more than on the surface. According to Dr. Ingrid Crossen of the British Antarctic Survey, changes in the earth’s magnetic field have resulted in cooling in northern atmospheres and warming in southern atmospheres. https://phys.org/news/2014-05-earth-magnetic-field-important-climate.html Cosmic radiation in the form of gamma rays and other galactic bursts of energy has a periodic association with the earth’s climate, but a causal relationship has not been established. The strongest association appears to be that gamma rays tend to increase clouds, thus increasing rain and reducing temperatures. https://phys.org/news/2015-03-cosmic-fluctuations-global-temperatures-doesnt.html As alluded to earlier, historic climate periods have been irresistible factors or trends in the earth’s climate. It is difficult to imagine that anything could have reversed the Ice Age, the Eemian and Holocene Interglacials, the Medieval Warm, or the Maunder Minimum. The complexity of the factors causing them is overwhelming. We are fortunate to live during the Holocene with its moderate climate features. The so-called “greenhouse” gases (really just “atmospheric” gases) – methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and miscellaneous other gases – have been portrayed as hovering in layers above the earth’s surface, blocking solar energy from reaching us and warm air from escaping. To some extent, this picture has validity. We need greenhouse gases to reflect excess energy back into space and to keep needed warmth from escaping the planet. Without greenhouse gases, life on earth would be very different, if not impossible. The question is, “To what degree do greenhouse gases determine climate?” Consider the other factors – solar activity, ocean activity, activity of the earth (volcanos, quakes, magnetic fields, and orbits), cosmic rays, and historic climate periodicity – and we must conclude that greenhouse gases together play a role, but a small one. Now, look more closely at CO2. As mentioned, CO2 consists of only 4/10,000ths of the atmosphere, or as it is cited in the reports, 400 parts per million (ppm), and its volume varies according to the seasons. It results from natural processes, such as the breathing and flatulence of the entire animal kingdom, and from artificial processes, such as the burning of fossil fuels. Today’s CO2 level is low by historical standards. Ice core measurements indicate that CO2 has been as high as 3,000 ppm. While it is true that CO2 is increasing, it is doing so at an extremely slow rate. Here is the link to NASA/NOAA’s data posting where you can see the actual figures in real time. ftp://ftp.cmdl.noaa.gov/ccg/co2/trends/co2_mm_mlo.txt What does CO2 do? How is it supposed to effect climate? Consider first that CO2 does not hover over the earth in a layer any more than the other gases do. It diffuses evenly throughout the atmosphere making it available as food for plant life and for absorption by the oceans. Beyond that, the direct effect of CO2 on climate is uncertain – it absorbs solar energy and releases it back to the surface and into space. There is only an inferential relationship between the amount of CO2 and reported temperatures. “A Primer on Carbon Dioxide and Climate,” CO2 Coalition, Arlington, VA, 2017. And, https://www.princeton.edu/geosciences/people/bender/CO2Sampling/climate.xml And, we must recognize that with world population increasing, we will need more food to feed them -mostly plant food. Since plants require CO2 to grow, more plants will need more CO2, not less. “What Rising CO2 Means for Global Food Security,” CO2 Coalition, Arlington, VA, 2017. Is the Globe Warming? “Periods of Earth warming and cooling occur in cycles. This is well understood, as is the fact that small-scale cycles of about 40 years exist within larger-scale cycles of 400 years, which in turn exist inside still larger scale cycles of 20,000 years, and so on.” https://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/ice_ages.html Believers in climate change as a menace contend that the globe is warming, that it is warming at an alarming rate, and that the greenhouse gas, CO2, is to blame. But, is the globe warming? We must first look to the history of the earth’s temperatures. There have been periods in long-term history when global temperatures were higher than they are today. If technological ice core readings are any measure, the Eemian Interglacial period (140,000 to 120,000 years ago) temperatures were significantly higher. During the Medieval Warm, the melting of glaciers over Greenland allowed the populating and farming of that island, hence the name. Even during the so-called Industrial period, temperatures during the mid-1930’s were higher than at present. https://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/ice_ages.html Do Sea Levels Indicate Global Warming? Sea levels have risen and fallen naturally over time with the arrival and departure of cold and warm periods. During glacial periods, sea levels were some 500 feet below their current levels. The Bering Land Bridge was exposed as a result of glaciation and people and animals crossed it from the Asian land mass to North America. Since 1850, sea levels have been rising at the overall rate of about a half inch per year. These rates are affected primarily by the following: changes in the earth’s crust (mostly volcanic, tectonic plate and earthquake activity), by subsidence of lowland and unstable substrates, such as in Venice, Italy and in Atlantic Ocean barrier islands, by built-upon landfills, such as the San Francisco International Airport and the Manhattan Battery, and by glacial melting and growth (of Arctic and Antarctic glaciers). Sea levels can appear to rise because coast lands sink. Dr. Judith Curry, PhD, Department Chair of Earth and Atmospheric Science, Emeritus, Georgia Tech University, estimates that at their current rate, sea levels will rise about 30 inches by the year 2100. She calculates that about half that increase can be attributed to global warming. https://judithcurry.com/2018/04/15/sea-level-rise-acceleration-or-not-part-vii-u-s-coastal-impacts/#comments So, is the globe warming? Not, it appears, because of increases in CO2 or other greenhouse gases. In addition to the natural highs and lows of previous eras, during the 1970’s and 1980’s there were claims that global cooling was taking place instead and that IT was a threat to civilization. Greenhouses gases were accused of cooling the earth, just as they are now accused of warming it. So, temperatures go up and down, but are the temperatures actually as they are claimed to be? How Accurate Are Global Temperature Readings? We should not assume that the temperatures reported, even by NASA, are accurate. The earth’s temperatures are measured primarily using surface and satellite devices. Historically, surface devices consisted of thermometers housed in ventilated boxes set on waist-high stilts – “Stevenson Screens.” Starting in the 1890’s, approximately 11,000 such devices were set around the globe, most in the northern hemisphere, and were monitored by US and British laboratories. Many of these locations were in “urban heat islands” – places where heat builds up and is stored in asphalt streets and concrete buildings, thereby giving false high readings on the thermometers placed there. https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/05/03/big-news-verified-by-noaa-poor-weather-station-siting-leads-to-artificial-long-term-warming/?fbclid=IwAR0D_Z1dCj7Zdd-iEVYQ4tY2QVqcrPiajT7IHLSI6P3uhQNQ12Ms3U_qeOU Then, in 1985 big changes were begun: Stevenson Screens were replaced by a supposedly more accurate device – the Platinum Resistance Thermometer – and the number of surface stations was reduced to approximately 6,500. Also, thermometer devices were housed in buoys and were set afloat on the oceans to measure air temperatures over the seas. They have been free to drift with the currents from the beginning, raising the question of where the readings are being taken. And, all of this has introduced the question of data reliability. https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/04/19/systematic-error-in-climate-measurements-the-surface-air-temperature-record/ From space, satellites have been “measuring” global temperatures since about 1979, but they don’t actually measure air temperature. Instead, satellites measure the radiance of earth’s features through radiometry – radio waves emitted by water, rock, soil, and the like. Air temperatures are then inferred through comparisons with trends in surface readings, as described above. That is, mathematical formulas are used to derive trends in atmospheric temperatures from the thermometer readings on the earth’s surface. https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/climatechange/some-of-the-issues-with-satell/54879902 Since direct measurement of temperatures is so inconsistent, researchers have taken to applying mathematics and statistics to its analysis. If observed results stray from the expected outcomes, these researchers “adjust” the data. If the difference is too great, they may “reconstruct” past data (reduce it) so that the current data looks warmer. As Carlin, et al found, “…each new version of GAST (Global Average Surface Temperature) has nearly always exhibited a steeper warming linear trend over its entire history. And, it was nearly always accomplished by systematically removing the previously existing cyclical temperature pattern. This was true for all three entities providing GAST data measurement, NOAA, NASA and Hadley CRU (Jones, IPCC).” https://thsresearch.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/ef-gast-data-research-report-062717.pdf The sum total of the temperature accuracy question is that we cannot be sure that temperature reports are accurate or stable. The temperature devices or methods themselves, our inability to compare “apples to apples” over time because of the changes to them, and the error introduced through mathematical and other inferences cannot be relied upon to be as precise as claimed. Then, we have the issue of how the scientists’ “goals” factor in? How is human error introduced into the process? https://bigleaguepolitics.com/moseley-its-time-to-send-the-co2-obsessed-back-to-science-class/ Human Error and Intention Climate change has been made into a “Cause” by proponents who seize it to advance their interests. Vast sums of money have been offered and expended in its research and promotion. Former US Senator Al Gore has turned it into a lucrative career for himself and his followers. Enormous research grants have been dangled in front of university faculties in return for findings of global warming. http://humansarefree.com/2016/04/top-scientist-resigns-global-warming-is.html?fbclid=IwAR03NuRQQMZB85ihkK1ZnQl4jL6yrHkl2H6ZIlhGVb6yYCjGAITocq_DYVQ#.XLvMuwwkv88.email Dr. Judith Curry, PhD and Chair, Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Science Emeritus, Georgia Tech University, reports that grants became awarded only to those who would find evidence of warming – “Research and other professional activities are professionally rewarded only if they are channeled in certain directions approved by a politicized academic establishment…” she said. https://judithcurry.com/2017/01/03/jc-in-transition/ Al Gore aside, the current push to use global warming as a political tool probably began with Philip (Phil) Jones, an English academic associated with the UK’s East Anglia University. Jones received his PhD in Hydrology (the study of the movement, distribution and quality of water on the Earth) in 1977 and began in 1979 as a Research Associate with the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, advancing to Professor in 1998. Phil Jones was a leader in the founding of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) by the United Nations in 1988. He and other researchers published a series of reports which purported to prove that the globe is warming at the “alarming” rate of 1.5 degrees or so by 2100. They did this by formulating mathematical models that used CO2 as the factor by which warming was predicted. They blamed the burning of fossil fuels for the higher CO2 amounts while ignoring natural sources of it. And then, they proclaimed that this warming would be catastrophic. The IPCC ignited controversy when it refused to release either their data or their models for analysis by outside scientists. They finally shared their data, but refused to release the mathematical models by which they analyzed it. Using the IPCC findings, Al Gore and other warming proponents promoted policies to reduce global warming through a tax scheme he called “Cap and Trade.” Under it, corporations would pay taxes on the carbon that their businesses emitted. Gore and his adherents continue to insist that the earth is warming, that mankind is to blame and that their tax programs are the solution. Al Gore famously cited a survey that 97% of scientists agree on the warming “theory” and that the science of warming is “settled.” https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9047642 He overlooked that the cited survey consisted of about 120 respondents (compared with 31,000 scientists who oppose it), that the IPCC mathematics have been withheld from scrutiny and that the Scientific Method never accepts that findings are “settled” anyway (see below). http://www.green-agenda.com/science.html http://www.petitionproject.org/ http://www.populartechnology.net/2009/10/peer-reviewed-papers-supporting.html Eventually, the data collected by the IPCC researchers began to show the truth – CO2 is a poor predictor of global temperatures. But, now there was too much at stake – money, power and fame. To maintain the illusion of infallibility, Jones and the IPCC falsified their data and conspired with NASA and NOAA among others to keep it quiet, but it came out anyway and was dubbed “Climategate.” Headlines, such as “NOAA Data Tampering,” and “Stunning Statistical Fraud,” abounded. https://thsresearch.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/ef-gast-data-research-report-062717.pdf In an attempt to salvage what they could, IPCC issued reports and assessments that revised their methods, data and standards without admitting anything. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/syr/ . It remains to be seen whether these changes will result in submission of peer reviewed data and conformity to the Scientific Method. Phil Jones has “retired.” Can Science Ever Be “Settled?” The discoveries of science since the Greeks have come primarily by virtue of the Scientific Method. It’s simple, really. You surmise that some phenomenon of the natural world might be true and you make a statement proposing it – the Hypothesis. You Test your Hypothesis using accepted procedures. The Test results either support your Hypothesis or they do not. Then, you publish your Hypothesis, Tests and results so that other scientists can replicate your Tests (peer review). Their results may support your Hypothesis or not. The more that Tests by others support your Hypothesis, the more confidence you can have that your Hypothesis is reliable. But, it can never be “proven.” Someday, a new or better test may be found that fails to support your Hypothesis. That’s the nature of scientific inquiry. It can never be “settled” and must never be. Otherwise, the Earth would still be “flat.” CO2-caused climate change is not settled science. Just the complexity of climate and the inability to replicate findings in order to test them makes it impossible. Corruption further compromises any findings. Scientific procedures can be used to track climate and elements, but fine distinctions of a degree or so are speculative. Climate and temperatures will fluctuate naturally, as they have for all of earth’s existence. The factors affecting them are out of the hands of mankind, except for those greenhouse gases over which we have some control, and they play only a relatively small role. It may be just as likely that we are cooling as that we are warming. https://www.technocracy.news/global-cooling-straight-ahead-says-solar-physicist/ Considering all these factors, their variability and the difficulty of measuring them, it is not possible nor is it advisable for scientists and mathematicians to claim that their mathematical models should be the basis for investing monumental sums of money in a scheme that may be exactly the wrong thing. The findings and dire warnings of global warming proponents must be regarded as unfounded or even, as some have said, a hoax. Mankind should be a good steward of the planet and those of us who seek to do so should continue to pressure planet abusers, such as India and China, to improve. But, we should not bankrupt ourselves and our nation to assuage a false guilt perpetrated by politicians and corrupted scientists. We need to be smarter than that.

Hot springs in the Peruvian AndesDeep fluids in young mountains & possible analog for Wyoming’s mountains and basins March 19 “Hot springs in the Peruvian Andes – deep fluids in young mountains & possible analog for Wyoming’s mountains and basins”, Presented by Dennis Newell, Utah State University. The mountains and intervening basins of Wyoming were formed during the “Laramide” event, some ~65-45 million years ago, and are commonly believed to be a result of flat-slab subduction of the Farallon plate. The best modern analog for this type of plate tectonics is along the Peru segment of the Andean (South American) subduction zone. Study of this modern Andean flat-slab subduction zone may well inform our understanding of the Laramide features in Wyoming. Hot springs in continental arc settings provide a direct window into the source and chemistry of deeply-ciculated “geofluids” in subductions zones. These groundwaters and volatiles play a primary role in modifying the chemistry and strength of the lithosphere, the generation of magmatism, and the distribution of geothermal resources and ore deposits. Much of what we know about these fluids is from research on active volcanic arcs, but little is known from flat-slab subduction segments lacking active magmatism, where the subducting oceanic plate is in contact with the overriding continental plate. The Peruvian segment of the Andean subduction zone is an ideal location to document contemporaneous mantle-to-crust migration of fluids in a flat-slab subduction setting compared to an adjacent active volcanic arc. Hot spring water, gas, and isotope geochemistry are presented from a traverse from the flat-slab subduction segment in north-central Peru, across the transition from flat-slab subduction to the magmatically active part of the arc in southern Peru. Regions investigated include the Altiplano region of southern Peru, the Cordillera Blanca, and Cordillera Huayhuash mountain ranges of central Peru. Springs investigated range from 17 to 89 °C, have slightly acidic to neutral pH, have a wide range of salinity from fresh-water to brackish, carry high-levels of dissolved CO2, and contain dissolved arsenic up to 23 ppm (2300 times the drinking water standard). Helium and carbon isotope tracers detect the presence of mantle-derived volatiles in deeply-circulated geofluids. An understanding of the flat-slab subduction in the Andes and its associated fluid regime and associated mineralization may help to inform our understanding of the distribution of mineral deposits in Wyoming, both known and as yet unknown, and in other areas of past and current flat-slab subduction.

Thursday, March 18, 2021 (All day) Time: 10:30 for 10:45 am – 3:30pm Venue: Art Workers’ Guild, 6 Queen Square, WC1N 3AT Lecturer: Valerie Woodgate Cost: £38 (including coffee & biscuits) To a large extent, all art is about other art. In this study day we will compare Old Master paintings with modern treatment of the same subjects, and examine the extent to which modern art is inspired by the example of earlier eras. In many ways, modern art has a surprising amount in common with the Old Masters, but there are also, of course, many differences and reinterpretations of subject and style. We will consider the effect of these differences, and whether they add to, or change, our understanding of the subject and its message. The works will include all of the traditional genres, i.e. History Painting, which encompasses elevated subjects from the Bible, Greek mythology and classical history (concerned with people “greater than ourselves”); Portraits, including the self-portrait; Genre (pictures of the everyday lives of people “like ourselves or less than ourselves”); Landscape and Still-Life. In each case we will see the way in which treatment of these subjects has changed over the centuries, up to the modern era. Comparisons will be made between many Old Masters and modern artists, and will include Poussin, Ruisdael, Constable, van Gogh, Rembrandt, Picasso, Masaccio, Titian, Manet, Chagall and Dali.

For most people, the mention of the term budget conjures up images of frugality and the disgusting task of crunching numbers. Contrary to the widely held view, a budget is the cornerstone that will help you to create a solid financial foundation. So to start with, what is a budget? Well, the definitions of a budget vary with the scope of the entity. But, simply explained, a budget is an estimate of revenue and expenses over a specified future timeframe. Essentially, it is a financial plan. In personal budgeting, the first step is to know how to plan a budget. Below, we’ll look at the basics involved in personal budgeting. Start With Your Income The first step in preparing a budget is to determine your income. If you are preparing a monthly budget, start by establishing your monthly income. What is your income per month? If you are salaried, figuring out your monthly income is simple because you only need to look at your payslip. If you have any other sources of income, include them in the computation. If you are married, include your spouse’s income, too. For freelancers and business people, the law of averages will be the only applicable solution to determining your monthly income. Ideally, you’ll focus on your last year’s income to determine the monthly average. The average figure you get will be the baseline income amount you’ll use in preparing your monthly budget. Track Your Monthly Spending The importance of budgeting is to ensure that you spend within your limits and probably save something for the future. So, with your income figure at hand, you should now ascertain your expenses. Start with the regular expenses and any fixed payments you make each month, such as rent, mortgages, insurance, debt, etc. Having listed all your fixed payments, delve deeper and establish where your money goes. Preferably, use your bank statement, chequebook or receipts from other channels of payment to help you. Figure out how much you spend on utilities, subscriptions, groceries, and so on. Create Your Budget Once you determine your income total and expenses totals for the entire month, the remaining step is very easy. You only need to subtract your expenses from the income. Typically, you will have some money left, which should be used to establish an emergency savings fund. However, in some cases, especially if you are preparing a budget for the first time, you‘ll realize that you have a negative balance. The main importance of budgets is to help you detect any deficiencies. So if you realize that you have a negative balance, you need to adjust your spending habits. Build an emergency fund If you are a freelancer or self-employed, you know the swings in incomes you seasonally experience – sometimes you are at the peak and at times you are at the trough. So, with a proper personal budgeting plan, you will build an emergency fund to cushion during the trough periods. Usually, when you start budgeting, you may not have a lot of extra cash, but if you work with a robust financial plan, you’ll achieve your budgeting goals. With the above budgeting basic, you can achieve financial freedom, whether you are self-employed or working for someone else.

Scientists have created a device that can generate 0.5 volts of continuous electricity using the humidity of air and microbes: Air-gen. The current density caused by the tool is about 17 microamperes per square centimeter. It isn’t much yet, but it sure looks like a big hope. As crazy as it may sound, it is true. Bacteria with such potential exist. Several bacteria from the Geobacter and Shewanella genera produce bacterial/microbial nanowires. And they don’t hold the exclusivity. Other bacteria can do that too. A bacterial nanowire is an electrically conductive appendage. They have been shown to have significant potential applications in the fields of bioenergy and bioremediation. Scientists used bacteria to create electricity After thirty years since the fantastic Geobacter sulfurreducens bacteria was first discovered to produce nanowires, Air-gen was created. It is a device developed by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst that generates clean energy 24/7. “We are literally making electricity out of thin air,” says electrical engineer Jun Yao. The G. sulfurreducens were found in the Potomac River. Scientists turned its 7 micrometers thick protein nanowires into a film able to absorb water vapor from the atmosphere. It is called hydro-voltaic power. Being connected to two electrodes, the film enables Air-gen to generate continuous electrical current. Geobacter is a dissimilatory metal-reducing bacterium. Biofilms produced by Geobacter colonies contribute significantly to the overall production of bioenergy. Geobacter strains with heightened expression of conductive pili have been shown to produce more conductive biofilms, thus increasing overall electricity output. Further application significance of bacterial nanowires includes bioelectronics. Scientists have in mind the future use of biofilms of Geobacter as a platform for functional underwater transistors and supercapacitors capable of self-renewing energy. For now, Air-gen can only sustain the energy needed by a smartphone, but just give it time. It wouldn’t be the first time when something that small puts down a Goliath.

Gilbert Martínez has his work cut out for him. A reef ranger for the Belize Department of Fisheries, he spends his days patrolling a 87,000-acre Marine Protected Area called Glover’s Reef, an azure paradise of an atoll about 28 miles from the country’s mainland. I met him while reporting for an article in Tuesday’s Science Times about a reef-monitoring project in the atoll that is sponsored by the Bronx-based Wildlife Conservation Society. Beneath the white hull of Mr. Martínez’s patrol boat was a system of some 800 patch reefs teeming with diverse life. Robust corals, sponges the size of oil barrels, spiny lobsters and a dizzying array of multihued tropical fish all call this place home. The ranger’s job to protect these animals from overfishing and other damage. Within just three hours on a recent afternoon on which I accompanied him, he encountered at least three men illegally collecting conch, a local favorite that can fetch $15 a pound in local markets. One of these men was just outside the so-called no-take zone, where no fishing of any kind is allowed. It is legal for him to collect conch here so long as they weigh three ounces or more. The fisherman’s bag was swollen with the slimy reef-dwellers, which are cut from their shells by using a short blade. One by one, Mr. Martínez had the man weigh the conch; 24 of them proved to be undersize, and he wrote a citation that will cost the man almost $500 — not a small sum in a country where fishermen often earn less than $4,000 a year. “That’s really a lot,” Mr. Martínez said of the undersize conch he found in the man’s bag. “if you take 10 a day, that can cause a lot of damage.” Scientists say that overfishing has wreaked havoc throughout the Caribbean, which is why marine reserves like Glover’s are so important. Belize’s government has imposed strict limits on what can be caught, and although there are definitely gaps in enforcement, some scientists here say the efforts to preserve important species like sharks are working. “I know a lot of people were skeptical, and even I was surprised at first, that a small marine reserve could make a difference in the longevity and the population size sharks,” said Ellen K. Pikitch, a marine biologist with Stony Brook University who is a force behind a study of sharks here. “What we’ve learned after a 10-year period is parks do work for sharks they are actually effective at keeping populations stable.” Keeping populations stable might not sound like much, but some shark populations are in severe decline throughout the world, in part because of the broad demand for their meat and a growing demand for shark fin soup in China. (Here is a video I prepared of shark fishermen cutting fins from sharks and dumping their bodies back into the water.) Ms. Pikitch and other scientists and conservationists are now trying to push Belize to create more reserves like Glover’s that allow some fishing in specified zones but maintain others where no fishing is allowed so that species can grow back and be replenished.

