A genome-wide signature of glucocorticoid receptor binding in neuronal PC12 cells
PolmanEJ Anneliesjpolman@lacdr.leidenuniv.nl WeltenEJenniferjenniferwelten@hotmail.com BoschSDannydanny_bosch@msn.com de JongeTRobertrtdejonge@gmail.com BalogJuditJ.Balog@lumc.nl van der MaarelMSilvèreS.M.Maarel@lumc.nl de KloetRonaldEe.kloet@lacdr.leidenuniv.nl DatsonANicoleN.A.Datson@lumc.nl\n\nDivision of Medical Pharmacology, Leiden/Amsterdam Center for Drug Research, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, 2333 CC, the Netherlands\n\nDepartment of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, 2333 ZC, the Netherlands\n\nBMC Neuroscience\nCellular and molecular mechanisms
\n1471-2202 2012 13 1 118 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2202/13/118 10.1186/1471-2202-13-11823031785\n107201224920123102012 2012Polman et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Glucocorticoid receptor Neuronal context Glucocorticoid response element PC12 cells ChIP-Seq\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscriptional regulation by GR is complex and several molecular mechanisms have been described involving both homodimers and monomers of GR. Direct binding of GR dimers to Glucocorticoid Response Elements (GREs) in the vicinity of target genes, a process known as transactivation, is the classical mode of action which generally results in a potentiation of transcription 5 . However, GR also exhibits extensive crosstalk with other transcription factors (TFs), and besides simple GREs composite sites exist that contain a binding site for another TF in close proximity to the GRE, resulting in either a synergistic activation or a repression of transcription 6 7 . Furthermore, GR monomers can also exert effects on gene transcription by indirectly binding to the DNA via an intermediate DNA-bound TF in so called tethering response elements 8 , mostly resulting in a repression of transcription of the associated gene, a process referred to as transrepression. This extensive crosstalk of GR with other TFs not only vastly expands the range of GR-control on physiological processes compared to the classical GRE-driven transcriptional control in simple GREs, but it also underlies the highly context-dependent action of GCs.\n\nSeveral TFs have been described that participate in this crosstalk with GR, including Oct1, Ets1, AP-1 and CREB at composite GREs and NF-κB, AP-1, CREB, Oct-1/2, STAT6, SMAD3,4 and PU.1/Spi-1 at tethering sites 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 . However, most of these crosstalk partners of GR have been identified in studies on the immunosuppressive and the tumor suppressor properties of GR 17 18 19 , while very little is known about crosstalk partners in a neuronal context.\n\nIn neuronal cells GR regulates the expression of a wide diversity of genes involved in general cellular processes such as energy metabolism, cell cycle and response to oxidative stress, but also clearly is involved in regulating a wide variety of genes important for neuronal structure and plasticity 20 . Despite the fact that many neuronal GC-responsive genes have been identified 21 22 23 , it remains unclear whether these genes are primary or downstream targets of GR. The onset of high-throughput sequencing combined with chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP-Seq) has made it possible to characterize genome-wide binding sites of TFs and today several studies have used this approach to identify global primary GR-targets in a variety of cell types, including human lung carcinoma cells (A549), mouse adipocytes (3T3-L1), premalignant breast epithelial cells (MCF10A-Myc), murine mammary epithelial cells (3134) and pituitary (AtT-20) cells 24 25 26 27 . These studies have yielded an unprecedented insight into genome wide GR targets as well as molecular mechanisms of GR-signaling, but perhaps one of the most striking findings is the low degree of overlap in GR binding sites when comparing different cell types, indicating that GR occupancy is highly cell type specific 25 . Therefore, in order to gain insight into global GR primary target in neurons, it is essential to characterize GR binding in a neuronal context. So far no studies have taken a ChiP-Seq approach to characterize GR-binding in a neuronal context.\n\nThe aim of the current study was to analyze genome-wide GR-binding sites (GBS) in rat neuronal PC12 cells using ChIP-Seq. The PC12 cell line is derived from a pheochromocytoma of the rat adrenal medulla and can be differentiated into a neuronal phenotype by stimulation with nerve growth factor 28 . NGF- treated PC12 cells stop dividing, develop neurites, display electrical activity and develop many other properties similar to those of sympathetic neurons 28 29 . They are considered a useful model system for neurosecretion and neuronal differentiation 30 and have been extensively used to study neuronal function in relation to GCs 31 32 33 . In this study, besides identifying the binding sites of GR in neuronal PC12 cells, we analysed which genes were located in the vicinity of the binding sites, which gene ontology classes were overrepresented, whether GR-binding resulted in regulation of gene expression of nearby genes and the motif composition of the binding sites.\n\n\nIdentification and genomic distribution of GR binding sites in PC12 cells\n\n\nFigure 1
\n\n\n\nFigure 2
\n\nGenomic distribution of GBS relative to nearby genes\n\n\n\nAdditional file 1
\n\nTable S1. list of all 1183 GBS.\n\nClick here fo file\n\nTable 1
\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNearest TS (bp)\n\nGene symbol\n\nGene description\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ndopa decarboxylase\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNEDD4 binding protein 2-like 2\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nfilamin A interacting protein 1\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nprotein tyrosine phosphate, non-receptor type 1\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nparvin, alpha\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ncell division cycle 2-like 6(CDK8-like)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFERM domain containing 8\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nperiod homolog 1\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ncytochrome b-561\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nArfGAP with FG repeats 1\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nsorting nexin 7\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCohen syndrome homolog 1\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nC10q and tumor necrosis factor related protein 1\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ninterlukin 20 receptor, alpha\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\namiloride-sensitive cation channel 1, neuronal\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ncytochrome P450, subfamily 51\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ntyrosine hydroxylase\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\npa-6 (partitioning defective 6) homolog beta\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nphosphatidic acid phosphatase type 2 domain containing 3\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nsignal recognition particle 9\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ncytoplasmic polyadenylation element binding protein 4\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nchromo domain helicase DNA binding protein 2\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ndiscs, large homolog 2\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEwing tumor-associated antigen 1; similar to ETAA16 protein\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nchromogranin B\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nheart and neural crest derivatives expressed 2\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nH2.0-like homeobox\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nzinc finger protein 36\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSH3-domain GRB2-like endophilin B1\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nzinc finger protein 90\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ncoagulation factor III (thromboplastin, tissue factor)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nrabphilin 3A-like (without C2 domains)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ntyrosine hydroxylase\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSNF related kinase\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\naminopeptidase O\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ncoiled-coil domain containing 99\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ndiscoid in domain receptor tyrosine kinase 2\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPDZ and LIM domain 5\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nsyndecan 4\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nsolute carrier family 18 (vesicular monoamine), member 1\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nhypothetical protein LOC688105; LOC360590\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n5’-nucleotidase domain containing 2\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nsolute carrier family 18 (vesicular monoamine), member 1\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRAB11a, member RAS oncogene family\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nsortilin-related receptor, LDLR class A repeats-containing\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nchemokine (C-X3-C motif) receptor 1\n\nTop 50 of significance GR-binding sites\n\nReliability of ChIP-Seq data\n\n\nFigure 3
\n\nValidation of GR binding sites and effects on mRNA expression\n\n\nGR-binding sites and regulation of nearby genes\n\n\nOverlap with GR-binding sites in other tissues is limited\n\n\nFigure 4
\n\n\nVenn diagram representing overlap between GR-targets in different ChIP-Seq studies. The overlap of GBS identified in PC12 cells is compared to those genomic regions bound by GR in two other ChIP-Seq studies in human lung carcinoma cells (A549) 26 and mouse adipocytes (3T3-L1) 27.\n\nPC12-specific GBS are located nearby genes with a neuronal function\n\n\nTable 2
\n\nNeuronal PC212 unique GBS\n\nGO Term\n\n\nEnrichment score\n\n\n\nneuron development\n\n\n\n\ncytoplasmic vesicle\n\n\n\n\nneuron projection\n\n\n\n\nmetal ion binding\n\n\n\n\nblood vessel development\n\n\n\n\ncell motion\n\n\n\n\nidentical protein binding\n\n\n\n\nbiogenic amine biosynthetic process\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nprotein tyrosine kinase activity\n\n\n\n\n\nAdditional file 2
\n\nTable S2. GO PC12 unique GBS.\n\nClick here fo file\n\nGR binding sites represent both transactivation and transrepression modes of action\n\n\nFigure 5
\n\nSignificance of GR-binding sites with and without a GRE\n\n\n\nFigure 6
\n\nMEME de novo motif discovery within GBS\n\n\n\nFigure 7
\n\nThe most frequent motif-combinations within the GBS\n\n\nDifferent biological processes are regulated via transactivtion and transrepressive modes of action\n\n\nAdditional file 3
\n\nTable S3. GO GBS with and without GRE.\n\nClick here fo file\n\nTable 3
\n\nGBS with GRE\n\nGBS without GRE\n\nGO Term\n\n\nEnrichment score\n\nGO Term\n\n\nEnrichment score\n\n\n\ncell motion\n\n\n\nneuron projection morphogenesis.\n\n\n\n\nprotein kinase binding\n\n\n\ncytoplasmic vesicle\n\n\n\n\nvasculature development\n\n\n\nmetal ion binding\n\n\n\n\nprotein dimerization activity\n\n\n\nphospholipid binding\n\n\n\n\nmetal ion binding\n\n\n\ncatecholamine biosynthetic process\n\n\n\n\nregulation of apoptosis\n\n\n\nprotein complex assembly\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nmuscle cell development\n\n\n\n\nregulation of myeloid cell differentiation\n\n\n\nneuron projection regeneration\n\n\n\n\ncell adhesion\n\n\n\nactin filament binding\n\n\n\n\ncytoplasmic vesicle\n\n\n\nsynaptic transmission\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nReliability of ChIP-Seq data\n\n\nGenomic binding sites of GR by far exceed GR-responsive genes\n\n\n\n\nGenomic location of GBS\n\n\n\n\nTissue-specificity of GR-binding reveals a neural signature\n\n\n\nPotential crosstalk partners of GR of relevance for neuronal function\n\nGR operates in conjunction with an extensive network of other TFs. Previous studies in a non-neuronal setting, e.g. involving the immune system, muscle and adipose tissue, have generated extensive knowledge on GR-binding to the genome, the motifs that are recognized by GR and the transrepression partners that it can inhibit by protein-protein interaction 19 40 41 42 . However, confirmation of this knowledge in a neuronal context is lacking.\n\n\n\nZfp281 is a GC-box binding transcription factor and is involved in the regulation of genes implicated in pluripotency of murine embryonic stem cells 54 55 . Recently, we identified GC-box associated motifs in flanking regions surrounding GREs of hippocampal CORT-responsive genes. The presence of a GC-box motif in close proximity to the GRE correlated with GR-binding in the hippocampus, but not in other non-neuronal cell types 56 . We hypothesized that GC-boxes may play a role in determining tissue specificity of GR binding to a defined group of GREs. The GC-box motif we identified in hippocampus resembled the binding motif of the MAZ TF which is in fact very similar to the Zfp281 motif identified in neuronal PC12 cells (Figure 6). According to Allen Brain Atlas 57 , both MAZ and Zfp281 are very highly expressed in the mouse brain, especially in the hippocampus. Either one might be a novel crosstalk partner of GR in a neuronal context.\n\nGabpa, also known as nuclear respiratory factor 2 alpha (NRF2a), is a DNA-binding unit of the GA binding protein transcription factor which is involved in the nuclear control of mitochondrial function in neurons 58 59 . Gabpa responds to an altered energy demand within primary neurons by altering the expression of mitochondrial genes 60 and has been implicated in neuronal viability after brain injury 61 . Prrx2 is a member of the paired family of homeobox proteins, and is mainly known for its essential role in orofacial development 62 . It was recently discovered to be a novel pituitary transcription factor 63 . Otherwise very little is known on this TF and it has not been linked to GR-signalling before.\n\nThe transcription factor GATA1 is known to play an essential role in hematopoiesis 64 . GR was reported to interfere with GATA-1 function and inhibits the expression of erythroid structural genes 65 . Zbtb3 was observed in over 80% of the GBS that did not contain a GRE and was encountered in all frequently observed combinations of TFs binding sites in tethering GBS. Zbtb3 belongs to a family of transcription factors, many of which are important for B and T cell differentiation. A recent modeling study indicated that Zbtb3 may be a remote homologue of the Drosophila GAGA factor which is involved in both gene activation and gene repression and plays a role in the modulation of chromatin structure 66 . Zbtb3 contains a BTB domain, which plays a role in protein dimerization and transcriptional repression and interacts with histone deacetylase corepressor complexes such as NCoR (nuclear receptor corepressor) and SMRT (silencing mediator of retinoic acid and thyroid hormone receptor) 67 68 69 . Relevance for the brain has not been indicated yet.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCell culture and harvest\n\n\n\n\n\nPeak calling and mapping\n\nThe single-end read sequences were aligned to the reference rat genome (RGSC v3.4) using the CLC genomics workbench 3.6.5 (Aarhus, Denmark), according to the default settings which allowed up to 1 mismatch per read or 2 unaligned nucleotides at the ends. Subsequently, DEX-induced peaks were detected using the CLC workbench peak finding algorithm in which the null distribution of background sequencing signal was set for both treatments at 1200 bp and the maximum false discovery rate at 5%. Further settings were left at default. Using Galaxy (http://main.g2.bx.psu.edu/) 37 70 71 , Refseq genes in the vicinity of the GBS were determined. As a reference genome Rattus Norvegicus 4 (rn4) was used. Data was visualized by uploading wiggle-files containing the raw ChIP-Seq data on the UCSC genome browser (http://genome.ucsc.edu).\n\nMotif search\n\nThe regions containing the GBS were trimmed to 200bp-width sequences and screened for de novo motifs using MEME 70 72 . The 500 most significant GBS were screened for motifs consisting of 8 to 40 nucleotides. The 15 most significant motifs were given as output. Using TOMTOM 73 , the identified motifs were compared against databases of known motifs.\n\nComparison of PC12 GBS with other datasets\n\nThe genomic regions identified in the PC12 cells were compared to two published datasets consisting of GR-bound genomic regions in human A549 cells 26 and in mouse adipocytes 27 . For this purpose, the significant regions of the published datasets were converted to rat equivalents using the Galaxy website (http://main.g2.bx.psu.edu/) under default conditions. Subsequently, these rat regions were compared to the PC12 GR-bound regions and overlap was calculated using Galaxy 37 71 .\n\nGene ontology analysis\n\nThe nearest genes surrounding the significant GBS were analysed with The Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) v6.7 (http://david.abcc.ncifcrf.gov/home.jsp). As a cutoff, the biological processes (BP) that had a Benjamini-Hochberg p-value <0.05 were considered to be significant. Clustering all the identified GO-terms according to their functional annotation was performed under medium classification stringency (standard setting at DAVID).\n\n\n\n\nAdditional file 4
\n\nTable S4. mRNA primer sequences.\n\nClick here fo file\n\nAdditional file 5
\n\nTable S5. ChIP primer sequences.\n\nClick here fo file\n\n\n\nAP-1: Activator Protein-1; ChIP-Seq: Chromatin immunoprecipitation combined with next generation sequencing; Ddc: Dopamine decarboxylase; DEX: Dexamethasone; Gabpa: GA binding protein transcription factor, alpha subunit; GATA1: GATA binding protein 1; GBS: Glucocorticoid receptor binding sites; GC: Glucocorticoid; GR: Glucocorticoid Receptor; GRE: Glucocorticoid Response Element; Kcnab1: Voltage-gated potassium channel subunit beta-1; MB: Myoglobin 2; MT2a: Metallothionein 2A; Narg2: NMDA receptor-regulated gene 2; NCoR: Nuclear receptor corepressor; Nfasc: Neurofascin; NRF2a: Nuclear respiratory factor 2 alpha; Per1: Period circadian protein homolog 1; PMSF: Phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride solution; Prrx2: Paired related homeobox 2; SEM: Standard error of the mean; SMRT: Silencing Mediator of retinoic acid and thyroid hormone receptor; TF: Transcription Factor; TH: Tyrosine Hydroxylase gene; TSS: Transcription Start Site; VEH: Vehicle Treatment; ZBTB3: Zinc finger and BTB (bric-a-bric, tramtrack, broad complex)-domain- containing 3; Zfp281: Zinc finger protein 281.\n\nCompeting interests\n\nThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.\n\nAuthors' contributions\n\nRTdJ was involved in the bioinformatical analysis of the data. JB and DSB were involved in the ChIP procedure. JEW helped with the validation of the ChIP-Seq data. JAEP carried out the cell culture, the ChIP, the experimental validation of the data, performed the data analysis and helped to draft the manuscript. SMvdM and ErdK critically revised the manuscript. NAD conceived and designed the experiments, coordinated the study, was involved in data interpretation and drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.\n\n\n\n\nGlucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptor mRNA expression in rat brain
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BroseKBlandKSWangKHArnottDHenzelWGoodmanCSTessier-LavigneMKiddTCell19999679580610.1016/S0092-8674(00)80590-510102268Potassium channels: newly found players in synaptic plasticity
KimJHoffmanDANeuroscientist200814276286266504718413784Synaptotagmin I functions as a calcium regulator of release probability
Fernandez-ChaconRKonigstorferAGerberSHGarciaJMatosMFStevensCFBroseNRizoJRosenmundCSudhofTCNature2001410414910.1038/3506500411242035Genome-wide analysis of STAT3 binding in vivo predicts effectors of the anti-inflammatory response in macrophages
HutchinsAPPoulainSMiranda-SaavedraDBlood2012119e110e11910.1182/blood-2011-09-38148322323479Transcriptional interference between c-Jun and the glucocorticoid receptor: mutual inhibition of DNA binding due to direct protein-protein interaction
Yang-YenHFChambardJCSunYLSmealTSchmidtTJDrouinJKarinMCell1990621205121510.1016/0092-8674(90)90396-V2169352Transcription factor AP1 potentiates chromatin accessibility and glucocorticoid receptor binding
BiddieSCJohnSSaboPJThurmanREJohnsonTASchiltzRLMirandaTBSungMHTrumpSLightmanSLVinsonCStamatoyannopoulosJAHagerGLMol Cell20114314515510.1016/j.molcel.2011.06.016313812021726817A protein interaction network for pluripotency of embryonic stem cells
WangJRaoSChuJShenXLevasseurDNTheunissenTWOrkinSHNature200644436436810.1038/nature0528417093407The transcription factor Zfp281 controls embryonic stem cell pluripotency by direct activation and repression of target genes
WangZXTehCHChanCMChuCRossbachMKunarsoGAllapitchayTBWongKYStantonLWStem Cells2008262791279910.1634/stemcells.2008-044318757296Specific regulatory motifs predict glucocorticoid responsiveness of hippocampal gene expression
DatsonNAPolmanJAde JongeRTvan BoheemenPTvan MaanenEMWeltenJMcEwenBSMeilandHCMeijerOCEndocrinology20111523749375710.1210/en.2011-028721846803Genome-wide atlas of gene expression in the adult mouse brain
LeinESHawrylyczMJAoNAyresMBensingerABernardABoeAFBoguskiMSBrockwayKSByrnesEJNature200744516817610.1038/nature0545317151600Nuclear respiratory factor 2 induces the expression of many but not all human proteins acting in mitochondrial DNA transcription and replication
BruniFPolosaPLGadaletaMNCantatorePRobertiMJ Biol Chem20102853939394810.1074/jbc.M109.044305282353619951946Is nuclear respiratory factor 2 a master transcriptional coordinator for all ten nuclear-encoded cytochrome c oxidase subunits in neurons?
OngwijitwatSWong-RileyMTGene2005360657710.1016/j.gene.2005.06.01516126350Nuclear respiratory factor 2 senses changing cellular energy demands and its silencing down-regulates cytochrome oxidase and other target gene mRNAs
OngwijitwatSLiangHLGraboyesEMWong-RileyMTGene2006374394916516409Oxygen-induced mitochondrial biogenesis in the rat hippocampus
GutsaevaDRSulimanHBCarrawayMSDemchenkoITPiantadosiCANeuroscience200613749350410.1016/j.neuroscience.2005.07.06116298077Prx1 and Prx2 cooperatively regulate the morphogenesis of the medial region of the mandibular process
BalicAAdamsDMinaMDev Dyn20092382599261310.1002/dvdy.22092280606019777594Molecular cloning of paired related homeobox 2 (prx2) as a novel pituitary transcription factor
SusaTIshikawaAKatoTNakayamaMKatoYJ Reprod Dev20095550251110.1262/jrd.2025619550106GATA1 function, a paradigm for transcription factors in hematopoiesis
FerreiraROhnedaKYamamotoMPhilipsenSMol Cell Biol2005251215122710.1128/MCB.25.4.1215-1227.200554802115684376Inhibition of mouse GATA-1 function by the glucocorticoid receptor: possible mechanism of steroid inhibition of erythroleukemia cell differentiation
ChangTJScherBMWaxmanSScherWMol Endocrinol1993752854210.1210/me.7.4.5288502237Remote homologue identification of Drosophila GAGA factor in mouse
KumarSBioinformation20117293210.6026/97320630007029316392921904435The POZ domain: a conserved protein-protein interaction motif
BardwellVJTreismanRGenes Dev199481664167710.1101/gad.8.14.16647958847The LAZ3/BCL6 oncogene encodes a sequence-specific transcriptional inhibitor: a novel function for the BTB/POZ domain as an autonomous repressing domain
DeweindtCAlbagliOBernardinFDhordainPQuiefSLantoineDKerckaertJPLeprinceDCell Growth Differ19956149515039019154The BCL-6 POZ domain and other POZ domains interact with the co-repressors N-CoR and SMRT
HuynhKDBardwellVJOncogene1998172473248410.1038/sj.onc.12021979824158Protocol for the fast chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) method
NelsonJDDenisenkoOBomsztykKNat Protoc2006117918510.1038/nprot.2006.2717406230Galaxy: a web-based genome analysis tool for experimentalists
BlankenbergDVonKGCoraorNAnandaGLazarusRManganMNekrutenkoATaylorJCurr Protoc Mol Biol20101910121Chapter 19.10.1-21:UnitFitting a mixture model by expectation maximization to discover motifs in biopolymers
BaileyTLElkanCProc Int Conf Intell Syst Mol Biol1994228367584402Quantifying similarity between motifs
GuptaSStamatoyannopoulosJABaileyTLNobleWSGenome Biol20078R2410.1186/gb-2007-8-2-r24185241017324271Analysis of relative gene expression data using real-time quantitative PCR and the 2(−Delta Delta C(T)) Method
LivakKJSchmittgenTDMethods20012540240810.1006/meth.2001.126211846609", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8788883090019226} +{"content": "Australian Government coat of arms\n\nPrime Minister of Australia\n\nThe Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP\n\nCriminalising secret payments between employers and unions\n\n20 March 2017\n\nPrime Minister\n\nMinister for Employment\n\nThis week the Turnbull Government will introduce vital legislation banning secret payments between unions and employers.\n\nThe new laws will criminalise payments or other benefits passed between employers and unions that could have a corrupting influence.\n\nAny union leader who is willing to accept benefits from an employer is placing themselves in a highly compromising position.\n\nThe Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption found that such payments corrupt union officials and should be banned.\n\nPenalties will apply equally to employers and unions. The person offering or making the benefit will be subject to the same penalties as the person soliciting or receiving it.\n\n\n\n\nIf money changes hands between an employer and a union, both parties have an obligation to honestly disclose these payments to their employees and members.\n\nThese vital changes will deliver on three key recommendations of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.\n\nThe Turnbull Government is acting to ensure that employers and unions act in the best interests of their employees and members.\n\nBill Shorten and the Labor Party should now support this reform, to clean up the unfair, secretive, and often corrupt payments that have tainted Australian workplaces for decades.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6408584713935852} +{"content": "USIFLEX® Ductile Iron Pipe\n\nUSIFLEX Ductile Iron Pipe is designed to meet the unique requirements for underwater installations.\n- Bottle-tight, flexible joint without the use of bolts.\n- 350 psi for sizes 4\" - 12\" and 250 psi for sizes 14\" - 48\".\n- Maximum joint deflection of 15 degrees.\n\nProduct Downloads\n\n\n\n View PDF\n • USIFLEX® Ductile Iron Pipe 4\"-48\"\n\n USIFLEX® Pipe is a simple, rugged, bottle-tight flexible restrained joint without the use of bolts. USIFLEX Boltless Flexible Joint Pipe is ideally suited for underwater installations where the high cost of equipment and manpower emphasizes the importance of ease and speed of assembly. USIFLEX Pipe may also be used for other types of installations where an appreciable amount of joint deflection and a positive lock against joint separation is required.\n\n View PDF\n\nFAQs // USIFLEX® Ductile Iron Pipe\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNo. The asphaltic coating is applied to the outside of Ductile Iron pipe in accordance with ANSI/AWWA C151/A21.51 to minimize atmospheric oxidation for aesthetic reasons. If soils are determined to be corrosive when tested in accordance with Appendix A of ANSI/AWWA C105/A21.5, DIPRA and its member companies recommend that polyethylene encasement in accordance with the AWWA C105 standard be installed for corrosion protection.\n\nThe ANSI/AWWA C150/A21.50 procedure used for calculating truck loads on buried Ductile Iron pipe, which is based on the teachings of Spangler and others, employs the same methods used in ANSI A21.1, the older design standard for Cast Iron pipe. The approach for calculating truck loading is adequate at any depth of cover. However, depths of cover less than 2.5 feet are generally not recommended under roads and highways due to the possibility of high dynamic loading. When 2.5 feet or more of cover cannot be provided, the procedure in ANSI/AWWA C150/A21.50 can still be applied. However, if impact factors higher than 1.5, which is incorporated in the standard, are anticipated, then such impact factors should be employed. Further, in those shallow covers, maintenance of the road surface over the pipe may be more of a concern than serviceability of the pipe.\n\nThe procedure for installing gaskets is simple. However, a large part of the reliability of the seal depends on cleanliness of the joint at the time of installation. Considering the variety of conditions that may be encountered in transit or at the jobsite, it would not be possible to ensure joint cleanliness if the gaskets were pre-installed by the manufacturer. Pre-installation would also expose gaskets unnecessarily to ultraviolet exposure and even vandalism.\n\nFor mechanical joints, the gland should be slipped some distance back from the plain end of the pipe with the lip of the gland facing the bell. The inside diameter of the mechanical joint gasket is smaller than the outside diameter of the pipe. Brush the plain end of the pipe and the gasket with an approved pipe lubricant as supplied by the manufacturer. The gasket must then be stretched over the plain end of the pipe with the thinner side of the wedge facing the bell. The lubricant allows the gasket to slide more easily into the bell and become equalized as the gland compresses it to achieve a reliable seal.\n\nThe TYTON JOINT® and FIELD LOK 350® gaskets have a stiff rim called the heel bonded to a circular cross section called the bulb. After correct installation, the heel will fit into the first groove just inside the bell. The bulb will enter the bell first and will be compressed between the inside of the bell at the gasket seat and the outside of the pipe to achieve a seal. The gasket diameter is larger than the bell opening, so a technique must be followed to allow the gasket to be properly fitted inside the bell.\n\nFor smaller pipe, up to about 20”, draw a loop of the gasket towards its center forming somewhat of a heart shape. While holding the loop with one hand, start fitting the gasket heel into the groove of the bell with the other. Gradually release the loop while pressing the gasket evenly into position around the inside circumference of the bell. It may be necessary to firmly seat the loop with the heel of the hand to ensure it is fully seated. \n\nAs pipe size increases, it will be necessary to use an increasing number of loops to facilitate gasket installation. In the largest sizes, it is not uncommon to have as many as eight loops, evenly spaced around the gasket. Regardless of pipe size, if the gasket has been properly installed, the leading edge of the rubber should be slightly below the smallest part of the bell opening all around the inside circumference. If any part of the gasket is sticking up, it must be worked until fully seated, or the gasket must be removed and re-installed.\n\nOnce the gasket is properly seated, continue with the assembly procedure to make up the joint.\n\nThe external trench load in ANSI/AWWA C150/A21.50 consists of earth load plus truck load. The earth load on pipe increases as the depth of cover increases; the truck load increases as the depth of cover decreases. Therefore, the maximum depth of cover normally is limited by the earth load and the minimum depth of cover is limited by the truck load. For lower pressure classes of pipe in sizes 14 inches and larger installed in a Type 1 trench, this band of allowable depth of cover is limited, or even non-existent. Also, for higher pressure classes of pipe in sizes 14 inches and greater, it would normally be more economical to specify a better trench and a lower pressure class of pipe than a higher pressure class of pipe and a Type 1 trench. Improved bedding is desirable, particularly in larger pipe sizes, to improve uniformity of axial support under the haunches.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9665531516075134} +{"content": "Learn More\nRheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis (SpA) are chronic diseases characterized by activation of the immune system and production of antibodies. Thus, rheumatoid factor, anti-animal IgG antibodies and heterophilic antibodies in plasma samples from arthritis patients can interfere with immunoassays such as sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(More)\nINTRODUCTION A key phenomenon in rheumatoid arthritis is the formation of lymphoid follicles in the inflamed synovial membrane. C-X-C motif chemokine 13 (CXCL13) is central in this process as it attracts C-X-C chemokine receptor type 5 (CXCR5)-expressing B cells and T follicular helper cells to the follicle. We here examine the role of CXCL13 and its(More)\nBACKGROUND In the search for valid biomarkers in inflammatory diseases, cytokine serum concentrations are often measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and correlated to disease activity. Interleukin-33 is a relatively newly described cytokine, which holds a promising potential as a biomarker for different diseases including atopic dermatitis.(More)\nBACKGROUND Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is often characterized by the presence of rheumatoid factor, anti-citrullinated protein antibodies, and bone erosions. Current therapies can compromise immunity, leading to risk of infection. The interleukin-20 receptor (IL-20R) axis comprising IL-19, IL-20, and IL-24 and their shared receptors activates tissue(More)\nSpondyloarthritis (SpA) is characterized by inflammation and new bone formation and can be treated by inhibition of the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-17A. IL-26 is considered a proinflammatory cytokine, predominantly related to Th17 cells. In the present study, we investigate IL-26 expression in SpA patients, and examine the in vitro production of(More)\nINTRODUCTION In rheumatoid arthritis (RA) immune activation and presence of autoantibodies may precede clinical onset of disease, and joint destruction can progress despite remission. However, the underlying temporal changes of such immune system abnormalities in the inflammatory response during treat-to-target strategies remain poorly understood. We have(More)\nINTRODUCTION OX40 and its ligand OX40L are key components in the generation of adaptive memory response and provide necessary co-stimulatory signals for activated effector T cells. Here we investigate the dual roles of the membrane and soluble (s) forms of OX40 and OX40L in plasma and synovial fluid and their association with autoantibodies and disease(More)\n • 1", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9961596727371216} +{"content": "\n\nFM (Frequency Modulation)\n\nFM (Frequency Modulation) Involves one frequency affecting another. FM can be applied as an effect or used as a form of synthesis (see below).\n\nThe frequency of an input or carrier sound is modulated by a second (modulator) sound. When the modulating frequency is low and the waveform is simple, such as a Sine WaveThe purest of sounds, looking like a sequence of hills and troughs, the sine wave (or sinusoid) creates the sound of a single frequency with no harmonics or interference.More infoSine Wave, the result is a vibrato. When the modulating frequency is higher, a more complex sound quality is generated.\n\nThis modulator usually sound has a frequency that is within the range of human hearing (20Hz – 20kHz). FM synthesis is able to easily create complex sound qualities.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.996472179889679} +{"content": "Contents Index\n\nJohn Turberville Needham\n\nJohn Turberville Needham, 1713-1781, English scientist and Catholic priest.\n\nNeedham's Observations upon the Generation, Composition, and Decomposition of Animal and Vegetable Substances (1748) offered what he considered to be proof of spontaneous generation. His claim that sealed flasks of broth produced animalcules even after the broth had been boiled suggested the microbes had developed from inanimate matter, although his experimental techniques were apparently faulty. Three years after this publication, Maupertuis challenged his findings in his Système de la nature.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000098943710327} +{"content": "FAQ – Personal Training, Coralville\n\nQ.Isn’t Personal Training for athletes or young, active people?\n\nA. Personal training is part of your Allied Healthcare Team. That means we help people in all phases of life achieve different fitness goals. In fact, it may be more important for older adults and those with health issues to hire a trainer to guide them through safe and effective exercises to maintain their quality of life, avoid medications, and reduce medical bills. Talk to your doctor about the advantages of working with a certified and competent trainer if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, or arthritis.\n\nQ.I already have a gym membership. What is the advantage of having a personal trainer?\n\nA. Many people with an interest in improving their fitness need help clarifying their goals or establishing a routine. Others benefit from the guidance of a leader with the skills to assure safety and effectiveness. And some people need to be accountable to someone in order to meet their daily/weekly/monthly goals. Even those who regularly workout on their own at a gym or at home can benefit from the knowledge and variety of exercise a professional trainer can offer.\n\nQ.What does it take to be a personal trainer and how do you determine your rates?\n\nA. The contact hours you spend with your personal trainer are just the beginning. NMF trainers maintain certification and this requires current CPR certification and continuing education in the form of workshops and examinations for renewed certification every two years. Our trainers must also purchase liability insurance. They spend hours developing your protocols, researching fitness and nutrition information, and managing records & communicating with clients. The NMF Studio is a leased facility, and we have taxes, equipment, maintenance, software, and website costs associated with our program.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9355272054672241} +{"content": "The Canadian Red Ensign\n\nThe Canadian Red Ensign\n\nSaturday, July 31, 2010\n\nAdvancement or Decline?\n\nEight years ago, historian and historical philosopher Dr. John Lukacs, in an article for The Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “It’s The End of the Modern Age” wrote:\n\nFor a long time, I have been convinced that we in the West are living near the end of an entire age, the age that began about 500 years ago.\n\nAfter a brief synopsis of the history of his thought on this matter he says that during the ten years prior to his writing:\n\nmy conviction hardened further, into an unquestioning belief not only that the entire age, and the civilization to which I have belonged, are passing but that we are living through — if not already beyond — its very end. I am writing about the so-called Modern Age.\n\nThis is a recurring theme in Dr. Lukacs’ writings and one which he has devoted entire books to. A Catholic and self-described reactionary who fled to the United States from his native Hungary shortly after the Communists took it over at the end of World War II, he has little sympathy for the ideas of progress, technology, and growth that many would see as the moving spirit of the Modern Age, but rather eulogizes the bourgeois values and civilization that were also associated with that Age.\n\nOthers, looking at the same phenomenon through very different lenses than those of Dr. Lukacs, have described it differently.\n\nNeoconservative Francis Fukuyama, in the late 1980’s wrote an essay entitled “The End of History” which was later expanded into a book. The thesis of this arrogant piece of liberal triumphalism was that it was not just an age that was ending, but all of history, because when liberal democracy becomes universal, mankind would have achieved the end which human development was advancing towards.\n\nThe grandfather of postmodernism, French socialist and literary theorist, Jean-François Lyotard saw the passing of modernity (not quite identical to what historian Lukacs calls “the Modern Age” but there is much overlap) as something to celebrate. To Lyotard, the end of modernity meant the end of the meta-narrative, his term for theories which purport to completely explain the world, which he argued post-modern man had grown to be skeptical of.\n\nWhile each of these views is quite different from the others they have in common the idea that the last century has been one of major societal transformation. Change has taken place and is taking place at an accelerated and perhaps accelerating rate. The question is: is this change good or bad?\n\nAs one who is naturally and proudly conservative by disposition, who rejects the Whig theory of history and favours Lord Falkland’s maxim “When it is not necessary to change it is necessary not to change” I am inclined to look at these revolutionary changes as being negative. Thus I find myself sympathizing with Dr. Lukacs’ perspective more than that of the other two. My temperament, however, is hardly evidence of the correctness of my judgment. Let us take a look then, at the question at hand..\n\nIs civilization in decline? The answer depends on how what we understand “civilization” to mean. Many understand “civilization” to refer to modern developments in technology and science and the accompanying changes in the political, economic, and moral arrangements of the societies in which these developments have taken place, viewed in opposition to earlier “primitive” versions of the same. This understanding of “civilization” virtually demands that contemporary society be always viewed as more advanced than past society. It is inseparable from the progressive viewpoint.\n\nThis is not the only way of understanding “civilization” however. Another way, and one which I would argue is superior, is to understand “civilization” to refer to the quality of a society marked by civility and civic virtue. Civility and civic virtue are related concepts which largely overlap. While some would reduce “civility” to “politeness” and “civic virtue” to “obedience to the state” this is a very misleading oversimplification. Civility and civic virtue are both aspects of an understanding of self as part of a greater whole, i.e., society. The good of the whole is greater than the good of the self and therefore the self has an obligation or duty to society as a whole. The cultivation of that duty is civic virtue. Civility is the aspect of civil virtue in which we behave properly towards other members of our society. This includes, but is hardly limited to, politeness.\n\nThe idea that society forms a whole which has as its end the highest good, to which all other goods are subordinate, is fundamental to the ethics and politics of both Plato and Aristotle. George P. Grant said that “Western society at its height has been” the uniting of Christianity and Plato. In the Christian West, especially the English-speaking part of it, the idea that the good of the whole is greater than the good of the self was balanced by the concept of the rights and freedoms of the individual. It was a delicate balance. Society requires that its individual members put the good of the society ahead of their own to the point of being willing to die for their society in war. Society’s survival depends upon this sense of duty and obligation. If, however, society does not recognize rights and freedoms on the part of the individual which it cannot take away at whim, government can use the concept of the greater good to justify abuses.\n\nThe collapse of civilization at the end of the Modern Age can be regarded as the ultimate fulfillment of the goals of the liberalism which was the spirit of the Modern Age. Liberalism was a form of individualism which upset the balance between the whole and the self, by defining society as a contractual construction existing to serve the sovereign individual. Throughout the Modern Age which saw the ascendancy of liberalism, Western societies continued to regard themselves as societies with a Christian core identity.\n\nSince World War II however, that has changed. Whereas non-Western societies have no problem continuing to identify themselves with their traditional faiths, Western societies now prefer to see themselves as having a secular identity, a post-Christian identity. Church attendance is in decline. Orthodoxy, which we will define as Scriptural doctrine as expressed in the early ecumenical creeds of the Christian Church – Apostolic, Nicene, Athanasian – is waning in the pulpit, as respect for Scriptural and ecclesiastical authority is waning in the pew.\n\nThe Christian Church will survive, of course. Jesus Christ promised that the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. The question is will the societies whose civilization was once shaped by Christianity survive now that liberalism has triumphed and they have rejected their Christian identity?\n\nThe sweeping changes we see all around us in the post-modern, post-Christian era, mark the triumph of the self over the whole. The rights which protected the individual from the abuse of power in traditional society have been transformed into selfish demands that power cater to every whim of the self. Culturally, we have seen the media of art advance technologically. To give one example, the technology of recorded music has advanced from phonographic record, to audio cassette, to CD, to electronic music files, each step being marked by better quality in terms of clarity and definition of the sound. Yet as the media has advanced, the message has declined. Which is more important, the medium or the message? Sensible people would say the latter, and the same period that saw these incredible technological advances saw the new technology being used to convey music which is increasingly vulgar, profane, pornographic, anti-social and violent in its character. Those who vocalize objections to these trends are told in response that these judgments are all subjective, that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and “who are you to judge”? What that really translates to is the assertion on the part of the self of its right and ability to define reality, including morality and aesthetics for itself.\n\nThis is also what we see in the post-WWII revolution in morality. The self has declared its own pleasure to be the highest good and declared entire categories of behavior that pertain to material pleasures to be off-limits to society and societal standards of what is right and what is wrong. The self will decide for itself what is right and what is wrong and society’s only role will be to affirm it in its decision. If the decisions of a couple of young selves (for we cannot call them a young man and a young woman – the self has reserved for itself the right to define what a “man” or a “woman” is for itself) results in a pregnancy, and the couple lacks either the ability or the desire to take upon themselves the duty of raising their child, society’s interest in preserving the sanctity of human life must take backseat to the interest of the self.\n\nThe advocates of this new empowerment of the self identify it with “freedom” but it is not freedom in any but the most superficial sense. The collapse of the cultural, moral, religious, and social core of a society creates a vacuum, and nature, as the old saw says, abhors a vacuum. The hole will be filled by political and economical control. The same decades that have seen the moral and cultural collapse described above, have also seen people’s ordinary, everyday lives become more and more subjected to bureaucratic administration and regulation, as well as the emergence of a new political and economical order carried out on an international rather than a national scale. The new “freedom” of the empowered self from cultural, moral, and religious restraint is only the opiate that blinds it to political and economic domination. Aldous Huxley saw it coming.\n\nPolitical and economic total control, the collapse of national identity into a new international order, and the collapse of society as a cultural, religious, and moral whole. A “brave new world” it may very well be. A civilization, it is not. This is definitely a period of decline.\n\nSunday, July 25, 2010\n\nThe Gospel Tradition\n\nOn this, the Lord’s Day, Christians are meeting together, as we do every week, to remember the death of our Lord and to celebrate His glorious resurrection. The Christian message, that the Savior Whom God had given His fallen world, had atoned for our sins in His death by crucifixion, and then was raised by God from the dead on the third day, was called the “euangellion”. In English this word is translated by “Gospel” or “good news”.\n\nThe choice of this term as the title of the Christian message invokes the language of the prophet Isaiah, who wrote:\n\n\nThe Gospel is indeed “good news” to repentant sinners in any day and age for it announces that God has provided salvation for sinners, mercy and forgiveness of sins, free and without cost, to all who will put their faith in the Savior Who is at the heart of the message. Since we, in the words of St. Paul, “have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23) and every day are in need of God’s forgiveness for our sins, the Gospel remains “good news” for us. As Arabella Katherine Hankey put it:\n\nI love to tell the story for those who know it best\nSeem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest\n\nThe Gospel is also a tradition. Some well-meaning Christians may cringe to hear that, misapplying Jesus’ warnings to the Pharisees about the misuse of tradition, but the Scripture itself declares it.\n\nSt. Paul, in the 15th chapter of his first epistle to the Church in Corinth, declares unto the Corinthians “the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.”\n\nHe writes:\n\n\nIn this passage St. Paul declares the Gospel he has been preaching – Christ’s death for our sins and His resurrection, both attested to by Scripture, and by visible evidence, His burial for His death, and a multitude of witnesses for His resurrection.\n\nNote however his introductory words “For I delivered unto you, first of all that which I also received”. This is the essence of a tradition. A tradition is something which we have because we have received it from others, and which we pass on to others. The English word tradition is derived from the Latin word trado, tradere, which means to surrender something unto others, to bequeath something, to hand something down to posterity. Tradition comes from the fourth principal part of this word – traditum, the stem on which the perfect, passive participle is built – thus: that which has been handed over, that which has been surrendered.\n\nIn St. Paul’s day, the Gospel he was preaching was being passed on to others by people who were contemporaneous with the events of the Gospel. Today, two millennia later, the Gospel comes to us, with its message of hope, salvation, and forgiveness of sins, through generations of faithful believers, who have passed on to us, that which they first received from Christ’s Apostles.\n\nMost traditions are particular, which is to say that they belong to a particular society in which a particular people pass them down to their descendants. The Gospel is particular in the sense that those who hear and believe the Gospel message become a particular spiritual community, God’s Church, His ekklesia or “called out assembly”, and that spiritual community passes the Gospel tradition down through the ages. The Gospel is also a universal tradition. It is universal in the sense that it speaks to everybody, it calls everybody to believe, and comes with the commandment of the Lord that it be preached to everybody.\n\nSt. Paul said that the Gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). This literally describes the order in which the Gospel was preached. The Apostles began preaching the Gospel in Jerusalem to their own people and then took it to the Greek speaking people throughout the Roman Empire. St. Paul in particular went throughout Asia Minor preaching the Gospel to the Greeks.\n\nIt is also, however, first century shorthand for saying “everybody in the world” and St. Paul clearly meant it in both senses. Nobody is to be excluded from the grace and mercy of God, from the forgiveness of sins and salvation that the Gospel of Christ brings to the sinners of the world, except that they exclude themselves by rejecting the Gospel.\n\nTo those reading these words, may you believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ and receive therein the forgiveness of your sins and everlasting life.\n\nSaturday, July 24, 2010\n\nFreedom and the Individual\n\nIn philosophical liberalism, the concepts of “freedom” and “the individual” are closely related to each other, perhaps inseparably. This may come as a surprise to those who associate the word “liberalism” primarily with 20th and 21st Century political liberalism. That liberalism frequently uses the language of the common good to justify ever increasing attempts on the part of the state bureaucracy to administer our everyday lives. Usually, the only time contemporary political liberalism reverts to the language of individual freedom is when it is speaking of freedom of the individual, not from political control, i.e., the control of the state, but from the control of tradition, religion, and morality in the realm of lifestyle ethics.\n\nMany conservatives, in response to the abuse of the concept of the “common good” on the part of contemporary political liberals have grown suspicious of any and all use of this concept. This is unfortunate because this concept, which so dominated the political and ethical writings of Plato and Aristotle is fundamental to any stable model of society. A stable society is the only kind of society in which the rights, dignity, and freedoms of individual human beings are ever truly protected by law. It is also the essential goal of conservatism. Conservatism conceives of society as an organic whole uniting past, present and future generations in a union in which the present generation enjoys society as a possession as an inheritance from past generations, held in trust for future generations, with an ensuing duty to preserve that society intact. This is the sine qua non of conservatism.\n\nConservatives who adopt the language of liberal individualism in response to the more recent collectivist political liberalism are in fact espousing philosophical liberalism. Those who recognize this fact usually prefer to call themselves libertarians rather than conservatives, although this is not always the case.\n\nWhen we speak of philosophical liberalism or libertarianism, we can be referring either to a general idea or to a complete political ideology.\n\nLibertarianism as a general idea, is the idea that people should be free to live their own lives, should let other people live their own lives and that laws (rules enforced by government) should prohibit only actions which harm others, whether in their persons or their property.\n\nThere is nothing wrong with that kind of libertarianism, indeed there is much to commend it. It raises a number of questions however, to which the answers of libertarianism the political ideology, prove unsatisfactory.\n\nWhen we say people should be free to live their own lives, by “people” do we mean individuals considered as separate from everybody else or do we mean people as they really are – people who live their lives as part of families, who make up communities, which make up a society? The answer to this question greatly affects our understanding of freedom, for freedom cannot be understood apart from an answer to the questions “Free from what?” and “Free for what purpose?”.\n\nIdeological libertarianism asserts that only individuals are “real”. Society in all of its manifestations, and all of its institutions from the state down to the family and the family up to the state, exist solely for the benefit of individuals qua individuals, according to this ideology. Freedom is the sovereignty of the individual over his person, life, and property, and this means freedom from all external control. The only legitimate social relationships are those carried out on a mutually voluntary contractual basis and the only legitimate social institutions are those defined by such relationships.\n\nFrom this we see, that for liberalism the question “free for what purpose” has no meaningful answer. For while liberals may still give lip service to Aristotle’s identification of “happiness” as the highest good and argue that freedom is a means to that end, in actuality their understanding of the individual, society, and freedom demands that freedom be regarded as an end, indeed the end, in and of itself.\n\nThis ideology is unsound for a number of reasons.\n\nFirst, it’s understanding of human nature clashes with what is observably real. People are not first individuals, then everything else they are by voluntary choice. The most fundamental relationships in life are not contractual relationships and, apart from marriage and friendship, are not entered into on a mutually voluntary basis. You do not choose to be the son of your father or the daughter of your mother. You do not choose whom you will be siblings with. You do not choose to be the grandchild of your grandparents, and they, apart from their initial decision to become parents themselves opening up the possibility of grandchildren, do not chose to be your grandparents.\n\nThese relationships exist within the family. The family is a social unit consisting of several people. It is society in microcosm and it is also prior to the individual. You are born into your family which existed prior to you. The family, and not the individual, is the basic unit of society.\n\nLiberal individualism is also unsound and in a dangerous way because it sets the “individual” against society. By effectually if not nominally making the freedom of the individual the supreme good liberalism teaches the individual to regard any and all limitations on his freedom as prison walls. It doesn’t matter if the limitation is a genuinely unjust law, like a law telling you that you cannot smoke in your own home, or a perfectly reasonable and just one, or even a social limitation imposed through means other than government power, such as most limitations on individual freedom will be in a civilized society. If you are a “sovereign individual” these limitations will all seem like unfair confinement in a jail cell to you.\n\nIn G. K. Chesterton’s book The Poet and the Lunatics, there is a short story entitled “The Yellow Bird”. In this story, a young man named Mallow who is jealous that Laura the girl he loves has fallen for another man, visits her house with a couple of friends where they have an interview with his rival, a Russian professor named Imanhov, who was the author of a book called “The Psychology of Liberty” and who had escaped from a prison in Siberia by blowing up the wall of his prison. After Imanhov has explained some of his progressive views, about a future where man will “conquer the planets and colonize the fixed stars”, Mallow and Laura go off and discuss his views. Their conversation is interrupted by Mallow’s friend Gabriel Gale – the poet and hero of the book – who rushes them away from the house as fast as he can. When they finally force him to explain, he tells them how he had seen a canary that Imanhov had “liberated” from its cage earlier that day, torn to pieces by the other birds. This suggested that the professor had taken his ideas on liberty a bit too far. But when Gale noticed that the professor had also “liberated” goldfish from their bowl by smashing it, he knew the man had rapidly progressed into madness, and there was no telling what he would do next. At this point the house explodes and Gale comments “It was only the prison gun…the signal that a prisoner has escaped.”\n\nIn telling this story, Chesterton explains that true liberty is impossible without limits. He tells it both by the illustration which is the story itself, and directly in these words he places in the mouth of Gabriel Gale:\n\n\nLiberal individualism is like the madman in Chesterton’s story. By taking individual liberty to an extreme, making society subservient to the individual, and refusing to allow any concept of the “common good” to balance it, it lost sight of the distinction between the walls of a prison, which exist only to confine those within, and the walls of one’s home which generate a living space within which one can live, free and secure from the elements and intruders.\n\nPhilosophical liberalism’s origins go back to the Social Contract theory of the so-called “Enlightenment”. This theory held that the state of nature for mankind, was one of absolutely free and sovereign individuals, who formed society as an artificial construction by making contracts with one another in which they voluntarily gave up a part of their freedom in return for some benefits. This theory, as we have seen, does not correspond to the reality of human nature. We are born into social units (families). Society is our nature. The individual outside of society is the unnatural person.\n\nThe idea, however, that the individual human being has dignity and value, that society should protect with guaranteed rights and liberties, is much older than liberalism. Long before the Enlightenment Project and the Modern Age Christianity taught that each individual human being possessed value in the eyes of God. From the Genesis creation account, in the Scriptures Christianity inherited from the Hebrew faith, Christianity taught that each individual was made in the image and likeness of God, an image that remains although marred by sin. Christianity further taught, that on the Last Day, at the Final Judgment, each individual would stand before God and give an account of his life on earth.\n\nChristianity shaped the Western world for well over a thousand years, teaching the importance of the individual within rather than outside and against the context of the family, community, and society. The conservative today, seeking a restoration of personal liberties that have been swallowed up by contemporary collectivist liberalism, must look for a foundation for personal liberty that is older than the Modern Age, one grounded in Western traditions that draw from Christianity and the Greco-Roman classical heritage and which are not hostile to stable society and the common good.\n\nSaturday, July 17, 2010\n\nThe Folly of Disarmament\n\nThis essay is a year old. I posted it to my Facebook profile and e-mailed it to a mailing list of select friends on July 8, 2009. In reposting it here today, I have opted to leave it as written. This should be kept in mind when encountering time-sensitive references in the third and eleventh paragraphs (not including block quotes). - Gerry T. Neal\n\n\nThe Folly of Disarmament\n\nby Gerry T. Neal\n\nJuly 8, 2009\n\nThe devil’s right hand, the devil’s right hand,\nMama said the pistol is the devil’s right hand.\n– Steve Earle\n\nWhen the Cambrian measures were forming,\nThey promised perpetual peace.\nThey swore, if we gave them our weapons,\nthat the wars of the tribes would cease.\nBut when we disarmed They sold us\nand delivered us bound to our foe,\nAnd the Gods of the Copybook Headings said:\n\"Stick to the Devil you know.\"\n\n- Rudyard Kipling\n\nDisarmament is the idea that violence can be averted and peace obtained by getting rid of the tools of violence, i.e., weapons. Historically, disarmament has taken two basic forms. The first is when a society as a whole abandons its defensive measures in the face of a foreign threat. The reasoning behind this kind of disarmament, is that well maintained defenses and a strong military will be interpreted by other countries as a threat, leading those countries to attack first as a pre-emptive measure. Therefore, abandoning these things is a sign of good faith to your potential enemy, showing that you mean no harm. This, the proponents of disarmament argue, will avert an attack and lead to peace.\n\nThis theory is logical in the sense of being internally consistent. It is invalidated by history and common sense, though, and nobody with even a miniscule understanding of human nature would be fooled by this argument for one second.\n\nRecently, Hollywood brought Alan Moore’s 1986-87 comic book series The Watchmen back from the obscurity it deserved. The comic book was a not-so-subtle attack on the military build-up policies of the Reagan and Thatcher administrations. Ironically, the plot of The Watchmen undermines the very point Moore was trying to make. The end of the arms race and the dawn of world peace is brought about, not by either side unilaterally disarming, but by both sides being faced with the threat of their own destruction from another source.\n\nOf course, in real life, it was the very policies Moore was attacking that brought about the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union – and not very long after his comic book was released. Reagan was able to successfully negotiate an end to the arms race precisely because he was not afraid to win the arms race.\n\nThe second form of disarmament is when a government disarms its populace. What is commonly called “gun control” today is a version of this form of disarmament. The official reasoning behind this kind of disarmament is that it will reduce crime, increase public safety, and ensure a stable order to society. The real reasons are not always that benign and these disarmament measures simply cannot be shown to have the beneficial effects their advocates claim for them.\n\nDisarmament is nothing new. After Athens surrendered to Sparta at the end of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), Athens temporarily abandoned democracy and established an oligarchy of 30 men, known to historians as “The Thirty Tyrants”. Under the leadership of Critias, uncle of the philosopher Plato, the Thirty began to purge Athens of people opposed to their rule. When one of their number, Theramenes, opposed the unnecessary bloodshed, the Thirty, fearing that he might lead a popular uprising against them, chose 3000 citizens loyal to themselves to nominally bring into the government to provide the illusion of a broader power base, then proceeded to disarm everybody else. Xenophon describes it like this:\n\nThe Three Thousand paraded in the market place and the other citizens in various other parts of the city. The order was given to pile arms, and when the men were off duty, the Thirty sent their Spartan troops and other people who were on their side, seized the arms of all who were not included among the Three Thousand, carried them up to the Acropolis and stored them in the temple. Once this was done they considered that they were now free to act exactly as they liked, and they began to put people to death in great numbers, some because they were personal enemies, some for the sake of their money. (Hellenica, Book III, Chapter II, 20-21, translated by Rex Warner in the Penguin Classics edition A History of My Times, pp. 113-114)\n\nDisarming the populace, then, from very early times, has been associated with tyranny – government free from constraints in its use or abuse of power. This is as true today as it was 2413 years ago.\n\nThe advocates of gun control say that people should not resist criminals, that that only escalates the violence and leads to innocent people getting hurt, that instead we should rely upon the police to protect us. That kind of thinking is fit for slaves not for free people.\n\nFree people bear the primary responsibility themselves for the defense and protection of their persons, property, and families. This responsibility cannot be delegated without giving up your freedom. If you give up this freedom to the government, you will not be getting a superior form of security in return, but an inferior one. It is not the job of the police, in a free society, to be everywhere at once, watching over every citizen 24 hours of the day, seven days a week. If that were the job of the police, the society would not be very free.\n\nIn Canada, advocates of gun control tend to dismiss the ideas of their opponents as being “American”. Canada, however, is heir to the same British tradition as the United States, and the British tradition is a tradition of liberty. As the late Dr. Samuel T. Francis pointed out:\n\n(T)he right to keep and bear arms emerged in British history, long before the American war for independence, as an essential attributed of freemen, and it was mainly from the British experience in the late 17th and 18th centuries that American republicans drew their immediate lessons about a citizens’ militia and what it meant for the preservation of political freedom. (“Historical Basis for the Second Amendment”, in Shots Fired: Sam Francis on America’s Culture War, p. 182)\n\nRecently, gun control has been in the news again. The Harper government, in its first year in office, gave an amnesty to gun owners who had failed to register their guns under the costly, ineffective, and frankly tyrannical long gun registry, introduced by the Liberal administration of Jean Chretien in 1995, and has recently extended that amnesty. A few months ago, the Harper administration introduced a bill into the Senate, calling for the abolition of the same registry. Earlier in February, a similar but more extensive private member’s bill, Bill C-301, had been introduced by Garry Breitkreuz, Conservative MP for Yorkton-Melville, Saskatchewan.\n\nPredictably, the advocates of gun control have been up in arms about this (pun intended). They are maintaining that the Harper administration’s actions are placing police officers at risk and threatening public safety.\n\nNonsense. The gun registry has not made Canadians any safer, it has wasted billions of the taxpayers dollars, and was a blatant attack on rural Canadians, turning an entire class of decent Canadian citizens into criminals overnight.\n\nThe Liberals claim that a majority of Canadians support gun control. That may very well be true, although the Liberals have never cared much what “the majority of Canadians” thought whenever they were determined to push legislation to serve some agenda of theirs that most Canadians opposed.\n\nIt is not relevant what the majority think, however. Gun control is inherently tyrannical. Free people have the right, responsibility, and duty to protect themselves when attacked. With that right, responsibility, and duty, comes the right to arm themselves. The two cannot be separated. The government that tells you that you do not have the right to arm yourself is telling you that you are not free. That government is behaving tyrannically – even if it has the backing of a majority of its citizens.\n\nIf Harper’s policies deserve criticism it is because they do not go far enough in restoring to Canadians that which is their birthright as a free people in a country built on the British tradition of freedom.\n\nSaturday, July 10, 2010\n\nThe Younger Brother\n\nThe Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me To Faith by Peter Hitchens, Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 224 pages, US$22.99.\n\nIn writing The Rage Against God, British journalist Peter Hitchens undertook a much more humble project than writing a comprehensive rebuttal of the atheistic arguments his brother Christopher compiled in his god is not great. Some of the younger Hitchens’ readers will probably be disappointed in this at first. Upon further reflection, however, I hope they will see that humility is this book’s greatest strength. It is a refreshing contrast to the arrogance of the new atheists.\n\nThe first and largest section of The Rage Against God is autobiographical. It is also, from this reader’s perspective, the most interesting part of book. The author has given it the title “A Personal Journey Through Atheism” and while it is that, to be sure, it is also much more. In telling his own story Hitchens also tells the story of his country’s journey away from Christianity towards secularism. The two stories are intricately intertwined and World War II plays a key role in both.\n\nThe War marked the end of Britain’s being a Christian nation in anything other than name. It also marked the end of the British Empire with the United Kingdom being eclipsed as the world power by its wartime allies, the United States and the Soviet Union. What this meant for the Hitchens family was that their father, a career officer in the Royal Navy, would have to search for alternate employment when the Navy, once so vital to maintaining the Empire, was downsized.\n\nPeter Hitchens describes the Britain of his youth as a country that was using the memory of World War II to shield itself from realities of political and economic decline. As events like the humiliation of Britain by the Yanks during the Suez Crisis and the Profumo scandal caused the British youth of Hitchens’ generation to lose faith in their country and its leadership, the country itself clung to the cult of Winston Churchill, and the idea “we won the War”.\n\nThis loss of faith, among Hitchens’ generation, in Britain and its institutions went hand in glove with that generation’s rejection of the faith of their fathers. Like his brother, Hitchens became a revolutionary socialist in ideology in his youth. He writes:\n\nI had replaced Christianity and the Churchill cult, with an elaborate socialist worldview—because I had decided that I did not wish to believe in God or in patriotism. (p. 100)\n\nThe words “I did not wish to” are the operative words in that sentence. They form one of the author’s major insights, spelled out in various places throughout the book. A significant element in faith is choice and this is as true of the atheist as it is of the Christian believer. Atheists, like Hitchens’ brother, charge Christians with believing in God because we want God to be real. While that is hardly the entire truth, it is a partial truth, and Hitchens willingly concedes it. However, he adds, it is also true of atheists. They do not believe because they do not want God to be real. This they generally are unwilling to concede, although Professor Thomas Nagel, who Hitchens quotes from in chapter 10, appears to be an exception.\n\nExposure to the realities of socialism caused Hitchens to lose faith in that secular alternative to Christianity which paved the way for his return to the Christian faith. His account of his return to the faith is not the typical conversion testimony North American evangelicals have come to expect but that does not diminish the book. He describes how his love for architecture led him to the churches and cathedrals of England and the realization that the men and women who built these buildings could hardly have been the ignorant bumpkins the atheists believed them to be. He describes a visit to the Hotel-Dieu in Beaune, France where in Rogier van der Weyden’s The Last Judgment he was confronted with the fear of divine retribution. In L. M. Montgomery’s The Chronicles of Avonlea there is a short story entitled “Each In His Own Tongue” in which a fallen women, in fear of damnation at the end of a wicked life, is brought to an understanding of God’s forgiveness and mercy, through the playing of a violin. Although the details are world’s apart, the common theme of God speaking through art, brought this story to my mind as I read Hitchens’ moving description of his own gradual return from unbelief to faith.\n\nWhile this book is not, as has been said, a rebuttal of his brother’s book, in the second section of the book Hitchens does answer three arguments of atheism. First, he points out that religion itself appears not to be the root cause of many conflicts that are fought in the name of religion or depicted as religious conflicts.\n\nThen he tackles the matter of God and morality. Atheists such as Greg Epstein insist that man can be “good without God”. Hitchens shows that apart from an external source of justice morality among humans ultimately breaks down into “might makes right”.\n\nThe third atheist argument Hitchens answers, and the most important, is the argument that atheist states are not really atheist. Hitchens’ answer to this question spills over into the third and final section of the book where he takes a good look at the atheist regime that existed in the former Soviet Union.\n\nThe reason this argument is so important for the atheists is because the truth is so damning to their position. Atheists continually try to downplay the countless ways Western civilization has benefited from Christianity and to condense Church history into the Crusades, Inquisition, and priestly child abuse. As Hitchens points out however, violence and persecution that has been conducted in the name of faith is “not because they are religious, but because Man is not great.”\n\nThe same cannot be said for the atheist regimes. Hitchens puts it this way:\n\nAtheists, in return, ought equally to concede that Godless regimes and movements have given birth to terrible persecutions and massacres. They do not do so, in my view, because in these cases the slaughter is not the result of a misunderstanding or excessive zeal. Utopia can only ever be approached across a sea of blood. This is a far greater problem for the atheist than it is for the Christian, because the atheist uses this argument to try to demonstrate that religion specifically makes things worse than they otherwise would be. On the contrary, it demonstrates that our ability to be savage to our own kind cannot be wholly prevented by religion. More important still, Atheist states have a consistent tendency to commit mass murders in the name of the greater good. (pp. 153-154)\n\nThe only way atheists can get around this is by claiming that governments like the Bolshevik regime, the Maoist regime, the Castro regime, and the Pol Pot regime, were not, despite their proclaimed ideology, atheistic.\n\nHitchens blasts these claims to smithereens, showing repeatedly how these regimes relentlessly strove to drive God out of their countries, how they sought to keep parents and churches from passing on their faith to their children, and how their worst atrocities were directly connected to their atheistic ideology.\n\nIn focusing on the deleterious effects of atheism upon civilization in countries like the former Soviet Union, Hitchens is not just answering his brother’s arguments. He is also indicating where Britain and North America might be headed. The militant new breed of atheists seem rather open about their wish to use the power of the law to prevent parents from bringing up their children in the faith.\n\nLet us hope and pray that as Peter Hitchens returned to the faith of his fathers, so our countries will as well.\n\nWednesday, July 7, 2010\n\nFor Queen and Country\n\nBreathes there the man, with soul so dead,\nWho never to himself hath said,\nThis is my own, my native land!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIf such there breathe, go, mark him well;\nFor him no Minstrel raptures swell;\nHigh though his titles, proud his name,\nBoundless his wealth as wish can claim;\nDespite those titles, power, and pelf,\nThe wretch, concentred all in self,\nLiving, shall forfeit fair renown,\nAnd, doubly dying, shall go down\nTo the vile dust, from whence he sprung,\nUnwept, unhonor'd, and unsung.\n\nThursday, July 1, 2010\n\nCanada, Past, Present, Future\n\nI sometimes say that I am a patriot of the Canada my father grew up in. This is, of course, a way of expressing disapproval of many significant changes that occurred in Canada in the 1960’s, 1970’s, and 1980’s, some before I was born, others in my early childhood. It should not be taken as suggesting that the only Canada I have ever loved is one that never saw for myself, one that passed away before I was born. I grew up on a farm in rural Manitoba. Time moves slower in the country than in the city, and the rural Canada I grew up in was still in many ways recognizable as the Canada that existed before Pierre Trudeau started messing around with it.\n\n“Protestant, small town, British, virtuous”. Those are the words Michael Ignatieff, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada uses in True Patriot Love, the history of his mother’s family, to describe the Canada his uncle George Parkin Grant loved, and famously lamented over.\n\nGrant, who was born into a family of illustrious Canadian educators and intellectuals, was a professor of philosophy at Dalhousie University and later professor of religion at McMaster. In 1965, two years after the opposition brought down the Diefenbaker administration over his refusal to allow American nuclear arms on Canadian soil, Grant wrote Lament For A Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism. Grant believed that the collapse of the Diefenbaker administration spelled the end of Canadian sovereignty and that we would be swallowed up in the continental and world empire of the United States of America.\n\nThe booklet, Lament for a Nation earned George Grant, a Christian conservative, a place alongside Oswald Spengler, Evelyn Waugh, and James Burnham, as a twentieth century conservative prophet of doom. Ignatieff, who believes his uncle was wrong, says that his uncle “gave up on his country at exactly the moment when it roused itself to action”. As evidence he goes on to list the very changes I referred to in the first paragraph of this essay.\n\nIgnatieff writes that “the modern Canadian welfare state – medicare and the Canada Pension Plan – was created, distinguishing us ever more sharply from the United States”, a curious assessment on the part of a historian. Surely Ignatieff must realize that the modern welfare state is an American construction? Canada, like many European countries, has gone further down the road of welfare statism than the United States went under Roosevelt in the 30’s, or under LBJ in the ‘60’s, but for all that the welfare-states origins lie clearly within the United States of America.\n\nIgnatieff goes on to list such things as “the repatriation of the Canadian constitution, the next-to-last symbol of our dependency on the British, and the creation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, incarnating a distinctive national rights culture; and we gave ourselves a national anthem and a flag.”\n\nWe already had a flag actually, the Canadian Red Ensign, and there was nothing wrong with it. In Lament For A Nation, which was published the year the current flag was adopted, George Grant pointed to Diefenbaker’s stand for the Red Ensign, as leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, as evidence that Diefenbaker’s “basic principles were far removed from any petty sense of self-importance”. The Red Ensign, versions of which remain as the provincial flags of Ontario and Manitoba, speaks of our roots and identity as a country that is at the same time British and North American.\n\nIt was, of course, because the Red Ensign identified Canada as being British, that it had to go, even though the Ensign, which includes the fleur-de-lis of Quebec in the shield of arms, also speaks of our country’s French heritage, while the current flag speaks of neither. The Liberal Party elites who insisted upon all of these changes are often thought of as being extremely anti-American and in a certain sense, the worst possible sense, that is correct. Yet, in their attitude towards Canada’s British roots, heritage, and identity they showed themselves to be the most American of all Canadians. They spoke condescending of all the things they were getting rid of – the Red Ensign, “Royal” in the title of several government services, and the name of the country “The Dominion of Canada” as our “colonial trappings”.\n\nWhat utter nonsense. The Red Ensign, far from being a colonial flag, was the flag our soldiers fought under in World War II, a war which we entered upon our own Declaration of War. The Liberal elites, ignorant of Canada’s history, considered “Dominion” to be a synonym for “colony”.\n\nSir. John A. MacDonald and the Fathers of Confederation wished to name our country “The Kingdom of Canada” and proposed such as the name in the early drafts of the British North America Act. This met with opposition in London based on the fear that such a title would prove provocative to the United States. The term “Dominion”, taken from the 8th verse of the 72nd Psalm was adopted as a substitute for “Kingdom”, being intended to convey the exact same meaning.\n\nJohn G. Diefenbaker, in an address given to the Empire Club of Toronto on March 9, 1972 and later printed as the 4th chapter “Towards a False Republic” in his book Those Things We Treasure, describes some of the underhanded tactics the Liberal Party elites were using to strip Canada of her royal heritage:\n\nAn “Information Canada” booklet entitled How Canadians Govern Themselves states on page 3 that “…we are no longer a Dominion.” This statement is a direct contradiction of the British North America Act which gave the name “Dominion of Canada” to our country, and that was the name included in the Treaty of Versailles, the operative Statute of Westminster and the Canadian declaration of war in 1939.\n\nThe repatriation of the British North America Act, which made Canada’s constitution amendable by our own Parliament, was probably a good thing. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms was not. Despite the lofty title of this document, the basic right of property is omitted altogether, whereas all of the other most basic freedoms and rights of a civilized, free society, previously protected by ancient prescription under Common Law, find themselves spelled out in sections 2, and 7 through 13, where they are compromised by the weasel clause in section 1, and the notwithstanding clause in section 33. Do we really want the government to pass a law giving itself the power to arrest some and hold them indefinitely without trial despite the rights listed in section 11 of the Charter, which all Canadians had before the Charter was passed? That is exactly what the Charter allows the government to do.\n\nIn all of these changes Michael Ignatieff sees the Liberal Party leading Canada into shaping its own identity and future as a country. They look more like acts of sabotage to me.\n\nI hope that George Grant was as wrong about Canada being doomed to become a colony of the United States as he was wrong about socialism being “an essentially conservative force”. In chapter 5 of Lament For a Nation, Grant argues that American corporate capitalism (which he distinguishes from “early capitalism” which was “full of moral restraints”) is a powerful force for progress in the world. Grant was hostile to and suspicious of progress, which he regarded as social upheaval and change which threatened the tranquility of everyday life, rather than as societal improvement. With this attitude I am in full sympathy. I do not however, accept Grant’s conclusion that socialism must therefore be conservative. Grant wrote:\n\nYet what is socialism, if it is not the use of the government to restrain greed in the name of social good? In actual practice, socialism has always had to advocate inhibition in this respect. In doing so, was it not appealing to the conservative idea of social order against the liberal idea of freedom?\n\nSocialism, far from restraining greed, encourages it. Socialism encourages among the lower classes the greed which it condemns in the upper classes. As the former in any society will outnumber the latter by far, socialism results in a net increase in greed in society. Socialism cannot appeal to the conservative idea of social order because it has historically been defined as opposition to the institution of private property, an institution as foundational to conservative order as it is to the freedom of the classical liberal.\n\nGrant was correct in seeing corporate capitalism as a progressive force and in seeing progress as being a bad rather than a good thing. Instead of pursuing the silly argument that socialism, the economic doctrine beloved of revolutionaries around the world, was somehow “conservative” he should have pursued his thought on “early capitalism”, inhibited by Protestant morality, beyond the two or three lines he devoted to it as it was a thought far worthier of such a great Christian thinker. He could, for example, have considered the arguments of Wilhelm Röpke, the German economist who combined the Austrian school’s arguments for the free market, with arguments that such a market could only function within the framework and on the foundation of Christian moral and social order.\n\nGrant’s views on socialism led to his being dubbed a “Red Tory”. I however, would associate that term with someone like Dalton Camp, a politician who hid his revolutionary socialist agenda behind a conservative mask. Grant, in contrast, was an actual conservative, a defender of the ways and mores of everyday life in traditional, Christian, small town, Canada, against the forces seeking to overwhelm and swamp that life.\n\nDespite the revolutionary agenda of the Liberal Party in the ‘60’s and 70’s, I believe that the Canada George Grant loved, the Canada I love, is still out there, in the small towns, churches, and homes of rural Canada, and perhaps, hidden deeply, in parts of urban Canada as well. Canada became a country under the reign of Queen Victoria. Historian W. L. Morton, in his history The Kingdom of Canada, described the moment when Queen Elizabeth II opened Parliament in person in 1957, the first Canadian monarch to do so, as the moment Canada truly became the “Kingdom of Canada” Sir. John A. MacDonald had envisioned.(1) On this, the 143rd anniversary of the enactment of the British North America Act and the birth of Canada as a sovereign country, Queen Elizabeth is visiting her North American kingdom once more. May that inspire hope that the traditions of our country may yet be preserved in recognizable form for generations to come.\n\nHappy Dominion Day\nGod save the Queen\n\n(1) As an interesting aside, the first viceroy Queen Elizabeth II appointed upon ascending to the throne, and the first ever Canadian born Governor General, Vincent Massey, was uncle-by-marriage to George P Grant.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.560377836227417} +{"content": "Ways to Conserve Water\n\nwater saveEveryone can take responsibility for conserving water at home. Whilst many of us can take a clean water supply for granted when we turn on the faucet, water that is safe to use in the home is one of the Earth’s most precious natural resources. Here we look at some simple ways you can conserve water at home.\n\nIn the home\n\nCheck all your water appliances for leaks. Check the toilet and the sinks in the home as even a small leak can cause extra water usage and more money added to the water bill. They can also cause damage you will need to repair.\n\nEvery time you flush the toilet, you use about 5 gallons (20 litres) of water. Consider purchasing a dual-flush toilet. Do not use your toilet as a trash can to conserve water.\n\nInsulate your water pipes. This will help to heat the water faster and prevent the pipes from freezing in the winter.\n\nIf you want cold water to drink, keep a jug of water in the fridge instead of running the tap until the water is at the temperature you want.\n\nWhen preparing meals from frozen, plan in advance. Defrosting food under a running faucet requires a lot of water.\n\nShould you have a water emergency, such as a burst pipe, you can lose enough water to fill a swimming pool very quickly. Make sure that everyone in the home knows how to shut of the water system in case of emergency.\n\nTo reduce risks of a water emergency, cut off the water supply to any areas in the home that you are not using. Also, read your house water readings at regular interval when no water is being used as another way to check for hidden water leaks.\n\nWashing and cleaning\n\nTurn off the water when you are brushing your teeth or washing your hair. Turning the tap off when you’re not using the water means that up to 160 gallons (605 litres) of water can be conserved each month.\n\nWhen looking for a new dishwasher, bathtub, shower unit, washing machine and any other water appliance, search for water-efficient products that meet the needs of your household. Whilst these may be initially more expensive up-front, they will quickly pay for themselves.\n\nUnless you have a washing machine that allows half-loads, always wash full loads of laundry to conserve water. The same rule applies with a dishwasher, only use when it is full.\n\nMost people are amazed at how much water they use in a shower. Taking just a few minutes off your shower time can conserve a significant amount of water. Install water saving devices such as a low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators to reduce your water use.\n\nIn the garden\n\nRainwater harvesting from your home downpipes is very simple. This conserved water can be used in your garden and with household plants. This is well worth considering if you live in an area of hosepipe bans. Also, use a layer of mulch around your plants and they will require less water.\n\nPlant your garden in the spring when less water is required. Choose plants that do not need to drink more water than that provided by mother nature or by grey water from your house.\n\nIf you need to water your lawn, do so as little as possible and only when needed. Make sure your water sprinkler is set to efficiently water the lawn and is not sending water into the gutters, paths or areas where no water is needed. Water your lawn at the cooler start or end of the day. Avoid watering at the hottest time of the day as this leads to water loss through evaporation.\n\nIf you have a small lawn, try to water it by hand rather than using sprinklers. This way you have more control over the amount of water used. If you need to water your lawn a lot, consider a garden design that does not include a lawn.\n\nAlso in the garden, check your hoses and pipes for leaks, cracks, and other damage, particularly if you have an irrigation system where water loss may not be easy to spot.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8642510175704956} +{"content": "You have reached your limit of free articles this month.\n\nEnjoy unlimited access to\n\nStarting at just 99¢ for 8 weeks.\n\n\n • ePAPER\n\nYou have read of premium articles.\n\n\n\nWelcome to\n\n\n\nHow the Republican health care plan will affect residents of every Georgia county\n\nOne-size-fits-all was one of the chief criticisms of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. It seems the alternative proposed by the Trump administration has taken the same route -- only this time, affecting the poorest and oldest Americans.\n\nAn AJC analysis of Kaiser Family Foundation data on the proposed American Health Care Act revealed that older Americans with the lowest incomes would be hit the hardest by the Republican replacement plan. The data shows that some people stand to lose as much as $10,560 in tax credits as compared to Obamacare. Many of these citizens voted for Donald Trump in the recent elections.\n\nThe following chart shows the difference in tax credits under Obamacare and the Republican alternative for a 60-year-old making $30,000 for every county in Georgia. \n\nObamacare considered income and the local insurance costs - which tend to be higher in Georgia’s lower income counties - to calculate tax credits. In contrast, the new plan proposes a flatter age-based scheme. The result? Americans with different incomes and varying insurance costs are squeezed into one category under the Republican plan.\n\nTake, for instance, Clay County, which has a median income of $20,438 and Forsyth County, the richest county in Georgia with a median income of $88,816. Under the current healthcare system, a 60 year-old Clay County resident making $30,000 a year pays the same in premiums as a resident of Forsyth County of the same age and income.\n\nHowever, it costs more to insure the Clay County resident than their counterpart in Forsyth, and so the Clay County resident receives a much higher subsidy under the current system. The replacement proposal would lump both of these counties under the same tax credit slab, which would leave the Clay County resident paying much higher premiums than Forsyth residents if the Republican plan goes into effect.\n\nFor some residents in high-cost counties, the loss of tax credits will mean either spending more to maintain the same amount of coverage, or simply losing insurance all together.\n\nYou can use the interactive below to find the difference between tax credits under Obamacare as well as the Republican replacement plan.\n\nReader Comments ...\n\nNext Up in Homepage", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6326195001602173} +{"content": "≡ Menu\n\nAre There Any Specific Laws To Protect Bicyclists From Personal Injury Accidents?\n\nNew Orleans has started to build out an extensive bicycle lane network throughout the city. While these bicycle lanes will help protect bicyclists from collisions with motor vehicles, anytime bicyclists are riding in close proximity to cars and trucks, there is an obvious risk of harm to the bicyclist. Even when bike lanes are present, accidents resulting from other vehicles invading bike lanes are not uncommon.\n\nLouisiana law states “every person riding a bicycle upon a highway of this state shall be granted all the rights and shall be subject to all the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle.” In other words, bicyclists must abide by the same rules of the road as motor vehicle drivers, but are also protected by those same rules. In most cases, motor vehicle drivers are required to abide by the same regulations regarding issues such as right of way, tailgating, etc., for bicyclists as they are required to follow when dealing with other motor vehicles.\n\nAdditionally, Louisiana is one of several states that has adopted a “three feet law” to further protect bicyclists from personal injury. This law requires motor vehicles to maintain a distance of at least three feet from a bicycle when approaching or passing a cyclist. While violating this regulation only results in a fine, a finding that the motorist had violated the law may also be helpful if the cyclist was injured and has to pursue a personal injury lawsuit.\n\nIf you have suffered a personal injury while bicycling and have additional questions, please let us answer them. We can be reached at 504-581-6411 or 855-GERTLER.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.920266330242157} +{"content": "How to price your fixed property\n\n In Flip\n\nWhen determining the list price for your newly fixed property, a tool called “Comps” can make it easier for you.\n\nWhat are “Comps”?\n\nFirst things first, what are comps, and why are they so important to investors? Comparables, or better known as comps, show what’s going on with the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). When you find a comp of a property, you compare properties with similar characteristics to determine the After Repair Value (ARV) of your potential flip property.\n\nThe easiest way to find comps is through a realtor. Contact an investor friendly realtor and ask them for a comparative market analysis (CMA). This will provide you a list of active, pending and sold properties in the area.\n\nTo find the comp of your property, you’re going to want look at the following:\n\nYear Built\n\nWhen you are comparing your property, you’re going to want to find houses that were built within 10 years prior or after it was built. For example, if your property was built in 1970, you’re going to only want to compare it to houses built from 1960-1980.\n\n\nWe also want to compare apples to apples. The comps should have the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms. If your property is a 3 bedroom/2 bath then you’re going to want to compare it to other 3 bed/2 baths in the area. \n\nSquare footage\n\nFor the most part, you’re going to want to have to same or similar square footage. For square footage, you can have plus or minus 200 square feet. For example, if the subject property is 1500 square feet, then we can compare it to a property of 1300 sq. ft. or up to 1700 sq. ft.\n\n\nThe comps should be within a one mile radius, preferable in the same neighborhood as the prospective property. Google Maps is a great resource to use when you need to confirm the distance between two properties. When it comes to finding comps, keep in mind that you will want to avoid crossing major roads and highways. \n\nDays on the Market\n\nAnd last but not least, you will only want to look at properties that have been sold in less than 90 days. When speaking to your realtor, tell them you only want to look at houses that have sold within 90 days or less.\n\nNow that you know all the criteria for finding comps, you can now determine the ARV of your property. To find the value, take the 3 best comps, add the prices together and divide it by the number of comps and that will give you your ARV. If the numbers work out, take that next step and make your offer!\n\n\nStart typing and press Enter to search", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9888935089111328} +{"content": "The Accidental Elitist By Maximillian Alvarez\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nConflict and Consensus by Scott Spillman\n\nIn 1953, the historian Daniel Boorstin testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Boorstin had been a Communist Party member in the late Thirties, and he proved to be an unusually cooperative witness, providing a full account of his own and others’ activities in the Party. Asked how he was working to combat communism today, he replied that his opposition took two forms: the first was his active involvement in religious organizations, the second his attempt to “discover and explain to students, in my teaching and in my writing, the unique virtues of American democracy.” He wanted to use history to show how Americans had avoided extreme ideologies like communism in the past—and how they might continue to avoid them in the future.\n\nTwo years earlier, while on a teaching fellowship in Rome, Boorstin had been struck by a profound difference between European and American politics. Europeans tended to have deep and irreconcilable conflicts over the ends of society, he observed, while Americans had an unspoken agreement about what society ought to look like and differed only on the practical means—how much taxation, how much regulation—by which that shared objective could be attained. The root cause of this distinction, Boorstin wrote in The Genius of American Politics (1953), was that Europeans tended to be susceptible to the “romantic illusion” that society could be remade following the blueprint of abstract political principles. Geography and history had saved Americans from that kind of idolatry, which led straight to tyrannies like “Nazism, fascism and communism.”\n\n\nWhat cats can teach us about how to live By John Gray\n\nA philosopher once assured me, many years ago, that he had converted his cat to veganism. Believing he was joking, I asked how he had achieved this feat. Had he supplied the cat with mouse-flavoured vegan food? Had he presented his cat with other cats, already practising veganism, as feline role models? Or had he argued with the cat and convinced it that eating meat is wrong? My interlocutor wasn’t amused, and I realised that he really believed the cat had opted for a meat-free diet. So I ended our exchange with a simple question: did the cat go out? It did, he told me. That solved the mystery. Plainly, the cat was supplementing its diet by covert hunting. If it ever brought home any of the carcasses – a practice to which ethically undeveloped cats are sadly prone – the virtuous philosopher had managed not to notice them.\n\nIt is not hard to imagine how the cat on the receiving end of this experiment in moral education must have viewed its human teacher. Perplexity at the absurdity of his behaviour would soon have been followed by contemptuous indifference. Seldom doing anything unless it serves a definite purpose or gives immediate satisfaction, cats are arch-realists. Faced with human folly, they simply go their own way.\n\nThe independence of cats is one of the features most admired by those of us who love them. Given their evolutionary history as solitary hunters, it is easily explained. Seeking their prey alone, cats – with the exception of lions and sometimes cheetahs – have not developed patterns of collective action and hierarchy of the kind found in dogs and other pack animals. “Herding cats” is a metaphor based on fact: cats don’t live in herds. As they are highly territorial and notoriously picky in their eating habits, they make an unlikely candidate for domestication. And yet, more than almost any other species, cats have learned to live on intimate terms with human beings. How has this come about?\n\n\nJerusalem Syndrome at the Met By Edward Rothstein\n\n“Severe, Jerusalem-generated mental problems.” Such, as characterized by the British Journal of Psychiatry, is the pathological derangement known as Jerusalem Syndrome. The madness is generally attributed to the city’s intoxicating spiritual powers, recognized over the centuries to inspire wild prophecies, orotund pronouncements, and utopian fantasies sometimes accompanied by predictions of imminent apocalypse.\n\nIf you happened to visit New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in recent months, you might have detected a particular, very contemporary version of the syndrome lurking in the background of Jerusalem 1000-1400: Every People Under Heaven, a sumptuous and ecstatically received exhibition that closed on January 8 after a three-month run. Or maybe not, if the contagion has spread as widely as now seems—since most visitors, and for that matter most reviewers and critics, were thoroughly seduced by the ravishingly beautiful items on display. These included illuminated manuscripts in exotic calligraphy like the ancient Hebrew script of the Samaritans; caches of gold and jewelry that until recently had been hidden in jars or lay sunk off the Caesarea coast; gilt pages of Qurans; handwritten letters by the medieval Jewish luminaries Moses Maimonides and Judah Halevi; intricately carved capitals from the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth; and much more.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8601936101913452} +{"content": "Samsul Bahari Mohd Noor\n\nLearn More\nThe paper aims to introduce a method for the analytical formulation of the integral square error (ISE). In this manner, the aim of the research is to create a parametric solution of the ISE for linear continuous feedback control systems while the closed-loop system is stable and the difference between reference and output, or error, is strictly proper. The(More)\nElectromyography (EMG) is one of the indirect tools in indexing fatigue. Fatigue can be detected when there are changes on amplitude and frequency. However, various outcomes from literature make researchers conclude that EMG is not a reliable tool to measure fatigue. This paper investigates EMG behavior of biceps femoris in median frequency and mean(More)\nThe purpose of this paper is to explore the ability of the system identification technique in detecting a specific gas at a constant concentration level by a single sensor. Metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) gas sensor is used due to its wide range of applicability in gas monitoring systems. Using the Batch computer method, 115 outputs were recorded with(More)\nThe detection performance of maritime radars is restricted by the unwanted sea echo or clutter. Although the number of these target-like data is small, they may cause false alarm and perturb the target detection. K-distribution is known as the best fit probability density function for the radar sea clutter. This paper proposes a novel approach to estimate(More)\nThis paper presents the application of fuzzy logic controller (FLC) to a grain dryer plant. Grain dryer plant is very difficult to control due to long delay process and non-linear behaviour. The controller consists of two inputs; error between actual grain moisture content and set-point, and rate of change of error. There is one fuzzy output that is used to(More)\nA filtered-X LMS algorithm is implemented for active noise control in free field, single channel adaptive proposed for one dimensional noise control, The single-channel algorithms is essentially extension by the sequential filtered-X LMS algorithm to the block case. Analytical results are given for the stability and convergence of the algorithm. Simulation(More)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9953416585922241} +{"content": "DiaFiber Plus Product Ingredients Information\n\nCommon Dietary Fiber Supplements - Commercially Available\n DiaFiber Plus DiaFiber Citrucel Fiber Balance Ultra Fiber BeneFiber Metamucil\n\n\n\n\nClinically Tested YES YES - - - - -\nMethylCellulose YES YES YES - - - -\nGlucomannan YES YES - - - - -\nBeta Glucan YES - - YES YES - -\nMaltodextrin-2 YES - - YES - - -\nInulin YES - - YES - - -\nPectin Apple YES - - YES YES - -\nPectin Grapefruit YES - - - - - -\nVitamin B1 YES - - - - - -\nVitamin B2 YES YES - - - - -\nVitamin B5 YES - - - - - -\nVitamin B6 YES - - - - - -\nVitamin B12 YES YES - - - - -\nNiacin YES - - - - - -\nBiotin YES - - - - - -\nMagnesiun YES - - - - - -\nChromiun YES - - - - - -\n\nDiaFiber Plus is a plant-based, calorie-free dietary fiber and vitamin supplement that in conjunction with appropriate nutrition and exercise may support healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels. DiaFiber Plus™ will help you to curb your appetite, facilitating better weight control and supports digestive health. DiaFiber Plus has been clinically tested at Hope Diabetes Center in Mesa, Arizona.\nList Prices: $89.95\n( Thiamine Mononitrates)\n1.5mg (100%)\nLike other B complex vitamins, thiamine is considered an \"anti-stress\" vitamin because it may strengthen the immune system and improve the body's ability to withstand stressful conditions. It is named B1 because it was the first B vitamin discovered. Thiamine is found in both plants and animals and plays a crucial role in certain metabolic reactions. For example, it is required for the body to form adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which every cell of the body uses for energy. Preliminary evidence suggests that thiamine along with other nutrients -- may lower risk of developing cataracts. B complex vitamins are necessary for healthy skin, hair, eyes, and liver. They also help the nervous system function properly, and are necessary for optimal brain function. Recommended dosage 1.1 - 2mg.\n1.7mg (100%)\nIn addition to producing energy for the body, riboflavin also works as an antioxidant by scavenging damaging particles in the body known as free radicals. Free radicals occur naturally in the body but can damage cells and DNA, and may contribute to the aging process, as well as the development of a number of health conditions, such as heart disease and cancer. Antioxidants such as riboflavin can neutralize free radicals and may reduce or help prevent some of the damage they cause.. Recommended dosage 1.6 - 2mg.\n(Inositol hexaniacinate)\n20mg (100%)\nNiacin also helps the body make various sex and stress-related hormones in the adrenal glands and other parts of the body. Niacin is effective in improving circulation and reducing cholesterol levels in the blood. Symptoms of mild deficiency include indigestion, fatigue, canker sores, vomiting, and depression. Severe deficiency can cause a condition known as pellagra. Pellagra is characterized by cracked, scaly skin, dementia, and diarrhea. It is generally treated with a nutritionally balanced diet and niacin supplements. Niacin deficiency also results in burning in the mouth and a swollen, bright red tongue. Niacin has been used since the 1950s to lower elevated LDL (\"bad\") cholesterol and triglyceride (fat) levels in the blood and is more effective in increasing HDL (\"good\") cholesterol levels than other cholesterol-lowering medications. Recommended dosage 14 - 18mg.\n(D-Calcium Pantothenic)\n10mg (100%)\nIn addition to playing a role in the breakdown of fats and carbohydrates for energy, vitamin B5 is critical to the manufacture of red blood cells, as well as sex and stress-related hormones produced in the adrenal glands (small glands that sit atop the kidneys). Vitamin B5 is also important in maintaining a healthy digestive tract, and it helps the body use other vitamins (particularly B2 or riboflavin). It is sometimes referred to as the \"anti-stress\" vitamin because of its effect on the adrenal glands, but there is no real evidence as to whether it helps the body withstand stressful conditions. Recommended dosage 5 -10mg.\n2mg (100%)\nVitamin B6 helps the body make several neurotransmitters, chemicals that carry signals from one nerve cell to another. It is essential for normal brain development and function, and helps the body make the hormones serotonin and norepinephrine (which influence mood) and melatonin (which helps regulate the body clock). Along with vitamins B12 and B9 (folic acid), B6 helps control levels of homocysteine in the blood. Homocysteine is an amino acid that may be associated with heart disease. B6 is also necessary for proper absorption of vitamin B12 and for the production of red blood cells and cells of the immune system. Recommended dosage 1.3 - 2mg.\n(Folic Acid)\n400mcg (100%)\nFolic acid is crucial for proper brain function and plays an important role in mental and emotional health. It aids in the production of DNA and RNA, the body's genetic material, and is especially important when cells and tissues are growing rapidly, such as in infancy, adolescence, and pregnancy. Folic acid also works closely with vitamin B12 to regulate the formation of red blood cells and help iron function properly in the body. Vitamin B9 works with vitamins B6 and B12 and other nutrients to control blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine. Elevated levels of homocysteine are associated with certain chronic conditions, such as heart disease and, possibly, depression and Alzheimer's disease, although the link isn't clear. Recommended dosage 400 -600mcg.\n6mcg (100%)\nVitamin B12 is an especially important vitamin for maintaining healthy nerve cells, and it aids in the production of DNA and RNA, the body's genetic material. Vitamin B12 also works closely with vitamin B9 (folate) to regulate the formation of red blood cells and to help iron function better in the body. Folate and B12 work together to produce S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe), a compound involved in immune function and mood. Vitamins B12, B6, and B9 work together to control blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine. High levels of homocysteine are associated with heart disease. However, researchers aren't sure whether homocysteine is a cause of heart disease or merely a marker that indicates someone may have heart disease. Recommended dosage 2.4 - 2.8mcg.\n300mcg (100%)\nPreliminary research indicates that a combination of biotin and chromium might improve blood sugar control in some people with type 2 diabete,. Your body needs biotin to metabolize carbohydrates, fats, and amino acids (the building blocks of protein). Biotin is often recommended for strengthening hair and nails and it's found in many cosmetic products for hair and skin. It is a water-soluble vitamin, meaning the body does not store it; however, bacteria in the intestine can make biotin. Recommended dosage 30 - 600mcg.\n100mg (25%)\nEvery organ in the body -- especially the heart, muscles, and kidneys -- needs the mineral magnesium. It also contributes to the makeup of teeth and bones. Most important, it activates enzymes, contributes to energy production, and helps regulate calcium levels as well as copper, zinc, potassium, vitamin D, and other important nutrients in the body. People who have type 2 diabetes often have low levels of magnesium in the blood. A large clinical study of over 2000 people found that getting more magnesium in the diet may help protect against developing type 2 diabetes, studies suggest that taking magnesium supplements in capsule may help blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity in people with diabetes or prediabetes. Recommended dosage 270 - 400mg.\n500mcg (417%)\nPeople with diabetes either do not produce enough insulin or cannot properly use the insulin that their bodies produce. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. As a result, glucose or sugar builds up in the bloodstream. Chromium was later identified as the active component of GTF. Today, scientists believe that chromium helps insulin bring glucose from the blood into the cells for energy. Low chromium levels can increase blood sugar, triglycerides (a type of fat in the blood), cholesterol levels, and increase the risk for a number of conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease. Recommended dosage 24 - 44mcg.\nARP Proprietary Blend (supplying 4.1 gram of fiber per serving)\nMethyl Cellulose Methylcellulose,is one of the main ingredient in DiaFiber, is a plant fiber which is non-allergenic and soluble. .DiaFiber is gluten-free. It is designed to add bulk to the stool and so help waste travel smoothly through the digestive tract.\nFibersol-2 Fibersol®-2 digestion resistant maltodextrin is a low viscosity soluble dietary fiber that clinical research has indicated helps support or maintain intestinal regularity. Clinical studies show that Fibersol®-2 helps to relieve occasional constipation, and select studies show that it improves stool consistency. Studies show that Fibersol®-2 digestion resistant maltodextrin when taken with a meal may attenuate the rise in serum glucose following the meal. Fibersol®-2 has the potential to reduce peak postprandial blood glucose and insulin levels that are within the normal range in healthy individuals. In addition, studies show that Fibersol®-2 does not alter healthy, steady-state blood glucose or insulin levels.\nInulin What inulin does:\n • Nourish the good bacteria in our digestive tracts\n • Improve nutrient absorption\n • Aid in digestion\n • Enhance immune function in the colon\nWhat fiber does:\n • Help lower cholesterol\n • Stabilize blood sugar\n • Keep you filling full longer\n • Cleans the digestive tract with bowel regularity\n • Reduces risk of colon cancer\nApple Pectin Pectin is a complex carbohydrate that occurs in ripe fruits and certain vegetables. Pectin can also be found in peaches, currants, and plums. Apple pectin is a soluble fiber with a great number of health benefits. Apple pectin is a great supplement for anyone with a desire to improve their diet and health through improved digestion and antioxidant effects. The benefits you may experience from supplementing with Apple Pectin are: Helps maintain intestinal balance, Increased soluble fiber intake, Improve the absorption of nutrients by optimizing digestion, Optimize immune system functioning.\nWhole Oat Bran\n(Hydrocolloid Oat Beta-Glucan Soluble Fiber Glucomannan)\nThese statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any desease. Use as instructed Only. Do not take this product if you are pregnant or lactating. Contant a heathcare professional before taking this product. Keep out the reach of children\n\nDiabetes Drugs Information\n\nDiabetes Drugs Information\nHome About Us Partners Complications Diabetes News Products Contact Us\n\n\nCopyright © 2007 American Diabetes Advocates. All rights reserved", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.999754786491394} +{"content": "Frequently Asked Questions\n\nWhy the lottery process?\n\nHow does the lottery process work?\n\nWhat are the next steps if my student is accepted?\nEach student who is accepted will receive an email notification and will be given a set number of days to accept the invitation. If a response is not received during this period, the student will forfeit his or her place in the program.\n\nStudents on the waitlist will be notified by email. An additional email will be sent if there is a cancellation and the waitlist student is accepted.\n\nHow many students will the McNab Program accept?\nThe lottery is typically limited to 60 families.\n\nWho is accepted into the McNab Program?\n\nHow much does the McNab Program cost?\n\n\nHow long and when is the McNab Program?\nMcNab is a two-day program on the Davidson College campus and will take place on Thursday and Friday, June 8-9, 2017.\n\n\nWhat is the schedule?\nWhile this year's schedule has not yet been determined, you may view a past/sample schedule to get an idea of the program.\n\nHow can I enter the lottery?\nThe registration link for the lottery will be active on this site between Monday, Feb. 27, and Monday, March 6, 2017.\n\nNo childcare will be provided during the McNab program. Due to the interactive nature of McNab for both students and parents, we can only accommodate those actually participating in the program.\n\nIs there a dress code?\nDress for the program is casual.\n\nWhat is the refund policy?\nA full refund will be awarded for those who are unable to attend if notification is received by May 26th. Please contact Tammy Forthofer at or 704-894-2710 with questions.\n\nWhat should I do if I anticipate needing special accommodations?\n\nIf you require special assistance, we are happy to help. Please contact Tammy Forthofer at or 704-894-2710 with specific questions or concerns.\n\n\n\nCan a parent attend without a student?\n\n\nWho do I contact if I have questions?\n\n • Office of Alumni Relations: Betsy McIntyre at or 704-894-2715 (questions about lottery entry)\n • Office of Admission and Financial Aid: Tammy Forthofer at or 704-894-2710 (all other questions)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9656123518943787} +{"content": "Archive for December, 2012\n\nDecember 24th, 2012\n\n\n\nGreen Patent Blog is on vacation.\n\nHappy Holidays!\n\n\n\n\nShaping IP Rights in SCADA Systems to Benefit Wind Turbine Purchasers\n\nDecember 21st, 2012\n\n\nAs the sales of wind turbines increase, it is likely that the disputes between suppliers and purchasers will also increase. Wind turbines encompass a variety of tangible and intangible components, including the software necessary for operations and maintenance. \n\nOne contractual issue that turbine suppliers and purchasers may dispute is what the supplier believes is proprietary information, but the purchaser and now owner, believes is necessary to the turbine operation and maintenance and to protect its investment after the warranty period expires.\n\nAfter the sale of a wind turbine, but during the warranty period, the supplier is responsible for ensuring the turbine is operating successfully and the purchaser of a wind turbine is often provided access to the wind turbine data necessary for maintenance and monitoring of systems.\n\nThis includes the software licenses utilized by the supplier for remote monitoring, which is typically referred to as the Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (“SCADA”) system. Consequently, when the warranty period expires, and the supplier withholds the SCADA information, the purchaser is left in a bind.\n\nFollowing the expiration of a wind turbine’s warranty period, the purchaser of the turbine should be granted unrestricted and full access to the SCADA system, software, and access codes for automated control capabilities in order to effectively and efficiently perform on-going maintenance and monitoring, to resolve and restore turbine operations following fault conditions to ensure wind turbines meet investment objectives, and comply with permits and grid control requirements.\n\nGenerally, SCADA systems allow remote access to a device to monitor and maintain the device. For example, the OnStar® system used by General Motors (“GM”) in its vehicles would likely be considered a SCADA system. For a monthly fee, OnStar® remotely monitors and accesses the vehicle, and includes features such as “automatic crash response,” where the system automatically sends information to a remote center in the event of a collision; vehicle diagnostic and maintenance information; and the ability to remotely shut down a stolen vehicle.\n\nNow imagine you purchased a GM vehicle equipped with OnStar®. Assume the information provided by OnStar® was necessary to the vehicle’s operation and maintenance. You enjoyed all of the features of OnStar®, but after the OnStar® warranty expired, you wanted to switch to another (fictional) company, MonITor. \n\nHowever, GM was unwilling to provide you, or MonITor, the information necessary to access the vehicle’s software system. And, without the access codes to the software, you were unable to use the vehicle. In other words, without OnStar®, you did not have a vehicle, but merely a nice place to sit. However, GM was willing to extend your existing OnStar® contract with them, for a fee of course. \n\nCurrently, some wind turbine owners face a similar situation. In these cases, the wind turbine purchaser is comparable to the vehicle owner. During the warranty period, the purchaser is (1) granted a limited right to use the software supplied; (2) provided access to the turbine data necessary for maintaining and monitoring systems; and (3) provided access to the codes and software licenses utilized by the supplier for performing services such as remote monitoring and reports. \n\nIf the turbine is not operating, or not operating efficiently, the purchaser needs access to the SCADA system to restore the turbine to peak operating conditions, and to ensure it’s meeting the regulatory requirements for operating the turbine or the owner will lose money on its investment. \n\nSome SCADA systems for wind turbines are protected by patents. For example, GE owns U.S. Patent 7,013,203, which claims “[a] supervisory command and data acquisition (SCADA) system to manage a wind farm.” \n\nSCADA system software should be protected under patent law and doctrine because the combination of patent protection and patent exhaustion would balance the rights of turbine suppliers and owners. \n\nAs stated in the Supreme Court’s Quanta Computer opinion, the patent exhaustion doctrine, “provides the initial authorized sale of a patented item terminates all patent rights to that item.”\n\nIn Quanta, the Court held that the doctrine of patent exhaustion applies to the authorized sale of a components that “substantially embody” a method patent and reaffirmed that “the right to vend is exhausted by a single, unconditional sale, the article sold being thereby carried outside the monopoly of the patent law and rendered free of every restriction which the vendor may attempt to put on it.”\n\nThis situation, in which the purchaser of a wind turbine was merely granted a non-exclusive license to use copyrighted SCADA software, is comparable to the Quanta case. First, for the sale of the wind turbine itself, the patent exhaustion doctrine “provides that the initial authorized sale of a patented item terminates all patent rights to that item.” \n\nThe sales of wind turbines as tangible products that incorporated method patents, such as the SCADA software, should exhaust the wind turbine supplier’s patent rights (or copyright) because the purchaser cannot practice the wind turbine, nor does it function at all, until the wind turbines are combined with a computer system. Thus, the wind turbines substantially embodied the SCADA system software because they had no reasonable noninfringing use and included all of the inventive aspects of the patented methods.\n\nSecondly, the SCADA license should be comparable to the license of a method patent and patent exhaustion should apply, even if the software is copyrighted. Here, the SCADA system software is comparable to a method patent, and patent holders could avoid exhaustion by using copyrights, when they should use patents to protect the SCADA software.\n\nThus, the patent exhaustion doctrine should apply, and the sale of the software in the presumably patented wind turbine should exhaust the rights to the software, even if it is protected under copyright law.\n\nThe wind turbine supplier certainly has the right to protect proprietary information, but it is the purchaser who has the most to lose. The purchaser has a substantial investment in the tangible wind turbine itself, and needs the ability to continue operating and maintaining the turbine after the warranty period expires. Without access to the necessary information, the pruchaser might be unjustly forced to continue its contract with the supplier.\n\nThe patent exhaustion doctrine should be used for SCADA software purchased in conjunction with a wind turbine, which will necessarily change the type of enforcement of intellectual property rights available to companies for licenses of SCADA software sold in conjunction with wind turbines.\n\n\n*Sara Kelley is currently in her third and final year at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. She received her undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from San Diego State University.\n\nThis is the third of three posts highlighting work by students who took my seminar class – Green Technology, Climate Change, and Intellectual Property Law – this semester at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. – Ed.\n\nAre the FTC Green Guides a Solution to Reverse Greenwashing?\n\nDecember 20th, 2012\n\nGreenwashing, the concept of self-promotion through misrepresenting the greenness of one’s own product, has been well documented (see, e.g., here and here). \n\nThis ploy is designed to take advantage of green consumers, captivating their attention by falsely promoting how a company’s product might have been made or how it can be disposed of, including false or exaggerated claims of the “greenness” of the production process or the product’s recyclability. \n\nThere are protections already in place that are designed to punish and deter such practice. However, greenwashing might be just half of the problem. In recent years, a newer, equally disturbing trend has emerged in the green marketplace. This unfortunate trend has been dubbed “reverse greenwashing.” \n\nMuch like greenwashing, reverse greenwashing is a process of misrepresenting or misshaping facts to promote sales. However, unlike greenwashing, reverse greenwashing is the process of misrepresenting facts relating to someone else’s products – downplaying or attacking the “greenness” of that other product in an effort to boost the credibility and sales of one’s own product. \n\nThere are several severe consequences to allowing rampant reverse greenwashing to occur. Most notably, there is a potential massive evasion of consumption by the victim company’s target market, the green consumers, which could seemingly cripple that company’s bottom line.\n\nMuch like greenwashing, rampant, unchecked reverse greenwashing could reward a company for promoting its product in all the wrong ways, resulting in a harming of those consumers who were duped into purchasing one product at the expense of another’s. \n\nLastly, the environment could be harmed by these reverse greenwashing strategies, as consumers could potentially be avoiding the purchase of actual green and environmentally safe products and instead result in the purchase of products that might be less green than originally thought.\n\nThese are just some of the potential ill effects of greenwashing – which begs the question, how can we protect consumers and the environment from reverse green washing? \n\nThe Federal Trade Commission, an independent agency of the U.S. government responsible for consumer protection introduced the “Green Guides” in 1992. These Green Guides were created to ensure fair practice methods, requiring marketers of green products to substantiate the claims regarding their products, in effect protecting consumers from the ill effects of green washing. Multiple revisions have been made to these Green Guides, most recently in October of 2012. \n\nHowever, the question remains, do the Green Guides apply in the context of reverse greenwashing? Due to the suddenness of the trend and lack of case law involving issues of reverse greenwashing, this question has yet to be definitively answered. \n\nThe most recent and most publicized case involving claims of reverse greenwashing was that of Hilex Company v. ChicoEco, in which ChicoEco, maker of the popular ChicoBag, was accused of misrepresentating claims regarding the environmental impact of single use plastic bags in order to boost their own sales. \n\nHowever, this case settled just months after the filing of the complaint, never resolving the issue of whether these Green Guides actually apply in the context of reverse green washing. \n\nDue to the recency of this trend, there has not been much discussion on the topic of protecting potential victims of reverse green washing. The Guides were originally designed to buck the trend of greenwashing. \n\nAlthough the Green Guides have not specifically addressed reverse greenwashing, there is some language in the guides and later revisions that might lead a reasonable person to believe that they could be interpreted to intend to prevent this variation on greenwashing.\n\nMore particularly, the General Principles of the 2012 Green Guides are covered in section 260.3 and state that the Guides apply to all environmental marketing claims: \n\n [t]he following general principles apply to all environmental marketing claims…\n\nA reasonable interpretation is that this language is intended to include all or every type of environmental claim, not just greenwashing, but can extend to the context of reverse greenwashing as well. Without further reading of the Guides, a simple conclusion can be made, which is that these guides must have meant to address reverse greenwashing. After all, what language is more inclusive than the word all?\n\nUnlike the previous versions of the Guides published in 1992, 1996, and 1998, the 2012 Guides include specific examples of the types of claims that are being discussed under the headings. The 2012 guides are substantially more in depth than the previous editions, with the newest revisions being six times larger than the previous revision made in 1998. \n\nMost relevant to this discussion is Section 260.3(d), which addresses General Principles and Comparative Claims. This section was not included in the previous versions of the guides. \n\nThe language of this section states:\n\ncomparative environmental marketing claim should be clear to avoid consumer confusion about the comparison. Marketers should have substantiation for the comparison. (emphasis added).\n\nThe Guides also provide several examples of the types of claims these cover. Example 3 under 260.3(d) states as follows:\n\nAn advertiser claims that its packaging creates “less waste than the leading national brand.” The advertiser implemented the source reduction several years ago and supported the claim by calculating the relative solid waste contributions of the two packages. The advertiser should have substantiation that the comparison remains accurate. (emphasis added).\n\nIs this the Federal Trade Commission’s attempt at addressing the issue of reverse greenwashing? Or is “less than the leading national brand” too generic of an example? \n\nThe Hilex complaint addresses multiple specific claims made by ChicoBag regarding the adverse environmental effects of Hilex’s plastic bags. Hilex, however, brought suit in 2011 – a year before these Guides were officially published. Their only basis of contention that the Green Guides address reverse greenwashing could be under the 1998 Guides’ 260.3’s General Provisions. \n\nPer Roscoe B. Starek, III, past Commissioner of the FTC:\n\n“…comparative claims should be clear so that consumers know whether the comparison is to a previous version of the advertiser’s product or to a competitor’s product.” \n\nIs this the Federal Trade Commission’s attempt at addressing reverse greenwashing? It is very difficult to tell, as this statement and the Green Guides’ 2010 proposed revisions came out prior to the Hilex case. Therefore, they were likely speaking more in generalities rather than addressing a specific trend of reverse greenwashing.\n\nAlthough the FTC seemingly tailored these guides to avoid trends of greenwashing in the 1990’s, the numerous revisions over the years show the FTC’s growing concern about consumer protection. Although the language of the guides make it clear that the Guides should apply in the context of reverse greenwashing, we must patiently await a Court decision that suggests that they, in fact, do apply.\n\nIn any event, the Federal Trade Commission should revise the Green Guides to specifically address reverse greenwashing, as it has always been the intent of the Federal Trade Commission to address any and all issues arising in the green advertising context to make the Green Guides as comprehensive and as clear as possible.\n\n\n*Brandon Simon is currently in his third and final year at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and is a senior law clerk at The Simon Law Group, LLP a practice dedicated solely to personal injury. He received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration in 2009 from George Washington University.\n\n\nWhen Will Nuclear Go Green?: Why We Should Recycle Fuel Rods\n\nDecember 19th, 2012\n\nThis country has started to pay a lot of attention to solar, wind, and clean coal technologies. But why does nuclear get shunned from the spotlight?\n\nThe United States gets 20 percent of its energy from nuclear power, third behind coal and natural gas. How many ads have you seen for “clean coal” or natural gas in the last year? But when was the last time anyone saw an ad on television for recycling nuclear fuel?\n\nThe most basic of environmental actions is recycling, but unlike other countries, we do not recycle our fuel rods. Instead of recycling the fuel rods, new material is mined, enriched, and used as fuel.\n\nWith a limited supply of natural resources, and the consumption of resources to store the used fuel, we need make this source of power more environmentally friendly. One of the most basic paths to reducing environmental impact is recycling.\n\nI. Why Recycle?\n\nNuclear reactors use only five percent of the fissionable material in a fuel rod. However, instead of putting that 95 percent to use generating power, the United States puts it in temporary storage. As of 2011, 65,000 metric tons of nuclear fuel rods are being stored in the U.S., almost all at the individual reactor sites.\n\nIf the technology exists and is safely being used by our international friends, and the U.S. thinks of itself as a world leader, why are we not recycling? It is estimated that if we recycled the fuel rods that are currently seen as waste, we would have enough energy to power the entire country for more than 12 years. That is a lot of fossil–free energy\n\nNuclear power is in use in over 30 countries. The technology to recycle nuclear fuel exists, and in use in six countries today – but not in the country that essentially started the nuclear field. France gets 78 percent of their power from nuclear energy. They recycle their fuel, are not in the news for nuclear incidents or security issues.\n\nIn the United Kingdom, it is a similar story. They get 19 percent of their power from nuclear energy and they recycle.\n\n\n2. The Opposition\n\nUnfortunately, the nuclear industry suffers from a stigma in this country. Part of this stigma goes back to the fact that nuclear power was introduced to this country as a weapon – something to be feared. In many ways that fear persists today, and has hampered our implementation of newer technologies. Technology born in this country, and improved upon and implemented in other countries, should come home.\n\nAt one point, not recycling was a political decision. In 1976, the Federal government banned nuclear recycling. At that time, there was a national security concern involving nuclear energy. Considering the time – the cold war – it is understandable. The laws have since changed, but not the mindset. The country – the world – is going green, and it is time for our nuclear energy program to get with the times.\n\nThere are two major points of opposition to recycling spent fuel. The first is cost, and the second is security – specifically proliferation of plutonium. While both are legitimate concerns, their magnitude is not as significant as they claim to be.\n\nThere are some that argue that the cost of recycling nuclear fuel is too high. Then again, there are people that say the cost of alternative energy is too high. Yet, as a society, we have decided that the benefits of alternative energy outweigh the upfront costs of design and implementation, as well as the increased cost of the power.\n\nBut the government needs to help. Recently, the United States government spent $1.5 billion to support renewable energy, but spent over twice as much to support fossil fuels. If the government continues to favor fossil fuels, going green will be even harder.\n\nThe cost of designing, licensing, constructing/modifying, and operating a facility to recycle nuclear fuel rods is high. However, just like alternative energy, it is done for the greater good – to help the environment. Just like recycling of other products, there is less mining, transportation, and waste.\n\nBy lowering the amount of mining and waste, there is a benefit to society and the environment. That benefit is hard to put into dollars, yet we seen past that issue for solar and wind energy.\n\n\nIII. The Technology\n\nAs with most things, there is more than one approach to nuclear recycling. One approach is to recycle the current stockpile of spent fuel. This is referred to as reprocessing, and is currently being done outside the U.S. using the PUREX process.\n\nThe second approach is a closed cycle reactor system. A closed cycle design incorporates recycling into the process so that the fuel is regenerated. This is a called a “breeder” reactor for its ability to create its own fuel.\n\n\nA. Reprocessing\n\nThe technology to reprocess spent nuclear fuel has been around for over 65 years. In 1960, the Atomic Energy Commission (predecessor of the U.S. Department of Energy) was granted U.S. Patent No. 2,924,506 (‘506 Patent) from an application filed in 1947.\n\nThe ‘506 Patent is for an extraction process using a solvent–based solution to separate plutonium from an aqueous solution. In essence, the process separates usable materials from transuranic waste and other elements generated during nuclear fission so the usable materials can be reprocessed into new fuel rods.\n\nDespite the fact that commercial reprocessing is not done in the United States, the DOE is funding work on technology related to reprocessing nuclear fuel. This work is typically done at the national laboratories, specifically Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Lab, and Argonne National Laboratory. \n\nThe ‘506 Patent is just one of the 151 patents DOE has been granted since 1956 involving nuclear fuel reprocessing, for technologies range from the processes and chemical solutions, to the containers for the fuel rods.\n\nThe ‘506 patent is cited as prior art for three patents, two of which are important technological offshoots. In 1976, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority was granted U.S. Patent No. 3,959,435 (‘435 Patent). This patent uses a nitric acid solution to reduce the mount of tributyl phosphate used in the PUREX process.\n\nIn 1984, Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH in Germany was granted U.S. Patent No. 4,442,071 (‘071 Patent). This innovation changes the PUREX process to utilize sulfuric acid. While these two variants of the PUREX process are not compatible, both have provided a basis for a significant number of future patents.\n\nBattelle LLC, with DOE provided funding, recently filed U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0250108. This patent application claims the invention improves the reprocessing of fuel used in light water reactors by reducing the number of steps, making the process safer, and reducing cost.\n\nThere are modifications to the PUREX process designed for specific purposes. TRUEX is a modified PUREX process that removes transuranics (TRU) during reprocessing. This process was created in the U.S., and two of the patents came out of Argonne National Laboratory (U.S. Patent Nos. 4,548,790 and 4,574,072).\n\nDIAMEX (DIAMideEXtraction) process uses different chemicals to avoid the creation of gases that could lead to acid rain. The DIAMEX process is a French innovation, and patented in the U.S. under U.S. Patent Nos. 4,572,802 and 4,938,871.\n\nThere is also SANEX (Selective ActiNide Extraction) (see, e.g., U.S. Patent Nos. 4,461,747, 4,867,951, and 5,256,383), which allows the separation of actinides and lanthanides in the PUREX process. There are no less than five other modified methods currently in use or under development.\n\nAdditional work is focused on the non–proliferation issue. To that end, modifications to the PUREX process are being tested that would prevent pure plutonium from being separated during reprocessing. One of these is called UREX (URranium EXtraction). UREX is designed to prevent plutonium from being extracted during reprocessing, and reduce the amount of waste requiring long–term storage.\n\nBecause some of these modifications only target one aspect of the PUREX process, they can be used together. For example, the UREX+ and UREX–1a processes each use four of the modifications, but the combinations are different.\n\nU.S. Patent No. 7,854,907 is focused on targeting the separation of technetium during fuel reprocessing was granted in 2010. This process claims to be applicable to UREX and UREX+ reprocessing methods. Operators are able to adjust the PUREX process by combining the different modifications in order to achieve change the elements or combination of elements at the end of the process.\n\nOne of the most recent technological developments to the PUREX process comes from France. The process, named COEX™, was granted U.S. Patent No. 7,887,767 in the U.S. in 2011. This modification of the PUREX process keeps the plutonium with uranium together during the reprocessing, but allows uranium to be separated out. This addresses the non–proliferation concern. It also reduces the number of steps involved in reprocessing.\n\nB. Fast Reactors and Breeder Reactors\n\nFast reactors are a different type of nuclear reactor. Unlike most commercial reactors, a fast reactor does not slow fission neutrons. As a result, these neutrons cause more fission as they collide with fissile nuclei. The concept for fact reactors was patented in 1965 by U.S. Patent No. 3,212,982.\n\nBreeder reactors are a type of fast reactor that can produce more fission material than they consume. Beloyarsk 3 in Russia is a BN–600 reactor, and is currently the only commercial fast reactor (but has not been used to breed fuel). These reactors used a liquid metal, liquid sodium, something that was covered by U.S. Patent No. 3,498,880 by the French Atomic Energy Commission in 1966.\n\nWhen the reactor is set to match burning and production, it becomes a self-contained power generator. That means that over the operational life of the reactor, no new fuel need be brought in, and no waste would be removed from the site.\n\nIn the early 1980’s, Argonne West reconfigured the Experimental Breeder Reactor–II (EBR–II), and tested what is known as an Integral Fast Reactor (IFR). The IFR program combined different technologies, such as electrorefining, metallic fuel, a passive cooling system, and a sodium cooled reactor, to achieve the goal of eliminating the two biggest concerns regarding nuclear energy, proliferation of weapons grade materials and nuclear meltdown.\n\nOne of the technologies came from General Electric, which worked on the reactor design and obtained U.S. Patent No. 4,508,677 describing a small, modular reactor design.[1]\n\nSafety is always a concern when it comes to nuclear power. As seen in Japan, loss of cooling to reactors is a major problem. The designers of IFR knew this, and set out to remedy the issue – and they did. The IFR passively shuts down when cooling is compromised.\n\nThe IFR was designed to solve the two major concerns of nuclear power, but the design is also important to recycling efforts. The IFR can use spent nuclear waste for fuel. Just as the IFR consumes transuranics in its own fuel, it can start the reaction process using transuranic elements in spent fuel from our current reactors. This provides an additional method of recycling the spent nuclear fuel we have now.\n\nThis also means that weapons grade material, such as plutonium from dismantled weapons, can be processed with other fuels in the reactor making them unusable for military applications. Because the IFR can be consumed, breed, or match burning and production, the reactor can be used for different purposes.\n\nAs a consumer, IFR can use the current spent fuel and military waste for fuel. There would be waste generated, but not like the spent fuel we have now. In order to prevent the proliferation of nuclear material, the IFR was designed to commingle elements, not separate or purify. The waste generated from an IFR reactor can be separated so that the actual “waste” volume is reduce, as well as the time need for safe storage.\n\nThe technology used to separate the plutonium with uranium from the waste is electrorefining. The process described in U.S. Patent No. 5,336,450 (‘450 Patent) was designed to work with the IFR reactor.\n\nOne of the significant advancements over previous electrorefining methods, such as the “Process to Separate Transuranic Elements from Nuclear Waste” described in U.S. Patent No. 4,814,046, is that the ‘450 Patent process is a semi–continuous process as opposed to a batch process.\n\nC. The Future of IFR and Fast Reactors\n\nGeneral Electric is in the process of developing a reactor named PRISM (Power Reactor Innovative Small Module). The design underwent a pre–application review in the early 1990’s, and benefited the IFR program. PRISM is a sodium cooled, metal fuel design reactor very similar to IFR. This is because General Electric worked on the reactor design of the IFR project.\n\nAlso, the fuel for PRISM was tested as part of the IFR program. One of differences is that IFR uses a metal alloy fuel, and PRISM can use ceramic or metal fuel. In an effort to commercialize PRISM, GE’s small modular approach is designed to be scaled up by adding additional units, as described in U.S. Patent No. 6,185,269, and on GE’s website.\n\nFast breeder reactors, specifically the IFR, are not being commercially utilized in the United States, though interest, as well as research and advancements related to the technology continue.\n\nEarlier this year, Sandia National Laboratory released a report considering licensing of sodium fast reactors, such as IFR. The report concluded there were two challenges regarding resurrecting the IFR project. The first is recovering the historical data from the project. The second is integrating the technological advancements to the components of the system.\n\nOne of the improved pieces is the electrorefiner used to separate uranium and other transuranic elements, specifically plutonium, from spent fuel. Argonne National Laboratory has continued to work on this technology since, and was granted U.S. Patent No. 8,097,142 in January 2012 for their most recent innovation. This technology continues to be important because non–proliferation is still a concern with reprocessing of spent fuel.\n\n\nIV. Conclusion\n\nThese technologies are moving forward, but our domestic implementation is lacking. Nuclear energy can be greener, and the technology exists to make it happen. Implementing these types of technologies will significantly reduce the amount of nuclear waste generated and stored.\n\nAdditionally, these technologies will minimize the environmental impact of the energy we consume by reducing mining, and the amount of carbon dioxide generated by fossil fuels. The merits of the technologies created and tested in the United States have been proven, and PUREX is in commercial use. The United States should tackle the challenge today instead of passing the burden to future generations. \n\nIt is time to reduce our environmental impact, update our nuclear technology, and recycle our nuclear fuel.\n\n\n*Michael Morphew is in his second year at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. He received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington in Seattle.\n\n\nThe Incredible Mr. Wilkins: GE Wins Wind Patent Ownership As Court Finds Testimony Too Impeachy*\n\nDecember 17th, 2012\n\nIn previous posts (here, here, and here), I discussed a major offshoot of the GE-Mitsubishi wind patent war in which GE and a former employee, Thomas Wilkins, tussled over ownership of two of the patents involved in the larger litigation.\n\nThe remaining patent-at-issue in this ownership dispute was U.S. Patent No. 6,921,985 (‘985 Patent). The ‘985 Patent is directed to a wind turbine that includes a blade pitch control system and a turbine controller coupled with the blade pitch control system. To increase the reliability of the turbine’s power supply, the turbine controller causes the blade pitch control system to vary pitch in response to transitions between different power sources.\n\nAfter Wilkins brought a lawsuit to correct inventorship, Mitsubishi intervened in the suit. The case aroused Mitsubishi’s interest because the ‘985 Patent is one of several asserted by GE against Mitsubishi in at least two lawsuits.\n\nThe court recently conducted a six-day bench trial to decide whether Wilkins should be named a co-inventor of the ‘985 Patent and issued a decision answering the question in the negative.\n\nTo overcome the presumption that the named inventors on a patent are correct, an alleged co-inventor must prove his inventive contribution by clear and convincing evidence. The putative inventor can’t rely on his testimony alone. Rather, there must be evidence to corroborate his testimony.\n\nApparently, Wilkins was his own worst enemy in the trial. The court found his testimony not credible, and the proffered corroborating witness testimony fell short because the witnesses either relied on Wilkins or failed to provide ample basis for their opinions.\n\nThe court found Wilkins undermined his own credibility by providing “purposefully evasive” responses to even basic questions. He was “repeatedly impeached during cross-examination, to the point where the veracity of even simple answers were called into question.”\n\nIn its decision, the court had more harsh words for Mr. Wilkins, whom it also described as appearing to be a pawn of Mitsubishi:\n\nMr. Wilkins leaves this case with no credibility. He was a purchased witness/party, and whether or not that was the intent of Mitsubishi, clearly that was the result. His bias is only paralleled by his attitude that this is all a game. His definition of truth seems to be that which personally will benefit him the most….Impeachment during cross examination became so constant that it became routine, even to the point of the Court’s finding it difficult to believe the obvious without corroboration…\n\nhaving observed Mr. Wilkins’ demeanor during examination, the Court is left with the firm impression that Mr. Wilkins is a game player who was more concerned about gaining personal advantage than testifying truthfully.\n\nTaking all these factors together, the Court does not find Mr. Wilkins’ trial testimony to be credible evidence.\n\nAccordingly, GE retains full ownership of the ‘985 Patent as the court held Wilkins was not a co-inventor:\n\nthe Court concludes that the heavy burden of proof by clear and convincing evidence has not been met, and therefore Mr. Wilkins should not be named a co-inventor of the ‘985 patent.\n\n\n*Mr. Wilkins disputes the accuracy of this post.\n\n\nDecember 15th, 2012\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIntellectual Property and Clean Technologies\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA Green Intellectual Property Exchange?\n\n\n\nThe Creative Commonscelebrating its 10th birthday – has established the GreenXChange.\n\n\n\nHowever, developed countries rebuffed such compromises.\n\n\nIntellectual Property, Piracy, and Climate Change\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Climate Technology Centre\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFalsely Over 40?: Hyundai and Kia Collide with Consumer Class Actions Alleging Greenwash\n\nDecember 13th, 2012\n\n\nAt the heart of these “garden variety” greenwashing cases (see, e.g., here and here for examples of the other kinds) are allegations that the automakers built advertising campaigns around representations that a number of their vehicles achieved gas mileage in the 40 mile per gallon range when the companies knew or should have known the actual mileage was signficantly lower. The mpg was also alleged to be misrepresented on many of the vehicles’ window stickers.\n\nSome of the advertising statements cited in the cases include:\n\n“With its 29 mpg city and 40 mpg highway standard fuel economy rating, Elantra is a perfect vehicle for consumers looking for an affordable solution to rising gas prices….”\n\n“In the first quarter of 2012, 39 percent of all Hyundai vehicles sold achieved 40 mpg on the highway thanks in large part to Elantra’s continued success.”\n\nThe Hyundai Accent manages “a best-in-class standard 40 mpg fuel economy rating on the highway” and “achieves a category-leading 30 mpg city/40 mpg highway rating, making it one of four Hyundai nameplates to eclipse teh 40 mpg mark.”\n\nKia’s web site states that the Optima Hybrid, Rio, Soul, and Sportage have all received the EPA SmartWay Certification Mark – a designation given by the EPA “to the cleanest most fuel efficient vehicles.”\n\nAccording to the complaints, an EPA investigation prompted by consumer inquiries found the gas mileage was overstated in seven Hyundai models and six Kia models, with as much as a 6 mpg discrepancy in some models. The complaints further state that Kia and Hyundai admitted they had misrepresented mile per gallon and fuel efficiency data.\n\nOne complaint notes the historic significance of the EPA audit:\n\nThe EPA’s Hyundai/Kia investigation is the first instance where the EPA has found a large number of vehicles from the same manufacturers deviated significantly from the manufacturer represented mileage figures.\n\nThe problem, according to another complaint, was flawed fuel economy testing. More particularly, Hyundai and Kia allegedly made procedural errors in their “coastdown” testing, implementing methods that were not compliant with EPA requirements and “insufficient in design, procedure, content, execution, and/or completeness.” As a result, the fuel economy ratings were “affected, inaccurate, and overstated.”\n\nOne of the complaints notes that Kia and Hyundai said they would implement a “refund” program, but calls the program “fraught with problems.” Instead, most of the actions seek injunctive relief relating to the companies’ advertising, restitution, and monetary damages.\n\n“Defendants apparently placed profit before integrity in the marketing and sale” of their vehicles, one of the complaints summarizes. That plaintiff also quoted an Edmonds analyst’s seemingly apt prediction:\n\n“In an industry where reputation is so important, this will undoubtedly give both carmakers ugly black eyes.”\n\nGuest Post: Gaston Kroub on Two International Clean Tech Conferences\n\nDecember 10th, 2012\n\nPart II: Eilat, Israel\n\nIn my previous post, I discussed my observations regarding a current and future Cleantech giant – China. As I noted in that post, I also spoke recently at an Israeli Global Cleantech conference, held in Eilat in late November.\n\nIsrael has long been an innovation leader in the Cleantech space, a phenomenon driven by the country’s security needs and dearth of natural resources, coupled with a highly educated workforce and established culture of technology innovation.\n\nInterestingly, one of the leading drivers of Cleantech innovation is the Israeli military, which is investing heavily in developing renewable energy sources for its purposes. Of course, many of the military-developed technologies can be easily adapted for civilian use. One example is a portable water purification kit, originally developed for military applications, but also useful for civilian hikers and campers. \n\nA major takeaway from the conference is that the Israeli focus on Cleantech innovation is not wavering in the least. Conference attendees spanned the entire spectrum of Cleantech technology areas, from solar to biofuels to wind.\n\nBecause of the start-up nature of many of the Israeli companies in attendance, there was an unsurprising focus on the financing of Cleantech innovation, whether via venture capital or through strategic partnerships with larger corporations.\n\nThe importance of a robust patent portfolio as an attractant for that investment was well-understood by the companies exhibiting at the conference, irrespective of whether they were competing in a mature market like solar, or looking to advance a disruptive technology in a less-crowded Cleantech field. Target markets for Israeli Cleantech products and services include the USA, EU, China, Korea, and India amongst others.\n\nIn addition to the awareness of intellectual property as a competitive mechanism, there was also a serious focus at the conference on the importance of quality standards for implementation of Cleantech products in the marketplace. One example discussed was a new Israeli electrical standard applicable to electrical switchboards.\n\nIn many ways the conference reflected a mature Cleantech focus within the Israeli business, government, and academic communities. While there was a definite expressed interest in uncovering the next big thing in Cleantech, there was also a decided interest in allocating money and brainpower towards tackling present and solvable issues with existing technology.\n\nInterestingly, there was a sizable Chinese presence at the conference, and a spirit of potential future cooperation was in the air, with China supplying the manufacturing capability and Israel the innovation.\n\nAnd while Israel rightly has earned its place as a net contributor of many promising new Cleantech innovations, it was interesting to see how focused the domestic participants were with also making sure that Israel keeps pace with the world in deploying existing renewable energy technologies – to serve its own energy needs.\n\nWhether that juggling act is successful remains to be seen, but it was heartening to see and experience the vast potential that a country classified as part of the developing world has to help ensure a sustainable future for us all.\n\n\nGuest Post: Gaston Kroub on Two International Clean Tech Conferences\n\nDecember 9th, 2012\n\nPart I: Guangzhou, China\n\nCleantech innovation continues apace, despite the general economic malaise gripping much of the world. Two countries that are heavily invested in renewable energy development are China and Israel.\n\nDespite their extreme differences in population, size, and access to natural resources, these two countries have forced their way onto the global Cleantech innovation stage. Not surprisingly, and as previously noted by this blog, both countries have instituted expedited green patent programs, amongst other policy initiatives aimed at fostering Cleantech innovation. \n\nBoth countries recently hosted Cleantech conferences, where I was privileged to speak on “Green” intellectual property issues, and advocate for increased awareness of those issues on the part of the Cleantech business community. \n\nThe first conference I attended was BIT’s 2nd New Energy Forum in Guangzhou, China, in mid-October. One is immediately struck by the tremendous economic vitality exhibited in Guangzhou, with numerous ongoing construction projects neighboring a like number of recently completed facilities.\n\nWith such rapid development on display, there clearly is a market for sustainable products to use in construction in China. And at the conference itself, numerous personalities from the academic and business worlds discussed the importance of an engaged China in advancing the development and utilization of sustainable products and services. \n\nConsidering the number of attendees that I spoke to who were there on behalf of various departments of the Chinese national and provincial government industries, it is fair to assume that developing a viable Cleantech sector is an important initiative for China.\n\nAnd I noticed an increasing awareness among conference attendees of the importance of intellectual property rights in fostering innovation, and for allowing China to continue to compete globally. Even Chinese manufacturers are become increasingly aware of the need to provide a safe home for foreign know-how, so that innovative Cleantech companies will look to China as a manufacturing partner for their products. \n\nOf course, many in China are sensitive to the reputation of their country in the global business community.\n\nSome officials I talked to were very invested in the ongoing trade dispute regarding solar panels manufactured in China, and the allegations of price dumping that are being pursued in some of China’s target export markets, including the USA. While that dispute looks like it will be an ongoing one, the conference made clear that China is interested in developing its Cleantech sector, and increasing its presence in the Cleantech community worldwide.\n\nIt remains to be seen how tightly China will adhere to enforcing intellectual property rights domestically, and whether Chinese companies will act responsibly regarding intellectual property rights in foreign markets as well.\n\n\nStorage in the Mist: LightSail’s Patented CAES Tech\n\nDecember 7th, 2012\n\n\nLightSail Energy (LightSail) is a Berkeley, California, company that has developed compressed air energy storage technology which may be used for grid-scale storage. \n\nThe company’s central innovation is the injection of a mist of water spray into a compressed air system so the spray rapidly absorbs the heat energy of compression and provides the energy during expansion.\n\nAccording to Cleantech PatentEdge™, LightSail owns at least 52 US, international, and European patents and published applications. U.S. Patent No. 8,240,142 (‘142 Patent) is one of a family of patents relating to the company’s compressed air energy storage system.\n\nThe ‘142 Patent is entitled “Compressed air energy storage system utilizing two-phase flow to facilitate heat exchange” and directed to a compressed air energy storage system (20) including a cylinder device (21) defining a chamber (22), a piston device (23) in the chamber, and a pressure cell (25). The cylinder (21) and pressure cell (25) together form a one stage reversible pressure compression/expansion mechanism (24).\n\nAir enters the system (20) via pipe (10), passes through a filter (26) and enters the cylinder chamber (22) via pipe (30) where it is compressed by the action of the piston (23). Before compression begins, a liquid mist is introduced into the chamber (22) using an atomizing nozzle (44). The volume of mist injected into the chamber (22) is predetermined to be the volume required to absorb all the heat generated during that piston stroke.\n\nAs the mist condenses, it collects as a body of liquid (49e) in the cylinder chamber (22). The compressed air/liquid mixture is then transferred into the pressure cell (25) through outlet nozzle (11) via pipe (51). \n\nAccording to the ‘142 Patent, that is when the critical heat exchange occurs, followed by storage of the air:\n\nIn the pressure cell 25, the transferred mixture exchanges the captured heat generated by compression to a body of liquid (49f) contained in the cell. The air bubbles up through the liquid and on to the top of the pressure cell, and then proceeds to the air storage tank 32, via pipe 33.\n\nAccording to this Greentech Media piece, LightSail’s system is more efficient because it captures and stores both the mechanical energy and the thermal energy used in compressing air. The article reports the company has received a recent funding round by some big name investors, including Bill Gates and Khosla Ventures.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8583816885948181} +{"content": "Social Psychology and the Beliefs Essay\n\n • Length: 5 pages\n • Subject: Sociology\n • Type: Essay\n • Paper: #94639444\n\nExcerpt from Essay :\n\n\nFreud also questioned the value of the so-called \"Golden Rule\" that was very important to much of Mill's political and philosophical positions. Specifically, Freud argued that \"the commandment, 'Love thy neighbour as thyself', is the strongest defence against human aggressiveness…\" but also suggested that this commandment is impossible to fulfill because it requires \"… such an enormous inflation of love [that it] can only lower its value, not get rid of the difficulty. By that, Freud seems to suggest that the main value upon which Judeo-Christian societies depend is little more than a false standard that only redirects the instincts it was intended to control.\n\nMore importantly, Freud goes on to argue that \"…anyone who follows such a precept in present-day civilization only puts himself at a disadvantage vis-a-vis the person who disregards it.\" This means that human beings are naturally selfish and self-centered and that they only do what they believe is in their own interests and that these selfish impulses are much stronger than any external values from society to act differently from those instincts. Therefore, the person who chooses to give up his selfish desires just to follow those artificial values from society for the benefit of other people will always suffer from that choice simply because others cannot be counted upon to do the same.\n\nTo Freud, modern civilization provides many benefits to the individual but only at a tremendous cost. Living in society and with all of the benefits of government protection from the selfishness of others is a benefit. However, the fact that our natural goals and values are change and that we must accept, on a psychological level, the persona dictated by society causes a lot of the psychological pain and trauma that people suffer from in society.\n\nPersonal Response and Conclusion\n\nThere is great value as well as some weaknesses in the positions of both Mill and Freud. Mill's view that the most important function of modern society and of government is to protect individuals from harms caused to them by others is valuable. That is a belief that is consistent with personal freedom and rights because recognizes the right to be free from threats from others. Mill's analysis might have failed to fully define the rights to which we are all entitled but it fully supports the idea that people are much better off living in civilized societies than they would ne fending for themselves in the wild.\n\nFreud's position also has tremendous value, such as in the idea that some of the psychological problems of people are caused by society. However, Freud's view of the relative uselessness of the Golden Rule may be less helpful, because it assumes that the rule cannot be enforced effectively by modern social institutions. In that respect, Freud's analysis might fail because it assumes that the only way a person can benefit from living in society is by following the Golden Rule blindly. Mill would argue, successfully, that it is unnecessary for every individual to love every other individual, as long as government can guarantee the equal protection from the selfishness of people toward one another if they do not genuinely \"love\" one another in…\n\nCite This Essay:\n\n\"Social Psychology And The Beliefs\" (2012, December 11) Retrieved April 29, 2017, from\n\n\"Social Psychology And The Beliefs\" 11 December 2012. Web.29 April. 2017. <>\n\n\"Social Psychology And The Beliefs\", 11 December 2012, Accessed.29 April. 2017,", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9617558717727661} +{"content": "Sorry about that tunnel of doom: 'Something went wrong'\n\nThe apologies for the famous \"purple tunnel of doom\" and various other rigors to which thousands of inauguration-goers appear to have been suggested finally drew some apologies from the powers that be:\n\nSays Feinstein:\n\nI have just spoken with Mark Sullivan, Director of the Secret Service, and I have asked him to convene along with the U.S. Capitol Police, all law enforcement and other parties involved in planning for this Inaugural to conduct a prompt investigation into two serious incidents that have been reported. These reports have prompted great concern by members of the Inaugural Committee, including Senator Bob Bennett, and by Congress in general.\n\nThe specific incidents include the report that a decision was made to cut off access to Purple and Blue standing areas, which meant that a large number of ticketholders could not reach their designated areas.\n\n\nThere may have also been other irregularities, but I have heard enough to know that something went wrong and we need to find out what happened. Mr. Sullivan has indicated that he will provide a full report.\n\nSays the JCCIC:\n\nThe Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies deeply regrets that some ticket holders to the ceremonies were not able to get to their ticketed sections, primarily in the purple and blue zones. The number of tickets issued for these sections was based on historic precedent, and calculations of the number of guests that could safely be accommodated in each area.\n\n\nThe JCCIC, U.S. Capitol Police and our federal and local partners will thoroughly examine every aspect of our planning including ticketing, screening, pedestrian flows, gate numbers and placement, to provide a foundation of lessons learned to future inaugural planners, so that they have the information they need to prevent similar problems.\n\n\nBob Bennett also has an apology out.\n\nUPDATE: A reader who got stuck in the tunnel isn't impressed with the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms's offer \"to arrange a Capitol tour\" as makeup.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9819694757461548} +{"content": "\n\nFind the right swimsuit\n\nFind the perfect\nswimsuit for\nyour figure\n\nLook great. Love swimming.\n\n\n\n\n\nAn athletic body shape means that your hips and bust are in sync with each other, while your waist is not very defined. You may have a bottom that is more flat or toned than round. Printed and bright, colourful suits are best, to accentuate your feminine flair and show off your physique.\n\n\nIf you match an hourglass figure, your bust and hips would be well balanced, and you’d also have a well-defined waist. Your shoulders align well with the width of your hips, as your waist curves down to meet them. It’s likely that you’ve a rounded or toned behind, resulting in a flattering side and front profile. Your upper body is built in proportion in length to your legs.\n\nIf you consider yourself to have an hourglass body type, keeps an eye on our Speedo Sculpture swimsuit styles featuring bold colours, as these will really accentuate your curves.\n\nPear Shaped\n\nIf you identify yourself as having a Pear-Shaped body, your hips will be larger than your bust as your weight will be more focused around your behind and legs, followed by your tummy and upper body. If this is the case, don’t be afraid to show off those curves, and find the swimsuit to highlight your waist and hips. Swimsuits with a colourful or patterned bust are more likely to suit women with a pearshaped figure, as these attract attention to the top.\n\nInverted Triangle\n\nShould you consider yourself aligning with the Inverted Triangle body type, you are likely to have broader shoulders and a wide back. Your hips are slim and your bottom may have a tendency towards the flat side. Your waist is subtle and you have a tendency to gain weight on your tummy and upper body. Swimsuits with a colourful band or patterned motif around the middle can help to accentuate your waist. Alternatively, patterned or printed swimsuits also work well for this body type, covering areas you might not feel as confident about.\n\nSwimsuits to flatter your body shape", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9528754949569702} +{"content": "At the heart of Circle Blvd is a shared task list.\n\nThis list helps your team remember what the group is doing, who is doing what, and when tasks need to be completed. All the changes made to the list are synced through the internet, so everyone on the team sees the same thing.\n\nWe suggest that everyone on your team read this part of the tour, or that its concepts are explained in a coversation.\n\nWhat do we need to do right now?\n\nNext planning meeting\n\nEverything else\n\nHighest priority tasks at the top\n\nIn Circle Blvd, the tasks at the top are what your team is currently working on. Typically, these tasks are expected to be finished within a week.\n\nThe next planning meeting\n\nEvery project has this special milestone. Use it as a cut line for what your team is doing and not doing before your next planning meeting.\n\nAll other tasks below\n\nKeep all other tasks here. Have an idea? Add it to the list, and talk about it later with your team.\n\nMileposts: Dates & deadlines\n\nUse “mileposts” to keep track of deadlines, dates, and events.\n\nIf a task needs to be done before a particular date: Add a milepost to your list, put the date in the milepost's summary, and move the task above it.\n\nFilters: Finding tasks you care about\n\nClicking on a task's owner name will filter your list, showing only tasks owned by that person. Use the icon to show only your tasks.\n\nBy the way, you can assign tasks to anyone, including people without Circle Blvd accounts, and filter on those owners as well.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9894259572029114} +{"content": "Both still seeking their first championship\n\nBoth still seeking their first championship\n\nMore aid is being sent to Africa, more U2 songs are being written and more kids are being whisked away by Pitt-Jolie Ltd., yet the continent still can’t get on stable footing. It’s made me wonder if Africa – the entire Continent – is the Los Angeles Clippers of land masses.\n\nYear after year, Africa comes in last in revenue, tickets sold, attendance and they always get all the perks to turn things around. They get the best minds, they get the most aid, they always get the first draft pick. Yet, none of it seems to work. Clearly this is the fault of mismanagement.\n\nAll the resources are there to win. They have numbers, they have natural resources, they have water, food and industry, yet the people in charge keep messing things up. It’s like Baron Davis, Marcus Camby and Zach Randolph. Very talented individually, but when Mike Dunleavy is put in charge, suddenly you have epidemics, food shortages and civil wars in the Staples Center. Mike Dunleavy is the Robert Mugabe of the NBA.\n\nAlso, both have a lot of black people. If you like your metaphors more direct.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6203516721725464} +{"content": "Gowthami Travels was started in the year 1956 and has a bus fleet of 50 buses including Multi-axle Volvos and Sleepers in both A/c and Non A/c Category. It operates in some of the major routes in Andhra Pradesh. Some of the Important routes of Gowthami Travels include Hyderabad-Kakinada, Hyderabad-Rajahmundry, Kovvuru-Hyderabad, Samarlakota-Hyderabad, etc.\n\nCopyright 2016-2017. Purebus.com\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6747726202011108} +{"content": "How Collaborative Learning Can Enhance Critical Thinking Education Essay\n\nPublished: Last Edited:\n\n\nLearning with the fashion of quiet and lonely is now updated with the construction of new and valid ideas to the support of collaboration where discourse or interchanging ideas can be means to mediate student learning and critical thinking as they participate. I perceive that collaborative learning not only allow student to respect other's opinion during conversion but it also encourages them to view the emerging idea critically and liberation of presenting own thoughts before the group members. This paper demonstrates the provision of collaborative activities can be effective for developing student's critical thinking.\n\nCollaborative learning is based on the model that knowledge can be created within a population where members actively interact by sharing experiences and take on asymmetry roles. Roschelle and Teasley (1995) stated that: \"collaborative learning involves the mutual engagement of participants in a coordinated effort to solve problem together. Put differently, collaborative learning refers to methodologies and environments in which learners engage in a common task where each individual depends on and is accountable to each other. Collaborative learning is heavily rooted in Vygosky's views that there exists an inherent social nature of learning which is shown through his theory of zone of proximal development. Thus, collaborative learning is commonly illustrated when groups of students work together to search for understanding, meaning, or solutions or to create an artifact or product of their learning. Collaborative learning activities can include collaborative writing, group projects, joint problem solving, debates, study teams, and other activities. The advances in technology and changes in the organizational infrastructure put an increased emphasis on teamwork within the workforce. Worker needs to be able to think creatively, solving problems, and make decisions as a team. Therefore, the development and enhancement of critical-thinking skills through collaborative learning is one of the primary goals of technology education.\n\nRole of discourse in collaborative learning\n\nIn according to Johnson and Johnson (1986), there is persuasive evidence that cooperative teams achieve at higher levels of thought and retain information longer than students who work quietly as individuals. The shared learning gives students an opportunity to engage in discussion, take responsibility for their own learning, and thus become critical thinkers (Totten, Sills, Digby, & Russ, 1991). Keeping the view of Johnson and Johnson my perspective of group learning environment is that all members are actively engage in academic dialogue and productive argument and build links between pairs of concepts and organized the ideas from general to specific and they are encourage to express their ideas and convince with solid argument, ultimately its lead them to become more critical thinker. Teacher act in that scenario as discourse guider who guides them in discourse process and summarize the dialogue so far. Mercer, (1995) has referred different kind of talk, he explain that exploratory talk is a fruitful kind of talk which contains critical but constructive use of another participant's idea; challenges to another's ideas are justified and alternative explanation are offered. In exploratory talk knowledge may be made more publicly accountable and reasoning is made more visible in the discourse. (Mercer, 1995)\n\nRole of Technology in support of Collaborative Learning\n\nComputer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is a relatively new analytical framework s, derived from a number of theoretical perspective (e.g., activity theory), which uses technology in learning environment to mediate and support group interactions in a collaborative learning context. CSCL systems use technology to control and monitor interactions, to regulate tasks, rules, and roles, and mean of acquisition of new knowledge. The technology supported collaborative learning evolved in recent time and how it is connect to the learners thinking especially critical thinking aspect. Firstly, computer-mediated collaborative learning requires a high level of autonomy in learners. Secondly, thinking critically in learning can only occur in learners after they have become aware of the critical elements or \"things that matter\" in learning situation. The computer-mediated modal of collaborative learning is in which learners have more control over their own learning. Their needs will arise when they engage in reality. Thus on-site and online social interaction is a source of cognitive advancement, and may play an important role in academic achievement and later in their lives. My perspective that collaboration foster learners' critical thinking and computer-mediated environment support in building communication and reflection on one's own and others thoughts.\n\nHarasim, Hiltz, Teles, and Turoff (1995) define online collaborative learning as \"a learning process where two or more people work together to create meaning, explore a topic, or improve skills.