Government Documents on Water Water is essential for human and animal health and plays an essential role in agriculture, energy generation, and other forms of economic activity. Water pollution remains a key public policy issue and many areas of the world do not have access to clean drinking water. Because of its economic, environmental, political, legal, and even national security implications, government agencies produce numerous information resources on water. Purdue Libraries have many government documents on water. These documents can be found in the HSSE, EAPS, ENGR, LIFE libraries as well as in the Undergraduate Library's HIKS Repository. Examples of Library Catalog subject headings you can use to search for government documents on water include: Drinking Water Contamination United States Federal aid to Water Resources Development United States Irrigation Laws United States Rivers United States Water Conservation Law and Legislation United States Water Pollution Law and Legislation United States Water Resources Development Law and Legislation United States The principal index for locating U.S. Government documents is the Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications HSSE REF & Periodicals 016.353 Un36 and its online counterpart covering 1976-present . Other useful indexes for U.S. Government documents include the Congressional Information Service (CIS) Index HSSE RF 328.73005 C76 for congressional publications, the CIS Congressional Serial Set Index 1789-1969 HSSE REF 328.73 C761c and its online version (Purdue users only), CIS Index to U.S. Executive Branch Documents 1789-1909 HSSE REF 351.73 C497 1990, and CIS Index to U.S. Executive Branch Documents 1910-1932 HSSE REF 351.73 C497 1996. Connect HERE for information on downloading Purdue Libraries Ebooks.

Volleyball originated in the United States in the late 1800s, and it's now played by more than 800 million people worldwide on a regular basis. If you're one of them, you may eventually have the desire to build your own court, either in your backyard or on the beach. While the basic setup is fairly simple, making your own volleyball court does take some time to prepare the ground and ensure that the various components of the court are installed safely. Sand Court Prep Select a location that is flat and has good drainage. Excavate the playing area -- which will be 60 feet long and 30 feet wide -- by removing the surface material to a depth of 1 to 3 feet. If the area is more prone to standing water, dig closer to the 3-foot level, and install a perforated drainage pipe leading away from the lowest portion of the court and well away from the court area. If you're not sure of the grade of the land you want to use, you may need to hire a surveyor to help you determine the lowest point in the area. Cover the area with a layer of pea gravel, if you plan to install sand. If the drainage is good, this layer can be just 1 or 2 inches; for areas that tend to hold more water, place as much as 1 foot of pea gravel over the area. Rake the area to make it flat. Cover the pea gravel layer with a layer of landscape fabric to keep the gravel and sand from mixing. Dump a 1- to 2-foot layer of sand on the court, and then rake it to make it flat. Be sure to get volleyball sand instead of golf course or masonry sand, as those other types can be grittier and have more dust. Nets and Marking Measure the court lengthwise to 59 feet. Measure the court's width to 29.6 feet. Place 2-inch, brightly colored marking tape or rope on the inside of 59-foot and 29.6-foot lines to mark the outside of the playing court. The tape should be 2 inches wide and start on the inside edge of the markings. Measure halfway between the 59-foot long border and place another piece of tape or rope across the width of the court to mark the center line. Place a piece of marking tape or rope on either side of the center line to mark the attack lines. These lines are supposed to be 3 meters -- or about 9.84 feet -- from the center line, so measure and mark accordingly. If you are installing a sand court, you do not need to mark the attack lines, since having a piece of rope or tape in the middle of the court could be a trip hazard. Dig holes on either side of the center line, about 2 feet from the outside of the court. The holes should be about 1 foot across and 3 feet down. Place 10.5-foot or higher net poles into the holes, placing the poles at least 3 feet into the ground, and then fill with concrete. The poles can be made of any type of sturdy material, including 6 x 6 treated wood, steel or anodized aluminum. As the concrete sets, use a level to ensure that the poles stay straight. Install your net according to the manufacturer's instructions and the desired height. Women's courts should have a net that is 7 feet, 4 inches high, while a men's court should be 8 feet high. Coed games are traditionally played at men's height. For sand volleyball, the height of the court should be based on the height of the sand, not the height of the sand when your foot is in it. For grass, use the height of the ground, not the grass. - As you select your location, be sure to place the court so that the ends of the court face north and south. This will prevent the sun from getting in the eyes of players during early morning and evening games. - Different groups have different guidelines for how much space to have on the outside of the court to avoid obstructions; generally, though, you should have at least 6 feet on all sides of the court for safety. Nicole Vulcan has been a journalist since 1997, covering parenting and fitness for The Oregonian, careers for CareerAddict, and travel, gardening and fitness for Black Hills Woman and other publications. Vulcan holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and journalism from the University of Minnesota. She's also a lifelong athlete and is pursuing certification as a personal trainer.

Do teeth just start breaking off at 90? Fortunately we have a wonderful retired dentist in the family. A quick call to him provided some answers: 1. Tooth enamel remains strong in old age, but the pulp naturally slowly shrinks as we age. Unless there’s sufficient blood coming into the pulp the dentin tends to dry out. When this happens, it becomes more brittle. As it becomes more brittle, the teeth are more prone to fracture. 2. A tooth could break by itself, but usually it takes a small amount of pressure for it to fracture. 3. A crown is more likely to “break” or cause problems when it gets old. It’s much faster and easier to remake, with the new technology, than in the “old days.” OPTIONS FOR BROKEN TOOTH 1. Extracting the tooth involves anesthesia, presents a small possibility of infection (there are antibiotics) and one wonders if it takes longer for old people to heal. 2. Tooth or root restoration. Regular dentists should be able to do this. There are also specialists who, since they specialize, do many more of these procedures. Endodontists specialize in root restoration (root canal). Prosthodontists specialize in tooth restoration. These options and their cost can be discussed with a regular dentist. 3. Common sense is an additional factor. When Dad was 91 0r 2, his dentist recommended root canal on a tooth that wasn’t bothering Dad but looked problematic in an X-ray. Although an appointment was made for the procedure, we decided to wait until it became a bother, rather than have Dad go through the root canal ordeal. Dad died at least a year later. That tooth never caused a problem. If medical science continues to help people age longer, no doubt “broken teeth” in old age will become more common–even for those who began brushing their teeth while standing on a stool. * * * RELATED: Never been to Fayetteville, but found this site’s information excellent: http://www.sedentalspecialists.com/prosthodontics-6/bridges/ From the site’s home page: Prosthodontics – You may wonder what a prosthodontist does. Prosthodontists are specialists in the restoration and replacement of teeth and related tissues, and the specialty is one of nine that are recognized by the American Dental Association. Extensive post-doctoral training and education provide prosthodontists with the skills for restoring optimum function and esthetics to your smile Endodontics – Endodontists are Dentists who are root canal specialists, extensively trained to save teeth. One of the main reasons to see a specialist for your root canal therapy is that endodontists are trained to use the latest technology to help patients maintain their natural teeth. Get it done right the first time, and avoid the need for later re-treatment. Endodontists perform routine as well as difficult and very complex endodontic procedures, including retreatment of previously treated teeth that have not healed, as well as endodontic surgery. Changing often: “Newsworthy” (right sidebar). Links to timely information and research from top universities, and repected sources–to help parents age well.

What's the most abundant man-made material in the world? Spend too much time scrolling through posts on social media, and you might think it was something like cupcakes, avocado toast or hot takes on the latest "Star Wars" movie. But look down. Look around. Chances are you're not too far from concrete, and from the answer to that question. Composed of sand and gravel bound together with cement and water, concrete is an essential part of modern civilization. Humans have found construction applications for concrete for thousands of years, dating back to ancient Rome. Concrete is "the single most widely used material in the world," according to the Royal Society of Chemistry, "and it has a carbon footprint to match." In fact, the society notes that making concrete is responsible for between 5 and 7 percent of all annual anthropogenic global carbon dioxide production. (Anthropogenic refers to humankind's ability to affect nature.) But what if there were a way to mitigate the negative environmental impact of all that concrete? That's precisely the goal of the Canadian firm CarbonCure. Founded in 2007, the company has developed a system that traps CO2 emissions and injects them into concrete during the mixing process, transforming the CO2 into a mineral form and also minimizing the amount of cement necessary to make concrete. That last part is big when it comes to reducing the overall footprint of concrete. "The best thing about it is the mineral itself improves the compressive strength of the concrete," Christie Gamble, CarbonCure's director of sustainability, recently told CNN. "Because the CO2 actually helps to make the concrete stronger, concrete producers can still make concrete as strong as they need to but use less cement in the process." Concrete created with CarbonCure is just starting to make its way into the world in a serious way. For instance, a mixed-use development in Atlanta, Georgia (located near HowStuffWorks world headquarters!) planned at 360,000 square feet (33,500 square meters) will use CarbonCure concrete to save 1.5 million pounds (680,000 kilograms) of CO2 from being released into the air. As for the future? "This concept of beneficial reuse of CO2 is expected to be a one trillion-dollar industry by the year 2030," said Gamble.

More than anything else, boys and girls are individuals. There is no “one size fits all” approach to dealing with teens. We have found, though, that some things seem to work better when we help families communicate with teen boys. Boys and girls, like adults, have the same five basic feelings: anger, sadness, fear, happiness and embarrassment. What’s different sometimes is how teen boys and girls handle and express these feelings. Many boys are a little slower to mature emotionally than girls. This doesn’t mean that boys aren’t as sensitive or don’t feel things as deeply as girls. In fact, boys sometimes get overwhelmed more easily by strong feelings. When boys get overwhelmed, they’re more likely to shut down or act like they don’t care than, say, get into a screaming fight with parents. If a boy is going to let his feelings out, he may express anger. At times it can seem easier or more acceptable to a teen boy to be angry than to admit feeling sad or scared. Adults have to dig a bit to find out what the anger is really about. We sometimes hear from families that their teen boy “never comes out of his room”, or is so involved outside the house that it’s hard to know what is going on with him. Like girls, when boys become teens their friends and outside interests become incredibly important. It can be frustrating when a teen mentions that he “had a really good talk with Coach” about something, even though it seems he never talks at home any more. It’s important for teens to feel that they aren’t as dependent on parents and family as they used to be. Boys often try to do this by keeping difficult feelings quiet, or sharing with other people. Here are some tips to help your teen boy open up a little about what’s going on: Keep it low-key Many boys are less comfortable with “intense” conversations than girls are. Talking face-to-face can feel too personal or confrontational, and this can make a boy clam up pretty quickly. Try doing an activity together that lets you talk side-by-side (driving, working on something together) so that you aren’t facing each other but can still talk easily. Do something active Boys often process thoughts and feelings more easily if they can move while they talk. Some boys who have a hard time concentrating in school find it helps to pace while reading, for example, or squeeze a stress ball during class. In the same way, it can help to give a teen boy something physical to do while talking. Shooting baskets, raking leaves, even doing the dishes together can help words flow. Keep it short Boys often don’t have the energy for long, drawn-out emotional scenes. One of the benefits of talking in the car is that, unless you’re on a long car trip, your teen boy knows the conversation won’t last too long. Just knowing this might help him feel comfortable enough to open up. Pick your battles Let your teen know that you understand his need for privacy about some things, but that you will keep asking about important stuff. “It’s OK for you not to tell me everything about your friends, but you always have to tell me where you’re going and when you’ll be home”. Sometimes, any conversation can feel uncomfortable and threatening to teens. Leaving notes, writing letters, or even recording messages between you can help open lines of communication. Let your teen know that you think anything he has to share is important. And as always, really listen when your teen does decide to talk. Don’t give up Most of all, keep trying! Even if he sometimes acts like he’s allergic to you, your teen desperately wants to know that you are there to listen and help when he needs you. Remember, teens may not always be ready to talk, but they always need someone who is ready to listen.

The Natural Eating technique within HumanaNatura’s Personal Health Program and underlying our companion OurPlate dietary model utilize twenty nutritional guidelines. Below, we provide a brief summary of all twenty guidelines. HN Natural Eating: For Omnivores & Vegetarians, With Or Without Carbs Overall, the guidelines distill our Personal Health Program’s survey of historical and contemporary dietary science, and seek to summarize and encourage optimal modern eating patterns – notably including but extending beyond ketogenic diets. You can explore any or all of the Natural Eating guidelines and the science behind them in practice at OurPlate and more deeply via HumanaNatura’s Personal Health Program. But the following summary should give you a good preliminary sense of our important and far-reaching proposals for optimal modern nutrition: 1. Raw Foods – recognize raw-edibility as a sign of food naturalness 2. Healthy Cooking – use cooking to increase food taste and nutrition 3. Proteins – ensure adequate but not excessive natural proteins 4. Fats & Oils – emphasize fish and other foods rich in Omega-3 fats and oils 5. Carbohydrates – avoid all sugary foods and have clear carbohydrate goals 6. Greens & Vegetables – should be at least half of our food intake by volume 7. Natural Animal Foods – wild-caught, free-range, and grass-fed are healthier 8. Dairy Products – use attentively within your personal fat and carb goals 9. Sweet Fruits & Cooked Starches – use or avoid, depending on your carb goals 10. Grains, Cereals, Legumes & Beans – ecologically and personally unhealthy 11. Processed Foods – avoid these foods in nearly all their forms 12. Food Allergies, Intolerances & Aversions – avoid these foods as well 13. Microbiome Health – crucial to health and promoted by Natural Eating 14. Vegetarian Eating – Natural Eating includes lacto-ovo but not vegan diets 15. Supplements & Probiotics – generally not needed, but four exceptions 16. Added Salts – often not needed or advisable, but four exceptions here too 17. Artificial Sweeteners – avoid but use as needed instead of sugary foods 18. Recreational Drugs – none except moderate sugar-free caffeine drinks 19. Fasting – daily eating windows and multi-day fasts can be very healthy 20. Food Ecology & Sustainable Eating – seek 100% sustainable eating If you have questions or want more information on our Natural Eating nutritional guidelines, please see HumanaNatura’s Personal Health Program. Feel free to comment below, or message us anytime via Contact HumanaNatura. We hope this summary of our twenty Natural Eating guidelines is interesting and helpful to you. Tell others about HumanaNatura…give the gift of modern natural life!