\" CSCL primary aim is to provide an environment that supports collaboration between students to enhance their learning processes. (Resta, 2007), illustrate an example (Alavi, 1994) of higher education in which MBA students who engaged in collaborative group decision support scored higher than other groups. However, researchers found that online groups, compared to face-to-face groups, engaged in broader, more complex, and more cognitively challenging discussions. (Benbunan-Fich, Hiltz, & Turoff, 2003). Keeping in view of Blooms Taxonomy, person involves in critical thinking are at the stage of analysis and synthesis, they formulating workable solution to a complex problem and scientifically arriving at a reasonable level of confidence about a given hypothesis or figure out the reasonable solutions. If we consider collaborative learning environment in the context of learning and developing in thinking process it has many advantages like: learning is active because students take responsibility for their own learning and also accountable for other's learning; they have opportunity to share and reflect on their own thought process and assumption which guide them towards the self-regulated learning. In CSCL, the role of instructor is to support group learning processes and provide them scaffolding at the impasses situation. (Resta, 2007), suggested that Critical element for effective CSCL include the development of instructional goals that targeted higher-order thinking skills and complex problem solving (Dirckinck-Holmfeld, 2002; Hmelo-Silver, 2004).\n\nCSCL has become very popular in the 21st century as computer supported environments have revolutionised the way of learning. Computer networks offer new avenue for social reflection and discussion which gives equal opportunity to the participant to exchange their ideas. This complex learning environment allows learners to engage in discourse, investigate related information, and refine ideas in the domain specific. In the context of CSCL, learners not only encounter with the new knowledge but also assess their emerging concepts and correct their prior beliefs with the dynamic assessment. Here I want to provide you Bio-world example of learning, where students learn through problem-Based learning (PBL) approach (Barrows, 1986) where \"real life\" cases are presented and students are required to define the problem, create hypotheses, gather and analyze data, and evaluate or justify solution collaboratively. It is also a better mediator for scaffolding in learning situation which guide students to where and when they more need of feedback for their self learning. Another example of community practice is begin to understand networked communities where group united by a shared sense of purpose, mutual concern, and a common interest. The education for all 2015 targets (UNESCO, 2000) is pushing teacher education and professional development to developing policy statements that emphasized 21st century knowledge and skills (UNESCO, 1996). These skills include: technology knowledge and skills, higher-order thinking skills, problem solving, communication (reading, writing and mulitimedia), collaboration skills, and most importantly, working with knowledge (e.g., Senge, 2000). This tenet may help in fostering a culture of learning that encourages knowledge sharing and collaboration among participants, create dynamic and evolving communities of practice that share expertise, ideas, and resources, to solve problems and co-create knowledge which may afford to view individual's ideas and reflect upon own thinking and practices ultimately, helping participant to become critical thinker. For e.g. (A. Breuleux, presentation notes, September 14, 2010) share four instructional motives for the use of technology in support of collaborative learning which prepare students for the knowledge society, add flexibility of time and space for collaborative learning, foster student engagement and keep track of student collaborative work, and improve student academic achievement, development of higher order Thinking skills and students satisfaction.\n\n\nMany perspectives contribute to the understanding of technology in support of collaborative learning. The advances of learning science combined with the needs of knowledge society, have offer flexible and challenging learning environments which leads them forward as a critical learner. In this paper computer support collaborative learning framework has discuss with the example of Bioworld and community practice (CoP), how these kind of environment supports teachers, students, practitioners, and learner to enhance better understanding by exchanging their thoughts and reflection on their presupposition of ideas from conscious and unconscious prior learning and their consequences which help in pragmatic improvement.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9984919428825378} +{"content": "1.25-Pound Gold Necklace Uncovered on 2,500-Year-Old French Corpse\n\nBy Logan Sachon\n\nThe gold-adorned 2,500-year-old body of a Celtic prince—or princess—has been uncovered in France.\n\nThe tomb, which dates from the fifth century B.C., was discovered in Lavau, a village near Troyes by a team from the National Archaeological Research Institute (INRAP).\n\nThe discovery was made in March, but INRAP is now revealing the results of research and dating. The body is believed to be that of an aristocrat from the Hallstatts that occupied central Europe during the early Iron Age. The sex of the corpse has not been determined due to the decomposition of the bones.\n\nThe body was wearing a gold necklace that weighed 1.27 pounds, in addition to gold bracelets. Amber beads that are thought to have been part of another necklace or hair piece were also recovered.\n\nIn addition to the jewels, the tomb also included a massive bronze cauldron, a wine jug with gold inlay, and a chariot.\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5235033631324768} +{"content": "Friday, February 3, 2017\n\nCompensation for Injurious Affection: Impact on remaining land or impact on financial position of owners?\n\nAltaLink expropriated a right-of-way over a strip of land from an Alberta couple for an electrical transmission line. In a compensation hearing before the Alberta Surface Rights Board (the \"Board\"), the owners were denied compensation for injurious affection. The injurious affection they claimed was a loss in value of the remainder of their property that was not taken by AltaLink. The owners appealed the Board's decision to the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench and, on appeal, the Court reversed the decision of the Board and awarded the owners $125,780 in lost value plus interest.\n\nThe land in question consisted of two adjacent parcels containing approximately 230 acres, of which approximately 121 acres were cultivated. The owners had purchased the land in February, 2013 for $511,500, and they were aware at that time that AltaLink had received approval from the Alberta Utilities Commission to construct and operate the transmission line across the property. Prior to the purchase of the property, the new owners had rented the property for approximately 27 years, and it appears from the decision that they were able top purchase the property at below market value. The Board found that the market value at the time of the expropriation in 2014 (the date of valuation for the purpose of calculating compensation) was somewhere between $902,000 and $930,000.\n\nThe owners argued that the taking of the right-of-way resulted in a loss of value to the balance of the property that was not taken as right-of-way related to the presence of the right-of-way and the transmission line. They argued that their loss was not limited to the loss of value to the land as they were currently using it, but should be calculated based on their loss of ability to subdivide the property for new residential lots. But for the AltaLink right-of-way, the owners could subdivide and sell the individual lots. They put the value of their loss at 30% of the market value of the property.\n\nThe Court disagreed with the owners that the right-of-way would prevent the development of multiple residential lots, but accepted that the right-of-way would result in a loss in the value of the lots that could be created. On that basis, the Court would have calculated the compensation to be paid to the owners based on a market value loss of 15% (half of the 30% proposed by the owners), or approximately $131,000. The Court then ended by making a finding that the $125,780 that would have been awarded by the minority dissenting member of the Board (in the original hearing) was therefore reasonable and set compensation at that amount.\n\nTaken on its own, the Court's ruling on loss of value to the remainder of the property based on loss of value of prospective subdivision lots is not remarkable. However, what is noteworthy is the Court's rejection of AltaLink's argument that no injurious affection compensation was payable at all because the market value of the property never fell below the amount the owners paid for the property. AltaLink argued, and the majority of the Board had agreed, that an award of injurious affection would result in a windfall for the owners because they had paid substantially less than market value for the property.\n\nBut the Board had incorrectly \"focused on the financial loss to the landowners and not the loss in value of the remaining land ... they were suspicious that the negative impact of the transmission line had already been factored into the sale price.\" The Court ruled that \"the fact that the Appellants purchased the land after the Respondent obtained a permit and license to build the line is of no consequence. The payment for injurious affection is based on the impact on the value of the remaining land, not the impact on the financial position of the owners. This does not result in a windfall or unjust enrichment to the Appellants because, until the line is removed, it will have a negative impact on the Land's value, which is an economic loss.\"\n\nRead the decision at: Koch v Altalink Management Ltd.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9365796446800232} +{"content": "A story of ink and steel\n\n10 minutes\n\nHow collotype printing, an outmoded technology, helps preserve Japan’s heritage\n\nCollotype was a popular commercial photographic process at the turn of the 20th century, but it is nearing extinction as more practical printing technologies become widespread and affordable worldwide. Unlike modern digital printers, collotype copies almost completely preserve the look and colour depth of originals, but, because the process requires a high level of expertise, demand for the technology is nearly zero. The German director Fritz Schumann’s film, A Story of Ink and Steel, profiles Osamu Yamamoto, a printer working at the world’s only, and perhaps last, colour collotype company.\n\nDirector: Fritz Schumann\n\nVideo/Life Stages\n\n\n3 minutes\n\n\n\n6 minutes\n\n\n\n8 minutes\n\nIdea/Computing & Artificial Intelligence\n\nQuantum cryptography is unbreakable. So is human ingenuity\n\nJoshua Holden\n\nEssay/Computing & Artificial Intelligence\n\nRaising good robots\n\nWe already have a way to teach morals to alien intelligences: it's called parenting. Can we apply the same methods to robots?\n\nRegina Rini\n\nVideo/Energy, Resources, & Sustainability\n\nMeet the man bent on powering the world with vortexes\n\n6 minutes\n\n\nHow to build a full pottery workshop from the earth up\n\n11 minutes\n\nIdea/Computing & Artificial Intelligence\n\nThe body is the missing link for truly intelligent machines\n\nBen Medlock\n\nEssay/History of Technology\n\nWeb of war\n\nHow the hair-trigger nuclear age and fears of Armageddon inspired visionary cold warriors to invent the internet\n\nSharon Weinberger", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9272688627243042} +{"content": "Covalent bond With Examples\n\n Covalent bond\n\nHello friends, welcome to our blog, today we are going to discuss the covalent bond. We know that bond means two or more things tie together.Bond may be of different types.\n\nElectrons in a covalent bond\n\nIn the formation of molecule only the electrons present in outermost shell or valence shell of atoms normally participate while the electron belongs to inner energy shell are mostly not involved in the bond formation.\n\nRemember: A bond will form only when combining atoms have minimum energy and maximum stability.This will possible if the atom complete the octet (8 electrons in outermost shell) and achieve the electronic configuration of nearest noble gas atom.\n\nIn covalent bond the combining atoms mutually contribute one, two or three electrons depending upon their requirement the bond formed.This leads the formation of single double and triple bond.\n\nCovalent nond is generally present in the atoms of non metal. This may be either same or different. In case of atoms are same the covalent molecule is known as homoatomic and if the combining atoms are different then it is called as heteroatomic molecules\n\nHomoatomic molecules(non polar covalent): The simplest among them is hydrogen Hmolecule in which both the participating atoms have one electron each initially, share there electron and both achieve the stable electronic configuration.\n\nAnother example:Chlorine molecule Cl2 .In this case both the chlorine atoms that is equals to (atomic no 17) have 7 valance electron and a short of one electron each.They share one electron pair which is an electron is contributed by both the atoms to achieve nearest noble gas configuration.\n\nThe electron pair belonging to individual atoms not involving sharing called as lone pair (example:oxygen molecule).\n\nHomoatomic molecules(polar covalent): In this case the atom taking part in bond formation belongs to different elements. A few examples of heteroatomic molecules are:\n\nIt should be noted that this the structure of molecules or ions in which shared electrons are represented by the dots are known as Lewis dot structure. While those in which these are indicated by line or dashed are called as Couper structures.\n\nPrevious Post\nNext Post", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9991295337677002} +{"content": "Let’s create healthCARING!\n\nBeing a patient means having to yield to the whims of a medical condition and to bend to the regulations and rigidities of the health care system. The word “patient” comes from the same Latin derivative as “patience.” Clearly, it takes great patience to be a patient, and the sicker a person is, the more that patience is put to the test.\n\nMedicine has grown significantly in its ability to diagnose and treat biological disease. Doctors can be proud of their ability to eradicate once fatal infections, prevent heart attacks and transplant failing organs.\n\nThree innovations based on information technology—clinical practice guidelines, electronic medical records, and large-scale population science—will bring medicine into a new biological revolution.\n\n\nThere are amazing, caring clinicians throughout the healthcare system, i.e., physicians, nurses, therapists and so many others. And yet as healthcare leaders we do not position them or their patients for optimal healing.\n\nThis morning I read ‘Health care, health caring and the culture of medicine.’\n\nIf health care is designed to address the needs of patients, health caring is ever mindful that patients are people with feelings that matter. Those feelings almost always include a heightened sense of vulnerability, dependency, and loss of control, which can be internally driven by the underlying condition, but also externally imposed (depending on the quality and tone of the health care encounter), resulting in threatened self-efficacy and personhood.\n\nAnd also an article from Thomas Dahlborg.\n\nHealthcare leaders must do better. They must create and improve systems to position these amazing clinicians to re-engage with the reasons they became healers in the first place. They need to create healthCaring models that allow for ample time and continuity for clinicians and their patients to develop relationships, for authentic human connection to be achieved, for trust to grow, for whole stories to be told and truly heard, and for co-created individualized care pathways to be made.\n\nLet’s create healthCARING. Let’s go back to the Hippocratic Oath …\n\n\nLet’s stop talking about it and let’s just do it!!\n\nSources: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4189570/,http://www.hospitalimpact.org/index.php/2015/01/14/the_importance_of_ritual_in_transforming\n\nGeef een reactie\n\n\nWordPress.com logo\n\nJe reageert onder je WordPress.com account. Log uit / Bijwerken )\n\n\nJe reageert onder je Twitter account. Log uit / Bijwerken )\n\nFacebook foto\n\nJe reageert onder je Facebook account. Log uit / Bijwerken )\n\nGoogle+ photo\n\n\nVerbinden met %s", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7693247199058533} +{"content": "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLa Nina map\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAcorns of all sizes. Weather predictors?\n\nNext month is when many meteorologists make their predictions about the coming winter. The 2017 Farmers’ Almanac was published last month and very cold weather for the northern U.S. Even a few periods of unusually cold weather dipping into the deep south (Florida and the Gulf Coast) was predicted while the Western States will have a milder than normal winter.\n\nBut if you turn to nature for signs, it’s time to do your observations and make predictions within your local area.\n\nNot all weather lore indicators is useful, depending on where you live. I can’t really take note of the early arrival of the Snowy owl, or the early departure of geese and ducks. (Geese and ducks in my area never leave!) I also can’t personally observe any early migration of the Monarch butterfly. All three of those events supposedly indicate a severe winter.\n\nI look to all the indicators – science and popular culture. This is what meteorologists predicted last fall. My teaser post a few weeks ago about predicting the winter to come was popular and earlier posts about signs in nature that might predict the winter are perennially popular ones found in searches. (see links below)\n\nAs always, observations in your own part of the country should be more accurate than blanket U.S. predictions. Think about the weather you had last month, because August is said to indicate the winter to come. Every fog in August supposedly indicates a snowfall. (I observed no fogs. Does that mean no snow? I doubt it.) If the first week in August is unusually warm, the coming winter will be snowy and long. And what about this weather rhyme: If a cold August follows a hot July, it foretells a winter hard and dry.\n\nTake note of how animals in your region look. Squirrels with busy tails and raccoons with thick tails and bright bands mean a rough winter. The same prediction of a rough winter is indicated by mice being very aggressive about getting into your house early. There are also claims that spiders spinning larger than usual webs and entering the house in greater numbers is a sign of severe winter weather.\n\nIn general, animals making preparations for winter early or in out-of-the-ordinary way, is a bad sign. That could be the early arrival of crickets (on the hearth?) or bees taking to the hive earlier. This is part of the same weather lore philosophy that originated the tradition of predicting spring’s arrival by groundhogs and other animal behavior.\n\nThe one I grew up hearing was woolly bear caterpillars (the larvae of Isabella tiger moths). My mother taught me that the width of the middle brown band predicts the severity of the upcoming winter. A narrow band means a bad winter and a wide band means a milder or shorter winter. Those woolly bears have 13 body segments and winter is 13 weeks long. Coincidence? Maybe. Probably.\n\nInsects are popular winter weather signs. If you see ants marching single file or bees building nests high in the trees, get ready for a bad winter.\n\nLabor Day weekend, we were prepping in Paradelle for the arrival of Hurricane Hermine and the wind picked up and acorns started bombarding my backyard deck from the oak trees. The squirrels and birds were also very, very active. You can attribute that to the coming storm, but acorns and squirrels have long been part of weather lore. A bumper crop of acorns (which has been predicted in my area) and squirrels that are more active than usual, is supposed to mean a severe winter. “Squirrels gathering nuts in a flurry, will cause snow to gather in a hurry.”\n\nIs there a weather lore predictor that you have heard? Leave a comment.\n\nMore About Predicting Winter Weather\n\nThoughts of Winter in Summer\n\nWhat does summer tell us about winter?\n\nChecking in on winter with the weather gods\n\n\nThe Old Farmer’s Almanac has always included long-range predictions of the weather. They never reveal their methodology, but I imagine it is part meteorology, part historic patterns, solar cycles and part guessing. This year it predicts that it will be especially bad. Even places that don’t usually get much snowfall, like the Pacific Northwest, will get a lot.\n\nHow did the Almanac do with its August 2016 predictions for Paradelle here in the Atlantic Corridor? They say the temperature would average 74° but it was much hotter this month. Precipitation was predicted at 5.5 inches – 1.5″ above average and the hot weather has brought lots of storms. We did not have any “tropical storm threat” for the 15th-18, and so far, no “hurricane threat” for the 22-31 period – and let’s keep it that way.\n\nPredictions for the upcoming seasons based on signs from nature are probably just as accurate -or inaccurate – but I find them more enjoyable to “read.”\n\n\ncicada cast-off skin\n\nSitting outside this afternoon, I tried guessing at the temperature by listening to some crickets. I do know that crickets chirp faster as temperatures rise, and slower when temperatures fall. I’m sure my parent’s were unaware of Dolbear’s Law when they told me about crickets and temperature (Temperature = 50+[(N-40)/4] where N = the number of chirps per minute), and math is not one of my strengths, but I could tell it was getting hotter.\n\nIf you can’t distinguish a cricket “song” from a cicada or a katydid, listen to a field cricket sound.\n\nAs an amateur phenologist (one who studies the seasonal changes in plants and animals), I’m interested in these sounds. Not that I could ignore the cicadas who are very noisily chirping around my house this month.\n\nThe cicadas are pretty creepy looking and their cast-off skins that they leave attached around the backyard are also creepy. Katydids are much nicer looking in their bright green. It is difficult to find them, but easy to hear their eponymous “Katy did! Katy did!” call from he trees. Can you hear females answering “Katy didn’t, didn’t, didn’t?” Take a listen to them\n\n\nThey hide with their veined oval-shaped wings that look like leaves in the treetops. They start singing in August, but, if you can identify when they start their summer song, weather lore says that autumn will arrive 90 days later. I’m not sure I caught the first katydid, but today was the first day I noticed them calling. That makes autumn in Paradelle arriving November 16.\n\nThe katydids are singing for love, lust and a mate. It is mating season (August through mid-October). Feel the love?\n\n\nThe crocuses bloomed three weeks earlier this year in Paradelle.\n\nThings are blooming in Paradelle, so I have started recording them in my garden notebook. Have you noticed any changes in when things sprout or bloom in your neighborhood? Maybe flowers tend to bloom a little earlier in the year or birds that used to migrate are hanging around your yard through the winter?\n\nIn some ways my garden notebook is a nature notebook as I find myself also recording first and last frosts, snow storms, the appearances of birds, insects and wildlife. Some of those things I report here, both seriously and also as a kind of weather lore. My posts about predicting the weather based on signs in nature seem to get a lot of hits, so I am not alone in my interest, scientific or not.\n\nMost people have never heard of phenology. but if you have ever paid attention to the timing of natural events, like blooming flowers and migrating animals, you have been practicing this -ology. Phenology is the study of the timing of recurring plant and animal life cycle events.\n\nIf you want to make those observation to be more “official,” you can become a citizen scientist by connecting with groups like Nature’s Notebook. It is an online project sponsored by the USA National Phenology Network. Americans can practice phenology in their own habitat and share their observations with other members and have their data shared with scientists who will use the data for research and decision-making.\n\nIt saddens me how disconnected people are to the natural world of plants, animals, the earth and sky. s a lifelong teacher, it really saddens me to see how disconnected kids become as they get older. The interest is always there in very young children, so it is something that is lost.\n\nWe may not all be as observant as Sara Schaffer of Nature’s Notebook who suggests that we notice the “slightest blush on a maple leaf that foreshadows the coming fall” or the “new, more vibrant feathers warblers put on days before mating.”\n\nrobin-pixabayDo you see the appearance of the first robin on your lawn as a sign that spring has arrived? I grew up hearing and believing that. But I have observed and recorded robins every winter. Once I saw four of them sitting on my fence in a February snowstorm. Robins as indicators of spring is a good example of weather lore.\n\nMost robins do migrate south, but some are probably still around your neighborhood all winter – no doubt better protected in the woods than on your bare lawn. The robins that do migrate to the South in the fall, return in the spring, so then we see many more of them on that soggy lawn and field in search of food.\n\nGeese flying south in Paradelle is a daily occurrence. They fly from the reservoir south to a pond. They never migrate and leave any more. What does that indicate? Perhaps some of it is climate change, but it is also the prime water and grass we provide them in parks, golf courses, school fields and corporate settings. Why leave?\n\nThough thinking a captive groundhog can predict the end of winter is certainly weather lore, paying attention to events like true bird migrations can help us understand long-term trends and predict future events. That is why many observers may be reporting small changes that can help more accurately predict the long-term impacts of climate change and shorter-term events in the near future.\n\nAnd observing when the smell of smoke from fireplaces changes to the smell of barbecue smoke is a definite indicator of suburban seasonal change!\n\nVisitors to Paradelle\n\n • 344,526\n\n\nJoin 1,880 other followers\n\nFollow Weekends in Paradelle on\n\nRecent Photos on Flickr\n\ncrime scene\n\nmeditating turtle\n\n2 pm by the sun\n\nbudding colors\n\n\nat the edge\n\nMore Photos\n\nI Recently Tweeted…\n\n\nOn Instagram\n\nLive recording with photographer Ed Kashi and filmmaker Julie Winokur for Thom Powers' podcast Pure Nonfiction. #cinema505 Opening night. STEP at the Wellmont. #mff17 A pungent lilac day #Repost @montclairfilm \nRIP to our friend Jonathan Demme, whose definitive work as one of America’s finest filmmakers was matched only by his personal generosity. We’ll always remember your wonderful conversation at #MFF15. #peace I don't know about ones from outside Jersey, but I do love a hot soft pretzel. #Repost @montclairfilm \nIn 1938, Orson Welles's #WaroftheWorlds fooled the country. In one small NJ town, as the citizens face their \"last night on Earth\" (because the Martians are invading), their lives will change forever. \n@bravenewjersey is Jody Lambert's debut comedy, screening at #MFF17 with special guests on 4/29-30 (also screening 5/2)!\n\nOther Blog Posts That Caught My Eye\n\n%d bloggers like this:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6329773664474487} +{"content": "Putting Theory Into A Paper Education Essay\n\nPublished: Last Edited:\n\n\nIn this paper, we will describe classical and operant conditioning theories and its uses in an educational or work setting. It will begin with differences between classical and operant conditioning, followed by specific examples and applications for each developmental level (infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, or early childhood). A discussion on the use of rewards from a philosophical and practical viewpoint will follow with different developmental and learning theories that can be applied in an educational or work setting. Finally, a brief summary of definitions and terms of the theory, discussing specific examples, benefits, and challenges while implementing this theory.\n\nAccording to Pavlov, \"learning begins with a stimulus-response which is classical conditioning\" (p.47). Learning should reflect a change in behavior. The stimulus and response noted within the working setting may not see a change in behavior. The classical conditionings in the work setting include:\n\nA customer service representative in a call center receives call quality scores via e-mail. The customer representative experiences anxiety each time the score(s) are given.\n\nThe departmental potlucks create an atmosphere of food and fun. The departmental service level suffers because the customer service representatives are not adhering to scheduled breaks and lunches.\n\nThe emergency room receives the charts daily. As the end of the calendar month approaches overtime is required to complete all work received.\n\nIn operant conditioning, learning occurs because of rewards and punishment. Rice indicated, \"Satisfying consequences bring about changes in behavior\" (2001). Operant conditioning is often used in the educational or work setting.\n\nHis or Her father gives them a credit card at the end of their first year in college because they did so well. As a result, their grades continue to get better in their second year.\n\nA professor has a policy of exempting students from the final exam if they maintain perfect attendance during the quarter. The professors' policy showed a dramatic increase in his student's attendance.\n\nCustomer service representatives strive daily to meet the quarterly incentive. The adherences to break and lunch schedules are enforced.\n\nExamples of operant and classical conditioning are prevalent in the everyday lives of many and are seen in the educational environment. An example of operant conditioning during the infancy stage occurs when a caregiver is effective in comforting a crying infant, the infant stops crying. The removal of the unpleasant crying reinforces the caregivers comforting technique. The caregiver is apt to apply the same method of comforting the next time he cries. As an example of classical conditioning during the infancy stage occurs when a baby bottle is inserted in the infant's mouth. This brings out a reflexive unlearned response of sucking. The infant can develop a conditioned to the baby bottle; the sucking occurs as soon as the infant sees a baby bottle.\n\nThe following will provide examples of operant conditioning and classical conditioning during the early childhood stage in an educational environment. As an example of operant conditioning during the early childhood stage, when a student raises his or her hand and waits to be called on to receive something good as a reward. The rewards come in many forms for example a reward is the student receiving a praise or a piece of candy for his or her good behavior. Another example of classical conditioning during the early childhood stage is, when a student calls a classmate an inappropriate name. The teacher may call the student with the inappropriate behavior aside and reprimand him or her. The teacher would have that student take a time out or write sentences as of why he or she should not perform the action of calling the other student inappropriate names (Tuckman, 2010).\n\nThe following will provide examples of operant conditioning and classical conditioning during the middle childhood stage in an educational environment. As an example of classical conditioning during the middle childhood stage, when a student who seldom associates with other students is encouraged to associate with others, is given praise by the teacher. As an example of classical conditioning during the middle childhood stage, a student has a fear of test taking. In the past, the student has always performed poorly when taking a test. The teacher is aware the student knows the material. The teacher could work with the student by giving him or her series of tests the student could pass. The teacher would provide positive feedback to the student to reinforce the good grade. The student would associate the test taking with positive feedback, and then the student would no longer have a fear of taking test.\n\nThe following will provide examples of operant conditioning and classical conditioning during the adolescence stage in an educational environment. As an example of operant conditioning during the adolescence stage, when an above average child is receiving an average grade a parent could use monetary rewards if he or she receives A's in school however, if the child receives an undesirable grade, the child would pay the parent as a means of punishment. During the adolescence stage, students enjoy working in groups on assignments and projects. As an example of classical conditioning during the adolescence stage, the teacher advises the students to work with the partner of choice if the class exhibits appropriate behaviors until that point in the lesson. If the class is not well behaved, the class does not get to work in groups. If the class exceeds the teachers' expectations of appropriate behavior, the class is allowed to work in groups. The student's behavior gives a definite response, which is a consistent reaction to the classes' actions.\n\n\nOver the year's punishment and rewards have been used to control behavior. The concern is that money, high grades, and even praises may be effective in a person's performance, but performance and interest can only remain constant as long as the reward is continuous.\n\nRewards and punishments are ways of manipulating behavior. These two methods are used in our educational environment. These methods are saying to the child, if he or she does this, we will give him or her this, and if he or she does that, we will take away this. The question that arises is as teachers are we using these methods appropriately and is our children benefiting from the methods as a hold.\n\nWhat is the purpose of punishment? The purpose of punishment is to decrease certain responses. There are two types of punishments. Punishment I represents an appearance of an unpleasant stimulus, and punishment II removes the unpleasant stimulus. Punishment can be effective by immediate reasoning, or infrequent reasoning.\n\nThe purpose of a reward is to let the student know that he or she has done an impressive job. The reward is used to increase the student's ability to perform better or do more because his or her performance is already at or above level. This reward can cause a student's desire to fail in his or her ability, and become disinterested because he or she has already reached his or her level of attainment. The purpose of reinforces is to increase desired responses and behaviors. We use these reinforces to receive a positive or negative response.\n\nThe focal point is not principally on rewards and punishment. It is to create an atmosphere that increases motivation.\n\nLearning Theory\n\nThere is no one perfect option in developing a strategy or theory of what would best to used in a classroom or workplace setting. The human mind has been studied for thousands of years, and there is not one study that can be reproduced exactly when it comes to human thinking. The classroom is set up based on the teacher's experiences as well as educational knowledge. Starting with the learning focus model, the classroom is set up in the following way to enhance the learning environment. 1) Self- Regulated students are students who develop goals, monitor goals, practice met cognition, and use effective strategies. 2) Teacher Characteristics is expressed in personal teaching efficacy, modeling and enthusiasm, caring as well as a positive expectation of the students' abilities. Promoting students' motivation in the classroom involves instructional variables, instructional focus, personalization, involvement, and feedback.\n\nIn comparing Piaget with Vygotsky, Piaget saw interaction primarily as a mechanism for promoting assimilation and accommodation in individuals. Whereas, Vygotsky developed his ideas based on learning and development, which arises directly from social interactions, which means individuals' cognitive developments are a direct result of interactions with other people. \"The role of language is central to Vygotsky's theory, and it plays three different roles in development\" (Eggen & Kauchak, 2007, p.46). The first role is giving learners access to knowledge. Second, language providing the learners with cognitive tools that allows humans to think about their surroundings and resolve problems. The third role that language plays is helping the learner with regulation and reflection of his or her own thinking. According to Vygotsky, \"learning occurs when people acquire specific understanding,\" Thomas, 32(3), 656). In reviewing the research of the three different theories of motivation--behavioral theories humanistic theories and cognitive theories--the researcher has to study the development of the humanistic views of Charles Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Looking at Maslow's two-step processes, the first step is Deficiency needs, which includes survival, safety, belonging, and self-esteem. The second step, Growth needs, includes intellectual achievements, anesthetic appreciation, and self-actualization (Eggen & Kauchak, 2007, p.303). This researcher believes that if the work environment or the classroom environment could combine Piaget, Vygotsky and Maslow's theories in to one basic idea, one would have the closest thing to a perfect understanding of human physical and cognitive development.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9495135545730591} +{"content": "ArrayAlign | ArrayAlignHierarchy | ArrayAlign_ConstantRange | ArrayAlign_Equal | ArrayAlign_Multiply | ArrayAlign_PermutationCycle | ArrayAlign_Power | AudivolvNetwork | AudivolvSummary | Brainwaves | CodeSimian | CodeTree | Func | FuncPurpose_MeasureOtherFunc | FuncPurpose_SoundColorMouse | FuncPurpose_Unknown | HardCoded_CodeTree_BreedFunction | HeapQueue | HighStandards | Hypercube | Javassist | LongTermGoalsOfAudivolvDesign | MindReadingHelmet | MovementScore | NeatVsScruffy | NoSpying | Node | NormedCodeTree | PermutationCompilerAndInterpreter | Plugin | ShortTermGoalsOfAudivolvDesign | SoundCardPart | Template | TuringTests_per_second | flo | int | ob\n\nAudivolv - HardCoded_CodeTree_BreedFunction\n\nHardCoded_CodeTree_BreedFunction will be replaced by evolved CodeTrees that operate on CodeTree.\nMy strategy in Audivolv is to hard-code things first then make them evolvable later.\n\nIn the end, only the window, file access, low-level internet connections, and similar things will be hard-coded.\nAll the AI will be evolved.\n\nAfter breeding, part of the hard-coded things is the MovementScore.\nBreed 2 JavaCodes X and Y\n\nX and Y are a linear sequence of child JavaCodes. Start with X's childs.\n\nAudivolv version 0.1.6 has a hard-coded CodeTree breed function that does approximately this:\n\n20% chance{\n Pick 2 equal-size random ranges of childs, in X and Y.\n Overwrite X's childs with Y's childs.\n5% chance{\n Cut X between 2 childs, and swap the 2 ranges. Ignore Y.\n5% chance{\n Randomly reorder X's childs. Ignore Y.\n70% chance{\n Pick random childs to remove.\n Quantity to remove is random^2 fraction of the childs.\n Keeps code size down because new childs are only added if vars are missing.\n\nFix the mutated code:\n\nThis increases evolved code size. Score higher for shorter code.\n\nEach var must be Lvalue and Rvalue at least once.\n\nPick a random child in Y. Lvalue var names are child.floVars(\".*L.*\")\n\nPick an Lvalue (or Rvalue) thats missing in the mutated code.\n\nIf child does not have that var as Lvalue, rename some var in child.\n\nAdd the new child in a random place.\n\nREVERSE LINKS: AUDIVOLV WEBSITES: http://audivolv.com | http://audivolv.sourceforge.net | http://audioevolve.com | http://instrumentsplaythemusicians.com", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9108452796936035} +{"content": "Follow by Email\n\nSaturday, February 25, 2012\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMonday, February 6, 2012\n\n\nWhile I was preparing my non-fiction trial guide, SEE YOU IN COURT! for publication, it came to me that it was a good reference work for writing fictitious court scenes. It is full of nuances and quirks that could lend credence to a narrative. And that got me to wondering what, if anything, lawyers and authors have in common. Go to the mystery and thriller section of a bookstore (if you can find one of those) and you will see that a lot of authors are actually lawyers who write novels. I came to the conclusion that there must be something they have in common. But what?\n\nOf course, they both need to know how to write. But what you write about and the forms that you use to convey your message are completely different. To begin with, lawyers tend to want to tell. And they use funny words you could never get by with in a novel; words like “notwithstanding” and “submit” (not the kinky kind) “quash” and “subsequent.” Authors like to show and be omniscient. Sometimes they don’t even write sentences, or whole ones. You’d never get away with that in a legal brief. So, “no” authors and lawyers don’t really have writing in common.\n\nUnless they’re extraordinarily successful, authors don’t dine where lawyers do. They don’t go business class. And they don’t usually dress in suits. Authors often need day jobs. Authors sometimes need lawyers. Lawyers rarely need authors. Lawyers practice civil or criminal law. Authors are civil or uncivil. Lawyers need a license to practice. Authors have license.\n\nSo what accounts for the plethora of lawyer/authors? What accounts for, John Grisham, Erle Stanley Gardner, Scott Turow, Lia Matera, John Mortimer, Richard North Patterson, Henry Fielding, Marissa Piesman and Studs Turkel? I think I have an answer: observation. Authors and lawyers are in the business of paying close attention to human behavior, body language and the physical surroundings in which events occur -- good ones, at least. \n\n\nNow you are saying, “Wait a minute, other occupations rely on observation too. What about cops and doctors, for example?” The difference though between those other occupations and lawyers is that the observations are generally used within the profession. More often than not, doctors report to other doctors and cops work with cops. They both tend to use lawyers when they want to translate their observations into language for public consumption. \n\n\nTrial lawyers, especially, are trained to closely observe jurors' responses to their questioning during a selection process called voir dire. We scrutinize documents for evidence of forgery or late creation. We examine forensic evidence. We size up witnesses in pre-trial depositions. And our task is to communicate those observations to jurors, a judge or the public in general. Authors who have that skill can ascribe to their characters behavior from nuances and quirks to more definitive conduct. Authors can make their characters sweat, blush, pull their arms across their chests or stare. These kinds of descriptions can show the reader a characters’ personality. Readers will come to empathize or despise, based on the behavior described. Readers can pick up on these descriptions to draw their judgments, rather than having the author tell us how the character feels. Likewise the physical environment can be shown, rather than told about. The gun can still be hot to the touch but the show would be inability to hold onto it, and then perhaps licking some burnt fingers. A stiff wind can whip clothing into knots or cause a wayward piece of trash to wrap around a leg. If I were to write: “As he walked, sheets of newsprint swirled about the sidewalk and the front page of the morning rag decided to wrap tightly around his leg,” the reader might guess that it was wind that caused it. \n\n\nThe law might call the dropping of the gun or the paper-wrapped leg “circumstantial evidence” that the gun was hot and the walk was windy. In See You In Court!, I explain that legally, circumstantial evidence is as good as a percipient narration, but in fiction, circumstantial evidence is better. It is those kinds of details that make the best narrative. Attention to detail, through relating these small clues makes the story. So just as a lawyer is shown evidence, the author can show the reader the evidence, whether it be a weapon, a room, or a document, paying attention to clues, which constitute the circumstantial evidence that makes for the best reading. The best of the lawyer/authors possess this ability to process the evidence and then to communicate it in plain, simple, easy-to-read language.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8120973110198975} +{"content": "How to Fix Computer Continuously Rebooting After XP SP3 is installed\n\nStop Error 0x0000007E After SP3 is installed\n\nI've had a few computers that will not boot correctly after I've installed Windows XP Service Pack 3 on them. The computer finishes the install and then prompts for a reboot. The computer will start to reboot then give a BSOD Stop Error for a second and reboot again. This process will continue unless the computer is started in Safe Mode. In Safe mode the computer boots correctly and everything seems fine.\n\nThis problem only appears on some systems after upgrading to SP3. This particular problem on systems that have been prepared with SysPrep. The sysprep image was created on an Intel based computer, and then the sysprep image is deployed on a Non-Intel system such as an AMD processor. In these cases, the registry entry for Intelppm is incorrectly set and causes the computer to go into a continuous reboot after the service pack has installed\n\nHow Can I Solve This Problem?\n\nFollow these steps to resolve this issue with the computer not booting correctly after SP3 is installed.\n\n1) Start your computer in Safe Mode.\n\n2) Click on Start, Run, and type REGEDIT and press Enter. This will open the Registry Editor.\n\n3) Click the pluses(+) next to the following registry keys to navigate to the correct spot.\n • CurrentControlSet\n • Services\n • Intelppm\n4) In the right hand column find the entry titled START and double-click on it\n\n5) Change the number to 4 and click Ok\n\n6) Close the Registry Editor\n\n7) Shut down your computer and restart\n\nThis time the computer should restart normally and finish the installation of SP3.\n\n\nExamples of free file mirroring sites are MassMirror, They allow anyone to mirror any file.\nDisk mirroring:- In data storage, disk mirroring or RAID1 is the replication of logical disk volumes onto separate physical hard disks in real time to ensure continuous availability. A mirrored volume is a complete logical representation of separate volume copies.\nIn a Disaster Recovery context, mirroring data over long distance is referred to as storage replication. Depending on the technologies used, replication can be performed synchronously, asynchronously, semi-synchronously, or point-in-time. Replication is enabled via microcode on the disk array controller or via server software. It is typically a proprietary solution, not compatible between various storage vendors.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.727668046951294} +{"content": "reddragdiva: (geek)\ndivabot ([personal profile] reddragdiva) wrote2016-05-19 11:05 am\n\nGetting jsch to work in ant in Ubuntu.\n\n\n\nIt is not enough to have Ant's optional JARs\nyou need the JAR files that the optional tasks depend upon.\nAnt's optional task dependencies are listed in the manual.\nDo not panic, this is a common problem.\nThe commonest cause is a missing JAR.\nThis is not a bug; it is a configuration problem\n\n\n\n\nvampwillow: (Default)\n\n[personal profile] vampwillow 2016-05-20 02:58 pm (UTC)(link)\n#sofixit would be the standard response, but I'm having enough problems with stuff (IPv6 through local router) that I wouldn't wish extra work on anyone presently!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6587733030319214} +{"content": "Jesus Urupiy\n\n(1912) - 2003\n\n Jesus Urupiy passed away peacefully September 24, 2003 on Lamotrek surrounded by family, relatives, and friends. He was believed to be over 91 years of age.\n\n The exact year of Urupiy's birth on Satawal is unknown since birth dates were not recorded in the early 1900s, but a Japanese ethnologist, Hijikata Hisakatsu, working on Satawal in the 1930s wrote in his journal that Urupiy was initiated in a Pwo ceremony for navigators (paliuw) on June 3, 1932. Since young men of his generation generally became initiated navigators before 20 years of age, it is fairly certain that Urupiy was born in or before the year 1912.\n\n Born into a distinguished family of master navigators from Polowat and Satawal, one of his earliest memories was of voyaging as a young boy in the 1920s to Satawan, an outer island south of Chuuk in the Mortlock Islands. In family oral history, his grandfather Sawfa and granduncle Raubo are said to have sailed on trading voyages to Saipan, Kapingamarangi, and Pohnpei in addition to engaging in the Sawei tribute to Yap.\n\n In the late 1930s, Urupiy ran afoul of Japanese law and was unjustly imprisoned in Yap for three years. After he was released he was sent to work in the phosphate mines of Anguar in Palau where he stayed for one year. He was then sent back to Yap to work on the airstrip during World War II where he witnessed several bombings of Japanese planes by American forces. After the end of the war he returned to Satawal and resumed his occupation as navigator by engaging in a number of voyaging expeditions. Foremost of these was a voyage carrying several hundred coconut seedlings to Woleai to replenish the stocks of coconut trees that the Japanese had cut down during the war. During the late 1940s he married Maria Legasugrig of Lamotrek. He also survived a canoe wreck on the reef of Pikelot, where he and his crew were marooned for seven months. For the next 30 years Urupiy divided his time between Lamotrek and Satawal, fishing and voyaging, and raising twelve children. By 1980, after a lifetime of sailing in the glare of an unrelenting sun, he developed cataracts which caused him to go blind. In the mid-1980s his vision was partially restored by surgery on Guam, but he would always need the assistance of glasses to see thereafter.\n\n With a new lease on life, Urupiy resurrected the traditional navigator Pwo ceremony on Lamotrek in 1990 for five initiates, including one of his sons, Ali Haleyalur. Until this time, this ancient rite of passage was generally thought to be lost because it had not been performed for nearly 40 years since it was last conducted on Satawal in 1951. This event sparked a rebirth of the Pwo Ceremony in the Caroline Islands which continues today.\n\n In the summer of 2000, Urupiy made his last tour of the Outer Islands of Yap and the Western Outer Islands of Chuuk. Returning to his roots on Satawal and Polowat, he visited family and relatives, some of whom he had not seen in fifty years. All of his kinfolk rejoiced in his return. Ever the teacher, many asked him to recite the ancient navigator chants and lore that he knew so well. This he did wherever he went.\n\n Jesus Urupiy will be dearly missed by his wife, Maria Legasugrig, and twelve children: Maria Latigral, Sandy Hagiltaw, Naty Ilemangtiw, Ali Haleyalur, Petra Legagilesiug, Maria Leyalomai, Elizabeth Leyarofrig, Sesario Pekalmai, Alexia Legaleyeshie, John Maliuwelur, Ralph Siuta, and Tobias Sawfa. In addition to a brother, Rapwi, and sister, Letigireng, he is survived by over fifty grandchildren and great grandchildren.\n\n\nwaaliwaiy sailing canoe\n\n\nFrom an ancient Weriyeng navigator chant\n\nrecited by Urupiy at the Pwo Ceremony\n\nhe performed on Lamotrek\n\nMay 24, 1990\n\n\nYe nge iyo we rewe yaliu gatarata weligamal\nspaialu yal male ye Lugeilengilo?\n\nYe nge iyo ho bwe nagangiu\n\nYenge yal iyo ho?\n\nYenge ngang mwolemesi\n\nYenge yeel mwoleme sililet la ho?\n\nYe nge ngang malmesil igeig we igeigewe, igeigewe\n\n\nWho is that who stands on the rim of Luugoileng's sacred bowl?\n\nIt is I\n\n Who are you?\n\nI am a pure man\n\nHow long have you been a pure man?\n\nI have been a pure man since time began, since time began\n\nTriton Films LogoView Film Clip of Chant", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8598251938819885} +{"content": "As Mark Monmonier's venerable book How to Lie with Maps has pointed out, cartographic projection can be another tool of deception. Maps of the Soviet Union adopt an unusual polar viewpoint to emphasize the reach of communism, as in a . Mode cites a TIME magazine that was welcomed by Alaska statehood advocates for mulberry bags outlet its strong visual emphasis of the state's strategic location relative to the Soviets.\n\nIt is known that in the development of the human immunodeficiency organism resists, and about 20% of infected individuals through several (2 4) years begin to produce neutralizing antibodies capable of blocking most known HIV cheap pandora bracelets strains. But by this time the body is already under the impact of HIV, which is heavily mutated and changed. Defense is again behind the attack..\n\nMedoro also appears on the island, near death after a shipwreck. Alcina revives him and brings Medoro and Angelica together. Orlando is jealous, but before he can lose louboutin soldes his cool, Alcina calms him down with her magic. So in other words, there were four experiments. Three did not show benefits, and they weren't published. One showed a benefit and was published.\n\nIf the Internet history is empty, it could also alert you to a problem; your spouse may have deleted everything so you cheap air max couldn see what she been up to online. If she seems upset or tries to talk you out of seeing her emails, she could be guilty of infidelity via emails. Also, if she recently changed passwords on accounts that you once had access to, it could be a sign of her hiding something.\n\nSports Minute: Here is the latest sac longchamp solde New England sports news from The Associated PressSports Minute: Here is the latest New England sports news from The Associated PressCanadiens rookie goalkeeper Mike Condon will try to extend his unbeaten streak when he leads Montreal against Boston. Condon is 5 0 1 and Carey Price is out with a lower body injury. The Bruins michael kors purses cheap are 5 1 on the road this..\n\nOfficial fuel economy figures for the largest 6.4 litre V 8 are 10.4 litres/100 kilometres on the highway for manual equipped cars, and 16.8 l/100 km in the city. That ain't great, but it's not exactly supposed to be a fuel sipper of a machine. While the fun of the manual has to cheap louboutins be recommended, I'll point out that the automatic loses little of the experience, and has a couple of extra tall top gears for maximum highway cruising efficiency..\n\nHe explained everything that happened,\" Carter added before referring all additional questions to Perry's attorney.WJLA Portions are Associated Press. This christian louboutin outlet online material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or distributed.WJLA is the local ABC affiliate for the greater Washington DC area. From our studios in Arlington, VA ABC7 covers national and local news, sports, weather, traffic and culture and carries entertainment and sports programming.yi05.06\n\nmulberry outlet uk\ncheap genuine pandora charms\nlouboutin pas cher homme", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7838146090507507} +{"content": "Moyer recalls pressure and pranks below sea level\n\nMoyer recounted his experiences serving on a submarine during the 1960s. Photo by Jeff Li\n\n\nLily Bohlke\n\nWhile Professor Wayne Moyer, Political Science, is known for his courses on the Cold War, his relationship to the conflict is more than theoretical. On Tuesday, Nov. 17, Moyer gave a talk called, “Submerged during the Cold War,” which described his experiences in the United States Navy during the 1960s.\n\n“I liked submarine life because it is very informal,” Moyer said. “No shining shoes, no formal inspections and a great deal of camaraderie.”\n\nIn October of 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Moyer was working on a submarine. But instead of being out at sea, it was on a dry dock in Norfolk, Virginia with a hole in the bottom. Moyer said he remembered listening to President Kennedy’s speech on the Cuban Missile Crisis, wondering what he could do with his submarine stuck on land.\n\n“The situation was so incredibly dangerous. Norfolk could have been one of the first targets,” Moyer said. “But at the time, we weren’t able to come to grips with it.”\n\nAlthough the Cuban Missile Crisis was an incredibly tense time, Moyer remarked that he was glad his submarine was not at sea.\n\n“I met my wife during that time. With all the competition out at sea, things moved quickly,” he said. “I was the sole beneficiary of the Cuban Missile Crisis.”\n\nMoyer, however, did eventually get out on the water. In 1963, his submarine participated in exercises with both the British and Pakistani navies.\n\nMoyer’s submarine went through Portugal, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, Yemen and finally over to Pakistan.\n\n“It was a very interesting experience to work the British and Pakistani Navy in that stage of the game,” Moyer said. “It was right in the middle of the Cold War.”\n\nIn 1965, he became a missile officer. He worked on submarines that were 407 feet long and weighed 7,500 pounds. Each submarine had 16 missiles with 1.1-megaton warheads. These missiles were 30 feet tall and could travel up to 1,500 miles.\n\n“Missiles were placed vertically in the submarine. We would launch them submerged, there would be a blast of air under them and then we would push them out and they would light as they broke the surface,” Moyer said.\n\nHis job as a missile officer was to keep the Soviet Navy from finding the missile submarines. Due to the threat they posed, the Soviet Union would not launch a nuclear attack while the location of these submarines was unknown.\n\n“We felt we were the primary target of Soviet attack at that stage,” Moyer said.\n\nThese missile submarines were equipped to sustainably stay underwater indefinitely. They were nuclear powered, distilled their own water, made their own oxygen and removed the carbon dioxide.\n\n“The longest we stayed under was 72 days,” Moyer commented.\n\nEvery enlisted officer on a submarine had to be highly trained, knowing everything about the submarine including where the valves were and all the information about the reactors and engineering systems.\n\nPatrols on the missile submarines would either go north, up the coast of Norway, or south, operating on the coast of Greece. The distance between each location and Soviet targets was roughly the same, according to Moyer.\n\nMoyer ended his lecture by emphasizing the importance of camaraderie while in an enclosed submarine for long periods of time.\n\n“We played practical jokes on each other. We stole the executive officer’s door and hid it. It took him three days to find it,” Moyer said. “When you’re living in those waters, unless you are close to people, you will go nuts.”", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9991684556007385} +{"content": "Applied Regenerative Medicine (ARM) Lab\n\nThe SHRS Applied Regenerative Medicine (ARM) Laboratory was established with a mission to contribute to the science of regenerative rehabilitation.\n\nRegenerative rehabilitation is an emerging field dedicated to the integration of regenerative medicine and rehabilitation science.\n\nRehabilitation science is increasingly critical to the success of regenerative therapies by refining treatment protocols and optimizing functional outcomes.\n\nMerging of rehabilitation and regenerative medicine.\n\nThe merger of rehabilitation and regenerative medicine at the beginning of therapeutic development enhances communication and collaboration between experts from multiple disciplines, leading to improved therapeutic outcomes.\n\nThe SHRS ARM Lab represents researchers from different healthcare professions including physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistants and nutrition and dietetics, each of which can make unique contributions to the field.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9993861317634583} +{"content": "New ransomware program for macOS dubbed ‘Patcher’ discovered\n\n\nWritten in Apple’s Swift programming language and dubbed “Patcher,” OSX/Filecoder.E masquerades as a cracking tool for commercial software like Adobe Premiere Pro CC and Microsoft Office for Mac and is being distributed as a BitTorrent download, the article adds. \n\nThe application is generally poorly coded, ESET researchers said in a blog post. The window has a transparent background, which can be quite distracting or confusing, and it’s impossible to reopen the window if it is closed.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8868315815925598} +{"content": "Vascular Ultrasound\n\nVascular ultrasound provides pictures of the body’s veins and arteries. A Doppler ultrasound study may be part of a vascular ultrasound examination.\n\nDoppler ultrasound is a special ultrasound technique that measures and evaluates the direction and speed of blood cells as it flows through blood vessels in the body’s major arteries and veins in the abdomen, arms, legs and neck. The movement of blood cells causes a change in pitch of the reflected sound waves (called the Doppler effect). A pulse-like sound that changes in pitch as the blood flow is monitored and measured may be heard during the examination.\n\nUltrasound is a useful way of evaluating the body’s circulatory system.\n\nVascular ultrasound is performed to:\n\n • detect blood clots (deep venous thrombosis DVT) in the legs or arms\n • evaluate the success of procedures that graft or bypass blood vessels\n • determine if there is an enlarged artery (aneurysm)\n • determine the source and severity of varicose veins\n\nDoppler ultrasound images can help to see and evaluate:\n\n • blockages to blood flow (such as clots)\n • narrowing of vessels (which may be caused by plaque)\n • tumors and congenital malformation\n\nFrequently Asked Questions\n\n • What is venous doppler ultrasound?\n\n It is an ultrasound exam that looks at the veins in your arms or legs to determine if there is a blood clot.\n\n • What is an arterial doppler ultrasound?\n\n It is an ultrasound exam that looks at the arteries in your arms or legs to make sure there is not a blockage.\n\n • What is the difference between arteries and veins and why don’t you look at them both during the same examination?\n\n Veins and arteries sit next to each other within your body. Arteries have muscles in their walls to pump blood through them. Veins do not have muscles in their walls. They depend on the surrounding muscles in the body, such as leg or arm muscles, to circulate the blood. Therefore, the vein testing to evaluate healthy circulation is performed differently for veins and arteries.\n\n • What is a renal duplex exam?\n\n This is an ultrasound exam that looks at your kidneys and your bladder, as well as your arteries that supply blood to the kidneys to look for a blockage.\n\n • What is a doppler?\n\n A Doppler ultrasound test uses reflected sound waves to evaluate blood as it flows through a blood vessel. It helps doctors evaluate blood flow through the major arteries and veins of the arms, legs, and neck. It can show blocked or reduced blood flow through narrowing in the major arteries of the neck that could cause a stroke. It also can reveal blood clots in leg veins (deep vein thrombosis, or DVT) that could break loose and block blood flow to the lungs (pulmonary embolism).\n\n\nRenal Artery Duplex : No food or drink 8 hrs prior to exam. Drink 24 oz of water one hour prior to the exam. Schedule preferably in the morning to eliminate bowel gas interference.\n\nAorta: No food or drink 8 hrs prior to exam.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.506632924079895} +{"content": "Colin Kaepernick: Breaking Down Versatile QB's Role in 49ers Offense\n\nBen ChodosCorrespondent IISeptember 30, 2012\n\nSept. 30, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) runs with the ball during the first quarter against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE\n\nSan Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith has been getting attention for improved play this season, but backup Colin Kaepernick proved early in the team’s game against the New York Jets that he can play a significant role in the offense. \n\nWhile spectators were expecting the Jets to be the team running gadget plays with versatile backup QB Tim Tebow, the Niners were much more successful using their second-stringer’s special skill set. \n\nKaepernick first made his mark on San Francisco’s second drive of the game, when he lined up at quarterback, kept the ball on a option play and scampered for 17 yards. \n\nThe 49ers also attempted to use Kaepernick’s scrambling ability as a decoy on that same drive. He once again lined up under center, then ran a play-action pass to try to get Randy Moss open down the field. The Jets were not fooled, but the young quarterback threw the ball anyway. Moss was nearly able to beat three Jets defenders to make a play on the ball. \n\nEarly in the second quarter, the Niners showed they had no intention of keeping Kaepernick on the sideline, and he scored the first touchdown of his career on a seven-yard run.\n\nThe mobile quarterback is in his second season in the NFL after being taken in the second round of the 2011 NFL draft out of Nevada.\n\nSmith’s emergence as an efficient quarterback ensures that he will be the permanent starter in San Francisco. However, the Niners' offense is centered around the run, and using Kaepernick is an effective way to keep the opposing defense off-balance while still moving the ball on the ground. \n\nAs Kaepernick also proved, he has a rocket arm and is not afraid to throw the ball down the field. This expands the options for the plays that can be called for Kaepernick. \n\nHowever, throwing plays called for the backup QB will likely be rare as the Niners have no reason to take such risks because of their elite defense. But his ability to pick up yardage on the ground should earn him a few carries each week.\n\nExpect Kaepernick to play a minor role in the offense this season, but he will still consistently see the field for a few plays each Sunday.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5440014600753784} +{"content": "Why Is It So Hard to Live Up To Our Values?\n\n\nI’ve known communication experts with dysfunctional relationships, professional speakers who decline events because they are horrified to go on stage, and time management gurus who are late to meetings. I’ve met renowned thought-leaders who fabricate some of their work to get published, and personal change advisors who are terrified of change.\n\nWhy is it so hard to live our values? Why is it we can consume so much new information and knowledge and yet do nothing new in our daily life? We watch TED talks about how the mere presence of a smartphone on the table between us detracts from the quality of our conversation. Over 80% of us know this, and yet we do it anyway.\n\nWe read studies on the importance of grit and perseverance, and yet we are quitting our jobs and hopping to new opportunities at record levels because we feel we aren’t making an “impact” quickly enough to satisfy our ego.\n\nWe are constantly reminded that multitasking is a myth and only leads to decreased work quality, slower learning, and decreased attention spans, and yet we have numerous email and message alerts active on our computers and devices.\n\nWe know we can accelerate our learning when we try new things at work, and yet we go along with idiotic ideas, hide our opinions, and mask our true identities, because we are scared of being fired, or are desperate to fit in.\n\nWe know that the quality of our sleep is directly related to the quality of our health and well-being, and yet we take our smartphones to bed, and even check them in the middle of the night. And we know that the first five minutes when we walk in the front door can set the tone for the entire evening, and yet often our first reaction is dismay at the mountain of dirty dishes in the sink. That dismay is a mood killer.\n\nExcellence requires work, impact takes time, leadership presence requires being present, and meaningful relationships need kind conversations.\n\nMake it easier on yourself. The expression “activation energy” was coined 150 years ago by a chemist. The term refers to the minimum amount of energy required to stimulate an interaction between available reactants.\n\nIn other words, we should minimize the amount of energy it takes to get us in motion, and remove all the hurdles to taking action that we can. If we want to start jogging more, we should lay our gear and our shoes by the bed before we go to sleep. If we want to become better public speakers, we need to block off a doable amount of time — perhaps thirty minutes each day — to actively write and rehearse our material. And if we truly want opinions and new ideas at our meetings, we should make our meetings psychologically safe for honesty.\n\nWhen we make it easy to begin something, we lower the amount of energy it takes to get started. And if it takes less energy to get started, we are more likely to do it. The slow, intentional approach to learning something new, overcoming fear, and leading with confidence requires guided mastery toward self-efficacy.\n\nSelf-efficacy is not self-esteem. Self-esteem is how good you feel about yourself. Self-efficacy is the strength of your belief in your own ability to complete the tasks you set out for yourself and reach your goals.\n\nMake it easy on yourself. Start small.\n\n\nSmallActs-3DShawn Hunter is President and Founder of Mindscaling, a company building beautiful online learning courses based on the work of best-selling authors. My new book Small Acts of Leadership, (Routledge) just released. You can grab a copy now. Have a meeting coming up? Let’s talk.\n\nTwitter: @gshunter\nSay hello: email@gshunter.com\nWeb: www.shawnhunter.com\n\nComments are closed.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9605515003204346} +{"content": "Category: Organizing\n\nEverything you need to keep your homeschool running (mostly) smoothly. Pages to keep records, make plans, sort supplies and hopefully anything else you need to put it all in order.\n\nweekly homeschool to-do list printable 0\n\nWeekly To-Do List Printables\n\nI’m never that good at maintaining detailed daily schedules, and usually rely on more free-form to-do lists instead. This PDF has 5 pages, and you can just print out multiples of whatever design you like. Four of them have cute...\n\nhomeschool book log printable pages 0\n\nBook Log Pages\n\nIf you have kids who are avid readers, it can be a great sense of accomplishment to see the book titles add up as books are read. In our house, it’s always about how big a book is, so page...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8775818347930908} +{"content": ", 2007, Orban et al , 2004 and Passingham,\n\n, 2007, Orban et al., 2004 and Passingham,\n\nRomidepsin research buy 2009). One striking parallel in the memory signals seen across the monkey and human medial temporal lobe is significantly stronger responses to novel relative to familiar visual stimuli in the perirhinal cortex (Brown et al., 1987, Brozinsky et al., 2005, Fahy et al., 1993, Gonsalves et al., 2005, Henson et al., 2003, Köhler et al., 1998, Li et al., 1993 and Montaldi et al., 2006). Beyond this signal of relative stimulus novelty, however, the parallels between memory-related physiological signals in monkeys and humans are less striking. For example, in the monkey perirhinal cortex, Miller and Desimone (1994) reported stimulus-selective enhancement to a behaviorally relevant matching stimuli (match\n\nenhancement) as well as stimulus-selective suppression to nonrelevant matching stimuli (match suppression) during a delayed match to sample task. Reports of match enhancement in the human perirhinal cortex, however, have been mixed (Dudukovic et al., 2011 and Duncan et al., 2009) although the tasks used in humans differed in numerous respects from the task used in monkeys. In the hippocampus, several human fMRI studies (Dudukovic et al., 2011 and Duncan et al., 2009) as well as a human single unit study in epileptic patients (Fried et al., 1997) FG 4592 reported strong match enhancement signals. By contrast, in the monkey hippocampus, several recent reports have described decrements but not enhancements in neural responses associated with repeated stimulus presentations (Jutras and Buffalo, 2010 and Yanike et al., 2009). Although many previous studies have mapped early visual areas in monkeys and humans performing the same perceptual task, few studies have compared medial\n\ntemporal lobe activity Ribonucleotide reductase across species as subjects perform the same memory task. One exception is Law et al. (2005), who developed a conditional motor associative learning task for humans based on one used in a previously published monkey physiology study (Wirth et al., 2003). Law et al. (2005) reported clear increases in the BOLD fMRI signals across the medial temporal lobe structures as human subjects learned new conditional motor associations. These findings appeared to parallel the single unit findings in the monkey hippocampus described by Wirth et al. (2003) that showed either increases or decreases in hippocampal single unit activity that were correlated with the animal’s learning curve. However, it remained unclear how the increases and decreases in single unit activity seen in individual monkey hippocampal cells corresponded to the global pattern of increased BOLD activity seen in humans.\n\ng , Ojima et al ,\n\ng., Ojima et al., learn more 1984) and that odors generally evoke widely distributed PCx activity (Illig and Haberly, 2003). Recent experiments have shown that different odorants activate unique subpopulations of neurons distributed across the PCx without spatial preference (Stettler and Axel, 2009) and that the projections of individual glomeruli (Nagayama et al., 2010 and Sosulski et al., 2011) and of single mitral cells (Gosh et al., 2011) are broadly\n\ndistributed in the PCx. A second set of questions concerns how the odor features represented by MOB glomeruli are recombined in the cortex. How many different mitral cell inputs synapse on an individual PCx neuron? What are the numbers and distribution of glomeruli from which the inputs to a single neuron arise? Up until recently, there has been little direct evidence concerning MOB to PCx convergence. It is known that PCx neurons can respond to dissimilar odorants that are likely to activate nonoverlapping glomeruli (Rennaker et al., 2007 and Poo and Isaacson, 2009). Some PCx neurons respond to electrical stimulation only when more than one glomerulus is coactivated (Apicella et al., 2010), and odor mixtures can activate PCx neurons that are not activated by the components alone (Stettler and Axel, 2009). Although intracortical excitation\n\ncould contribute to some of these observations, it was recently shown that individual PCx neurons indeed receive anatomical connections from multiple broadly distributed mitral cells (Miyamichi et al., 2011). Further critical INCB024360 questions relate to more detailed features\n\nof the integrative properties of individual PCx neurons. How strong are the individual functional inputs from each glomerulus? How many glomeruli connect to each PCx cell and how many inputs must be coactive for a PCx neuron to respond? Do inputs combine linearly or nonlinearly? In this issue of Neuron, Davison and Ehlers (2011) provide important new insight into these issues by using in vivo laser scanning glutamate uncaging to create distributed artificial patterns of glomerular activation in the MOB while recording in the PCx in anesthetized mice. With this approach, the authors were able to independently activate targeted locations within Parvulin the glomerular layer of the MOB with near single glomerular spatial resolution. Davison and Ehlers’s data address several aspects of the convergence and integration of MOB inputs by individual PCx cells. First, PCx neurons did not generally respond to single-site stimulation; PCx firing was only triggered reliably by joint activation of at least three uncaging sites. Moreover, for a given number of sites, PCx activation was specific to the pattern of those sites: each cell responded differentially to different spatial patterns and different PCx cells responded differentially to a particular pattern.\n\nWhile the 5% deviant responses were essentially as likely to be l\n\nWhile the 5% deviant responses were essentially as likely to be larger or smaller in the Random compared\n\nto the Periodic condition (66/138, 48%), the majority of the responses to 20% deviants were larger in the Random compared to the Periodic condition (103/156, 66%); furthermore, the average response to the 20% deviants was significantly larger in the Random than in the Periodic condition. The responses to standards followed the reverse tendencies: the differences between the responses in the Periodic and Random conditions became less prominent with increasing deviant probability (and decreasing standard probability). Thus, while the LFP responses to Periodic standards were overwhelmingly smaller than the responses to Random standards for 5% deviant probability (99/124, 80%), the imbalance in the standard response was substantially smaller when deviant probability Apoptosis inhibitor MG-132 cell line was 20% (85/147, 58%). It has been previously shown that SSA has several timescales, from hundreds of milliseconds to tens of seconds (Ulanovsky et al., 2004). In order to examine the time course of the effects shown above, we calculated the average responses\n\nto the standards with different time resolutions along the sequence. Figure 5 shows the average LFP responses to standards (Figure 5A) and deviants (Figure 5B), as a function of the sequential position of the stimulus within the sequence for the 5% (left) and 20% (right) deviant probabilities. In Figure 5A, the blue and green bars represent the average response to the standard stimuli at four ranges of trials along the sequence (1–19, 20–80, 81–278, 279–475 for the 5% conditions; 1–4, 5–19, 20–59, 60–100 for the 20% conditions) in the Random and Periodic conditions, respectively. In Figure 5B, the red and yellow bars represent\n\nthe average response to the deviant stimuli in four ranges of trials (1:3, 4:6, 8:16, 17:25) in the Random and Periodic conditions, Rutecarpine respectively. We analyzed the data with a three-way ANOVA on time bin and sequence type, with recording site as a random factor. The main effects of time bin were significant for all conditions [5%: standards F(3,2032) = 46.01, p < < 0.01; deviants F(3,2508) = 3.22, p = 0.022; 20%: standards F(3,3076) = 47.57, p < < 0.01; deviants F(3,3172) = 4.85 p = 2.3∗10−3]. The main effect of sequence type (Periodic versus Random) was significant for the standards in the 5% conditions [F(1,2032) = 52.75, p < < 0.01] but not for the deviants [F(1,2508) = 0.16 p = 0.69]. In contrast, in the 20% conditions the main effect of sequence type was significant for the deviants [F(1,3172) = 14.5 p = 1∗10−4] but not for the standards [F(1,3076) = 0.29 p = 0.59].\n\nThe firing patterns of hippocampal interneurons are highly depend\n\nThe firing patterns of hippocampal interneurons are highly dependent on the network state, such as theta oscillations during movement or large-amplitude irregular network activity during sleep (Buzsáki, 2006, Ego-Stengel and Wilson, 2007, O’Keefe and Conway, 1978 and Ranck, 1973). Drug-free behavior-dependent firing patterns of some identified cell types have been determined recently in freely moving rats (ivy cells, PV+ basket cells; Lapray et al., 2012) and in head-fixed mice (O-LM cells, PV+ basket cells; Varga et al., 2012), although for O-LM cells this did not include sleep.\n\nThe firing patterns of identified bistratified cells in drug-free animals are unknown. We have recorded the firing of two distinct types of dendrite-targeting neuron in freely moving rats to test the hypothesis that differences in the axonal terminations of SOM-expressing cells are associated with different firing patterns under natural awake behavior and Smad inhibitor sleep. This required the recording and labeling of SOM-expressing interneurons in freely moving rats using\n\nthe juxtacellular labeling technique to identify NVP-BKM120 the cells and enabled us to quantitatively dissect the firing dynamics of these cells and compare them to PV+ basket cells (Lapray et al., 2012), which target a different subcellular domain of pyramidal cells. We have recorded the firing patterns of single interneurons using a glass electrode during periods of sleep, movement, and quiet wakefulness. Then, we either moved the electrode into a juxtacellular position or sometimes the cells spontaneously drifted close to the electrode, which made it possible to attempt labeling the cells with neurobiotin for identification of cell types. The\n\nlabeled Oxymatrine cells were assessed by immunofluorescence microscopy and tested for the presence of various molecules, including SOM and NPY. Nine identified interneurons (n = 9 rats, one cell each) were immunopositive for SOM, NPY, or both when tested by immunofluorescence microscopy and showed dendritic and axonal arborizations similar to previously described bistratified and O-LM cells (Buhl et al., 1994 and McBain et al., 1994). The recording sites were distributed over an area of 1.7 × 1.4 mm along the rostrocaudal and mediolateral axes (Figure S1A available online). Somata of bistratified cells (n = 4/5 recovered) were located in the vicinity of pyramidal cell somata (Figures 1A and S1A and S1C), had mainly radially oriented dendritic trees (n = 3/5 recovered; see exception Figure S1C), and axon collaterals distributed in strata oriens and radiatum (n = 3/5 recovered). The axonal extent of a well-labeled cell was large (Figure 1A), reaching 2.4 mm mediolaterally and 1.7 mm rostrocaudally, confirming previous results obtained in vivo (Klausberger et al., 2004). Somata (n = 4/4 tested) were immunopositive for NPY (Figures 1B and S1E) and parvalbumin (PV), the latter also expressed in dendrites and axon (Figures 1C and S1D; Table 1).\n\nPatch-clamp recordings were made from SACs and DSGCs\n\nPatch-clamp recordings were made from SACs and DSGCs Androgen Receptor Antagonist solubility dmso in flatmount retina in Ames medium (Sigma-Aldrich, Saint Louis, MO), equilibrated with 95% O2 and 5% CO2) at ∼35°C as described previously (Lee and\n\nZhou, 2006, Zheng et al., 2004 and Zhou and Fain, 1995). Spike responses of DSGCs were recorded with an on-cell loose-patch electrode (3–5 MΩ, filled with Ames medium). Whole-cell patch clamp was made from SACs using a pipette solution containing (in mM) 110 CsMeSO4, 15 CsOH, 5 NaCl, 0.5 CaCl2, 2 MgCl2, 5 ethylene glycol-bis(2-aminoethylether)-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid (EGTA), 2 adenosine 5′-triphosphate (disodium salt), 0.5 guanosine 5′-triphosphate (trisodium salt), 10 HEPES, and 2 ascorbate (pH 7.2). The same\n\npipette solution, supplemented with 10 mM lidocaine N-ethyl bromide (QX314), was used Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Library in vitro for whole-cell recording from DSGCs. Lucifer yellow (0.1%–0.3%, w/v) was included in the whole-cell pipette solution for morphological confirmation of cell types. The effects of Ca2+ channel blockers, ω-conotoxin GVIA, and ω-agatoxin IVA, which had a slow onset, were tested under perforated patch-clamp recording from SACs using electrodes (6-8 MΩ) filled with (in mM) 145 glutamic acid, 10 HEPES, 10 NaCl, and 500 μg/ml amphotericin B (titrated to pH 7.2 with 147 mM CsOH). Lysozyme (1.5 mg/ml) was added to the superfusate to prevent nonspecific binding of calcium channel toxins to the perfusion system. Flash photolysis of caged Ca2+ (DM-nitorphen) in SACs was done under dual whole-cell voltage-clamp recordings from pairs of SACs and DSGCs,\n\nwith the pipette solution for SAC recording containing (in mM) 95 CsMeSO4, 30 CsOH, 5 NaCl, 2 CaCl2, 6 Ca(NO3)2, 2 adenosine 5′-triphosphate (disodium salt), 0.5 guanosine TCL 5′-triphosphate (trisodium salt), 40 HEPES, 2 ascorbate, and 10 DM-nitrophen (pH 7.2). DM-nitrophen (1-(4,5-dimethoxy-2-nitro-phenyl)-1,2-diaminoethane-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid) was allowed to diffuse into the SAC for 5–7 min before an ultraviolet (UV) light (355 nm in wavelength, 25 ms in duration) was flashed onto the SAC dendrites. The UV light was generated by a UV laser (30 mW average output power, 3 μJ/pulse at 10kHz, Model DPSL355/30, Rapp Opto Electronik, Heidelberg, Germany), which was guided to the epifluorescence port of the microscope via a spot illumination adaptor (OSI BX, Rapp Opto Electronik) by a quartz optic fiber (940 μm in diameter) and focused in a 50 μm diameter spot on the SAC dendrites via a 60× objective lens (NA/09). The uncaging area was positioned by moving the microscope stage on which the recording chamber and micromanipulators were mounted.\n\nSurprisingly, however, they were also eliminated between P15 and\n\nSurprisingly, however, they were also eliminated between P15 and P25 (Figure 3G). The rate of inactive DG axon elimination was not affected by the percentage of Epacadostat ic50 mature axons that were inactivated (Figure 3H). This elimination was not just a developmental retraction but was induced by synaptic inactivity, because in DG-A::tau-lacZ mice (no TeTxLC), DG axons were maintained at P25 (Figure 3I; quantification at P15 and P23 is shown in Figure 3J). To further characterize the inactive axon elimination in DG-A::TeTxLC-tau-lacZ mice, we visualized\n\nTeTxLC/tau-lacZ-expressing axons by staining with the antibody to β-gal. Confocal microscopy revealed that at P15, TeTxLC-expressing axons were intact at both the proximal and distal regions (Figure 4A). At P20, the proximal region of TeTxLC-expressing axons appeared still intact (Figure 4B, proximal). However, OTX015 order at the distal region of TeTxLC-expressing axons, there were clear signs of axon retraction: swollen axonal tips (retraction bulbs) and remnants of axons (axosomes) (Figure 4B, distal). These features resemble axon retraction observed during synapse elimination at the neuromuscular junction (Bishop et al., 2004). Without TeTxLC (DG-A::tau-lacZ), the distal region of DG axons remained intact at P23 (Figure 4C). We further examined the morphology of active and inactive DG axons in\n\nDG-A::TeTxLC-tau-lacZ mice by sparsely labeling DG axons with a lipophilic tracer, DiI. Inactive (TeTxLC/tau-lacZ-expressing) axons were identified by staining for β-gal. At P18, active (β-gal−/DiI+) DG axons formed many large mossy fiber boutons with long extensions in CA3 (Figure 4D) (Amaral and Dent, 1981). In\n\ncontrast, inactive (β-gal+/DiI+) DG axons did not have any large mossy fiber boutons (Figure 4D). These results indicate that synaptic transmission plays an important role in the refinement of mossy fiber synapses and that inactive axons are retracted during development. Is the elimination of inactive DG axons initiated by the death of DG neurons? To address this question, we injected 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU) into DG-A::TeTxLC-tau-lacZ from mice at P7–8 to label newborn DGCs (Kee et al., 2002 and Kokoeva et al., 2005) and examined the number of surviving BrdU-positive cells at P15, P20, and P25 (Figure 4E). All of the BrdU-labeled neurons became NeuN positive mature neurons by P15 (Figure 4F), consistent with earlier reports showing that DG neurons differentiate very quickly during development (Amaral and Dent, 1981 and Hastings and Gould, 1999; also see Figure 7). The total number of BrdU-positive cells in DG-A::TeTxLC-tau-lacZ mice was similar to that in wild-type mice at P15 and P20 (Figure 4E). In addition, at P20 there was no apparent increase in the number of DG cells that are positive for activated caspase 3, a marker for apoptosis (Figure S2).\n\nDuring ozone and heat treatments, juice samples were mixed at 150\n\nDuring ozone and heat treatments, juice samples were mixed at 150 rpm for the entire treatment time in a shaking water bath to ensure even distribution of inoculum and dispersal of ozone. All experiments were conducted in a fume hood. Excess gaseous ozone was passed into an ozone decomposer. For enumeration of pathogens, sample aliquots (1 ml) were transferred into test tubes containing 9 ml of D/E neutralizing broth (Difco, Becton Dickinson, Sparks, MD, USA) after each treatment\n\nand homogenized using a vortex mixer (VM-10, Daihan Scientific Co., Ltd, RAD001 clinical trial Korea). After homogenization, samples were 10-fold serially diluted with 9 ml of 0.2% sterile buffered peptone water and 0.1 ml of the samples was spread plated onto selective media (E. coli O157:H7: Sorbitol MacConkey Agar (SMAC), Difco; S. Typhimurium: Xylose Lysine Desoxycholate Agar (XLD), Difco; and L. monocytogenes: Oxford Agar Base with antimicrobial supplement Osimertinib in vitro MB Cell (MOX), MB Cell). All plates were incubated at 37 °C for 24 h before counting.\n\nColor was measured by using a Minolta colorimeter (model CR400; Minolta Co., Osaka, Japan). The values for L*, a* and b* were recorded to evaluate the color changes of apple juice after each treatment with heat or combination of ozone and heat. Untreated apple juice was used as the control. A 2 ml of sample was poured into the bottom half of the measurement equipment. The measuring head of the colorimeter was placed on top of the measurement Methisazone equipment. Before measurement, the treated juice was cooled to about 15 °C by dipping the bottle in crushed ice. The parameter L* is a measure of lightness, a* is an indicator of redness, and the parameter b* is a measure of yellowness. All measurements were performed in triplicate. To measure ozone concentration, distilled water was substituted for apple juice, as will\n\nbe explained in the Discussion section. The ozone concentration of distilled water treated with ozone in the same way as apple juice was measured by the indigo method (Bader and Hoigni, 1981). An indigo stock reagent was prepared by the following method (Gordon and Bubnis, 2002). Indigo stock solution was prepared by dissolving 770 mg of potassium indigotrisulfonate (Sigma Aldrich Co., LLC) into a 1 l flask containing 500 ml of distilled water and 1 ml of phosphoric acid (85%) and diluting to volume (1 l) with distilled water. Indigo reagent II was prepared in a 1 l flask by adding 100 ml of indigo stock solution, 10 g of sodium dihydrogen phosphate (NaH2PO4) and 7 ml of phosphoric acid (85%). This was stirred and diluted to volume (1 l) with distilled water. The solution was stored in the dark. After each treatment, the treated sample was cooled to about 15 °C and then 90 ml of the sample was transferred to a flask containing 10 ml of indigo reagent II. The absorbance was measured by a spectrophotometer at 600 nm.