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Report Bringing them Home Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families Part 2 Tracing the History - Chapter 2: National Overview - Chapter 3: New South Wales and the ACT - Chapter 4: Victoria - Chapter 5: Queensland - Chapter 6: Tasmania - Chapter 7: Western Australia - Chapter 8: South Australia - Chapter 9: Northern Territory Chapter 7 Western Australia In many things the white people mean well, but they have so little understanding. My experience has convinced me that, psychologically, the Native Department is working on wrong lines ... The same law that applies to the white race should apply to the native races in that particular. I think that is most essential. Our native mothers have all the natural feelings of mothers the world over, and to many of them the administration of the Native Department, by men only, is stark tragedy (Gladys Prosser, a Noongar mother, in an interview to Perth's Sunday Times, later quoted in a speech to the Legislative Council by Hon. H Seddon Hansard 22 November 1938 page 2246). Following the founding of the Swan River Colony in 1829 relations between the British settlers and local Indigenous peoples in Western Australia became characterised by conflict. As a result of fierce fighting, ... on the Swan and Canning Rivers all opposition by the Aborigines had ceased by 1832, while the Murray River tribe gave no further trouble after it had been decimated by posses of settlers and soldiers in what became known as the battle of Pinjarra (Biskup 1973 page 7). Following the report of the 1837 British Select Committee into the condition of `natives' in all British colonies, protectors were appointed in Perth and York. By 1850 the protectors had become firmly aligned with the colonists against the Aboriginal population. So successful were they in securing the settlers' interests that the office of protector was abolished and not revived until 1886. In the interim police and magistrates were assigned the protective role. In reality settlers took the law into their own hands. From the 1860s the pastoral frontier expanded northwards and eastwards, with the Kimberley region reached in the 1880s. A ban on the employment of convicts north of the Murchison River made pastoralists dependent upon Indigenous labour for which rations were provided instead of wages. In the south, the pattern was different. Indigenous communities developed in camps on the outskirts of towns and supported themselves by hunting and working casually for local farmers and businesses. Some became farmers themselves until their properties were resumed in the early twentieth century. In the 1840s several church-run schools for Indigenous children opened with government financial assistance. By 1847 all but one had closed because of financial constraints and because children had been reclaimed by their parents following the deaths of some pupils from disease. The remaining school was at the Roman Catholic mission at New Norcia where Indigenous families settled near the mission while their children were housed in dormitories within the mission complex. In the late nineteenth century two institutions opened in the south for Indigenous children. Although they were run as orphanages, many of the children sent there had living parents (Haebich 1988 page 8). The children were schooled and trained for domestic and farm work. Under the Industrial Schools Act 1874 children who were voluntarily surrendered to a school, orphanage or institution would remain under its authority until the age of 21 regardless of the parents' wishes. The manager of the institution could apprentice children over the age of 12. Responding to atrocities committed against Indigenous people in Western Australia the British Parliament passed the Aborigines Protection Act 1886 establishing the Aborigines Protection Board. Among the Board's functions was `the care, custody and education of Aboriginal children'. Resident Magistrates, acting on the Board's instructions, were empowered to apprentice any Aboriginal or `half-caste' child of a `suitable age'. Under the 1874 Act applying to non-Indigenous children the minimum age at which children could be apprenticed was 12 years. In reducing the age of Aboriginals against whom contracts shall have force, your committee considers that ten years is not too young, as Aboriginal children mature so much more quickly than civilised ones, and it is at that age that habits of thrift and honesty are most easily inculcated. Should they be at liberty to roam about without employment until 16 they would be useless afterwards (comments of the Parliamentary Select Committee which reviewed the Bill prior to its enactment, quoted by Dr Neville Green submission 341 on page 6). Concern about the treatment of Indigenous people in WA led the British Government to retain control of Aboriginal affairs until 1897 when the Aborigines Act 1897 was passed. This Act created the Aborigines Department with the same functions as the Board. Henry Prinsep, who had experience in colonial administration in India, was appointed Chief Protector. Prinsep believed that Aboriginal children of mixed descent who grew up with their Aboriginal families would become `vagrants and outcasts' and `not only a disgrace, but a menace to society' (quoted by Haebich 1988 on page 57). Lacking any legislative power to forcibly remove these children to the existing institutions and missions (which were not under his control), he endeavoured to `persuade' the parents to part with their children. In a circular letter to all Protectors and Government Residents in WA dated February 1902 Prinsep requested information on any `half-caste' children in their districts who could be induced to enter one of the existing institutions for their care and eduction. Not surprisingly, most mothers refused to part with their children. For the few that agreed, hasty arrangements were made for the child's removal in case the mother changed her mind (Dr Christine Choo submission 385 page 7). Referring to his very limited success in this exercise, Prinsep complained in 1902 that `the natural affections of the mothers ... stood much in the way' (Aborigines Department Annual Report 1902 quoted by Haebich 1988 on page 67). Prinsep proposed the extension of his powers to enable him to remove children forcibly and without parental consent. In 1904 the WA Government established an inquiry into Aboriginal administration headed by Dr W E Roth, the Chief Protector of Aborigines in Queensland. Although he was asked to inquire into `the treatment of the aboriginal and half-caste inhabitants of the State' as well as the administration of Aboriginal affairs generally, he limited his inquiry to conditions in the north-west and far north. His findings of `a most brutal and outrageous state of affairs' in which Aboriginal people were exploited, brutally controlled and malnourished caused a public furore. He recommended `proper legislation, combined with firm departmental supervision' (quoted by Leaming 1986 on page 4). Although Roth did not investigate conditions in the south-west he supported Prinsep's concerns about the increasing numbers of `half-castes' there, then numbering about 750. He noted that pastoralists who fathered `half-caste' children made little attempt to educate or support them. The appropriate course, according to Roth, was for the Chief Protector to assume guardianship of these children, to remove them from their Aboriginal families and place them in institutions. To prevent the problem arising again in the future there should be prohibitions against `mixed marriages' and `miscegenation'. Roth's recommendations were implemented by the Aborigines Act 1905 making the Chief Protector the legal guardian of `every Aboriginal and half-caste child' under 16 years. [A] half-caste, who possesses few of the virtues and nearly all of the vices of whites, grows up to be a mischievous and very immoral subject ... it may appear to be a cruel thing to tear an Aborigine child from its mother, but it is necessary in some cases to be cruel to be kind (J M Drew, WA Parliamentary Debates 1904, quoted by Biskup 1973 on page 142). It was claimed that it was `wrong, unjust and a disgrace to the State' to leave children to be cared for by their mothers. More generally, the 1905 Act ... laid the basis for the development of repressive and coercive state control over the state's Aboriginal population. It set up the necessary bureaucratic and legal mechanisms to control all their contacts with the wider community, and to enforce the assimilation of their children and to determine the most personal aspects of their lives (Haebich 1988 page 83). In the north of WA a Catholic mission was established at Beagle Bay in 1890. Another four followed in the next 20 years with the help of government subsidies. The missions shared Prinsep's objectives of removing the children from their families. As soon as possible, children can be removed from the adult camp and the nomadic ways of their parents, and be housed in dormitories on mission premises to be educated at school and in trades (Father George Walter, Superior at Beagle Bay, 1906, quoted by Dr Christine Choo submission 385 on page 6). In 1906 the Pallottines at Beagle Bay requested that the police round up the Indigenous children living in and around the north-west towns, now wards of the Chief Protector, and send them to the mission. If the police sent me only the most obvious cases, the number of children on the mission would be about 200 (Father George Walter, Superior at Beagle Bay, 1906 letter to Chief Protector, quoted by Dr Christine Choo submission 385 on page 11). The local protector, James Isdell, supported the mission's concern to rescue `waifs and strays from the bad contaminating influence of natives' camps'. The half-caste is intellectually above the aborigine, and it is the duty of the State that they be given a chance to lead a better life than their mothers. I would not hesitate for one moment to separate any half-caste from its aboriginal mother, no matter how frantic her momentary grief might be at the time. They soon forget their offspring (quoted by Dr Christine Choo submission 385 on page 14). In the south of the State little use of the removal power was made before 1909. In that year a regulation dispensed with the need for the Chief Protector's permission to remove any mixed descent child under the age of eight. The number of forcible removals increased and the children were taken to New Norcia, the Swan Native and Half-Caste Home and the Dulhi Gunyah Orphanage in Perth. To put pressure on parents to send their children to the missions the Aborigines Department refused to assist orphaned or needy children away from the missions. Protests from non-Indigenous people in the south about the presence of Aboriginal camps on the edges of towns led the government to revise its approach. The new plan was to establish isolated self-contained `native settlements' run by the government. Chief Protector A O Neville who was appointed in 1915 and who remained in the position until 1940, was firmly committed to the new plan. Neville saw the settlements as a means of integrating children of mixed descent into the non-Indigenous society. They were to be physically separated from their families on the settlements, receive a European education, be trained in domestic and stock work and then sent out to approved work situations. Between jobs they would return to the settlements. Neville theorised that this process would lead to their acceptance by non-Indigenous people and their own loss of identification as Indigenous people. My [wife's] father died when she was eleven, so Rose was left an orphan, and was placed in the New Norcia home for Aboriginal girls ... Rose left her life in New Norcia mission when she turned fourteen, to work as a housemaid. But before she could go out to work, she had to come to the Moore River Native Settlement ... Rose had no trouble being placed in service to a white woman. In between she had to return to the settlement ... All those who went out to work had to return to Moore River when their terms of employment were finished: to do otherwise meant to be hounded by the authorities and made to return. Again, no options! No choice! (van den Berg 1994 pages 88-89). Neville began by taking control of the mission at Carrolup and expanding its size to be self-supporting. In 1918 a second settlement was opened, at Moore River. In the north, too, Neville wanted to take control of the missions and turn them into self-supporting cattle stations. Moola Bulla in the Kimberley was his model. It had opened in 1910 as a ration depot and government-run cattle station. It was intended to be an alternative to the more expensive option of imprisoning large numbers of Aboriginal people for cattle spearing as well as `raising beef to feed them and ... training men for work on the stations' (Long 1970 page 192). There would be considerable savings to the government as it would no longer have to subsidise the missions. Generally the recommendations are made on the score of economy, combined with the knowledge that the Missions are not performing the useful work which might be expected of them. A large number of natives and half-castes are growing up in idleness instead of being employed on the various stations in the Northern portions of the State ... scores of the children are growing up without any prospect of a future before them, being alienated from their old bush life, and rendered more or less useless for the condition of life being forced upon them (A O Neville quoted by Jacobs 1990 on pages 77-78). Two former pastoral stations were acquired: Munja in 1926 and Violet Valley in 1935. On purchasing Munja Neville commented that `the purpose of establishing the stations was to pacify the natives and accustom them to white man's ways and thus enable further settlement' (quoted by Kimberley Land Council submission 345 on page 11). Although no other missions were established in the north during Neville's time in office the United Aborigines Mission founded a mission at Mount Margaret in the Goldfields in 1921. Indigenous families did not willingly move to these settlements. In the south most were able to find employment in their local area, receiving wages which were preferred to the payment in kind offered at settlements. The living conditions at the settlements were not significantly better yet they were highly regulated. The parents rightly feared that their children would be placed in segregated dormitories if the family moved to a settlement. We were locked up at night. All the boys, young girls. Married girls and women what had no husbands and babies, they had one room. Another dormitory was for young girls had no babies. But we was opposite side of that, see? The boys' dormitory. I'm not going to complain about it because, you know, I survived. A lot of kids died. Depression time it was pretty hard. Confidential evidence 333, Western Australia. The missions attracted families whose children would otherwise be taken from them. Even when at the mission the children still took every precaution. The women discussed in the raffia room what to do with their children if the police should take them on the hop. Where could they hide them? - inside the cupboard perhaps? ... The children however took matters into their own hands. They continually kept their ears cocked for horses' hooves. [In 1926] came a visit from A.J. Neale, new manager of Moore River Settlement, representing the Aborigines Department. Dicky Wingulu, Doris's tribal father, talked to Mr Neale and pleaded for his little girls that they not be sent away to Moore River. Finally he persuaded Mr Neale that Mount Margaret would be a good place to send them, as he had heard they were starting a school (Morgan 1991 pages 83 and 94). As in the past, to compel people to move the Aborigines Department refused rations or other assistance to people living away from the settlements. In response to complaints from local police about the camps on the outskirts of non-Indigenous towns, Indigenous people were `rounded up' by police and sent to the settlements. Aborigines convicted of alcohol related offences were also sent to Moore River for their `rehabilitation'. Between 1915 and 1920 at least 500 people, about a quarter of the Indigenous population in the south, had been removed to settlements. Moore River expanded quickly. In January 1919 there were 19 inmates at Moore River, in June 1919 93 inmates, by June 1927 330 inmates and by 1932 500 (Choo 1989 page 45). In the north, travelling inspectors kept a watch for mixed descent children on pastoral stations and in communities. Warrants were then prepared for their forcible removal to the government settlements in the north or far south to Moore River. When I was about twelve or thirteen years old I was taken to Moola Bulla. That's where I lost my Aboriginal ways. The Police came one day from Halls Creek when they were going on patrol to Lansdowne and found me, a half-caste child. The manager ... took me down to Fitzroy Crossing to wait for the mail truck from Derby to take me to Moola Bulla. When [the manager's wife] told my people, mum and dad, that they were taking me to Fitzroy Crossing for a trip, they told her `you make sure you bring her back'. They did not know that I would never see them again. Quoted by Kimberley Land Council submission 345 on page 66. The welfare just grabbed you where they found you. They'd take them in threes and fours, whatever. The Native Welfare blokes used to come to every station and see where our half caste kids were. They used to drive right down to Port Hedland. Our people would hide us, paint us with charcoal. I was taken to Moola Bulla. The Welfare bloke ... sent his son ... to pick up me and Colin Swift. We were about 5-6 years old, and my mother was allowed to come with us in the manager's car and then he took her away. Quoted by Kimberley Land Council submission 345 on page 60. At the age of 14 children of mixed descent were sent out from the settlements to work. A large proportion of the young women returned pregnant. Though annoyed that the burden of maintaining these children fell upon the government, Neville did not feel that the high rate of pregnancies reflected adversely on his department's policies. The child is taken away from the mother and sometimes never sees her again. Thus these children grow up as whites, knowing nothing of their own environment. At the expiration of the period of two years the mother goes back into service so that it doesn't really matter if she has half a dozen children (quoted by Choo 1989 on pages 49-50). By the 1930s Neville had refined his ideas of integrating Indigenous people into non-Indigenous society. His model was a biological one of `absorption' or `assimilation', argued in the language of genetics. Unlike the ideology of racial purity that emerged in Germany from eugenics, according to which `impure races' had to be prevented from `contaminating' the pure Aryan race, Neville argued the advantages of `miscegenation' between Aboriginal and white people. The key issue to Neville was skin colour. Once `half-castes' were sufficiently white in colour they would become like white people. After two or three generations the process of acceptance in the non-Indigenous community would be complete, the older generations would have died and the settlements could be closed. Neville claimed that the settlements prepared Indigenous children to be `absorbed' into non-Indigenous society. He argued that for the absorption process to work properly his powers needed to be extended to all children with any Indigenous background. The grandiose nature of his `vision' contrasted starkly with the reality of life in the chronically under-funded settlements. I visited the Moore River Settlement several times [in the 1930s]. The setting was a poor one with no advantage for anyone except isolation. The facilities were limited and some of them were makeshift. The staff were inadequate both in numbers and qualification. The inmates disliked the place. It held no promise of a future for any of them and they had little or no satisfaction in the present. It was a dump (Hasluck 1988 page 65). Opposition and dissent Public reaction to Neville's ideas was mixed. The segregation of Aboriginal people had been actively supported by non-Indigenous people. Neville's support for `miscegenation' was in a different category. `[A] variety of harsh words were expressed about the Chief Protector's outrageous suggestion that marriages between black and white (because if it was out in the open it would have to be marriage) should be condoned' (Jacobs 1990 page 195). In the early 1930s allegations of slavery, mistreatment of Aborigines and abuse of Aboriginal women appeared in the local and international press. Among them was a series of articles by Mary Bennett attacking the administration of Aboriginal affairs. The pressure of this publicity forced the government to establish a Royal Commission into the conditions of Aborigines, headed by a Perth magistrate, H D Moseley. In evidence to the Commission, Bennett attacked the practice of removing children from their mothers. They are captured at all ages, as infants in arms, perhaps not until they are grown up, they are not safe until they are dead (quoted by Jacobs 1990 on page 234). Bessie Rischbieth also gave evidence to the Moseley Commission arguing that `neglect' was not a justification for removing Aboriginal children to the settlements. `In most instances I should prefer to see the children left with their parents ... the system of dealing with the parents should be improved in order that they might keep their children.' (quoted by Paisley 1995 on page 266). In her opinion government administrations were forcibly removing children `because it was cheaper than providing the same system of support which operated for neglected white children' (Paisley 1995 page 266). Aboriginal women from Broome sent a petition to the Commission in which they asked `would you like to think that when you send your children to school that you would never see them again?' (quoted by Paisley 1995 on page 267). Neville's response to these attacks on his policies was to argue that removal was in the best interests of children. I say emphatically there are scores of children in the bush camps who should be taken away from whoever is looking after them and placed in a settlement ... If we are going to fit and train such children for the future they cannot be left as they are ... I want to give these children a chance ... Unless those children are removed, social conditions in those places will go from bad to worse ... I want to teach them right from wrong. How are the children to fight against these conditions? The conditions in the absence of teaching, are going to become infinitely worse than they are now (quoted by Jacobs 1990 on page 235). Moseley was sufficiently impressed by Neville's views to recommend the extension of his powers to all people of Aboriginal descent. The Native Administration Act 1936 defined `natives' to include nearly all people of full and part descent regardless of their lifestyle and expanded restrictions on movement and lifestyle. Virtually any child of Aboriginal descent could now be taken forcibly from his or her family and placed in a government institution to be trained in the ways of `white civilisation' and `society'. The Commissioner of Native Affairs, not their parents, had total control over their lives until they reached the age of twenty-one. From this age any person of `quarter-caste' or less was prohibited by law from associating with persons deemed to be `natives'. In this way they were to be forced to live in the white community, although no measures were introduced to force white people to accept them (Haebich 1988 on page 351). In the early 1930s Kate Clutterbuck, an Anglican nun, offered to open a home in Perth for `half-caste' children if government funding were provided. She informed Neville that `we should of course like to have the poorest and most neglected children not those who have mothers who love and care for them, but those who are most unwanted in the State' (quoted by Jacobs 1990 on page 218). Neville took advantage of the offer to put his ideas into practice. Once the home commenced operations in 1933 he began to supply Sister Kate with the lightest skinned children. Some kids who were brought to Moola Bulla and who were too white would be sent to Sister Kate's in Perth and some of them who were too dark for Sister Kate's were sent to Moola Bulla. There was a half-caste boy who was at Moola Bulla, his mother was half-caste and his father white, and I suppose they couldn't bear to see him down the camp with all these Aboriginal people so they sent him to Sister Kate's. Confidential evidence 814, Western Australia. Sister Kate's Home operated until 1974 with an average of 85 children staying there at any one time (WA Government submission page 19). In 1940 Neville retired. He was succeeded by Francis Bray and then, in 1948, by Stanley Middleton. Just prior to Middleton taking office, an inquiry by F E A Bateman had recommended the abandonment of the policy of government settlements. By then, the language of `welfare' and `social assimilation' had started to replace that of `absorption' and `miscegenation'. In Middleton's view, isolating children of mixed descent on run-down government settlements was not the way to achieve assimilation. In 1951 Carrolup (Marribank) and Moore River (Mogumber) were transferred to mission control, followed by Sister Kate's Home in 1956, and financial arrangements were made with them for the placement of removed children. In the north financial support was offered to the existing missions and whole communities were forced to move, sometimes several times, as the smaller missions were closed. In 1955 Moola Bulla was sold. Although it was a condition of the sale that the new owners would look after the interests of the Aboriginal inhabitants of the area, the new owners arranged for the Department of Native Affairs to transport them to Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek (WA Government submission, Appendix 2 page 9). I can't remember anything much about the day we were evicted from Moola Bulla [in July 1955] because they just came and told us to go. There was no explanation, we don't know what happened. We were stunned. There were four kids and no money to feed them. A transport contractor, took all the people into Halls Creek. We camped around the race course for a few days, whilst asking for jobs on other stations ... The welfare gave us some rations, that's all. It was July and pretty cold and we camped, waiting, just like a refugee camp. We were brought to Moola Bulla as children without our consent nor our mother's and the later kicked off the land after living there for so long. It caused us a lot of pain inside. We were displaced and lost with no sense of belonging. Quoted by Kimberley Land Council submission 345 on pages 64-5. Another aspect of the assimilation policy was that Indigenous children were to be accepted into the state schools. From the early 1950s the schools were opened to them. Children in the north were encouraged to attend schools in Derby, Wyndham and Broome while they stayed in government and mission-run educational hostels for most of the year. They were allowed home during holidays if they had a `suitable home' to go to. In the Kimberley, during this period, a `suitable home' was difficult to provide for people who had limited employment opportunities, no housing and limited access to Welfare services. In any case, not all parents could afford to pay for airfares or other means for their children to travel long distances across the Kimberley (Kimberley Land Council submission 345 page 18). As in other remote regions of Australia, Indigenous children were effectively separated for very long periods from their families, communities and cultures by their need to relocate for schooling. In 1958 it was estimated that 25% of Kimberley children were living in missions (Dr Anna Haebich submission 342). From 1951 in WA Aboriginal children were more likely to be removed under the Child Welfare Act 1947 by the Child Welfare Department than by the Department of Native Welfare acting under the 1936 Act. This practice was formalised when the Native Welfare Act 1954 was passed revoking the removal power of the Commissioner for Native Affairs. The Commissioner remained the legal guardian of all Aboriginal children except State wards until the Native Welfare Act 1963 was passed. Although the child welfare legislation required a court to be satisfied that the child was destitute or neglected, the requirement made little impact on the numbers removed in practice. The definition of destitution could be applied to the situation of many Aboriginal families with few material resources whose lifestyle was the subject of constant surveillance by government officials. ... all of a sudden the Welfare just came and took them, they didn't say anything to me, just picked up the boys coming back from the shop and the Welfare made them wards of the State. I used to work at the hospital nursing, keeping my little family together. If the Welfare wanted to help they could have given money every fortnight like they do now ... They weren't helping taking [them] away or splitting us up, that was the most terrible thing that they done to my family, my sons and myself. Confidential submission 197, Western Australia: mother of two boys removed in the late 1950s. A thorough examination was not made as the father was not present. From what I saw however, I am satisfied that the children are `neglected', if for no other reason than the shack they live in (welfare officer's file note dated 11 January 1968, quoted by Telling Our Story 1995 on page 76). The definition of neglect was also interpreted in a climate of assimilation which denigrated the worth of Aboriginal lifestyles. Aboriginal families who had moved to towns and cities following the closure of some of the missions and settlements and had to re-establish themselves were particularly vulnerable to action under the 1947 Act. In 1958 the Special Committee on Native Matters warned that `removal of a child from his mother at an early age can cause serious psychological and mental disturbances'. This warning was ignored (WA Government submission page 26). Between 1958 and 1961 the number of Aboriginal children committed to government care more than doubled (Marron 1994). In 1966 the award for pastoral workers was extended to Aboriginal people, meaning that from 1968 Aboriginal workers in the pastoral industry were entitled to equal pay. This decision led to the eviction of whole communities from pastoral stations. These families settled on the outskirts of towns in conditions of dire poverty and were extremely vulnerable to intervention by `the welfare'. During this period Native Welfare Department publications increasingly stressed the need to keep families together. However, as records on the numbers of Aboriginal children in care were not kept, it is almost impossible to assess the impact of this change in emphasis. Overall the number of children committed to care between 1971 and 1973 halved and over half of those committed were returned home or placed with their extended family (WA Government submission page 51). In 1972 the Department of Native Welfare was abolished and its welfare responsibilities were absorbed by the Department of Community Welfare. At the time there were 3,099 Aboriginal people in institutions, almost one in every ten Aboriginal people in the State. The majority of these people were children. The Child Welfare Act 1947 was amended in 1976 to repeal `destitution' and `neglect' as grounds for removal and to introduce the concept of being `in need of care and protection'. Aboriginal children, however, remained dramatically over-represented among WA children in State care. In the period 1979-81 57% of children in care were Aboriginal and 66% of them had been placed with non-Indigenous families (Children in Limbo 1981 page 157). In 1980 an Aboriginal Child Care Agency was established in Perth. It was replaced in 1991 by the Yorganop Child Care Corporation. The Aboriginal Child Placement Principle became the policy of the Department of Community Services in 1985. A review of the department in 1989 showed that there had been a 58% reduction over the previous five years in the number of Aboriginal children in departmentally subsidised foster care and that most Aboriginal children were placed with Aboriginal caregivers, including 66% with relatives (WA Government submission page 58). Warning: The following link may contain images of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons. I never received any money from my employers or the Protection Board. I did not know what money was. Confidential submission 331, Queensland: child removed at 3 years in 1915. When anybody come to pick up a worker they used to line us up and they'd make you flex your muscles. If you were big and strong they'd pick you - like a slave market. I was sent out at 11. I worked there for seven and a half years, never got paid anything, all that time. We used to bring the cattle in ... we didn't get nothing. So I had to join the army to survive. Confidential evidence 549, Northern Territory: man removed in the 1930s. At the age of four, I was taken away from my family and placed in Sister Kate's Home - Western Australia where I was kept as a ward of the state until I was eighteen years old. I was forbidden to see any of my family or know of their whereabouts. Five of us D. children were all taken and placed in different institutions in WA. The Protector of Aborigines and the Child Welfare Department in their `Almighty Wisdom' said we would have a better life and future brought up as whitefellas away from our parents in a good religious environment. All they contributed to our upbringing and future was an unrepairable scar of loneliness, mistrust, hatred and bitterness. Fears that have been with me all of life. The empty dark and lonely existence was so full of many hurtful and unforgivable events, that I cannot escape from no matter how hard I try. Being deprived of the most cherished and valuable thing in life as an Aboriginal Child - love and family bonds. I would like to tell my story of my life in Sister Kate's home - WA. My name is Millicent D. I was born at Wonthella WA in 1945. My parents were CD and MP, both `half-caste' Aborigines. I was one of seven children, our family lived in the sandhills at the back of the Geraldton Hospital. There was a lot of families living there happy and harmonious. It was like we were all part of one big happy family. In 1949 the Protector of Aborigines with the Native Welfare Department visited the sandhill camps. All the families living there were to be moved to other campsites or to the Moore River Aboriginal Settlement. Because my parents were fair in complexion, the authorities decided us kids could pass as whitefellas. I was four years old and that was the last time I was to see my parents again. Because my sisters were older than me they were taken to the Government receiving home at Mount Lawley. My brother Kevin was taken to the boys home in Kenwick. Colin and I were taken to the Sister Kate's Home.We were put in separate accommodation and hardly ever saw each other. I was so afraid and unhappy and didn't understand what was happening. We were told Sundays was visiting day when parents and relatives came and spent the day. For Colin and I that was a patch of lies because our family were not allowed to visit. We spent each Sunday crying and comforting each other as we waited for our family. Each time it was the same - no one came. That night we would cry ourselves to sleep and wonder why. We were too young to understand we were not allowed family visits. A couple of years passed and I started primary school. It had been such a long time since I had seen my brother Colin. I was so helpless and alone. My brother had been taken away to the boys' home in Kenwick and now I was by myself. I became more withdrawn and shy and lived in a little world of my own hoping one day Mum would come and take me out of that dreadful place. As the years passed I realised that I would never see my family again. They told me that my family didn't care... They told me that my family didn't care or want me and I had to forget them. They said it was very degrading to belong to an Aboriginal family and that I should be ashamed of myself, I was inferior to whitefellas. They tried to make us act like white kids but at the same time we had to give up our seat for a whitefella because an Aboriginal never sits down when a white person is present. Then the religion began. We had church three times a day, before breakfast, lunchtime and after school. If we were naughty or got home from school late we had to kneel at the altar for hours and polish all the floors and brass in the church. We had religion rammed down our throats from hypocrites who didn't know the meaning of the word. We used to get whipped with a wet ironing cord and sometimes had to hold other children (naked) while they were whipped, and if we didn't hold them we got another whipping. To wake us up in the morning we were sprayed up the backside with an old fashioned pump fly spray. If we complained we got more. Hurt and humiliation was a part of our every day life and we had to learn to live with it. Several more years passed and I still had no contact with my family, I didn't know what they looked like or how I could ever find them. By this time I was old enough to go to High School. This meant I didn't have to look after several of the younger kids as I had previously done, bathing, feeding and putting them on the potty and then off to bed, chopping wood before school and housework which all of us kids done and the housemothers sat back and collected wages - for doing nothing. My life was miserable, and I felt I was a nobody and things couldn't get any worse. But I was wrong. The worst was yet to come. While I was in first year high school I was sent out to work on a farm as a domestic. I thought it would be great to get away from the home for a while. At first it was. I was made welcome and treated with kindness. The four shillings I was payed went to the home. I wasn't allowed to keep it, I didn't care. I was never payed for the work I did at Sister Kate's so you don't miss what you didn't get, pocket money etc. The first time I was sent to the farm for only a few weeks and then back to school. In the next holidays I had to go back. This time it was a terrifying experience, the man of the house used to come into my room at night and force me to have sex. I tried to fight him off but he was too strong. When I returned to the home I was feeling so used and unwanted. I went to the Matron and told her what happened. She washed my mouth out with soap and boxed my ears and told me that awful things would happen to me if I told any of the other kids. I was so scared and wanted to die. When the next school holidays came I begged not to be sent to that farm again. But they would not listen and said I had to. I ran away from the home, I was going to try to find my family. It was impossible, I didn't even know where to go. The only thing was to go back. I got a good belting and had to kneel at the altar everyday after school for two weeks. Then I had to go back to that farm to work. The anguish and humiliation of being sent back was bad enough but the worse was yet to come. This time I was raped, bashed and slashed with a razor blade on both of my arms and legs because I would not stop struggling and screaming. The farmer and one of his workers raped me several times. I wanted to die, I wanted my mother to take me home where I would be safe and wanted. Because I was bruised and in a state of shock I didn't have to do any work but wasn't allowed to leave the property. When they returned me to the home I once again went to the Matron. I got a belting with a wet ironing cord, my mouth washed out with soap and put in a cottage by myself away from everyone so I couldn't talk to the other girls. They constantly told me that I was bad and a disgrace and if anyone knew it would bring shame to Sister Kate's Home. They showed me no comfort which I desperately needed. I became more and more distant from everyone and tried to block everything out of my mind but couldn't. I ate rat poison to try and kill myself but became very sick and vomited. This meant another belting. After several weeks of being kept away from everyone I was examined by a doctor who told the Matron I was pregnant. Another belting, they blamed me for everything that had happened. I didn't care what happened to me anymore and kept to myself. All I wanted now was to have my baby and get away as far as I could and try and find my family. My daughter was born [in 1962] at King Edward Memorial Hospital. I was so happy, I had a beautiful baby girl of my own who I could love and cherish and have with me always. But my dreams were soon crushed: the bastards took her from me and said she would be fostered out until I was old enough to look after her. They said when I left Sister Kate's I could have my baby back. I couldn't believe what was happening. My baby was taken away from me just as I was from my mother. My baby was taken away from me just as I was from my mother. Once again I approached the Matron asking for the Address of my family and address of the foster family who had my daughter. She said that it was Government Policy not to give information about family and she could not help me. I then asked again about my baby girl and was told she did not know her whereabouts. In desperation I rang the King Edward Memorial Hospital. They said there was no record of me ever giving birth or of my daughter Toni. Then I wrote to the Native Welfare Department only to be told the same thing and that there were no records of the D. family because all records were destroyed by fire. I now had no other options but to find a job and somewhere to live. After working for a while I left Western Australia and moved to Adelaide to try and get my life together and put the past behind me. I was very alone, shy and not many friends and would break down over the simplest thing. Every time I saw a baby I used to wonder, could that by my little girl. I loved her and so desperately wanted her back. So in 1972 I returned to Western Australia and again searched for my family and child. I returned to see the Matron from Sister Kate's. This time she told me that my daughter was dead and it would be in my best interest to go back to South Australia and forget about my past and my family. I so wanted to find them, heartbroken I wandered the streets hoping for the impossible. I soon realized that I could come face to face with a family member and wouldn't even know. Defeated I finally returned to Adelaide. In my heart I believed that one day everything would be alright and I would be reunited with my family. My baby was dead. (That's what I was told). I didn't even get to hold her, kiss her and had no photographs, but her image would always be with me, and I would always love her. They couldn't take that away from me. Confidential submission 640, South Australia: WA woman removed in 1949. In January 1996, Millicent received an enquiry from the South Australian welfare authorities. A woman born in 1962 was searching for her birth mother. This was Toni, Millicent's daughter. The two have since been reunited.