\n\nWe next investigated whether there was a topographical organizati\n\nWe next investigated whether there was a topographical organization of unisensory responses in RL, and, if so, whether the two sensory maps were aligned. We used 3 × 4 grids of extracellular electrodes covering all of RL (see Experimental Procedures). For unimodal sensory input, we\n\nseparately stimulated the upper/lower and medial/lateral halves of both visual space and the whisker pad (Figure 1F). For each neuron, we computed a relative preference index as (U − L)/(U + L), where U and L are the neuronal responses to the upper or lower visual or tactile field stimulations, respectively. Then we averaged the relative spatial preference indexes of Selleck CP673451 all neurons along a given position of the grid. We finally mapped the spatial preference within RL for the upper versus lower and medial versus lateral stimulation for both modalities (Figure 1G). In line with (Marshel et al., 2011 and Wang and Burkhalter, 2007) we\n\nfound a retinotopic map within RL, but we also found a spatial segregation between responses elicited by the upper or lower aspects of the whisker pad. For example, the rostral part of RL preferentially responded to the upper visual field and to the upper whiskers. To quantify the degree of alignment between the two maps, we computed the correlation between the retinotopic and tactile maps along the same spatial direction (upper-lower and medial-lateral axes separately; Figure 1H). GSK1120212 order because We found a significant degree of spatial alignment of the somatic and visual spatial\n\npreference maps along the upper-lower axis of the sensory space (black circles; r = 0.58, p < 0.001) but a weaker and nonsignificant alignment along its mediolateral axis (gray squares; r = 0.11, p = 0.44). We next compared bimodality and MI at the level of PSPs and of APs by IOI-targeted whole-cell recordings from layer 2/3 pyramids (n = 46 from 12 mice; Figure 2A). First, bimodal neurons were more abundant for PSPs (56% of responsive cells) compared to APs (39% of them; Figure 2B). Indeed, many neurons that were bimodal for PSPs were unimodal for APs (see example of Figure 2C): out of 24 neurons that were bimodal for PSPs, only 11 (46%) were bimodal for APs, 4 (17%) were unimodal and 9 did not respond with APs. Also, some cells with bimodal PSPs responded with APs only when V and T stimuli were simultaneously presented (multisensory—M stimulation; see example of Figure 2D). Second, we compared MI for PSPs and APs. Multisensory neurons display a response to a cross-modal combination of stimuli that is enhanced compared to the preferred unisensory stimulus (Stein and Stanford, 2008). To quantify such multisensory enhancement (ME), we computed an ME index, defined as (M−max(V,T))/max(V,T)(M−max(V,T))/max(V,T), where M is the response to M stimulation, and max(V,T) is the highest unimodal response.\n\ng , Feng et al , 2004 and Benzing et al , 2000) Therefore, our r\n\ng., Feng et al., 2004 and Benzing et al., 2000). Therefore, our results suggest a model ( Figure 10) in which Sema/Plex interactions activate PlexA GAP activity, which inactivates Ras/Rap and disables Integrin-mediated adhesion. However, these Sema/Plex-mediated effects are subject to regulation, such that increasing cAMP levels activates PlexA-bound PKA to phosphorylate PlexA and provide a binding site for 14-3-3ε. These PlexA-14-3-3ε interactions occlude PlexA GAP-mediated inactivation of Ras family GTPases and restore Integrin-dependent adhesion.\n\nIn conclusion, we have identified a simple mechanism that allows multiple axon guidance signals to be incorporated during axon guidance. Neuronal growth cones encounter both Selleckchem EPZ 6438 attractive and repulsive guidance cues but the molecular pathways and biochemical mechanisms that integrate these antagonistic cues and enable a discrete steering event are incompletely understood. One way in which to integrate these disparate signals is to allow different axon guidance receptors to directly modulate each other’s function (e.g., Stein and Tessier-Lavigne, 2001). Another means is to tightly regulate the cell surface expression of specific receptors and thereby actively prevent axons from seeing certain guidance cues (e.g., Kidd et al., 1998, Brittis\n\net al., 2002, Keleman et al., 2002, Nawabi et al., 2010, Chen et al., 2008 and Yang et al., 2009). Still further results are not simply explained by relatively slow modulatory mechanisms like receptor trafficking, endocytosis, and local protein synthesis but indicate that interpreting a particular guidance cue is susceptible to rapid Cyclopamine intracellular modulation by other, distinct, signaling pathways (e.g., Song et al., 1998, Dontchev and Letourneau, 2002, Terman and Kolodkin, 2004, Parra and Zou, 2010 and Xu et al., 2010). Our results now indicate a means to allow\n\nfor such intracellular signaling crosstalk events and present a logic by which axon guidance signaling pathways override one another. Given this molecular link between such key regulators of axon pathfinding as cyclic nucleotides, phosphorylation, and GTPases, our observations on silencing Sema/Plex-mediated repulsive axon guidance also suggest approaches to neutralize axonal growth inhibition Parvulin and encourage axon regeneration. Yeast two-hybrid setup, protein expression analyses, and screening were performed following standard procedures (Terman et al., 2002). Drosophila husbandry, genetics, imaging, and characterization of axon guidance were performed using standard methods ( Terman et al., 2002 and Hung et al., 2010). GST pull-down (Oinuma et al., 2004) and coimmunoprecipitation (Terman et al., 2002) assays were performed using standard approaches. GDP and GTPγS-preloading was assessed by GST pull-down assays using GST-RBD proteins (Diekmann and Hall, 1995 and Benard et al., 1999).\n\nApplication of high glucose concentrations to fibroblast cell cul\n\nApplication of high glucose concentrations to fibroblast cell cultures leads to acute transcriptional repression of the Per1, Per2, and Bmal1 genes, thereby synchronizing fibroblast clocks ( Hirota et al., 2002). This is reminiscent of glucocorticoid or glucocorticoid analog synchronization of cell cultures ( Balsalobre et al., 2000), with the difference being that they induce Per1\n\nand Per2 gene expression that leads to a repression Dabrafenib of their own transcription and subsequent synchronization of all cells within hours. Glucose appears to upregulate TIEG1 (KLF10), a negatively acting zinc-finger transcription factor ( Hirota et al., 2002). It binds to two GC-rich elements in the Bmal1 promoter and thereby represses Bmal1 transcription. In vitro experiments have shown that siRNA-mediated knockdown of TIEG1/KLF10 causes\n\nperiod shortening of cellular bioluminescence rhythms driven by Bmal1-luciferase and Per2-luciferase reporters ( Hirota et al., 2010a). Interestingly, Tieg1/Klf10 is regulated by BMAL1/CLOCK and thus appears to be part of a feedback loop involving the circadian clock and glucose levels ( Guillaumond selleck compound et al., 2010) ( Figure 4). Accordingly, glucose absorbed with food or generated by gluconeogenesis will stimulate Tieg1/Klf10 expression and reduce the expression of Bmal1 and genes encoding for enzymes involved in gluconeogenesis. In line with this notion is the observation that Klf10 knockout mice display postprandial and fasting hyperglycemia, although curiously, this has only been observed in male mice. However, KLF10 is implicated in circadian lipid and cholesterol homeostasis in females ( Guillaumond et al., 2010). Collectively, it appears that TIEG1/KLF10 is a transcriptional regulator that links the circadian clock to energy metabolism in the liver. One measure of metabolic state is the ratio between AMP and ATP. Once the ratio increases either (high AMP levels), cells reduce the\n\nactivity of ATP-consuming pathways and increase the activity of ATP-generating pathways. A major sensor for the AMP/ATP ratio is adenosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase (AMPK), which becomes activated when AMP binds to its γ-subunit. This binding elicits a structural change in the AMPK catalytic α-subunit, making it a substrate for liver kinase B1 (LKB1). LKB1 then phosphorylates a threonine in the α-subunit of AMPK, leading to activation of AMPK (Carling et al., 2011). It appears that AMPK impacts circadian clock mechanisms in various ways. It can directly phosphorylate CRY1, leading to destabilization and degradation of this core clock protein (Lamia et al., 2009) and consequently affecting the negative limb of the circadian clock mechanism (Figure 4). The activity of AMPK kinase also appears to modulate PER2 protein stability via an indirect mechanism involving casein kinase 1ε (CK1ε).", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8959579467773438} +{"content": "The Roots of Commercial Design\n\nWant the latest news on STLDW?\n\nSign up for our newsletter.\n\n\nEver wonder how raw materials, environment, and collaboration drive design?\n\nThis panel will explore the roots of commercial design. Where does it begin? How do raw materials influence design or the product? Where does collaboration come in? How does the designer articulate the client’s or brand’s vision?\n\nEach panelist will offer an overview of their process and projects. Introductions will be followed by a moderated discussion and a public Q & A.\n\nKelly Hamilton, publisher and editor-in-chief, EQ Magazine\n\nTom Niemeier, founder and lead architect, Space Architecture + Design\nSarah Frost, senior designer, The Saint Louis Brewery (Schlafly)\nMike Spakowski, creative director, Atomicdust\nDavid Stine, owner and master craftsman, David Stine Woodworking\n\nAll proceeds from the event will go to St. Louis Public Radio!\n\nTap Room screen shot", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9723358750343323} +{"content": "Picture of smart phone in human hand\n\nWorld leading smartphone and mobile technology research at Strathclyde...\n\n\nExplore Strathclyde's Open Access research on smartphone technology now...\n\nThe impact of universal stock futures on feedback trading and volatility dynamics\n\nPaudyal, Krishna and Chau, F and Holmes, P (2008) The impact of universal stock futures on feedback trading and volatility dynamics. Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, 35 (1-2). pp. 227-249. ISSN 0306-686X\n\n\n\nThis paper investigates the impact of the introduction of Universal Stock Futures (USFs) on underlying market dynamics (volatility and the level of feedback trading). Analysis of USFs provides a number of advantages compared to investigation of index futures, leading to reliable and wider ranging insights into the impact of derivatives. Specifically: (i) any impact of derivatives is more likely to be evident in the behaviour of individual stocks; (ii) with USFs it is possible to directly trade the underlying; (iii) USFs have multiple introduction dates within a given market; (iv) differential country/industry effects can be identified; and (v) the endogeneity issue can be addressed using control stocks. Findings suggest limited feedback trading in USF stocks, but listing has reduced this further. While news has less impact and persistence and asymmetry effects are more evident post-futures, control stock results suggest these changes are not futures induced. Differences are evident across industries. The need for analysis of an appropriate (industry based) control sample is highlighted if reliable policy conclusions are to be reached.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9918822050094604} +{"content": "A dog died\n\nA dog died. I do not own any dogs and the recently deceased was not the pet of someone I knew. The dog, however, was one I passed by frequently, whether it was going to the train station or taking one of the few routes to go the very few places that I go. That dog was always there. Now there is a bouquet of flowers.\n\nWhen my wife told me she saw the flowers instead of the dog my initial response was \"Good.\" This may seem cold, crass or even heartless. Especially if you consider that I am particularly not fond of dogs. However seeing this dog as often as I did, it was clear it was suffering. A large, unsightly, clearly cancerous growth consumed the dog and always made me wonder why the owner had not done anything. This is not to presume they could have done anything. I felt bad for this dog, however, as it angrily barked every time I walked past it.\n\nMy son's reaction to the dog was different. Despite it howling out an unholy rage every time we walked past it, all he would do was point its way and say \"doggy\". He is quite fond of my mother-in-law's dogs and he is far too young to differentiate between ones that are friendly or not. He thinks they are neat.\n\nI do not know how this dog went, but I hope it was relatively painless. There is an empty space that I go by now, and while that dog will never mean as much to me as it did to its owners, it is still outstanding how such a seemingly small thing can impact my day and likely the day of everyone who stops at that intersection.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7123478651046753} +{"content": "FS: C8A HUW 1943\n\nBei Milweb war dieser Chevy C8A HUW (Heavy Utility Wireless) aus Holland zu kaufen:\nAll restored to original condition, working sliding roof, glass windows. Radio set, generator, etc etc. Older restoration, never been cut. Now up and running, however I would recommend new tyres. Street legal Dutch license.\n\n0 Kommentare:\n\nAnzahl Besucher:\n\nblogspot stats", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7106364369392395} +{"content": "The Pros and Cons of Indoor Farming - One of the countries in the world that earns benefits of indoor farming is Australia. In the deserts of Port Augusta, Australia, Sundrop Farms operates a 49 acre indoor farm that produces 17,000 tons of fruits and vegetables. 180,000 non-GMO tomato plants, grown without soil, herbicides or pesticides supply 13% of all the tomatoes consumed in Australia.\n\nYah, Indoor Farming is a great idea for future agriculture technology with the help of which one can minimize the land usage while still feeding the masses. It is not difficult to adopt this farming method; just find a fertile urban land, create blocks through concrete and glass and then start farming the vegetables, fruits, poultry, and fish on it. All this will be happened in a structured and controlled environment. Surely, you will be interested in indoor farming advantages and disadvantages, for you we will going to explain both. There are many advantages of using a indoor farming method however there are also disadvantages of using one of these method.\n\nSee also: 3 Challenges of Indoor Farming\n\nIndoor Farming Advantages\n\nEfficient and effective Method: There are a number of people who diverted from traditional farming to vertical farming because they thought that this method is quite efficient and effective. Because there is no soil in this farming method, automatically there are no weeds, then farmers don't need for herbicides and they don't need to spend his amount on pesticides or on insecticides; everything is produced in a controlled environment so there are less chances of attack of pests and insects. No need for field fumigation with highly toxic chemicals such as methyl bromide. No need for tractors, and other expensive tillage equipment.\n\nReduces the use of water: When you compare the indoor farming with traditional farming then you come to know that the former method reduces the water waste to a great extent. Almost 70% of the world’s drinkable water is used for conventional farming while only 30-40% utilized for Indoor Farming purpose. The reduction of water waste is another indoor farming advantage. Indoor farms recirculate and reuse their water, and average 95% less water to grow the same crops, as compared to open field farming. When the plants and crops are grown in these farms then transpiration process starts. This process makes it feasible for the farmers to reuse the water for irrigation purpose. The chances of water waste become minimal and therefore this method is helpful in resources conservation process.\n\nPlants grow faster and have higher yields: If you’ve already read about the many benefits and advantages of indoor farming over soil-based growing, you’ll see that one point that is often emphasized is that indoor farming yields produce faster and in greater quantities. Internet feedback from growers indicates that their indoor farming crops grew anywhere between 20 and 50 per cent faster than the same crops grown in soil. The main reason why plants grow quicker in indoor farming method because The growers can create the ideal blend of nutrients and all nutrients are recyclable. These nutrients are received directly by the roots, the plants aren’t forced to expend energy in search of nutrients as they would in soil, where plant food becomes diluted. As a result, the root systems in hydroponically-grown plants don’t grow out and so this growth is now realized in the form of upward growth.\n\nProtection from Climate Changing: One of the best indoor farming advantages is protection of crops and plant from harsh weather condition.The reason is that the climate changing is causing growing conditions to become much more difficult. By using indoor farming method, temperature in the space of growing can be set at the level that is good for the growth of crops and plants. The indifferent weather conditions such as hurricanes, hail, drought and snap freezes have little or no effect on the produce. As global temperature is becoming unpredictable with the passage of time therefore many farmers considered this method of farming more suitable.\n\nIndoor Farming Disadvantages\n\nNot all plants can be grown: Another thing that makes this idea unattractive for the farmer is limited varieties of vegetables and fruits. In fact, the grower are unable to grow the different varieties of fruits and vegetables in this indoor farming. The reason is that there are only a few varieties of vegetables and fruits that can be produced well in this controlled environment of farm.\n\nHigh initial cost to set up: One of the main Indoor Farming disadvantage is the high cost associated with this method. You know that the price of urban land is higher than that of farmland. It requires daily attention such as monitoring water, nutrients and pH levels. In addition, the indoor farming needs to electricity cost therefore a lot more energy to maintain perfect growing conditions\n\nDue to these possible indoor farming disadvantages, some farmers still prefer the conventional farming over it. However, a person who wants to do something creative must go for this lucrative idea by paying more attention to indoor farming advantages and less onto its disadvantages.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9571225047111511} +{"content": "Belfast Telegraph\n\nUK Website Of The Year\n\nHome News UK\n\nJohn McDonnell: Labour would make top earners publish tax records\n\nShadow chancellor John McDonnell insisted there would be \"no place to hide\" for tax dodgers under Labour as he set out plans for top earners to make their returns public.\n\nLaws forcing taxpayers raking in more than £1 million to release their records would restore public trust in the system and curb avoidance, he claimed.\n\nMr McDonnell also called on the Government to hand over the extra money it is expected to collect from higher than predicted tax receipts to the NHS and social care.\n\nIn a speech in central London, he warned anything less would be an \"inadequate\" response to the crisis in the services.\n\n\" Published figures indicate that tax receipts are currently higher than anticipated,\" he said.\n\n\" Given that we're facing an immediate crisis in the NHS and social care, I'm calling on the Chancellor to use that money to address this NHS and social care emergency.\n\n\"Any measure less than this is likely to be inadequate.\"\n\nMr McDonnell said financing of the NHS has become so \"excessively politicised\" that supposedly official figures are subject to dispute.\n\nHe called for a politically neutral organisation to give independent assessments of need and provision in the straining health service.\n\n\" People need to know that the contribution they make will be spent properly,\" the shadow chancellor added.\n\n\" Hypothecation, allocating taxes raised to specific purposes, can make absolutely clear where tax money is being spent.\n\n\" It can help restore the trust and confidence in taxation and government spending that has otherwise started to break down.\n\n\" But hypothecation for the NHS has to be more than a commitment from a politician or a political party to spend a given amount, however firm that promise.\n\n\" It needs a clear commitment, over the long term, that specific taxes will be used for specific purposes, and that this spending will be properly monitored.\"\n\nLabour has drawn on practices in Scandinavian countries such as Norway and Sweden to devise its plans for tax return disclosures for Britain's wealthiest.\n\nHe said: \" There'll be no place to hide for tax avoiders under Labour. O ur tax transparency and enforcement programme will clamp down on the worst avoiders.\n\n\"And building on the successful Nordic model, we'll introduce legislation to make public the tax returns of those earning over £1m.\n\n\" Transparency and fairness is at the heart of building a decent, open society. This will help restore public trust in the tax system - and help clamp down on any avoidance.\"\n\n\nFrom Belfast Telegraph", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7285782694816589} +{"content": "Diploma-Worthy DealsShop tech for grads ›\nThe Road to 9/11 [DVD] [English]\nPrice Match Guarantee\n\n\nHere's how:\n\n\nCardmember Offers\n\n\nSpecial Features\n\n • Closed Captioned\n\n\nThe Road to 9/11\nFor many Americans, the psychic wounds inflicted by the shocking events of September 11, 2001, are still tender. For those who may still be asking themselves exactly what it was that caused the Muslim population of the world to take such an extreme stance against Western culture, and their country in particular, this insightful documentary takes a closer look at the powers that have shaped the Middle East to provide a better understanding of the troubling crisis. From the downward spiral of the economic and sociopolitical state of the region to the increasing prominence of religious fanaticism and terrorism, filmmakers attempt to get to the root of the problem by highlighting the various factors that have played into the growing destabilization of the region. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8848472833633423} +{"content": "Practical Theology\n\nThose who know me in person may already know that I’ve become religious. The foundation of my belief comes from Christianity, Calvinist branch of Protestantism, to be specific. It was a spectacular psychological journey in which I did much philosophical and sci-fi pondering, and my basic understanding of life, universe and everything has altered a lot. Of course the faith didn’t come out from nowhere. I’ve repeatedly experienced certain kinds of revelation (facts that hard to reasoning via atheists’ perspective), as the lyric goes: “how precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed …”\n\nHowever, with my study of Bible and catechumens course, gradually I found the doctrines overly-sophisticated with too many justifications that are hard to testify, falsify or even sense. It makes the so-called truth inelegant to me. Meanwhile, I paid attention to historical critical interpretation of the Bible and those literal contradictions taunted by arrogant atheists. Crises emerged in my spirit.\n\nThe wikipedia entry of the word “theology” states: “theology is the critical study of the nature of the divine.” Just like science, theology also needs critical thinking and evolution, otherwise Reformation wouldn’t have happened. So I think it’s okay for me to tune my understanding of religion a little bit to be compatible with modern common sense. Science and religion shall share a same basic cognitive style and together form a integral of knowledge of man kind. I call this version practical theology (the name is already taken, but I don’t want to waste my nerves on such difficult tasks like naming). Pious protestants might think it heretical, while my intention is primarily self-convincing. Maybe, as a side effect, it makes things more acceptable to paranoid but open-minded atheists.\n\n\nMaterialists believe that the universe could be understood by human beings. If the nature is chaotic, our brains should have infinitely many neurons to accomplish the goal. Because our brains themselves are included in the universe. The whole can be covered by a part, only if both of them have infinite complexity, analogous to Fractal. It’s hard to believe so, as a result, I suppose that most materialists tend to believe that the essence of our world can be compressed into elegant rules - law of nature - that can be understood using limited neurons.\n\n\nThe trick is how to treat randomness. Modern statistics doesn’t try to explain the nature of uncertainty. On the other hand, it’s a study of the macroscopic effects of randomness. Despite of its successful applications in other research fields, building “law of nature” on uncertain blocks doesn’t mean understanding to me because too much useful information being neglected. Something more fundamental should be revealed. However, with my very limited knowledge of quantum mechanics, it seems very unlikely for human to discover the very power that makes wave functions collapse.\n\nIn other words, we may peek at a corner of “law of nature”, but it’s hard or even impossible to get an entire overview of it. Karl Marx’s view of science overestimates human intelligence. Maybe we are “frogs of the well” who don’t even have the possibility to escape from our narrow space of sensation. Or, at least we should agree that beyond the boundary of our current scientific exploration activities, there are existences of certain kinds of rules or forces that have strong causal relations with our observations. We can take them as a set and give it a name, “super-natural power” perhaps :-). Obviously, it’s a dynamic set which shrinks over time and the discrepancy comes from whether it will become empty eventually. No matter which side you pick, nothing diminishes our curiosity of it.\n\nCognitive Style\n\nCan not understand doesn’t mean can not guess. We can think of theology as the hypothesis of “super-natural power” while other scientific hypotheses like string theory and evolution focus on specific subsets of it. Then we can follow typical statistical methods to verify all of them in progress. So theology, as I mentioned earlier, should also be a dynamically evolving study. As our scientific understanding grows vast and more concrete, theology goes the opposite direction, more concise and abstract. (The phrasing here makes the relationship look like a dualism, but it is actually a continuous model in my mind.)\n\nAtheists around me, those educated with scientific socialism, often mingle the concepts of religion, superstition and cult. In their eyes, religious people pick authoritative ways of knowing and certainly lack the ability to suspect, which makes them easy to fool around. Actually it’s not the case, people of true faith build their faith on suspicion. They hardily make claims like “100% certain of the existence of God”. Instead, adverbs meaning uncertainty appear a lot when they express their believes, like “maybe, likely …” in this article. This illustrates that modern science and religion is congruence in their basic cognitive style, i.e. statistical inference and logic. The procedure of spiritual formation can be viewed as a simple statistical hypothesis testing or Bayesian inference process. Using our observations (physical & mental experiences) to update the prior belief of our theology hypothesis.\n\nOccam’s Razor\n\nOccam’s Razor is a very useful philosophical thinking principle which is widely accepted by scientists. Yet many people may not know that its originator William of Ockham was a theologian, and it was firstly brought up to deal with theological problems. Unfortunately, theologians after him didn’t carry on the good tradition which leads to the disintegration of Christianity. Nowadays only the branches of Protestantism form a massive forest.\n\n\nThe reason is that we have made up too complex hypotheses. Some branches go “astray” when encountered with trivial questions, the answers to which might be by-all-means unreachable to us human. Actually, the unanswerable questions themselves are often pedantic and irrelevant. For example, which method of baptism is correct, immersion, affusion or aspersion?\n\nEquipped with both science and religion though, we still have to admit that there are questions can’t be answered, especially silly questions. That is to say, we don’t need to provide completeness besides consistence to our system, and historical attempts resulted in vain.\n\nThus within practical theology, I put those insensible doctrines aside. A more brutal way to phase it is “cut them by the razor”.\n\nSome atheists might argue that the existence of divine beings is insensible, thus could be cut out by Occam’s razor. Well, the revelations appeared to me make this very unlikely to be true. I tried to explain the divergence using the experience of my own reconstruction, and I found that the labeling processes of our observations might be highly biased by our prior assumptions. It seems to be a intrinsic flaw of our brains. An effective way to mitigate the bias is simply to intentionally modify our priors and see how the labels change under that assumption. The mathematical model of this phenomenon actually can be formalized by computer languages, such as WebPPL, but I’d like to use a more sentimental way to put it: please give religion a chance to alter your hard mind.\n\nThe Bible\n\nPerhaps the most heretical part of my theology is the attitudes towards the Bible. Note that I omit the word “holy” here. The reason comes from the principles mentioned above. The claim of “xx being holy” has little prior probability in my cognition system even if the existence of God is generally accepted. It’s pretty reasonable since claims implying so much information have large amounts of self-information, indicating small probabilities. My data is simply not enough to support the claim, so I remain skeptical about the holiness of the Bible.\n\nIn practical theology, The Bible is to theology as “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” is to science. The evolution of theology urges critical thinking of the literal meaning of the Bible. Just recall how Jesus criticized Pharisees in the gospels. The words and information of the canon have their historical restrictions. It just saves us lots of effort to admit it and stops us from making up delicate stories.\n\nHowever the theology conveyed by the Bible still needs to be studied carefully, for the purpose of a more advanced theology though, which is analogous to the built of quantum mechanics and theory of relativity on top of Newtonian mechanics.\n\n\nThis essay tries to avoid the mention of a single concrete creed or dogma while focuses mainly on ontology and methodology. Neither does personal testimony involve in detail. It shouldn’t be regarded as any kind of preaching content. Here I just want to share my current state of philosophical and theological thoughts, and I don’t suppose it to convince anybody. Yet it would be very nice to have someone happens to share similar understandings.\n\nThose serious Christians who regard my spiritual conditions as poor or dangerous, please help the hell out of me, amen!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7689135074615479} +{"content": "text.skipToContent text.skipToNavigation\n\nTula Pink - Moon Shine - Static Dot - Dandelion\n\nItem # PWTP061.DANDE\nMoon Shine is a fantasy camping trip full of mystery and wonder. Find the deer hiding in the daisies and the bear who ran off with all of the food, a paper boat floats down the stream and a mouse holes up in a woodland tree house. In typical Tula Pink fashion this narrative is set against a backdrop of vibrant color with a touch of elegance and whimsy. Moon Shine is a day dream where anything is possible and reality is replaced by imagination, here, anything is possible.\n\nProduct details", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9898186326026917} +{"content": "Q&A: Should I Take a Prenatal Vitamin Even If I’m Not Pregnant?\n\nReading time: 3 – 4 minutes\n\nQuestion: I’ve heard that prenatal vitamins can help improve hair quality, balance hormones, prevent acne and make fingernails stronger. Should I consider taking them even though I’m not pregnant?\n\nPrenatal vitaminsImage credit: Prenatal vitamins via Shutterstock\n\nAnswer: The notion that prenatal vitamins affect hormone levels or the quality of skin, hair and nails is a myth that likely has its origins in the observation that pregnant women (who are generally taking prenatal vitamins) have fast-growing, healthy-looking hair and nails, and glowing skin. However, the changes in skin, hair and nails experienced by pregnant women are due to hormonal changes associated with pregnancy, and have nothing to do with prenatal vitamins.\n\nPrenatal vitamins are multivitamin and mineral supplements specifically formulated for pregnant women. Compared to a regular multivitamin, prenatals have more iron and folic acid. The extra iron (27 mg/day for pregnant women, versus 18 mg/day for non-pregnant women) is important to the production of additional red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the tissues. Folic acid, one of the B-vitamins, helps to promote normal development of the neural tube. Deficiencies in folic acid during pregnancy increase the risk of spina bifida and other neural tube defects in the developing fetus. Pregnant women need 600 mg of folic acid a day, compared to 400 mg/day for non-pregnant women.\n\nThere is no scientific evidence — nor is there a plausible hypothesis — to suggest that prenatal vitamins affect hormone levels or confer any particular benefit upon non-pregnant women. Further, prenatals contain large quantities of iron, which can be toxic in excess. Still, it’s unlikely that the iron in prenatals would be sufficient to cause iron toxicity in an otherwise healthy female. Men and children, who have much lower iron requirements and tolerances, should not take prenatal vitamins.\n\nThere is one group of non-pregnant individuals who potentially stands to benefit from prenatal vitamins: women who are actively trying to conceive. However, the extra iron isn’t actually necessary until the second trimester of pregnancy, and many women find that it upsets the gut, leading to nausea and constipation. As such, women who are attempting to become pregnant may prefer a regular multivitamin, plus an additional folic acid supplement. Of course, it’s important to discuss all supplement decisions with a healthcare practitioner.\n\nQ&A is a biweekly series answering YOUR questions about the science of health. Have a question? Use the contact form to ask us!\n\nAbout the Author\n\nKirstin Hendrickson, Ph.D., is a science journalist and faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Arizona State University. She has a PhD in Chemistry, and studied mechanisms of damage to DNA during her graduate career. Kirstin also holds degrees in Zoology and Psychology. Currently, both in her teaching and in her writing, she’s interested in methods of communicating about science, and in the reciprocal relationship between science and society. She has written a textbook called Chemistry In The World, which focuses on the ways in which chemistry affects everyday life, and the ways in which humans affect each other and the environment through chemistry.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5306265354156494} +{"content": "Video: See the floating football pitch that is keeping a Thai island afloat\n\nLocal residents say that the floating football pitch has ensured local businesses and restaurants are thriving\n\nClick to follow\n\nThe southern Thai island of Koh Panyee might be known for its dramatic landscapes, jutting cliff faces and beautiful blue waters, but there is another thing that is attracting tourists to this picturesque island; its floating football pitch.\n\nThe floating pitch was created in its current form in 2010 and has been a major draw for tourists coming to the island ever since, helping to negate the events that have had a negative impact on Thailand’s tourism industry over the past twelve months.\n\nDespite the current military Junta’s efforts to boost tourism to the country, events such as the military coup and the murder of the two British tourists, Hannah Witheridge and David Miller have seen the number of people visiting Thailand drop in recent times.\n\nNevertheless, according to residents on the island, the negative impact of these events on tourism to Koh Panyee hasve been softened because of their famous floating football pitch. The pitch was created as part of an advertising campaign by a Thai bank in 2010 and has become a major draw for the island in attracting people to Koh Panyee, and keeping young people on the island, ever since.\n\nLocal restaurants and businesses have said that the economic impact of the pitch has been vast and this has allowed business to thrive.\n\nLocal stall owner, Apom Janchulee, said: “The jobs here are now better than those on the mainland; the young can find money easier here.”\n\nAccording, to Janchulee those on the island can earn thousands of Baht every day transporting tourists in canoes, massive when you consider the average wage for a person in Thailand is just over 400 baht a day.\n\nSo great has the financial impact been that it has supported an influx of Thai people coming to live on the island.\n\nIn the past ten years, the population of the island has increased by a third and this has led to the number of houses on the island increasing too.\n\nChief of Koh Panyee, Muhammad Prasanpan, was positive abou the impact the floating pitch was having on the community and hoped it could become a feature of the island for decades to come.\n\nHe said: “I think we need to keep the football pitch for our children and grandchildren, because we can say the floating football pitch is unique to the village.”", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7713309526443481} +{"content": "Beginning with Western preconceptions concerning conflict and post-conflict transition—especially in reference to developments in Third World states—, one is steered in the direction of accepting that marginalization of particular social groups will inevitably occur in ‘primitive’ areas of the world that lack civility. The ‘Stop Genocide in Sudan’ tee-shirts and the rampant idealism in liberal, ‘politically correct’ media and academia cease to resonate after years of constructing walls of desensitization to gruesome topics that do not affect our daily lives. And furthermore, the minority who do not succumb to a more jaded, ‘realistic’ interpretation of society are often shunned for adopting labels such as ‘feminist’ or ‘progressive’—in turn perpetuating stereotypes that are divisive to a society grounded on principles of fundamental equality. But rather, the cynics who bolster that social marginalization will remain existent in ‘unenlightened’ places appear to suggest that human development is a static entity that is not socially constructed; this postulation simply does not hold considering the range of human rights abuses and breakthroughs relative to cultural norms. In fact, as will be further developed, the overarching factor that influences the marginalization of women is the power structure of national and international systems that are socially and culturally constructed in a manner that distinguishes the extent of agency that women have. The amount of agency that women have of course varies culturally, but there are certain factors that remain prevalent in all societies—in summation, gender-based expectations coupled with a masculine power structure lead to the subordination of women seeking emancipation from historicized and contemporary male domination. Herein, significant facets that perpetuate the marginalization of women will be analyzed, and a final diagnosis regarding how the marginalization of women in conflict and post-conflict transition can be reduced will be articulated based upon the analysis of the array of causes leading to such marginalization.\n\n           Prior to engaging in a critical analysis of why women’s marginalization occurs and how activists can work to halt its inhumane continuance, an empirical look at case studies is warranted in order to gain perspective on the issue at hand. Firstly, it should be noted that the international community recognizes that the marginalization of women is unjustly persistent and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was created in 1979 in direct response to clear discrimination of women (UN General Assembly 1979: 1). Thus, state and non-state actors who engage in, “Gender-based violence, which impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms,†are in direct violation of international law—and the direct defiance of international law by widespread actors reflects the shortcomings of the international system’s human rights initiatives that will be discussed in further detail later (Council of Europe 1992: 1). In Sudan, for example, the Janjawid—comprised of Sudanese Arab tribes—publicly raped in order to “humiliate the women†and being the main caregivers in Darfur “renders them [women] more vulnerable during attack†as they usually stay closer to the village (Amnesty International 2004: 10-14). To make matters worse, women who were raped would stay away from relatives who fled to neighboring Chad because of the shame and stigma associated with rape, and communities would not welcome [back] rape victims, and this leads to social, economic, and medical vulnerability (Amnesty International 2004: 2-62). As written in the Amnesty International Report, “Women and children are the most affected, physically and psychologically, during flight and as a consequence of forced displacement,†so it follows that the aforementioned vulnerabilities are only enhanced exponentially in cases of pregnancy which are ample in the absence of adequate contraceptive accessibility (Amnesty International 2004: 23). Ranging from Sierra Leone to Kosovo to Colombia the heinous abuses of women are similarly conducted, revealing that women are marginalized in the obvious manner of being subjected to physical and psychological abuse in conflict and post-conflict transition. Further analysis will examine why and how this marginalization is so prevalent in lead up to a prognosis as to how the abuse can be confronted more effectively.\n\n           While there are several socially constructed norms that exist in the realm of reality that influence that marginalization of women, mythological tales describing women form a bond between the perception of women in fantasy and the treatment of women in reality. As Sjoberg and Gentry posit in reference to the renowned Medea who commits a series of violent actions out of her forced love for Jason in Euripides’ Medea, “Even one of history’s most famous villainesses is not credited with her own violent choices. Instead, her violence is characterized as reliant on her role as a wife and mother, and thus not of her own doing†(Sjoberg & Gentry 2007: 30). And in the Roman Boudica myth, Boudica’s violent response to the murders of her own loved ones is seen as monstrously “savage and unwomanly†rather than a natural human reaction along the same lines as Hamlet’s (Sjoberg & Gentry 2007: 38-39). Given the circumstances of Medea and Boudica, a more reasonable explanation of their actions would be that they acted with calculated, rational agency (regardless of whether one agrees with the ethics of retributive violence). The insistence that these women acted without ‘innately womanly’ agency in the sense that only ‘dysfunctional women’ can act maternally violent or monstrously is described by Hussain as an, “attempt to control, govern, regulate, or discipline text(s) in terms of policing the boundaries of meaning†(Hussain 2000: 29). Such monopolized censorship of stories’ interpretation affects how society and the international system as a separate entity perceive women. In essence, it is an attempt to maintain the gender stereotype that ‘regular women’ are peaceful, innocent, maternal creatures, and any resort to violence is a result of one of these inborn qualities gone awry. If policymakers and activists in general fall victim to such simplified discourses, then policy will not account for the diverse motives that women agents have for their respective choices. Gibson-Graham hones in on this point when ascertaining that, “feminists engage in projects of discursive destabilization, looking for and pointing out the gendered silences and oppressions inherent in the stories that get told†(Gibson-Graham 1994: 216). As discursive destabilization occurs, actors become open to an array of explanations behind the actions of women, and this can only lead to more adequate policy in terms of promoting the betterment of women’s lives ranging from equal pay in the Western workplace to the right to be part of the decision-making process, in the likes of Sierra Leone and Sudan, in postcolonial post-conflict transition after participation in conflict.\n\n           Regardless of whether the genesis is in fantasy or reality, gender-based expectations dominate the conception of how women are supposed to act. Women’s violence betrays the peaceful stereotype, and women in combat are forced to adopt a form of ‘hypermasculinity’ in order to conform to the male-dominated discipline (D’Amico & Beckman 1995: 8). In Sierra Leone, for example, women combatants must necessarily “assume male roles†and “outdo men†in order to prove that they are no longer ‘typical’, yet once the process of demobilization begins “female fighters are frequently ‘forgotten’†and “passed off as ‘camp followers’†(Coulter 2008: 63). A blatant double-standard exists: women have to work harder to gain respect in camp, but once peace begins to develop the military heartlessly abandons the very women who made unfathomable sacrifices. In a form of irony that shatters gender-based expectations and prompts further marginalization of women, women are often the most courageous, ‘masculine’ fighters during conflict, and men—supposedly in existence to protect and provide—fail to protect and provide for women in post-conflict transition. What this further entails is that, while males and females may exhibit respective tendencies, it is foolish to presume that there are modes of action that all men or all women share. As postulated by Sjoberg, “Women soldiers were ‘not soldiers but women soldiers; their gender marked their identity in militaries’,†and this often creates a state-perpetuated “gendered ‘protection racket’ which marginalizes women while appearing to foreground their interests†(Sjoberg 2007: 83). A comparable example of the argument Sjoberg is highlighting is the process of affirmative action in the United States. In short, by signifying that a ‘women soldier’ is different from a ‘soldier’ or, in the case of affirmative action, that a ‘qualified minority applicant’ is different from a ‘qualified applicant’, the State actually marginalizes social groups that are already perceived to be marginalized by indirectly making the claim that it is highly unlikely for them to be a formidable candidate at whatever enterprise they are pursuing. Instead, civil liberties pertaining to abolishing women’s marginalization, racial discrimination, etc. can and should still be pursued, but if the framework has undertones of gender-based expectations then the implication that civil liberties are in some way contrary to how humanity should naturally treat each other unnecessarily exists.\n\n           Thus far, and surprisingly contrary to many researchers, it has been argued that violent women, subjected to conflict as victim or combatant, engaging in action are rational agents just as men engaging in the repulsive abuse of women are acting rationally. Even if women were simply driven to action by how they have been affected as a wife or mother—like media coverage of women in Palestine assumes—, women still have control over bestowing primacy to caring for loved ones (Sjoberg & Gentry 2007: 23-24). In spite of their rational agency, however, agency is socially constructed in a manner that leaves the ‘culturally acceptable’ action as the only plausible choice (as evidenced by the earlier reference to rape victims in Sudan refusing to flee to Chad). Some people may then jump to claim that women like the Sudan rape victims are acting irrationally by passing on the opportunity to flee to a safer state—but this would paradoxically entail that abiding by cultural norms is irrational. Hence, these women are not acting irrationally; they have weighed the options of suffering prolonged abuse in Darfur versus receiving shame from friends and family in a safer Chad and have chosen the former option. This is a prime example of the strength of socially constructed norms. Aretxaga has characterized this type of decision as a “choiceless decision†but it never ceases to be a rational one. And if one considers the chances of survival if the Sudanese rape victim returned to unwelcoming villagers or if the Sierra Leonean woman refused to fight after just witnessing the murder of her husband because joining the militia that massacred one’s spouse ‘sounds’ reprehensible, the decisions these women make offer the greatest chance of survival—surely the core indicator of rational choice (Aretxaga 1997: 61). Of course, it is not being claimed that these women are not victims of unimaginable trauma or that they have agency in the same way that I have the agency to go to the pub tonight—there are structural constraints on their action. As said by Shaw, “The agency of those who deploy 'weapons of the weak', is very different from the agency of those whose authority allows them to act upon the world through control of an apparatus of domination†(Shaw 2002: 19). The argument is that ‘victim’ does not equate to ‘no agency’ but that as asserted by Coulter in reference to Sierra Leone “One needs to make a distinction, therefore, between different kinds and degrees of power and agency†(Coulter 2008: 68).    \n\n             In accordance, clearly women’s marginalization is socially constructed—but this remains vague and does not address whether marginalization is a result of structure, members of society, ruling elites, a culmination, etc. For instance, during the socialist revolution in Iran male activists attributed women’s marginalization to a ‘problem of structure’, but then remained ambivalent to women once gaining power (Shahidian 1994: 1). Therefore it follows that a “feminist consciousness†cannot be created instantaneously—or even as a result of democratic revolution—if oppression has historically been prevalent (Sajjad 2004: 12). Nordstrom writes, “What people tolerate in peace shapes what they will tolerate in war,†and this quote is certainly cyclical; if people tolerate marginalization during peace then their minds are socially constructed to accept oppression, and war albeit inspired by social revolution will not instantaneously change that (Nordstrom 1997: 1). Like the Civil Rights Movement in the United States or the international response to South African apartheid, changing social dynamics is a process because it requires altering ingrained mental schema. In acknowledging that reducing the marginalization of women will be a gradual process, the international community has the obligation to make women’s marginalization a public concern. But as aforementioned, the international community has done this and human rights abuses still persist—often times at the hands of the very state that is supposed to provide security.\n\nTherefore a clear divide persists between ‘international security’ and ‘national security’ since the former promotes human rights but lacks direct influence and the latter [in some cases] abuses human rights and has direct influence. Writes Shepherd, “‘International security’ depends on states complying with the moral authority of the ‘international community’,†but individual states are the central actors in relation to monitoring marginalization (Shepherd 2006: 383). In this view, ‘international security’ is rendered obsolete if states act amorally. States maintain a tense relationship with women because in many cases joining in revolution alongside men has promised a women’s emancipation that has not been delivered by the State that still controls and defines gender roles. Women’s increased involvement in conflict and post-conflict transition has begun to pave the way for women of future generations, but instances of revolution by women combatants coupled with increased international recognition of women’s rights abuses has not yet eradicated women’s marginalization due to the fact that gender inequality is one of the few aspects of international relations that the domestic State and the beliefs it has rooted into its populous still maintains near total control over. Social movements and policy that advocate women’s rights, agency, access to medical care, and equality in a way that alters domestic abuse, socially constructed schemas of inequality, and general subordination rather than focusing upon abstract internationally systematic efforts would be a step in the right direction towards stopping the marginalization of women in conflict and post-conflict transition.  \n\n\nAmnesty International., “Sudan: Darfur: Rape as a weapon of war: sexual violence and its\n\nConsequencesâ€. (2004). 1-46.\n\nAretxaga, B., Shattering Silence: Women, Nationalism and Political Subjectivity in Northern\n\nIreland. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (1997).\n\nCoulter, C., “Female Fighters in the Sierra Leone War: Challenging the Assumptions?â€, Feminist Review. 88. 1. (2008). 54-73.\n\nCouncil of Europe., “General Recommendation No. 19: Violence Against Womenâ€. (1992). 1.\n\nD’Amico, F. and Beckman, P., Women in World Politics: An Introduction. Westport, Connecticut: Bergin & Garvey. (1995).\n\nGibson-Graham, J.K., “‘Stuffed If I Know’: Reflections on Post-modern Feminist Social Researchâ€, Gender, Place and Culture. 1. (1994). 205-224.\n\nHussain, A., “Joy Harjo and Her Poetics as Praxis: A “Postcolonial†Political Economy of the Body, Land, Labor, and Languageâ€, Wicazo Sa Review. 15. 2. (2000). 27-61.\n\nNordstrom, C., “Girls and Warzones: Troubling Questions, Uppsala†Life & Peace Institute. (1997). 1.\n\nSajjad, T., “Women Guerillas: Marching toward True Freedom? An Analysis of Women's Experiences in the Frontlines of Guerilla Warfare and in the Post-War Periodâ€, Agenda Feminist Media. 59. 1. (2004). 4-15.\n\nShahidian, H., “Women and clandestine politics in Iran: 1970-1985â€, Feminist Studies. 23. 1. (1997).\n\nShaw, R., Memories of the Slave Trade: Ritual and the Historical Imagination in Sierra Leone. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. (2002).\n\nShepherd, L.I., “Loud Voices Behind the Wall: Gender Violence and the Violent Reproduction of the Internationalâ€, Millennium: Journal of International Studies. 34. 2. (2006). 377-401.\n\nSjoberg, L. “Agency, Militarized Femininity, and Enemy Othersâ€. International Feminist Journal of Politics. 9. 1. (2007). 82-101.\n\nSjoberg, L. and Gentry, C.E., Mothers, Monsters, and Whores: Women’s Violence in Global Politics. London, England: Zed Books. (2007).\n\nUN General Assembly. “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women“ (1979). 1-30.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.723304808139801} +{"content": "Rainfall in some areas this spring has created ideal conditions for several tree diseases and foliage abnormalities.\n\nAMES, Iowa – Rainfall in some areas this spring has created ideal conditions for several tree diseases and foliage abnormalities.\n\nMy 'Spring Snow' crabapple bloomed beautifully this spring, but has recently begun to lose many of its leaves. Why?\n\nThe 'Spring Snow' crabapple is widely planted as it is one of the few crabapple varieties (cultivars) that doesn't bear fruit. Unfortunately, 'Spring Snow' is very susceptible to apple scab.\n\nApple scab is a fungal disease. It's caused by the fungus Venturia inaequalis. Cool, wet weather in spring favors apple scab development.\n\nApple scab appears as velvety, olive-green to black spots on crabapple leaves. Heavily infected leaves turn yellow and fall from the tree. Highly susceptible crabapple cultivars may lose a large percentage of their leaves by mid-summer. Fortunately, apple scab does not kill affected trees. The damage is mainly aesthetic. Heavily defoliated crabapples are not very attractive.\n\nApple scab can be prevented by applying fungicides from bud break through mid-June. For most home gardeners, however, controlling apple scab with fungicides is simply not practical. Sanitation also plays a role in controlling apple scab. Raking and destroying the leaves as soon as they fall may reduce the severity of the infection next season. However, the best way to prevent apple scab is to plant scab resistant crabapple cultivars.\n\nWhy are the leaves on my pin oak yellow-green?\n\nIn Iowa, the foliage of the pin oak (Quercus palustris) often turns a sickly yellow-green. The yellow-green foliage is due to a deficiency of iron. The problem is referred to as iron chlorosis. (A close examination of chlorotic leaves will show that while most of the leaf is yellow-green, the tissue around the major veins is a darker green.) Most soils in Iowa contain sufficient amounts of iron. However, in alkaline soils (those with a pH above 7.0), the pin oak is unable to absorb adequate amounts of iron because much of it is in an insoluble form. Since many soils in Iowa are alkaline, chlorotic pin oaks are common in the state. Wet soil conditions make absorption of iron even more difficult.\n\nCorrecting an iron chlorosis problem is difficult. Applying additional iron to the soil usually doesn't help. The soil already contains sufficient amounts of iron. Adding more iron doesn't overcome the problem. Lowering the soil pH to 6.0 to 6.5 would allow the roots of the pin oak to more readily absorb iron in the soil. Unfortunately, lowering the soil pH is extremely difficult, if not impossible. As a result, homeowner efforts to treat iron chlorosis are often unsuccessful.\n\nOne strategy that sometimes works is to have an arborist or other tree care professional inject an iron containing compound directly into the trunks of chlorotic pin oak trees. The effects of a trunk injection may last three or four years.\n\nThere are bumps on the undersides of my hackberry leaves. What are they? Are they harming the tree?\n\nThe bumps on the leaves are hackberry nipple galls. Galls are abnormal plant growths induced to form by small insects or mites. Hackberry psyllids (small aphid-like insects) are responsible for the galls on hackberry leaves. In early spring, adult hackberry psyllids emerge from their over-wintering locations and lay eggs on hackberry leaf buds. Eggs hatch into tiny nymphs that stimulate the raised swellings or galls in which the insect lives and feeds for the rest of summer. The psyllids complete their development in late summer and emerge from the galls. The adults spend the winter in cracks and crevices in tree bark and other sheltered locations.\n\nGalls do not cause serious harm to healthy, well-established trees. Galls cannot be \"cured\" once they have formed. Preventive insecticide treatments are seldom warranted.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7530816793441772} +{"content": "The 1974 game, of course, was 24-0 ND before halftime\nby ShermanOaksND (2014-11-30 16:31:25)\n\n In reply to: That's pretty damning if true, posted by PattyMulligan\n\nYesterday was 35-0 USC before halftime. It was infinitely worse than the 1974 game, which was painful because of the blown lead.\n\nThe only time an Ara-coached ND team was truly blown out was the 1973 Orange Bowl, 40-6 to Nebraska. That game was 20-0 at halftime and 40-0 at about the same point in the third quarter as USC led 49-7 yesterday.\n\nAra's teams lost by 20+ points in only 2 other games, 28-8 at LSU in 1971 and 45-23 at USC in 1972. But those weren't really blowouts. ND had more total yardage in both games. Against LSU, ND was killed by turnovers and multiple blown opportunities inside the LSU 10. Against USC, ND closed to 25-23 late in the 3rd, before Anthony Davis had his 2nd KO return for a TD. ND actually had an outside shot at the national championship if they'd won that game. Instead, they were flat for the Orange Bowl, and half the team was hung over from partying on the beach on New Year's Eve.\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7476503849029541} +{"content": "How to develop for Linux\n\nThe community is making it easier for developers to contribute code - and that means you too!\n\n\nWhile Quickly is fantastic for getting users up and running with a new application, there is a much wider challenge around how developers can collaborate together around code. Producing software and providing an environment in which contributors can work together on it requires a large number of tools and the integration of those tools.\n\nIn the bad old days of open source it was a nightmare to set up and integrate these tools, but these days we have a variety of free websites with ready-to-roll development environments for creating and maintaining open source projects easily. One such example is Launchpad.\n\nGet developing\n\nLAUNCHPAD: Launchpad is Ubuntu's site for hosting code and fixing bugs, and is where you should upload your new app.\n\nLaunchpad is a powerful, simple and comprehensive development forge that has become hugely popular over the last few years (it currently sports over 17,000 projects) and is right at the heart of how Ubuntu is developed. The site provides a range of useful facilities:\n\nCode hosting: Launchpad knits together neatly with the popular Bazaar distribution version control system. Together they provide a fantastic method for contributors to work together on code, merge changes into a main code base and host code online.\n\nBug tracking: Although traditionally a complex and ugly part of software development, the bug tracker built into Launchpad is simple and effective.\n\nTranslations: Many projects struggle with providing multiple language support, but Launchpad provides a simple means for anyone who knows more than one language to translate applications without ever touching code.\n\nBlueprints: This feature provides a means to produce specifications for ideas and features in your project.\n\nSupport: Launchpad provides a question-and-answer facility that is well suited to give support for your users.\n\nPackage building: A hugely popular feature in Launchpad is the ability to have your very own Personal Package Archive (PPA), which enables you to automatically build and deliver Ubuntu packages to your users.\n\nIf you want to find out more about the range of facilities in Launchpad, you should take a look at the online tour at\n\nLaunchpad offers a simple and effective experience for creating applications, and much of its simplicity is in how the different components of Launchpad can link together. As an example, you can create a blueprint and specific, attach bugs to it, attach Bazaar branches to bugs and more. This interconnection of information helps simplify visibility of information and ensure that developers always know what is going on.\n\nLaunchpad is not perfect though, and some developers have tried to simplify its use in application development. One such example is the way that Quickly enables you to publish to Launchpad (more on this later). Another interesting example is a tool called Ground Control by Ubuntu community member Martin Owens.\n\nGet developing\n\nGROUND CONTROL:A more specific set of steps to produce an app for Linux.\n\nGround Control takes an innovative approach in turning your file manager (Nautilus) into your development environment. Imagine you want to fix a bug. The process for fixing a bug is typically the one highlighted on the opposite page. It works like this:\n\nChoose a bug to fix: You find a bug on Launchpad that irritates you enough that you want to fix it.\n\nbzr branch: Download the code for the project that's afflicted by the bug.\n\nFix bug: Perform the fix in your local branch of the code.\n\nbzr commit: You commit the fix to your local branch, ready to push.\n\nbzr push You push the code to Launchpad so the maintainer of the application can take your fix and apply it.\n\nAttach branch to bug report: For completeness, you attach the branch to the bug report. This ensures that anyone subscribed to the bug report is aware of the fix.\n\nPropose for merge: You then follow the Launchpad 'Propose Merge' process in which you notify the original developer of the fix so he/she can review it and merge it in if suitable.\n\nWhen you are a new developer starting this process, all those commands and the correct order and syntax can be a little confusing. Many developers have gone so far as to create a sticky note outlining the process until it becomes rote.\n\nMartin Owens' Ground Control project provides an entirely graphical way of performing the same process...all within a file manager. The way it works is that you load up Nautilus and browse to a Projects directory in your home directory. In there is a 'Fetch Project' button. Clicking on it pops up a dialog box in which you can search for a project (for example the Ground Control project mentioned earlier).\n\nWhen you perform the search a list of matching projects will be displayed, and you can click on one to select it. Doing this creates a new folder in the Projects directory in Nautilus with the same name as the project (eg groundcontrol).\n\nIf you click inside this new folder another button called 'Fix Bug' appears. Clicking it pops up another search dialog box which enables you to search for a bug number or bug search term inside that project. When you search, a range of bugs are displayed, and you can double-click on one to grab the latest code from Launchpad and automatically create a folder called bugfix-lp-123456.\n\nGet developing\n\nQT Creator: The KDE team have an excellent set of Qt development tools for building apps.\n\nGround control\n\nYou now go and hack on the code in that folder and fix the bug in question. When you have changed some of the files in that folder a new button appears in Nautilus called Upload Fix. Clicking that button opens a new dialog box where you can describe the changes you made to the code.\n\nClicking OK then pops up a final dialog box asking you to enter a merge message (this is the message that you send the developer asking them to merge your bug fix into the main code). When you click on OK, your changes are pushed to Launchpad, the branch is attached to the bug report in question, and a merge proposal is automatically made.\n\nThe entire process simply involves clicking buttons in a logical set of events, and at no point do you ever need to enter a command or create a note to remind you of the process. Projects such as Ground Control demonstrate the desire to simplify the process of collaborating on development, and the project was made possible by the flexibility of the Launchpad API, which enables developers to provide alternative interfaces to the date inside Launchpad.\n\n\nWith a simple method of creating applications, and a simple method of collaborating around applications, the next step is to get your application into the hands of users. This process is typically broken into two steps:\n\nPackaging the application: Making the installation and removal of the application compatible with different distributions by using either the Debian packaging system (Deb), Red Hat Package Manager (RPM), or other system such as Gentoo's Portage.\n\nUploading to a distribution: Unlike with Windows, we don't expect users to go to random websites and download executable files. We instead expect distributions to have large archives of pre-packaged software. As such, we need to get the application uploaded to the archive.\n\nUnfortunately, both of these steps have traditionally been quite complicated. The former has involved learning the relevant packaging systems, which in themselves can be fairly complex even for a basic desktop application. Part of the challenge with packaging has been that there are often many different ways to package an application, and the skills required to package your new app are often outside of the scope and interest of application developers.\n\nFortunately, Quickly eases this significantly. With a single command you can generate a Debian/Ubuntu package that's fully compatible and pulls in all required dependencies (much of this was made possible due to the excellent Martin Pitt).\n\nIn addition to this, Quickly includes a 'release' command that will automatically produce an Ubuntu package and upload it to your Launchpad Personal Package Archive, all in one command. This effectively makes it a one-command operation to publish new versions of your software, and saves you oodles of reading about packaging when you would prefer to be hacking on your app.\n\nGet developing\n\nQUICKLY: A sample Quickly app just after it has been generated.:\n\nThe latter of the two steps above, uploading to the distribution, is the more complex element. All Linux distros have teams of developers who have worked hard to build trust and technical competence to be approved as an official developer; that is, having direct upload rights to add packages to the archives and future releases of a given distribution.\n\nGaining these upload privileges often requires significant skills, and skills that are traditionally designed for assessing operating system integrators. As an example, in Ubuntu, there are two broad types of contribution:\n\nCore Dev: This is for developers who want to upload to the 'main' archive, which includes all of the officially supported software (such as the software in the official release ISO images and CDs).\n\nMOTU: This is for those developers who want to work on the non-supported Universe archive, which includes thousands of applications imported from Debian.\n\nBecoming a Core Dev requires significant generalist Ubuntu and packaging knowledge, and it also requires comprehensive technical competence to become a MOTU. With both there is an assumption that developers will be working on multiple packages, and these developerassessment processes rightly require a high level of quality.\n\nThe challenge with these current processes is that for app developers they are a little heavy. To help resolve this in the Ubuntu 10.10 cycle a new process called the Application Review Board was introduced, in which application authors can submit an application for technical assessment by a community board.\n\nIf the application meets a set of technical assessments around code and packaging quality, the application is approved and made available in the Ubuntu Software Centre. Details about the process can be found at\n\nWrapping up\n\nIn the last few years we have seen ever more competition in attracting application developers to different platforms.\n\nWhile Apple and Google have done an excellent job with their respective platforms, there is a huge opportunity to make Linux a top-tier application platform, and this article outlines some of the work going on in the Ubuntu world to help encourage and motivate application developers and make their lives as easy as possible.\n\nThis article has not had the space to cover the many innovations happening inside the Gnome and KDE camps, other distributions or the wide variety of upstream projects that are seeking to make development easier. Fortunately, it seems that many in the open source community are passionate about enabling more people to contribute to free software, and if we keep stepping back and making our different tools, processes and systems easier to use, we can hope to see a wealth of additional applications available across different Linux distributions.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5469532012939453} +{"content": "The Mandiram practice is a synthesis of meditation, yoga rope wall vinyasa, myofascial release work, yoga asana vinyasa and restorative posturing, all used to enhance the student’s ability to move deeper into their meditation practices of self-awareness. This system has proven to assist thousands of students in obtaining and maintaining optimal health and longevity. Below you will find several resources for learning about the Mandiram practice and our classes and events.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9993112683296204} +{"content": "Category Archives: Structural Violence\n\n\nI just got this book in the mail today, so I’m not even done with the introduction. But I had to pass this along because it almost defies comprehension:\n\n“If there were a single indicator to measure the status of Black women in the United States, it would be the difference in median wealth for single Black women compared to single white women. A 2010 study found that the median wealth for a single white woman was $42,600 compared to the surreal median of $5 for single Black women.”\n\n— Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation\n\nInequality for All\n\nFrom Oxfam:\n\nIn 2014, the richest 1% of people in the world owned 48% of global wealth,\nleaving just 52% to be shared between the other 99% of adults on the planet.\nAlmost all of that 52% is owned by those included in the richest 20%, leaving just\n5.5% for the remaining 80% of people in the world. If this trend continues of an\nincreasing wealth share to the richest, the top 1% will have more wealth than the\nremaining 99% of people in just two years, as shown on Figure 2, with the wealth\nshare of the top 1% exceeding 50% by 2016.\n\n\n\nStarting in the mid-1970s, the United States stiffened its laws on drugs and violent crime and ratcheted up the police presence on city streets. The number of people in American jails and prisons has risen fivefold over the past 40 years. There are now roughly six million people under criminal-justice supervision. “In modern history,” Goffman writes, “only the forced labor camps of the former U.S.S.R. under Stalin approached these levels of penal confinement.”\n\n\n“More African American men are in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850, before the Civil War began,” Alexander, an Ohio State law professor, recently told listeners at the Pasadena Branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5558614730834961} +{"content": "MySQL does not need SQL\n\nThe “DBMS” part of MySQL is fine – storage engines (especially with new kids on the block), replication, etc, but it really sucks at executing SQL.\n\nI won’t even get into complex SQL that has complex data dependencies, will start with very basic tasks.\n\nSELECT * FROM table WHERE indexed = \"A\" LIMIT 1\n\nIf multiple indexes can satisfy the query, MySQL will hit each of them at least twice – looking up first “A” and last “A” records. It will do that while planning the SQL execution. Once it comes up with a plan, it will go and hit the index it picked again, this time once. So, if you have two candidate indexes, you will have 5 index accesses at 4 positions.\n\nHow would a direct cursor access work? Single index hit. Want to simulate that in SQL? You can add a ‘FORCE INDEX’ hint, then only one index will be considered, but still at two positions and you will have three index accesses. I wrote about this before.\n\nThis query:\n\nSELECT * FROM table WHERE indexed IN (101, 201, 301) LIMIT 1\n\nWould do six index dives during preparation as well (two for each IN position), plus another one during execution – seven dives when one would suffice.\n\nWhat we learn from this is that whenever there’s an opportunity for lazy evaluation, MySQL will gladly miss it and do most work possible to run your query.\n\nIf you could express it yourself, you’d be lazy and you’d be efficient. It gets even worse if we start expecting something more advanced than a basic cursor positioning.\n\nWhenever you’re doing a range scan on (a, b) indexed table:\n\nSELECT * FROM table WHERE a BETWEEN 1 and 100 AND b=1234567 LIMIT 1\n\nThere’s an easy optimization given low-cardinality ‘a’ – you jump to each ‘a’ position and then you can do a dive for the ‘b’ value. In a way you can emulate this behavior with:\n\nUSING (a) WHERE b=1234567 LIMIT 1\n\nAs I mentioned, MySQL will skip any opportunity to be lazy and in this case it will fully materialize all distinct ‘a’ values. If it were able to lazy evaluate, there’s a chance we can terminate the scan early.\n\nWe’re adding ability to skip-scan records in our builds (you can follow the work at\n\nIt is quite easy to describe whatever is needed in basic loop though – storage engines already provide with necessary hooks for these types of access methods.\n\nAnother basic single-table SELECT that fails with SQL is a standard “feed” query:\n\nSELECT * FROM table WHERE category IN (5,6)\n\nMySQL will have to pick between two alternatives, one would be just scanning ‘time’ index and searching for specified categories among found rows, another is read all entries for each category, sort them all and return top 5.\n\nEfficient way to execute such query would involve having per-category cursors and merging their reads, something like:\n\n( SELECT * FROM table WHERE category = 5 ORDER BY time DESC LIMIT 5 )\n( SELECT * FROM table WHERE category = 6 ORDER BY time DESC LIMIT 5 )\n\nMySQL is unable to merge these two cursors without writing all the data into temporary file and sorting it – although we already are reading much smaller datasets than with alternative naive (and readable) query. Besides, each subselect will open a table handler with all the associated buffers and if you want to merge hundred cursors you’re looking at hundred open tables.\n\nYou can do this operation efficiently in bash (with ‘sort -m’), it isn’t that complicated algorithm in any scripting language, but having such access method in MySQL’s SQL doesn’t seem likely.\n\nEven where MySQL is already doing efficient loose scan (like in indexed-based GROUP BY), there were basic bugs open for years where efficiency would go down the drain simply because a LIMIT is added.\n\nThere’re quite a few other limitations in access methods that are quite annoying to work around. For example a query like this one:\n\nSELECT * FROM table ORDER BY priority DESC, time ASC\n\nWould be unable to use a regular index on (priority, time) – it can only walk everything in one direction and cannot have mixed order scans that are trivial to implement in basic procedural algorithm (move cursor to lowest time of lower priority, read all records for that priority in ascending order before repositioning the cursor to even lower priority).\n\nOf course, one can change the direction of an index, or even have multiple indexes on same columns just to get an ordered read efficient. But none of that is needed if there’s a proper access method that can be used by SQL execution.\n\nDirectional index hints may be needed just to specify common order (e.g. prefix compression in RocksDB makes one direction cheaper than the other, although both still much cheaper than full blown filesort).\n\nEven basic single order traversal breaks if you’re joining two tables:\n\nSELECT * FROM t1 JOIN t2 USING (b) ORDER BY t1.a, t1.b, t2.c\n\nIn some cases I (*shudder*) had to use ‘FORCE INDEX’ without an ORDER BY to pick a direction I needed. One could expect basic functionality like ordered JOIN traversal to be part of SQL package.\n\nThere’re various other issues related to JOINs – again, in the best tradition of MySQL, lazy evaluation of joins is not possible – it will gladly do more work than you’d ever need, reading from tables you did not ask for.\n\nThese things slowly slowly change with each version, and to get basic things right we have to yell a lot. Hurray, 5.7 may finally have fixes for issues we were working around back when 5.x series did not exist) – but that is just way too slow for an SQL layer to evolve.\n\nMySQL employs many bright engineers many of whom are trying to make better cost decisions on same existing limited set of access methods they use, by spending more cycles and adding more and more overhead.\n\nIn order to execute various queries one has to either resort to network roundtrips after each row or over-fetch data all the time. You may suggest stored procedures, but their data access is limited to running SQL queries and returning them as multiple result sets (or buffer everything in temporary table). Amount of deferred work and lazy evaluation you can do in a stored procedure is quite limited and overhead of running many SQL statements within a procedure is high.\n\nAbility to access data via lower level interfaces by high performance server-side language (Lua? JS?) would allow to circumvent many many many limitations and inefficiencies of existing SQL optimizer and execution layer while still allowing occasional SQL access, high performance storage engines, replication and all the tooling that has been built to support MySQL at scale.\n\nWhat do we do today? We run lots of that conditional logic in our application and absorb lots of the cost with a cache layer in the middle. There’s a chance that we would be able to spend less CPU, less I/O, less memory and less network resources if we could ask smarter queries expressed as procedures instead of wrangling all the relational algebra on top of dumb executor.\n\nIn some cases we have different database systems.\n\nP.S. Many of the hypothetical scenarios map to workloads where amounts of data and query volume warrants all the optimizations I discussed here.\n\nP.P.S. Other databases may have other set of issues.\n\nA case for FORCE INDEX\n\nI remember various discussions in different mediums where people were building cases against use of FORCE INDEX in SQL queries. I’ll hereby suggest it using way more often, but at first I’ll start with small explanation.\n\nFor ages, the concept of index statistics affecting query plans has been clogging minds of DBAs, supported by long explanations of MyISAM and InnoDB manuals. Actually, statistics are used just for determining which index to use for a joined table, as predicate is not known at the time of ‘optimization’.\n\nWhat happens if you do a simple query like:\n\nSELECT * FROM table WHERE a=5 AND b=6\n\n? If there’s an index that enforces uniqueness on (a,b), it will be used – this is short-path for PRIMARY KEY lookups. Otherwise, it will go to any index, composite or not, that can satisfy either a or b (or both), and evaluate how many rows it will fetch from it using the provided criteria.\n\nNow, contrary to what people usually think, the row count evaluation has nothing really much to do with cardinality statistics – instead it builds the range that the known predicate can check on existing index, and does two full B-Tree dives to the index – one at the start of the range, and one at the end of it. For each possible index.\nThis simply means that even if you are not using the index to execute query, two leaf pages (and all the tree branches to reach them) will end up being fetched from disk into the cache – wasting both I/O cycles and memory.\n\nThere’s also quite interesting paradox at this – in some cases, more similar other indexes are, more waste they create because of rows-in-range checks. If a table has indexes on (a,b,c) and (a,b,d), query for (a,b,d) will be best satisfied by (a,b,d) index, but will evaluate range sizes for (a,b). If the first index were (a,c,b), it would be only able to check head and tail of (a) – so way less B-Tree positions would be cached in memory for the check. This makes better indexing sometimes fare worse than what they’re worth in benchmarks (assuming that people do I/O-heavy benchmarking :)\n\nThe easy way out is using FORCE INDEX. It will not do the index evaluation – and no B-Tree dives on unneeded index.\n\nIn my edge case testing with real data and skewed access pattern hitting a second index during ‘statistics’ phase has increased execution time by 70%, number of I/Os done by 75%, number of entrances into buffer pool by 31% and bloated buffer pool with data I didn’t need for read workload.\n\nFor some queries like “newest 10 entries” this will actually waste some space preheating blocks from the other end of the range that will never be shown – there will definitely be a B-Tree leaf page in buffer pool with edits from few years ago because of RIR. Unfortunately, the only MySQL-side solution for this is HANDLER interface (or probably HandlerSocket) – but it doesn’t make using FORCE INDEX not worth it – it just pushes towards making FORCE INDEX be much more forceful.\n\nSo, use the FORCE, Luke :)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8290241956710815} +{"content": "Posts Tagged ‘paranormal investigations’\n\nI received a couple of comments from someone who is scared. She is an investigator who feels that she has lost something in the process of contacting the spirit world: she worries that it might be part of her soul. This is a valid concern, and I will try to address it.\n\nThere are times when we wonder if we are ‘oppressed’ by a spirit who seeks to harm us. I have wondered that in the past; in fact, there are a couple of entries here on soulbank where I worked through my terror at feeling that someone unholy and powerful was attempting to take over my mind and emotions. Do I think this is possible? Yes, I do. However, I don’t think that any spirit can accomplish this completely without our conscious consent. If we have not specifically invited evil in, then we will not become possessed.\n\nI am thinking here of the rite of exorcism and the priests that work to rid people of demonic entities. There are a couple of points that exorcists make on a regular basis: very few people are truly possessed, and those that are have almost always given their consent to the evil spirit in one way or another. This is why I caution against using any instrument that turns you into a channel or conduit for the spirit world. It is difficult to control who will ‘use’ you to spread their message. I was watching a documentary on Malachi Martin the other night, exorcist and author of the very famous HOSTAGE TO THE DEVIL, and I learned through multiple interviews with him and other exorcists that there are signs of possession that we can ‘read’ in ourselves or others, and almost no one needs to worry about this. The most important sign is someone ‘turning on a dime,’ changing from a normal, decent human being to something suddenly sinister and completely out of character. It’s as if the veil of normalcy and kindness dropped for a moment, and the evil displays itself through their eyes in a flash. I’m not talking about having a temper or suffering from a mood disorder; I’m talking about that person who seems completely normal one moment and quickly morphs into something cruel, inhuman, vile and terrifying. The moment doesn’t last long, but it can be perceived by others. This does not happen to 99% of the people who are concerned for their soul.\n\nIf you are worried about attachments, spirit influence, or demonic interference in your life, here is a list of what needs to happen:\n\n1) STOP INVESTIGATING the paranormal until you are 100% certain that you are fully yourself. If you’re not sure, don’t do it.\n\n2) Realize that spirits can influence us, but that we are more powerful. A spirit with ill intent can be rebuffed and removed from our lives, but we need help. Talk to your church, synagogue or mosque leader and tell that person everything. Find spiritual support from those who do that for a living. If you don’t have anyone, go find someone at your local church. DON’T DELAY. Make the appointment, and tell them exactly what you fear has happened without reservation.\n\n3) Continue to pray and know that God is always there and always listening. We can’t always feel inspired and filled with divine love. That doesn’t mean that we are not loved and protected. We are. It is fear and depression that drive away divine love, not God.\n\n4) Fear and depression are more responsible for feeling ‘oppressed’ and not ourselves than anything to do with demons or bad spirits. What I read in you is depression. That is often the root cause of the feelings you describe. Regular, old dead people who weren’t all that nice in life and are still nasty in death will jump on that low aura and take advantage of it to express themselves. For some souls, depression is a beacon, something they like to attach to. YOU ARE STILL MORE POWERFUL than they are, because you still have God. You can pray for them as you pray for yourself.\n\n5) Seek therapy. Find a good support system with your friends. Make sure that you do NOT investigate until this works itself out. Go bowling. Sit in cafes and libraries. Join a Meetup group. Get out of the house. Sit in the sun. Take long walks. Pet your animals. If you have no animals, go adopt one. Remember that this life is for the living. You are the living. Leave the dead alone.\n\n6) If you are worried about the state of your soul, if you are concerned that you are not feeling the presence of God as you would like to or need to, YOU ARE NOT POSSESSED OR OPPRESSED. You are a normal human being who is seeking greater connection to the Divine. You can and will find that connection again. You need to speak to a spiritual counselor and get involved in your local religious community. Take care of those who are in need. Find a way to improve the life of someone who needs you.\n\nYou are loved and you are never, ever alone. God does not abandon those who love, those who seek, those who never give up. Your feelings of ‘spiritual dryness’ are normal and will go away when you take the steps I have recommended. Be patient and don’t worry.\n\nGive the spirit world a rest and work on enjoying the beautiful life that we have been given to enjoy, right here, right now.\n\nWith much love,\n\nKirsten A. Thorne, PHW/PhD\n\nRead Full Post »\n\nWant to hear something scary? There is a growing consensus in the psychiatric community that some cases of mental illness are caused by malignant spirits taking over a mind. Richard Gallagher trained in psychiatry at Yale University and is a practicing psychoanalyst and . . . exorcist. Although the vast majority of those practicing mental health care refuse to believe in the reality of demons affecting one’s mind, Dr. Gallagher is ” . . . pleasantly surprised by the number of psychiatrists and other mental health practitioners nowadays who are open to entertaining such hypotheses. Many believe exactly what I do, though they may be reluctant to speak out.” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/07/01/as-a-psychiatrist-i-diagnose-mental-illness-and-sometimes-demonic-possession/?utm_term=.b5895e67d890)\n\nI’ve written before about possession and exorcism, and the insights I gleaned from my meeting with a Catholic priest who is also an exorcist. In that meeting, I received his blessing to assist in such work. I have yet to truly throw myself into this vital, spiritual work, a fact which may explain my current state of mind (I’m wasting my talents, truth be told, as are so many of us who study the ‘paranormal’). However, the topic of this post is slightly different. Many of us–scholars or not, mental health experts or not–agree based on the evidence that demonic possession is a reality for an unfortunate few. What I don’t see discussed as much in academic circles is the reality of possession by non-demonic entities.\n\nOnce you admit the possibility that an evil entity, a dark spirit, can and does take over a body, mind and soul, then you must admit that the same phenomena can occur with beings that are not demonic in nature. If it is possible for a demon to possess a living person, then it is possible for any person in spirit to do the exact, same thing via a similar mechanism. Exactly how this happens is unknown to me, but I hypothesize that you must be in a vulnerable state: altered by drugs or alcohol, severely depressed and/or anxious, inviting such contact via ouija boards, channeling, automatic writing or (it must be said) so-called ‘ghost hunting’. If you are a spiritually grounded person with a strong religious practice and belief, you are more protected from the invading spirit; however, those of us who dabble in spirit contact are most definitely at risk. The reality of this possibility is what is at the heart of our gradual decline in time spent investigating the paranormal, which seems to happen to all of us. It isn’t that we don’t believe it after years of spirit contact, it’s that we discover how powerful these connections are, and we realize how much that contact affects us emotionally and spiritually.\n\nSpirits, souls, conscious beings, are in contact with us on a daily basis. Most mediums talk about the ‘veil’ that separates the living and the ‘dead’; this language is reflected in theories of the multiverse and other ‘theories of everything’ that postulate multiple dimensions. Dr. Robert Lanza’s ideas concerning death and multiple dimensions go a step further: not only does consciousness continue in other dimensions, ‘death’ as a concept is meaningless. It essentially doesn’t exist except as a description of a mundane, physical process which has no bearing on the conscious, individual human being. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/is-there-an-afterlife-the-science-of-biocentrism-can-prove-there-is-claims-professor-robert-lanza-8942558.htmlWhatever it is that separates multiple dimensions, whether it be vibrating strings or dark matter, the systems of separation are not perfect and break down. Or, more tantalizingly, WE can break them down through mental effort and meditative practice. Once the boundaries of a multiverse are breached, we can’t keep whoever is living there ‘out’ of our reality. Their energy flows through, finds us, penetrates our consciousness and plays out its need for communication or emotion.\n\nIn simple terms, our interaction with what we call ‘ghosts’ often results in spirits finding a receptive home to express themselves through us. This explains many mysteries and questions of mine that up to now, seem to have no answer. Boundaries are broken down between dimensions, and our easy classification of ourselves as one being, one spirit, in isolation from all others, disintegrates. We are all interconnected and affect one another in ways both subtle and obvious. Therefore, to provide an example, a haunted house story is not a story of a person who discovers ghosts, but of ghosts who discover a person and the beginning of a relationship where all entities rely on each other’s energy and emotion. When you enter into an emotional relationship with the spirits around you, the ‘haunting’ isn’t about the ‘other,’ it’s about all parties involved. You may not realize that your persistent, depressed mood or your strange reactions to familiar situations have to do with someone else living in you, with someone else sharing your psychic space.\n\nIs that possession? It’s probably more ‘influence’ or even relationship. If you have ever felt an inexplicably strong connection to a house or other place, it is likely that you are experiencing the effects of your intimate interaction with the spirits you’ve come to know quite well there, even if not consciously. Much of this phenomena is experienced in the subconscious mind, where our ego and super ego (to borrow from Freud for a moment) expend much energy repressing, denying and fleeing from the truth of our spiritual attachments and engagements. How much of what we feel, what we do, how we react to other people, how we live our lives, has to do with spiritual relationships of which we are hardly aware? That is a sobering question.\n\nThere are things I need to know, but the process of understanding frightens me. I would like to know the identity of the spirits who live with me or interact with me. I would like to separate myself just a little more from their influence. That requires an investigation into other dimensions of reality and that, in turn, requires a professional medium of great talent and respectability. That is more than likely the next step for me. It is not easy for me to trust other people, especially people who interpret in my stead what my reality might be. I have always despised that trait in others: the individual who pretends to know more than you about your own life. However, I do believe that trustworthy mediums exist and can shed light on the spiritual mystery that surrounds us all. Of course, those of us who regularly attend church in the Christian tradition understand that this spirit world is all around us at all times, effecting changes and transitions of which we are barely aware. The church, however, tries hard to manage, limit and interpret our spiritual experiences so that they do not fall outside the accepted boundaries of Scripture. I need more than that.\n\nThink about the ways that your spirit interacts with others, both in the flesh and transcendent. If there are no boundaries to spirit, and we are all spirit, then to speak of ‘containers’ of flesh, vibrating strings, dark matter, conscious and subconscious, is all a waste of time. The categories ‘dead’ and ‘living’ are nonsensical when you’re are speaking of souls and not of matter. Just as the spirit of your nasty boss can harm you, so can the spirit of the guy who drowned himself in your bathtub years before you moved into your house. The charge, then, is to be more aware, more conscious, of who is affecting your heart, mind and soul, and where you need to draw the line on a psychic invasion. It would be wise to start with meditation and prayer. But I don’t plan to end there.\n\nKirsten A. Thorne, PhD/PHWkirsten-in-2017\n\nRead Full Post »\n\nGhost children\n\nMarsha and I heard the voice again. It sounded like a child singing a tuneless melody somewhere in the vast, dark hallways of the old hospital. We recorded it and played it back later, many, many times. That night, as we strained to hear the child’s voice, Marsha became very, very sad and asked, “why would God allow a child to be alone in a place like this?” I came up with some theory of consciousness, reassuring her it was just a fragment of a mind, lost in time and space, not a whole personality, not a person as we understand people to be. She didn’t respond. We continued to listen for the oddly terrifying sounds echoing in dark. Why was I so frightened, if this was a ‘child’ spirit, or even a fragment of one?\n\nIn other lost places we heard ‘her’. The same, sing-song voice, sometimes attempting to speak, sometimes singing that same, wandering tune. We had many recordings of that voice before we started to ask ourselves who this might be. This child seemed to be traveling with us from one site to another. She started showing up even in our homes. I have recordings of her in the living room of our old house. Had she followed me home? I have recordings of her at Marsha’s house, too. It was always the same pitch, the same tone, the same vocal pattern. I asked many questions of myself, but they were always the wrong questions. “Who is this poor, lost soul?” “What can I do to help her?” “How can I ‘send her to the light’?”\n\nMy life during this time period was falling apart at a dizzying pace. There was financial distress, physical illnesses, mental illness, job loss and painful ruptures in my closest relationships. I continued recording voices and communicating with the spirits until, gradually, I realized that I was probably not communicating with spirits only. The answer hit me fairly recently: God would most certainly not condemn a child to eternity in a dark vacuum of empty space in a mental hospital or a jail.\n\nghost children 5\n\nThis plaintive voice was produced by something with evil intent. I won’t debate the existence of evil or even that entity we call the ‘devil’, because I’ve done that before in previous posts. Evil has certain characteristics that are now quite clear to me. It disguises itself as the one thing you can’t resist, whatever it is that involves you emotionally; it then confuses you, causing you to doubt the existence of an all-loving God; after that, it chips away at your life relentlessly until you are at your breaking point. When you reach that soul-crushing moment, the decision is yours: you either humble yourself completely and give yourself–heart and soul–to who you understand God to be, OR, you continue to pursue those practices, beliefs and values that led you to self destruct.\n\nThere was no little girl, crying in the dark. The devil found an ingenious way to draw us all in, to make us doubt and question everything good and holy in the world. I went back to these accursed spaces and places without giving myself completely to God first. I made myself available to the confusion and manipulation of evil. I allowed evil to lead me further and further down the dark hallways of my soul until I was in communication with something that wanted to kill my spirit. Don’t talk to me about ‘coincidences’; during this time, evil tried to hurt my own child. That’s when I drew the line. No one and nothing hurts my child.\n\nThe result of my brush with ultimate darkness was illumination. I understood how evil operates in the world: it pretends always to be something else, something attractive, something you really, really want. It often seems logical, understandable and promising. It justifies its existence. It makes people rally around it. It loves the violence, hatred, misery and suffering that it produces. Most people don’t see it for what it really is; they think its presence is natural, necessary and inevitable. Evil appears to everyone, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or any other identifying characteristics. It worms its way into politics, culture, social media, news media, institutions; it’s everywhere.\n\nYou can recognize it by its effects on you and your loved ones. If you feel crazy, disoriented, confused, aggressive, even violent: it owns you . . . or it’s starting to. Be very, very careful before you give in to hatred and anger. It may feel righteous. It may feel really, really good on a basic, instinctual level; but trust me. It lies. It will find a way to destroy you, and you may not see how it works on you, changing you, hurting you, creating divisions and dissent.\n\nghost children 6\n\nGod does not condemn child spirits to the dank misery of the worst places on Earth. God does not play with your emotions or hurt your family and friends. God waits for us to fall on our knees and ask for love, for help, for light, for hope. We can spin forever in a web of insanity, or we can break free and admit that we don’t know what we think we know. Love someone today who you have not dared to love before, and you will see evil twist and scream in pain. Love like you have never loved before, and your spirit will forever be in the Light, blessed for all eternity.\n\nIn peace,\n\nKirsten A. Thorne, PhD/PHW\n\n\nRead Full Post »\n\nMaria marin\n\nI was listening to “Maria Marin Live” (forgive the lack of accents; not sure how to add them here!) on AM 1020, as is my custom after my last class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She pulls no punches and forces her callers to be direct, honest and sincere. Woe betide you if you can’t make your point or you’re full of B.S.; she will call you on it. I’m not sure how many of my readers listen to talk radio in Spanish, but I recommend you listen to what she has to say if you understand Spanish.\n\nThe topic of one of her recent shows concerned life after death, or more specifically, what her callers believe happens after death. There were those who had the quick answer, “you go to Heaven to be with God,” but when pressed on the details, became utterly incapable of providing any realistic descriptions or scenarios. Others, of course, said that nothing happens; and the majority stumbled around attempting to answer the question without the Heaven or the nothingness explanation, only to find themselves impaled on their own uncertainty. Ms. Marin did not provide them an easy out; she pressed them relentlessly to answer the question in a specific and meaningful way. When they couldn’t do it, she moved on to the next person.\n\nI found myself in something of a panic, imagining that I was one of her callers and I had been pressured into answering the question. Even though this topic is my area of research and interest, there is NO WAY to spit out a quick answer to the question, ‘what happens after you die’. I realize that those who have had a near death experience might be able to answer this with the typical imagery: the tunnel, the white light, meeting relatives who have passed on, the life review, the inability to cross a certain boundary between life and death, and the final (usually unwanted) return to the body. However, this describes a transitional state between life in the flesh and the life of consciousness, not what happens after actual, physical death.\n\nNo one can answer definitively, since no one has died 100% in the flesh and returned to talk about it except Jesus, and well, there are some issues there, as well. My experience tells me that while there is no quick answer to the question, there is–at least–a concept that we can hold onto when forced to answer questions about life after death. In terms of scientific research, nowhere is there better evidence for the continuation of life than in the work of the late Dr. Ian Stevenson from the University of Virginia. His work on the past lives of children from around the world is legendary; I’ve discussed it extensively in other blog posts. What his work points to is that ‘life’ after ‘death’ is about the transference of consciousness from one body to another.\n\nThe best evidence points to the indestructibility of the conscious mind, spirit or soul (I do not think that these terms are interchangeable, but the differences between them are the subject of another post). It doesn’t disappear, but finds another body through which it expresses a self. How this happens is pure speculation, but it must happen at some point in fetal development. I remember my sister telling me–and she is nothing if not a skeptic–that she felt the precise moment when a spirit ‘jumped into’ my nephew while in the womb. He was pure potential and suddenly became a personality. This personality was, in his case, external to him and perhaps had nothing to do with our family and genetics at all.\n\nConsciousness finds a way to continue, whether it be through reincarnation or through some other mechanism, such as inhabiting another dimension or alternate universe as posited by some quantum theories. One of these alternate dimensions of reality might look and feel much like the Heaven that the faithful expect to experience. Many Eastern religions posit the twin existence of soul and spirit, each living out separate existences as the same personality: the “spirit” continues to reincarnate with limited or absent memories of the previous existence, and the “soul” inhabits a timeless dimension where the expected rewards and/or punishments are experienced as expected. Some quantum theories posit that there are infinite versions of us in infinite universes, so that when one of us dies in one world, we simply skip over to another and pick up our lives there, either in the ‘present’ moment or a past or future moment.\n\nIt doesn’t work to think of time as important to consciousness after death, since it is a biological concept useful to understand what we perceive as forward movement towards a goal, but it is not an independent entity necessary to understand reality (at least as far physics is concerned–time could just as easily move backwards as forwards, and we only need the ‘arrow of time’ for formulas concerning entropy, which some physicists think doesn’t exist as an independent measure of anything, anyway). You can see why, by now, there is no way to answer Maria Marin’s challenge in a one-minute phone call. When you are discussing issues concerning consciousness–that great mystery–it doesn’t make sense to explain exactly what will happen, since that requires us to know exactly how our minds will perceive reality when we are no longer dependent on a brain or a body to filter and limit our experiences.\n\nSince Ms. Marin requires total honesty, I will say this: I am afraid that the best evidence points to a recycling of consciousness that does not involve karma, reward, Heaven or eternal rest. It seems that our personalities are transferred to another human being, and we drag our baggage along into another life–whether in the form of unconscious trauma or conscious memories. I do think there is room for spiritual evolution from life to life, but that is not the same concept as karma or reward. Our suffering in one life might purify us and lead us closer to God, but it certainly doesn’t mean our next lives will be easy, fun, interesting or rewarding. The most spiritually evolved person might appear to have the worst material circumstances.\n\nFor what it’s worth, that’s my answer to Ms. Marin, if I had called in. We come back, again and again, working towards a nobler, more refined relationship with God. What that looks like for each individual is unknown. So, I take my last breath, I might have a transitional period where I’m in the Light and meet up with those long gone, and then I probably black out or go to sleep and wake up screaming, inhaling that first breath again, remembering or not that I was here before, and here I go again.\n\nYours on the journey,\n\nKitty Soul bank Post\n\n–Kirsten A. Thorne, PhD\n\nRead Full Post »\n\n\nThe news was all over Facebook: Aaron from Ghost Adventures had been fired for revealing that the show required him to fake his audio clips! That turned out to be untrue; a “satirical” news site had published the piece to stir up controversy, and they succeeded. I fell for it, because the fake news was not satirical or ironic, simply libelous. Satire requires an exaggeration of the truth for amusing or ironic effect, not the wholesale invention of news designed to tarnish the reputation of an individual or a production.\n\nThis ‘fake news’ story was so successful precisely because it touched a nerve with the community of paranormal investigators. There is always the lingering suspicion that the best audio and video clips have been invented or created by a show’s producer. The requirements of the entertainment industry are in direct conflict with the requirements of a good, thorough investigation into a haunting or other paranormal activity.\n\nHollywood requires melodrama and will invent situations among ‘characters’ (investigators are always turned into characters) in order to provoke conflict, pain, upset and a theatrical expression of emotion. In reality, a team of individuals investigating a location must take themselves out of the equation and focus on the external environment. Any upset or misunderstandings between investigators will hurt the success of the investigation. When one is tuning in to activity around them, you forget yourself and enter into something of a meditative or semi-trance state. That does not make for good television.\n\nHours may go by where nothing appears to be happening. We are all straining to hear something or ‘catch’ something, but often the result of your efforts is a sore back and exhaustion. Later, we might find gems on our audio clips, but again–the voices are often subtle and odd, not explosive declarations of ‘paranormality’. My team has often sent off some of our best audio to producers who want a sample of our data, only to be told that they need something obvious and definitive: one person actually asked for a clip where the spirit identified itself by name and declared he or she was dead. If these consciousness fragments stated their names, family history, their ontological status and their purpose in contacting us, our jobs would be so much easier!\n\nI was interviewed recently for a national radio show (not Paranormal Kool-Aid–that was a blast!). I didn’t tell anyone about it, because I knew from the beginning that my story would be rejected. I was right, of course. They asked for stories about personal transformation: nothing has transformed my life more than the experiences I have had while investigating the world of spirit. I had one particular story that involved becoming lost and trapped in an abandoned hospital, possessed by the spirits of those who were patients there, and redeemed by a woman in white who freed the three of us. This led to my epiphany that the world of spirit was real and not to be played or trifled with. I was a different person from that point on. I even had spectacular audio from that night that was nothing if not clear. So how could a story like that be rejected?\n\nThe answer was: We don’t want to be in the business of proving or disproving the existence of ghosts. Ghosts? I didn’t mention that word a single time to them! And yet: everything always came down to that gross over-simplification of our experiences as investigators. I tried to explain that the popular conception of ‘ghosts’ did not apply here. We were dealing with the anguished remains of suffering patients, who had taken over our conscious minds in order to teach us a divine truth: in order to understand injustice and pain, we must experience it directly sometimes; we must help each other, the living and the ‘dead’. We must transform each other for the good. But no; sadly, the question for the producers remained the same: can you prove the existence of ghosts? No? Well, forget it then.\n\nI didn’t ask the producers to prove anything. The story was about personal transformation. They had fallen into the same trap that almost everyone in the entertainment industry falls into: prove it’s real, or at least fake it so well that most people will believe it. Or, perhaps, they didn’t want to start the ‘real or fake’ discussion with their listeners, and maybe they knew intuitively that nobody would listen to my story for its spiritual value; it would end up where all paranormal stories end up: everyone weighing in with their opinion regarding the veracity of someone’s evidence for ‘ghosts’. Whether this experience “transforms” you or not is entirely beside the point.\n\nI was disappointed and sad, not because I wasn’t going to appear on a national show–that part filled me with a certain amount of dread, due to my fear of misinterpretation and backlash–but because once again, a rep from the ‘industry’ had completely misunderstand the importance of my story. My team and I go through this process on a regular basis. Who we are and why we do what we do is not as important as whether or not we can create the required drama, pain, anger and emotional firestorms that television (and radio) require. The ideal show is one where I turn on my best friends, throw wine in their face during some disagreement about an audio clip, present my friend Wheezer the ghost to the audience, and then throw up on him after a night of drinking margaritas at a haunted restaurant.\n\nEven a respectable show doesn’t want to be part of the conversation about the reality of the soul or the world of spirit (with the exception of the shows our own paranormal community produces). A national radio program that wishes to be taken seriously has to turn its back on the entire question–arguably, the most important question for all humankind–in order to avoid the idiocy of Hollywood’s ‘ghost shows’. We tried to change that. The ladies of the PHW stuck to their guns and refused to fabricate emotions or data in the service of selling a show. My personal role models are still the boys of Ghost Adventures. I worked with them on an episode (“Linda Vista”), and I never saw anything remotely fabricated during those long hours of filming. Not only that, we collected some truly amazing evidence right there on camera. You don’t have to believe me. See the episode yourself and make up your minds.\n\nAs soon as I wrote that, it occurred to me that anyone reading Soulbank could accuse me of self promotion. That’s how deeply I’ve been affected by the poisonous environment of entertainment. By simply inviting people to make up their own minds, I’ve fallen into my own trap: ghosts are real! This is what I truly want to say: my life has been utterly changed by the data I have collected on investigations. I think that anyone with a sincere interest in life after life could do exactly what I have done and find themselves flabbergasted by what they discover. What I can’t change is the apathy and lack of interest that many people seem to feel about pretty much everything of importance in their lives. Television is responding to what they see people care about: confusion, discord, negative emotions, dysfunction and theatrics.\n\nBut maybe, just maybe, there is a sizable market out there of people who truly, honestly care about the Big Questions; could the ‘industry’ change the entertainment culture by taking us seriously? Of course it could; it’s just easier and more profitable to sell shows that roll in the mud instead of fly with the angels.\n\n–Kirsten A. Thorne, PhD\n\nRead Full Post »\n\n\nRobert Lanza, MD\n\n Author’s note: I’m writing this in bits and pieces, which seems appropriate to the topic. Since I wrote the body of the paper, I posted a query on Facebook regarding time and entropy, and received some great responses and leads. I’ve dutifully read and considered the responses and followed up the recommendation to read Sean Carroll’s website. I did, in fact, slog through great sections of From Eternity to Here, but I confess that I felt, at times, overwhelmed by the content. I must revisit the book and read it again more carefully. Also, I checked reviews for Biocentrism and was dismayed by the sheer nastiness of many people purporting to “critique” his work. More often than not, reviewers—scientists and non-scientists alike—were unbearably nasty and disrespectful to the author. A notable exception is Richard Conn Henry’s quick overview (http://henry.pha.jhu.edu/biocentrism.pdf) where he points out factual errors in Lanza’s physics, but ends up agreeing with his major tenets. Otherwise, there was much Lanza bashing out there, boiling down to the fact that anyone who seeks to merge any kind of spirituality into the study of the universe is a complete, babbling New Age idiot enamored of bad science and bewitched by ‘woo’. Sigh. My entire website would be bashed mercilessly for the same reason. I am not a scientist, but I do have a sharp, critical mind honed by decades of reading and study, helped along by a Yale Ph.D in literature and culture. That doesn’t matter at all for those with degrees in the sciences, which apparently gives many critics license to disembowel you with sarcasm and contempt. However, if you try to do something really big—like explain the universe and its workings as related to human consciousness—you’re bound to upset people. What interests me, of course, is how all of this relates to life after death, or to the survival of consciousness unfettered from the animal, so to speak. If you will kindly bear with me as I first discuss the general implications of Lanza’s work, I will address the issue of EVPs and evidence for the afterlife right afterwards. I promise.\n\nI tried. I really did. I’ve slogged through so many ‘popular’ books on quantum mechanics and Theories of Everything that I’ve lost count. The latest one was Dr. Robert Lanza’s Biocentrism. I have not finished the book yet, but I’m close. I’ve made it through six of the basic tenets or precepts of his theory. I thought this biocentric view—in which living things create all reality according to their perceptions and perspective–was pretty amazing, but I was troubled by the need to obliterate objective reality in favor of one entirely dependent on us. He explained why it is when you kick a tree, it hurts—it’s not because the tree has any objective reality, it’s simply a complex reaction between wave-functions of the tree that have collapsed into ‘thing that causes pain’, or something like that. I confess, it’s a little murky to me. I lay awake last night wondering how Dr. Lanza would explain why it is that a tree could fall on us and kill us, even though we never looked at it, never ‘collapsed’ it into reality or filtered it through our sensory systems.\n\nI then wondered why it is that we all agree to such a large extent on what constitutes outside reality (assuming, as I’m afraid I still do, that such a thing exists) and to what we are referring when we use language. I suppose Dr. Lanza would say that a community of human animals agrees on illusory external realities because we all process information in a similar way: we’re built from the same ‘stuff’, so to speak. Then, just because I thought it would be fun to fret over this until 4 AM, I questioned the entire time issue. Of course, time is relative, and I do understand that on a layperson’s level. If you’re shot out into space and travel at a certain speed, you will age more slowly than your counterparts on Earth. There is even a formula to determine this. What upsets me about time is its relation to aging, to ‘entropy’, I think, if one can equate the two. We assume that as we age, time is passing; somehow, time is responsible for wrinkles and bad knees. Dr. Lanza says that the very notion of time is illusory, created by humans to make sure we can get to the office on time and function in a capitalist society (those are my words regarding the office and capitalism). Simply because we measure something does not mean that it exists in any objective sense or in any sense at all. Clocks are solely for convenience; as the author claims, we could measure the same thing by melting ice cubes or sunsets or tides.\n\nSo why, then, do we age and die as all biological things are wont to do? Dr. Lanza maintains that where we see progressive change there is really only a series of present moments that we link together and pretend form some kind of coherent trajectory from past to present to future. I think we all accept that the past and future don’t really ‘exist’ in any meaningful sense; the past lives only through memory of it (and we all know how tricky and deceptive memory is; even if we could remember everything ‘perfectly,’ we still don’t know what it is that we are remembering—certainly nothing material, nothing we can point to) and the future hasn’t happened yet, so by definition it has no objective existence either. This eternal present has always terrified me, because it rips me out of context. I think our author would say that ‘context’ is just the human animal’s way of making sense of things that aren’t there. That’s the problem. The previous statement doesn’t mean anything, yet that’s what Dr. Lanza is saying. Back to the aging and dying issue: all of humans experience this trajectory, whether or not ‘time’ exists. It seems to me that if we all share this path, always, without exception, then something ‘like’ time is happening to us. We don’t have to call it time, but we have to call it something. Here’s a quick and concise definition of entropy:\n\n“Entropy is a measure of order and disorder. If left alone, aging systems go spontaneously from youthful, low entropy and order to old, high entropy and disorder”. (http://www.worldscibooks.com/popsci/p597.html)\n\nSo if entropy is responsible for aging and ultimately what we call ‘death’, then what is entropy’s relationship to time? If time is a human-made illusion, then what is killing us? The key word in the quote above is ‘spontaneously’. That word, by definition, indicates that a process is occurring without resorting to the passage of time. How is it that aging can occur ‘spontaneously’? If it is not a process, and doesn’t the word ‘process’ indicate something occurring over time, then what the heck is it? I’m afraid that Dr. Lanza cannot say that time is purely illusory when biological systems age and die due to a process that we call entropy. His argument against this is interesting, yet in many ways illogical.\n\nHe states that what we see as having progressed to a state of entropy is simply another snapshot in the present moment, and what we observe is change from one present moment to another present moment; it’s only our interpretation that sees a progression or superimposes a pattern or value judgment. In other words, aging is an assumption we make when faced with changes in the human organism. Those changes result from an illusory past in the first place. If time doesn’t happen, then change doesn’t either; therefore, nothing we observe is a result of a change. We don’t, however, live in the eternal present. I would argue that we can’t. Does it make sense that we could possibly understand life as one present moment after another and then death? We can’t think that way, so if that’s the way “things really are,” then what’s the point if we can’t make that conceptual leap? The Theory of Everything makes no sense if we can’t live it or even fully grasp it.\n\nI have to finish the entire book before I get to the implications of Dr. Lanza’s theory. If life creates consciousness and consciousness creates the universe and everything in it, we are certainly all-powerful. Maybe he is about to say that we are eternal, since nothing that is out of time can possibly cease to exist. OK, so I will take that to mean that my consciousness is boundless and not in any way bound by change (an illusion created by time). However, I know that I will age and die, as evidenced by everything around me succumbing to entropy. So I’m back to square one. My death means something to me, as it does to those who love me. Of course, if Dr. Lanza says that Kirsten will ALWAYS exist, the question is HOW will she always exist? All that which limits my consciousness—including my body, my perceptions, and my brain—is what I know as real. One might TELL me that what I know as real actually isn’t, but that doesn’t change anything for me. You can say that my iced-cream is an illusion that I brought into existence, but in any case, it tastes the same whether it is an external reality or a consciousness-created reality.\n\nThe following quote is from Sean Carroll’s web site:\n\n“The first mystery of the arrow of time is that it’s nowhere to be found in the fundamental laws of physics. Those laws work perfectly well if we run processes backwards in time. (More rigorously, for every allowed process there exists a time-reversed process that is also allowed, obtained by switching parity and exchanging particles for antiparticles — the CPT Theorem.) Nevertheless, the macroscopic world we observe is full of irreversible processes. The puzzle is to reconcile microscopic reversibility with macroscopic irreversibility.”\n\nTherein lays the issue, the knot: what happens on a microscopic level—including, of course, the quantum level—is apparently NOT occurring on the macroscopic level. Photons can behave in bizarre, contradictory and fantastic ways, but that doesn’t mean anything in our large, material world is doing anything remotely like it. Our ‘big’ world seems to function according to the classical laws of physics. There are two possibilities here: we have a fundamental contradiction which can only be resolved when someone—probably a physicist—finds the missing link (something like the debunked notion of the aether) that explains everything (the GUT: Grand Unifying Theory), OR the world on the macroscopic level DOES contain all of the contradictions of the quantum level upon which its existence rests, and we simply haven’t devised the correct experiments to illustrate this correlate. Again from Sean Carroll’s web site:\n\n“Is there any way the arrow of time can be explained dynamically?\n\nI can think of two ways. One is to impose a boundary condition that enforces one end of time to be low-entropy, whether by fiat or via some higher principle; this is the strategy of Roger Penrose’s Weyl Curvature Hypothesis, and arguably that of most flavors of quantum cosmology. The other is to show that reversibilty is violated spontaneously — even if the laws of physics are time-reversal invariant, the relevant solutions to those laws might not be. However, if there exists a maximal entropy (thermal equilibrium) state, and the universe is eternal, it’s hard to see why we aren’t in such an equilibrium state — and that would be static, not constantly evolving. This is why I personally believe that there is no such equilibrium state, and that the universe evolves because it can always evolve. The trick of course, is to implement such a strategy in a well-founded theoretical framework, one in which the particular way in which the universe evolves is by creating regions of post-Big-Bang space-time such as the one in which we find ourselves.”\n\n So, if the universe were static and eternal, time would be an illusion that we clearly create from a biocentric position. If, however, the universe is constantly evolving, we certainly do need time to account for that. Of course, Lanza would say that the universe is only evolving because we “evolve” it through our perceptions. I think he goes too far, actually. It’s an interesting idea that he presents, but it makes much more sense that the internal/external worlds are in relationship to each other, not that one precludes the other:\n\n“To say that time is not well understood is one thing, but to assert that time is therefore an illusion seems unfounded to me. When forced to summarize his conclusion, he (page 111) backtracks from the bolder statements and writes only that: “Time does not have a real existence outside of animal-sense perception. It is the process by which we perceive changes in the universe.” I could add that time is real because mind and change are real.” http://darwiniana.com/2010/02/12/biocentrism-review/\n\nI’m inclined to agree with the author of this quote. We perceive changes in the universe and the passage of time through our ‘animal sense perception,’ but that doesn’t mean that time and change are non-existent properties or phenomena. We need the notion of time for classical physics and we don’t, really (from what I am able to glean) for quantum physics, but again—time appears to be a hypothetical concept in every area of cosmology, necessary but not ‘proven’. Time may not exist, but entropy does, and I feel entropy as growing older and facing biological death. My experience of time leads me to believe that I (and all other living things) am in a constant state of evolution and flux. What might stand apart from that? Consciousness. It is entirely possible that what is in the constant evolutionary state is the material world, not the quantum world. If my consciousness arises from a quantum field, if awareness itself functions according to the rules of the sub-atomic realm, then consciousness is not bound by time and would, theoretically, continue on indefinitely.\n\nCritics would accuse me of bringing ‘dualism’ back into the discussion as an excuse to save the notion of a soul. However, I’ve never understood why dualism is such a dirty word for scientists. If we can have a material and a quantum world that function according to different paradigms, then why is it not possible that the ‘human animal’ functions in two entirely different ways as well? Why could we not be both ‘material’ and ‘quantum’? Yes, I realize that no one has proven that consciousness emerges from a quantum field; however, it seems the best explanation that we have right now. Now we can engage in Part Two of this grand discussion, which involves the data that paranormal researchers bring back from their investigations. Yes, I realize that many scientists will stop reading right here and forever turn their backs on soulbank (if they would even look at it to begin with) and everything herein contained, but . . . we DO come back with tantalizing data that is not explained by normal means. I can say that with authority after years of painstakingly sorting through audio, video, ITC sessions and so on. I think that the hypothesis that consciousness occupies the quantum space might explain EVPs and all the other anomalies we bring home and puzzle over.\n\n\nKirsten A. Thorne, Ph.D\n\nRead Full Post »\n\nDear reader: I reproduce below, in its entirety, an article by Michael Talbot that summarizes recent thinking into the nature of reality itself. It is based on the work of theoretical physicists, psychologists and scientists working in various fields. Do you care about such things as ghosts, spirits, survival of consciousness and the possibilities for reincarnation? Does it matter that science is on the track of providing us a model of reality that accommodates such experiences and validates them as real? (or, as real as anything gets in the holographic model) If this topic fascinates you, then I IMPLORE you to read the article below. Soon, I will provide my own commentary and insights into what this could all mean for paranormal investigators. I anxiously await your feedback.\n\nKirsten A. Thorne, Ph.D.\n\nIn 1982 a remarkable event took place. At the University of Paris a research team led by physicist Alain Aspect performed what may turn out to be one of the most important experiments of the 20th century. You did not hear about it on the evening news. In fact, unless you are in the habit of reading scientific journals you probably have never even heard Aspect’s name, though there are some who believe his discovery may change the face of science.\n\nAspect and his team discovered that under certain circumstances subatomic particles such as electrons are able to instantaneously communicate with each other regardless of the distance separating them. It doesn’t matter whether they are 10 feet or 10 billion miles apart.\n\nSomehow each particle always seems to know what the other is doing. The problem with this feat is that it violates Einstein’s long-held tenet that no communication can travel faster than the speed of light. Since traveling faster than the speed of light is tantamount to breaking the time barrier, this daunting prospect has caused some physicists to try to come up with elaborate ways to explain away Aspect’s findings. But it has inspired others to offer even more radical explanations.\n\nUniversity of London physicist David Bohm, for example, believes Aspect’s findings imply that objective reality does not exist, that despite its apparent solidity the universe is at heart a phantasm, a gigantic and splendidly detailed hologram.\n\nTo understand why Bohm makes this startling assertion, one must first understand a little about holograms. A hologram is a three- dimensional photograph made with the aid of a laser.\n\nTo make a hologram, the object to be photographed is first bathed in the light of a laser beam. Then a second laser beam is bounced off the reflected light of the first and the resulting interference pattern (the area where the two laser beams commingle) is captured on film.\n\nWhen the film is developed, it looks like a meaningless swirl of light and dark lines. But as soon as the developed film is illuminated by another laser beam, a three-dimensional image of the original object appears.\n\nThe three-dimensionality of such images is not the only remarkable characteristic of holograms. If a hologram of a rose is cut in half and then illuminated by a laser, each half will still be found to contain the entire image of the rose.\n\nIndeed, even if the halves are divided again, each snippet of film will always be found to contain a smaller but intact version of the original image. Unlike normal photographs, every part of a hologram contains all the information possessed by the whole.\n\nThe “whole in every part” nature of a hologram provides us with an entirely new way of understanding organization and order. For most of its history, Western science has labored under the bias that the best way to understand a physical phenomenon, whether a frog or an atom, is to dissect it and study its respective parts.\n\nA hologram teaches us that some things in the universe may not lend themselves to this approach. If we try to take apart something constructed holographically, we will not get the pieces of which it is made, we will only get smaller wholes.\n\nThis insight suggested to Bohm another way of understanding Aspect’s discovery. Bohm believes the reason subatomic particles are able to remain in contact with one another regardless of the distance separating them is not because they are sending some sort of mysterious signal back and forth, but because their separateness is an illusion. He argues that at some deeper level of reality such particles are not individual entities, but are actually extensions of the same fundamental something.\n\nTo enable people to better visualize what he means, Bohm offers the following illustration.\n\nImagine an aquarium containing a fish. Imagine also that you are unable to see the aquarium directly and your knowledge about it and what it contains comes from two television cameras, one directed at the aquarium’s front and the other directed at its side.\n\nAs you stare at the two television monitors, you might assume that the fish on each of the screens are separate entities. After all, because the cameras are set at different angles, each of the images will be slightly different. But as you continue to watch the two fish, you will eventually become aware that there is a certain relationship between them.\n\nWhen one turns, the other also makes a slightly different but corresponding turn; when one faces the front, the other always faces toward the side. If you remain unaware of the full scope of the situation, you might even conclude that the fish must be instantaneously communicating with one another, but this is clearly not the case.\n\nThis, says Bohm, is precisely what is going on between the subatomic particles in Aspect’s experiment.\n\nAccording to Bohm, the apparent faster-than-light connection between subatomic particles is really telling us that there is a deeper level of reality we are not privy to, a more complex dimension beyond our own that is analogous to the aquarium. And, he adds, we view objects such as subatomic particles as separate from one another because we are seeing only a portion of their reality.\n\nSuch particles are not separate “parts”, but facets of a deeper and more underlying unity that is ultimately as holographic and indivisible as the previously mentioned rose. And since everything in physical reality is comprised of these “eidolons”, the universe is itself a projection, a hologram.\n\nIn addition to its phantomlike nature, such a universe would possess other rather startling features. If the apparent separateness of subatomic particles is illusory, it means that at a deeper level of reality all things in the universe are infinitely interconnected.\n\nThe electrons in a carbon atom in the human brain are connected to the subatomic particles that comprise every salmon that swims, every heart that beats, and every star that shimmers in the sky.\n\nEverything interpenetrates everything, and although human nature may seek to categorize and pigeonhole and subdivide, the various phenomena of the universe, all apportionments are of necessity artificial and all of nature is ultimately a seamless web.\n\nIn a holographic universe, even time and space could no longer be viewed as fundamentals. Because concepts such as location break down in a universe in which nothing is truly separate from anything else, time and three-dimensional space, like the images of the fish on the TV monitors, would also have to be viewed as projections of this deeper order.\n\nAt its deeper level reality is a sort of superhologram in which the past, present, and future all exist simultaneously. This suggests that given the proper tools it might even be possible to someday reach into the superholographic level of reality and pluck out scenes from the long-forgotten past.\n\nWhat else the superhologram contains is an open-ended question. Allowing, for the sake of argument, that the superhologram is the matrix that has given birth to everything in our universe, at the very least it contains every subatomic particle that has been or will be — every configuration of matter and energy that is possible, from snowflakes to quasars, from bluü whales to gamma rays. It must be seen as a sort of cosmic storehouse of “All That Is.”\n\nAlthough Bohm concedes that we have no way of knowing what else might lie hidden in the superhologram, he does venture to say that we have no reason to assume it does not contain more. Or as he puts it, perhaps the superholographic level of reality is a “mere stage” beyond which lies “an infinity of further development”.\n\nBohm is not the only researcher who has found evidence that the universe is a hologram. Working independently in the field of brain research, Standford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram has also become persuaded of the holographic nature of reality.\n\nPribram was drawn to the holographic model by the puzzle of how and where memories are stored in the brain. For decades numerous studies have shown that rather than being confined to a specific location, memories are dispersed throughout the brain.\n\nIn a series of landmark experiments in the 1920s, brain scientist Karl Lashley found that no matter what portion of a rat’s brain he removed he was unable to eradicate its memory of how to perform complex tasks it had learned prior to surgery. The only problem was that no one was able to come up with a mechanism that might explain this curious “whole in every part” nature of memory storage.\n\nThen in the 1960s Pribram encountered the concept of holography and realized he had found the explanation brain scientists had been looking for. Pribram believes memories are encoded not in neurons, or small groupings of neurons, but in patterns of nerve impulses that crisscross the entire brain in the same way that patterns of laser light interference crisscross the entire area of a piece of film containing a holographic image. In other words, Pribram believes the brain is itself a hologram.\n\nPribram’s theory also explains how the human brain can store so many memories in so little space. It has been estimated that the human brain has the capacity to memorize something on the order of 10 billion bits of information during the average human lifetime (or roughly the same amount of information contained in five sets of the Encyclopaedia Britannica).\n\nSimilarly, it has been discovered that in addition to their other capabilities, holograms possess an astounding capacity for information storage–simply by changing the angle at which the two lasers strike a piece of photographic film, it is possible to record many different images on the same surface. It has been demonstrated that one cubic centimeter of film can hold as many as 10 billion bits of information.\n\nOur uncanny ability to quickly retrieve whatever information we need from the enormous store of our memories becomes more understandable if the brain functions according to holographic principles. If a friend asks you to tell him what comes to mind when he says the word “zebra”, you do not have to clumsily sort back through ome gigantic and cerebral alphabetic file to arrive at an answer. Instead, associations like “striped”, “horselike”, and “animal native to Africa” all pop into your head instantly.\n\nIndeed, one of the most amazing things about the human thinking process is that every piece of information seems instantly cross- correlated with every other piece of information–another feature intrinsic to the hologram. Because every portion of a hologram is infinitely interconnected with evey other portion, it is perhaps nature’s supreme example of a cross-correlated system.\n\nThe storage of memory is not the only neurophysiological puzzle that becomes more tractable in light of Pribram’s holographic model of the brain. Another is how the brain is able to translate the avalanche of frequencies it receives via the senses (light frequencies, sound frequencies, and so on) into the concrete world of our perceptions. Encoding and decoding frequencies is precisely what a hologram does best. Just as a hologram functions as a sort of lens, a translating device able to convert an apparently meaningless blur of frequencies into a coherent image, Pribram believes the brain also comprises a lens and uses holographic principles to mathematically convert the frequencies it receives through the senses into the inner world of our perceptions.\n\nAn impressive body of evidence suggests that the brain uses holographic principles to perform its operations. Pribram’s theory, in fact, has gained increasing support among neurophysiologists.\n\nArgentinian-Italian researcher Hugo Zucarelli recently extended the holographic model into the world of acoustic phenomena. Puzzled by the fact that humans can locate the source of sounds without moving their heads, even if they only possess hearing in one ear, Zucarelli discovered that holographic principles can explain this ability.\n\nZucarelli has also developed the technology of holophonic sound, a recording technique able to reproduce acoustic situations with an almost uncanny realism.\n\nPribram’s belief that our brains mathematically construct “hard” reality by relying on input from a frequency domain has also received a good deal of experimental support.\n\nIt has been found that each of our senses is sensitive to a much broader range of frequencies than was previously suspected.\n\nResearchers have discovered, for instance, that our visual systems are sensitive to sound frequencies, that our sense of smell is in part dependent on what are now called “osmic frequencies”, and that even the cells in our bodies are sensitive to a broad range of frequencies. Such findings suggest that it is only in the holographic domain of consciousness that such frequencies are sorted out and divided up into conventional perceptions.\n\nBut the most mind-boggling aspect of Pribram’s holographic model of the brain is what happens when it is put together with Bohm’s theory. For if the concreteness of the world is but a secondary reality and what is “there” is actually a holographic blur of frequencies, and if the brain is also a hologram and only selects some of the frequencies out of this blur and mathematically transforms them into sensory perceptions, what becomes of objective reality?\n\nPut quite simply, it ceases to exist. As the religions of the East have long upheld, the material world is Maya, an illusion, and although we may think we are physical beings moving through a physical world, this too is an illusion.\n\nWe are really “receivers” floating through a kaleidoscopic sea of frequency, and what we extract from this sea and transmogrify into physical reality is but one channel from many extracted out of the superhologram.\n\nThis striking new picture of reality, the synthesis of Bohm and Pribram’s views, has come to be called the holographic paradigm, and although many scientists have greeted it with skepticism, it has galvanized others. A small but growing group of researchers believe it may be the most accurate model of reality science has arrived at thus far. More than that, some believe it may solve some mysteries that have never before been explainable by science and even establish the paranormal as a part of nature.\n\nNumerous researchers, including Bohm and Pribram, have noted that many para-psychological phenomena become much more understandable in terms of the holographic paradigm.\n\nIn a universe in which individual brains are actually indivisible portions of the greater hologram and everything is infinitely interconnected, telepathy may merely be the accessing of the holographic level.\n\nIt is obviously much easier to understand how information can travel from the mind of individual ‘A’ to that of individual ‘B’ at a far distance point and helps to understand a number of unsolved puzzles in psychology. In particular, Grof feels the holographic paradigm offers a model for understanding many of the baffling phenomena experienced by individuals during altered states of consciousness.\n\nCreation – Holographic Universe\nIn the 1950s, while conducting research into the beliefs of LSD as a psychotherapeutic tool, Grof had one female patient who suddenly became convinced she had assumed the identity of a female of a species of prehistoric reptile. During the course of her hallucination, she not only gave a richly detailed description of what it felt like to be encapsuled in such a form, but noted that the portion of the male of the species’s anatomy was a patch of colored scales on the side of its head.\n\nWhat was startling to Grof was that although the woman had no prior knowledge about such things, a conversation with a zoologist later confirmed that in certain species of reptiles colored areas on the head do indeed play an important role as triggers of sexual arousal.\n\nThe woman’s experience was not unique. During the course of his research, Grof encountered examples of patients regressing and identifying with virtually every species on the evolutionary tree (research findings which helped influence the man-into-ape scene in the movie Altered States). Moreover, he found that such experiences frequently contained obscure zoological details which turned out to be accurate.\n\nRegressions into the animal kingdom were not the only puzzling psychological phenomena Grof encountered. He also had patients who appeared to tap into some sort of collective or racial unconscious. Individuals with little or no education suddenly gave detailed descriptions of Zoroastrian funerary practices and scenes from Hindu mythology. In other categories of experience, individuals gave persuasive accounts of out-of-body journeys, of precognitive glimpses of the future, of regressions into apparent past-life incarnations.\n\nIn later research, Grof found the same range of phenomena manifested in therapy sessions which did not involve the use of drugs. Because the common element in such experiences appeared to be the transcending of an individual’s consciousness beyond the usual boundaries of ego and/or limitations of space and time, Grof called such manifestations “transpersonal experiences”, and in the late ’60s he helped found a branch of psychology called “transpersonal psychology” devoted entirely to their study.\n\nAlthough Grof’s newly founded Association of Transpersonal Psychology garnered a rapidly growing group of like-minded professionals and has become a respected branch of psychology, for years neither Grof or any of his colleagues were able to offer a mechanism for explaining the bizarre psychological phenomena they were witnessing. But that has changed with the advent of the holographic paradigm.\n\nAs Grof recently noted, if the mind is actually part of a continuum, a labyrinth that is connected not only to every other mind that exists or has existed, but to every atom, organism, and region in the vastness of space and time itself, the fact that it is able to occasionally make forays into the labyrinth and have transpersonal experiences no longer seems so strange.\n\nThe holographic prardigm also has implications for so-called hard sciences like biology. Keith Floyd, a psychologist at Virginia Intermont College, has pointed out that if the concreteness of reality is but a holographic illusion, it would no longer be true to say the brain produces consciousness. Rather, it is consciousness that creates the appearance of the brain — as well as the body and everything else around us we interpret as physical.\n\nSuch a turnabout in the way we view biological structures has caused researchers to point out that medicine and our understanding of the healing process could also be transformed by the holographic paradigm. If the apparent physical structure of the body is but a holographic projection of consciousness, it becomes clear that each of us is much more responsible for our health than current medical wisdom allows. What we now view as miraculous remissions of disease may actually be due to changes in consciousness which in turn effect changes in the hologram of the body.\n\nSimilarly, controversial new healing techniques such as visualization may work so well because in the holographic domain of thought images are ultimately as real as “reality”.\n\nEven visions and experiences involving “non-ordinary” reality become explainable under the holographic paradigm. In his book “Gifts of Unknown Things,” biologist Lyall Watson discribes his encounter with an Indonesian shaman woman who, by performing a ritual dance, was able to make an entire grove of trees instantly vanish into thin air. Watson relates that as he and another astonished onlooker continued to watch the woman, she caused the trees to reappear, then “click” off again and on again several times in succession.\n\nAlthough current scientific understanding is incapable of explaining such events, experiences like this become more tenable if “hard” reality is only a holographic projection.\n\nPerhaps we agree on what is “there” or “not there” because what we call consensus reality is formulated and ratified at the level of the human unconscious at which all minds are infinitely interconnected.\n\nIf this is true, it is the most profound implication of the holographic paradigm of all, for it means that experiences such as Watson’s are not commonplace only because we have not programmed our minds with the beliefs that would make them so. In a holographic universe there are no limits to the extent to which we can alter the fabric of reality.\n\nWhat we perceive as reality is only a canvas waiting for us to draw upon it any picture we want. Anything is possible, from bending spoons with the power of the mind to the phantasmagoric events experienced by Castaneda during his encounters with the Yaqui brujo don Juan, for magic is our birthright, no more or less miraculous than our ability to compute the reality we want when we are in our dreams.\n\nIndeed, even our most fundamental notions about reality become suspect, for in a holographic universe, as Pribram has pointed out, even random events would have to be seen as based on holographic principles and therefore determined. Synchronicities or meaningful coincidences suddenly makes sense, and everything in reality would have to be seen as a metaphor, for even the most haphazard events would express some underlying symmetry.\n\nWhether Bohm and Pribram’s holographic paradigm becomes accepted in science or dies an ignoble death remains to be seen, but it is safe to say that it has already had an influence on the thinking of many scientists. And even if it is found that the holographic model does not provide the best explanation for the instantaneous communications that seem to be passing back and forth between subatomic particles, at the very least, as noted by Basil Hiley, a physicist at Birbeck College in London, Aspect’s findings “indicate that we must be prepared to consider radically new views of reality”.\n\n\nArticle from: http://www.rense.com/general69/holo.htm\n\nRead Full Post »\n\nOlder Posts »", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5113543272018433} +{"content": "Ventricular Septal Defect device closure\n\n143 days ago, 28703 views\nA ventricular septal defect (VSD) is an opening or hole in the wall that separates the two lower chambers of the heart. This wall is called the ventricular septum. The hole causes oxygen-rich blood to leak from the left side of the heart to the right side. This causes extra work for the right side of the heart, since more blood than necessary is flowing through the right ventricle to the lungs.\n1000 chars left\nNo comments found.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9226528406143188} +{"content": "\nSelect Language:\nMain Menu\nServices offered\n Section: Algae » Algae and Men\nPlease share with your friends: \n\nTherapeutic Supplements\n\nAlgae and Men\n Sources and Uses of Commercial Algae\n - Food\n - Cyanophyta\n - Rhodophyta \n - Heterokontophyta\n - Chlorophyta\n - Extracts \n - Agar\n - Alginate \n - Carrageenan\n - Animal Feed\n - Fertilizers \n - Cosmetics \n - Therapeutic Supplements \n - Toxin\nMicroalgae are a unique source of high-value compounds and systematic screening for therapeutic substances, particularly from cyanobacteria, has received great attention. Among cyanobacteria Spirulina sp. has undergone numerous and rigorous toxicological studies that have highlighted its potential therapeutic applications in the area of immunomodulation, anticancer, antiviral, and cholesterol reduction effects.\n\nA number of extracts were found to be remarkably active in protecting human lymphoblastoid T-cells from the cytopathic effects of HIV infection. Active agents consisting of sulfolipids with different fatty acid esters were isolated from Lyngbya lagerheimii and Phormidium tenue. Additional cultured cyanobacterial extracts with inhibitory properties were also found in Phormidium cebennse, Oscillatoria raciborskii, Scytonema burmanicum, Calotrix elenkinii, and Anabena variabilis. A protein called cyanovirin, isolated from an aqueous cellular extract of Nostoc elipsosporum prevents the in vitro replication and citopathicity of primate retroviruses.\n\nCryptophycin 1, an active compound isolated from Nostoc strain GSV224, exerts antiproliferative and antimitotic activities by binding to the ends of the microtubules, thus blocking the cell cycle at the metaphase of mitosis. Cryptophycin 1 is the most potent suppressor of microtubule dynamics yet described. Research has been focused on its potent antitumor activity and a synthetic analogue, cryptophycin-52, is at present in Phase II clinical trials by Eli Lilly & Co, Inc. (Indianapolis, IN). Other studies using water soluble extracts of cyanobacteria have found a novel sulfated polysaccharide, calcium spirulan to be an antiviral agent. This compound appears to be selectively inhibiting the penetration of enveloped viruses into host cells, thereby preventing the replication. The effect was described for many different viruses like herpex simplex, measles, and even HIV-1.\n\nAmong eukaryotic microalgae, a glycoprotein prepared from Chlorella vulgaris culture supernatant exhibited protective activity against tumor metastasis and chemotherapy-induced immunosuppression in mice.\n\nExtracts from several macroalgae may prove to be a source of effective antiviral agents; although the tests have been either in vitro (in test-tubes or similar) or on animals, with few advancing to trials involving people. A notable exception is Carraguard, a mixture of carrageenans similar to those extracted from Irish moss. Carraguard has been shown to be effective against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in vitro and against herpes simplex virus in animals. Testing has advanced to the stage where the international research organization, the Population Council, is supervising large-scale HIV trials of Carraguard, involving 6000 women over 4 yr. Extracts from the brown macroalgae, Undaria pinnatifida, have also shown antiviral activity; an Australian company is involved in several clinical trials, in Australia and the U.S., of such an extract against HIV and cancer. The Population Council’s trials against HIV involve the vaginal application of a gel containing carrageenan. Because antiviral substances in macroalgae are composed of very large molecules, it was thought they would not be absorbed by eating macroalgae. However, it has been found in one survey that the rate of HIV infection in macroalgae-eating communities can be markedly lower than it is elsewhere. This has led to some small-scale trials in which people infected with HIV ate powdered Undaria, with a resulting decrease of 25% in the viral load.\n\nFucoxanthin, a carotenoid commonly distributed in brown algae, such as U. pinnatifida, Scytosiphon lomentaria, Petalonia binghamiae, and Laminaria religiosa, is a potent drug candidate and can be utilized as an excellent supplement like astaxanthin, because it acts as an antioxidant and inhibits GOTO cells of neuroblastoma and colon cancer cells. Recently, the apoptosis activity against HL-60 (human leukema) and Caco-2 (cancer colon) cells has been reported for fucoxanthin.\n\nAmong the microalgal high-value compounds there are carotenoids such as β-carotene, astaxanthin, PUFA such as DHA and EPA, and polysaccharides such as b-glucan. Carotenoids by their quenching action on reactive oxygen species carry intrinsic anti-inflammatory properties, PUFA exhibit antioxidant activity and polysaccharides act as immunostimulators.\n\nA major bottleneck in the explotation of microalgal biomass for the production of high-value compounds is low productivity of the culture, both in terms of biomass and product formation. A fundamental reason for this is slow cell growth rates owing to inefficient use of strong light. Furthermore, most microalgal products are secondary metabolites that are produced when growth is limited. A solution to this bottleneck could be to milk the secondary metabolites from the microalgae. This involves continuous removal of secondary metabolites from cells, thereby enabling the biomass to be reused for the continuous production of high-value compounds.\n\nRecently, a new method was developed for milking β-carotene from Dunaliella salina in a twophase bioreactor. In this technique, cells are first grown under normal growth conditions and then stressed by excess light to produce larger amounts of β-carotene. At this stage, the second, biocompatible organic phase is added and the β-carotene is extracted selectively via continuous recirculation of a biocompatible organic solvent (lipophilic compound) through the aqueous phase containing the cells. Because the cells continue to produce β-carotene, the extracted product is continuously replaced by newly produced molecules. Therefore, the cells are continuously reused and do not need to be grown again. In contrast to existing commercial processes, this method does not require the harvesting, concentrating, and destroying of cells for extraction of the desired product. Furthermore, purification of the product is simple owing to the selectivity of the extraction process. The general application of this process would facilitate the commercialization of microalgal biotechnology and development of microalgal products.\n\nThe properties of the cell membrane play an important role in the contact between biocompatible lipophilic solvents and hydrophobic parts of the cell membrane might be prevented by presence of a cell wall or hydrophilic parts of the outer membrane. Physiological properties of the cells, such as their capacity for continuous endo- and exocytosis, might also play a role in the milking process. Other considerations are the location and way in which the product accumulates inside the cells and the function of that product inside the cells. A product like chlorophyll would be difficult to extract owing to its location in thylakoid membranes and because it is bound strongly to other cell components. The extraction of a product with a protective effect on the cells (e.g., β-carotene) will enhance its synthesis. The milking process can be applied also to other algae and other products besides D. salina, for example in Haematococcus pluvialis for the recovery astaxanthin, and marine microalgae for PUFA.\n\nIn addition to its use in aquaculture (e.g., to give salmon a pink color), astaxanthin has also been described as having nutraceutical importance related to free-radical scavenging, immunomodulation, and cancer prevention. H. pluvialis can produce and accumulate astaxanthin to concentrations of 1–8% of the dry weight. This concentration within the cell would make milking of H. pluvialis more successful compared with D. salina. However, cultivation of H. pluvialis is more complex than D. salina, and productivity is lower. Furthermore, extraction, purification, and concentration are a heavy burden on the production cost. As the final product cost is also sensitive to algal productivity and duration of the growth period, this process is not economically feasible at present.\n\nPUFAs are gaining increasing importance as valuable pharmaceutical products and ingredients of food owing to their beneficial effect on human health. DHA (22 : 6 v3) and EPA, (20 : 5 v3), in particular, are important in the development and functioning of brain, retina, and reproductive tissues both in adults and infants. They can also be used in the treatment of various diseases and disorders, including cardiovascular problems, a variety of cancers, and inflammatory disease. At present, PUFAs are produced commercially from fish oil, but this is an insufficient source of these products and microalgae provide an optimal lipid source of PUFAs.\n\nThe heterotrophic marine dinoflagellate Crypthecodinium cohnii has a lipid content greater than 20% dry weight and is known for its ability to accumulate fatty acids that have a high fraction (30–50%) of DHA. Lipids are important components of algal cell membranes but also accumulate in globules in other parts of the cells. Microalgal growth and fatty acid formation is affected by medium composition and environmental conditions (e.g., carbon sources). Lipid production occurs under growth-limiting conditions; during linear growth, the cells are stressed owing to nutrient limitation and therefore produce more lipids. Also the concentration of DHA, hence the lipid quality, is negatively affected by increases in lipid concentration. The highest quality lipid it obtained when glucose is used as the carbon source, and when the cell concentration and lipid content of the cells are the lowest.\n\nMilking can be used also for DHA production by C. cohnii. In this process, cells are first grown under the correct conditions for growth, after which they are stressed to produce higher concentrations of DHA. A biocompatible organic solvent is added during the DHA production stage to extract the product. This process enables the production of high-quality lipid, thereby reducing extraction and purification costs. Furthermore, higher amounts of DHA are produced by substitution of extracted lipids by newly synthesized lipid, increasing the productivity of the system.\n\nMicroalgae represent also one of the most promising EPA producers, as the purification of this PUFA from fish oil, which remains the main commercial source of EPA, involves many drawbacks. Many Eustigmatophyceae, such as Nannochloropsis sp. and Monodus subterraneus, and Bacillariophyceae species contain a considerable amount of EPA. An EPA production potential has been found in the genus Nitzschia (especially N. alba and N. laevis). It was reported that the oil content of N. alba was as high as 50% of cell dry weight and the EPA comprises 4–5% of the oil. N. laevis could utilize glucose or glutamate as single substrate for heterotrophic growth, and the cellular EPA content of the alga in heterotrophic conditions was also higher than that in photoautotrophic conditions suggesting that this diatom is a good heterotrophic EPA producer.\n\nThe bioprocess engineering aspect of heterotrophic EPA production by N. laevis has been extensively studied. Major achievements include:\n • Optimization of various medium components (including silicate, glucose, nitrogen sources, salts and trace elements) and environmental factors (including pH, temperature) for the alga culture\n • Investigation of detailed physiological behavior of the alga (cell growth, nutrient consumption, fatty acid compositions, etc.) by a continuous culture (the dilution rate and glucose concentration in the feed medium were optimized in terms of EPA productivity and glucose utilization efficiency)\n • Development of high cell density and high productivity techniques, which led to an EPA yield of 1112 mg l-1 and an EPA productivity of 174 mg l-1 day-1, both of which are the highest ever reported in microalgal cultures.\n\nMicroalgae produce many different types of polysaccharides, which may be a costituent of the cell wall as in unicellular red algae as Porphyridium sp. and Rhodella sp., or be present inside the cell, as in the Euglenophyceae. The polysaccharides of Rhodophyta are highly sulfated and consist mainly of xylose, glucose, and galactose. These compounds selectively inhibit reverse transcriptase (RT) enzyme of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and its replication in vitro.\n\nRodents fed with a diet supplemented with biomass and polysaccharides derived from Porphyridium results in a decrease in blood cholesterol concentration (by 22% and 29%, respectively) and triglyceride levels, increased feces weight (by 130% and 196%, respectively) and bile acid excretion (5.1- and 3.2-fold or more). Moreover, algal biomass or polysaccharide increased the length of both the small intestine (by 17% and 30%, respectively) and the colon (by 8.5% and 32%, respectively).\n\nParamylon is the term used for the reserve polysaccharide of Euglena and euglenoids in general. Its granules appearing in various locations inside the cell; in many species they are scattered throughout the cytoplasm, but others can be massed together or few, but large, and located in a fairly constant position. Their shape and size differ markedly, and together with their distribution inside the cell, represent a taxonomic feature. Paramylon consists of b-1,3-glucan, a linear polysaccharide found in the cell walls of many bacteria, plants, and yeasts. It belongs to a group of naturally occurring polysaccharides such as lentinan, fungal glucans, sizofiran, and pachyman, which are considered bioactive compounds. Lentinan and sizofiran are known to inhibit the growth of various tumors, whereas fungal glucans are used clinically for their stimulatory effect on the immune system, in particular on the macrophages. The main interest in b-glucans stems from their ability to act as nonspecific immune system stimulants, by binding to a specific site on monocytes/ macrophages and granulocytes. They have been successfully used in aquaculture to strengthen the nonspecific defence of many important species of fishes and shrimps by injection, immersion, or in the feed. Sulfated derivatives of Euglena paramylon, in particular, have shown anti-HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) activity. Moreover, it has been suggested that this polysaccharide has a cholesterol-lowering effect when incorporated in the diet of either humans or animals, and moderates the postprandial blood glucose and insulin response in humans. Since Euglena gracilis can accumulate large quantities of paramylon when grown in the presence of an utilizable carbon source, it could represent an alternative source of this compound to Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker’s yeast), which is currently exploited industrially for its extraction. Moreover, Euglena has been investigated as a potential protein source, and a promising dietary supplement due to its content of highly nutritious proteins and PUFAs, and to the simultaneous production of antioxidant compounds, such as β-carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E.\n\nTable 7.7 summarizes commercially exploited algae and the corresponding nutraceutical.\n\n\nCopyrights 2012 © | Disclaimer", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9077438116073608} +{"content": "(redirected from administrable)\nAlso found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Legal.\n\n\nManaged care To direct and manage personnel—e.g., to administer a programme.\nMedspeak Give, provide\nTherapeutics To apply a substance—by injection, inhalation, ingestion or by other means—to the body of a patient or research subject by either a health practitioner or his authorised agent and under his direction, or by the patient or research subject himself.\n\n\nPharmacology verb To apply a substance–by injection, inhalation, ingestion or by other means, to the body of a Pt or research subject by either a health practitioner or his authorized agent and under his direction, or by the Pt or research subject himself. Cf Dispense Medtalk → Vox populi Give.\nReferences in periodicals archive ?\nIf certain government defenses, reflecting real values, are inherently not judicially administrable, it is worth considering whether the judiciary, relative to other governmental institutions, is competent in all cases to weigh the competing values that the establishment clause implicates.\nKent stated, \"The addition of an orally administrable botulinum toxin vaccine is consistent with DOR's strategy of developing practical near-term biodefense vaccine products to counter the threat of bio-terrorism.\nWe are pleased that Halliburton has recognized that Roni's work to make e-filing more administrable also benefits the company.\nDuring the April 26 meeting, the participants discussed general tax issues that hinder the competitiveness of the jurisdiction and how TEI may work with the Singapore authorities, including the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore and the Ministry of Finance, to make the tax laws more administrable.\nBlackICE Agent is a remotely administrable corporate laptop, desktop and workstation intrusion protection system, and BlackICE Defender is an intrusion protection system and firewall for personal computers.\n10) Moreover, TEI fully supports the Department's efforts to strengthen the integrity of the tax system while ensuring that amendments to the Act are targeted, sustainable, and administrable.\nUniSite can scan a single language site and convert it to a multilingual centrally administrable web site -- one that can be managed remotely.\nSolomon and his colleagues have listened thoughtfully to our concerns and worked hard to make the tax law more administrable.\nThe Institute encouraged full conformity with federal rules governing reportable transactions as the best way for States adopting such a regime to ensure it does not overburden taxpayers, remains administrable, promotes uniformity, and is fair.\nWe, along with federal, state, and local governments, have the most at stake in crafting a tax system that is administrable and efficient.\nBecause this proposed amendment is neither sound nor administrable, we urge the Commission to avoid including it in any proposed Model Uniform Statute on Reportable Transactions & Inconsistent Filing Positions.\nAlphaRx is a specialty pharmaceutical company utilizing proprietary nanoparticulate drug delivery systems to develop novel formulations of drugs that are insoluble or poorly soluble in water or have yet to be administrable to the human body with an acceptable delivery method.\n\nFull browser ?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5036729574203491} +{"content": "As I've become more and more involved with blogging about the 80s I've realized how many great films came out of that decade that really deserve top 10 consideration, and so I've decided to create an alternate top 10 movies of the 80s list. There aren't any films on the original list that I want to remove, I just want to add 10 more without exceeding the parameters of a top 10 list. Think of this list as existing in an alternate reality; like the one JJ Abrams created for his reboot of Star Trek, sort of.\n\nSo here we go: the alternate reality top 10 movies of the 80s are...\n\n1) The Killing Fields - After the reporters were chased out the real nightmare began\n\n2) Batman - Changed the course of superhero movies forever\n\n3) Full Metal Jacket - Kubrick's best late film\n\n4) The Terminator - James Cameron re-invents sci-fi as an action genre\n\n5) Dune - David Lynch dreams about Frank Herbert's sci-fi classic\n\n6) Prizzi's Honor - Jack Nicholson at his cheeky best\n\n7) The Adventures of Baron Munchausen - A beautifully crafted ode to the dreamer\n\n8) This is Spinal Tap - The mother of all modern mockumentaries\n\n9) Dangerous Liaisons - Love as the blood sport of the idle rich\n\n10) Predator - An unexpected gem that takes you places you didn't expect", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9880992770195007} +{"content": "FDR3548 The Matrix Is Not An Argument - Call In Show - December 30th, 2016\n\nArchive this series\nQuestion 1: [1:48] – \"Prior to my god daughter's baptism I was planning to formally leave the Catholic church, as I have become interested in Ayn Rand's objectivisim. I feel conflicted that I have accepted this position while I do not align with Catholic beliefs which leads me to wonder, how can one raise a child without relation to an entity, being raised a catholic myself, while upholding objectivist values?\"\nQuestion 2: [48:08] – “Is good addictive across human beings and doesn’t the assumption that it is underlie collectivist thinking?”\nQuestion 3: [1:24:00] – “As a male in my prime my body is pushing to attain sex however that is a major problem for me. I was raised as a respectful and virtuous person so until now I was doing the old-fashioned thing, being nice, polite and thoughtful, not lowering my standards. This pretty much resulted in nothing but a few friendships. This was frustrating and with my body driving me I decided to try the other way: posting pictures of my abs, etc. and literally 1000% increase in traffic, conversation etc. My question is why do I have to degrade myself in this way to even start to appeal to the opposite sex? What is the reasoning behind that do you think? also I know all these people talking to me now are majority broken themselves because they are searching for the people I am trying to emulate and are highly likely not to be relationship material. Why is it so hard to find decent people and is the majority of people so shallow and primal?”\nQuestion 4: [1:38:39] – “Why is it that God is impossible if the two main logical arguments proposed in your book can be shown to be inconsistent and if there is no logical inconsistencies with God, why would it not be wise to be an agnostic.”\nQuestion 5: [1:57:01] – “What are your thought about making compromises in values, principles, and life? Life is not always black and white, and I think it is wise to know when to stand at the white or the gray. Is my way of thinking dangerous and slippery? Do you have additional tips so that I do not fall into any traps?”\n\n871 episodes available. A new episode about every 21 hours averaging 76 mins duration .", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9977832436561584} +{"content": "Definitions of lady\n\n 1. The day of the annunciation of the Virgin Mary, March 25. See Annunciation.\n 3. The mistress of a house: a wife: a title of the wives of knights, and all degrees above them, and of the daughters of earls and all higher ranks: a title of complaisance to any woman of refined manners.\n 4. A wife; - not now in approved usage.\n 5. a polite name for any woman; \" a nice lady at the library helped me\"\n 8. a woman of the peerage in Britain\n 9. A woman of refined or gentle manners; a well- bred woman; - the feminine correlative of gentleman.\n 11. A gentlewoman; the mistress of a household.\n 12. A woman having proprietary rights or authority; mistress; - a feminine correlative of lord.\n 13. A wellbred woman; a woman of good family or of high position in society; a sweetheart; Lady, the title of the wife of a knight, baronet, earl, etc; the daughter of a duke, marquis, or earl; the Virgin Mary; with Our.\n 14. Mistress of a house; well- bred woman; title of respect.\n 15. The triturating apparatus in the stomach of a lobster; - so called from a fancied resemblance to a seated female figure. It consists of calcareous plates.\n 16. A woman of distinction; a title prefixed to the name of any woman whose husband is not of lower rank than a knight, or whose father was a nobleman not lower than an earl; any woman of refined manners and education; mistress of a house; a wife.\n 17. ( United Kingdom) a woman of the peerage in Britain\n 18. A woman of distinction or rank; the wife of a titled gentleman; the title of the daughters of peers of the first three grades; a familiar term applied to the mistress or female head of a house of the better class; a woman in any station of life who is possessed of refined manners and kindness of heart, and generally whose character is adorned with those Christian and social virtues which men most love and esteem in a woman; a term of courtesy applied to any respectable female.\n 19. Belonging or becoming to a lady; ladylike.\n\nAntonyms for lady\n\ncad, rat, lord, crumb, vermin, skunk, cur, stinker, joker, heel, rat fink, creep, scum, clown, cretin, beast, dirtbag, buzzard, rotter, slob, fink, scumbag, bugger, reptile, chuff, so-and-so, nobleman, jerk, schmuck, sleaze, bounder, swine, blighter, toad, scuzzball, Stinkard, crud, hound, dog, boor, sleazeball, noble, lout, sleazebag, bleeder, louse, churl, snake, varmint.\n\nQuotes of lady\n\n 2. I was gravely warned by some of my female acquaintances that no woman could expect to be regarded as a lady after she had written a book. – Lydia M. Child\n 3. Elizabeth, Lady C, claims to be writing at the limits of language. Would it not be insulting to her if I were diligently to follow after her, explaining what she means but is not smart enough to say? – J. M. Coetzee\n 4. I want to be the first lady to land a quadruple jump in competition. As I grow older, I know that my skating style will develop and mature. – Sasha Cohen\n 5. I was first to break the news about the death of Lady Diana. The CNN team couldn't get into makeup fast enough. – Matt Drudge\n 6. If the first lady is concerned about this Internet cycle, what would she have done during the heyday when there was 12, 13 editions of a paper in one day? What would she have done with that news cycle? – Matt Drudge\n 8. The crown is not my right, and pleaseth me not. The Lady Mary is the rightful heir. – Jane Grey\n 9. As the 1960s began, a new breed of Hollywood leading lady was emerging. She was elegant, international, and wonderfully comedic. – Maureen O'Hara\n 10. Some teachers had been trained to work out at Southern because I carried two out there. I carried a lady down here from Palmer's Crossing, used to play piano, and Billy Carter. – Charles Phillips\n 11. My lady Deborah McNaughton is doing a documentary on me. – Noel Redding\n 12. I knew I'd conquered America when Mike Tyson told me I was one mean lady – Anne Robinson\n 13. Accuracy to a newspaper is what virtue is to a lady but a newspaper can always print a retraction. – Adlai Stevenson\n 14. And doing a film in that period, and having to really celebrate what they wore back then, how they sat and how they spoke. You know, what the etiquette was back then for a lady All of those things are like putting on a wig and transforming yourself, which I love. – Charlize Theron\n 15. I was a married woman and I had a baby. I would have adored it, but I just couldn't do it because I'm a lady – Ruth Warrick\n\nUsage examples for lady\n\n 1. “ Is there by any chance a lady with you, or did I hear a lady's voice over there? ” – The Sky Pilot in No Man's Land by Ralph Connor\n 2. “ I can't tell you how glad I am, Lady Chiltern. ” – Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope\n 3. She has found a lady to take her by the hand! ” – One of Our Conquerors, Complete by George Meredith Last Updated: March 7, 2009\n 4. You don't know all, my good lady – The Virginians by William Makepeace Thackeray\n 5. My lady we do! ” – The Lady of Fort St. John by Mary Hartwell Catherwood\n 6. “ \" Don't mind me,\" said the lady – We Girls: A Home Story by Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney\n 7. “ \" It is true,\" said Lady Anna. ” – Lady Anna by Anthony Trollope\n 8. “ I want she should grow up a lady like you.\" ” – Kildares of Storm by Eleanor Mercein Kelly\n 9. “ Is she a lady or anything like a lady – Lady Anna by Anthony Trollope\n 10. He laughed and said, \" I shall not be alone, my pretty lady – In the Courts of Memory 1858-1875. by L. de Hegermann-Lindencrone\n 11. Are you ready to be a little lady now? ” – Georgina of the Rainbows by Annie Fellows Johnston\n 12. But a Fat Lady – Philo Gubb Correspondence-School Detective by Ellis Parker Butler\n 13. Oh, I know all about you, my lady – A Woman's Burden by Fergus Hume\n 14. “ To her there was but one woman in the world, and that was Lady Wicketts. ” – God's Good Man by Marie Corelli\n 15. Isn't she a lady – The Children of Wilton Chase by Mrs. L. T. Meade\n 16. “ \" Why, my dear lady it is too right. ” – The Chickens of Fowl Farm by Lena E. Barksdale\n 17. “ \" If it could only have been the other brother,\" said Lady Scroope. ” – An Eye for an Eye by Anthony Trollope\n 18. “ \" She is very good- looking,\" said Lady Macleod. ” – Macleod of Dare by William Black\n 19. She sho'ly is a lady – The Prodigal Judge by Vaughan Kester\n 20. She does not look well, said Lady Elliston. ” – Amabel Channice by Anne Douglas Sedgwick\n\nRhymes for lady\n\n • adey, ady, brady, cady, crady, eydie, grady, haidee, kady, mady, maidie, shady;\n • arkady;\n\nIdioms for lady", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9517569541931152} +{"content": "Imagine finding yourself in a survival situation while camping, you have broken matches and no other way of starting a fire to keep warm. All you have in your camping set is some food and water, a ripped tent, some containers for food, and a steel wool based tool for cleaning them, as well as a flashlight.\n\nThis guide will teach you how to start a fire with only a few of the items listed above: batteries from the flashlight and the steel wool.\n\nStep 1: Tools and Materials:\n\n- 2 Batteries (most types will work, but I wouldn't recommend going smaller than AA)\n\n- Steel Wool (long enough to touch the ends of the two batteries stacked on top of each other)\n\n- Tinder\n\n- Firewood\n\nStep 2: Create an Ember:\n\nTo start a fire you will need to create a hot ember to light the tinder. You can do this buy causing a current of electricity to travel through the steel wool. This will create a large amount of heat in the steel, and it will become red-hot.\n\nFirstly cut off a piece of the steel wool, long enough to touch the ends of both batteries. Then hold the negative and positive ends of the batteries together, and press each end of the steel wool onto the opposite ends of the two batteries.\n\nSoon parts of the steel wool will become red-hot, be careful because at this point you can easily burn yourself.\n\nStep 3: Transfer the Ember:\n\nNow you can start your fire by transferring the ember into some dry tinder.Then lightly blow into the tinder which should then set alight, after which you need to carefully but quickly transfer it to the location for the fire. In order to continue the fire you will need to add wood of increasing size until you reach log-size.\n\nStep 4: Uses of the Fire:\n\nFire is very, very useful in a survival situation and has definitely saved many lives in the past, so here are some basic uses of this essential tool:\n\n- Heat: a fundamental part of survival.\n\n- Water Purification: boil water to cleanse it of pathogens.\n\n- Cooking: both meats and vegetables can be cooked over a fire.\n\n- Signaling: fire can be used to alert rescuers of your location.\n\ngreat instructable! Never heard of AA only9V for this.