Evolutionary diversification of the limb skeleton in crested newts (Triturus cristatus superspecies, Caudata, Salamandridae) Article (Published version) MetadataShow full item record We explored the interspecific variation patterns in the limb skeleton of four crested newts that underwent an extensive evolutionary diversification. All studied species shared the same basipodial pattern, within which the carpus exhibited much more variation than the tarsus. Morphometric analysis of stylopodium, zeugopodium, and the third metapodial element showed that the species differed in the size of skeletal elements, but they shared common allometric slopes. In comparison to the other crested newts, T dobrogicus appeared as the outlier due to (1) significantly shorter stylopodium and zeugopodium relative to body size and (2) rather different anatomical designs regarding ossification level of the basipodium. Based on these results, it is suggested that the observed T dobrogicus uniqueness originates from allometric heterochrony paralleled by a profound switch in habitat preference. Source:Annales Zoologici Fennici, 2008, 45, 6, -535

Shahr-e Sukhteh (The Burnt City), whose secrets were buried under tons of charred rubble when life came to an end there millenniums ago, has been placed on the World Heritage List of UNESCO. The following is an excerpt of a report by Nasser Mollazadeh published in a 58th issue of Sarzamin-e Man (My Land) Magazine: The historical site was placed on the World Heritage List of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization at the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee in Doha, Qatar on June 22, 2014. Iran’s proposal to put the Burnt City on the list drew no opposition at the meeting. Mohammad Hassan Talebian, the deputy director of the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization who attended the Doha session, later said, “At the meeting, the countries that came down in favor of the Iranian proposal said in light of the fact that the site is near the Iran-Afghanistan border it can help advance the cause of global peace and play a crucial role as a world heritage hub.” The Burnt City, which has been only partly excavated, was the largest urban settlement in eastern Persia during the Bronze Age. A city that brought together two ancient civilizations of Persia and India and was one of the most advanced settlements of the ancient times. Its heyday spanned more than a millennium (3200 BC – 2000 BC). What lends additional significance to this city is that it is said to be the first place in the world where a brain surgery has been conducted. The world’s earliest known artificial eyeball has been found in this historical site, which has been explored for years, among others, by Seyyed Mansur Seyyed-Sajjadi. Residents of the city seem to have perfected shoemaking skills, and the world’s oldest animation drawings on a pottery vessel have been found there. A wooden ruler with an accuracy of 0.5 millimeter has been unearthed at the site too. The Burnt City’s industries were located out of town and some pottery pipes, which are believed to have been used for purposes such as irrigation or disposal of wastewater, have been unearthed in the city where craftsmanship – weaving, pottery, metalworking – were perfected.

Bones do a lot for us. Without them, we would probably look like blobs and have to roll around to get places. Our muscles wouldn't be very effective, either. Besides structure, the bones do even more. Along with our teeth, bones hold 99% of the calcium in our bodies! Calcium is pretty important because the body uses it to keep our blood from getting too acidic. Here's how: when there's too much acid floating around in your blood, calcium gets pulled out of your bones to neutralize the acid. That calcium then ends up in the urine and is flushed out of the body. For more reading about calcium, diet, and bone health, here are a couple links: See what Harvard has to say about dairy. Great article on acidity, calcium resorption, & diet. A nerdy, scientific article from the American Society for Nutrition. All about Calcium, Dairy & Osteoporosis from the American College of Nutrition.

It could be strange compare a comedy movie from the 20s, for instance, One Week by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, with a drama from the 40s, such as In a Lonely Place by Nicholas Ray. The genres are completely different, so the techniques in both movies to accomplish their final purposes are also distinct. But it could be an interesting exercise if we focus on the performance of the actors. In One Week, Buster Keaton’s character had to express himself through gestures. His primary goal was to make the audience laugh. In this film, there is a scene where a storm starts outside while all the characters are inside the house. Due to the poor construction of the house, the rain gets through the ceiling. Keaton’s character decides to go outside to check what is wrong but instead, his house spins with the wind, and he is unable to go back inside. What makes this scene funny, besides the odd situation that would not happen in real life, is the actor’s performance. Keaton movements are faster than the regular rate in real life, which accentuates its exaggeration. It is clear that the primary intention of this kind of performances in the early comedy films is not to try to be the most accurate to real life but to create funny situations to make the audience gag. The gestures are very theatrical and unnatural, which means the actor exaggerates the way he acts facing these circumstances. However, this type of performance used in the comedy films is what makes this genre unique and distinct from the others. On the other hand, the movie In a Lonely Place has a completely different approach. The performances of the actors look very authentic and real. For example, one of the final scenes is when the main character Dixon goes to the house of his fiancée Laurel while they go through a hard time in their relationship. Laurel is not happy so she decides to leave without Dixon’s knowledge. However, while she packs, Dixon gets to her house and she tries to hide her suitcases to avoid Dixon to see it. The behavior of these characters is what makes this scene look so close to reality. The actors imitate the actions people would have if this situation happened in real life. While Dixon talks with Laurel he understands something is wrong when he sees she is not with her engagement ring. She looks away from him while she answers, which shows she hides something. The actors’ performances rely a lot on their facial expressions. While in One Week the actor’s performance is characterized by its exaggerated movements, in In a Lonely Place, the characters behave as real people. They show real emotions – such as Dixon’s hurt face expression when he finally gets into Laurel’s room and sees her packed suitcases later in that scene – and have very natural movements, that mimicries real life. The actors’ performances have a significant influence in the way the audience sees the movies. In One Week, the theatrical gestures are what make it hilarious but it somehow creates a barrier between the character and the viewer. It is hard to relate because that is not the reaction someone would have in real life. However, in In a Lonely Place, it is the opposite. The viewer is more connected to the characters. It is possible to imagine a situation like that and to feel related to it. The performance is more authentic and closest to the reality. In fact, the movies have different approaches in the matter of acting, but both accomplish their main purpose, whether it is to create a comical atmosphere or a dramatic one.

The future looks bright thanks to the next generation of scientists. Maanasa Mendu, a 13-year-old girl from Ohio, recently won the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge for creating a $5 energy harvesting device. Mendu’s innovative design, called HARVEST, converts sunlight, wind, and rain into renewable energy. Mendu has been named America’s Top Young Scientist and won $25,000. Inspired by a trip to India, where she saw many people without electricity or clean water, Mendu decided to design an affordable device capable of generating clean energy. She first came up with a piezoelectric wind-energy device that secured her a place as a finalist in this year’s Young Scientist Challenge. Then she participated in a mentorship program over the summer, as did nine other challenge finalists, to come up with her winning design. HARVEST expands on the original design to include solar power. Her device utilizes “solar leaves” inspired by plants to gather vibration energy. HARVEST works via solar cells and piezoelectric material, or material generating electrical currents when exposed to vibration, so when it’s rainy, windy, or sunny, the device can gather energy. HARVEST is affordable too: it only costs about $5 to put the device together. Mendu’s goal is to keep scale up HARVEST for commercial distribution. The Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge was first inaugurated in 2008; since then, numerous winners have made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Other 2016 finalists worked on projects such as collecting energy from metabolic bacteria or creating bioplastics and biodiesel from pumpkin seed oil. Discovery Education CEO Bill Goodwyn said in a statement, “Each year, the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge reminds us of the inspiring ingenuity that results when we empower our youngest generation to apply science, critical thinking, and creativity to solve real-world problems. Discovery Education is honored to stand alongside 3M in congratulating Maanasa and the rest of this year’s finalists on their impressive innovations that foreshadow a bright future for our nation.”

The Intrinsic Nature of Emergence Keywords:emergence, deep structure, general systems, self-organization, threshold George Henry Lewes introduced anthropomorphism into the emergence literature. This opened the way for attempts to define emergence with factors that are not relevant to its intrinsic nature. In this paper, the general context of emergence in the universe is presented, mainly in terms of general systems understanding. This is followed by a descriptive definition of the intrinsic nature of emergence, and a discussion of how the process of emergence changes due to the roles of various factors. Material-reality is composed of elementary particles organized into seemingly endless patterns-of-organization of material structure and process. The difference between the smaller or the simpler patterns and the larger or the more complex patterns is the quantity of elementary particles and the patterns-of-organization of those particles. Reality is that which exists. There is but one reality—all that exists. Reality develops, that is, everything that exists takes part in one way or another in a universally omnipresent transition, a sequential-difference from one time, place, part, pattern, level, condition, or situation to another involving some form of enhancement. Emergence is a type of development. Emergence is a general-factor, a process-pattern-of-organization that plays a universal role in the coming into existence of new pattern-of-material-organization as a consequence of motion. Emergence itself develops, occurring in simple form in situations where few factors are playing roles, and in more complex form in situations where more factors are playing roles. Some additional factors that result in the foundational developments of emergence are combinatorial-enhancement, contact, causal push, throughflow wherein the flow of energy reorganizes matter and blocking matter reorganizes the flow of energy, and coherent bonding of one part of matter with another. Emergence is intrinsically determinate in that, in the process of emergence, the existence and intrinsic qualities of what goes before determine the existence and intrinsic qualities of what follows. Both complexity and the hierarchic organization of material-reality are consequences of emergence.

Our Junior Kindergarten students surprise us every single day. When I woke up on a snowy April morning, I arrived to school with a gloomy grin and looked at my teaching partner with rolling eyes. “Are you kidding me?” we said to each other. But rather than projecting our disappointment, we simply asked the students in our morning message how they felt about the snow. To our surprise every single one of them could not be more excited. “It makes me feel happy”, “I want to play in it”, “I’m so, so, so, so, excited”; were some of the many messages we heard. The Outdoor Classroom was snowy, but let’s not forget it was still April and the weather was somewhat warmer; the result: a snowy, wet, muddy sandy surprise! “Ew” you might be thinking? “What a mess” perhaps? “WONDERFUL” thought the JKs. The imaginative play, collaboration, creative thinking, and utter joy each child displayed surprised us more than usual. How can you use water colour paints without water or paper? The JKs figured it out! Bringing out only paint pallets and brushes we asked the students how they can use the materials to paint in the Outdoor Classroom. They shared their ideas, tested their theories, and certainly tried their best. They became problem solvers as they dipped their brushes into puddles to wash it before changing colours. Talk about creative problem solvers! As they swished their brushes in melting snow, ice, and water, they began transforming large chunks of ice into colourful works of art. MARBLE RUN or WATER RUN? The rainy, snowy weather left for an interesting discovery at the marble run. One student wondered if the water would move the same way the tennis balls did. To figure it out, he went into the sand box to get a shovel small enough to collect the water from the bottom and bring it to the top. He discovered it did move along but it stopped early. He learned the wood absorbed the water. The student shared his learning with the class thereby inspiring others to explore the marble run in new ways. MUD AND MUCK In the sand box the students used scoops and shovels of all sizes to make their own mud! They collected water from little puddles all around and mixed it with the sand turning it into dough as they began making fresh pies. The students were collaborating as they took on various roles, and engaged in meaningful conversations. The shovels turned into serving platters, and rakes became forks, as they shared their homemade pies with one another. In just one hour of play the students hit on multiple areas of the Full Day Kindergarten Curriculum. The big idea stating “Children are curious and connect prior knowledge to new contexts in order to understand the world around them” was demonstrated on this snowy April day. The students experimented with new materials on a familiar marble run, used a familiar paint pallet in a creative new way, and transferred their learning from home as they recreated a kitchen at school. After one hour in the Outdoor Classroom the students so clearly demonstrated how much they embrace learning, we were reminded of What Really Matters in Life! When you give children the time they need to play and explore their environment they will amaze you! And you know what Albert Einstein said…”Play is the highest form of research.” Junior Kindergarten Teacher