\nthat was so nice and great :DThere are a few thousand ways to make fire, aren't there?
\nYes, there are many ways to make fire, this is definiteley a survival technique though.
\n\nAbout This Instructable\n\n\n\n\nMore by palletbuilds:Make Fire with Batteries \nAdd instructable to:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8528276681900024} +{"content": "Receive weekly travel deals and timeshare bargains\n\nHow Can I Check if a Timeshare Rental Company Is Legal?\n\nYou can check if a timeshare rental company is legal by checking with organizations like the Better Business Bureau. When you contact them, you can determine if they have ever had complaints lodged against them. Similarly, you can also check with certain federal and government agencies or watchdogs about whether the timeshare rental company in question has been the subject of many complaints or not. Finally, you may also try asking around on timeshare internet forums to see whether anyone else has even heard of said timeshare rental company.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9315455555915833} +{"content": "ikolás and his brother Adam rob travelers for their tyrannical father Kozlík. During one of their \"jobs\" they end up with a young German hostage whose father escapes to return news of the kidnapping and robbery to the King. Kozlik prepares for the wrath of the King, and sends Mikolás to pressure his neighbor Lazar to join him in war. Persuasion fails, and in vengeance Mikolás abducts Lazar's daughter Marketa, just as she was about to join a convent. The King, meantime, dispatches an army and the religious Lazar will be called upon to join hands against Kozlik. Stripped-down, surreal, and relentlessly grimy account of the shift from Paganism to Christianity.\n\nRésumé de IMDb.com", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6552876830101013} +{"content": "West Lancs logo\n\nAir quality\n\nOver-exposure to air pollution can be a health risk, so under the 1995 Environment Act the government introduced a national 'Air Quality Strategy', which all local authorities have to comply with. This involves carrying out reviews and assessments of the air quality in their area and comparing the results to air quality objectives.\n\nAir quality objectives are health-based and so the focus of each review is the exposure of members of the public to potential excessive amounts of pollution to ensure they're not at risk.\n\nGet an up-to-date air pollution report for the north west (external link)\n\nAir quality links", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7863407135009766} +{"content": "Fair Use Paper (30 points)\n\nChoose a work (book, film, painting, piece of music, etc.) that incorporates other works within it. A collage painting, for example, might use pieces of newspaper advertisements; a documentary film might include archival footage; a hip hop song might sample other songs. Your chosen work might have originally relied on fair use or the artist or author might have paid a licensing fee to use the other material. You don’t need to know the specific permission details. You just need to provide your own fair use analysis. It should not be a work that was the subject of a public copyright dispute or lawsuit.\n\nAfter choosing your example, write a 1500-word paper arguing that the use of the other works is either a fair use or not (or some combination if more than one work is incorporated).\n\nYou should rely on the four-factor test. For example, has the author or artist taken more than he or she needed? Would consumers use the second work in place of the first? Is the second work commenting on the first? Has the second work transformed the context of the first? Do the two works serve different purposes? You might also consider other factors. Does the use serve the public interest? Is the use so negligible that it doesn’t need to be compensated (i.e. de minimus)?\n\nFinal Paper or Project (50 points)\n\nDue by email November 3 and 5: paper proposal\n\nDue by email November 24: a working bibliography with 10 sources\n\nDue by email December 8: final paper\n\nOption A) Write a 3000-word research paper on a topic that I have approved. You must have a thesis that you argue for and support. A stronger paper will discuss complications of the argument and try to see different sides of the issues.\n\nYou must have footnotes or endnotes and use an accepted format (MLA, Chicago, etc.). You might want to consult Van Pelt’s citation format page:\n\nOption B) (Much harder than option A. Look before you leap!) Propose a creative project involving copyright. It might be a video or audio mashup, a creative use of public domain or Creative Commons-licensed material, a project that requires the licensing of copyrighted (or non-copyrighted) material, or anything else you can imagine. In addition to your project, you must write a five-page paper that explains the copyright implications of the project. Which aspects of copyright are explained, complicated, or explored by your project?\n\nconsider submitting your essay to the Penn Undergraduate Law Journal\n\n\nMLA Citation Style\n\nChicago Manual of Style\n\nGrading Scale\n\nA 95-100\n\nA- 90-94\n\nB+ 86-89\n\nB 84-85\n\nB- 80-83\n\nC 75-79\n\nC 60-74\n\nD 50-59\n\nF 0-49\n\n\n\nPublic Knowledge\n\nElectronic Frontier Foundation\n\nFree Press\n\nCopyright Office\n\n\n1709 Copyright Blog\n\nGoogle Public Policy Blog\n\n\n\nTorrent Freak\n\n\nLexis-Nexis (everything)\n\nSocial Science Research Network (articles)\n\nJSTOR (journals)\n\nThomas (legislation)\n\nProject Muse (journals)\n\nPew Internet (polls)\n\nEBSCO (articles)\n\nHistorical Newspapers\n\nGoogle Scholar (with PennText links)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7827348113059998} +{"content": "Other Perspectives #95\n\nYesterday was about what real love is really like. Today I’m using an Other Perspectives post to discuss the dangers of where most of us start with love, and why we have to shift our beliefs before we can have a mature healthy relationship. Keep in mind that when I say “start” I mean when our egos start, because few of these requirements are associated with true love.\n\nThe need for 100% Honesty is based in a fear that we really don’t have the person on our side in a meaningful way, which is largely true in every youthful relationship and all jealous ones. We worry it might not be true when they say I love you so we constantly need to check. Also, as the hilarious hemorrhoid scene in the film This is 40 illustrates, later in life we realise we often don’t really want full honesty….\n\nWhere it is right is Forgiveness. That is the best skill one could hope to have for a relationship. 100% is impossible, but you can get pretty close. Great Communication helps, but there’s some couples that remain quite private by nature, choosing internal reflection over a lot of sharing. These people often feel most comfortable with someone just like them. It’s not for everyone, but it’s valid love.\n\nTrust is okay–you want to aim to always feel trust–but there will be times where you’re insecure and you just won’t be able to help worrying and you’ll need some reassuring, as most women who experience breast cancer or men with testicular cancer quickly learn. Even putting on weight or losing one’s hair can do this. That’s all okay if it’s temporary or fleeting.\n\nFaithfulness is far rarer than people realise. Not that it isn’t natural for some, but as many experts, including Dan Savage, often point out; most marriages actually survive thanks to some monogamish behaviours that can strangely remind us of the value of our long term partners. Patience at 80% is hopefully where you’ll get to, but don’t be surprised if your maturity won’t allow for it until you’re at least over about thirty five.\n\nSimilar Values at 50% is one of the few that’s backwards, That one should be closer to a high percentage because as you age you realise that don’t people divorce because one likes golf and the other likes marathons, it’s because one will cheat at golf whereas the other would never do that in their sport.\n\nTime Apart at 20% only happens when you’re young and before your adulting starts. After that it is impossible because you’ll be at work for a third of your day so you’re already over, not to mention one parent spending their evening at hockey with one kid while the other’s at dance with another. Romance at 100% is the funniest. You will quickly learn that life gets too busy for things to stay romantic, which is fine. It actually means more when it’s mixed into a life that has other responsibilities.\n\nAgain, we’re back to agreeing on 100% Friendship. You can’t love the person’s appearance or style or identity because those are guaranteed to change. You have to be with someone who will be a good life partner and roommate more than a good romantic one. On the contrary, Zero Selfishness isn’t healthy. You need to put yourself first. You can’t give your partner what you don’t have. And Playing Games also comes with people dealing naturally with their discomfort around being totally honest. But it’s the last two that are most important.\n\nNearly the entire list is primarily immature, Unrealistic Expectations, and one of them is expecting yourself not to spend time dealing with Insecurities, which is an entirely unrealistic expectation to put on yourself or your partner. Again, think of breast cancer or testicular cancer survivors. It makes sense that would take some adjustment to get comfortable with. Besides, there can’t be a peaceful psychological and spiritual path unless there’s a not-path. Not-path is ego. You can get good at keeping it at bay, but to not have it at all is to miss out on a valuable aspect of being human that incites healthy growth.\n\nWe all start with unrealistic beliefs that were created by culture, so I’m sure they’ll sell a lot of these shirts. But inevitably, over time, as we age, the shirt will seem more and more ironic as we attempt to apply it to the messy edges of the real world. Which is why the real keys are the Friendship and the Forgiveness. Forget the rest. Focus on getting good at those and you’ll be headed toward the most successful kind of relationship there is.\n\npeace. s\n\n\nMoK: Marching For Peace\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThanks for your participation. Much love.\n\npeace. s\n\nGradual Growth\n\n1073-relax-and-succeed-we-can-live-without-religionIsn’t it strange learning something in a non-linear way? I have to do it that way because I’m showing you something that you can’t understand by processing it in the usual way. In fact, that usual way is what causes you all the trouble, so I have to work around it by doing things your logical mind can’t fully understand.\n\nToday’s meditation involves the reason you’ll feel like you have problems and how it often connects to your ideas about time. The brain is decent at storing things, but it’s best dealing with now because in reality that’s the only place you can ever really be or act to change your life. It makes sense that if you have something you want to solve, you need to deal with it around the time that you perceive the problem.\n\nOur focus today is, was that really a problem? Or was it simply a lack of understanding? What is a problem?\n\nProblems are things that we think might cut us off from others. Connection is natural and anything that threatens that is something to be dealt with. So if someone’s mad at you, what does that imply? Your problem is their anger and so you want to explain so you can fix it. Or maybe their problem is that they feel you betrayed them and you want them to understand. Or maybe they want something different than you so you have to explain how they should want what you want.\n\n1073-relax-and-succeed-the-practice-of-forgivenessThink back to three people you’ve been upset with in your lifetime; three people who you now have forgiven despite the fact that they never apologised or maybe even changed. Some little things are fine, but include at least one big thing. Ask yourself what changed between when you were mad and when you let it go? Did they change or did you?\n\nIf you look closely, your forgiveness would have come easily once your understanding and empathy increased. Once you either understood the world or yourself better you adjusted your judgments. This is no small thing. This means you can change others by changing yourself.\n\nPeople are not fixed points in a fixed universe. They look different from every angle, like Earth might from different directions in space. Look at it one way and it’s the Pacific, another and it’s the Himalayas. How you saw others would be like aliens looking at the Himalayas and concluding that the entire planet was a mountain range that reached up over 6,000 meters (20,000 feet). But you need a broader, more well-rounded perspective before you can really say you have even a basic understanding of Earth. The same goes for people.\n\n1073-relax-and-succeed-the-future-is-something-which-everyone-reachesFind your examples. Note your forgiveness and see that it was acceptance. Note how they didn’t change, you did. A change in your perspective changed who they are to you because there is no truth. There is no hallowed ground to stand on. Everything is a perspective. This is about abandoning the desire for certainty to live in the reality of mystery. You think you don’t like mystery, but over time I will prove to you that you really do.\n\nWhat I do is weird, I know. But if you read the testimonials on my website or talk to people who’ve worked closely with me, they’ll all tell you that they too were lost before they were found. This isn’t linear knowledge, it’s more a congealing of truth. It’s harder to measure, but it’s happening.\n\nDespite the fact that it’s difficult to perceive for you right now, I can guarantee that doing these exercises this week actually changed who you are. Over time those will add up and one day you’ll look in the mirror and you’ll suddenly realise that you’re a different person. And much like understanding others from the distance of time, that’s when you’ll understand what I’m doing now. In the meantime, congratulate yourself on making changes and have a great weekend.\n\npeace. s\n\n\nStretching Our Spirit\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\npeace. s\n\n\nTranslating Love\n\nIf you go to enough Christian weddings there is a high degree of likelihood that you’ll hear a reading from Corinthians. As a young person it was often the only thing that would cause my attention to prick up. Despite not being religious myself I thought it was particularly practical and beautiful. The thing about enlightened love is that its lofty romantic parts are actually the same as its practical everyday parts.\n\n744 Relax and Succeed - CorinthiansBecause it’s essentially a lesson in having a good relationship I figured it was worth it to try translate Corinthians into modern daily terms. Sometimes people include the portions before and after this section, and there are a lot of slightly different versions, but here’s an example of the English “original:”\n\nLove is patient: this means that as much as possible you will earnestly try to let your partner function at their own natural pace, whether that’s getting up in the morning, sex you’d like to have, or deciding to have a family. You don’t like people making you go faster or slower than is comfortable for you either. So no verbal jabs at someone just for being themselves.\n\nLove is kind: this obviously means that there should be kindness in your loving relationships. I know it sounds like I shouldn’t even have to mention it, but in most marriages this is the thing that disappears first. The absence of basic kindness does a lot of damage and it can and will lead to a marriage breakdown. It should be easy for you to remember lots of recent examples of kindness you expressed to your partner.\n\n744 Relax and Succeed - The words you speakLove is not envious: this means you’re happy for your partner when good things happen for them and you don’t compare what you got to what they got. It also means you don’t compare what you were given to what they gave someone else. It also means you aren’t upset when they’re getting suitable attention.\n\nor boastful: there is no need to elevate yourself around someone who loves you because true love denotes full acceptance. There is no need for striving—for ego. If we feel we have to impress our partner we’re working in the wrong realm and you need to get reconnected not more impressive.\n\nor arrogant: even if your partner’s views aren’t as informed, they remain valid. Don’t assume you know what’s better for them. Allow them space to have their personality and their views. There are people who think a conversation is nothing more than them telling others how they should live, even if was no question asked and no problem was stated.\n\nor rude: show your partner basic respect. Let them tell their own stories, let them learn from doing things wrong without sticking your nose into it. And if you have a criticism it’s really a request, so just skip the negativity and just make the request.\n\n744 Relax and Succeed - Well done is betterIt does not insist on its own way: this means you don’t assume that what you want for you as a couple is the same thing that your partner wants. A lot of couples will have one person who innocently but unfortunately assumes that everything they want to do is a couples idea. You don’t need to pick your partner’s clothing or hairstyle or holidays unless they ask you to. More importantly, don’t assume you know what’s better for your kids. Assuming you’re the better parent is a very dangerous thing and the kids rarely agree with the parent who makes such a bombastic claim.\n\nIt is not irritable or resentful: as much as possible try to keep petty complaints to yourself and when people do display them do not resent it. You too will need the latitude when you’re ornery and looking to pick a fight.\n\nIt does not rejoice in wrongdoing: easy—no I told you so’s.\n\nbut rejoices in the truth: be grateful to your partner for sharing difficult things that are emotionally challenging. Those are difficult to bring forward and if we react negatively to honesty we will only promote dishonesty.\n\n744 Relax and Succeed - Being deeply lovedIt bears all things: no matter what should enter the marriage—financial challenges, sick children, family deaths—these are inevitable parts of life and if we’re not prepared to bear each others challenges then we’re not prepared to be in a mature true-love couple.\n\nBelieves all things: do not doubt your partner. Yes they may lean hard on you when they are low, but the confidence you show in them will be reflected in the quality of your relationship overall. When a spouse is weak a good partner doesn’t attack them, they double their support. And that’s because they remember who the person fundamentally is so they don’t mistake weather for geography.\n\nHopes all things: of course you should want the very best of things for your partner. If you’re really evolved you’ll even want them to have the best partner possible—even if that’s not you. That keeps you on your toes and reminds you that we need to re-win our partners back every few years just as they need to do with us.\n\nEndures all things: tolerance. Within a decade a person will go through a huge range of fortunes. They hardest thing is when you’re both down. But when one’s up and one’s down, the one who’s up must show patience and understanding to the struggling partner because one day the tables will be turned and we will need the help.\n\n744 Relax and Succeed - You don't need someoneSee? No matter what religious background you’re from that is a pretty good guideline for most relationships. But it can’t just be words you hear in a church on a wedding day. Whether it’s your wedding or someone else’s, that passage should remind you that your relationship is a verb—it is an action you take in your life.\n\nYou don’t get married and stay married. You fall in love and you continue to nurture the love or you don’t. That’s the difference between marriage and divorce the vast majority of time. It’s not that the people that can’t be together. It’s that they’re not being together.\n\nAgain: it’s a verb. Don’t forget you’re on a team. If you have a list of how your partner could make the relationship better then you know you’re lost. If you have a list for yourself (and its not overly critical or negative), then you’re on the right track.\n\nHere’s to many happy relationships.\n\npeace. s\n\nOther Perspectives #71\n\n701 OP Relax and Succeed - Don't flirt with someone else\n\nAs you get older you can read quotes like this and you can usually guess the age of the writer within five years. That shows you how much the same we all are. We’re all moving through patterns of behaviour as we move through our seven ages of man. Listen, I know that seeing someone you love being with someone else is something that really hurts. But there’s a great lesson in that. Because I promise you that the pain is not coming from seeing them. It’s about looking at them and then thinking. It’s the thoughts that hurt. Because if they’re happily with someone else, you can’t go quickly get someone and make them jealous. Because if they left they left for a reason of theirs and they went to this other person for a reason of theirs. So they might look over at you and feel a short temporary jab, but because their thoughts will shift to the better position they themselves feel they are in, they will feel fine. That’s why the leaver always does better than the leavee. The leaver either wanted someone else or they wanted more freedom but either way their thoughts will be less commonly on the past and more on the future, whereas the leavee has to rip themselves away from the future they’d imagined so they can start living in the present moment they’re in. So if someone’s flaunting just to hurt you then that’s just childish. Maybe in the future when they’re more mature, but for now, if someone is vindictive or possessive then they’re still immature and you don’t want to be in a relationship with an immature person. So just live your own life. Don’t keep your thoughts on inappropriate things. Learn to do this early in life and you will bring yourself great salvation later, I promise. Good luck.\n\nMuch love, s\n\nOther Perspectives #56\n\n626 OP1 Relax and Succeed Rebuttal - Other Perspectives #56\n\nDo you see that if you do something just because someone told you that you couldn’t, that you’ve still let them control your actions? This is why teenagers often come into conflict. A very low percentage of them will be aware of the fact that in their brain’s attempt to feign independence (no happy person is every truly independent), all they are doing is simply the opposite of their parents, teachers, coach whatever. They have no choice but to just choose the opposite because they are too young to have any nuanced references on what all of their choices must even be—and so they start at the only place they can—the opposite of whatever their oh-so-uncool parents would choose. And so if you want to be like the relatively short Martin St. Louis, and win the Most Valuable Player in the series that wins your team the championship, then that’s great because you’re using another person’s opinion to motivate you to achieve a goal that’s yours. But if you’re just doing it because you were told not to then that is what immaturity still looks like. If you want to know just how different the world can be just do some travelling. And if you’re too young for that, just start dating. If you’re in North America you’ll know something’s up as soon as Thanksgiving rolls around and you learn that your date’s Mom puts (or doesn’t put) raisins in the stuffing. Dating is usually the first real comparison we get they helps us understand how individualized the culture in each family actually is. So we don’t want to choose things just because they’re the opposite of what another person would choose, but we do want to become aware of as many of our choices as possible so that we can use all of the wisdom gained by all the world to help you find your way to the source of deep and abiding peace. Have a wonderful week!\n\npeace. s\n\nNote: Everyone who posts or shares a quote does so with the very best of intentions. That said, I have created the series of Other Perspectives blog posts in an effort to prevent some of these ideas from entering into people’s consciousness unchallenged. These quotes range from silly to dangerous and—while I intend no offense to their creators—I do use these rebuttals to help define and delineate the larger message I’m attempting to convey in my own work. I do hope you find them helpful in your pursuit of both psychological and spiritual health.\n\nThe Friday Dose #51\n\n600 Relax and Succeed - Life is a song\n\nWow, neat stuff in the Dose today. Let’s start off talking about teens. While the brain is always changeable, it’s important to remember that the brain hasn’t even finished building its physical structures until you’re in your mid to late 20’s. And those structures get built by the very experimentation that works fine in a jungle with a tribe, but it can create havoc in a modern teen as they try to accomplish those social experiments within rigid, quasi-Victorian social structures like schools and clocks etc. The very next day another scientist purported to disagree with this, but then he actually spent his entire interview presenting the very same ideas, just in his own way. I’ll admit I’m phrasing this introduction this way because I want to tease any teens that might read it, but hey parents; when you’re talking to a teenager or judging their behaviour, you really do have to remember that you’re literally speaking with someone who’s only got half a brain. 😉 :\n\nThe Current on The Teenage Brain\n\n\nI’ve spent my life studying how people store information and ideas in the brain because it’s combinations of those patterns that determine our behaviour and personality. One of the key concerns I’ve had about things like dating sites etc. is that they create a new idea within the framework of dating. There’s always been the saying there’s always more fish in the sea, but that was said if a relationship went bad and the person was single. Now people jump on Match.com or Plenty of Fish like it’s a Kijiji for dating. Don’t like this one, trade it in for that one. And because everyone’s watched edited shows all their life there is this belief that a perfect life is possible. And so people waffle around trying to find the perfect life and in doing so they throw away what are otherwise perfectly good lives. This combines nicely with the posting entitled, Barry Schwartz: The Paradox of Choice, which features an enlightening TED Talk. But before you look at that give this a read and think about sharing it to anyone you know under 30.\n\nThis Is How We Date Now\n\n\nI’m not sure how I stumbled onto it, but a while back Lifehack put up a great list of eight things happy people do. If you read my blog nothing on the list will surprise you, but I’m not super big on lists so if you like things presented as concise encapsulations of larger concepts this is a good example. And I’m actually all for it because the shorter something is the more it has to focus on the essence of the subject and that’s the most important part. It’s why poetry is considered writings highest art. Everything is winnowed away but essence. So without further ado, I give you the essence of happiness:\n\n8 Things Happy People Do\n\n\nAnd let’s close off with some big fun. If you live anywhere north you know the days are short and the weather’s normally cold so let’s brighten winter up with a little fun. I love it when someone comes up with an idea to meld one thing with another in such a way that both things end up better. This is a fantastic idea for a video and I’m glad so many people got to have such a ridiculously good time making it. If you want to cheer yourself up just focus closely on these people’s faces when they figure out what’s going on. It’s just plain fun. Enjoy:\n\n\n\nYou have yourself an awesome weekend. And be kind to you.\n\npeace. s\n\n\n\nOther Perspectives #46\n\n564 Relax and Succeed Rebuttal - Don't let anyone with bad eyebrows\n\nAre you kidding me? How shallow can you get? So you’re going to ignore someone’s opinion because of bad eyebrows?! First off, there’s no such thing as a bad eyebrow. There’s just ones you prefer and ones you don’t prefer, but thinking everyone should agree with you and the people who do agree with you is remarkably arrogant. Don’t mistake your opinion for reality. And whether it’s eyebrows or the person being terribly crippled by disease—if you’re going to do that then someone like Stephen Hawking will get discriminated against because he’s in a wheelchair with ALS. Grow up. Information is information. If you’re casting it aside simply because of who’s saying it out loud then you don’t know anything about how to learn with an open mind. That is weak. Isaac Newton hated people and worked naked. Michelangelo didn’t really like people either. Einstein had wild hair and always forgot to take off his slippers when he went to teach. Hawking’s in the wheelchair. It goes on and on. Don’t judge books by their covers. Because if you can’t even do that then you’re a long way away from the enlightened perspective that comes with unconditional love.\n\npeace. s\n\n\n\nThe Origin of Adults\n\nParents are funny. They’ll think that they are parenting their kid whenever they are consciously attempting to impart something. So when they teach them this or show them that, that is what they think of as parenting. And that is just nuts. It’s ridiculous and silly and entirely indefensible. That is the tiniest part of parenting there is.\n\n448 Relax and Succeed - When you're a kidActual parenting is life. Your kids will walk like you or your spouse. They will talk like you or your spouse. If you love swimming they won’t be afraid of water unless something serious happens. Same if you like Chinese food, or curry or octopus. None of those will seem strange to your kids because you are who delivers reality to them. What they will call “normal” will be defined by your lives.\n\nThe only caveat to this is that there are two forms of imitation—direct and reciprocal. In one case your kid subconsciously copies you simply because they didn’t know they had an option—like speaking their native tongue for instance. And in other cases they act the way they do entirely consciously and in open defiance to who you are. So the kids of alcoholics are rarely moderate drinkers. They’re either like the parent and they go to booze to deal with stress, or they’re a teetotaler because they never want to deal with the damage they’ve witnessed the parent cause due to alcohol.\n\nNow that paragraph contains the heart of my point. Because that parent doesn’t take to drink hoping to convince their kids to be alcoholics. They’re just imitating their parent. And they don’t drink in the hopes that it will lead their kid not to drink. They are just being themselves while the kids/sponges are present. So the kid sucks it all up by nature, without any perspective as to how useful or detrimental that lesson might be to his or her future.\n\nSo how does this play out? Well, if you’re in the car yelling at other drivers while your kid is in the car seat, you are parenting. They are watching your every move and they can imitate anything quickly. And you’re not teaching them the things you imagine. You’re teaching the principles. So you’re not only teaching them impatience and intolerance and disrespect, but you’re also teaching anger, and phrases of speech, as well as lessons on how long one should stay angry after getting angry, or if one should apologize after getting angry, etc. etc. etc. So the getting mad in front of your kids can still be a good lesson, if it includes an apology.\n\n448 Relax and Succeed - There's no need to be perfectSo you can say to your kids to treat people with respect, but if you yourself routinely disrespect others—whether that’s through parking in handicapped stalls when you’re not handicapped, cheating on insurance claims or taxes, not correcting a clerk who generously gives you wrong change, or even insulting a relatives relationship choices, you are teaching your kids to judge, disrespect, and feel superior to their fellow man. And that is decidedly not good parenting.\n\nVirtually everyone is concerned and complaining about the direction society is going, but the simple fact is we all need to cooperate to make societies and even the planet itself work. This means sometimes compromising your own desires in favour of what’s best for the entire group. But in this iGeneration that’s been taught by advertising to ravish themselves with attention, few are investing the energy required to raise a good tribe member who can successfully advance all of us through cooperation, creativity and self control. Instead we focus on selfish, self-aggrandizing behaviours that are then picked up by kids and the amplification happens throughout each generation.\n\nIt’s awesome that a kid can grow up free, and fed and healthy. And it’s nice when they can realize the best in themselves. But it’s also really nice when a kid can grow up in a friendly, cooperative, supportive, caring, compassionate and loving environment. And since that environment is made up of everyone else’s kids…. I think you get the point. So if you’re looking for the best way to set a good example for your kids, just ask yourself what you want the world they live in to look like and then act accordingly.\n\npeace. s", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5231927633285522} +{"content": "Interpreting Eye Movement\n\nInterpreting Eye Movement\nWhen you’re talking to someone, observe their eyes – because what their lips won’t tell you, their eyes can betray.\n\nThe old adage is ‘Eyes are the windows of the soul’. Where people’s words may lie, the eyes don’t. The key to sharper interpersonal communications, then, is knowing what the eyes are telling you. The next time you’re conversing with someone, notice their eyes carefully, and then check these common eye gestures below and their interpretations.\n\n 1. Looking upwards. Typically, looking upwards towards one’s forehead means the person is thinking, and often recalling something they have memorized. However, looking upwards can also be a sign of dishonesty (they could be trying to remember which lie they told earlier). The best way to tell which is to ask the person to recall something you already know to be a fact and observe their eye movements recalling a fact. Then use that pattern of gestures as a baseline for other, less certain conversations.\n 2. Looking downwards. Looking downwards can have several interpretations, depending on which part of the world you are in. In cultures where direct eye contact is considered rude, looking downwards is considered polite. Looking down without making any eye contact is also a signal of submission – the person is aware they are facing an authority. In some instances, looking downwards with eye contact can be communication that the person disapproves of what you are saying (hence the term ‘looking down’ on abnormal behavior).\n 3. Looking side to side. This is most frequently associated with lying, although if it is done while lowering the voice, they may be checking to see if anyone is around before they share a secret. Remember that the person’s secret can also be untrue. In shoppers, looking side to side can mean that the shopper is assimilating the allover effect of the merchandise, such as a splashy window display.\n 4. Looking someone up and down. This is confrontational eye movement – someone is sizing you up as a threat or as a romantic interest. Men should be careful not to look at women like this is the workplace, because it is considered unprofessional in most work cultures.\n 5. Gazing. The steady gaze can have a variety of meanings, depending on the situation. Typically, it is the sign of rapt attention, often adoration. However, some people who are being dishonest may overcompensate for their dishonesty by looking you in the eye for an unnaturally long period of time. Gazing away from the focal item in the room typically suggests daydreaming or boredom. Shoppers will gaze at items as they make purchasing decisions.\n 6. Glancing. Repeated glancing typically signifies a desire for the item being glanced at – they feel that gazing would be forbidden, so they steal as many glances as possible. This is especially true when someone finds another person in the room attractive. People who feel trapped in a situation may glance frequently at the door or at another person they know in the room.\n 7. Staring. Staring is a harder, more direct and extended look at someone than gazing. Staring at someone or something typically conveys shock or surprise. Often you will see people start at their phones or television screens in disbelief at a news item they find disconcerting. Staring also conveys aggression, which is why we use the phrase ‘staring someone down’. Persistent eye contact is typically seen as aggressive. The implication is that the first person to break the stare loses. Young children often stare at people until they have learned the norms of their culture about staring, and you will often hear parents in public admonishing their young children not to stare.\n 8. Squinting. Squinting has many meanings, depending on the context. The most obvious meaning is that the squinter is trying to see something more clearly (in this situation, the squinter will either move closer to the object of his attention, or move the object closer to his face if it is possible to do so). Squinting also happens when light suddenly changes, becoming brighter or more direct. Squinting can also convey a struggle to understand what is being said. If you are a teacher, you might ask a squinting student if they would like to ask a question for clarification. Squinting can also happen when someone is sizing up an inanimate object, such as estimating distance between two times, or estimating how much something might weigh.\n 9. Blinking. Blinking is, of course, an automatic action to keep the front of the eyeball clean and moist. Most of us blink every 6-10 seconds. However, the rate at which we blink can change, depending on our circumstances. An extra blink typically means that the blinker is making sure s/he is seeing something correctly. A lot of blinking (known in some cultures as ‘battering the eyelashes’) is flirtatious and can be a sign of romantic attraction.\n 10. Eye rubbing. Generally, people rub their eyes when the eyes feel irritated. However, it can also be a sign of frustration. It is very common for people, especially children, to rub their eyes when becoming tired.\n 11. Avoiding eye contact. Looking everywhere but the person speaking to us is the sign that we are ashamed or uncomfortable (or both). This is the reason that those who are lying with overcompensate by giving you an unnatural amount of eye contact – they are trying not to display their more natural impulse, which is not to make eye contact with you at all.\n 12. Crying/emitting tears. Typically, tears are a sign of great physical or emotional pain, although some people will also weep when they are filled with joy as well. Crying that is falsified in order to gain sympathy is known in Western cultures as ‘crocodile tears’. Tears are also a sign that the eye itself is affected by a foreign irritant\n 13. The ‘eyebrow flash’. This is a silent greeting made by raising both eyebrows while looking at someone, often accompanied with a quick up tilt of the chin.\n 14. Widened eyes. Opening the eyes very widely is a common sign of surprise. Interestingly, studies show that men feel protective of women who look at them in this way.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5494056344032288} +{"content": "NEW! SLR Lounge Quarterly Plans are Here!\n\nGet Tack Sharp Images Without A Tripod\n\nMarch 21st 2017 8:00 AM\n\nTripods are essential tools for images that require slower shutter speeds like images in low-light or images capturing motion blur. But what do when you don’t have your tripod handy? In 60 seconds we’re going to show you how you can get tack sharp images without a tripod.\n\nWe teamed up with CreativeLive to bring you some tricks of the trade in our Photography 101 Workshop to help you master photography one step at a time! Only have a minute? Stay tuned for more from this series here!\n\ntip #1: find a place to rest your camera\n\nIs there a place you can rest your camera and still get the desired shot? Use it! Compose your image and utilize your camera’s two-second feature. This will allow you to maintain focus and fire without touching the camera.\n\n\ntip #2: use a standard grip\n\nMust handhold? Use the standard grip by bringing the left hand underneath the lens to cradle and the right hand to operate the camera, while tucking in the elbows. The biggest perk is being able to shoot steady images at 1/10th of a second.\n\nTip #3: CREATE A human tripod\n\nhow to shoot photos without a tripodNeed to drag the shutter even further? Take a seat, elevate both legs and lean into your subject with your elbows. This stability technique, along with regulated breathing, can help you get tack sharp images at under a second or more.\n\nTune into Photography 101 Workshops to learn enviable tips and tricks to help you create clean, consistent images every time. Upgrade to SLR Premium to gain unlimited streaming to all of our workshops!\n\n\nComments [4]\n\nPlease or register to post a comment.\n\n 1. Ralph Hightower\n\n I saw an example of a human bipod being used. There was an local air show where many photographers went to, At the camera club meeting the next month, one of the members showed how he used a shorter friend to rest his camera on the guy’s head.\n\n | |\n 2. Tom Barrett\n\n Gotta love it.\n\n ‘Sharp images while hand holding’ – First tip goes: take it out of your hands and place it down somewhere…\n\n | |\n 3. Tobias Briseño\n\n Tip 4: shoot many slow frames at high fps, e.g. 20 1/8s frames at 8fps. Camera shake is random, so at least one frame will very likely be tack-sharp.\n\n | |\n 4. Casey Nyambe\n\n The best 60 seconds I have spent today. Thank you so very much. Very precise, short and ‘mammothly’ informative!!\n\n | |", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5007866621017456} +{"content": "Date of Award\n\n\nDegree Type\n\n\nDegree Name\n\nDoctor of Philosophy\n\n\n\nFirst Advisor\n\nKathleen Sawin\n\nCommittee Members\n\nKathleen Sawin, Verna Hendricks-Ferguson, Julia Snethen, Josh Mersky, Sandra Underwood\n\n\nCommunication, End of Life, Nurse, Oncology, Palliative Care, Pediatric\n\n\nAdvances in cancer and supportive therapy have led to improved outcomes for children with cancer. Despite progress, children still die from complications of cancer therapy or their disease. Communication during palliative care and end of life is essential to successful navigation through the end of life continuum. Nurse communication during palliative care and end of life is a phenomenon with limited research, and it is unclear how the level of nursing experience influences the perspectives of nurses communicating during end of life. The purpose of this dissertation study was to describe the commonalities of nurses' experiences of communicating palliative care and end of life perspectives when caring for dying pediatric oncology patients, and perceptions of barriers and facilitators to effective communication. This study was part of a larger multi-site qualitative study. The framework that guided this study is based on empirical phenomenology as a research philosophy and approach, and on group-as-a-whole theory. This study represented focus group data gathered from 27 pediatric oncology nurses who had greater than five years of experience or who were advanced practice nurses not involved in the direct evaluation of other nurses. The overall finding was characterized as the \"Essence of Experience\", which reflected how the concept of experience transcended the core themes and provided nurses the know-how to optimize nurse PC/EOL communication. Five core themes with corresponding themes and subthemes surfaced from rich focus group discussions and supported the overall finding. The core themes included (a) evolution of PC/EOL, (b) skill of knowing, (c) expanded essence of caring, (d) experienced nurse as committed advocate, and (e) valuing individual response to grief. Enhancing nurse communication skills during palliative care and end of life requires opportunities to gain experience coupled with clinical strategies, such as standardized curricula, simulation, competency-based orientation programs, mentorship and peer support. Future research is needed to better understand outcomes associated with strategies aimed at improving nurse communication skills during palliative care and end of life in pediatric oncology.\n\nIncluded in\n\nNursing Commons", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5330882668495178} +{"content": "The many-headed hydra - Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker\n\nThe many-headed hydra - Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker\n\nSailors, slaves, commoners, and the hidden history of the revolutionary Atlantic.\n\nWinner of the International Labor History Award\n\nLong before the American Revolution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man, a motley crew of sailors, slaves, pirates, laborers, market women, and indentured servants had ideas about freedom and equality that would forever change history. The Many Headed-Hydra recounts their stories in a sweeping history of the role of the dispossessed in the making of the modern world.\n\nWhen an unprecedented expansion of trade and colonization in the early seventeenth century launched the first global economy, a vast, diverse, and landless workforce was born. These workers crossed national, ethnic, and racial boundaries, as they circulated around the Atlantic world on trade ships and slave ships, from England to Virginia, from Africa to Barbados, and from the Americas back to Europe.\n\nMarshaling an impressive range of original research from archives in the Americas and Europe, the authors show how ordinary working people led dozens of rebellions on both sides of the North Atlantic. The rulers of the day called the multiethnic rebels a 'hydra' and brutally suppressed their risings, yet some of their ideas fueled the age of revolution. Others, hidden from history and recovered here, have much to teach us about our common humanity.\n\nLinebaugh and Rediker - The Many-Headed Hydra - Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden H.pdf8.54 MB\n\n\nJan 1 2012 20:36\n\nThank you for uploading this, Rediker's Villians of all Nations was top so hoping this is just as good.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9463566541671753} +{"content": "Liberty of Rhinebeck\n\n\n\nLife, Liberty, Happiness. Welcome. \n\nYoung Citizens\n\n\nHailing from Woodstock, NY, Young Citizens is a band of members all influenced by Rock, Reggae and Blues. Being a live band (they're first album still underway), Young Citizens is live in another sense: they're alive and wired! They don't play straightforward power-chords like AC/DC, but they know how to rock. And although they wouldn't call themselves Americana, they might admit to a folk influence. Rock would be a close enough description for all you categorizers out there, but when it's showtime it's the attitude that counts. Genre alone never lead a generation. Time will tell where they go, but Young Citizens' sound is continuously evolving as they write and refine and play it out. Whether they're playing as an acoustic duo or a full band, you can feel an energy that's always there. Their shows are always a good time and they will play all night if you give them the chance. It's their approach that connects Young Citizens to their audience; good people, good music and a good crew. Good songwriting and talent never hurts!\n\nOften paying homage to their most influential songwriters/artists of the past and present (these have included the likes of Taj Mahal, Trevor Hall, Sublime, Rolling Stones, Jack White, Led Zeppelin, The Arctic Monkeys, The Clash, CSNY, The Faces, Marshall Tucker Band and a handful more), their originals are (dare I say it?) equally memorable. Of course, you've got to see them first. Then wait until you're driving back home and you're humming that melody...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9450885057449341} +{"content": "Monday, December 5, 2011\n\nGame Pod: Dissection - Manuscript Edits Revealed\n\nEditing a manuscript is hard work, even more so than writing the first draft. When you’re writing that first draft, you’re in the creative zone. Ideas are popping up left and right. Things are happening and you’re watching the events of the book unfold before your eyes. It’s fun.\n\nBut as much fun as the first draft can be, editing can be a nightmare. You’re literally taking apart this beautiful, perfect (in your eyes) creation and cobbling it back together like some kind of freakish Frankenstein’s monster. Will it be hideous or will some rich, handsome movie star want to take it out as his latest arm candy? These questions will plague your mind, your dreams, and eventually consume every ounce of your thought processes until you are left drained like last week’s special at the zombie all-you-can-eat buffet.\n\nTo illustrate the hell that can be editing (and to show how those quirky little typos can slip in the final product), I’m offering up a sample of BLOOD LAW. I’ve given a passage to Alexis and Michelle, and they have edited it as if it were a new project. (And, yes, we are this thorough and brutally honest every week when we meet.) They’re providing their overall comments and any additional notes can be found on the actual pages.\n\n{click images to view larger}\n\nFrom March 2009, when BLOOD LAW was still titled “Crimson Swan” and the editing process had just started. This version {above} isn’t the first first draft but it’s pretty darn close.\n\n {click images to view larger}\n\nMost of my overall comments are generally short. I say what I liked, what was working for me, and what wasn't working if there's any overarching issues I don't address in my edits. Otherwise, the margin notes pretty much explain any concerns. As you can see, I write whatever I'm thinking at the time of the edit, so I mostly reserve overall comments for the more positive feedback. Unless Jeannie has specifically asked for feedback on something {plot, emotions, action, whatever}. My overall comments for this would be: \"Great start! Really intriguing relationship. Varik has some minor POV issues at the start but otherwise he felt believable. Alex seems like she is trying to be stronger than she is. I like that. Reminds me of me. The banter is great between them, too! Can't wait to read more!\"\n\n{click images to view larger}\n\nOverall comments:\nI really like the character development and conflict shown in these pages. This section does a lot for cultivating some great tension between Varik and Alex. However, there are some places where I felt too distanced from Varik's internal thought. This section is in his POV -- therefore needs to be grounded there every step of the way. I showed places where internal thought, reactions, or a bit more description of what Varik is seeing and thinking that could really pull this into sharper focus. I also felt there were a few places that paragraph breaks could speed up the pacing of the dialog and internal thought. People tend to digest more quickly what they're reading with visual cues. I think this could help in these pages. Lastly, there were some environmental, spacial details that seemed extraneous. I struck these out. Sometimes too many specific details can get your reader trying to figure out where everyone is standing versus what's actually happening in the scene. Overall, great passage and makes me want to know why Varik and Alex are so feisty toward each other.\n\nWhile Alexis and Michelle were not actually included in this stage of this book, they have been in other works. You won't necessarily see their advice/edits taken into consideration, therefore, in the coming section. But know that this is where they would have been involved, and have been involved in other works.\n\nI’m providing edited versions of the same scene from various points along the publication road. The first being from March 2009, shown above.\n\nAfter my editor provided feedback, comments, and suggestions, I made some changes and resubmitted it to her. She came back with more comments and suggestions. I sent my changes in August. A few weeks later, my editor asked for a few minor tweaks and my final revision was submitted in October.\n\nAt this point, I’d finished the major revision and now it was time for the copyeditor to step in and make everything cohesive and coherent. Copyeditors are lifesavers. They catch the small typos, the plot holes that may have been overlooked due to the extensive revisions, and make everything pretty. Of course, the pages may not look so pretty during this process, but believe me, it’s for the good of all.\n\nOnce the copyeditor is done, the first pass of typeset page proofs are sent for author review. Small changes can be made, such as correcting typos, omitted or added words, etc. This is when the manuscript starts to look like an actual book. It’s also the last chance the author has to make changes.\n\nThe final stage, or second pass, is the last chance the publisher (not the author) has to make very minor changes before everything goes to print. If it’s not fixed at this point, well…that’s when readers get to play Spot the Typo.\n\nAnd that, dear readers, is how the Ninja Peas operate as a writing group and how a manuscript becomes a book. It’s a long, arduous journey and before the book reaches the shelf, authors are often wondering why they chose to start the journey. But then once the book is in the hands of readers and we hear from people across the globe that they enjoyed the words we committed to the page, that makes all the pain go away.\n\nPeas out.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8177164196968079} +{"content": "Janet Lawler\n\n\nPolitical Theory\n\n\nMy primary field of interest is political theory with a minor interest in comparative politics. I am particularly focused on ancient political thought, especially the works of Plato and Aristotle. I am also broadly interested in contemporary political thought, including how political freedom works in virtual communities.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9749893546104431} +{"content": "Photos of Sanguinaria canadensis, Bloodroot.\n\nSanguinaria canadensis, Bloodroot attracted much attention by the early nineteenth century medical community. Externally, the dried roots was used as a wash to treat “ill-conditioned ulcer.” It served an expectorant ingredient in cough preparations. It was considered to be an emetic and cathartic. Even a small dose of the fresh root was well-known to produce symptoms such as heart-burn, nausea, faintness, vertigo, diminished vision, and vomiting. This early-blooming poppy family member contains benzophenanthridine alkaloids, including sanguinarine.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8670926690101624} +{"content": "\n\n\n\n\n\nDigital & Analytics\n\nWe help campaigns, organizations, and corporations make data-driven decisions. With so much information available, we help you cut through the clutter to understand what people want, how to reach them, what to say to them, and what will motivate them.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8727073669433594} +{"content": "Tag Archive: Pantheon\n\nFollowing the death of Emperor Trajan, power was passed to his cousin’s son Hadrian. Trajan never designated an heir, but supposedly chose Hadrian on his deathbed. Hadrian went on to rule Rome from 117-138, bringing 20 years of peace to the empire. Hadrian is considered 1 of the 5 good emperors, even if he was far from a perfect leader. He is the first Emperor depicted wearing a full beard (aside from Nero with his nasty neck beard). Supposedly, Hadrian wore a beard to conceal bad complexion. He also was a great admirer of all things Greek, and may have taken the look to resemble the great bearded Greek heroes. The Emperors after Hadrian all have beards, so he set quite a fashion trend in the 2nd century.\n\nHadrian’s basic philosophy of rule was the opposite of Trajan. Trajan loved war, and used it as a powerful political tool. Hadrian hated it, and immediately upon becoming Emperor pulled the armies Trajan had advanced east of Rome’s borders out of Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq (insert modern political parallel here). Hadrian believed that Rome was big enough and turned his attention to strengthening its borders and its infrastructure. He ordered a 80 mile long wall built across Britain from sea to sea in order to keep the northern barbarians out and define the edge of the empire. It was 15 feet high, 10 feet think and marked every mile with a guard post. Hadrian’s wall took 10 years to build, and is still visible today in England. Hadrian’s biggest blunder was his war in Jerusalem. After the city was destroyed and the temple laid waste by Vespasian, Jerusalem remained a ruin for decades. Hadrian decided it would be a good idea to create a new city there, and build a huge temple to Jupiter on the spot of the Jewish temple. This brought about a second Jewish revolt and the death of many Roman soldiers there. 3 years later, half a million Jews were dead, and Hadrian built his temple anyway.\n\nBack in Rome, Hadrian used his power to build some of the cities most enduring structures. The first was the Pantheon or “temple to all gods”, the grandest building of old Rome which still stands today. His Pantheon was a rebuilding after a fire in the original structure built 100 years before, but today when you go there you are walking almost entirely in Hadrian’s structure. Check out the previous post on the Pantheon here. The Pantheon is one of the most revolutionary buildings in the world, made of poured roman concrete and designed as an enormous open interior space equally wide and tall. There is an opening at the top which allows for light and air called the oculus. The Pantheon is a marvel of architecture and a huge inspiration to the great thinkers and architects of the Renaissance, who studied it to learn its secrets. Today, it is a virtual time-capsule to the reign of Hadrian- the only ancient Roman building to survive to today in such condition.\n\nHadrian also built an enormous compound for himself outside of Rome. Today, the ruins of Hadrian’s Villa are in the town of Tivoli. His other great building was his mausoleum, an enormous circular tomb on the river Tiber. Hadrian’s mausoleum was an huge drum of stone designed to contain his ashes. It was over a hundred feet high and even had trees planted on the roof. It probably looked something like this little picture here.\n\nWhen you have a structure that big, its ruin is bound to be put to use. Today, it’s called the Castel Sant’ Angelo. It’s situated just north and across the river from Piazza Navona and in close proximity to St. Peters Basilica. It was converted early on to a medieval fortress, and has been in use for nearly it’s entire history in one way or another. Being so close to the Vatican, it was a palace for the popes and the one sure place to hole up when invading armies came into Rome. Today when you visit the place, you can walk into it’s core and the empty room that once held the remains of Emperor Hadrian. He’s long since gone, as are the great marble columns and stones that once made his mausoleum so impressive.\n\nI’ll write another post on Castel Sant’Angelo later, but for now, check out this great site. It has a virtual 360° cam of the Castle and lots of cool info, including a downloadable app and MP3 audio tour. \n\nThe Pantheon\n\nIn the center of old Rome, only a few blocks from the convent where we’ll be staying, stands the world’s greatest ancient building. The Pantheon, or “temple to all the gods”, has been here since the year 126 when an original structure was rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian after a fire. It still looks nearly exactly as it did in all it’s glory, one of the only buildings in Rome to have that distinction. Today you can just wander in, and instantly you are back in time. Most people don’t even realize the very marble beneath their feet is original. Much of ancient Rome would also look so grand had it been designated a Catholic church as the Pantheon was in the 7th century. That saved the Pantheon from becoming a quarry, as much of Rome’s marble (especially in places like the Circus Maximus and Coliseum) was removed from what was then seen as a ruin and used in the building of churches such as St. Peters.\n\nAside from being nearly perfectly preserved, the Pantheon is one of Rome’s greatest architectural achievements and a tremendously influential building in throughout history. It’s shape has been studied and copied for centuries, the most important being Brunelleschi’s Dome (the big red one) in Florence. You enter the Pantheon through a series of enormous columns made from solid pieces of Egyptian granite, carved and transported across the sea to be installed here. Inside the enormous bronze doors is the vast interior. The space is exactly as tall as it is wide (142 feet), with niches carved out on all sides for statues of the gods. Today, mass is held in the Pantheon and the statues of the gods are gone, replaced by the graves of famous Italians, including Italian king Victor Emmanuel and the artist Raphael. The first thing you notice inside this amazing building is the oculus, a circular opening at the top that allows light (as well as rain and pigeons) an entrance point. Abeam of sunlight moves throughout the day, illuminating the inside. Around the oculus are a series of sunken panels called coffers. Originally, these were painted and held bronze elements. They create a harmonious decoration on the ceiling, but more importantly, allowed the architects to remove excess weight without compromising structural integrity. The Pantheon is a great example of Rome’s greatest invention concrete. Earlier structures, like the Egyptian pyramids and the temples of Ancient Greece were made with solid stone. Poured concrete allowed the Romans to open up their structures and build lavish designs that would have been impossible otherwise. Their use of concrete was so sophisticated by the time the Pantheon was built, that they were able to vary its mixture, using a sturdy mixture at the base and an increasingly lighter concrete at the top. Historians still are trying to figure out how exactly the Pantheon was built. The outside offers clues about the process of pouring the concrete and possibly an abandoned earlier design.\n\nHere’s a great clip from National Geographic about the Pantheon- check it out.\n\n\nWhen you walk through the old neighborhoods of Rome within blocks of Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, and the convent where we are staying, you’re walking the turf of arguably the greatest painter who ever lived. Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio is a true master of painting who lived and worked in Baroque Rome when it was a very seedy and dangerous place. His style of chiaroscuro (or dramatic dark and light)and in-your-face style of painting was revolutionary when he burst onto the scene in 1600. His works are intense and overly dramatic, often brutal, but undeniably powerful. They are also scattered all around Rome waiting to be found, hanging in little side churches where you have to insert a coin to turn on the lights for a few minutes.\n\nAs if Caravaggio’s paintings weren’t fascinating enough, he possesses perhaps the most wild biographical story of any artist. It wasn’t enough for Caravaggio to be a revolutionary painter. He was a tortured person who lived for trouble, painting controversial paintings by day and picking sword duels and bar fights by night. He was arrested by the Roman authorities many times and the prison records still exist. Eventually, he killed a rival artist in a sword duel just off of Piazza Navona, and fled south to Naples to save his skin. Not surprisingly, he died young and under mysterious circumstances. His works remain a direct result of his violent nature. There is a fantastic documentary on Caravaggio as part of Simon Schama’s POWER of ART series. It’s in 4 parts- part 1 is here:\n\nThis is the best film on Caravaggio. Like his work, it’s in your face and brutal, but you should absolutely watch it before you go to Rome. Enjoy.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5223257541656494} +{"content": "Modality: CT\naxial CT\nAxial non-contrast\naxial CT\nModality: CT (non-contrast)\n\n- “ This 12 year old boy presented acutely obtunded, and was found to have a haemorrhage into a cystic posterior fossa mass, which was confirmed to be...”\n\nUsed in the following article:\n\n • Pilocytic astrocytoma - “ Pilocytic astrocytomas (PA), also known as juvenile pilocytic astrocytomas (JPA), are low-grade, relatively well-defined astrocytomas (WHO Grade I...”\n\nView full size version of Pilocytic astrocytoma with a bleed\n\nUpdating… Please wait.\n\nAlert accept\n\n\nAlert accept Thank you for updating your details.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9908342361450195} +{"content": "In the swim\n\nThe other day I took my daughter to the swimming pool. We stayed in the small, splashy-fun pool, but I could see (and, more importantly, hear) the main pool.\n\nI hate swimming pools. I always have. I didn’t learn to swim until I was 12, and I’m still a fairly weak swimmer now. Before that, swimming lessons at school were mostly exercises in humiliation, as I bobbed about squeezed into various flotation aids, clinging to the side of the pool, watching enviously as the rest of the class dove and darted through the water like minnows.\n\nEven now the blueish light, smell and taste of chlorine, slippery surface underfoot, sharp sounds of shouts and laughter echoing off the hard walls and floor make me slightly nervous. The sea, whose uneven bed makes it easy to slip out of your depth, and whose currents can suck you backwards and downwards to a salty grave paradoxically feels safer and less threatening to me than the cold, antiseptic surroundings of the pool.\n\nBesides, you’re less likely to find a corn paster floating in the open sea.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6287158727645874} +{"content": "Select categories\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1919 May 1 - Internationale\n\nHungarian title:\n\nInternationale - 1919 Május 1.\n\nArtist: Size:\nBiró, Mihály Sheet Music double cover (cca. 44 x 30 cm)\nYear: Condition:\n1919 Very good, small tears along the border, light creases and abrasion on the surface.\nPaper, lithography.\n\nPrice: $600\n\n\nBiró, Mihály: Internationale, May 1st sheet music cover\n\nSheet music cover by Mihály Biró for Internationale, the international worker’s anthem. The artist is mostly known for his iconic poster ‘Red man with a hammer’ that earned him international recognition and made him the father of political poster art. Besides posters he was active in many fields of graphic design creating for example newspaper illustrations, demonstration banners and cover designs as well. Biro was deeply committed to the labour movement but instead of joining the Hungarian Social Democratic Party (what by the beginning of the 1900 was already a significant political power), he supported them with his suggestive and emotionally charged art where his firm beliefs manifested. Biró was not only a graphic artist and an exceptional poster designer, he was the medium of the social democratic political ethos. No wonder he was commissioned for the artistic management of the decorations for the May Day celebrations in 1919.\n\n1919 was the year when the Hungarian Soviet Republic (Tanácsköztársaság) was declared by Béla Kun, the leader of the Bolsheviks. Béla Kun took over through a coup d’état and the reaction of people varied between extreme enthusiasm and exasperation. Although opinions of the 133 days of the Hungarian Soviet Republic vary, the fact that the era generated an artistic revolution cannot be doubted. The new regime regarded art as of key strategic importance and as the means to drastically transform people’s mindset. To have central control over it, an art directory was formed, while poster designs were handled by the propaganda department. However, all art was considered a channel to strengthen the new political order. A new artistic and at the same time, distinctly political genre of graphic design was born. \n\nFollowing Russia, Hungary was the second European state that tried to beat down the capitalist system and realize the socialist endeavour, therefore the Hungarian workers celebrated the 1st of May with great enthusiasm. The 1st of May was declared the international day of workers in 1891 by the Second International (international congress of labourers) to commemorate the so-called Haymarket affair in Chicago where workers demonstrated for the 8-hour workday. In 1919 the Hungarian council planned a colossal event for celebrating the day with gigantic decorations, posters, newspapers – all public platforms were monopolized in order to create a radical and suggestive artistic program of what the art management was executed by Mihály Biró.\n\nThe edition of the Interesting News (Érdekes Újság), the journal in which this sheet cover was an insert was also celebrating May Day along with the new form of state. The issue and Internationale’s sheet music have identical cover designs by Biró. Biró’s ars poetica is clearly apparent on this composition. He believed that if an artist wants to create works that catch the attention of the masses, he himself has to be in close touch with the people and make true art by using simple drawings. \n\nThis composition is the visual manifestation of Internationale. The first stanza of the anthem starts with the following lines:\n\n“Stand up all victims of oppression\n\nFor the tyrants fear your might\n\nDon't cling so hard to your possessions\n\nFor you have nothing if you have no rights…���\n\nBiró depicts robust workers who did stand up and united, hence managed to defeat the oppressors. The strong red and black contrast results in an expressive and suggestive pictorial language. The workers’ faces are stylized and they have similar, muscular bodies. The figures don’t have individual characteristics that implies if all workers join forces, they become an unbeatable unity and that is much stronger than the separate parts. Despite the figures being stylized, simply drawn with strong contours, they have enormous charizma. The endless line of laborers marching victoriously alludes that the long awaited unification has arrived. They are leaning slightly backwards walking uphill suggesting that they have come a hard way to finally reach the top and fly the flags of socialism on the land that belongs to everyone from that time on. The text is bold, the white saying ‘Interesting News’ pops out more than the text on the top in black: ‘Intrenationale for piano and vocals’.\n\nThis sheet music is a rare document from a time of enormous political turbulence in Hungary.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5756329298019409} +{"content": "McKinley Park\n\nFind Parking\n\nThis unique and idyllic 70-acre outdoor space is the community gathering place (and name source) for the diverse working class area of McKinley Park. The park was established in 1901 and named after assassinated President McKinley. It boasts a beautiful lagoon where neighbors enjoy picnics on summer weekends. There is a nice fieldhouse with a kitchen, as well as a large recreation area. Outdoor amenities include a swimming pool, several baseball and softball fields, a football-soccer field, six basketball standards, a volleyball court, 14 tennis courts, two handball-racquetball courts, bicycle path, casting pool with pier, ice skating and cross country skiing. Indoor facilities include two gymnasiums.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9995436072349548} +{"content": "Our Philosophy\n\nGrace Prep’s Spanish program goes well beyond teaching students the basic vocabulary and grammar structures that they learn in public school classes. Grace Prep prepares students to interact competently with native speakers and, for those who plan to continue their language education, to begin taking advanced level courses at the beginning of their college career.\n\nOur Program, especially in the higher levels, focuses on communicative competence. Along with learning more complicated language structures, students are required to speak in Spanish on a regular basis. They also continue to develop their listening and reading comprehension skills.\n\nGrace Prep’s curriculum uses Glencoe’s ¡Buen Viaje! series of textbooks in the first few levels, with authentic materials (music, readings, media) added. The higher levels use well-respected, authentic resources including articles, books, music and media along with supplemental handouts for advanced grammar points. Small classes and a curriculum structure that has proven results in increasing student performance and retention have enabled us to surpass the speed of public school programs in advanced classes. Students that have transferred from other local schools are impressed with the speed at which they learn and the practical application of their class work.\n\nSpanish Syllabi\n\nFundamentals of Spanish\n\nIntermediate Spanish\n\nReal World Spanish\n\nAdvanced Spanish\n\nмикрозаймы займы на карту онлайн микрозаймы онлайн в новосибирске займы в барнауле", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9509342312812805} +{"content": "To create a sought-after festival that is a unique destination for music lovers locally and globally, thus artistically and economically serving the communities of Savannah, Georgia and the performing arts at large.\n\nThe Savannah VOICE Festival is a non-profit arts organization that brings classical vocal excellence to the Savannah, Georgia area through a three-week celebration of concerts, events and educational presentations during the month of August and throughout the year.\n\nThe programs range from opera and classical music to musical theater and popular song, and offer accessible events to the public while highlighting the intrinsic value the vocal arts bring to the quality of life. Working with its sister organization, the VOICExperience Foundation, which helps young artists pursue their careers in the performing arts, the Festival annually serves over 100 artists, 5,000 audience members and provides over 45 events and community enrichments programs.\n\nNow under the umbrella of The Sherrill Milnes VOICE Programs, both programs continue their dedication to the quality, integrity and perpetuation of the vocal arts through lifechanging intensives, performances and community enriching outreach events in New York, Georgia, Florida and Illinois.\n\n\n\nsmandmzThe Savannah VOICE Festival and the VOICExperience Foundation were founded on the musical principles of a golden age of opera. During the long and prolific career of its founder, Sherrill Milnes, the generation of artists with whom he collaborated represented some of the great singers, directors and conductors in the history of opera. Richard Tucker, Robert Merrill, Leontyne Price, Anna Moffo, Joan Sutherland, Renata Tebaldi, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Franco Zefferelli, Karl Boehm, George Solti, Herbert Von Karajan and so many other legends have shared the stage with the founder, teacher and musical force behind VOICExperience.\n\nMilnes passes his experiences, insight and musical knowledge onto the young artists who attend these programs. His guidance enables them to keep the great traditions of opera alive today for audiences to experience and enjoy.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.999855637550354} +{"content": "Culture of the ethnic Gallente\n\nFrom Backstage Lore Wiki\nJump to: navigation, search\n\nThe culture of the ethnic Gallente is known for its highly self-expressive nature and artistic quality. Rather than the cultural arts of the ethnic Gallente being something to reinforce the social order, it often challenges it. As a platform for individual self-expression, these practices commonly come with complex and nuanced philosophical implications, designed to progress the status quo from generation to generation. Provocation is a key element, challenging previously established morals and principles with new and fresh ideas, resulting in a vibrant and progressive culture. This is often ridiculed as decadent and hedonistic, but in almost every case, individuals who stereotype ethnic Gallente culture like this have not taken the time to consider the thousands of subtexts involved.\n\nOutside of self-expression, provocation and subtext, neo-classicalism is another unique element of the ethnic Gallente artistic cultures. The most frequent manifestation of this is the revival of pre-modern practices that are updated for the contemporary era, notably using the latest technology, such as stage shows that use extensive holographics. The latter only became prevalent after first contact with the Amarr Empire, whom many ethnic Gallente saw as an anachronistic yet fascinating nation who had somehow managed to carry their ancient culture into the stars.\n\nThe non-politicized and individual-focused nature of ethnic Gallente culture has resulted in its ability to influence the cultures of other empires (with the notable exclusion of the Amarr). For example, large portions of contemporary State culture, be it entertainment or fashion, is simply an extension of what both civilizations shared in Luminaire centuries ago, albeit in a notable Caldari flavor and style.\n\n\nThe arts to the Gallente of Luminaire cover the visual, performing and the literary, with the latter (along with music) detailed further on. In complete contrast to the Amarr (for example), the Gallente arts are inclined towards original creations from individual artists, and have not been dictated from the top-down.\n\n\nThough the Gallente are innovators in many artistic endeavors, one particular aspect merits mentioning, if for no other reason than that it often serves as a convenient emblem of the Gallente mindset. Due in no small part to Luminaire’s proclivity for pushing the boundaries, experimental Gallente artistry has become so elaborate that, to much of the unacquainted, it seems virtually unintelligible.\n\nAs an example, in many avant-garde Gallente narratives, the story is embedded within layers of satire-upon-meaning-upon-satire and predicated upon subtle movement and form; as a result, the whole endeavor of the audience becomes less about following plot and more about how to interpret the piece based on the nuanced complexity and convolution of its presentation as seen through its relevance to the individual viewer.\n\nFor this reason, while a typical Gallente fan of this particular branch of art may sit rapt, a non-Gallente might watch an entire stage performance where nothing appears to have happened at all. Furthermore, in many Gallente works these convolutions will turn in on themselves several times, creating meta-layers of meaning that Gallente critics and academics love to mull over endlessly, but which seem like vacuous and pretentious maneuverings by those less interested in the intricacies of narrative analysis.\n\n\nActual practices vary from ancient to contemporary, to anything in between, drawing from all nations and cultures across Gallente Prime (extinct or otherwise). Though Garouner arts are particularly commonplace on the interstellar scene, there are plenty of other practices from the homeworld that are popular, primarily from cultures that did not have to endure any hardships due to a harsh climate and/or ecology. With plenty of spare time, many activities were indulged in, which developed the high arts within those nations.\n\nTheater is popular, a vehicle for philosophical playwrights to express their ideas to a wider audience, through multiple genres including dance and opera. Some stage plays have been so provocative in the past, that they have precipitated entire revolutions within ancient and early modern nations. Even in the modern Federation, several plays have challenged the current social order on multiple occasions. The arts is often its own platform for activists, playing its role in the progressive political scrutiny that the Federation is known for.\n\nThe traditional Gallente performing arts have many stylistic similarities with the Amarr, but to contrast, there are many fundamental differences. For starters, philosophy within Amarr arts almost universally represent the same, long-established truths around the Scriptures, with ideas descending from the top in this regard. Gallente artistic representation is the opposite, ascending from the individual’s own creativity to explore anything from political corruption to racism. Much of modern Gallente politics has roots in these arts, whereas Amarr arts comes from its politics. Another difference is the aesthetic. Gallente performing arts favor all different colors and tonalities, versus the Amarr preference to keeping within a particular shade.\n\nThere are plenty of Gallente arts, however, which are more indulgent and less inclined to exploring philosophical concepts. This is particularly true of artistic products which are made for the purposes of exporting to the wider New Eden market, for two main reasons. The first is that if the product was politically provocative, it may prove culturally offensive and may be rejected from foreign distribution. The second is that the product may simply prove nonsensical to the wider market.\n\nSome artists have been critically scathed for ‘dumbing down’ certain works for foreign consumption, with accusations of selling out for the profit opportunity. A collection of these critics believe it is imperative for the integrity of a work to remain as it is whenever it is exported, in order to demonstrate Gallente cultural superiority to other peoples, or at least influence them in this regard.\n\n\nGallente visual and performing artists have proved, by far, the most receptive to integrating modern technology within their works, often to the gripe of the more classically-minded. Holographics is used extensively within modern music and theater, though plenty of traditionalists seek to carry out a stage show with as little modern technology as possible, which in turn has its own charm to specific audiences.\n\nThese holographics can be so advanced that they are capable of changing the environment of the stage, or even the entire venue, depending on the song or scene. Even the costumes of the performers can be changed seamlessly, to the point that some theater productions can be conducted without a single physical prop. Musicians are particularly fond of holographics, creating illusions to surround the audience and drum up collective effervescence.\n\n\nArchitecture is another avenue for artists to explore using modern techniques. The Gallente are the masters of civil engineering and city-building in many respects, seeing architecture as the marriage of art and engineering, as opposed to simply building something to serve a specific purpose (though the Amarr have their own understanding of this concept as well).\n\nA Gallente architect sees the construction of a building as their own blank canvas, with their purpose ranging from expressing an idea through a design, or simply to build the most extreme or grandest construct ever devised. This practice is ancient, with the most well-known testament to this being the Sanctuary of the Seventh Goddess in the city of Caille on Gallente Prime, one of the panoply of gods from an ancient era. Historians remain baffled as to how primitive technology was able to construct what remains to be the tallest structure in the city. As a nod to cultural history, the Caille authorities have made it illegal to construct any building which may match or exceed the height of the Sanctuary’s spire.\n\nMany architects who wish to escape cultural conservatism on Gallente Prime migrate elsewhere to explore their own ideas. As a result, there are cities in the Federation with bizarre and even downright alien architecture, sometimes with questionable structural integrity. The Gallente cultural favoring of gems has spawned the very unique creation of crystalline cities, that can be found in richer parts of the Federation[1]. These massive, multi-tiered conglomerations often fuse the local flora in their designs, in a way that no matter what tier one is on, the illusion of always being at ground level is projected. Though these cities appear crystal (the color of which depends on the local environment), they are still very much built on solid foundations of brickwork and steel.\n\nPreserving the local flora and fauna is very important when the Gallente construct their cities, as is matching the architecture to the environment the settlement finds itself in. For example, some indulgently-constructed cities on magmatic worlds incorporate lava streams and pools seamlessly within public thoroughfares, often to the great concern of Federal health and safety officials. More famous examples of bold Gallente architectural endeavors include Gallente underwater cities and the former Seyllin I. Overall, as the Gallente see architecture as yet another platform for individual artistic expression, the cities of the Federation vary immensely from place-to-place.\n\n\nLiterature is an often overlooked foundation of Gallente culture to those both inside and outside the Federation.\n\n\nThe value of knowledge to Gallente citizens contributes to the tendency of them generally being more politically aware than citizens of other nations, with many devoting their efforts to one or more of a multitude of causes that suit their ambitions. Gallente literary works are almost endless, stretching back many hundreds of years and covering countless different authors. Ranging from fictional epics to poetry, the Gallente have many great thinkers (such as Fouel and Geremande[2]) who have been credited with laying down the foundations for contemporary political and philosophical thought, both on Gallente Prime and across the wider Federation.\n\nMany of the modern concepts of human rights, libertarianism, the rule of law and good governance traces back to both ancient philosophers, who explored the metaphysical world and its implications for free will, destiny, and the individual spirit, and early modern academics who were at the forefront of the enlightenment that brought about the homeworld’s globalization of democracy.\n\nAs mentioned previously, the comfortable nature of Gallentia (the Garoun continent primarily) meant that hardships were not as extreme as they were on other worlds, so there was plenty of free time for the populace as a result. This allowed the development of a cultural elite who would undertake a variety of intellectual pursuits, laying down the framework for the future Gallente.\n\nThe Gallente cultural idea that anyone can be immortalized through literature, regardless of occupation or background, is why it is often the case that conscientious objectors and altruists earn just as much respect as those of famous leaders or war heroes. Great human feats, whether spectacular military victories or tremendous acts of kindness, can be romanticized through novels and poems, with no bias to a certain kind of deed in particular.\n\nThe hunger for knowledge amongst the Gallente is why they are often known for their inquisitive nature, though the widespread consuming of academic literature (be it political journals or university publications) tends to make them highly opinionated. The pursuit of objective truth, as well the focus on impartiality amongst Gallente education systems, means that honesty has become a highly valued virtue to the Gallente. Similarly, historical epics have influenced the popular mindset to the point that Gallente individuals are widely recognized for their selflessness and valor, particularly when they sense the freedoms of others are threatened. In living up to the literary legacy of King Rouvenor, many Gallente men seek to be generous in their friendships, while being ardent adversaries.\n\n\nIn the modern era, concepts such as interstellar existentialism and secular ethics have roots in Gallente Prime literature, while constitutional law and other legal matters in the Federation (and, to a lesser extent, the CONCORD Assembly) are influenced by early modern and contemporary Gallente academics. The Servant Sisters of EVE and countless third sector organizations in other empires have adopted values of charity and humanitarianism similar to those of altruistic Gallente beliefs that stretch back as early as the Garoun era, where the Rouvenor dynasty upheld the beliefs of having an ethical and moral ruler that would champion themselves as the defenders of the downtrodden, all of which are documented in literary works written by the monarchs themselves. The social policies and high moral standards of the Federal government are influenced by these ideas.\n\n\nSome Luminaire cultures has very defined concepts of masculinity and femininity (despite its potential contradiction with the concept of individualism), with both genders being equal and having their own unique strengths that must be utilized to the full. These thoughts originate from feminist works that stretch back to the end of the Industrial Age on Gallentia, continuing to influence the behaviours and cultures of ethnic Gallente women in the Federation. This influence is directly felt in Gallente matters of state, with the Federation having a much larger ratio of female heads of state and government than other empires, particularly in peacetime.\n\nIt is often the ethnic Gallente woman that is commonly invoked as a symbol of the modern Federal citizen, all because of the role of feminist Luminaire literature generations prior (as well as the lack of gender-inhibiting religious institutions in more archaic times). Extremely confident models of self-empowerment, they are known for their hard work ethic balanced with a strong pursuit of leisure. Both fiction and non-fiction espouse the ideal woman as being very creative and resourceful, to be known for their assertive yet kind nature, with an outgoing and lively spirit. This “contagious zest for life” belief has been at the forefront of the emancipation of women in many societies, most notably the Jin-Mei, which has caused some tension in the past.\n\n\nIn all the above instances, poetry has played a key role. Though many cultures in New Eden have poetry in their traditions, it is widely regarded as a modern form of commercial entertainment in the Federation, to the point that many colonial projects (government or otherwise) seek to fulfill a quota on the amount of poets alongside other occupations such as doctors or engineers[3]. The Gallente poetic scene is, like with music, constantly evolving through the cross-cultural interaction that the modern era permits. While there are millions of poems that emerge from the homeworld and many other Gallente planets, it is one of the very few entertainment sectors in the Federation where foreign penetration can sometimes be greater than the domestic output, as there is far less opportunity for consumption and profit opportunities for poetry in other empires.\n\n\nThe Gallente consider the preparation and cooking of food and drink as a form of high art. It is for this reason that Federation-based megacorporations have been able to dominate the food services industry across New Eden[4], to the point that even if a restaurant appears to follow one cultural origin, it is often Gallente chefs that run things from behind the scenes.\n\nThe Gallente Prime homeworld is biodiverse, resulting in a great many amount of animal and plant species that has created millions of different recipes from that single planet alone. Similarly, more ecologically homogeneous worlds such as Caldari Prime or Intaki have their own unique produce which cannot be found anywhere else, interacting with recipes from Gallentia and other worlds the ethnic Gallente have settled, creating an even larger encyclopedia of foods. To the Gallente, a specific recipe of food or drink does not hold any binding cultural significance (such as Caldari kresh tea), so as a result, cuisine is seen as only limited by the amount of biological life in the universe, which is quite possibly near-infinite.\n\nOverall, Gallente cuisine seeks to combine as many different ingredients from across New Eden as possible, cycling through endless different recipes as a result. Though there are some Luminaire traditionalists who prefer recipes specific to the homeworld, this is generally a niche market. To some observers, food and drink has been a very effective vehicle of Gallente cultural projection, mustering its influence onto worlds and amongst peoples in what is perceived as an extremely unthreatening form of encroachment (particularly when considering there are much harsher methods of cultural warfare).\n\n\nThere are some well-known recipes and traits of Gallente high cuisine amongst the citizens of New Eden, variety aside. For meals, the meat and vegetable balance is important, as is the general health and nutritional content, while appearance is just as key to a fine dish as taste. Salads are thus quite popular, with the ability to combine vegetables from hundreds of different worlds to create unique dishes and pieces of edible artwork.\n\nDesserts, sweets and other confectioneries provide another avenue of creating extravagant and flamboyant dishes, using natural ingredients where possible to cover every color imaginable. There is generally a social stigma against using cloned, genetically modified or otherwise synthetic foodstuffs, as consumers do not believe the food to be genuinely ‘authentic’. That said, various Gallente megacorporations, particularly Quafe and its legion of subsidiaries, are known to mass-produce ‘fast food’ on an industrial scale, which has seen great success on space stations and similar arcological constructions. Such food is generally looked down upon by Gallente chefs and the more well-off public.\n\n\nOther than soft drinks, a major Luminaire contribution to the New Eden beverages market is wine made from berries and grapes found within medial climate zones on a variety of different worlds. Before water purification techniques came about on the homeworld, wine was consumed widely, as well as lily and marshland tea to a lesser extent. Amongst the Rouvenor and some Ancient peoples, wine was a cultural symbol that was consumed for the same reasons as tea or psychoactive stimulants amongst other ethnicities, either recreationally or for ‘encouraging’ philosophical thought. However, it is often stereotyped as being a hedonistic drink of decadence by other cultures, and in some practices, this is not far from the truth.\n\nThe Gallente have a unique contribution to the interstellar wine market (of which the Federation dominates by far) through the production of champagne, which is a form of sparkling wine that requires a very specific climatic zone, estimated to be present on less than twenty temperate worlds in the Federation. A bottle of champagne is thus rare and expensive, and so it is a status symbol amongst many Gallente peoples. There is much reverence to connoisseurs who have been successful in not opening a bottle that is over a century old. A notable producer of champagne is Feille d’Marnne from Egghelende III[5], the drink being impossible to cultivate anywhere else in the Federation. Each case is worth an interstellar fortune as a result.\n\n\nGallente fashion accounts for a leading portion of contemporary New Eden clothing, with areas such as the Coriault constellation being at the forefront of the industry[6]. Styles range from casual and functional to wild and eccentric. Fashion is seen as an avenue of self-expression to the Gallente, who seek to communicate their personalities and preferences in life through the clothes they wear. It is said that if one walks down the street of a town on any modern Federation world, a thousand different clothing styles will be on display[7]. These styles vary further depending on the climate and/or ecology of a world, the Gallente having proven adept at creating fashionable clothing for even harsh desert or arctic environments.\n\nInfluences and proliferation\n\nAs with many aspects of contemporary Federal culture, Gallente fashion has incorporated elements and motifs from other cultures, blended together and reproduced into new styles every month of the interstellar year. There are, however, plenty of standalone and unique contributions the Luminaire peoples have granted to clusterwide fashion, particularly amongst cultures who lacked any concepts of casual clothing.\n\nThe polytextile t-shirt is one such contribution, notable for its functional and comfortable design that allows it to be easily mass-produced on a wide-scale across New Eden. Caillean leather and synth-leather is another, more readily identifiable in its Gallente origins than the t-shirt, which has become somewhat universal in the current day. It is widely imitated both inside and outside the Federation, being found in places as far as Dam-Torsad on Athra[8]. It is quite common for tourists to explore remote communities on farflung worlds, to discover certain inhabitants wearing items of Gallente clothing that are hopelessly out-of-date, depicting brands or celebrities who died out many years ago.\n\nMannar, one of the oldest members of the Federation, has always had a strong influence on Gallente style and trendsetting[9]. Much of the eccentric tailoring favored by society’s elite and decried as immodest and inappropriate by the other empires has its roots in pre-Federation Mannar culture, which included different concepts of modesty and etiquette. Massive hairstyles and elaborate body- and face-painting still feature prominently in addition to semi-opaque fabrics which respond to a variety of programmable stimuli.\n\nSo much of high Gallente fashion has been lifted from the Mannar peoples, that the connection to its origins in the latter culture is no longer made, used as a stereotype Federal culture as a whole. In truth, only the upper echelons of society can hope to afford the extravagant fashion styles that the wider nation is ridiculed for, though the average Gallente is nonetheless quite fashion-conscious, seeing clothing as an important representation of self-identity. In terms of the melting pot culture, the influence of Gallente trendsetting on New Eden fashion can be seen both inside and outside the Federation\n\n\nFor men, the modern day ‘business suit’ has its origins amongst the Garoun nations during Gallente Prime’s late Industrial Age, tracing back to tri-corner hats and tailcoats worn by the nobility and gentry. Said suit originally involved a blazer, tie and felt hat for males (amongst other things), before it was adopted by several other cultures after first contact, most notably the Caldari. The usage of hats and ties has mostly been dropped in the contemporary era, particularly after wealthy Minmatar began to wear business suits not long after the Republic was founded.\n\nMuch of Minmatar non-tribal wear is Gallente in origin, with some notable styles being inspired by the clothing of engineers and aviators from the Gallente industrial era, though recent cultural revivals under Shakor’s Republic seek to look at similar fashions during the ancient Minmatar Empire. Both have proven quite popular amongst the Gallente in the Federation, as well as the ‘punk’ look which dominates several Minmatar/Gallente subcultures. The Amarr, being their own cultural bastion that has existed in space for thousands of years, was never really influenced by Gallente fashion, excluding the introduction of casual clothing amongst poor Commoners and slaves.\n\n\nFor females, a popular source of trendsetting is from legacy states on Gallente Prime that still retain a ceremonial monarchy. Queens, princesses, and other female members of royalty are hounded by culture journalists, reporting their findings to interplanetary fashion houses, who will then seek to reproduce ‘authentic’ copies for the mass market. Some of these designs have not changed in centuries, or even thousands of years, though many monarchies have updated their range of fashionable royal robes and dresses according to contemporary tailoring techniques. Particularly popular female and relatively younger members of the Federal Senate are also scrutinized for their choice of senatorial garments, which is also another source of trendsetting for the upper class consumer.\n\nGallente fashion designers also take from Amarr women’s wear, particularly dresses worn by Holders and nobles, and then repurpose such designs for the Federation’s market, varying the original’s levels of modesty. Many Amarr consider this insulting, and sometimes blasphemous depending on the design in question, but it remains a simple fact that many Gallente are more than happy to brush shoulders with the slavery-endorsing Empire at every opportunity.\n\nDespite the lifting of women’s wear from the Amarr, there are plenty of indigenous designs that are organic and contemporary progressions from clothing worn on the homeworld, and are not simply reproductions of royal fashion. There can be simple, thin dresses made from a single rime of fabric, modern updates of flowing historical garments, to outlandishly elaborate designs that would require a small army of personal assistants and/or drones if one hopes to slip in and out of the implement without damaging it.\n\n\nLuminaire fine jewelry stands out for its inclusion of gemstones, with emerald having a particular cultural significance in the history of the Garoun Empire. Gemstone embroidery in robes and dresses are popular, the exact mineral in question varying depending on the overall color of the design, and whether or not it matches. Gallente gemstone-based jewelry often competes with Amarr gold-based designs for interstellar market dominance, though the combining of both materials has hardly proved offensive.\n\n\nThe Gallente regard music as key to their culture of self-expression, and since every individual in the Federation express themselves their own way, the music likewise varies between many different genres, then again from planet to planet. The domination of the Gallente entertainment industry clusterwide means that mostly all forms of contemporary music are based off of Gallente genres.\n\nWhile every culture retains their traditional styles, the prevalence of Gallente music within the interstellar industry meant that the only way for others to stand a chance of competing was to adopt the musical standard that the Federation had set. Even then, the musical divergences over time has made some genres perceived as more associated with one particular culture, with its Gallente origins long forgotten.\n\n\nGenres of Gallente popular music (and thus New Eden popular music as a whole) are seemingly endless, ranging from folk to heavy metal, electronic to symphonic. These genres can often incorporate the traditional instruments of other cultures, with Minmatar tribal pop or Amarr religious rock being two of hundreds of subgenres. The combinations constantly change and evolve as the market shifts, and only a handful of musicians and groups are able to persevere in the spotlight for more than a few years. AI musicians provide a cheap way for music companies to keep on top of the ever-changing market, forgoing the burdens of a human musician.\n\nCertain genres of music have come about as a direct response to certain cultural changes on Gallente Prime and beyond, representing a sandbox for individual or collective voices to express their personal and political ideologies. Heavy metal and other rawer genres of rock developed as a form of social rebellion against governments that were perceived as repressive or authoritarian, and it is for this reason that the genre has proven immensely popular amongst the Minmatar, who now have their own homegrown variations.\n\nFolk music has persisted in retaining the cultures and practices of tribal groups from Gallentia that have since been assimilated over the centuries, as well as championing environmentalist thought. On the other end of the sociocultural ladder, orchestral music’s continued prevalence is important to cultural traditionalists for maintaining the legacy of the Rouvenors and other pre-industrial states (though they are plenty of heavy metal and rock groups who base their orchestration and lyrics off of ancient legends and myths). Finally, of course, electronic music always evolves alongside corresponding developments in digital technology.\n\nModern musicians have been able to combine traditional instruments with the advanced domestic and lifestyle technology that the Gallente are known for, or even completely original instruments based off of this tech. Dance suits that are programmed to play music to the wearer’s movements is a notable example, with groups being able to rival the orchestration of a classical symphony with their dance numbers alone.\n\nThe manipulation of holographic interfaces is another popular form of musical composition, ranging from spheres that surround the entire user to more standard shapes such as handheld cubes and surfaces. Depending on how the interface is struck, whether with a punch or sweep, the sound and tonation varies. Certain musical genres that use holoinstruments can be quite physically demanding for this reason, though there are other genres that rely on a more gentle playing style.\n\n\nGallente classical music was primarily influenced by the Garoun Empire in the latter years of the Rouvenor era, and was carried on by all successor states and Garoun-influenced cultures since. In keeping with the sometimes extravagant nature of the Gallente, classical music is composed of large orchestras that include (but are not limited to) brass, string, woodwind and percussion instruments. Smaller assemblies include string quartets and brass bands, while there are numerous folk groups that utilize lesser instruments such as fiddles, guitars and bagpipes.\n\nThe Gallente orchestra format has been adopted by other cultures while using their own unique styles of composition, such as the Caldari not long after first contact, and later the Jin-Mei. In the modern era, there has been a lot of cultural exchange between Luminaire and Amarr composers and musicians. Classical vocal work, meanwhile, is much more diverse than Gallente orchestral, ranging from operatic sopranos and tenors accompanying theatrical performances, to gentle choirs of feminine voices designed to be set to scenic planetary locales or stellar nebulae. In contrast with Amarr classical music, female choirs (both contemporary and classical in style) are notably more common than male groups.\n\n\nThere are two main branches of modern ethnic Gallente folklore. The first is based on ancient Rouvenor legend, particularly around the philosopher-king Doule dos Rouvenor III and the Garoun Empire. To many ethnic Gallente, he is considered one of the few sincere statespeople in human history, as well as the so-called ‘grandfather of democracy’, making his name and legend timeless. The second major branch lacks a tangible definition, but generally covers the cultures of ethnic Gallente who are no longer tied to their ancestral homeworld, having been settled on other planets for many generations now. Anything from stellar anomalies to unique planetary features can be the starting point for these particular pieces of folklore.\n\nRouvenor legend\n\nRouvenor legend includes the characters and mythology surrounding the days of the Garoun Empire. These tales, which includes monsters and magic, can be fictional, or at least fictional takes on historical facts. Some of the details have become so blurred that, over the centuries, certain fantasies are interpreted as reality, and a handful of realities seen as myth.\n\nThe character of Rouvenor and other parts of the folklore has been carried across space in some areas, the king being immortalized as an interstellar spirit that encourages Gallente to venture to new frontiers, as seafaring explorers once did on the homeworld. It is rumored that artifacts of Rouvenor and the Garoun Empire have been scattered across the Federation. Capsuleers are often contracted out to recover these items (which are almost universally replicas or fakes[10]).\n\nIn modern entertainment, there are many products that are based off of Garoun history and legend. Rock bands, fantasy or historical holoreels, novels, and games are just some mediums based off of the folklore. Traditionalists may prefer theater or opera, either contemporary stories or exact reenactments of ancient plays.\n\nOf note, production companies and writers of Jin-Mei animation have taken up a strong following of Garoun tales, as well as the Gallente's industrial era. The hundreds of serials created do not always relate to Rouvenor politics and history directly, and may follow an individual character’s adventure in another land during the same time period. These productions tend to be significantly more fantastical than classical Gallente versions, or otherwise quite romanticized.\n\nOther developments\n\nThe other branch is not associated with Luminaire mainstream culture. The lack of enforced social and cultural compliance or conformity has allowed extreme divergences to take place in the area of folklore (as with Gallente culture overall). In space settlements, local stellar phenomena might be the foundation for folklore (such as the Lutin lights). On planets, folklore will vary from place to place, though there may also be Federation-wide beliefs adapted to the local environment. Gallente that have encountered indigenous peoples may pick up the beliefs of those groups, or may have blended with them over time until the lines between the two groups have blurred beyond previous definitions.\n\nSee Also\n\n\nPersonal tools", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5933234095573425} +{"content": "\n\nThe Art of Maurice Sendak\n\nHere are unforgettable images that Sendak has created over his long career, with much that has never bene seen before including early sketches and dummies for published books, ideas that were never developed, and penned fantasies created while listening to music. Perfect for the entire family.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9911993145942688} +{"content": "New tales told by old infections\n\n\nRetroviruses are important pathogens capable of crossing species barriers to infect new hosts, but knowledge of their evolutionary history is limited. By mapping endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), retroviruses whose genes have become part of the host organism’s genome, researchers at Uppsala University, Sweden, can now provide unique insights into the evolutionary relationships of retroviruses and their host species. The findings will be published in a coming issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). All retroviruses, including HIV in humans, must become part of the host cell’s genome in order to produce new viruses. When a germ line cell is infected there is a chance for the virus to be passed on to the host organism’s offspring, and for millions of years retroviruses have colonized vertebrate hosts, leaving traces in their genetic make-up as endogenous retroviruses (ERVs).\n\n\n\n\n\nThe genomic record provided by ERVs offers improved knowledge of the evolution and frequency of past retroviral spread to evaluate future risks and limitations for horizontal transmission between different host species. This is relevant given the emergence of prominent diseases linked with retroviral infection, such as HIV, which switched hosts to humans from monkey species.\n\nThe findings are now being published in PNAS.\n\nSource: Uppsala Universitet\n\nSource: eScienceNews – Biology", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9942961931228638} +{"content": "Even when you practice regular, responsible birth control, sometimes mistakes happen. You forget. The form of birth control you usually depend on fails. Things can happen. An alternative now exists, and it can be taken a full five days after unprotected intercourse in order to prevent an unplanned pregnancy. When your normal form of birth control has an unexpected lapse, now you have a backup plan.\n\nWhen a woman does not wish to become pregnant yet is exposed to the possibility of becoming pregnant by engaging in unprotected sex or the failure of a barrier form of birth control, one option is Ella. Ella has been shown to be effective at preventing pregnancy when taken within 120 hours (five days) of having unprotected sex or the failure or suspected failure of a barrier form of birth control\n\nElla works by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting to the uterus, by preventing an egg from being released into the uterus or by helping to prevent a sperm from fertilizing an egg. There are a few possible side effects experienced by women who take Ella for the prevention of pregnancy. Most commonly, abdominal pain, headache and nausea may be experienced. Ella should not be taken after five days of the possibility of an egg becoming fertilized (sexual intercourse), and should never be taken by women who desire to become pregnant.\n\nElla has been approved for taking at any point during a woman's menstrual cycle in order to prevent pregnancy. Ella is also known as an emergency contraceptive, and should not be used by women for the regular prevention of pregnancy.\n\nElla does not protect the user from sexually transmitted disease, such as HIV, AIDS, Herpes, Syphilis or other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). It is not known whether or not Ella is transmitted through the breast milk, so it should never be taken by women who are currently breastfeeding babies.\n\nIf you vomit within three hours after taking Ella, it may not be effective and the woman should consider taking a second dose in order to prevent pregnancy. Ella is also not effective when the woman takes it along with some other drugs, such as barbiturates, carbamazepine, phenytoin, rifampin, and St. John's Wort. If you are currently taking any of these other drugs, discuss your possibilities with your doctor.\n\nElla is not intended to be used in girls before the onset of menarche or for women past menopause. There has been no noticed difference in the effectiveness of Ella in women under the age of 18 as in women over the age of 18.\n\nElla is a brand name of the drug ulipristal acetate. This drug is also available in a generic form, and is marketed as ulipristal acetate. If a woman is pregnant and wishes to remain so, she should not take Ella or its generic version, ulipristal acetate.\n\nFor the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and for the prevention of pregnancy, doctors recommend using another form of birth control regularly. Ella is intended for emergency use only, and should only be used on very rare occasions when another form of birth control, regularly used, has failed or might have failed. Discuss with your doctor what form of regular birth control might work best with your lifestyle.\n\nElla is effective for two days longer than the “Morning After Pill”. It is available only by prescription. To get Ella online, visit a reputable online pharmacy with doctors on staff who can take an accurate medical history and will be aware of any potential side effects or drug interactions. Getting your drugs online is quicker and easier than a wait in the doctor's office, and can prevent unnecessary embarrassment when discussing sensitive problems with the family physician.\n\nOnline Prescriptions Online Prescriptions", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8513837456703186} +{"content": "Posted in Business\n\nIntroduction And Basic Facts About Pneumatic Actuators\n\nThere is a lot to be said about pneumatic actuators in general, but this article will concentrate solely on pneumatic cylinders. And since you are reading this I’ll assume that you have a general idea about pneumatics, and do know what is pneumatic cylinder and how does it work.\n\nPneumatic market constantly evolves offering different kind of pneumatic cylinders, which at the moment are fairly significant group of pneumatic actuators used in various industries. There are many different types of them, and they can be distinguished by various criteria.\n\nLets start from piston rod. Usually when thinking about pneumatic cylinders you imagine cylinder with rod on one side, but there are also other types. There are cylinders with double sided rod, which work basically very similar to traditional cylinders. Take a look at this shop, they have wide range of pneumatic products.\n\npneumatic cylinder\n\nOf course rod movement is bilateral, when it hides on one sides it extends on the other. Most least known group of pneumatic cylinders are rodless cylinders. In those cylinders piston is connected to external carriage and no piston rod extends outside it.\n\nRodless cylinders is ideal solution when there is a need for really long stroke, they can have strokes up to 8000 mm which is unlivable in any traditional cylinder because of rod overhang and bending. Interesting choice especially in narrow spaces.\n\nOther way to group cylinders is their ISO standard. From that point of view we can differentiate few types. First of all there is ISO 15552, which is round or flat (square shaped) cylinder, probably most common cylinder type around the world, there is also or ISO 21287 known as compact cylinder, and there are also mini cylinders.\n\nMini cylinders (standard ISO 6432) are most interesting since there are extremely effective in various high-end applications like advanced machinery or robotics. Compact cylinders are common whenever space is requirements since they are slightly smaller then ISO 15552 alternatives.\n\nMost popular are round and flat cylinders. In round cylinders tie rods are visible on the outside, and in square (or flat) cylinders everything is contained inside special housing. Square cylinders seems more robust and solid choice, and additionally you can easily mount piston position sensor on it.\n\nSince I mentioned mini cylinders I have to mention so called cartridge cylinders which are tiny cylinders with bore size and stroke even below 10 mm (up to 16), those cylinders are specifically designed for very sophisticated applications.\n\n\nThere are various special variants available for pneumatic cylinders, sometimes available as standard, but most likely optional. Those functions are usually needed for special applications.\n\nExtended piston rod is relatively popular one. In this case cylinder stroke stays the same, but piston rod extends more on the outside compared to default norms described by ISO standard.\n\nOther popular choice is so called amortization which can be mechanical or pneumatic. Amortization provides smooth contact of the piston at the end cylinder position – there is no collision. In some types of actuators amortization can be regulated.\n\nPiston rod can rotate around its own axis during move, this is normal thing, and it usually doesn’t cause any problems in most applications. But it is possible to order cylinder with so called anti-rotation feature.\n\nVery popular variant is so called tandem. Its solution which uses two cylinders connected in series which share same piston rod and have two pistons. When compressed air simultaneously enters to cylinders the force of both cylinders is added together, so that the final strength of the front piston rod is almost twice as high.\n\nPneumatic cylinder types, and variants mentioned above are only most popular ones, there is more to be said about them and other types. There are for example UNITOP cylinders, ISO 5211 rotary cylinders and much more. I am aware that not exhausted the subject, but at least something left for later. This introduction should give you general idea about cylinders, and I hope it did. If you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comment section.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8746564984321594} +{"content": "Requires Photography\n\nShawabty of Queen Maleteral II\n\nNapatan Period, reign of Amani-natake-lebte\n538–519 B.C.\n\nFindspot: Nubia (Sudan), Nuri, Found in Pyramid 24 but originally in Pyramid 25\n\n\nOverall: 11.3 x 5 cm (4 7/16 x 1 15/16 in.)\n\nAccession Number\n\n\nMedium or Technique\n\n\nNot On View\n\n\nThe Ancient World\n\n\nShawabties and shawabty boxes\n\nThis is a shawabty of Queen Maleteral II. The female figure wears the queen’s vulture headdress over the tripartite wig. The arms are not crossed, the hands are positioned right above left. In each hand the figure holds a hoe. In addition the left hand holds a cord to a seed bag which is slung over the left shoulder. There are four horizontal lines of incised text encircling the body. The text is framed and there is a single vertical line up the center of the back dividing the back of the text. This mummiform shape does not have a back pillar or base. The object was broken in two pieces and is mended. The lower half of this figure is mising. The face, vulture head, lappets, implements and right hand are worn. There is a hole on the back of the left shoulder. The text is well-incised. “XXIV” is written on the back of the figure in black ink.\n\n\n\nFrom Nubia (Sudan), Nuri, found in Pyramid 24, but originally from Pyramid 25 (tomb of Queen Maleteral II). 1917: excavated by the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; assigned to the MFA in the division of finds by the government of the Sudan.\n\nCredit Line\n\nHarvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7474627494812012} +{"content": "The UK's leading custom cycle clothing suppliers\n\nPixel Technology\n\nTo make it safer to cycle during the dark winter months, Bioracer has developed a technology that combines the heat retaining properties of a normal winter fabric with the visibility of reflective safety clothing.\n\nWhat makes these fabrics special is the use of Pixel, a technology that incorporates a matrix of printed reflective glass pearls on our fabrics. We use this technology in our PXL75 and PXL100 winter fabrics which we implement in highly reflective, wind and waterproof jackets for winter riding in dark circumstances.\n\nFor 2016, we will incorporate this technology in some of our lightweight summer materials for clothing you use during your summer evening rides. This technology provides every team with the opportunity to be able to train and ride safely, and is proven to be a potential life saver.\n\n\nWhat is it?\nThe Pixel Fabric is actually comprised of three different layers:\n\nLayer #1 – is a breathable inner layer that wicks moisture away from the body.\n\nLayer #2 – the central layer provides a shield against cold, wind and rain.\n\nLayer #3 – is the outer layer that uses small dots, or pixels, to provide super reflectivity for maximum visibility in the dark.\n\nHow is it used?\nIt can be used in any number of garments from cycling jackets to gilets to bib tights & shorts to arm warmers. Best of all it can be printed on like normal fabric so can be easily combined with custom team-wear.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5507305860519409} +{"content": "\n\nMedia: TIME\n\nAre nine Bay Area tech billionaires worth the same as 1.8 billion of the world's poorest people?\n\n\nThe Oxfam report, released in mid-January before the annual Davos conference, finds the $426 billion controlled by a group of the planet's eight richest people is equal to the wealth of 3.6 billion people, or about half of the world's population. \n\n\"It is obscene for so much wealth to be held in the hands of so few when 1 in 10 people survive on less than $2 a day,\" Oxfam executive director Winnie Byanyima said. \"Inequality is trapping hundreds of millions in poverty; it is fracturing our societies and undermining democracy.\"\n\nTwo Bay Area residents are among these eight Oxfam billionaires: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Oracle's Larry Ellison. And if you add up the worth of the top nine richest people in the Bay Area, it comes to roughly $213 billion, according to a recent Forbes report. That's more than the net worth of the poorest quarter of the world's population.\n\nZuckerberg, Ellison and other local billionaires are part of the \"Giving Pledge,\" where wealthy individuals promise to give away the majority of their wealth to charitable causes in their lifetimes or upon their deaths. Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have already been very active donating their wealth in the Bay Area and beyond.\n\nIn the above gallery, see the nine Bay Area billionaires whose wealth adds up to a quarter of the world's population.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9768816232681274} +{"content": "CCT 224\nPerformance Assessment\nA 3rd year course in the CCIT Program of University of Toronto at Mississauga\n\nASSIGNMENT 2 - Financial Ratios\n\nThis assignment requires you to\n(1) obtain information about a topic in the course\n(2) in an ordered way, write out the information you research\n(3) submit the information to the professor by Oct 19\n(4) present a summary of the information to the rest of the class, in class Oct 21\nProcedure and Organization In class Oct 7th the professor will divide the class into 5 groups according to the alphabetical order of the class list.\nIf you did not attend this Oct 7th class, you will still be held responsible for contacting the other members in the group.\nIf group members are not able to contact a particular group member, or that person does not respond to emails or phone calls, the group is welcome to continue the project on without that person(s).\nWhen you submit the work Oct 19 and make your presentation on the 21st, it is presumed that if a name is on the cover page as a group member, then that person participated (so do not put someone's name on the cover if they did not equally contribute to the work)\nsee this video on group work youtube.com/watch?v=ybZbld2gyLI \n\nThe Financial Ratios that are most commonly discussed in business are those listed below\n\n o Leverage Ratios (also called Debt Ratios)(Leverage Ratios are also referred to as a type of \"Solvency Ratio\"), including\n o Capital Acquisition Ratio\n o Capital Employment Ratio\n o Capital Structure Ratio\n o Long-term debt/capitalization Ratio\n o Debt-to-equity Ratio\n o Liquidity Ratios, including\n o Current Ratio\n o Quick Ratio (or \"Acid Test\"\n o Efficiency Ratios (also known as Operating Financial Ratios),\n (also sometimes titled Asset Utilization Ratios or Asset Management Ratios)\n\n o The Days Sales Outstanding Ratio\n o Inventory Turnover Ratio\n o Accounts Payable to Sales (%)\n o Total asset turnover (TAT) Ratio\n o Fixed asset turnover (FAT) Ratio\n o Sales Revenue per Employee\n o Profitability Ratios, including\n o Gross Profit Margin\n o Operating Profit Margin\n o Return on capital employed (\"ROCE\")\n o Investor Ratios (also known as Market Value Ratios), including\n o Earnings per share (\"EPS\")\n o Price-Earnings Ratio (\"P/E Ratio\")\n o Price / Cash Ratio\n o Dividend Yield\n o Book Value per Share\n o Market Value per Share\n o Market / Book Ratio\n\n\nYour group will be assigned a particular ratio\n\nYou will deal with the following questions / issues\n1 Summary of what this ratio is commonly used for \neg. \"Liquidity ratios are used to determine a company's ability to pay off its short-terms which....\"\nInclude a brief explanation of any formulas or equations\neg. Acid Test Ratio = (cash + marketable securities) / current liabilities\n2 Why is this ratio important in terms of needing to know \"performance assessment\" of companies, \n ie what does it tell you that is important to know\n3 Did you come across any \"media stories\" in which this ratio was mentioned in the context of talking about how well or poorly a company is performing\n- which is a test to see if you can appreciate that the use of these terms is known among business people and applied to discuss how well a company is doing\n4 What are some of the useful and helpful resources you accessed to learn about this ration - list them, including URLs\nit is presumed some students may find URLs among various Canadian financial services companies and industry associations\n5 What was something \"interesting and useful\" you learned about this ratio(s)\n\nCompose your answer in a word.doc and submit this to me electronically, if your work is of sufficient quality that it could be used (with our without minor corrections) in the CCT224 course materials, then I will make a PDF of your word.doc and add it to the CCT224 webpage - in such case, you will be obliged to give your written consent for that - you can does this my simly signing it \"we.... names.... give consent to this being used in the CCT224 website for teaching/learning purposes\"\n\nsome sources to get you started\n- don't just use these, find your own, when looking, think of corporate web pages that contain education sections or industry associations, also leading business news sites\n\nRatios - Alberta Govt Source\nFinancial Ratios\nTutorial Online\nby Richard Loth", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9975691437721252} +{"content": "Happy people make the world better\n\nDennis Prager\nPosted: Nov 08, 2005 12:05 AM\n\n\n\n Of course not.\n\n\n\n\n Those on the left are far more likely to inquire about the economic state of those individuals and groups involved in anti-social behavior (\"poverty causes crime\"). And those on the right are more concerned with determining the moral and ethical values held by people engaged in bad behavior.\n\n In my view, values are more determinative than economics. But few people have values that are so strong that those values will always overcome the individual's unhappiness and lead him to act according to those values.\n\n Moreover, happy people with weak characters or who possess an underdeveloped code of values are still not likely to engage in cruel behavior or join evil movements. But unhappy people who lack strong character or who have not adopted a code of moral values are very likely to act out their unhappiness in anti-social ways.\n\n This is particularly true in the personal realm where unhappiness can be so powerful that it regularly overwhelms a person's value system. I suspect that most readers of this column know someone with generally good values and good character who nevertheless acts indecently toward some member(s) of his/her family: a parent, a child, a spouse, a sibling.\n\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5193560123443604} +{"content": "Tag Archives: variable elimination\n\nWhy it’s hard to eliminate variables\n\n\nWhat needs to be done, at first sight\n\nAt first sight, variable elimination is easy. We just:\n\n 1. Build occurrence lists\n 2. Pick a variable to eliminate\n 4. Add newly resolved clauses into the system\n 5. Remove original clauses.\n 6. Goto 2.\n\n\nBuilding occurrence lists\n\n\n\n\nPicking a variable to eliminate\n\n\n\n\nResolving clauses\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdding the newly resolved clauses\n\n\n\n\nRemoving the original clauses\n\n\n\nThe untold horrors\n\n\n\n\nOn variable renumbering\n\nVariable renumbering in SAT solvers keeps a mapping between the external variable numbers that is visible to the users and the internal variable numbers that is visible the to the system. The trivial mapping that most SAT solvers use is the one-to-one mapping where there is no difference between outer and internal variables. A smart mapping doesn’t keep track of all data related to variables that have been set or eliminated internally, so the internal datastructures can be smaller.\n\n\nHaving smaller internal data structures help in achieving a lower memory footprint and better cache usage.\n\nThe memory savings are useful because some CNFs have tens of millions of variables. If the solver uses the typical watched literal scheme, it needs 2 arrays for each variable. If we are using 64b pointers and 32b array sizes, it’s 32B for each variable, so 32MB for every million variable only to keep the watching literal array(!). I have seen people complaining that their 100M variable problem runs out of memory — if we count that right that’s 3.2GB of memory only to hold the watching literal array pointers and sizes, not any data at all.\n\nAs for the CPU cache benefits: modern CPUs work using cache lines which are e.g. 64B long on Intel Sandy Bridge. If half of the variables are set already, the array holding the variable values — which will be accessed non-stop during propagation — will contain 50% useless data. In practice the speedup achieved can be upwards of 10%.\n\nThe simple problems\n\nOne problem with having a renumbering scheme is that you need to keep track of which datastructure is numbered in which way. The easy solution is to renumber absolutely everything. This is costly, however, as the mapping has to change every once in a while when new variables have been set. In this case, if everything is renumbered, then the eliminated variables‘ data needs to be updated according to the new mapping every time. This might be quite significant. So, it’s best not to renumber that. Similarly, if disconnected component analysis is used, then the disconnected components’ saved solutions need to be renumbered as well, along with the clauses that have been moved to the components.\n\nAn approach I have found to be satisfying is to keep every dynamic datastructure such as variable states (eliminated/decomposed/etc.), variable values (True/False/Unknown), clauses’ literals, etc. renumbered, while keeping mostly static datastructures such as eliminated clauses or equivalent literal maps non-renumbered. This works very well in practice as it allows the main system to shuffle the mapping around while not caring about all the other systems’ data.\n\nThe hard problem\n\nThe above is all fine and dandy until bounded variable addition (BVA) comes to the scene. This technique adds new variables to the problem to simplify it. These new variables will look like new outer variables, which seems good at first sight: the system could simply print the solution to all variables except the last N that were added by BVA and are not part of the original problem. However, if the caller adds new variables after the call to solve(), what can we do? The actual variables by the caller and the BVA variables will be mixed up: start with a bunch of original variables, sprinkle the end with some BVA, then some original variables, then some BVA…\n\nThe trivial solution to this is to have another mapping, one that translates variable numbers between the BVA and non-BVA system. As you might imagine, this complicates everything. Another solution is to forcibly eliminate all BVA variables after the call to solve(), let the user add the new clauses, and perform BVA again. Another even more complicated solution is to keep track of the variables being added, then re-number all variables inside all datastructures to move all BVA variables to the end of the variable array. This is expensive but only needs to be done once after the call to solve(), which may be acceptable. Currently, CryptoMiniSat uses the trivial scheme. Maybe I’ll move to the last (and most complicated) system later on.\n\n\nVariable renumbering is not for the faint of heart. Bugs become significantly harder to track, as all debug messages need to be translated to a common variable numbering or they make no sense at all. It’s also very easy to introduce bugs through variable renumbering. A truly difficult bug I had was when the disconnected component finder’s sub-solver renumbered its internal variables and when I tried to import some values from the sub-solver back to the main solver, I used the wrong variable numbers.\n\nA note on learnt clauses\n\n\nA bit of terminology\n\n\n\n\nThe distinction\n\n\n\nAn observation about glues\n\n\n\n\nSome speculation about glues\n\n\n\nLocking clauses\n\n\n\n\nEnd notes\n\n\n\nA variable elimination improvement\n\nLately, I have been thinking about how to improve variable elimination. It’s one of the most important things in SAT solvers, and it’s not exactly easy to do right.\n\nVariable elimination\n\nVariable elimination simply resolves every occurrence of a literal v1 with every occurrence of the literal \\neg v1 , removes the original clauses and adds the resolvents. For example, let’s take the clauses\n\nv1 \\vee v2 \\vee v3\nv1 \\vee v4 \\vee v5\n\\neg v1 \\vee v10 \\vee v11\n\\neg v1 \\vee v12 \\vee v13\n\nWhen v1 gets eliminated the resolvents become\n\nv2 \\vee v3 \\vee v10 \\vee v11\nv2 \\vee v3 \\vee v12 \\vee v13\nv4 \\vee v5 \\vee v10 \\vee v11\nv4 \\vee v5 \\vee v12 \\vee v13\n\nThe fun comes when the resolvents are tautological. This happens in this case for example:\n\nv1 \\vee v4\n\\neg v1 \\vee v5\\vee \\neg v4\n\nThe resolvent is the clause\n\nv4 \\vee \\neg v4 \\vee v5\n\nWhich contains both a literal and its negation and is therefore always true. It’s good to find variables we can eliminate without and side-effects, i.e. variables that eliminate without leaving any resolvents behind. However, it’s not so cheap to find these. Until now.\n\nA fast procedure for calculating the no. of non-tautological resolvents\n\nThe method I came up with is the following. For every clause where v1 is inside, I go through every literal and in an array the size of all possible literals, I set a bit. For every clause, I set a different bit. When going through every clause of every literal where \\neg v1 is present, I calculate the hamming weight (a popcount(), a native ASM instruction on modern CPUs) of the array’s inverse literals and substruct this hamming weight from the number of clauses v1 was inside. I sum up all these and then the final count will be the number of non-tautological resolvents. Here is a pseudo-code:\n\nI think this is pretty neat. Notice that this is linear in the number of literals in the clauses where v1 and \\neg v1 is present. The only limitation of this approach is that ‘myarray’ has to have enough bits in its elements to hold ‘num’ number of bits. This is of course non-trivial and can be expensive in terms of memory (and cache-misses) but I still find this approach rather fun.\n\nUsing this procedure, I can check whether all resolvents are tautological, and if so, remove all the clauses and not calculate anything at all. Since this happens very often, I save a lot of calculation.\n\nWhy programs fail\n\nI just bought the book with the title of the blogpost by Andreas Zeller. Essentially, it’s about debugging, where the author analyses the chain of program defect leading to infected program state, finally leading to program failure. I bought the book because while working with CryptoMiniSat, I have encountered so many bugs that they could fill a book.\n\nThe problem with chasing bugs in CryptoMiniSat is that SAT solvers employ a very optimised algorithm that makes a lot of decisions per second, so recording all interesting events makes for a very big dump file. I have per-module verbosity settings, so if I can narrow down what module(s) are causing the failure, there is less debug output to go through, but sometimes I still have to wade through 10-20GB dumps to see how the program state got infected.\n\nWhile going through such large dumps, the following occured to me: what if we loaded all this data into a MySQL database? Some 8 years ago I had a job where I processed a large chunk of the data on all of Hungary’s phone conversations on a daily basis. Essentially, data on your phone calls are recorded in many different databases, and these must be merged to calculate your bill and to provide statistical feedback to the company. I wrote a program that processed 3million records in about 1 hour using MySQL and a number of SQL statements that spanned approx. 2-3000 lines. In other words, I am not afraid of large databases, and I think such multi-gigabyte data could easily be loaded into a MySQL database.\n\nThe goal of loading a SAT run into a MySQL database is the following: once the MySQL data is ready, a bit of PHP, graphviz and gnuplot will plot any relevant information at any point in time about the solving. In other words, we could dig this data visually, with some very interesting effects.\n\nFor example, I have been lately having problems with clause strengthening interfering with variable elimination. The idea is in theory quite simple. Variable elimination eliminates a variable and adds clauses that represent the original clauses the variable was present in. These clauses are sometimes trivial, such as:\na or b or c or !c = true\nwhich is never added since it is satisfied whether c is true or false. So far, so good. Clause strenghtening is a method whereby clauses are shortened. For example, if there was a clause:\ne or b or c = true\nthe solver might discover that in fact it is also true that:\ne or b = true\nand replace the original clause with this, since this clause is “stronger”: it poses a more stringent requirement. The way variable elimination and clause strenghtening interact is as follows. Let’s suppose we eliminate on varible e. If the above clause is strenghtened before elimination, then instead of:\na or b or c or !c = true\nwe might have got:\na or b or !c = true\nwhich must be added. We actually have more clauses because of clause strenghtening! I believe nobody ever found this anomaly. To properly quantitise how this affects solving, we need to know all states of a clause, and a web interface with a MySQL backbone could help a lot with that.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7126519680023193} +{"content": "Dirrane Cove\n\nExecutive Director\n\nDirrane is the Executive Director of the Work First Foundation, a workforce innovation laboratory dedicated to the belief that employment is the most important first step towards lifting people out of poverty. As the daughter of social entrepreneurs, Dirrane has seen first-hand the positive impact of work throughout her life. She fundamentally believes that employment promotes upward mobility, reduces poverty, and fosters positive mental health and overall stability. \n\nIn her role as Executive Director, she overseas all programs operated by the organization, including ensuring ongoing programmatic excellence, rigorous evaluation, and consistent quality of finance and administration, fundraising, communications, and systems, while recommending timelines and resources needed to achieve strategic goals.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999661445617676} +{"content": "Tag Archives: soil\n\nDon’t treat soil like dirt!\n\nCheck out my new blog here\n\nSoil is a precious resource, yet most of us pay little attention to the stuff under our feet. It is the medium in which we grow our food and the foundation on which we build our cities. Soils filter our water, detoxify our pollutants, decompose our waste and hold vast reserves of the nutrients required for life. Soils are also fragile, taking thousands to million of years to develop but destroyed in minutes by human development.\n\nFor the past three years, myself and my fellow soil enthusiast Aurora have spent our Saturdays in December showing kids how awesome soil and the microbes that inhabit it actually are. We’ve developed a number of soil and microbiology activities to teach kids of all ages what soil actually is, who lives in it, and why we should value it. The take-home message? Don’t treat soil like dirt! Human beings (and nearly ever other species on earth) depend on soil for our very survival.\n\nHere are some highlights from the last two weeks of the workshop:\n\nChecking out some protozoa under the microscope!\nMaking a hypothesis before conducting an experiment!\nMaking a hypothesis before conducting an experiment!\nMAKING SOIL! This is always a favorite. Want to make soil at home with your kids? Check out my homebrew recipe below...\nProbably the coolest thing I've ever made in photoshop.\nProbably the coolest thing I’ve ever made in photoshop.\n\nWe are even participating in an international, crowd-sourced science experiment known as the Tea Bag Index experiment to measure rates of decomposition in different soil types! This is a fun and easy experiment you can do in your backyard. All you need is a few teabags and a scale. Decomposition, the breakdown of once-living organic matter and conversion into soil organic matter, is an important step in the global carbon cycle that is driven primarily by soil microorganisms. Ultimately, decomposed carbon is respired back to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Scientists are currently trying to understand how global climate change will affect decomposition and the microbial “respiration” of CO2 from soils. Projects such as the Tea Bag Index experiment provide scientists with valuable data that can be used to inform predictions about changes to the global carbon cycle. For more information on the Tea Bag Index experiment check out the website:\n\n\nOr click here to access the protocol and get involved directly!\n\n\nMost importantly, our workshop strives to underscore the importance of soils in our everyday lives. Kids (and parents) often come unsure of what exactly soil is or why it should matter to them, and often enjoy the experience so much that they return week after week.\n\nLive in the Philly area and got kids? Check us out, every Saturday for the rest of the month!\n\nAnd since I can’t seem to stop geeking out about this stuff, here are some more cool resources to check out on soil science education:\n\nUSDA NRCS Healthy Soil Fact Sheets\n\nReconstructing the proteome of ancient peoples in soils\n\n\n\n\n\nThe history beneath your feet\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn an unpredictable environment, trees network for stability\n\nIn the highly variable ridge, slope and valley mosaic that forms the Luquillo Mountains of northeastern Puerto Rico, Dacroydes excelsa, commonly known as Tabnuco, dominates the landscape. Though tropical forests are generally quite diverse and seen as ideal environments for plant growth, life in this rainforest can actually be quite challenging. Powerful hurricanes pass through the Caribbean annually and hit the Puerto Rican mainland every few years. Large swatches of the Luquillo forest were flattened several years back when hurricane Hugo struck in 1989. Aside from directly damaging or wiping out forest stands, hurricanes cause landslides that severly erode the already shallow, nutrient depauperate soils.\n\nOn steep, harsh slopes that experience such frequent disturbance, what allows one tree species to gain a competitive advantage over the hundreds of others struggling to survive? Rather than compete fiercely for limited resources only to be at the mercy of the next devastating hurricane, Tabunuco trees have adopted an alternative strategy- cooperation and resource sharing through root grafting.\n\nRoot grafting, the joining of neighboring tree roots to produce a network, is a phenomenon that scientists have been aware of for decades, though the extent of its occurrence and the benefits that it provides trees are largely unknown. In Tabunuco forests, however, root grafting is widespread and many of its benefits obvious.\n\nTabunuco trees grow in dense stands and will graft roots with neighboring trees as they mature, forming unions that comprise anywhere from two to over a dozen trees. A clear advantage of this strategy in an environment that experiences powerful storms is structural stability. Trees that have entered unions increase their base of support and are less likely to be uprooted during a wind event or landslide. In increasing their wind-firmness, individual trees boost their survival chances during a storm. Fewer uprooting events also reduces the probability of a major landslide and helps ensure the retention of the surface organic matter that contains most of the forest’s available nutrients.\n\nRoot networks can also improve soil conditions during the off-season. Densely packed surface roots form “organic benches” which trap leaves and other decaying plant matter rather than allowing these important nutrient sources be washed downslope. Roots aerate the soil, facilitating decomposition and nutrient flow. They also “prime” the surrounding soil for productivity by releasing sugary compounds that stimulate beneficial microbial activity (the interaction between plants and microbes in the root zone known as the “rhizosphere” is another fascinating topic entirely, which I will do attempt to do justice to in the future).\n\nScientists are now discovering previously undetectable advantages of Tabunuco grafting that underscore the high degree of sophistication and evolutionary purpose in the development of these networks. It is now known that root networks can actually serve as conduits for the transfer of carbon and essential nutrients between trees. This can provide an immense competitive advantage over non-networked trees. Tabunuco trees that receive the most sunlight and produce the most carbon through photosynthesis can transfer carbon to neighboring Tabunucos to ensure the long-term health and survival of the community. Individuals of less common species, such as the Caribbean palm and Colorado tree are excluded from Tabunuco networks and must compete for growth given only the resources available in the vicinity of their roots.\n\nThough in Tabunucos root grafting precludes the need for inter-tree competition, it is theoretically possible that trees could use grafting for more selfish purposes. Ecologists have speculated whether trees can gain a competitive advantage over their neighbors by leeching a neighbor’s nutrients, much as the fungal organisms that associate symbiotically with plant roots can become greedy and actually sap nutrients from their host under stressful conditions. Root networks may even serve as a conduit for disease or herbicide transfer, allowing trees that produce or tolerate a harmful compound to efficiently clear out their competitors.\n\nBasnet, K., F.N. Scatena, G.E. Likens, and A.E. Lugo. 1992. Ecological consequences of root grafting in tabonuco (Dacryodes excelsa) trees in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. Biotropica 25:28-35.\n\nenzymes in the environment\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMaybe we should reconsider raking our leaves\n\nI recently learned a fascinating fact about leaf raking that should be painfully obvious to a forest ecologist- it’s bad for trees! Every spring, deciduous trees produce leaves that they use throughout the growing season for photosynthesis and sugar production. Plants concentrate essential nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium, calcium and magnesium in their leaves, as these nutrients are all required in relatively high amounts to perform photosynthesis.\n\nAs winter approaches and the growing season ends, trees withdraw many of the proteins and nutrients they have stockpiled in leaves back into their woody tissue, so that these nutrients can be recycled to make new leaves the following year. However, most trees are able to do even better than this- after their leaves have fallen, the nutrients that couldn’t be recaptured in time are decomposed into the surface soil surrounding the tree, and will be available for uptake through the roots several years later. This regular flux of plant essential nutrients back to the soil through leaf litter means that plants depend on those same nutrients, year after year, to grow new leaves.\n\nIn fact, if you look at the typical architecture of a deciduous tree, it is no accident that probably appears like two umbrellas attached together at their handles. The top umbrella is the above ground parts of a tree from the base of the trunk to its canopy. The bottom umbrella is inverted and planted into the ground. It is composed of a main taproot that drives straight down into the earth, and lateral roots that branch out horizontally. Of these lateral roots are branching networks of finer and finer “root hairs” and associated fungi that are able, through their enormous surface area, to mine the soil underneath a tree for nutrients. Everything that is dropped from the top umbrella should theoretically be recoverable by this root system.\n\nI’d imagine most of you can already see where this is going, but I find that sometimes simple truths are quite elusive. When we rake our leaves in the fall to maintain our clean, grassy lawns, we are removing loads of nutrients that our trees are expecting to get back! We are creating an artificially open, leaky system, that trees have spent millions of evolutionary years refining. A recent paper in a relatively esoteric research journal, “Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems” (who reads that??) attempted to quantify the impact of historic leaf raking on old agricultural towns in central Europe. The fascinating bit of historical information in this paper is that centuries ago, medieval farmers actually knew that leaves were a great nutrient source- farmers removed leaves from nearby forests specifically to use as fertilizer on their fields. This paper claims that the result of historic leaf raking is that the “majority of central European forests were severely depleted of nutrients…when modern long-term rotation forestry became the dominant form of forest land use”.\n\nSo next fall, when you’re pulling out your rakes or enlisting your kids to do so for a few dollars, think carefully about your trees. In all likelihood, the average patch of suburban lawn is already so nutrient depauperate from numerous land use changes (deforestation, asphalt paving, over-fertilization, the cultivation of a monoculture of non-native grasses, to name a few) that removing a few leaves isn’t going to make a big difference. But if I’ve learned anything from Malcom Gladwell, it’s that little changes that add up to produce big effects, and if medieval Europeans were knowingly removing nutrients from their forests, I figured modern suburbanites should at least be aware.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6265425682067871} +{"content": "\nLegendmaker is 10-sided dice based, although any method of random percentile generation will work. Your character's abilities are based on his Proficiencies- a set of skills learned from an apprenticeship with an elder. Each Proficiency has a Percent Chance to Achieve associated with it. You roll percentile dice under these Percent Chances to Achieve to accomplish your task. Very easy.\nThe magic system for both Mages and Clerics is based on the same formula with adjustments based on the difficulty of the spell. In addition to this, spellcasters are limited to a certain umber of Spell Points per day. They regain these spell points through either prayer (in the case of a Cleric) or rest (in the case of a Mage). The really fantastic part of the magic system is the Unleveled spells, a set of spells that can be cast at any level, depending upon the number of Spell Points used during casting.\nLegendmaker is written for anyone to understand, from beginner to battle-scarred veteran. Its simplicity is obvious. Its nuances are numerous. Its elegance is unparalleled.\nDiarrah, Morris, Mycroft and an unknown dwarf are ready to take on anything... until the dice start falling wrong.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9533661007881165} +{"content": "The Cube Sequencer\n\nThe Rubik’s Cube Sequencer\n\nA camera and led lights are mounted over a game board painted in matte black.\nA color recognizing algorithm built in a web sequencer for Chrome playing back sounds. Each color represent one musical instrument, totally 6 diffeent instruments. Each position horisontally represents a beat in a 4/4 loop. Each position vertically represents a key from low pitch closesnt to the player and high pitch further up.\n\nThe setups can be any sound you put into the sequencer but in the demo film, this is the set up: White is drums, green is bass, orange is percussion, red is synth 1, yellow is synth 2, blue is synth 3.\n\nIn order to compose, the played have to place the right cube in the right box and then twist the cube to get the desired combination. This is quite complicated as it is but when changing one instrument it effect other instruments. So composing music becomes a puzzle. A very difficult puzzle. But why does it have to be easy? Most of today’s electronic music tools have a low learning curve. But the Cube Sequencer is not easy. Just like learning how to play the violin or chess – or to solve the Rubik’s Cube, this takes time to master.\nWhat is the difference between playing a game and playing music?\nAnd who is the winner?\nAt the Daily Planet Show, Discovery Channel:\n\nThe Rubik’s Cube Sequencer was made by Håkan Lidbo (concept and sound design), Per-Olov Jernberg (programming & visual design) and Romeo Brahasteanu (game board).", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9619653224945068} +{"content": "Our Service at HSS\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLimb lengthening has proven to be a very powerful and effective procedure.\n\nLimb lengthening is possible and has been performed successfully for about 50 years in Kurgan, Russia. Gavriil A. Ilizarov developed the concept in 1951 after seeing many WWII veterans who had leg fractures that had not healed (non-unions).\n\nIlizarov first developed an external fixation frame that was placed around the leg. Knowing that compression of the fracture would help stimulate bone healing, he built a frame that had this capacity. He instructed a patient to gradually compress the non-union by turning a rod. However, the patient turned the rod the wrong way and caused distraction (separation) of the fracture. Ilizarov noticed that new bone had formed in the gap between the bone ends. This was the beginning of much research and development that showed that limb lengthening was possible, safe and effective.\n\n\nIlizarov and his colleagues performed thousands of limb lengthening procedures in Kurgan, Russia. Russian politics, however, made education and communication with the Western world very difficult. Finally, Italian surgeons started performing and improving the procedure in the early 1980s and a large center soon developed in Lecco, Italy. The first limb lengthening case in the United States was performed in 1988. At first, there was much resistance and skepticism from the U.S. orthopaedic community, but limb lengthening has proven to be a very powerful and effective procedure.\n\n\nWe provide opportunities for individuals who previously had no treatment alternatives.\n\nThe regenerated bone is normal and does not wear out. The muscles, nerves and blood vessels grow in response to the slow stretch like they do during a growth spurt or in pregnancy. The actual procedure is minimally invasive and requires only one or two nights in the hospital. Patients aren’t in much pain since the distraction is so gradual and patients can continue to walk during the treatment.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlease visit:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7300653457641602} +{"content": "The oldest ceramic shards to be found in be found in the world were discovered in Japan and date back some 12,400 years. That was the pottery of the Jomon (12400-250BC) culture, followed by the Yayoi (250BC-250AD) culture, which was open pit-fired, porous, and made without a potter’ s wheel. In the fifth century potters and other technical experts were invited to Japan from what is now Korea Inception of technically advanced Sue ware took place at that time bringing to Japan the potter’s wheel and anagama tunnel kiln. Sue ware was made throughout Japan and is the origin of Bizen ware. Sue pottery is characterized by having a sharp, fine, delicate, form, thin walls, and a light blue-grayish color. It was made throughout the Heian period (794-1185AD) and used mainly in religious ceremonies and by the aristocratic society.\n\nThe end of the12th century also marked the end of the Heian period, and of its court aristocracy, and the beginning of the Kamakura period (1185-1338) with its feudal system of government. The Kamakura society required more utilitarian ceramics for everyday living rather than of artistic value. At this time six large pottery production centers came into prominence in Japan evolving to produce rougher, heavier, higher fired, more durable pottery and Bizen was one of those centers. From the Kamakura period the pottery made in Bizen began to have unique qualities such as reddish or brownish color surface and melted ash resembling sesame seeds and so is called Bizen ware.\n\nIn the Muromachi period (1338-1573) Bizen became the most popular ceramic in Japan because of its superior clay, quite atmosphere, durability, and water preserving qualities. The next period, Momoyama (1568-1600), was the golden age of art in Japan. During this period giant 5 x 50 meter tunnel kilns were made in Bizen. The great lord Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the great tea master Sue no Rikyu both loved Bizen ware and greatly supported it. Many tea ware masterpieces were made during this period.\n\nIn the Edo period (1603-1868) porcelaine was introduced to Japan and became very popular. The feudal lord of the Bizen area Ikeda Mitsumasa, began to protect Bizen but even so, popularity continued to steadily decline. The roof tiles of the shizutani school, Which Ikeda Mitsumasa created for the purpose of educating common people, were made of Bizen pottery and the lecture hall has been designated a national landmark.\n\nWith the Meiji restoration (1868) Japan opened its doors to west and the public lost interest in Japanese traditional arts. This was disastrous for Bizen but even so small individual kilns began to be fired, though drain pipes and refractory brick production was the main industry.\n\nAfter 1945 there were cultural revival movements in Japan. Kaneshige Toyo was successful in attempts to make wares of Momoyama period quality and was designated a living national treasure. His efforts are largely responsible for the present day prosperity of Bizen ware.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9802368879318237} +{"content": "Only Three EU Countries On Track To Meet Paris Climate Agreement Targets\n\nThe EU is often seen as a leader in climate action, but it isn't actually doing that well itself. European Parliament/Flickr/ CC BY-NC-ND 2.0\n\nA new report has found that only three European countries are currently on track to meet their Paris agreement targets. Sweden currently tops the list, followed then by Germany and France, but all of the other 27 nations – which account for 60 percent of the continent's emissions – are not doing nearly enough.\n\nWhen the Paris climate talks took place at the end of 2015, Europe pledged to cut carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030. Yet the report, compiled by the Carbon Market Watch, has found that many nations are using loopholes to avoid this. They are now calling on these countries to close those loopholes and produce yearly reports on their progress.\n\nDespite often being seen as progressive and a world leader, Europe has been slipping down the table when it comes to climate action. In the last few years, countries traditionally seen as “developing” have been overtaking Europe in terms of investment and commitments. China and India, for example, are now some of the largest investors in renewable energy in the world, with China in particular pulling far ahead of the rest.\n\nThis is a trend that has been going on for a few years now. In 2015, developing nations outpaced those in the west in terms of investment for the first time. While the developed world was found to have invested $130 billion in renewables in 2015, down 8 percent on the year previous, those nations in the developing world invested $156 billion, an increase of 19 percent.\n\nAnd little has changed. China, for example, has announced that it will pump $361 billion into renewable power generation by 2020, an astonishing commitment to push away from their reliance on fossil fuels such as coal – consumption of which in the country has slumped in recent years.\n\n“EU politicians portraying themselves as climate leaders should put their money where their mouth is by closing loopholes in the EU’s key climate law and pushing for more ambition,” Femke de Jong, the EU policy director of Carbon Market Watch, says in a statement. “Only with determined climate action will lawmakers ensure that European citizens can enjoy the significant benefits of a decarbonised society, such as clean air.”\n\nWhile Europe is seemingly falling behind the pack, recent events in the United States suggest that it will not be alone. By tearing up the Clean Power Plan and removing regulations for fossil fuel extraction, President Trump is trying to stimulate the coal industry while ignoring the consequences this would have for their own commitments to the Paris climate agreement.\n\nIronically, despite this report showing that the EU isn’t doing too great itself, Europe led in the criticism against Trump when news broke about the rollback of the climate policies put in place by Obama.\n\n\nIf you liked this story, you'll love these\n\nThis website uses cookies\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7343741655349731} +{"content": "I observed what was going on, the hearing loss and the Tinnitus\n\nWhen I came up again my hearing in the right ear was reduced to almost nothing. I observed what was going on, the hearing loss and the Tinnitus. Tinnitus is sometimes the first sign of hearing loss in older people. It also can be a side effect of medications. Researchers have observed hyperactivity in neural networks after exposing the ear to intense noise. Just about anything that can cause hearing loss can also cause tinnitus. Some people do not appear to be too bothered by their tinnitus, but most would wish it would go away. Any reduction in tinnitus, when it is observed, is short-lived.\n\nI observed what was going on, the hearing loss and the Tinnitus 2This type of tinnitus is annoying, but, usually goes away after a few hours. Permanent hearing loss, and tinnitus is frequently observed with the Administration of ototoxic chemotherapeutic agents such as the various heavy metal platinum compounds. It can cause problems with hearing and balance, and also ringing in the ears (tinnitus). About 7 in 10 people with an acoustic neuroma have tinnitus in one ear. If they do happen, it is due to hydrocephalus (see above). If you have a very small acoustic neuroma, your doctors might decide that the best way to treat you is just to observe and monitor it closely. Typically, three cycles are performed just prior to going to sleep.\n\nIn the remaining third, the next most common observation is hearing loss at low frequency (which would be more typical of Meniere s disease). Tinnitus is very common in acoustic neuroma, and is usually unilateral and confined to the affected ear. The symptoms of individuals with postexposure tinnitus or hearing loss should be taken seriously. Occasionally, a work environment results in asymmetrical noise exposure, as seen in tractor drivers with ONIHL in which the left ear is more frequently affected than the right ear. Competition document: detect and treat hearing loss and tinnitus. This challenge is seeking potential novel solutions that go beyond current options to stop further hearing loss and, potentially, restore hearing function.\n\nTinnitus Hear Md\n\nI observed what was going on, the hearing loss and the Tinnitus 3Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is hearing impairment resulting from exposure to high decibel (loud) sound that may exhibit as loss of a narrow range of frequencies, impaired cognitive perception of sound or other impairment, including hyperacusis or tinnitus. By the age of 60, this number goes up to 70. It had been observed that noise conditioning (i.e. exposure to loud non-traumatizing noise) several hours prior to the exposure to traumatizing sound level, significantly reduced the damages inflicted to the hair-cells. Observation (non-treatment) over time also usually results in hearing loss in the affected ear. Since the incision goes directly through the inner ear, this results in permanent and complete hearing loss in that ear. Normal hearing thresholds can also be accompanied by impaired function of efferent fibers that project from the brainstem to the cochlea (Kim et al. In addition to providing physiological evidence for deficits in cochlear processing in tinnitus patients with a normal audiogram, our results go one crucial step further by demonstrating that the putative deafferentation of AN fibers is associated with increased neural gain at the level of the brainstem. Hearing worsens, symptoms of disequilibrium worsen, and tinnitus becomes louder. So along with hearing loss and disequilibrium, patients may experience difficulties breathing and numbness of the face if the tumors grow too large. The patient was fitted with a hearing aid but a year later still wondered what was going on, so the patient sought the advice of a physician. Treatment by observation means that we obtain serial MRI scans for those patients who are relatively asymptomatic and over the age of 65. Patients may experience severe hearing loss (either suddenly or progressively over a period of years) or balance problems. The patient is observed for hearing, balance, tinnitus, and facial nerve function. Sudden hearing loss (SHL) is a significant hearing loss that occurs in 72 hours or less. Thus people who already have ear damage — are more likely to have more hearing loss documented going forward. Also supporting the idea that vascular causes are important, is the observation that SHL following surgery outside the inner ear, is most commonly associated with cardiopulmonary bypass surgery (Page and Peters, 2015).