The origin of the universe can be explained by modern astronomers and astrophysicists, while archaeologists and historians try to clarify the origin of human societies. In the distant past, however, before any sciences existed, the beginnings of the world and of society were explained by mythology. The word myth is often mistakenly understood to mean fiction—something that never happened, a made-up story or fanciful tale. Myth is really a way of thinking about the past. Mircea Eliade, a historian of religions, once stated: “Myths tell only of that which really happened.” This does not mean that myths correctly explain what literally happened. It does suggest, however, that behind the explanation there is a reality that cannot be seen and examined. One of the best-known mythological books is Homer’s Iliad, which tells of the Trojan War. No one reading the book today accepts Homer’s story as a historically factual account. There is little doubt, however, that at some time—many centuries before Homer lived—there really was a war between the Greek city-states and the residents of northwestern Asia Minor. (See also Homeric legend.) Another of the great myths of ancient peoples is the flood legend. The best-known version is the story found in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, of Noah and his ark. Scientists today do not think that a flood once covered the whole Earth, with waters reaching higher than the highest mountains. But ancient Mesopotamia experienced many severe floods. It is likely that one exceptionally devastating flood became the subject of later mythmaking. Perhaps events from many floods were woven together to make one story. Mythmaking, like superstition, is not the sole property of people who lived thousands of years ago. It has persisted throughout history. The American West of the 19th century has been a favorite subject on which to build myths. The West was a reality. There were cowboys, Native Americans, outlaws, and federal marshals. The stories now presented in Western fiction and in the movies and on television, however, are highly romanticized versions of a reality that was far less glamorous. (See also frontier.) Mythmaking has traditionally looked to the past to try to make sense out of the present. Some modern myths look instead to the future. Science fiction storytellers make use of the uncountable inventions of the last few centuries to give vivid depictions of what Earth may be like hundreds of years from now, or they imagine life on worlds billions of light-years away in space or far in the future. Myths try to answer several questions. Where did the world come from? What are the gods like, and where did they come from? How did humanity originate? Why is there evil in the world? What happens to people after they die? Myths also try to account for a society’s customs and rituals. They explain the origins of agriculture and the founding of cities. To explain the origins of corn (maize) the Abenaki Indians of North America have handed down a myth in which a Native American youth encounters a woman with long golden hair. She promises to remain with the man if he follows her instructions. First, he should make a fire and scorch the ground. Then he must drag her over the burned ground so that her silken hair can be intertwined with the corn seeds for harvesting. Thus the silky styles on a cornstalk remind new generations of Native Americans that she has not forgotten them. Similarly the founding of the city of Rome was told as the myth of Romulus and Remus, sons of the war god Mars, who were nurtured in infancy by a she-wolf. Beyond giving such explanations, myths are used to justify the way a society lives. Ruling families in several ancient civilizations found justification for their power in myths that described their origin in the world of the gods or in heaven. In India the breakdown of society into castes is based on ancient mythology that emerged in the Indus Valley after 1500 bc. (See also Hinduism; India, “Caste.”) Myths did not originate in written form. They developed slowly as an oral tradition that was handed down from generation to generation among people who were trying to make sense of the world around them. They tried to imagine how it could have come into being in the first place. Fascinated by the small bit of Earth that they knew and by the heavens above that they saw, they wondered what kind of power could have been responsible for making it all. Furthermore, the wonders of existence seemed to contrast starkly with human nature and its destructive tendencies. How could they account for the human condition when they measured it against the grandeur of Earth and sky? Members of a tribe or clan who were considered wise pondered what they saw and came up with their own conclusions about what must have happened. They also had to account for everything that had happened from the origin of the world until their lifetimes. These accounts, passed down in story form, were eventually accepted as traditional truth. Much later the stories were finally written down. How comprehensive a developed mythology could become was given written expression in Greece by Hesiod, a poet who lived in the 9th century bc. His Theogony tells the story of the origin of the gods and of the universe. His Works and Days tells of the previous ages of humanity, beginning with a long-past golden age, and culminates with the society of his time. The study by today’s astrophysicists of the origin and evolution of the universe is called cosmology. Ancient stories about the world’s origin are called cosmogonic myths, or myths about the birth of the cosmos. As such they deal not only with the appearance of Earth and the heavens but also with the beginning of everything else—plants, animals, family, work, sickness, death, evil, and, in some cases, of the gods themselves. The myths and their recitation became part of the religious ritual of daily life, as they were related to all common and repeated occurrences—the seasons of the year, the planting and harvesting of crops, the birth of a child, or the death of an adult. Among Tibetans the solemn recitation of the cosmogonic myth was considered sufficient to cure diseases or imperfections. By remembering origins, they believed there was a hope of rebirth or revitalization. Polynesian myth tells how the supreme god, Io, created the world. In the beginning there were only waters and darkness. By his word and thought Io separated the waters and created Earth and sky. He said: “Let the waters be separated, let the heavens be formed, let the Earth be.” These creative words, the Polynesians believed, were charged with sacred power and therefore were recited on significant occasions to guarantee the success of an undertaking. Similarly Australian Aboriginal peoples annually reenacted their myth of origin because they believed that the world, unless periodically renewed, would perish. This theme was also common among the Karok, Hupa, and Yurok Indian tribes of California. Their ceremony was called a repair, or fixing, of the world. Creation myths varied a good deal among ancient peoples. A story from India written down in about 700 bc says that the universe began as the Self in the shape of a man. The Self was lonely, so it divided into two parts—one male and the other female. From their marriage came the human race. The original two also took the shapes of animals, and from these first pairs all other animals have descended. In about 3000 bc the Sumerians in the Middle East had a different account. The god of the waters, Enki, told his mother, Nammu, to take bits of clay and mold the shapes of men and women. She made perfect people of every sort to be servants of the gods. Then Enki and his wife, the Earth goddess, had a contest. Each tried to invent people for whom the other could find no place or task. Thus each created various sorts of deformed and disabled individuals. This was how the Sumerians explained human imperfections. In the cold lands of northern Europe people thought that the first created thing was mist. This mist was said to have flowed through 12 rivers and froze, filling the vast emptiness of the world with layer upon layer of ice. Then a warm wind from the south began to melt the ice. Out of the clouds of vapor that arose came two beings—Ymir, the frost giant, and Audhumia, the cow. When she became hungry, Audhumia got nourishment by licking the frost from the ice. As she licked the ice she uncovered a manlike form. This was Buri, the first of the gods. His son, Bor, had three sons—the gods Odin, Vili, and Ve. They killed Ymir, and out of the frost giant’s body they made the rest of the universe. From his eyebrows they made Midgard, the place where humanity was to dwell. Then Odin took an ash tree and made the first man. The first woman was made from an elm tree. Numerous legends have tried to explain why human nature was not perfect and why people died. In Western civilization the best known of these stories is found in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. Some Christians accept the story as literal history, while others regard it as a parable. In either case the point is the same. The first two humans, Adam and Eve, lived in a garden and had direct acquaintance with their creator. They were allowed full use of the garden except for one tree—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Tempted by a serpent, Eve ate some of the fruit of the tree and persuaded Adam to do the same. Immediately their original innocence was lost, and they knew they had been disobedient. The penalty was expulsion from the garden and eventual death. This legend was re-created in the 17th century by the English poet John Milton in his classic work Paradise Lost. In Greek legend the first woman on Earth was Pandora. After Prometheus had stolen fire from heaven and given it to humankind, Zeus determined to counteract this benefit. He asked Hephaestus, a fire god (Vulcan to the Romans), to fashion a woman from clay. She opened a jar that released all kinds of evil and misery upon the world. There is an African myth that explains death as the result of a failed message. God sent a chameleon to deliver a message that people would be immortal. He also sent a lizard with news that they would die. The chameleon took his time making the journey and arrived late. The lizard’s message of doom was the one that the people received. Mythmakers likewise tried to explain the end of life and the world. The flood legends were one way of telling how the Earth was once destroyed—at least all life forms except for a few survivors. In some Native American myths the end of the world recurred in a cycle, followed by a new creation. According to ancient Aztec tradition, there had already been four destructions of the world, and a fifth was expected. Each world was ruled by a sun whose disappearance marked each ending. Some mythologies blamed such catastrophic ends of the world on human wickedness. In the biblical story of Noah the flood opened the way for a regeneration of the world and a new humanity. Because wickedness persisted, however, another cataclysm became inevitable. Nearly all modern religions have taken up this kind of mythology, looking forward to an end of the world, a new creation, and a judgment on humanity for its deeds. Myths of the end of the universe are integrated with beliefs about death and the fate of humanity afterward. In many mythologies the dead may be rewarded or punished (see Hell and Hades). It was inconceivable to most ancient peoples that humans would not survive in some form after death. Egyptian kings made elaborate preparations for the afterlife. In both Judaism and Christianity, quite complex visions have been devised about the end of the world, the final judgment, and a new creation. The basis for these ideas is in passages from the Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), the Book of Revelation in the New Testament, and portions of the Gospels. In contrast to mythologies of India, the end of the world is supposed to happen only once. There are no cycles of destruction and regeneration. For Judaism the coming of the Messiah will announce the end of the present world and the restoration of paradise. For Christianity the end will precede the second coming of Jesus Christ and the last judgment. After these events the whole universe will be renewed and made perfect. All evil and misfortune will be abolished. Many Christian groups that have made the doctrine central to their faith have interposed a 1,000-year period, called the millennium, between the second coming and the end of the world. During this time only the saints will dwell on Earth. Then Satan will be unleashed to stir up a period of terrible persecution. After that the end will come, followed by judgment and a new creation. Some groups put the second coming after the millennium. Most traditional Christian denominations, however, reject the notion of a millennium altogether. Many ancient religions had what may seem to be a contradictory belief in one Supreme Being and many other gods. This apparent contradiction was resolved in different ways. Among some peoples it was believed that the Supreme Being created the world and humanity but soon abandoned the creation and withdrew to the heavens. The lesser gods were in charge of the world thereafter. In other cases it was believed that the many gods were simply manifestations of the One. This is the case, for example, in Hinduism. (See also God.) The mythologies associated with polytheism (belief in many gods) varied among the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and Teutonic peoples. There were gods for every aspect of nature and of human life. Especially interesting were myths about young gods, such as Osiris and Adonis, who were murdered but came back to life. From such mythologies developed the mystery religions of Greece and Rome. These secret cults had common meals and initiation rites that symbolically celebrated death and resurrection. One form of mythology was based on the most visible of the heavenly bodies. In some cultures they were considered the eyes of a Supreme Being. Myths of human descent from a sun god are known among some North American Indian tribes, including the Arapaho and Blackfeet. They are also common in Indonesia and Melanesia. Ruling dynasties in Egypt, Korea, and Japan have also claimed descent from the sun. The moon—because it appears, disappears, and appears again—was believed by some peoples to be the first human who died. In some cases the moon god was viewed as one who had taken the place of a Supreme Being. Stories about superhuman individuals are common to nearly all ancient civilizations. The best known is probably the Greek legend about Hercules, or Heracles. The Hebrew Bible contains the story of a similar hero, Samson, whose exploits are recorded in the Book of Judges. After he fell in love with Delilah, she learned that his long hair was the secret of his great strength. When he was asleep she cut his hair. He was captured by his enemies, the Philistines, who blinded him and made him their slave. His strength eventually returned, and he destroyed their temple to the god Dagon, killing himself and his captors. In most such myths, after overcoming nearly impossible obstacles, the superhero then belongs to a class of semidivine beings. The ancient Egyptian religion was very complex. It was also relatively untouched by outside influences for many centuries. Its most striking feature was the vast number of gods and goddesses who could be depicted in human, animal, or other forms. The gods were never grouped systematically, and many of them were therefore interchangeable. As they had different forms, the gods also personified different powers. Horus, a god in the form of a falcon, symbolized the sun and came to represent the pharaoh. Thoth, the moon god, was also the god of time because the phases of the moon were used to calculate the months. Powers of nature were symbolized by Re, the sun god; Nut, the sky goddess; and Geb, the earth god. For a time Amenhotep IV made the sun, under the name Aton, the sole god (see Akhenaton). Anubis, in the form of a dog, was god of the dead, Ptah was the creator, and Min was a god of fertility. Other major gods and goddesses included Bastet, goddess of music; Isis, queen of the gods; Maat, the goddess of law, justice, and truth; Nekhbet, the protector of childbirth; Osiris, a fertility god, giver of civilization, and ruler of the dead; Sekhmet, a warlike sun goddess; and Shu, the god of light and air who supported the sky. The legends of ancient Greece are more familiar because they have become so permanently embedded in literary traditions of Western civilization. Greek mythology followed the pattern of other mythologies: the forces of nature were given personalities and were worshiped. There was no worship of animals or of gods in animal form, however, as there was in Egypt. Pan, for example, had a goat’s horns, hoofs, and tail, but his head was like that of a man. Greek gods and goddesses were pictured as being much like men and women. The term for this is anthropomorphism, meaning “in the form of a human.” The gods were conceived as more heroic in stature, more outstanding in beauty and proportion, and more powerful and enduring than humans. They were nevertheless endowed with many human weaknesses. They could be jealous, envious, spiteful, and petty. Among them only Zeus was known as the Just. The Greeks believed that their gods lived on Mount Olympus. They dwelt together in a community of light and pleasantness, and from this height they mingled with (and often interfered with) the lives of mortals. Before the gods existed there had been Titans—the children of Earth (Gaea) and the heavens (Uranus). According to Hesiod’s account there were originally 12 of them: the brothers Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Cronus and the sisters Thea, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys. At their mother’s prompting they rebelled against their father, who had shut them off in the underworld of Tartarus. Under the leadership of Cronus they deposed Uranus and made Cronus their ruler. Zeus, a son of Cronus, overthrew his father and seized power after a 10-year struggle. The Titans were again imprisoned in Tartarus. Zeus, also called the Thunderer, was then the first and most powerful of the gods. He ruled the universe with 11 other gods. Poseidon, his brother, governed the waters. Hades, later called Pluto, ruled the underworld and the dead. Hestia, sister of Zeus, was goddess of the household. Hera, the wife of Zeus, was the goddess of marriage, and Ares, a son of Zeus, was the god of war. Athena was the favorite daughter of Zeus. Because she had sprung full grown from his forehead, she was the goddess of wisdom. Another son of Zeus, Apollo, drove the chariot of the sun across the skies. He was also the music maker and the god of light and song, and he was worshiped by the poets. His sister Aphrodite was the goddess of love. Hermes, the messenger of the gods, was another son of Zeus. Hephaestus was the god of fire. The only one of the gods who was not beautiful, he was skilled in craftsmanship and forged the armor of the gods. He was the patron of handicrafts and the protector of blacksmiths. Artemis, the twin sister of Apollo, was the moon goddess. The favorite among rural people, she was also goddess of vegetation, and, attended by nymphs (naiads), supervised waters and lush wild growth. Also the goddess of wild animals and the hunt, she was often pictured with a stag or a hunting dog. These were the 12 major gods. There were other lesser ones whom the Greeks worshiped. Demeter, for instance, was the goddess of grain. Her legend centered on the story of her daughter Persephone, who was stolen by Hades and taken to live in the underworld. Demeter heard her daughter’s cries, but no one knew where she had been taken. Because Demeter was distressed by Persephone’s disappearance, she lost interest in the harvest, and as a result there was widespread famine. When Apollo traveled under the Earth as he did over it, he saw Persephone in the underworld. Then Zeus sent Hermes to bring Persephone back. Hades knew he must obey Zeus, but because Persephone had eaten one pomegranate seed in the land of the dead she had to return there for four months of every year. Each year when her daughter returned, Demeter made the Earth bloom and bear fruit again. Through this story the Greeks interpreted the miracle of spring. After Persephone returned to Hades in the fall, winter arrived. Dionysus was the god of wine. He was a nature god of fruitfulness and vegetation. Lavish festivals called Dionysia were held in his honor. He came to represent the irrational side of human nature, while Apollo represented order and reason. The attendants of Dionysus were the satyrs, minor gods representing the forces of nature. They were depicted with bodies of animals and had small horns and tails like a goat’s. Similar in appearance to the satyrs was Pan, a god who did not live on Mount Olympus. Instead he guarded the flocks while playing his pipes. The Muses, from whose name the word music is derived, were nine goddesses who came to be regarded as patrons of the arts and sciences. Their names and the endeavors they inspired were: Clio, history; Calliope, epic poetry; Erato, love poetry; Euterpe, lyric poetry; Melpomene, tragedy; Polyhymnia, song, rhetoric, and geometry; Thalia, comedy; Terpsichore, dancing; and Urania, astronomy and astrology. Perhaps the most threatening of the goddesses were the Fates, called collectively Moirai. There were three Fates, whom Homer called “spinners of the thread of life.” Clotho was the spinner of the thread, hence she was also a birth goddess. Lachesis measured the length of the thread, the amount of time allotted to each person. And Atropos cut the thread. These three had more power than most other gods, and whoever resisted them had to face Nemesis, the goddess of justice. Hypnos was the god of sleep and brother of Thanatos (Death). The son of Hypnos was Morpheus, the god of dreams. Thanatos was not worshiped as a god. Homer refers to him as a son of Nyx (Night). Hesiod declared that he was hated by the gods because he was the personification of death. (See also Greek mythology; Greek mythology at a glance; Greek religion.) The basic mythology of Rome was borrowed from the Greeks, though later Romans also borrowed from the Egyptians and some of the religions of Asia Minor and the Middle East as the size of the Roman Empire increased. When the Romans took over the Greek gods, they gave them different names and sometimes combined them with other gods of their own. The Romans changed the names of 10 of the 12 gods of Mount Olympus to Jupiter (Zeus), Juno (Hera), Neptune (Poseidon), Vesta (Hestia), Mars (Ares), Minerva (Athena), Venus (Aphrodite), Mercury (Hermes), Diana (Artemis), and Vulcan (Hephaestus). Apollo and Pluto kept their Greek names, but Pluto was not referred to as Hades by the Romans. The Romans also continued to worship vague powers called the Numina, but these were not thought of as having shape or form. One of the Numina was Janus, the god of doorways and of good beginnings. He was sometimes portrayed as facing in two opposite directions. He was often the first god whose name was invoked in worship rituals. The month of January was named for him. Each family had its own god, or Lar. Originally gods of cultivated fields, the Lares were worshiped by each household at the crossroads where its property joined that of others. Later they were worshiped in houses in association with the Penates, gods of the storeroom. The state also had its Lares—patrons and protectors of the city who were depicted as men wearing military cloaks, carrying lances, and seated with a dog (the symbol of watchfulness) nearby. Also associated with the household cult was Vesta, goddess of the hearth. The lack of an easy source of fire in ancient communities placed a special premium on the perpetually burning fire in the hearth, or fireplace. The state worship of Vesta was elaborate. Her shrine was usually in a round building built as a symbolic representation of a hearth. The shrine in the Forum at Rome had a perpetual fire that was renewed every year on March 1, the day of the Roman new year. The fire was attended by six priestesses, called Vestal Virgins, who were chosen from girls between the ages of 6 and 10. They served for 30 years, after which they were free to marry. The Romans worshiped the goddess of grain as Ceres (origin of the word cereal). Her cult of worship was adopted from the Greek colony of Cumae from which the Romans imported grain. Cumae also played a major role in the introduction of the cult of Apollo to Rome. Much later the Emperor Augustus made Apollo his patron. Augustus also began the cult of the emperor. His assumption of the title Augustus (his real name was Octavian) helped prepare the way for his being declared a god after his death. This tradition had its roots in the Greek belief that if someone bestowed gifts worthy of a god, he should be treated as one. Later the imperial cult became standardized as emperors, no matter how monstrous, declared deification their right. In the Greek city-states, cults centering around the worship of a particular god developed very early. Some were local in scope, but after Greece was absorbed into the Roman Empire many of these cults spread throughout the Mediterranean world and attracted large followings. In time some of the gods and goddesses of the Middle East and Egypt also had cults built around them. The mystery religions, or mysteries, reached their peak in the first three centuries ad. After that time Christianity became the dominant religion of the empire, and the mysteries declined. One of the most widespread of the cults in pre-Roman Greece was devoted to Dionysus. Because he was the god of wine, his festivals were lively affairs that offered the chance to put aside temporarily the daily routines of life and get caught up in wild celebrations. In many cases only those who had been initiated into the cult could participate in the festivities. The most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece were the Eleusinian mysteries. They were originally confined to the city of Eleusis, about a day’s journey from Athens. In the ritual the search by the earth goddess Demeter for her abducted daughter Persephone was reenacted. The ritual symbolized the grain being buried in the soil and growing again to be made into bread. It also carried the message that out of every grave a new life grows, and thus it promoted a message of the hope for immortality through symbolism that was very close to the Christian idea of resurrection. The Orphic mysteries got their name from Orpheus, the Greek hero endowed with superhuman musical skills. According to legend he was the author of a body of writings called the Orphic rhapsodies, which dealt with purification from sin and the afterlife. Cult members believed that the human soul was divine, and it was the believer’s task to liberate it from the body. This could be achieved by abstaining from meat, wine, and sex. The soul would come to judgment after death. If the person had lived properly, the soul would be sent to a paradise called Elysium. If not, it would be punished and perhaps sent to hell. After either the reward of Elysium or the punishment of hell, the soul would return to Earth in another body. This cycle of birth and death had to be repeated three times before the soul was finally released from the cycle. In all of the mysteries candidates for initiation took an oath of secrecy. They then confessed—in the presence of the community of believers—all the faults of their lives up to that point. After this a rite of baptism was performed, which washed away the candidate’s sins. The initiation ceremonies symbolized death and resurrection, and they were usually quite extravagant. In some cults the initiates were enclosed in a tomb and released. In others they were symbolically drowned or otherwise put to death. The cults, such as those of Demeter and Dionysus, had seasonal festivals based on the sowing and reaping of grain or the production of wine. The festivals of the Isis cult were connected with the three Egyptian seasons and with the cycle of the Nile River—flooding, sowing, and reaping. In the religion of the sun god the festival was determined by astronomy. The greatest celebration was on December 24–25 in connection with the winter solstice. The lengthening of days afterward symbolized the rebirth of the god and the renewal of life. Christianity eventually replaced this festival with Christmas. In some of the mysteries there was a tendency to monotheism—belief in one god. Isis, for example, was held to be the essence of all goddesses; and Serapis, originally an Egyptian sun god, was a name uniting the gods into one. In the religion of the sun god, a doctrine was developed to show that all gods were only names for the one god, Sol. In the cold lands of northern Europe, a mythology developed that did not emphasize in its gods the beauty and proportion of the Greek and Roman deities. Odin, the chief god, had only one eye; and Tyr, the god of war, had but one arm. The rugged landscape, the towering mountains, the long dark winter nights, and the endless struggle against ice and cold went into the development of Norse mythology. Buri, the first god, was the grandfather of Odin. Ymir fathered a race of frost giants who were enemies of the gods. Ymir grew so large and so evil that Odin and his brothers could no longer live with him. They killed him, and the blood gushed from his body in such torrents that all the giants—except Bergelmir and his wife—were killed. These two took refuge on a chest and came to the shores of Jotunheim. From them another race of frost giants was born. The gods made the Earth from Ymir’s body. From it they cut the deep valleys, made the high mountains, and dug the fjords. From Muspelheim (a hot, glowing land of fire in the south) they caught flying sparks and fastened them in the heavens as stars. Out of Ymir’s eyebrows they built a wall around the place where human beings were to live. Then the gods made man from an ash tree and woman from an elm and set them to live in this place, called Midgard. The gods chose as their home a plain named Ida, where they built a city named Asgard. Odin was the father god, a counterpart of the Greek Zeus and the Roman Jupiter. He was also called Wotan, or Woden. From his name the day of the week Wednesday was derived. From the earliest times he was regarded as a war god and the protector of fallen heroes. His magical horse Sleipnir had eight legs and was able to gallop through the air and over the seas. There was about Odin a special compassion and sadness. He gained his great wisdom at the price of one eye. Mimir, the giant who guarded the well of wisdom, would give Odin no drink unless he surrendered an eye. All the skill and knowledge that Odin won he shared with the gods and humankind. He passed much time in Valhalla, where the great heroes were brought to feast with him after they died in battle. Thor, for whom Thursday was named, was the Thunderer. His hammer, Mjolnir, had remarkable qualities, such as the ability to return to the thrower like a boomerang. His chief enemy was the serpent Jormungand, the symbol of evil. Having failed to kill the serpent, the gods were destined to fight and kill each other at the end of the world, called the Ragnarok—the Twilight of the Gods. Tyr, after whom Tuesday was named, was the god of war and treaties. He was also the god of justice and the guardian of oaths and guarantor of good faith. Balder was the beautiful god of light. Most of the legends about him concern his death. The gods often amused themselves by throwing objects at him, knowing he was immune from harm. Balder was killed when the blind god Hod threw mistletoe—the only thing that could hurt him. Frey was the god of sun and rain, the patron of bountiful harvests. Freya was the goddess of love and beauty. Frigg was Odin’s wife and Balder’s mother. Friday was named after her. Hel was the goddess of death. Loki was the evil one, half human and half god. Heimdall was the keeper of the rainbow bridge over which the gods passed from Asgard to Earth. The Norse gods were deities who knew intense suffering. For example, they lived with the knowledge that in the Twilight of the Gods they would go down to defeat under the frost giants. Nevertheless, they also lived in the belief that heroic action was the highest good. This foreknowledge of doom gave to Norse mythology a tragic nobility found in no other. Their Valhalla, unlike the Christian heaven, was not an eternal abode for all who lived good lives on Earth. It was one of the 12 realms of Asgard, the home of the gods until the Ragnarok. Then they would march out with Odin to do battle with the giants. The heroes were brought to Valhalla after they died to prepare for this climactic struggle. The Valkyries, warlike maidens, carried the slain heroes from the field of battle to Asgard. These maidens served Odin, but their chief duty was to preside over battles and decide who would live or die. At the head of the feast in Valhalla sat Odin with a raven on each shoulder. One was Huginn (Thought) and the other Muninn (Memory). These were his messengers from the world. The ancient Chinese believed that the world was ruled by a power named Heaven, who was considered the husband of Earth (much as Uranus and Gaea were husband and wife in Greek myth). Other gods and goddesses living below Heaven were in charge of the sun, moon, planets, wind, fire, rain, and other elements. In addition, certain people who did especially noteworthy deeds became gods. One was the emperor who taught the art of agriculture. Another was the woman who taught the techniques of breeding silkworms. The great philosopher Confucius was also considered a god. After Buddhism was introduced into China from India, many of its saints were accepted as gods. Both the Chinese and the Koreans worshiped ancestors in the belief that the dead could help them. Koreans also worshiped nature and prayed to the sun god Tankun as the founder of their kingdom. The Japanese also claimed to have descended from the sun. According to their creation myth the Earth was at first a shapeless mass. Then the god Izanagi and the goddess Izanami were given the job of stirring the formless mass with a long, jeweled spear. As they stirred, the mixture thickened and dropped off the point of the spear and hardened into an island. On the island the god and goddess were married and had children. These offspring included the eight islands of Japan, many gods and goddesses, and finally the sun goddess Amaterasu. From her descended a series of godlike and then human emperors. (See also Shinto.) The first written record of Greek mythology is found in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey (see Homeric legend). The Iliad is the story of the Trojan War and the involvement of the gods in it. The Odyssey recounts Odysseus’s voyage home from the war. A century or more after Homer, the poet Hesiod wrote of the history of the gods in his Theogony and told of the past and present ages of humankind in Works and Days. The Greek dramatists—Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides—incorporated much mythological material into their plays. Much later the Roman poet Ovid retold the stories of Greek gods for the education of his people. Rome also had its epic in the Aeneid of Virgil (see Aeneas). The Norse Poetic (or the Elder) Edda consists of fragments about the gods and about two heroic families—the Volsungs and the Nibelungs. Its origins date from the pre-Christian culture of Iceland. Later Snorri Sturluson wrote Prose (or the Younger) Edda. The story of the Nibelungs became the basis of an early Germanic mythology. A fragment of Icelandic mythology found its way to the British Isles and took the form of Beowulf. (See also epic; Nibelungs, Song of the; saga.) Bingham, Jane. Classical Myth: A Treasury of Greek and Roman Legends, Art, and History (Sharpe, 2008).Bryant, Megan E. Oh My Gods!: A Look-It-Up Guide to the Gods of Mythology (Grolier, 2009).Ganeri, Anita. Mesoamerican Myths: A Treasury of Central American Legends, Art, and History (Chartwell Books, 2007).Keenan, Sheila. Gods, Goddesses, and Monsters: An Encyclopedia of World Mythology (Scholastic, 2000).Lynch, Patricia Ann. Native American Mythology A to Z, 2nd ed. (Chelsea House, 2010).Macdonald, Fiona. Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of Celtic Mythology (Book House, 2009).Napoli, Donna Jo. Treasury of Egyptian Mythology: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Monsters, and Mortals (National Geographic, 2013).Nardo, Don. Natural Phenomena in Greek Mythology (ReferencePoint, 2017).Nicolaides, Selene. Gods, Heroes, and Monsters: Discover the Wonders of the Ancient Greek Myths (Carlton, 2016).O’Brian, Pliny. Myths of the Ancient Greeks (Cavendish Square, 2016).Ollhoff, Jim. Japanese Mythology (ABCO, 2012).Redmond, Shirley-Raye. Norse Mythology (Lucent Books, 2012).

Based on CGPL’s long-term commitment to boost literacy levels in the rural regions of Gujarat, the organisation has carried out various activities to engage children and encourage them to take up reading. However, a number of challenges still face CGPL in carrying out these activities. These must be addressed to facilitate a smoother journey to help our children learn more effectively in the future for a better tomorrow. - Many learning programs depend heavily on volunteers. Mobilising and sustaining volunteers is a challenging task, especially in areas which also house companies and industries. - Schools that are established in interior villages have to deal with low rates of enrolment. Different strategies must be formulated to help improve learning in these villages, both for better outcomes and for an ownership of strategies at the village and school level. - A majority of mothers spend time conducting activities with their children at night. This makes it difficult to monitor whether activities are being conducted in an effective manner. To address this challenge, home visits are undertaken to see if mothers are facing any challenges to help engage their children in studying. - A number of children who live in remote villages could not be a part of science activities as they would be busy helping their parents. CGPL mobilised their volunteers to reach out to these children and their parents to take a bigger part in undertaking scientific activities. With consistent, strategic efforts, several schools and children have been reached out to over the last few years. Challenges are at every step on the road to achieve CGPL’s aim of educating children, however much work is being done to overcome these challenges and realise the dream to boost literacy rates across rural regions in India.

The downstream oil sector includes oil refineries and the selling and distribution of natural gas and products derived from crude oil. Such products include liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), gasoline or petrol, jet fuel, diesel oil, heating oil, lubricants, asphalt and petroleum coke. LabWare provide analysis for the distribution network for diesel, gasoline and jet fuel in many locations worldwide. Products are delivered to distribution points across regions, where samples are then analysed to check that there has been no contamination during transportation. The storage facilities at the distribution centres are checked for settling of the products and then the road tankers that are used to ship the products to the filling stations are checked as they are loaded - with tankers being checked randomly as they leave the distribution facility. Testing at the centres is fully automated and includes distillation, flash point, RON, MON and density.

INTRO: Our Wordmasters, Avi Arditti and Rosanne Skirble, take another look at a dictionary that's been going off to college in America for one-hundred years. AA: You have to be Mary Poppins to spell that word! But how about the word "centenarian". RS: Centenarian. C-e-n-t-e-n-a-r-i-a-n. A noun meaning "one that is one-hundred years old or older" which describes the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. First published in 1898, the Collegiate -- as the name implies -- is targeted at the college crowd. AA: Merriam-Webster updates the Collegiate annually, adding new words and taking out old ones. John Morse is the president and publisher of the Merriam-Webster Company. He says the biggest source of new words these days is computer technology, especially the Internet. John Morse keeps his copy of the Collegiate Dictionary on his laptop computer, which was handy when we asked him to look up the term "chat room." TAPE: CUT ONE -- MORSE/AA/RS MORSE: "What we see for 'chat room' is that it's an online interactive group on the Internet. And interestingly it's dated in 1986. That means the earliest evidence we have of the word being used at all is from 1986, and that's a reminder, I think, of how new a technology this really is. Many of the words going in the dictionary have been in the language for just a few years, and I can give you another example of something where we're even newer than that: our new word 'netizen,' active participant in an online community of the Internet, is from 1994. So that word is really only four years old. That's very, very fast for words to get into the dictionary and really speaks to the tremendous power that the Internet and the World Wide Web are having. AA: "Is there a threshold of how many times you have to see it in print?" MORSE: "There's not a hard-and-fast rule, but we do want to see evidence that the word is going to come into the language and stay in the language. We don't put this year's vogue word in just to take it out again next year. So we're looking for evidence of a word being used in many different publications or at least three to five years and very often it would take typically at least ten examples in order to satisfy the conditions." RS: "What is the mortality rate of words? You say you're very careful in your selection because you don't want them in one year, out the next." MORSE: "Unfortunately, more words are coming into the language than going out of the language. So the mortality rate is less than the fertility rate and that's a problem for dictionary makers. We've had to resort to one trick after another to find room for these words. Over the course of about ten years, when we do a big ten-year revision, we'll probably add more than ten-thousand new words and meanings to the dictionary. Unfortunately, fewer than that come out." AA: "To carry this metaphor here, what are the risks of overpopulation?" MORSE: "That other parts of the dictionary get crowded out or the dictionary itself gets bigger, and we have done both of those over the years -- added pages to the Collegiate Dictionary so it's bigger or removed other sections." AA: John Morse, president and publisher of Merriam-Webster. RS: There are lots of other dictionaries that also use the name Webster. Webster was Noah Webster, America's most famous lexicographer. AA: Back in 1843 the Merriam-Webster Company acquired the rights to revise and publish Noah Webster's dictionaries. But early in this century courts found that the name Webster was generic. That gave other companies the right to use the name. So, today Merriam-Webster finds itself competing against all those other Websters. However the Collegiate is Number One at the US college level. RS: To find Merriam-Webster on the Internet, go to www.m-w.com. To find Avi and me ... AA: Just send us a note. RS: Looking ahead to next week, we'll start the new year with a play on words with some very funny cowboys. AA: With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

This is the VOA Special English Health Report. A major study has failed to find any link between a man having a vasectomy operation and developing prostate cancer. A vasectomy is an operation in which a doctor cuts the tubes that carry a man’s sperm from the testes. It is one of the most effective and widely used methods of birth control around the world. Experts say about five-hundred-thousand men have vasectomies every year in the United States alone. Doctors have been concerned for some time about a possible link between the operation and the development of prostate cancer. Studies done in the past had conflicting results. Some studies showed no link. But others said men who had vasectomies had an increased chance of developing prostate cancer. Two studies were done in the United States in nineteen-ninety-three. The studies said men with vasectomies had a sixty-six percent higher chance of developing prostate cancer than men who did not have the operation. But the new study says the operation does not increase the risk of cancer. The results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It was carried out in New Zealand by researchers at the Dunedin (da-NEE-din) and Wellington Schools of Medicine. New Zealand has extremely good reporting of cancer cases. And it has the highest rate of vasectomy in the world. The New Zealand Herald newspaper reports that about forty percent of men ages forty to seventy years old have had the operation. The researchers spoke to more than two-thousand men. Almost half had recently developed prostate cancer. The others did not have the disease. All the men were between the ages of forty and seventy-four. The researchers asked them about their medical histories and those of family members. They also asked about activities like smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. The researchers found no difference in the cancer rates among the men who had vasectomies and those who did not have the operation. They also found no increased chance of prostate cancer among men who had vasectomies twenty-five or more years earlier. Other researchers say the New Zealand study is the best one done so far about vasectomy and prostate cancer. They say it was large enough to have found any link that might exist. This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Nancy Steinbach.

Introduction / History The Giriama (Agiryama) people are Bantus living along the coastal areas of Kenya. They have migrated from Singwaya in the north eastern sides of Kenyan coast bordering the Oromo. Where are they located? They largely live along the Kenya coast, mostly found in the Kilifi and Malind district. They are found also sparsely in Mombasa and Kwale Districts of the coast province. What are their lives like? The Giriamas were largely famers, hunters and gatheres. They currently farm, though in really small scale. The crops they plannt include perennials like coconuts and cashewnuts which act as main cashcrops. They also plant Maise, Millet and peas. The Giriamas are largely social, leaving in extended families though recently the trend seems to be dropped. They live in Makuti thatched houses mostly which are mud walled, but recently iron sheets and brick structures have started to be common. Some take advanted of the close proximity to the Indian ocoean by fishing though is small scale. those that do this practise it purely for subsistance. What are their beliefs? The Giriamas were originally traditionalist, believing in idols, called the Koma. They used to sacrifise at the Koma,nearly on weekely basis. Sacrifices included Alcohol (the tradiational Manazi) which is palm wine. They believe that the koma were actually the representatives of the living dead, they would therefor name the komas with names og all the elders that have gone befopre them. The koma was a curves piece of wood, and the eledest of them that have already gone before them was represented with a bigger peice of wood called the Kigango. When trouble befalls a family, they would sometime go to scarifice by the koma side, sometimes porridge and blood would be used. Th Giriama however are now largely migrating from these believes and majorly have become Christians, with some few becomeing muslims. There are afew however that stiil practise the tradition religion. They also believed in witchcraft. What are their needs? The Giriamas need largely education and Evangelism. The preaching previously of the gospel was not of accepting the Lord Jesus the Christ but was rather on going to church which resulted inmany going to church whilst still practising their religion and traditional beliefs. Prayer Points * Breaking the yoke of traditional religion * Removal of the bonage of curses * Move of the Holy Ghost to teach on acceptance of Christ

Religion and Deception in Boccaccio’s The Decameron The word “faith” in reference to religion emphasizes the uncertain nature of religion. By definition, if one is religious, they must trust and take a leap of faith to come to a conclusion about their gods, spirits, or idols. Faith is predicated upon the notion that there may never be undeniable proof about a certain religious figure or idea. Rather, one must believe regardless of shaky or nonexistent evidence. One must trust their religious institutions, the word of those with religious authority, or the experiences of those deemed to be trustworthy. This an idea the Boccaccio explores, tests, and violates his book, The Decameron, influenced by literature’s movement towards secular realism. When it came to religion, people especially in the time which Boccaccio wrote, had the reflex to believe rather than refute. Through the secular lens of Boccaccio, it is clear to see that this reflex sets people up for deceit. This theme that religion causes susceptibility to delusion can be best seen in key stories of the Decameron: the story about Saint Ciappelletto and the story about Friar Alberto. In The Decameron, after the group of travelers have gotten settled as they flee the plague that has infected Florence, they begin to tell stories. The queen of the day, Pampinea, elects Panfilo to begin with one of his stories, allowing him to speak on whichever topic he prefers. Before embarking on his story, Panfilo spends a considerable amount of time talking about God, saying “everything done by man should begin with the sacred and admirable name of Him that was the maker of all things” (Boccaccio 68). He goes on for another page or so, describing the grace and good deeds of his god, describing him as “He from whom nothing is hidden” (69). This phrase is crucial, as it sets up early on in the narrative of both the story and the book as a whole God’s inability to be tricked or deceived. This not only underscores the character’s trust in God, but also prepares the reader to expect a great deal of trickery to occur throughout the book to which humans are susceptible. Panfilo continues, emphasizing that God’s omniscience regardless of the motives of the supplicant or ignorance of intercessor. Leading into his story, Panfilo says that all of God’s virtues “can clearly be seen in the tale I propose to relate; and I say clearly because it is concerned not with the judgement of God but with that of men” (69). By emphasizing the purity of God and inevitable inaccuracy of mankind, Boccaccio preps the reader to pay attention to how one’s own humanity in a religious context can lead to deceit or wrongdoing. Following this preface, Panfilo begins his story with a man called Ciappelletto, which means little chapel, although his name was really Cepparello which refers to a log (70). It is significant that the main character of the story’s name means chapel, because we are led to dislike this character. He is described as a “mighty blasphemer of god and his saints”, specifically “cheerfully assaulting or kill people with his own hands” and “losing his temper on the tiniest pretext” (71). The irony that he has a holy name and being a bad person, while also serves a comedic purpose, also serves to show Boccaccio’s dislike of the church. If one imagines reading the Decameron in Italian, and the reference to a little chapel is painfully clear every time Ciappelletto’s name is mentioned, especially when in a negative context. It seems as though Boccaccio is priming the reader to carry a negative sentiment towards the institutions of religion, like a little chapel. When Ciappelletto became mortally ill, he requested the “holiest and ablest friar” for his final confession (73). This request in itself is counterintuitive. If Ciappelletto was truly a bad man, why should he request the presence of a friar in the first place? Or, why would he ask for the holiest friar who would condemn him for his wicked life? The answers to these questions soon become clear, when Ciappelletto begins a series of false confessions which lead the friar to believe that he was in fact a deeply pure and spiritual man which contrast with his true personality. Ciappelletto’s trick quickly becomes clear as the friar believes his every word, praising “how nobly you have lived!” (74). The false stories which Ciappelletto tells about his life are bold. His “sins” are so overwhelmingly perfect; he says he is a virgin (74), that he fasted regularly (74), that he only loses his temper when people commit blasphemy (76), that he has never lied in the entire duration of his life (77), and so on. As good of a liar that Ciappelletto might be, it is hard to believe that a holy and rational man that we assume the friar to be would believe claims so brazen as these. It is even harder to believe when we remember that the friar practices in Burgundy, whose people are described as “thoroughly bad and unprincipled set of people” (70). In order to understand why the friar was so eager to believe Ciappelletto and preach his saintly reputation one must recall the aftermath of Ciappelletto’s death. People were so excited about Saint Ciappelletto that “everyone thronged round the body”(80) at the church of the friar. People even “began to make votive offerings and to decorate the chapel with figures made of wax” (81). The church at which Ciappelletto was buried, the church of the friar, gained a great deal of fame. With fame comes people, with people comes increased reputation, and when the reputation of a church increases, so does the amount of offerings and money the church receives. This is where Boccaccio’s theme about the susceptibility to deception that religion induces becomes clear. The friar may very well be the “holiest and ablest friar” that anybody could hope for (73). Regardless, he so desperately wanted Ciappelletto to be a saint, knowing the fame that a saint at his church might bring, that he tricked himself into believing Ciappelletto’s audacious lies. His faith made him gullible to Ciappelleto’s trick. The gullible behavior of the friar is not forgotten on the fourth day, when Pampinea prefaces her story by stating that she aims to “illustrate the extraordinary and perverse hypocrisy of the members of religious orders” (343). Her accusation continues, saying that “they are pulling a passive confidence trick, of which they themselves, if they really believe what they say, are the earliest victims” (343). This sentence directly applies to the friar in in the story about Ciappelletto, who allowed himself to be tricked into thinking he was in the presence of a saint, and whose religious authority impressed this lie upon people far and wide. It is also important to note that Pampinea applies the blame to the friar and those in charge of religious institutions, not religion itself. In fact, she looks to God, without the interference of a human or institution, to “punish [the friar’s] lies” (343). Pampinea’s story also deals with a friar, however her friar is more forward about his intention to deceive. She introduces a “crooked” (343) man named Berto della Massa, who changed his name and outward persona to “the most Catholic man who ever lived” (344), Friar Alberto. He tricks a beautiful and vain woman named Monna Lisetta into sleeping with him by saying that the Angel Gabriel has fallen in love with her, so he’d like to use the Friar’s earthly body to fulfil his desire (345-347). Whenever he wishes, the Friar Alberto visits her in his angel disguise, and Monna Lisetta happily obliges. Though the audience is not meant to perceive the lady Lisetta in the most positive light, she is introduced as “frivolous and scatterbrained” (344), we also must remember that she is a religious woman. She went to be confessed by the Friar who was held to be a one of the best friars available to her. Not only that, but her confession was thorough, as evidenced when Boccaccio writes that “she had only gotten through a fraction of her business, kneeling all the time at his feet[…]” (345). She was also particularly devoted to the Angel Gabriel, “she never failed to light a fourpenny candle in his honour” (347). This religious trait of hers is crucial when it comes to the deception she fell for at the hands of Friar Alberto. She had no reason not to trust Friar Alberto, nor did she have any reason to doubt that the Angel Gabriel might be in love with her, as she was devoted to him in particular. In fact, her vanity and devotion provided her great motivation to believe the impossible idea that an angel had fallen for her. She greatly wanted to be special and holy, so she allowed herself, just like the friar in the previous story, to be tricked. The Friar used his religious authority, knowing the expectations of Catholicism to make judgements of faith without irrefutable evidence, to deceive an innocent albeit “half-wit” (345) woman. The first half of this story echoes the previous story discussed. The distrust of religious institutions, like Ciappelletto “little chapel”, and understanding a friar’s humanity allow this new story, that is so outwardly judgemental towards Catholicism, to take place. Different from the story about Saint Ciappelletto, though, the conclusion of this story is much more violent. When it is revealed that somebody disguised as the Angel Gabriel had been sleeping with Monna Lisetta, Friar Alberto is forced to flee. After a series of events, a man described exclusively as “honest” (351) tricks the Friar into walking through the town square on a leash covered in honey and feathers (352). Friar Alberto is recognized and ridiculed, the townspeople “jeered at him in unison, calling him by the foulest names and shouting the filthiest abuse” (352). In this story, justice is served, and the Friar is punished for his deception. It is important to note, though, that his punishment, although administered by an “honest” man, was dependent upon deception. Friar Alberto believed him in his desperation. This small part of the story is an important example of deception because it proves that people are deceived not because the trick played upon them was impossible to refute, but because they need to believe. This notion parallels and supports that those who want to believe, like people do with religion, are likely to be deceived. The story ends when the other friars of the town came to save Friar Alberto by covering him with a cape and escorting him away (353). They then lock him in his room, and “there he is believed to have eked out the rest of his days in wretchedness and misery” (353). The friars did not publicly condemn him, nor did they kick him out of their church. Though he is not returned to his former glory, he is not convicted nor is he held as an example. The friar’s silence about the matter of his deception serves as an acceptance of his actions. Their responsibility for the outcome of the narrative is emphasized in the final line story, “[m]ay it please God that a similar fate should befall each and every one of his fellows” (353). It becomes clear that “his fellows” refers to the other friars in the story. By using the term “fellows” rather than something more specific, this condemnation can also be applied all other priests and friars who lie, deceive, and pretend to know the word of God. This is crucial because it solidifies the assertion that it is not just particular instances of trickery that happen to coincide with religion. Boccaccio clarifies that the institution of religion allows people to be tricked and makes believes susceptible to delusion. That the word of God must pass through a human who is not immune to sin or mistakes makes instances like these inevitable. People are willing to believe because the very foundation of their religion is based on faith rather than proof. With this in mind, it becomes clear why it is easy and common to lie by preying on religious beliefs. This proven in the story about Saint Ciappelletto and the friar who wanted so badly for Ciappelletto to be a saint that he believed his outrageous lies. His point is further complicated in the story about Friar Alberto. By proving that not just supplicants can trick and intercessor’s believe, but a friar too can use his influence to deceive. This instance is, in some ways, more dangerous, as friars are supposed to be trusted. In each of these stories, Boccaccio refrains from criticizing spirituality as a whole. Rather, as emphasized by the condemnation of friars in the Friar Alberto story, Boccaccio’s criticism is directed towards the institutions, the friars, and chapel, (Ciappelletto). In showing his that religion and Catholic institutions make people susceptible to delusion, Boccaccio establishes the humanist theory secularism. This turn towards humanism, and therefore secularism, became crucial in the history of literature and academics. Through this secular lens, it is clear to see Boccaccio’s criticism of the reflex to believe in religious matters unquestionably, and how the practice of religion of the time and norms of religious institutions sets people up to be deceived “As a species, we are most animated when our days and nights on Earth are touched by the natural world” – Richard Louv Plath and Hughes seem to have different […] Zora Neale Hurston’s Filling Station is a short comic story written in the 1930s and also included as part of the African-American: Graphic Classics Volume 22 published in 2011 (Hughes, […] Christianity played a tremendous role in the 18th century European colonization of the New World, as exemplified by Robinson Crusoe. The story of Crusoe’s isolation on the island, especially concerning […] “Everyman” and “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” are without doubt two of the best-known works of medieval English literature. The stories demonstrate the epitome of the Christian themes of […] Throughout D H Lawrence’s The Fox, the protagonist March is repeatedly represented as ‘a shadow’. This not only suggests March and Banford’s marginal status as unmarried women in a 1920s […] With his novel about a young adolescent’s journeys and struggles with the trials and questions associated with Huck’s maturation, Mark Twain examines societal standards and the influence of adults that […] In his novel ‘The White Tiger’, Avarind Adiga explores the corruption and extreme poverty that plague modern India. Through an allegorical depiction of the enormous divide between rich and poor, […] Men have learned to harness nature, but they have yet to transcend it. The laws of nature powerfully affect human behavior, and these laws are often antithetical to those of […] Shakespeare’s first tragedy, Titus Andronicus, sets the foundation for most of his future works. According to the scholar Danielle A. St. Hilaire, throughout the whole play, Shakespeare uses quotes from […] The word “faith” in reference to religion emphasizes the uncertain nature of religion. By definition, if one is religious, they must trust and take a leap of faith to come […]

James Madison (1751 - 1836) James Madison was born on March 16th, 1751 in Port Conway, Virginia. The eldest son of a wealthy landholder, Madison lived a life of privilege. In 1769, after being educated at home by private tutors, Madison began the College of New Jersey (now Princeton), studying history and government and forming a political club called the American Whig Society. He graduated after only two years and returned home. "What is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary." (from Federalist No. 51). In 1776, Madison helped write the Virginia Constitution and was elected to both the Virginia legislature and the Continental Congress. His notes on the Constitutional Convention have been used to piece together the series of events that led to the signing of the United States Constitution. During 1788, Madison, along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, wrote The Federalist Papers, a series of eighty-five political essays which illustrated the problems of the Republican government, asserting that federalism would preserve the individual's freedom. Madison served in the Virginia House of Representatives from 1789 until 1797. Madison married Dorothea (Dolley) Payne Todd on September 15th, 1794. He was appointed Secretary of State by President Thomas Jefferson in 1801. The fourth President of the United States, Madison served through the War of 1812 until 1817. Upon leaving office, he and Dolley moved to Montpelier, but Madison still found the time to help Thomas Jefferson found the University of Virginia and to take part in the Virginia Constitutional Convention in 1829. He died on June 28th, 1836. Famous quotations by James Madison: Suggested sites for James Madison:Encyclopedia article about James Madison

Marabou would like to draw your attention to an article from the October 29, 2018 issue of The New Yorker addressing the widely-accepted myth that Classical Greek and Roman sculptures were always white marble. Written by Margaret Talbot, the title of the print version is “Color Blind,” the digital version (accessible here) is entitled, “The Myth of Whiteness in Classical Art.” Marabou appreciates this article because it continues the campaign of telling a historical truth, that the Classical pasts of Greece and Rome were not pristine white, but vibrant and colorful. The article also explores why the evidence and reality of a polychrome Classical world has been hidden and deemphasized by scholars for over 100 years. Pushing even further, the article asks why the public is generally unwilling to accept the reality of a technicolor ancient world and why those willing to believe deem the saturation and hues as gaudy and ghastly. Exposure to corrosive elements for over a thousand years will obviously result in the wearing away of paint layers that once adorned ancient marble statues. In the last 100 years, some art historians declared that nothing could be made of the small flecks of paint that remained on ancient statues. Vinzenz Brinkmann, a classical archeologist, is quoted in conversation with Talbot. He said, when looking for pigment on the surface of statues, some of it “was easy to see, even with the naked eye.” Westerners had been engaged in an act of collective blindness. “It turns out that vision is heavily subjective,” he told me. “You need to transform your eye into an objective tool in order to overcome this powerful imprint”—a tendency to equate whiteness with beauty, taste, and classical ideals, and to see color as alien, sensual, and garish. Marabou finds Brinkmann’s statement reflective of misinterpretation incidents when it comes to understanding cultures, especially those that are not European. Interpretations of cultures and art have been strongly influenced by western implicit bias. One example is Jean-Frédéric Waldeck, a French artist who was sent to present-day Mexico and Central America in 1832 to document Mayan writing. There was a belief at this time that Mayan cities could have been built by Babylonians, Phoenicians, or Hindus (implying the indigenous people of the region could not possibly have been capable of such architectural feats). With this belief in the zeitgeist, Waldeck, who was supposed to draw-record-the Mayan hieroglyphs as they are, interpreted elephants (that are not there) in the writing, further bolstering the hypothesis that cultures from the other side of the world imparted their knowledge with the indigenous people of Mesoamerica and built magnificent cities for them. (Find out more about the deciphering of the Mayan language by watching the PBS Nova episode, “Cracking the Maya Code.” Start at minute 9:00 for information on Waldeck.) This incident is a perfect example of Brinkmann’s assertion “vision is heavily subjective…You need to transform your eye into an objective tool in order to overcome this powerful imprint.” Marabou thinks about how pervasive implicit bias and subjectivity are in present-day museums. Marabou pulls the following quote from the article because it can be applied on multiple levels: - explaining why the general public is not accepting of Ancient Greece and Rome’s polychrome art - why the Western European narrative dominates the messaging and content of American and European museums - why providing platforms for marginalized populations to share their stories is somehow threatening to the status quo. As the artist and critic David Batchelor writes in his 2000 book, “Chromophobia,” at a certain point ignorance becomes willful denial—a kind of “negative hallucination” in which we refuse to see what is before our eyes. Mark Abbe, who has become the leading American scholar of ancient Greek and Roman polychromy, believes that, when such a delusion persists, you have to ask yourself, “Cui bono?”—“Who benefits?” He told me, “If we weren’t benefitting, we wouldn’t be so invested in it. We benefit from a whole range of assumptions about cultural, ethnic, and racial superiority. We benefit in terms of the core identity of Western civilization, that sense of the West as more rational—the Greek miracle and all that. And I’m not saying there’s no truth to the idea that something singular happened in Greece and Rome, but we can do better and see the ancient past on a broader cultural horizon.” Talbot ventures into the discussion of race in Ancient Greece and Rome, but just a little bit. She touches on present-day white supremacist groups using Ancient Greece and Rome as model white societies and use of white marble statues as “as emblems of white nationalism.” Marabou expected more exploration of this topic with a title like “Whiteness in Classical Art/Color Blind.” However, talking about race in classical European art deserves an article (a book, an anthology) all its own. Marabou wonders how society would look if, from the outset, all of us were taught that the sculptures and art of Ancient Greece and Rome (and Egypt, Mesopotamia, and other ancient cultures) were colorful and depicted people of different skin tones, from dark to light. What would history look like if whiteness, paleness of the skin was not framed as better, superior to darker skin tones. What would happen if we were able to break, as Talbot states, this “tendency to equate whiteness with beauty, taste, and classical ideals, and to see color as alien, sensual, and garish.” We are taught to think in a certain way and these thoughts guide our actions. It’s important to reflect on how deeply we are conditioned to think a certain way about history and how challenging it is to break others and ourselves out of this conditioned mindset. The discussion of whiteness in classical Greek and Roman art and resistance to acknowledging and accepting the reality of color is a microcosm of bigger contemporary issues around race. When Talbot highlights Mark Abbe’s question, “Who benefits?” from believing classical sculptures were always bright white marble, she and Abbe are also speaking about the fear and loss felt by those who benefit from white supremacy when there are social and political moves toward equity for those historically marginalized. Marabou asks, what is lost through the acceptance of a polychrome and multiracial Ancient Greece and Rome? Is it possible to help people see the idea of a colorful and multiracial world – both ancient and present-day – as a gain and win for everyone instead of a loss?

Autism is one of the most common pervasive developmental disorders. It is said that one in 150 children, mostly male, suffer from this condition. Autism is a condition that causes a wide variety of symptoms, notable of which are social withdrawal and preoccupation with routine. However, autistic children are noticeably bright and had intellectual gifts that normally ruled out mental retardation. What is Autism? Autism is a brain defect affecting speech and one’s ability to relate with other people. People with autism are often described as having their own worlds. It is classified under the broader medical disorder called Pervasive Developmental Disorder or PDD. Among PDDs, autism is the most prevalent. Autism is not selective as to race, ethnicity or social status. Researches are still not able to answer the question as to why there are more boys affected with this disorder than girls. Common Causes of Autism Studies have suggested that autism is a defect in the gene pool, thus it runs in the family. Still others maintain that certain types of vaccine cause autism in some children. What they do agree on is that for people with autism, their brains have a different shape. This disorder is often detected in children before they turn three. Parents notice that their child still does not have regular speech patterns or may often be found playing by themselves or is isolated from other children. Sometimes, parents think that their child is deaf or suffers from some kind of ear defect because of his/her lack of response to conversations. Since the tests conducted say otherwise, parents should then turn to other sources of the problem. Signs and Symptoms The common symptoms of autism include making little or no eye contact with persons trying to make conversations with them; talking at people instead of to them or paying no heed to actually getting information from people they are communicating with; limited and repetitive patterns of behavior such as sucking while staring into space, rocking or unusual interest and attachment to a toy or object. Parents should also be alert to the fact that their child has a desperate need for routines. Some children with autism crave sameness. Signs of autism may also include tantrum, distress for no apparent reason, being unresponsive to teaching, sensitivity to sound, or difficulties in sensory integrations. Other signs for autism that could be observed in children include the following: - No pointing by one year - No babbling by one year, no utterance of single words by 16 months, no two-word phrases by two years - Loss of language skills - No pretend playing - Little or no interest in making friends - A very short attention span - No response when called by name; indifference to others - Little or no eye contact - Repetitive body movements - Intense tantrums - Fixations on an object - Uncommonly strong resistance to routine changes - Oversensitivity to certain sounds, smells, or textures Treatment for Autism Autism is a lifelong disorder although manifestations may lessen as people with autism learn to control emotions and their behaviors. Recommended treatments include occupational therapy, speech therapy and behavioral training. A specially structured educational system also helps a child with autism to adjust better to relating with people and to study and learn. Autism, though incurable, is not a totally crippling disease. Timely psychological intervention could alleviate some of the symptoms and make an autistic child live a productive life. In fact, many autistic children have above-average intelligence, owing to their fascination with detail. The goal to treatments and therapies for those with autism is to turn them into functional and independent adults. Early detection of autism is thus crucial for early treatments. Parents are encouraged to look for signs of autism and immediately consult a psychologist in order to arrange treatment.

What’s an assault? An assault is said to have occurred when someone intentionally or recklessly causes another person to immediately apprehend unlawful violence. This may or may not involve actually touching the other person. In respect of each assault charge laid by the police, the offence type will often depend upon the seriousness of the acts or injuries, or the specific occupation of the person who was allegedly assaulted. Various types of assault offences include the following: - Common assault - Assault occasioning actual bodily harm - Recklessly / Intentionally inflicts grievous bodily harm or wound - Assault Police - Sexual assault Most assaults are indictable offences that are dealt with summarily. To have a matter determined summarily means that the matter is dealt with in the Local Court. What are the defences to assault? There are defences available to allegations of assault including self defence, lawful chastisement, necessity, intoxication, duress and alibi evidence. There are also other defences available for more serious assault matters such as automatism. If you are charged with assault, contact Josh and James at McKenzie McLoughlin Law for representation. As former prosecutors and investigators, Josh and James can quickly identify the strengths and weaknesses of a prosecution case and give you honest and efficient legal advice. It must be said that most common form of defence to an assault is self defence. This defence arises in circumstances where one is acting to defend themselves, someone else, or property. A successful self defence case may mean that you are not guilty of the offence. It is a complete defence. Section 418 of the Crimes Act outlines when self defence is available. It says that: (1) A person is not criminally responsible for an offence if the person carries out the conduct constituting the offence in self-defence. (2) A person carries out conduct in self-defence if and only if the person believes the conduct is necessary: - to defend himself or herself or another person, or - to prevent or terminate the unlawful deprivation of his or her liberty or the liberty of another person, or - to protect property from unlawful taking, destruction, damage or interference, or - to prevent criminal trespass to any land or premises or to remove a person committing any such criminal trespass, AND - the conduct is a reasonable response in the circumstances as he or she perceives them. An accused only needs to raise self defence as an issue in their case. The prosecution then has to prove that the accused was not acting in self defence beyond a reasonable doubt. The prosecution must show either: - That the accused did not genuinely believe that it was necessary to act as he or she did in his or her own defence or; - That what the accused did was not a reasonable response to the danger, as he or she perceived it to be. At McKenzie McLoughlin, we know what constitutes a good self defence case. If you have been charged by the police for an assault matter, you should call our criminal lawyers Josh and James to talk about it. We are all too aware that there are two sides to every story, and are keen to make sure that yours is heard. Josh and James and are client focused and results driven so contact them for experienced legal representation. Why McKenzie McLoughlin Law? At McKenzie and McLoughlin Law our two criminal lawyers, Josh McKenzie and James McLoughlin are former prosecutors. This means that they know the law, and the available defences. They also know how the police investigate their matters, and they are well versed as to how the police present their evidence at court. In addition, Josh was also an experienced criminal investigator with the NSW Police Detectives, and James was previously a solicitor for the DPP. Do not underestimate these advantages when comparing them to other criminal lawyers. Whether the allegation be of an assault in a domestic setting, against an emergency services worker, or even where the parties are unknown, you can rest assure that by choosing our criminal lawyers to represent you, you are making an intelligent decision. There are generally advantages in acting quickly in getting legal representation if you are charged with an offence of assault. As such, you should seek out Josh and James for their expert advice and representation in this area of law.

When we speak of textile art, we generally associate it with a craft activity, in other words, as a profession opposed to the fine arts. But above all, it’s as a link with tradition. The design and color of the fabrics, tapestries, laces, or embroideries allow us to understand the identity of different people; their threads tell stories and millenary customs. In a hyper-connected world in which digital technologies are increasingly replacing manual work and even intervening in interpersonal relations and the configuration of subjects, traditions have been devalued, especially considering that they depend primarily on orality. Since the mid-20th century, the artistic avant-garde has altered the world of art forever, broadening the very definition of art whose boundaries with other disciplines have become ambiguous. The union between life and art brought with it the incorporation of activities and elements considered non-artistic, among them textiles. Many works resorted to textile techniques combined with unconventional materials. The Bauhaus School has been of great importance in the genesis of textile art. Crafts began to be considered as works with conceptual content that were gradually emancipated from the craft genre. Between the decades of the 60s and the 70s, textile art expression was consolidated by artists such as Magdalena Abakanowicz, Sheila Jicks, Claire Zeisler, and Lenore Tawney, who integrated textile works with other genres such as sculpture, performance, or installation, opening the way to contemporary art. In recent years, different events and projects have given visibility to textile art. The association Fiber Art Fever, created by the artist Paty Vilo, was a great promoter of the most innovative textile creations. For its part, Contextile, a Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art in Portugal, has established itself as one of the main events for the distribution of this practice through exhibition competitions, conferences, workshops, and residencies for artists. In 2019, Fiber Art was inaugurated in Paris, the first gallery dedicated exclusively to textile art that has gained ground in the field of contemporary art. That same year, the first museum of contemporary textile art in Spain also opened its doors. Without a doubt, textile art is present around the world in numerous exhibitions in art fairs, museums, and galleries. On the other hand, digital art has had exciting and reflexive crossings concerning the textile discipline. The juxtaposition of very different techniques has refreshed the artistic scene and brought the place of textile art to the table today. The process of digitalization brings with it many advantages, today more than ever, but nevertheless, memory is a concept that has entered into crisis in recent times. Instead of confronting traditional narratives with contemporary ones, the artisanal vs. the digital, digital textile artists build a bridge between the two and use technology in their favor to disseminate and promote a traditional practice. It is also a way of rescuing the artisanal and indigenous and transmitting knowledge to new generations, a custom that has been lost over time after the current maelstrom. Digital textile art is a hybrid product that creates new aesthetic paradigms by merging different techniques, disciplines, and materials. The designer/artist produces an artistic object and establishes a dialogue in a society based on innovation and the re-signification of elements of the collective imagination over traditions. The most important aspect of this trend is the revaluation of different cultures, as it reminds us of the importance of preserving identity and memory. In a world where differences and stigmatization reign, respecting and embracing diversity from unity is a step forward that humanity should take. These are the digital textile artists who stood out for their innovation and the enhancement of textiles as a means of communication. The artist creates unique pieces resulting from experimentation with digital art and mixed media. The visual universe of his works is based on open-source software and the language of digital media. Despite producing digital works, he has achieved recognition for his textile pieces, such as cushions and his popular rugs. They are made with woven and embroidered threads. Zouassi creates three-dimensional objects with fringes whose visual aspect explores abstraction, glitch aesthetics, and the typical patterns and colors of textiles. This is the artist’s way of capturing the tangible character of the digital universe. Susan Hensel is a multidisciplinary artist. In her last 50 years of artistic career, she has developed her practice combining mixed media, mainly embroidery with digital and manual tools. From the digital embroidery technique, she obtains unique geometric patterns, whose process is often linked to the random factor. As a result, the artist creates abstract three-dimensional figures, halfway between sculpture and painting, which worship the organic forms of Nature. They stand out for the expressiveness of the colors, the rhythm, the fluidity, and the different types of texture that generate a sensory experience. Some of her works re-signify the role of women in the textile field. Women have been in charge of textiles since ancient times. The discipline is associated with the domestic environment, and stereotype sees the activity as a domain of women, especially elders. Hensel intends to erase those clichés and play with the constructions around femininity. The young Japanese artist uses old black and white photographs, which she then carefully embroiders with colorful threads. In this way, she creates visually impressive compositions in which two completely different techniques coexist. She defines herself as a textile and digital artist. During her process, she uses digital and analogical tools to compose the images. Her work is a way of re-interpreting traditional embroidery. Morimoto shows her obsession with geometric shapes and bright colors that give a modern look to her creations. The artist’s digital illustrations are inspired by the iconography and aesthetics of traditional Andean culture, a pre-Columbian civilization that emerged in South America. The recurrent motifs in his works are traditional dances, mythological figures, zoomorphic deities, and geometric forms. The palette of colors used by the artist evokes the natural landscapes of the altiplano. In his book “Telares Digitales,” some of these works can be found while he reflects on the approach to the ancestral fabric through digital language. His productions are a great way to remember and value ancient cultures and update them from his own experience.

The electrical symbols you are most likely to find on electrical construction drawings are found in below Figures Knowing the special characteristics of these symbols will improve your ability to remember them and to interpret other symbols that are not used in these drawings. Other symbols may also be used, provided that a suitable explanation of their meaning is included on the drawings where the symbol is used or that a symbol legend sheet is provided. Most drawings today are produced with computer-aided design and drafting software (a CADD program). A symbols library is included with the CADD software. These symbols may vary slightly from one software package to another, but the experienced electrician can usually readily understand them. Electrical plans are generally drawn to scale. However, graphic symbols indicate only the approximate locations of electrical equipment such as switches and receptacles and are not drawn to scale. Details are provided in the specifications or on the plans that will give mounting heights, dimensions above countertops, distances from doors, height above the floor, and so forth, for accurate locations of receptacles, luminaires, and other equipment. If more than one symbol is located immediately adjacent to another, it usually means that a multigang box for multiple wiring devices and a single cover are to be installed. For example, if three switches are to be located in a common box and under a 3-gang cover plate, three “S” symbols will be drawn at the location. Obviously, the electrician will need to be certain a box with adequate size is selected to enclose the number of wires and devices required. The owner or architect will indicate in the specifications the maximum number of wiring devices permitted in a common box. Typically, this is three or four. Cover plates to accommodate more than four switches are often a special order item.

The process of conversion of energy in living organisms can be better understood by gaining assistance from tutors that provide Photosynthesis Homework Help. Undergraduates and graduates can attain instant feedback and solutions to all their problems related to photosynthesis. An Explanation is provided by displaying simple and entertaining videos that are very attractive to watch as well as uncomplicated to comprehend. The videos are just for 5 minutes, which you can watch over and again when you desire. What is Photosynthesis? Photosynthesis is an important concept of biology, and that deal with physiological and natural reactions. It involves transformation of carbon and oxygen into glucose that is very indispensable for the development of the plant. The energy obtained from sunlight is stocked up in the bonds of glucose and made use of afterward for the growth of plants. The most important topics for which you can attain Photosynthesis Homework Help is steps involved in the glycolysis pathway, electron transport chain, role of chlorophyll in photosynthesis, as well as photolysis. An Explanation is provided even for topics like Redox reactions in cellular respiration, dark reactions in the process of photosynthesis, as well as light reactions. The tutors are qualified as well as proficient in these subjects they provide assistance for students, so that students can gain better grades in their subject. The tutors make biology subject interesting by providing simple solutions, and complete their coursework on time. There are a lot of students who are passionate about learning Biology subject, and Photosynthesis Homework Help is an excellent service that can be attained anytime of the day. There are tutors who provide teaching on various subjects related to biology like Homeostasis Homework Help. These services are much better than going to tuition centers as it can be availed from the comfort of your home. You need not worry about travelling to the center for any queries.

In the Trenches - April 2017 Promoting Geoscience Literacy and Advocacy Volume 7, Number 2 In This Issue - Campaigning for Effective Geoscience Education Advocacy - Don Haas, the Paleontological Research Institution and Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, New York, and Anne Egger, Central Washington University - Seven Ways to Teach Controversial Issues - Steven Newton, the National Center for Science Education and the College of Marin - ONLINE EXTRA: More Tips for Teaching Controversial Topics - Carl D. Priesendorf, Metropolitan Community College - Credible Sources and Science Literacy: The Role of Social Media - Mark Sweeney and Joshua Haiar, University of South Dakota - ONLINE EXTRA: Project 2061 Promotes Science Literacy for All - Mary Koppal and Jo Ellen Roseman, American Association for the Advancement of Science - Bridging the Gap Between the Social and Physical Sciences to Promote Effective Science Communication - Kolson Schlosser, Temple University - ONLINE EXTRA: Climate Education in the New Political Landscape – An Invitation - Frank D. Granshaw, Portland State University Don Haas, the Paleontological Research Institution and Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, New York, and Anne Egger, Central Washington University Steven Newton, the National Center for Science Education and the College of Marin The quotation above is the curious statement that greeted me at the end of a final exam in one of my introductory geology classes. One might presume that such a student bombed the test, but the truth is this student wrote an exemplary, fact-rich final exam essay on plate tectonics, earning full marks and an A in the course. I was nevertheless left with a sense of deep unease and this question: How could someone who knew the facts so well reject the existence of plate tectonics? Read more... - Creationist student owned by Dr. Tim White - New poll gauges Americans' general knowledge levels - Flintstone facts? 41 percent of Americans say people and dinosaurs co-existed - New national poll finds: More Americans know Snow White's dwarfs than Supreme Court judges, Homer Simpson than Homer's Odyssey, and Harry Potter than Tony Blair. - Public praises science; scientists fault public, media Carl D. Priesendorf, Metropolitan Community College Mark Sweeney and Joshua Haiar, University of South Dakota - InTeGrate Teaching Modules - YouTube GeoScience Videos channel - Earth Rocks videos of City College of San Francisco - The need to teach about ethics and science, and the credibility of sources, Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 61, p. 1-2. Mary Koppal and Jo Ellen Roseman, American Association for the Advancement of Science - Project 2061 - Project 2061 Teaching Guides - AAAS Science Assessment Website - Project 2061 Publications Bridging the Gap Between the Social and Physical Sciences to Promote Effective Science Communication Kolson Schlosser, Temple University - Alternative facts and true lies: The Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gautam-adhikari/alternative-facts--true-l_b_14440900.html - Hanrahan, J., 2017, Bridging the gap: teaching informal climate change communication: In the Trenches, v. 7(1), p. 2-4. - Huber, M., 2017 Jan 25, The politics of truth/facts: Medium, https://medium.com/@Matthuber78/the-politics-of-truth-facts-30a218f67cdd#.434c9ay41 - McKnight, P., 2017 Jan 28, Trump as postmodernist: truth no longer bound by facts: The Globe and Mail, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/trump-as-postmodernist-truth-no-longer-boundby-facts/article33796581/ - Webler, T., Danielson, S. and Tuler, S., 2007, Guidance on the Use of Q Method for Evaluation of Public Involvement Programs at Contaminated Sites: Social and Environmental Research Institute, 43 p., http://www.seri-us.org/sites/default/files/QMethodGuidanceSuperfund.pdf Frank D. Granshaw, Portland State University - Climate Data Sources Discussion on the NAGT website - Granshaw, F., 2017, Climate Gateway, An access point for Archived Federal Science Agency Environment/Climate Data and On-line Educational Resources, http://vfeprojects.research.pdx.edu/ClimateGateway/ - PPEH labs, 2017, Data Refuge, http://www.ppehlab.org/ - White House, 2016, A Historic Commitment to Protecting the Environment and Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-record/climate - White House, 2017, An America First Energy Plan, https://www.whitehouse.gov/america-first-energy If a contentious topic doesn't sit well emotionally, then students may be unable to learn the science. This part of the On the Cutting Edge website addresses how to approach controversial topics with the Affective Domain in mind, not just the Cognitive Domain. A Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) is a type of cooperative learning strategy in which small teams of students learn about a controversial issue from multiple perspectives. This module from Pedagogy in Action explains the What, Why, and How of using this pedagogic method in the classroom. The CAM project is developing approaches to bring student media production into climate change education in ways that are engaging, empowering, and can be readily adopted in a wide range of instructional environments. Student media-making can be used to overcome many of the challenges that climate change education presents and is an excellent way to bring active, social, and effective learning to one of the most important and most complex problems facing human society today. News and AdvertisementsView All Website News Releases - April NAGTNews Newsletter - Lecturers in (1) Earth & Environmental Systems and (2) Biological Systems & Health - Bentley University back to top

Doctors were baffled when they picked up an abnormality in the third trimester scan of a Charleston, South Carolina, mother. Their initial diagnosis included a cyst, a bone disorder or teratoma, which is when a twin absorbs another during development in the womb. When the baby girl was born, they discovered that she had an extra lip, set of six teeth and even a small tongue that moved at the same time as that in her main mouth. According to Sky News, the condition, called duplicated oral cavity, is so rare, that there have only been 35 recorded cases since 1900. The latest case has now been documented in BMJ Case Reports. Also known as “second mouth”, the condition is seemingly harmless. Immediately after her birth, a team of surgeons performed an operation to remove the additional feature. Now six months later, the baby is almost completely unaffected, only suffering some swelling and a minor nerve defect in her bottom lip, Sky News also reported. “Our patient’s craniofacial duplication is a rare case that presented as an isolated anomaly, with no associated syndromes or abnormalities,” the study authors noted. “At six-month follow-up, the incisions were well healed and the patient was feeding without difficulty.” Also known as craniofacial duplication, duplicated oral cavity has been documented in animals, including chickens, cats, goats and pigs. The last reported case involving humans include twins born in Sydney, Australia, in 2014 with one body and one head but two identical faces. Sadly, they died 19 days after birth.

Autism is common. According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 out of every 59 children has been diagnosed with autism. That’s a marked rise from 2000, when only 1 in 150 children had been diagnosed with autism. There is a lot we don’t know about autism, such as exactly what causes it or why it is becoming more common. But one thing we do know is that the earlier we start treating it, the better. Communication and social skills are built very early. We have our best chance of improving things if we work within that natural window. That’s why there has been a steady push toward making the diagnosis as early as possible. It is not easy for parents to hear that their child has, or might have, autism. Even when there are worries about the child’s development, it is natural to hope that a child is just a late bloomer, or a bit quirky. And indeed, some children are late bloomers, or quirky, or have an entirely different problem with their development. So how early can you reliably diagnose autism? What does research on autism tell us? A recent study focused on this question. Researchers looked at more than 1,200 toddlers who had at least two developmental evaluations between 12 and 36 months. Less than 2% of the toddlers initially thought to have autism were subsequently thought to have normal development. And on the flip side, 24% initially thought to not have autism were then later diagnosed as having it. So while the picture is not always clear at first, once the diagnosis is made, it usually sticks. At what age can the diagnosis be reliably made? At 12 to 13 months the “diagnostic stability” of the autism diagnosis — meaning the degree to which it was certain and stuck — was about 50%. This went up to 80% by 14 months, and 83% by 16 months. This makes sense if you think about the development of a toddler. At 12 months, they are just starting to say words, respond to commands, and interact with others. So a child who isn’t reliably doing those things would be cut some slack. But by 18 months, all those skills should be solidly in place, raising alarm bells about a child who doesn’t have them. Which treatment strategies may help children with autism? The main treatment for autism is called applied behavioral analysis (ABA). This is a behavioral program that breaks actions and behaviors down into small steps. It encourages positive behaviors and discourages negative behaviors. Other treatments include occupational therapy, sensory integration therapy, and strategies to improve communication, such as using pictures that children can point at to let caregivers know what they want. Here’s the thing: ABA and the other treatments are helpful for children with developmental problems, no matter what their cause. There is no downside to doing them even if the child ultimately is found to have a different problem — or no problem at all. They are good for the child with autism, the child with a language disability, or a late bloomer. Yes, it’s hard for parents to hear a diagnosis of autism. But there is much reason for hope when it comes to autism, and we should never waste time when a child needs help. The CDC’s Act Early campaign has a whole host of resources to help parents and caregivers know if a child is developing normally, or if there might be a problem. If you think there is a problem, ask for help. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Follow me on Twitter @drClaire

Combating Poverty With Clean Energy Wednesday, January 19, 2011 ABU DHABI (IDN) – Fighting poverty by promoting sustainable development and mitigating climate change is one of the priorities of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for 2011. With this is view, he is calling for a global revolution that would benefit some 1.6 billion people in developing countries still lacking access to electricity. Addressing the Fourth World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on January 17, Ban said: “Our challenge is transformation. We need a global clean energy revolution — a revolution that makes energy available and affordable for all.” This, he added, is essential for minimizing climate risks, for reducing poverty and improving global health, for empowering women and meeting the Millennium Development Goals (eight anti-poverty targets with a 2015 deadline), for global economic growth, peace and security, and the health of the planet.” Ban said that the decisions taken now will have far-reaching consequences. The prevailing fossil fuel-based economy is contributing to climate change — and global energy needs are growing rapidly. Several studies point out that in twenty years, energy consumption will rise by 40 per cent, mostly in developing countries, where 1.6 billion people still lack access to electricity, and where 3 billion people rely on traditional biomass fuels for cooking, heating, and other basic household needs.

Map of early human migrations , according to mitochondrial population genetics. Numbers are millennia before the present accuracy disputed. The Paleolithic is the earliest period of the Stone Age. The early part of the Palaeolithic is called the Lower Palaeolithic , which predates Homo sapiens , beginning with Homo habilis and related species and with the earliest stone tools, dated to around 2. The most widely accepted claim is that H. The use of fire enabled early humans to cook food, provide warmth, and have a light source at night. Early Homo sapiens originated some , years ago, ushering in the Middle Palaeolithic. Prehistoric teeth fossils dating back 9.7 million years ‘could rewrite human history’ The ice ages had left exposed vast tracts of land now submerged under the sea. The very first people to settle in what is now known as Italy arrived nearly half a million years ago and were the Neanderthals, followed later by our modern human ancestors. With the arrival of the Neolithic Age, Italy became host to several prominent prehistoric peoples such as the Terramare, the Villanova and the Camuni. The earliest archeological findings in Italy so far, date back to more than 50, years ago. More than twenty of the earliest sites in the country are associated with the Neanderthal people. Many of the best preserved prehistoric remains are in the Atapuerca region, rich with limestone caves that have preserved a million years of human evolution. Among these sites is the cave of Gran Dolina, where six hominin skeletons, dated between , and million years ago, were found in Love-hungry teenagers and archaeologists agree: But while the difficulties of single life may be intractable, the challenge of determining the age of prehistoric artifacts and fossils is greatly aided by measuring certain radioactive isotopes. Until this century, relative dating was the only technique for identifying the age of a truly ancient object. By examining the object’s relation to layers of deposits in the area, and by comparing the object to others found at the site, archaeologists can estimate when the object arrived at the site. Though still heavily used, relative dating is now augmented by several modern dating techniques. Radiocarbon dating involves determining the age of an ancient fossil or specimen by measuring its carbon content. Carbon , or radiocarbon, is a naturally occurring radioactive isotope that forms when cosmic rays in the upper atmosphere strike nitrogen molecules, which then oxidize to become carbon dioxide. Green plants absorb the carbon dioxide, so the population of carbon molecules is continually replenished until the plant dies. Carbon is also passed onto the animals that eat those plants. After death the amount of carbon in the organic specimen decreases very regularly as the molecules decay. Samples from the past 70, years made of wood, charcoal, peat, bone, antler or one of many other carbonates may be dated using this technique. 38 Brutal Facts About Prehistoric Humans Profile of Prehistoric Mound Builders Read the article on one page In the s, reports began to surface of the discovery of very large skeletal remains in the burial mounds of North America. These skeletons were described as reaching seven to eight feet 2. Historians often detailed these remains in early local historical records, such as the following from Cass County, Michigan: Accounts of Exceptional Burial Mounds Antiquarians also wrote about the anthropology of the tall ones in prehistoric mounds. The following is an account from Chillicothe, Ill. Two axes and a bunch of flint stones dating back to the prehistoric period were discovered during excavation works in and around Aydos Castle, located on the Asian side of Istanbul in Turkey. At least two hundred painted caves, some dating to as early as 30, BCE, have been found throughout the Pyrenees regions of southern France and northern Spain. The paintings primarily depict animals but also include occasional human forms, a variety of non-representational symbols, human handprints, and engravings. In all cases, their meanings remain elusive. What changed in the course of human history that led to the creation of these caves and works like the Venus of Willendorf c. What function did cave art serve in prehistoric society? Many theories have been suggested, along with several different methods of interpreting the evidence at hand, but a consensus has yet to be reached in over a century of study. Excavations in the regions where the majority of European painted caves are located have turned up important archaeological materials including tools, hunting implements, small-scale sculpture, burial arrangements, and animal remains, but only a certain amount can be inferred from these findings and little can be proved with any degree of certainty. Since the images recorded on cave walls are closest things we have to surviving records or narratives from these pre-literate societies, scholars run into something of a catch-twenty-two when attempting to interpret them because narratives and records usually inform most art historical interpretations. Some potential interpretations take the view that cave art was important for its existence and content, while others assert that its primary significance was in the ritual act of painting or engraving it. It is frequently suggested that the animal images may have related to some sort of hunting magic. Images that seem to have been clawed or gouged with spears support the former two ideas, while a pregnant-looking horse painting in the Lascaux cave supports the latter. Humans Have Been Getting High Since Prehistoric Times, Research Shows Radiocarbon determinations and analytical data from Vindija faunal remains and bone point Conclusions Single-amino acid AMS dating of the Vindija Neanderthals has yielded results that are substantially older than the previous ages that were initially obtained. The results suggest this group was not a late-surviving refugial Neanderthal population, as previously thought, and means the group almost certainly did not overlap with early anatomically modern humans in this part of Europe. Despite our best attempts, we were not able to date the bone industry associated with the archaeology of level G1. The one date we obtained from a later stratigraphic unit was younger than 30, B. The dating of other faunal materials from level G1 highlighted a significant range in age, which could indicate a perturbation of the general sequence. Love-hungry teenagers and archaeologists agree: dating is hard. But while the difficulties of single life may be intractable, the challenge of determining the age of prehistoric artifacts and. Life timeline and Nature timeline Prehistoric technology can be described as: Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history, that is, before the invention of writing systems. Old World prehistoric technology[ edit ] Three-age system — in archaeology and physical anthropology, the periodization of human prehistory into three consecutive time periods, each named after the main material used in its respective tool-making technologies: Beginning of prehistoric technology — the earliest technology began 2. Latest prehistoric technology — the level of technology reached before true writing was introduced differed by region and usually included proto-writing Latest prehistoric technology in the Near East — cultures in the Near East achieved the development of writing first, during their Bronze Age. Latest prehistoric technology in the rest of the Old World: Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks Exceptional preservation How fossils are formed Fossilisation only happens in the rarest of cases, when a plant or animal dies in the right circumstances. Animal corpses are usually eaten by something, or bacteria rots them away before fossilisation can occur, and even hard parts like bones and shells are eventually destroyed through erosion and corrosion. The trick to becoming a fossil is to die in a location where your body – or bits of it – are protected from scavengers and the elements. This means getting buried in sand, soil or mud and the best place for that is on the seabed or a river bed. Only in very rare cases do the soft parts of animals – the flesh, skin and internal organs – become fossils. Even when buried under mud or soil, decay still takes place, though lack of oxygen does slow it down. Potassium-argon dating, Argon-argon dating, Carbon (or Radiocarbon), and Uranium series. All of these methods measure the amount of radioactive decay of chemical elements; the decay occurs in a consistent manner, like a clock, over long periods of time. Dating Here of some of the well-tested methods of dating used in the study of early humans: Potassium-argon dating, Argon-argon dating, Carbon or Radiocarbon , and Uranium series. All of these methods measure the amount of radioactive decay of chemical elements; the decay occurs in a consistent manner, like a clock, over long periods of time. Thermo-luminescence, Optically stimulated luminescence, and Electron spin resonance. All of these methods measure the amount of electrons that get absorbed and trapped inside a rock or tooth over time. Since animal species change over time, the fauna can be arranged from younger to older. At some sites, animal fossils can be dated precisely by one of these other methods. For sites that cannot be readily dated, the animal species found there can be compared to well-dated species from other sites. In this way, sites that do not have radioactive or other materials for dating can be given a reliable age estimate. This method compares the amount of genetic difference between living organisms and computes an age based on well-tested rates of genetic mutation over time. The Adena Giant Revealed: Profile of Prehistoric Mound Builders Share this article Share ‘A mammoth field can offer incredible information and shed light on what life looked like in these areas during the ice age. Miomir Korac, left, the director of the Viminacium archaeological park, and fellow archaeologists, working yesterday on a mammoth tusk at the open pit coal mine in Serbia Mammoth graveyard: Miomir Korac, left, climbing up part of the site where remains of at least five of the giant beasts that lived tens of thousands of years ago have been found Rich find: Graves from the the Roman era have also been unearthed close to a spot where the remains of the woolly mammoths were found in Serbia The remains were found during digging for coal in an open pit that sinks to around 20 metres below ground level. Korac said the mammoth field stretched over more than 20 acres of sandy terrain. In , a well-preserved skeleton of a much older mammoth was found at the same site. Coprolites, Paisley 5 Mile Point Caves, Oregon Age: ~14, years old Method: radiocarbon dating. In a cave in Oregon, archaeologists found bones, plant remains and coprolites—fossilized feces. October 20, Inside the temple, archaeologists found humanlike figurines, sacrificed animal remains and potter fragments. Here’s a look at the prehistoric finding. Originally two stories tall it was surrounded by a galleried courtyard. The temple and settlement were burned down after they were abandoned. Clay altars Inside the temple archaeologists found the remains of eight clay platforms that likely served as altars. How Do Scientists Determine the Age of Dinosaur Bones? The discovery of the village “On the far curving shore of the bay lies Skara Brae, hazy through the sea-haar. In the winter of , a great storm battered Orkney. There was nothing particularly unusual about that, but, on this occasion, the combination of wind and extremely high tides stripped the grass from a large mound, then known as “Skerrabra”. The three-age system of division of prehistory into the Stone Age, followed by the Bronze Age and Iron Age, remains in use for much of Eurasia and North Africa, By definition, there are no written records from human prehistory, so dating of prehistoric materials is crucial. Clear techniques for dating were not well-developed until the 19th. Forensic evidence tells us that he is 25 40 years old, of slender build, born about years before the circular ditch and banks, the first monument at Stonehenge, was built. Stonehenge’s new visitor centre opens on December 18 in time for the winter solstice, hoping to provide an improved experience for the million tourists that flock annually to Britain’s most famous prehistoric monument. According to a newly published review of decades of archaeological research, humans worldwide have been using psychoactive substances like opium, alcohol and “magic mushrooms” since prehistoric times. Now that’s a trip. Elisa Guerra-Doce, an associate professor of prehistory at the University of Valladolid in Spain and the author of the review, told the Huffington Post in an email. Since there are no written records to provide evidence for drug use thousands of years ago, scientists look at ancient remains like the fossils of psychoactive plants, the residues of alcohol and other psychoactive chemicals, and prehistoric drawings to get a sense of how drugs were used. The review touches on key examples of prehistoric drug use, including the following: The earliest alcoholic drink dates back to 7, , B. Residues of the drink were found in pottery shards from the ancient village of Jiahu, in China’s Henan Province. The drink consisted of a mixture of rice, honey, and fermented grapes or other fruit. In Photos: Prehistoric Temple Uncovered in Ukraine Now a study of the maternal genes of skeletal and mummified remains of 92 South Americans dating from 8, to years ago shows that all those lineages were wiped out. No living person descended from any the individuals tested is known to be living today. It is unknown how many people lived in the Americas when Columbus and the other conquistadors arrived. Estimates range from 1 million to million. A temple dating back about 6, years has been discovered within a massive prehistoric settlement in Ukraine. Inside the temple, archaeologists found humanlike figurines, sacrificed animal. Kryzstof Grzymski , about 70 miles south of Dongola along the Nile valley in North Sudan, has uncovered hundreds of Paleolithic axes dating to 70, years ago. Rock picture of a Rhnoceros. Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile. It is not clear how the environment in Sudan had evolved in such distant times. Yet, probably between 50, and 25, years ago, the hand axes had vanished, and were replaced by new types of chipped stone tools. These new stone implements varied from one place to the other suggesting the presence of competing communities and tribal groups. Female Figurine from el-Kadada. There, forensic anthropology helped unravel how deceased individuals were killed. Dizionari di lingua online Print this page Introduction The British Isles are really one huge cemetery. Think how many generations have lived, died and been buried over the time that our islands have been permanently inhabited. Many of these people lie in places that we can recognise, in churchyards and cemeteries, or under prehistoric burial mounds, but many more lie unrecognised, in places that were special to those who buried them, but have now faded from memory. But prehistoric remains have always been the most difficult to interpret, precisely because there are no written records to aid in the task. Now, with exact dating techniques at his disposal, the prehistorian is becoming more like the historical archaeologist and is concerned with the periodization and the historical contexts of his finds. Twitter Radiocarbon dating of a prehistoric archeological site in Florida suggests that 14, years ago, hunter-gatherers, possibly accompanied by dogs, butchered or scavenged a mastodon next to a small pond. Additionally, the artifacts at Page-Ladson highlight that much of the earliest record of human habitation of the American Southeast lies submerged and buried in unique depositional settings like those found along the Aucilla River, which passes through Florida on its way to the Gulf of Mexico. This record can only be accessed through underwater investigation, which, if undertaken with precision and care, should reveal a rich and abundant pre-Clovis record for the American Southeast, the authors say. So how did they live? This has opened up a whole new line of inquiry for us as scientists as we try to understand the settlement of the Americas. The site was named after Buddy Page, a diver who first brought the site to the attention of archaeologists in the s, and the Ladson family, which owns the property. In the s and s, researchers James Dunbar and David Webb investigated the site and retrieved several stone tools and a mastodon tusk with cut marks from a tool in a layer more than 14, years old. However, the findings received little attention because they were considered too old to be real and questionable because they were found underwater. Waters and Halligan, who is a diver, had maintained an interest in the site and believed that it was worth another look. Working in near-zero-visibility waters in the murky Aucilla River between and , divers, including Dunbar, excavated stone tools and bones of extinct animals. They found a biface—a knife with sharp edges on both sides that is used for cutting and butchering animals—as well as other tools.

This example shows how to create a chart using the bottom and left sides of the axes for the first plot and the top and right sides for the second plot. Plot a red line using the line function. Set the color for the x-axis and y-axis lines to red. Use dot notation to set properties. figure x1 = 0:0.1:40; y1 = 4.*cos(x1)./(x1+2); line(x1,y1,'Color','r') ax1 = gca; % current axes ax1.XColor = 'r'; ax1.YColor = 'r'; Create a second axes in the same location as the first axes by setting the position of the second axes equal to the position of the first axes. Display the x-axis at the top of the axes and the y-axis on the right side. Set the axes 'none' so that the first axes is visible underneath the second axes. Use dot notation to query properties. ax1_pos = ax1.Position; % position of first axes ax2 = axes('Position',ax1_pos,... 'XAxisLocation','top',... 'YAxisLocation','right',... 'Color','none'); Plot a line in the second axes. Set the line color to black so that it matches the color of the corresponding x-axis and y-axis. x2 = 1:0.2:20; y2 = x2.^2./x2.^3; line(x2,y2,'Parent',ax2,'Color','k') The chart contains two lines that correspond to different axes. The red line corresponds to the red axes. The black line corresponds to the black axes.

Cultural responsiveness is the ability to learn from, relate respectfully to, effectively adapt to, and serve all peoples and cultures. Let us be clear. The systems and institutions designed to serve the public are not culturally responsive. That failure causes additional, unnecessary harm and illness to people and cultures not fully represented in the leadership of these systems and institutions. Even when individuals who identify with underserved communities serve in a single leadership position, their relative isolation within leadership structures creates an unsustainable imbalance, but not a paradigm shift. The need for this opening, this shift, is more urgent than ever as we navigate the new reality. To protect the lives of people of color in front-line roles during this pandemic, we must move to hold these institutions and systems accountable to address the unique and critical needs of these same people not represented in their leadership ranks. Communities of color hold the same value as white communities and are entitled to the same rights, supports, services and protections provided by these public institutions and systems. Building culturally responsive frameworks within these systems and institutions takes operationalizing equity through clarity, intentionality, understanding, and respect of these cultures and recognizing the assets and values in every community. In what workplaces and industries are people getting the virus? How do we best support them to protect themselves in areas of higher risk? How do we ensure the burden to require protective equipment be worn be placed on institutions that have true authority, responsibility, and highest impact? Where do people gather? To whom do they listen and trust? What are the best strategies for successful outreach and connection? What do these strategies and tactics look like? Who are the members of these communities who are skilled in designing and delivering them? Who participates in the decision-making process of these efforts? Unless these answers are sought from these communities themselves, our institutions will continue to fail the people they claim to be attempting to serve. Let me tell you right now —most English-speaking white people cannot answer these questions without the true partnership and recognized leadership of members of these communities themselves. Equity through culturally responsive actions must include the perspective, expertise, and collective knowledge of the communities most severely impacted by the lack thereof. These same institutions have created a false dichotomy between reopening the economy and protecting low-income communities of color as they continue to serve on the front lines of this emergency effort. Reopening the economy will not ensure that low wage workers can pay their rent and put food on their tables. Reopening the economy with no equity lens firmly placed on the thoughtful policymaking required at this critical moment will do one thing only: create more illness, pain, suffering, and hasten the imposition of additional restrictive measures. It is false that we are serving our community by posting guidelines on a website. It is false that we are protecting our health care workers by allowing each employer to decide how it will ensure profits over the health of all workers on the front lines. It is false that public health is an individual’s responsibility. It is false that our policy makers are benevolent by allowing the wine and restaurant workers to go back to work. It is false that communities of color are getting sick solely because they live together, and it is most certainly false that all we require is education for these communities. These are all false. The truth is that we are continuing to reinforce racism with every single one of these actions. The economy must reopen. We must continue to live safely, run our businesses and do our work. AND before we do that, we must ensure that the people on whose backs millions of dollars of profits are made, are protected. Health care workers, farm workers, restaurant workers, store workers, child care workers, cleaning services workers, domestic workers, students, teachers, parents –they are all entitled to safe working conditions, and until we have planned for that and ensured such, we cannot attest to the fact that we are ready to continue forward in the reopening process. We now know that Latinx folks are 4.5 times more likely to contract the virus. We now know that our brown children account for 95 percent of the 0-17 population who have contracted the virus. This knowledge should allow us to truly see the clear and deeply disturbing outcomes of the inequities within these institutions and systems. Now, we must focus on developing clear and thorough plans that commit to immediate culturally responsive policymaking and service provision. These include: ☐ We must create clarity and enforcement around Protective Personal Equipment (PPE) and worker-to-worker physical distancing requirements for all employers. ☐ We must have sufficient testing and screening capacity for all front-line workers, including specific strategies for reaching and serving non-English speaking workers. ☐ We must sensitively gather and publish demographic information about people who have tested positive for COVID-19, including job industry, type of position, zip code (SF has done this). This will help with identifying types of need and resources required to support vulnerable populations. ☐ We must provide culturally responsive and sensitive isolation support. People need to feel safe. Dominant culture design is not adequate to properly serve underserved communities. ☐ We must commit to design responsive actions in a culturally conscious approach based on demographic data collected. ☐ We must have increased communication with and action on feedback from the Latinx and indigenous communities’ leaders. This includes having shared language. ☐ We must advocate at the state and federal level in support of communities of color. The county alone cannot provide appropriate support to these communities. Local leaders need to stand in their power and advocate for these communities just as they have for homeowners through the devastating fires. ☐ We must direct the sheriff and police departments to equally police violators of health orders of all races (i.e. not just unmasked individuals but employers who are violating PPE requirements) – especially in light of our numbers, a logical reaction is to focus on policing sick people instead of going to the root of why people are getting sick – that is a perfect equity problem. Policing sick Latinx and indigenous individuals will actually be detrimental to their health and public health, AND that is not the root cause of the issue. ☐ We must assist small business to access cleaning supplies, PPE, hand sanitizer, and plexiglass. ☐ We must provide and/or advocate and collaborate to create zero interest loans for small businesses to safely modify operations with a focus on Latina and women of color-owned businesses – these entrepreneurs are the drivers of economic growth and the solution to our recovery. Adapted from the National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems definition. Ana Lugo is founder of Equity First Consulting, a firm dedicated to creating social change through design and implementation of meaningful community engagement, strategy building, leadership development, and program redesign to achieve equity and belonging.

IDEOLOGY. Klas Lund writes about stopping the retreating Nords and making them get back into the trenches. As every officer knows, you need more than clever arguments to prevent a group of soldiers from deserting the battlefield. To make Swedish men stand up and fight for their people, we will need a whole lot more than just convincing arguments. In some cases, we will probably have to make examples of the weakest and most cowardly. Apart from using the “stick and carrot” approach, the organization tasked with stopping the retreat must be equipped with a strong voice and imposing physical strength. Imagine that we are at war, deployed near the front, an area scarred with craters and bunkers, barbed wire and gutted military vehicles. Something has happened here, panicked Swedish soldiers are fleeing in disarray, away from their trenches towards some imaginary safety. No one wants to stay in the rain of bullets, no one wants to be ripped to shreds by bombshells. Hardly anyone dares stay in their trenches – those who remain cannot offer any meaningful resistance. The army is in full retreat, the enemy winning ever more territory. All authority is gone, only the enemy seems to have a set plan executed by single-minded and skillful leaders. On our side, all organization has collapsed – some divisions continue the battle by themselves but are only a nuisance to the enemy and cannot stall his advance whatsoever. This is the situation we are in. Swedish men are fleeing in disarray. The enemy has the initiative, he can choose the time and place for every decisive battle. Our enemies are accomplished in psychological warfare, they are highly skilled when it comes to demoralizing our men who should be fighting at the front, as well as the rest of the population. The enemy’s agents divide and conquer by stirring class and gender struggle, they try to divert the people’s attention from the battle at hand to more trivial and “comfortable” illusions. His agents spread all kinds of drugs among the people to weaken it even further. Through his agents, he spreads false, subversive ideas, he supports all kinds of superstition and misunderstandings. The enemy tells us that Sweden belongs to everybody, and that as long as we cease our resistance and surrender our evil prejudices and suspicions, everything will be fine, everyone will live at peace with each other in a pleasant, utopian democracy. He also tells us that the occupation is already an unchangeable fact – the aliens are here to stay – “we all have to get accustomed to it” – “Swedes must learn to live and accept the new, foreign society”. Those who resist are depicted as evil “nazis”, “racists” and “criminals”. Organized religion is mobilized by our enemies to become a trojan horse, eroding the people’s sense of fellowship and community from within. Priests and bishops actively take a stand for the aliens, proclaiming that those who resist them are “evil”. Parliament is full of spineless snakes who grovel for their new, foreign masters. The aliens rape Swedish women by the hundreds, Swedish youngsters are stabbed on the streets of the major cities. The elderly are robbed and assaulted in cities as well as on the countryside. Our ancestors and our culture are mocked. All kinds of sick phenomena are aided by enemy propaganda. Both people and nature are exploited; everything noble and honorable is trampled in the mud. Victory is all that matters The retreat has to be stopped. Resuming the battle is imperative. The fleeing men must be made to return to the trenches. The only question is how to make this happen. I have seen officers and soldiers, who have themselves been victims of enemy disinformation, trying to stop the flight of the Swedish people using arguments and fine words. This has always failed. I have seen small groups of Swedish men who have tried to combat the enemy, I have seen them fight with bad tactics without any greater, overarching strategy. I have seen some men fight simply for the sake of fighting, without a second thought as to what the consequences will be for them; real idealists who are ready to sacrifice themselves for their people. In the heat of the battle, we often forget that the overarching aim must be to achieve victory. Everything else has to be subordinate to this. Our strategy and tactics must be adapted to the conditions of the battle field. The enemy often spreads disinformation concerning our methods. He wants to stop us from using effective tactics at all costs. You can be sure that he has agents among us, “officers” who point their soldiers in the wrong direction, “soldiers” who spread mean rumors, and others who sabotage our efforts in various ways. The methods are many – and so far, they have been successful. As every officer knows, or should know, it makes no sense to try to stop your men from fleeing using a soft voice, nor using clever arguments to try to convince them to return to the trenches. No – rational and civilized arguments will only make them run past you. Most Swedes have been under the influence of the enemy’s destructive propaganda since they were children. Immature and disloyal, they believe that the only sensible thing is to move as far away from the sound of battle as possible. With most of them, this egoistic side to their personality now unfortunately controls their actions. Some flee because they are cowards, others because they are confused, but most of them flee simply because “everyone else is doing it”. The fact is that most Swedish men, though they would not admit it in public, do support our cause. But they are demoralized, they lack leadership, they think the enemy has all the authority, that fighting is futile. No one has succeeded in putting their feelings into words, arguments and action. Yes, it’s true that a few low-lives have changed sides and are more or less working actively for the enemy. But these are the lowest and worst elements of the people – they are filthy rats who sided with the enemy either for personal gain, or because they are severely confused or simply mad. These rats can seem to be “better” and greater in number than they actually are, because the enemy constantly depicts them as “role models”, “leaders” and “celebrities” in his propaganda. Everyone can see them on TV each day, made-up and directed like puppets in a glittering yet hideous and tragic display. Swedes have allowed themselves to be cradled into a sleep-like condition, forgetting that the reason why wars and colonizations happen has always been a people’s need for more territory and resources, when their natural habitat has been exhausted. Cowardice should be punished It’s all well and good to appeal to the noble side in your troops. The brutal truth, however, is that the soldiers must be kicked all the way back to their trenches, while they are being told that cowardice is the worst thing imaginable and that the struggle for our people’s survival is all-important. Officers need to bark and threaten, urge and appeal. Some of them need to set good examples – but only after they’ve won the trust of their men. A few deserters must be shot or otherwise severely punished, not because it is the “right thing to do” but because examples need to be made in order for the others to understand that cowardice can be just as costly as courage. A hard core To achieve this, a band of hardcore and realistic officers and soldiers needs to be formed at some point during the retreat, people who in turn use carrot and stick to make a growing number of Swedish men join the ranks. But for this we need discipline, ruthlessness and authority built on strength.