\n\nAcoustic Neuroma\n\nIt also affects hearing, with tinnitus (usually a buzz or hum) and hearing loss (usually of low tones). As an illustration of what happens with unilateral vestibular damage, let’s consider the effects of sudden loss of the right labyrinthine system, for example, as in vestibular neuronitis (a common affliction, presumably viral in origin). An excellent example of the suppression of nystagmus and vertigo is seen in the figure skater who is subjected to marked acceleration and deceleration of the horizontal endolymph-cristae systems during every spin. If you experience a sudden hearing loss in one ear, this is considered a medical emergency. Close-up view of the bony canal thru which the hearing nerve goes thru to get to the ear. At that time, i observed that i can hear properly for 10-20 mins and then again my ear goes deaf. I have my hearing back and very low residual tinnitus. A lady reported, I just took Augmentin and the volume of my tinnitus went up. Her infection has improved considerably since then but off late I have observed that she is having a slight hearing loss. Similar observations have been made in other areas of the brain that are involved in the processing of sound as well. However, cutting the auditory nerve leads to complete deafness and therefore is not a desirable therapy. If you’ve got questions about tinnitus go to our tinnitus section to find out more.\n\nExposure to loud sounds is the main cause of hearing loss. Until 30 years ago, most harmful noise exposures took place at the workplace. 9.3 Is tinnitus more frequent among users of personal music players? A small notch at 4 kHz (2-3 dB on average, no more than 15 dB) was observed after exposure to pop music with moderate use of percussion instruments, while significantly more TTS was observed with the pop music extensively using percussion instruments. Over time the tumor can cause gradual hearing loss, ringing in the ear, and dizziness. Treatment options include observation, surgery, and radiation. The most common first symptom is hearing loss in the affected ear, which often goes unrecognized or is mistaken for a normal change of aging. Facial numbness or tingling can be constant or it may come and go (intermittent). Over time hearing loss and tinnitus may become permanent. Observation This option may be preferred in affected individuals where no associated symptoms are present or where a small tumor is not growing or growing at a slow rate. Characteristics of tinnitus with or without hearing loss: clinical observations in Sicilian tinnitus patients. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical characteristics of tinnitus both in normal hearing subjects and in patients with hearing loss.\n\nYou may also like", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5027879476547241} +{"content": "Sample Branch Chief Responsibilities and Duties\n\nPosted in Job Responsibilities\n\nSupervise and plan all market operations and surveillance programs for all Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization.\nPerform regular inspection on branch to identify all trends and recommend new methods if required.\nDesign and oversee all policies and recommend appropriate actions for all studies and surveys.\nCoordinate with various offices to ensure effective implementation of all branch activities for administrative and human resource department.\nOversee efficient working of all attorneys and security examiners.\nDevelop appropriate assignments and allocate work to staff and ensure compliance to all NRSRO and evaluate all programs and procedures to ensure smooth functioning of branch.\nEvaluate all working of staff members for general office and prepare all FCB plans and perform agricultural economic research and perform analysis on all branches within ERS.\nDisseminate all statistics and data, gather all research findings for various clients and prepare various reports and design required briefs and speeches.\nProvide required consultation on various economic functions associate with FCB area.\nProvide all required technical assistance to various government agencies and provide subject matter expertise as per requirement.\nEnsure usage of appropriate test methodologies to resolve all issues and analyze various market and price activities and modify all research programs to suit requirements.\nPerform and identify all appropriate research activities and allocate all required resources for all FCB activities and validate all results and assist to collect all data and publish all results.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9907845854759216} +{"content": "mysql if statement example\n\nmysql if statement example is a mysql if statement document that shows the process of designing mysql if statement format. A well designed mysql if statement example can help design mysql if statement example with unified style and layout.\n\nmysql if statement example basics\n\nWhen designing mysql if statement document, it is important to use style settings and tools. Microsoft Office provide a powerful style tool to help you manage your mysql if statement appearance and formatting. A style can apply a consistent look across the whole document instead of having to format each section individually, in the style setting, you can make arrangement for section headers, body text font, header section font, paragraph spacing, color scheme for SmartArt, charts, and shapes etc. a customized mysql if statement styles may help you quickly set mysql if statement titles, mysql if statement subheadings, mysql if statement section headings apart from one another by giving them unique fonts, font characteristics, and sizes. By grouping these characteristics into styles, you can create mysql if statement documents that have a consistent look without having to manually format each section header. Instead you set the style and you can control every heading set as that style from central location. you also need to consider different variations: mysql if else statement example, mysql if else statement example word, mysql case statement example, mysql case statement example word, php if statement example, php if statement example word, mysql nvl function, mysql nvl function word\n\nMicrosoft Office also has many predefined styles you can use. you can apply Microsoft Word styles to any text in the mysql if statement document by selecting the text or sections, clicking the Home tab, and choosing a style in the Styles Gallery. Hover your mouse over the style, and you can see what the text will look like before you apply the style to it. Using styles helps you streamline the creation and editing of mysql if statement documents, You can also make the styles your own by changing how they look in Microsoft Word. During the process of mysql if statement style design, it is important to consider different variations, for example, mysql if statement example in select, mysql if statement example in select word, mysql select statement example, mysql select statement example word, sql server if statement example, sql server if statement example word, mysql select if statement, mysql select if statement word.\n\nmysql if statement example\n\nmysql mysql 5 6 reference manual 13 6 5 2 if syntax the if statement can have then , else , and elseif clauses, and it is terminated with in this example, the inner if is evaluated only if n is not equal to m . mysql if in select statement choose output value based on column values from mysql source, i notice definitions of coalesce, one with arguments, and other with a list of arguments, but see an example newsletter mysql if statement this tutorial shows you how to use mysql if statement to execute a block of sql the following example illustrates how to use the if esleif else statement. mysql if this mysql tutorial explains how to use the if then else statement in mysql with syntax and examples. in mysql, the if then else statement is used to example mysql if function mysql if takes three expressions and if the first expression is true, not zero in the following example the mysql statement returns the third 4 2 conditional control it is not necessary to break the if statement across multiple lines all of the if statements in example are treated identically by mysql. example . alternate if statement click on the items in the list below to learn more about using the if statement. in the first example program it was simply a case of if the parameter is a, run the mysql does not support if else statements in general sql ben nadel notes the fact that if else endif statements are not an example of using an if statement directly in it but by my testing, this mysql nested if in select queries using inline nested if statements in mysql select queries, so for example, if you wanted to calculate the sales tax on an order, but only if the mysql if statements and a sub query span class f span class nobr span class nobr min span class nobr uploaded by optikalefxever wanted to know what situation a mysql if statement would call for well here it is we also", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5655187964439392} +{"content": "Distal extraarticular humerus fracture ORIF with plate+screws.\n\nDistal humeral extraarticular fractures are best treated with surgery in order to avoid deformity close to the elbow joint.\n\n\nExtraarticular means that the fracture does not involve the elbow joint directly. Proximal is used to describe the near end of the bone. Distal is used to describe the far end of the bone.\n\nCase study\n\nThis patient was in his 20's, injury was sustained from a severe fall.\n\nThe sketch below is my presurgical plan.\n\nPlate was applied posterolaterally, under radial nerve.\n\nHere are a couple of the views of the operation. The picture below was taken just before closing the wound. In this picture you see the back of the arm and the triceps on the top half of the picture. The steel plate is in the middle of the picture, between the triceps above and the humerus below.\n\nHere is the radial nerve going over the plate.\n\nXrays in 2 and a half months show a healed fracture.\n\nNo cast was used. Motion of the elbow was started immediately. Patient was told to not lift anything with the injured arm, but to otherwise move it to tolerance. Physical therapy was started in the first week.\n\nBy 2 months, patient had regained full motion, no difference side to side. At 1 year after surgery he remained asymptomatic, at which point he was discharged from care.\n\nVideo of the fluid and pain-free motion.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9642903208732605} +{"content": "Friday, 9 December 2016\n\nCrossing the chasm\n\nIndian Express, 9th December 2016\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFriday, 11 November 2016\n\nShow me the money\n\nIndian Express, 11th November 2016\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMonday, 17 October 2016\n\nUnprepared for bad days\n\nIndian Express, 17th October 2016\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFriday, 9 September 2016\n\nA note for Dr Patel\n\nIndian Express, 9th September 2016\n\nThe newly apponted RBI Governor, Urjit Patel (Express Photo By-Ganesh Shirsekar)\n\nUrjit Patel has taken over as governor at a time when the RBI has, for the first time, been given a clear legal mandate to target inflation. Governor Patel, lead author of the flexible inflation targeting framework, is undoubtedly the most suitable person to give credibility to the new mandate. His biggest challenge now lies in leading the reforms through which the RBI can actually influence inflation.\n\nRaghuram Rajan's key contribution was his firm commitment to inflation targeting as the objective of monetary policy. His term ended with the RBI being given the legal mandate for inflation targeting. Patel faces a much tougher task.\n\nWhy is Patel's job much harder? Until now the RBI could talk about price stability and it could respond to the inflation rate by changing the policy rate, but it was not held responsible for the outcome. A rise in CPI inflation could be explained by blaming fiscal expansion, demand for protein, bad measures of inflation, inadequate transmission of monetary policy and so on. What has changed now is that the RBI can no longer merely “explain” high inflation. If CPI inflation is higher than the target, it has to not only provide reasons for its failure to meet the target, but also propose remedial actions.\n\nWhile today it is a challenge for the RBI to even influence bank lending rates, let alone the CPI, the inflation targeting mandate requires the RBI to ensure that it is able to do so. The amendment to the RBI Act in the Finance Bill 2016 that redefined the objective of monetary policy might have shifted the decision of setting the policy rate from being the sole responsibility of the governor to a committee process, but the Monetary Policy Committee only has the mandate of setting the policy rate. The responsibility of ensuring that changes in the policy rate get transmitted to the financial sector remains with the governor. It is he who will lead the RBI in managing liquidity, undertaking repo transactions, buying and selling government bonds and foreign exchange and ensuring competition in the banking sector so that the MPC's decisions get transmitted to markets.\n\nImproving the transmission of monetary policy is no simple task. There are no easy recipes. For example, one necessary but not sufficient condition for obtaining financial markets that transmit changes made to the policy rate throughout the financial system is a deep and liquid bond market. The bond market in India is seriously limited by the lack of an independent public debt management office and restricted access to bond markets. This is an agenda that needs both legislative change and institution building. It needs cooperation between the RBI and government to make it work. Creating an independent public debt manager and the accompanying bond markets in which the debt office would sell government debt will be a crucial element in improving transmission of monetary policy.\n\nIn the next few weeks, a key element of Governor Patel's strategy will have to be communication. Communication to show his commitment to the inflation targeting framework will give it credibility. Rajan's legacy of regularly repeating the RBI's commitment to inflation targeting was in sharp contrast to the flip-flops in the speeches of some of his predecessors. Patel has to continue Rajan's legacy. While markets do assume that he supports the inflation targeting framework, speeches and statements emphasising his commitment to the framework will strengthen and consolidate it. This is particularly important in the present context when questions have been raised about elements of the framework.\n\nNext, Governor Patel has to lay down, whether publicly or internally, a path of the financial market reforms he will undertake to improve the transmission of monetary policy. Some ground work has been done and recommendations are available in the form of the Percy Mistry, Rajan and FSLRC report. However, actual legislative and institutional reform is tricky and involves adept political manoeuvring. It involves negotiating both with the government and with RBI staff. Patel's experience as deputy governor should come in useful in playing this complex role. The task of negotiating the path of reform will be an enormous challenge.\n\nWearing his academic hat, Patel is known to emphasise fiscal discipline. A profligate government can make the RBI's job of inflation targeting much harder. While the bulk of the responsibility of fiscal discipline lies with the government, in India the RBI plays an important role. A necessary though not sufficient condition for the government to control its borrowing is the pain it should feel when the cost of borrowing goes up. This involves the goverment having to face markets that push up interest rates and punish governments for indiscipline. In India, the RBI, through the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR), mandates that banks hold more than a fifth of their assets as government bonds. This provides the government with a captive market. Rajan laid down a path for reduction in the SLR. With Patel's emphasis on fiscal discipline, he could exercise the option of accelerating this path. This would be the RBI's contribution to pushing the government to show greater discipline.\n\nGovernor Patel's second biggest challenge will be how to solve the stress in Indian banking. An alphabet soup of restructuring schemes like the CDR, SDR, S4A has not succeeded. The Bankruptcy Code will not yield results in the next couple of years. It is said that almost any negotiated settlement by banks runs into fear of the 3 Cs — the CAG, CVC and CBI. As a consequence, public sector bank officials are reluctant to sign off on haircuts.\n\nThere is no easy way out. Patel, no doubt, understands the enormity of the challenges he faces. As an insider, he would know not just the problems, but also the difficulties that any simple solution poses. This, in itself, is an advantage.\n\nSaturday, 30 July 2016\n\n\nIndian Express, 30th July 2016\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMonday, 30 May 2016\n\nThe fall guy\n\nIndian Express, 28th May 2016\n\nSuccessful inflation targeting calls for more reform. Targeting Governor Raghuram Rajan is all too easy.\n\nSubramanian Swamy's comments, though aimed at RBI governor Raghuram Rajan personally, have significance for the inflation targeting framework of the RBI. In the Budget Session of parliament, the RBI Act, 1934, was amended as part of the finance bill. Inflation targeting has now become law. Soon, the government will notify the level of inflation it wants the RBI to target in the next five years. I argue here that in the present circumstances the target inflation rate should be five per cent. Successful inflation targeting requires reforms that have not been implemented so far. Without a well-functioning bond market, end of financial repression, a competitive banking sector, an independent government debt manager and full understanding and commitment on part of government to low and stable inflation, inflation targeting will be a pipe dream.\n\nIn the last 25 years, the RBI has sometimes raised or lowered policy rates in order to control inflation either of its own account, or, since last year, as part of a formal agreement with the government. The Monetary Policy Framework Agreement (MPFA) signed in February 2015, for the first time, put in place an inflation target agreed upon by the RBI and government. As a first step towards making a commitment to low and stable inflation, this was a significant step. Many an expert committee had recommended that India should do what most other countries, including emerging economies, had done, and adopt inflation targeting as the objective of monetary policy. This framework was formalised with the signing of the MPFA.\n\nIn the past, the RBI had not systematically used either Consumer Price Index (CPI) or Wholesale Price Index (WPI) as the inflation target. However, the MPFA made CPI the mutually agreed target. Since then it was no longer Rajan's unilateral decision to move from WPI to CPI, as Swamy believes. More so, last week through the amendment to the RBI Act, Parliament made CPI the target. But the main reason for Swamy's unhappiness with the target appears to be the high interest rate regime under Rajan. This, no doubt, is hurting industry and employment.\n\nWhat should the government do to help ensure that the objective of low and stable inflation as well as economic growth is achieved?\n\nFirst, the government has the responsibility of notifying the inflation rate that it wishes to achieve. This rate is to be set every five years. The inflation target in the MPFA chosen by government and the RBI was 6 per cent by January 2016 and then 4 per cent for 2016-17 and thereafter (with a band of 2 per cent). This sudden jump down in the inflation rate appears at odds with the stated intent outlined in the Urjit Patel Committee report of setting a glide path to inflation. A glide path in the case of other countries such as Chile and the Czech Republic, cited in the report, was slower and smoother and a lowering of the target was done when the existing target was achieved and stabilised.\n\nFor India, a glide path would have meant that the economy reaches a stable 6 per cent, becomes comfortable with it, and then only the target is lowered to 5 per cent. If 4 per cent is the long-run stable target, as argued in the Urjit Patel Committee report, it would be unrealistic to jump straight to it.\n\nSecond, the government and the RBI should together review India's first experience with formal inflation targeting. One of the well-known problems with monetary policy in the past one year has been the lack of transmission. It appears that given the lack of other reforms in the financial markets such as the creation of a well-functioning bond market, a competitive and market-oriented banking system, and a bond-currency-derivative nexus, monetary policy transmission does not happen easily. In this set-up, it is unlikely that the three-year path to a low and stable inflation envisaged in the MPFA can be achieved in a hurry.\n\nIt is important that we ask whether more reforms are needed before the target is lowered. Even if the government decides to lower the target, it should consider moving it from the present 6 per cent to 5 per cent. After transmission improves, inflation stabilises at 5 per cent and inflationary expectations come down, in the next setting of the inflation target five years later, the target could be brought down to the long-run target of 4 per cent.\n\nThird, if the government wants to give the country low and stable inflation by adopting an independent monetary policy, it should clearly signal that it does not want the RBI to peg the exchange rate. One reason for the high interest rate regime has been the reluctance to ease liquidity after the shock to the rupee following the taper talk in May 2013. The unstated mandate of the RBI seems to be that it has to manage the exchange rate and prevent it from depreciation.\n\nFourth, the government needs to put an end to the foolish notion that the RBI can target WPI. The bulk of the items in WPI are tradables. Their prices are determined in international markets. WPI inflation closely follows the US producer price index based inflation rate. Inflation in WPI is determined by global commodity prices and not by domestic monetary policy. In other words, targeting WPI would be akin to targeting global commodity prices, something no central bank has control over. It is not surprising that no country ever tries to target it.\n\nFrom the point of view of the domestic mandate, inflation measures based on CPI are the most common target for inflation-targeting countries. A couple of countries strip CPI of volatile food prices, but most central banks mainly use such a concept of “core inflation” in their internal models. CPI is the measure consumers relate to. WPI does not represent anyone’s basket, and at best, represents the price of inputs and outputs for producers. The choice of CPI is superior to the WPI because it measures the cost of living for consumers. Even though food is volatile, but because it matters to households, it is the rise in cost of living they care about. After all, governments adopt inflation targeting as the mandate they give to central banks because they want voters to have low and stable inflation. Incidentally, they also hand over this task to central banks so that if people get unhappy, such as with rate hikes, it is the central bank that gets blamed. Swamy seems to be doing pretty much that.\n\nSaturday, 9 April 2016\n\nSort out the tax maze\n\nIndian Express, 9th April 2016\n\nThe government has ordered a probe into the leaks. But there are thin lines between the legal and the illegal.\n\nThe Panama Papers reveal that countries with much simpler tax laws, lower costs of compliance and a stronger administrative capacity to enforce laws than India have not been able to prevent the use of tax havens. In India, tax rates are higher, the system is complicated and capital controls restrict foreign financial transactions. Tax havens are more likely to be used not just for illegal activity but even for legitimate businesses.\n\nThe government has ordered a probe into the leaks. But there are thin lines between the legal and the illegal. The difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance is one such line. Tax evasion involves not paying taxes on your income and is illegal. Tax avoidance, on the other hand, is about managing your taxes across different tax jurisdictions to take advantage of differences in tax rates, such as corporate tax rates, in tax treatment of different kinds of income, such as capital gains, and in tax treaties among countries. Tax havens such as Panama, the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas try to attract business by offering low tax rates and easy compliance.\n\nOfficials from OECD countries on the Panama list are under public pressure because they have been advocating that tax avoidance, though legal, is cheating. A number of OECD initiatives have been taken to reduce tax avoidance: An agreement on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (Beps) aims to prevent companies from choosing low-tax jurisdictions to book profits in. The Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) framework will facilitate information flows among signatories. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) targets non-compliance by US taxpayers and compliant countries have to provide customer information to the US government.\n\nIn addition to tax avoidance, as tax havens have laws to ensure greater confidentiality of companies and banking secrecy legislation, the companies may be used for money laundering. In general, there is a widespread perception that offshore companies are conduits for money laundering, illegal transactions, tax evasion or parking unexplained wealth. While offshore companies may be used for illegal purposes, law-abiding citizens may hold them for making investments in other countries to help navigate the complex maze of tax treaties and multiple jurisdictions involved in managing tax liabilities. Hedge funds that manage money in multiple countries often use tax havens to reduce compliance costs arising from different tax treaties among jurisdictions.\n\nThe Indian case is more confusing than those of OECD countries. It has been made complicated by a set of tax laws that makes compliance more costly than in the OECD. We rank 157 in the ease of paying taxes. Further, the effective tax on profit is higher: The corporate tax rate and the dividend distribution tax put together make the tax rate on profits nearly 50 per cent. The capital gains tax makes financial transactions even more unattractive. This regime is made more tortuous by an onerous set of capital controls.\nAs a consequence, companies operating globally have every incentive to set up companies in such jurisdictions.\n\nThere are some cases in which the actions are clearly illegal. The first, for example, is when the underlying activity is criminal,\nsay, drug or arms trade. These activities are covered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. As a member of the Financial Action Task Force, India works with other member countries to prevent the use of the proceeds of crime.\n\nThe second is when there are cases of tax evasion: A person does not declare to the tax authorities in her home country her income, which is paid into a bank account of her company in Panama, and no taxes are paid. Here, a distinction between tax evasion and avoidance is relevant. If taxes have been paid in the tax haven at its lower tax rate, then there may be no illegality. When India introduces the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (Gaar), some of these activities may become illegal.\nThe third case is if there is a violation of capital controls. This is an India-specific issue. Under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), every Indian resident is allowed to invest $2,50,000 abroad every year. In 2004, the limit was one-tenth of this. Money remitted abroad is from income on which tax has already been paid. If the amount invested abroad exceeds the amount allowed by the RBI, it is a violation of the law.\nFourth, the illegality may be the non-declaration of assets held abroad. A provision in the Finance Bill introduced in 2015 made it criminal not to declare foreign assets in annual tax returns. If the assets held in tax havens have been declared, then it is not illegal to hold them.\nOECD countries have simpler tax laws with lower tax rates and lower compliance costs than India and no capital controls. The focus of the authorities is to broadly keep business in the country and to tax the income of its residents. Yet, the Panama Papers show that even with much simpler systems and more effective enforcement, it is a challenge to prevent illegitimate cross-border flows.\n\nIn India, it is not just entities engaging in crime and tax evasion that have offshore companies. Reports suggest, for example,\nthat many Indian technology start-ups are moving their headquarters to offshore locations due to our complexities. These muddy the waters as both legal and illegal activities move abroad.\n\nLooking forward, first, rationalisation of capital controls should be a top priority. Many government reports have laid out the path forward. Second, India must move to a simple tax regime with lower compliance costs. The blueprint is ready in the Direct Taxes Code. When countries with simpler laws and better enforcement are not able to prevent violations of the law, we cannot hope to do so with our labyrinth of capital controls, maze of tax laws and much weaker tax administration.\n\nThursday, 3 March 2016\n\nLa-la land budget\n\nIndian Express, 2nd March 2016\n\nOfficial GDP data is embedded in its vision and strategy. But the numbers seem wrong.\n\nFinance Minister Arun Jaitley presented his first two budgets amid high expectations. He was supposed to usher in bold reforms, push up investment, revive India's engines of growth and create an environment in which domestic and foreign capital felt confident of investing. The budget speech was expected to outline a roadmap for liberalising the economy. It was hoped to be more reformist than the budget speech of 1991.\n\nBudget 2016 was presented under completely different expectations. Fingers were crossed that Jaitley would not deviate again from the path of fiscal consolidation. It was hoped that the strategy of borrowing more for public investment would not be tried again. Markets prayed that an impending rejig of the long-term capital gains tax was just a rumour.\n\nWhen the budget was announced, most heaved a sigh of relief. Many bad ideas had been kept out. A few good ideas had crept in. Jaitley decided that it was more important to stick to deficit numbers. There was no mention of the long-term capital gains tax. Public spending was more or less budgeted to be under control. Whether this was done to persuade RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan to cut rates, to protect India's credit rating, or out of genuine concern about the debt-to-GDP ratio, it was a relief.\n\nSome worry that the budget numbers are based on unrealistic assumptions, that these numbers can never be achieved. Others feel that there has been a shifting of budgetary allocation from mundane-sounding heads to more politically correct heads. Still others find that investment in roads and railways will now be done by off-balance sheet borrowing. Yet, on the whole, there is cheer.\n\nThe need of the hour is a rate cut. And for that, we needed an announcement of sticking to the path of fiscal consolidation.\n\nIt is now hoped that Rajan will cut interest rates, will cut them soon and will cut them by a significant amount. Further, it is hoped that he will ease liquidity in the banking system so that the policy rate cut is transmitted to other interest rates. Lower rates would ease the interest burden on industry and prevent further damage to balance sheets. Hopefully, it will also eventually help spur investment.\n\nGiven the poor transmission mechanism of monetary policy and the weak balance sheets of banks, hopefully Rajan will also allow the rupee to weaken. A depreciated rupee would help make imports more expensive and exports cheaper, thus giving a boost to demand for industry.\n\nOther than the impact of the budget on boosting growth through the easing of monetary policy and a more competitive currency, there is little else in the budget that will help push investment. For example, the retrospective tax was not repealed. Only assurances about the good behaviour of the income tax department were given. Similar assurances have been made in the past. The reduction in the corporate tax rate did not take place as promised. There was little progress on disinvestment or privatisation. There was no serious cut in food or fertiliser subsidy. Rural distress and low income growth in the farm sector received significant attention in the budget speech, though, fortunately, not that much in terms of budgeted expenditure.\n\nOne explanation for why the economy does not need more reforms could lie in the GDP numbers. The logic seems to be as follows: We've already achieved high growth. GDP growth has now accelerated to 7.6 per cent. The increase in Central government capital expenditure has revived investment. The government converted the difficulties and challenges it faced when it came to power into opportunities. Make in India, Skill India, Digital India and a host of other initiatives have yielded results. We are growing faster than China or anyone else.\n\nMission accomplished! Now we can turn our focus away from growth to redistribution. The redistribution should be done better, with lower leakages and improved targeting. Money should go to the poor and to farmers. More taxes and more transfers can reduce distress. That is why the focus of the budget is not on reviving investment and growth.\n\nWhile it is all very good if the GDP numbers could be relied upon to tell us the state of the economy, few today have faith in these numbers. Most of us, including macroeconomists like me who have spent most of their lives studying GDP numbers, no longer understand what GDP in India means. This is not to doubt the CSO's methodology in correctly measuring value-added or its sincerity in deflating it with what it believes is the correct deflator; this is more a case of complete bewilderment.\n\nIn the past, when production, profits, wages and jobs grew, GDP growth would be healthy. If production was falling, the GDP would fall. Perhaps it was all a play of a healthy inflation rate in which simple calculations made in our heads would make sense. Today, when the volume index for manufacturing is showing tepid growth, we learn that manufacturing GDP is growing very fast. When the net sales of companies are flat, we learn that wages and profits are growing. When bank credit growth is slow and banks are not lending, we are told we need to deflate them correctly and that will turn bank credit growth upside down.\n\nRegardless of what the GDP numbers say, however much they point upwards, almost everything tells us that the economy is looking down. Focusing on GDP numbers hides the danger that we may be living in la-la land. Unless we acknowledge that there is a problem of slow growth and low investment, we do not worry about how to solve it. Perhaps that is why the budget did not focus on investment revival.\n\nThere are a few good initiatives in the budget but none that reflects the urgency of the situation. In other words, official GDP data is embedded in Jaitley's vision and strategy. If the GDP does not reflect the true state of the Indian economy today, these may need a reassessment.\n\nWednesday, 3 February 2016\n\nLet the rupee slide\n\nIndian Express, 3rd February 2016\n\nThe economy is best served by lowering interest rates and blocking protectionism.\n\nIn its monetary policy announcement on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to keep the policy interest rate unchanged. One of the implications of this decision is for the rupee. High interest rates have helped in keeping the rupee strong in recent years. It appears policymakers wish this to continue.\n\nBut the recent slowdown in China and the depreciation of the yuan means India's external environment has changed significantly. While two years ago it might have seemed like a good idea to prevent the rupee from weakening, a rethink is now warranted.\n\nIn recent months, Indian industry has been facing sharp competition from falling international prices. As the budget-making process starts, demands for tariff hikes will get stronger. Accepting protectionist demands could impact downstream industries and have implications for India's international treaty obligations. Favouring certain sectors, especially those with a few large companies, can make the protection politically difficult.\n\nOne example of this is the steel industry where the world's largest producer of steel, China' has seen a slump in demand and has an industry suffering from overcapacity. The Indian steel industry is faced with an onslaught of cheap imports. It has, in response, been pressing for hikes in import duty on steel, imposition of a minimum import price and anti-dumping duties.\n\nIt can be argued that the government should do nothing, and allow the Indian consumer to benefit from lower Chinese steel prices. However, it is difficult for the government to ignore the state of the steel industry and job losses. The consequent higher probability of defaults on bank loans by steel companies may also push banks into further trouble.\n\nAlready, India is ranked No 1 in imposing the most protectionist measures since 2008. In 2015, India imposed the second highest number of protectionist measures, after Russia. For the fastest growing economy in the world, the policy of greater protectionism is becoming untenable.\n\nWe expect that in 2016 the pressure for protectionist measures may increase. Global trade has slowed down to nearly zero per cent growth. As the Chinese economy and Chinese exports slow down, Chinese authorities may to try to help push exports.\n\nFor one, the Chinese renminbi was devalued. For years, the Chinese currency had seen pressure to appreciate. The slowdown, the pressure on exports and China's decision to depreciate seem to have set off an outflow of dollars from China. Today, the pressure is for greater depreciation. The pace of depreciation has been slowed by foreign exchange intervention. China has been selling dollars. We have seen a decline in its foreign exchange reserves by $513 billion in 2015. In the month of December 2015 alone, China's reserves fell by $108bn. With higher pressure to increase exports, China may allow the yuan to depreciate more.\n\nThe most likely direction of the yuan is downwards. In response, other emerging economies are also weakening their currencies. It is not difficult for an emerging market (EM) to do a currency depreciation in today's environment. It does not require cutting interest rates, out of line with macroeconomic conditions. Global growth has slowed down and commodity deflation is putting downward pressure on prices. Following the increase in US interest rates by the Federal Reserve, emerging economies have been witnessing outflows of capital. This is putting pressure on EM currencies to weaken. Indeed, today it is harder for an EM central bank to prevent a depreciation than to allow it.\n\nIf other currencies depreciate, it will further make India's imports cheaper and increase the demand for trade protection. However, tariffs are not the only way to protect domestic industry. As is being seen globally, an alternative approach to raising tariffs to tackle the loss of competitiveness of domestic industry is currency depreciation. In the above example, the impact of a 10 per cent depreciation is equivalent to a 10 per cent tariff on all steel imports. Depreciation increases the price of imported goods.\n\nLast week, when Japan adopted a negative interest rate strategy, currency considerations are understood to have played a significant role. While deflation has been around in Japan for a while, the challenge from the yuan and the decline in commodity prices is new. The cut in Japanese policy rates will, it is hoped, depreciate the Japanese yen and increase import prices.\n\nToday, when other countries are protecting themselves by allowing currency depreciation, should India lean against the wind? Should we combine a strong rupee policy with protectionism?\n\nAllowing the rupee to depreciate has further benefits: It makes all imports more expensive. The government does not have the politically difficult job of increasing tariffs case by case. A weaker rupee would also help push Indian exports.\n\nFrom 2009 to 2013, in the period of high volatility in the global economy, India had a largely flexible exchange rate policy. Since May 2013, India's exchange rate policy has been to prevent significant appreciation or depreciation. Since the taper talk and expectation of rupee depreciation in May 2013, an increase in interest rates and liquidity tightening have prevented any significant weakening of the rupee. Debt flows have been large as the differential between domestic and international interest rates remains high.\n\nEveryone does not want a weak rupee. Foreign investors applaud the strong rupee policy as it protects their returns. Rich Indians like cheap foreign holidays and imported goods. For some people, a strong rupee is a matter of pride. However, the policy of keeping the rupee strong and combining it with protectionist trade measures is unsustainable. Exchange rate policy and strategy for 2016 cannot be the same as it was before the Chinese story started unfolding. The RBI and the commerce ministry need to be on the same page. The government must take a holistic view of the policy strategy on protectionism, the exchange rate and interest rates. The Indian economy would be better served by lower interest rates, blocking protectionism and letting the market determine the price of the rupee.\n\nMonday, 18 January 2016\n\nBe tight-fisted\n\nIndian Express, 18th January 2016\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9138602018356323} +{"content": "How To Train Fast Twitch Muscle Fibers\n\nFast Twitching muscles are in the second type of muscle fiber group. They normally work for you if you are fond of lifting weights that require bursts of power. Long-term training usually doesn’t work for them, though. However, they can be very useful in short, high intensity training programs like power lifting or body building. This is usually one way of starting how to train fast twitch muscle fibers.\n\nIf your body is used to training that is using low or high rep schemes, you might find yourself disregarding some muscle fibers in your body. Usually, in body building, you would like to avoid having higher rep schemes through exercising with machines since they would be ignoring your fast twitch muscles that of course is something that is very important to body building.\n\nThere are some techniques that help you how to train fast twitch muscle fibers since this is the muscle group that they target. Following a set of guidelines will present you with the proper stimulus to improve your vertical jumps.\n\nIf you are starting to lift weights, lift in excess of 60% of your 1RM. It is advisable to lift something greater than the average to fulfill the needs of your fast twitch muscles. An exception is if you are performing ballistic weighted exercises like barbell jump squats. Also do bursts of high intensity work during lifting, skipping, bounding, or throwing. This will cause your muscles to adapt after a while of doing it.\n\nMake sure you emphasize the type of work when you lower a weight or descend a jump. This is what is deemed as eccentric training. You can make use of bands in order to accelerate gravity or you can do reactive squats for drop and catch motions. The emphasis here is placed on the movements like in the different jumps and landings.\n\nThe best thing to prepare for on how to train fast twitch muscles is mental training. There is what we call a psyche up. You have to go into a frame of mind that somehow commands your body to make those fast twitch fibers work it out. It goes the same with jumping and training. Spend a good time before each attempt to jump to mentally work yourself up and you will be guaranteed to jump higher. The mind is a powerful tool that keeps sending signals to your muscles to be ready because they are about to let loose and perform extra hard work.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.960482656955719} +{"content": "HyperStudy 13.0 New Features\n\nHyperStudy is a general tool for DOE (Design of Experiments), optimization, and stochastic studies in a CAE environment. Its wizard-like design makes it very easy to learn and use for studying the different aspects of a design under various conditions, including non-linear behaviors. It can be applied in the multi-disciplinary optimization of a design combining different analysis types. In addition to the typical definition of solver input data as design variables, the shape of a finite element model can also be parameterized with ease.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.980802059173584} +{"content": "HOW disturbing were those CCTV pictures of a middleaged woman walking out of a Bournemouth wedding with three bags of gifts?\n\nHow warped is she? Who could stoop so low as to admit you need seven kitchen clocks, six mug trees, four foot spas and three sets of bathroom scales?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8719184994697571} +{"content": "Online Personal Training / Personal Trainer Services including : Fitness Programs, Diets and Nutrition Plans!\n\n\nNevin Morrison, Steven Russell, and Clayton Anderson\nKnes 4900\nNovember 8, 1999\nFor: Dr. Neil Little\n\n\nStudies on the increase of skeletal muscle mass have become a popular area in the field of kinesiology and sport sciences in recent years. Science is continually trying to push the human body to reach its maximum potential. Athletes and coaches are continually searching for new ways in which they can gain an edge over their competition. The effects in this field of study go beyond the sport and science realms as society pushes its cultural values of the “skinny woman and the strong man” This field of study is also becoming popular for the elderly as they attempt to maintain muscle mass while aging in an attempt to prolong their healthy active life.\nThe scientific basis of increasing skeletal muscle mass\nThe following paper will provide an overview of the scientific basis of increasing skeletal muscle mass. It will also, include four major areas which relate to this increase in skeletal muscle mass. These areas will be the training principles of muscle gain, nutrition and its effects on muscle gain, supplements and their ability to help increase muscle mass, and hormone muscle enhancing drugs and how they help to increase skeletal muscle growth. \nThe first area that will be addressed is the training principles behind increasing skeletal muscle mass. This will include a scientific overview of the physiology behind increasing muscle mass. We will also explore the most popular theories behind muscular growth. The energy systems that aid anaerobic muscular contraction will also be looked at in this section. The training curve will be thoroughly explained along with it’s relation to a proper program for increasing skeletal muscle mass. We will then explain different types of skeletal muscle contractions and how they can be used as a stimulus for muscular growth. In this same area we will explain the importance of the intensity and type of physical stress required to increase skeletal muscle mass. We will also highlight different training techniques designed for optimal muscular growth, while considering rest and recovery periods between workouts. The effects of genetics and gender on muscular growth will conclude the training principles section of our paper.\nThe next section will examine nutrition and health implications involved with increasing muscle mass. It will include an outline of the six essential nutrients necessary for proper body function and the quantities of each which are necessary for increasing skeletal muscle mass. This section will also explore the principles of calorie intake versus expenditure and their effects on increasing body mass or more specifically skeletal muscle mass. \n The third topic of our paper will explore the use of creatine one of the most popular supplements on the market today used to aid in the increase of skeletal muscle mass. Our group will show to you through the physiology of increasing skeletal muscle mass, how exactly this supplement may aid in the muscular growth. \n Finally the last section of our paper will look at the popular use of hormone muscle enhancing drugs (more specifically steroids) and their effects on muscular growth as discussed in scientific literature such as “The World Anabolic Review 1996”(Grunding, 1995). Furthermore we will look at the effects of anabolic/androgenic steroids and how they help to increase muscle mass. This section will also address the detrimental side effects and risks of using these drugs.\n In order for muscular hypertrophy to occur certain physiological principles have to be in place. The first concept that must be understood is the principle of “specificity.” When training to reach any type of outcome you must train specifically to reach that outcome. (Adams, 1993). This principle can be applied to any type of training including training to increase skeletal muscle mass. \n The second element that must be present in a training program is the appropriate stimulus. The stimulus must be placed on the muscle repeatedly over a minimum period of eight weeks in order for noticeable muscular hypertrophy to occur (Adams). In the first eight weeks strength gains will be due to an increased efficiency in neuromuscular function. However after this initial period further increases in strength will be more the result of muscular hypertrophy. To maximize muscular hypertrophy this stimulus should be from 60 to 90 percent of the individuals 1RM (the weight that an individual can lift only one time), but more importantly the weight should be such that muscular failure is reached somewhere between eight and twelve repetitions. The recommended number of sets of repetitions to be done varies from one to four sets per exercise. It is also necessary to have forty five to ninety seconds rest between sets.\n There are several types of muscle contractions that can provide the appropriate stimulus which will stimulate muscle growth. The first is an isometric contraction. This is a static contraction of the muscle against an immovable force. The next type is a concentric contraction. This type of contraction is when the muscle shortens with contraction. The third type is an eccentric contraction this type of contraction is when the muscle is lengthens while still contracting. The last type of contraction is an isokinetic contraction; it “is a maximal contraction of a muscle group at a constant velocity through the entire range of motion of the joint”(Heyward, 1997). Isokinetic contractions maintain the same velocity no matter the force that is applied to them.\n The next training principle that I will discuss is the principle of “overload.” In order for muscle to continue to increase in size there must also be a continual increase in the stimulus. “This can be accomplished via lifting more weight, lifting the same weight faster, or lifting it for a longer period of time during a single work session”(Heyward). For the purpose of increasing muscle mass the individual must increase the number of sets, increase the weight or increase the number of repetitions. The key to this concept is that the stimulus should always be such that muscular fatigue still occurs between eight and twelve repetitions. In order to apply this principle the individual should start by working with a weight that he/she can only lift eight to ten times before fatigue. Over time he/she will be able to increase the number of repetitions he/she can do with this weight. When the individual can do more than twelve repetitions he/she should then increase the weight to a weight that the individual can only do eight to ten repetitions with again. \n The third guideline for training to increase skeletal muscle mass is the principle of “rest and recovery.” In order for skeletal muscle to grow, it must first be damaged. This damage is provided by the stimulus. After the muscle is damaged it needs approximately forty eight to seventy two hours to heal and grow before it should receive another stimulus. If a sufficient stimulus is received before the end of this recovery time it is possible that the individual will over train. If appropriate recovery time is given the muscle should return to and actually surpass its original performance level. If this pattern is continued over time, continual increases in muscular hypertrophy should occur.\n The next section will show why hypertrophy occurs at the physiological level. “Exercise-induced hypertrophy occurs through hormonal mechanisms. Anabolic (protein building) hormones such as testosterone, growth hormone and insulin like growth hormone (IGH) increase in response to heavy resistance exercise and interact to produce protein synthesis” (Heyward). The amount of these hormones released is directly related to “the size of the muscle groups that are being used, exercise intensity (%1RM), and length of rest between sets”(Heyward). Higher levels of testosterone, growth hormone and catecholamines are produced dependent on these factors. “During weight lifting, your muscles are exercised at greater than normal workloads, producing microscopic tears in the muscle cells and connective tissues. Your body responds by producing new muscle proteins. This causes muscle growth and increased strength.”(Heyward, p. 139). One would think that muscular hypertrophy may be due to an increase in the number of fast twitch muscle fibers (the muscle fibers generally used in anaerobic activities such as weight lifting), but this is not the case. Muscle hypertrophy is actually due to an increase in the size and diameter of these muscle cells. This increase in diameter is due to “the enlargement of myofibrils via the production of actin and myosin filaments. The greater diameter of the muscle increases because of greater amounts of actin, myosin, and other intercellular proteins in myofibrils.” (Adams, 1993) Actin and myosin are the active intercellular structures that produce muscle contraction (Adams). By increasing the size of the myofibrils the muscle gains more contractile power.\nOther factors that may help produce the appearance of an increase in skeletal muscle mass are increases in the size of connective tissue, tendons and the number of capillararies in and around the muscle. Increases in the size of the connective tissues provide support for the enlarged skeletal muscle while an increase in the number of capillaries help to provide an increased blood supply to the muscles allowing them to more quickly recover from exercise (Davis et al).\n All though this paper deals primarily with increasing skeletal muscle mass, it is also important to understand some of the other physiological effects that work together with the increase in skeletal muscle mass to produce increased performance. First, along with an increase in muscle mass there is also an increase in neuromuscular function. In the first few weeks of training, most increases in performance are due to an increase in neuromuscular function as your body adapts to new movements and learns how to recruit the necessary muscle groups to perform the task.\n Other physiological changes that occur with weight training are increases in supporting tissues. Connective tissues and ligaments around the muscles increase in size and strength and bone density also increases in strength in response to the stress of weight training. These physiological effects are important because if only the muscle itself was increased the supporting tissues would be subject to injury because of the new force that could be generated do to the hypertrophy.\n Another adaptive response to strength training is an increase in the efficiency of the energy systems within the body, which fuel the skeletal muscle. The two main energy systems involved in strength training for the purpose of increasing skeletal muscle mass are the ATP-PC system and the lactic anaerobic energy system. These systems are involved in fueling the fast twitch muscle fibers which increase in diameter with strength training. In the ATP-PC energy system, “If exercise requiring large amounts of instant energy lasting less than ten seconds are repeated, with full recovery between repetitions, then the stores of ATP and PC within muscle cell sarcoplasm are increased, therefore enabling more energy to be available” (Davis et al. 1991). This will create a higher training threshold for the individual which will enable them to maintain the same intensity for longer periods of time (Davis et al., 1991).\nThe lactic anaerobic energy system can also be enhanced through strength training. “It is found that glycogen stores in muscle are enhanced (possibly by virtue of an increase in size and number of fast twitch muscle fibers/cells which preferentially and more rapidly store glycogen) and are more effectively utilized (through the increase in the amount of glycogen converting enzymes found in muscle cells in mitochondria ---the cells themselves being increased in size and number.)”(Davis et al., 1991).\nThe importance of the increase in efficiency of these energy systems and there effects on muscle hypertrophy are easily seen. With increased muscular performance due to more efficient energy systems, more stress can be placed on the muscle providing a stronger stimulus for muscular growth. \n\nFig. 1\nIncreased Efficiency = Increases Performance = Increased Stimulus = Increased Hypertrophy\n\n\n A person’s natural genetic make-up also plays a major role in their ability to increase skeletal muscle size. Every person has his or her own genetically predetermined ratio of fast and slow twitch fibers. “The enzymatic characteristics of muscle fibers govern several aspects of human muscle performance, namely, contractile speed, strength, and fatigue ability. An important muscle characteristic in this regard is the relative proportions of constituent muscle fibers (fast vs. slow)” (Bouchard, 1992). The effects of this ratio on one’s ability to increase skeletal muscle size are obvious as the muscle fibers which increase in diameter with strength training are fast twitch muscle fibers. Therefore individuals with a larger percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers will be able to increase skeletal muscle size more effectively than individuals with lower percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers. \nBody type differences may also be a factor in increasing skeletal muscle mass as certain body types are more structurally capable of producing and supporting muscular hypertrophy.\n Another genetically predetermined characteristic that effects one’s ability to increase skeletal muscle mass is gender. A person’s gender, male or female, also effects their ability to increase skeletal muscle mass. Males produce testosterone, which is a very important hormone in producing the different sex characteristics. One of these characteristics is an average increase in skeletal muscle mass. Males are also more receptive to the stimulus of testosterone. This makes it easier for males to increase skeletal muscle mass. Although there are differences between the ability of males and females in their ability to produce muscular hypertrophy, the differences are not as great as once thought. (Heyward, 1997).\n Age has very important effects on a person’s ability to increase skeletal muscle mass. The greatest increases in skeletal muscle mass can be made typically between the ages of twenty five and thirty five years of age. However, with proper weight training programs the maintenance of muscle mass can be possible until much later stages of life. It was once thought that increases in muscle mass were impossible for elderly individuals, but recent studies have shown that it is possible for muscle to hypertrophy as one ages. As for children increasing muscle mass, becomes a much more difficult feat because of their high metabolisms. Furthermore because, heavy weights are not recommended for children as damage can be done to growth plates with improper lifting of heavy weights. It is recommended that lower weights with higher repetitions be used for children. The weight can be increased after adolescence after the growth plates have closed. \nIn order to understand how muscle hypertrophies one must first understand how it contracts. As discussed earlier the main energy supplied to the muscle for contraction for weight lifting purposes comes from the ATP-PC system and the Lactic Aerobic Systems. These energy systems provide energy to the muscle cells quickly but, only for short periods of time. \nThe first stage of muscle contraction begins when the nervous impulse reaches the muscle cell. This initiates the release of calcium ions from the “T” cells in the sarcoplasmic reticulum. The calcium ions then stimulate the contraction of muscle by exposing the active sites on the actin filaments. (Davis, 1991). After the breakdown of ATP into ADP the heads of the myosin filaments become active. These active myosin heads attach to the actin filaments, forming actin-myosin bonds or cross bridges. The myosin heads pull the actin filaments over them and continue to attach, pull and reattach. (Davis, 1991). “The whole effect is to pull the actin filaments past the myosin filaments so that they form a bigger overlap (than in the resting state) and therefore shorten the sacromere.”(Davis, 1991). “With many thousands of thin filaments pulling past thick filaments in a single cell and many thousands of muscle cells contracting, ……skeletal muscle can quickly respond to the demands of ballistic activity …”The strength of muscular contraction is proportional to the number of cross-bridges in harness.”(pg. 41). By increasing the number of actin and myosin filaments through weight training you can also increase the strength of the muscle’s contraction.\nThere are many different types of training methods that can be used to maximize muscular hypertrophy. One of the first principles called a “split routine” is used by bodybuilders to work different muscle groups on different days (Allesen, 1996). For example bodybuilders would work lower body one day and the upper body the next. By repeating cycle it enables the athlete to work out everyday while still allowing the body to recover. Another principle of increasing skeletal muscle mass is to use exercise that require compound movements and require many muscle groups to perform. This allows for stress not only to be placed on prime moving muscle groups but also on support muscles. The use of free weights are great for these types of exercises. (Cormier, 1995). Another important principle used by professional bodybuilders is to concentrate on the areas of the physique which need the most improvement. The weakest areas of your body will be able to improve performance and hypertrophy easier than the areas that are already strong. (Cormier, 1995).\nIn addition the use of weight lifting aids such as straps, chalk and gloves can also be effective increasing the stimulus placed on muscle. These aids help take the stresses off of weaker muscle groups such as the forearms which allow one to put more stress on stronger muscle groups such as the bicep muscles, for example.\nOther techniques that may be used to increase the stress placed on muscles is exercises which require spotters. The spotter functions to aid the bodybuilder at the weakest points of the exercise allowing him/her to lift more weight to achieve muscular fatigue. These type of repetitions are called “forced reps”(Allesen, 1996). There are available some isokinetic machines which have a similar effect as the spotter technique (Allesen, p. 11). Another technique used to increase blood flow to the muscle groups is called “burns.” Burns consist of very rapid half-contractions to the point of muscular fatigue (Allesen, p. 131). These contractions by increasing the blood flow to the muscles are thought to bring important nutrients to the muscle. Research supporting the effectiveness of this method is limited. Burns are usually used near the end of the work out.\n\n Nutrition is an essential aspect of increasing muscle mass that is frequently overlooked by resistance trainers. Many people follow a disciplined training schedule, using all the right steps toward making size gains, and receive limited results. Nutrition is often the roadblock that prevents them from making these substantial size gains. There are aspects of nutrition that must be followed, such as quantity, quality, and balance within the diet, if gains are to be made in size. Sacrificing one or more of these components in order to fulfill one of the other components often occurs, and inhibits muscular growth more than it encourages it.\nThe Six Essential Nutrients\n\n The six essential nutrients all play an important role in the diet of an individual attempting to increase skeletal muscle mass. These six essential nutrients are vitamins, minerals, water, protein, fat, and carbohydrates.\n Vitamins are organic compounds that act as catalysts in the transformation of other organic compounds into energy (Adams, 1991). They aid resistance trainers by helping supply energy to the body during workouts, therefore allowing maximum muscle exertion. Many believe that an increase in physical activity increases the proportion of vitamins needed in the diet, however increased physical activity only increases the need for vitamins in direct proportion with the rest of the needs of the diet. Excess intake of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) can be toxic as they are stored in body tissues and primarily the liver (Adams, 1991). However, excess intake of water-soluble vitamins (B complex and C) has not been proven to be harmful to our health as the kidney excretes them from the body.\n Minerals are inorganic elements that are vital to life through their roles in bone formation, heart, muscle, and nerve function, and regulation of cellular metabolism. Adequate intake of minerals can be achieved through a balanced diet, and there is currently no evidence of performance enhancement through mineral supplementation of already well- nourished individuals. Without proper mineral balance however, muscular performance will suffer, detracting from potential mass gains.\n Ingestion of water before and during exercise can significantly increase performance time before exhaustion sets in (Adams, 1991). Glycogen is a fuel that the body uses to produce energy in the absence of carbohydrates, and is essential to energy metabolism. Intense exercise can deplete glycogen stores within a short period of time, and ingestion of water helps to impede the depletion of glycogen stores. REFERENCE? Water also plays an important role in regulating our body temperature during exercise. Consuming water before, during, and also after a workout helps to prevent dehydration. For this reason, two cups of water should be consumed for every pound sweated off during a workout. Water also increases sweating during exercise, and helps the body adjust core temperature. The goal of a resistance trainer should be to consume three to six ounces of water for every twenty minutes spent working out.\n Carbohydrates provide us with a readily available source of energy for intense activities, and should comprise sixty to seventy percent of a resistance trainer’s diet. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and creatine phosphate (PC) reserves are the body’s first resource for energy, but will burn off within fifteen seconds. After this, the majority of energy liberated during muscle work is derived from carbohydrates and fats (Brouns, 1993). At higher intensity, the body will use more and more carbohydrates, making them the most important fuel in resistance training exercises. They also play an essential role in “protein sparing”, which we will look at in our section on nutrition and over training.\n Fats also provide us with energy, and are recommended to comprise twenty to thirty percent of resistance trainer’s diets. As mentioned earlier, fat is the second main energy source for the exercising individual. Fat serves as a back up to carbohydrates, and becomes the major energy source after carbohydrate stores are used up. However, some amounts of carbohydrates will still be needed to aid in the citric acid cycle. This need will constitute the body to produce glucose from other substrates, in order to provide the needed carbohydrates (Brouns, 1993).\n Protein is known as the building block of muscle, forming the basis for growth and development of organs and tissues. Unlike carbohydrates and fats, the body has no reserve or storage of protein in it. A common misconception of coaches and athletes is that protein is an energy source for muscles. Protein is a source of amino acids needed to build or repair muscle, but muscles do not use protein for fuel. Any protein that is consumed cannot be stored as protein and will be broken down so that the nitrogen in it will be excreted in urine and the rest will either be immediately used for exercise or stored as glycogen or fat. Our body undoubtedly needs protein in order to increase levels of skeletal muscle, but just how much we need is not agreed upon. A general recommendation for protein intake is ten to fifteen percent of an individual’s diet, resulting in fifty to one hundred and ten grams of protein being consumed daily. Brouns (1993) suggests that increased caloric intake for physically active people is alone enough to meet protein requirements if ten to fifteen percent of the diet is still comprised of protein.\nNutrition and Overtraining\n Overtraining is commonly cited as one of the major roadblocks in making significant increases in skeletal muscle mass. Some of the major indicators of over training are sudden weight loss, an increase of five or more beats per minute in resting heart rate, loss of appetite, and performance plateaus. Such factors as not enough rest time in between workouts, long-term high intensity training, and inconsistent sleeping patterns have all been frequently named as facilitators of over training. However, Phillips (1997) contends that most over trained states stem from inadequate diet, not from too much exercise. He makesthe comparison that if a long distance runner was to train every day without eating a sufficient diet, they would obviously not have the energy to perform at their top level. The same applies to weight trainers, as without adequate nutritional support for an individual’s muscles, the chances of muscular growth are slim.\n One dietary factor, which causes weight trainers to be more susceptible to over training, is insufficient protein intake. Protein is the most important nutrient for bodybuilders, as it allows us to retain muscle and provides amino acids to the amino acid pool within our body (Phillips, 1997). If protein intake is insufficient, recuperation will be affected. This causes people to believe that their weight training habits, not their diet is the cause of over training.\n A little known fact about water is that the less you drink, the more likely you are to become over trained. As you sweat during workouts, you dehydrate and lose substantial amounts of body water. Muscle is comprised of seventy percent water, and a higher protein intake requires more water (Phillips, 1997). Water is also an essential transport mechanism for many nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates. It plays an important role in cellular activity, meaning that if your water intake is too low, transportation will decrease and toxins such as ammonia, uric acid, and urea will begin to accumulate in your body. As this “junk” accumulates, the body is not capable of pushing water into the muscle because too much is pulled out to handle the demands and stresses being placed on it (Phillips, 1997).\n As mentioned earlier, carbohydrates provide us with a “protein sparing” effect. Protein plays a vital role in the maintenance, repair, and growth of body tissues, and it is important that we have adequate levels at all times. When carbohydrate reserves are reduced, the body will convert protein into glucose for energy in a process called “glyconeogenesis”, thus reducing protein levels and depleting muscle from the body.\nCaloric Intake. Vs. Expenditure\n\n In order to give our body the opportunity to increase muscle mass, we must have a higher caloric intake than what we expend in a day. This can be achieved through calorie counting and energy expenditure awareness. Knowing how many calories we expend in an average day can help us to determine how many calories we require exceeding our expenditure, and taking a positive step toward gaining muscle. This can be obtained through adding our basal metabolism (minimum number of calories burned in a twenty four hour period) and our physical activity expenditures for each day. Peterson (1996) suggests that caloric intake should exceed our caloric expenditures by 500 to 1000 kcal per day, equating into a diet of 3500 to 5000 kcals per day. However, consuming this large amount of calories is much more difficult than it sounds. A steady diet must be followed, aided by the use of calorie counting. Calorie counting is simply keeping track of all the calories that we ingest in a day. This can be accomplished through reading the labels of the products we consume, as the majority of product labels now tell us the basic nutritional facts of the product. Experts have advised eating smaller, more frequent meals comprised of caloric dense foods throughout the day. The body works continuously throughout the day, and should be fueled as the need arises. Protein must be present forincrease lean muscle mass, and in order to avoid protein usage for energy, sufficient carbohydrates and fat must be present at all times. These nutrients can be used more efficiently if a moderate amount is ingested on a frequent basis, versus a few large meals per day (Peterson, 1996). It is recommended that weight lifters consume 3-5 meals per day complimented by 3-4 healthy snacks in between meals. Meal replacement shakes or bars can be an excellent way to aid in calorie consumption. Often a feeling of pain or illness can accompany high calorie consumption, and these supplements are highly concentrated (40 calories/oz.) to make the calorie consumption less painful.\n To ensure that weight gain is lean body mass and not extra fat, Peterson (1996) suggests that the rate of gain should be no more than 2 pounds (.90 KG) per week. If an individual is having troubles gaining weight, their caloric intake should be increased by 500kcals/day, until weight gain is achieved. Weekly visits to a dietician will be advantageous so that the diet can be monitored and adjusted as necessary. Also, skin fold measurements should be performed on a monthly basis in order to assure of the desired lean muscle mass increase, versus an increase in body fat. \n Lifestyle is also an important issue in promoting the growth of lean muscle mass. Consistency is perhaps the major obstacle to increasing lean muscle mass, as workout programs and diets are often erratic. One option to increase consistency of workouts is having a committed workout partner. Having someone rely on them to show up will encourage the regularity of an individual’s workouts, therefore increasing the opportunity for growth. As mentioned earlier, diet is also a difficult aspect to consistently maintain. The constant effort of eating on schedule and being aware of what you eat can be exhausting, and methods may be necessary to aid an individual in maintaining a high calorie diet. These can be methods such as planning what an individual will consume each day and writing it down on paper, or carrying an alarm set for every couple of hours reminding them it’s time to eat. Basically, whatever works for an individual to maintain the necessary diet should be utilized.\n Sleep is an essential contributor to muscular development, and is often overlooked or abused by a weight trainer’s lifestyle. It is recommended that nine to ten hours of sleep are obtained each night in order to allow for muscular regeneration and repair.\nTips for Improving Nutrition\n There are many aspects needed if an individual’s diet is going to promote the growth and development of lean muscle mass. The absence of one or more of these aspects can significantly decrease a resistance trainer’s chances of making positive gains in skeletal muscle mass. Outlined here are some tips forsound nutritional habits:\n - Eat more frequent, smaller meals in order to increase caloric intake\n-Avoid caffeine products, as they dehydrate the body\n -Meal replacement shakes serve as quick, effective snacks if time is limited\n -Ensure that you are consuming caloric dense foods\n-Read labels of products before you buy them, to ensure they contain the desired amounts of various nutrients\n-Employ calorie counting throughout the day, to ensure you are consuming enough calories\n -Avoid consuming large quantities of alcohol, as this dehydrates the body\nSociety has undoubtedly instilled in athletes the mentality that success means being the best. In order to achieve this high level of success, many athletes looking for the competitive edge have turned to dietary supplements. Dietary supplement is a catch all term that indicates substances that the FDA does not consider drugs and that also do not fall into the categories of normal foods or food additives (Baeckle, 1994). There are thousands of different supplements on the market today, but for the purpose of gaining muscle mass and this paper, we are going to look specifically at creatine and amino acids.\nCreatine monohydrate is a compound that’s naturally made in our bodies to supply energy to our muscles. Chemically, it is called “methylguandio-acetic acid” (Phillips, 1997 pg. 49). Creatine is formed from the amino acids arginine, methionine, and glycine. It is manufactured in the liver and may also be produced in the pancreas and kidneys. Creatine is transported in the blood and taken up by muscle cells, where it is converted to creatine phosphate (CP). This CP is best known as small reserves of readily available and rapidly released energy- the alactic anaerobic system. Typically, the average person metabolizes about two grams of creatine per day, and the body normally synthesizes that same amount. Thus there is generally a creatine balance in the body. The purpose of taking creatine is that it “helps build lean body mass, which allows greater force to be used when weightlifting; provides energy so duration of exercise or workcan be lengthened; and it helps speed recovery so exercise frequency can be increased” (Philips, 1997). A study done by Brannon et al., showed that creatine supplementation provided an ergogenic aid to high intensity exercise, especially that of a repetitive nature. Also creatine supplementation enhances muscular performance during repeated sets of bench press and jump squat exercises (Volek et al. 1997). All of the effects of using creatine would definitely help someone gain more muscular mass compared to someone who is not using it.\nIn most cases, almost everyone connects the word “steroids” with anabolic steroids, which to the layman is better known under the name of “anabolics”. It is often forgotten, however, that the name “steroids” is only the generic term for various steroid hormones. Their representatives are the suprarenal cortical hormones (gluco- and mineralcorticoids), the female sex hormones (estrogen and gestagen), as well as the male sex hormones (androgens) (Grunding and Bachmann). For the purpose of increasing skeletal muscle mass, we are going to look at the last version of the hormones of which testosterone is the most important representative.\n Hanrahan states that testosterone is the basis of almost all anabolic/androgenic steroids known to man and is the most important representative of the male sex hormones, also called androgens. The body uses cholesterol as a basis for the development of this hormone group (Cohen, Hartford and Rogers, 1994. Pg.371). The Leydig’s cells in the male gonads (testes) produce the androgens. The final product is testosterone, which fulfills three functions in the human body. 1) Testosterone promotes the development of secondary male sex characteristics (increased growth of body hair, beard growth, deepening of voice, increased production of sebaceous glands, development of the penis, aggressiveness, sexual libido, etc.) and the maturation of sperm. These aspects are also called the androgenic functions of testosterone. Men distinguish themselves from women by the amount of testosterone produced daily. Men produce between 4 and 10 mg of testosterone daily while women produce only 0.15 – 0.4 mg/day. 2) Testosterone also helps in the promotion of the protein biosynthesis: Responsible for this process are the highly anabolic characteristics of testosterone. Accelerated muscle buildup, increased formation of red blood cells, faster regeneration, and a shorter recovery time after injuries or illness are achieved. The entire metabolism is stimulated, and the burning of body fat is activated. 3) Lastly, testosterone also inhibits the gonadal regulating cycle: This includes the hypothalamohypophysial testicular axis, which regulates the amount of testosterone produced in the body (Grunding and Bachmann, 1996. Pg.12). If the testosterone concentrations in the blood are high, the testes will signal the hypothalamus to release less LHRH (leutenizing hormone releasing hormone). Thus the hypophysis releases less gonadotropin LH (leutenizing hormone) and FSH (folic stimulating hormone). Consequently, the Leydig’s cells in the testes reduce the production of testosterone.\n Anabolic/androgenic steroids are synthetically manufactured compounds which are similar to the natural male androgen, testosterone. They are therefore defined as synthetic derivatives of testosterone. Bridge states that the main reason for their original development was the intention to produce a product which would include the highly anabolic effect of testosterone while, at the same time, exclude the negative aspects of the pronounced androgenic components. Great efforts were made to develop a pure anabolic steroid without androgenic side effects, but complete separation of anabolic and androgenic effect has not been achieved. To attempt this goal, various changes to the steroid molecule were made. The newly developed steroids distinguished themselves through both a decreased effect with a weaker anabolic and androgenic effect or with an increased effectiveness, after both the anabolic and androgenic components had been increased. Structural changes in some steroids resulted in an even higher androgyny but reduced the anabolic activity. A so-called anabolic steroid, therefore, also has a certain androgenic effect and, correspondingly, an androgenic steroid also has anabolic characteristics. One would therefore assume that for fast buildup of strength and muscle mass a predominately anabolic steroid with only minimal androgyny should be selected. Unfortunately not, because the name “anabolic steroid” does not tell us about the strength of the anabolic effect. Instead it only indicates that the anabolic/androgenic relationship in the original steroid testosterone was shifted. In order to determine this relationship and thus be able to classify a steroid as an anabolic or an androgenic, testosterone serves as a parameter. Steroids which are less androgenic are called anabolic steroids, while steroids which are equally or even more androgenic, are called androgenic steroids. An athlete wishing to gain the most muscle mass has a problem, since the androgenic steroids are not only more effective but unfortunately also more harmful. From this we can derive a certain rule: the more effective a steroid, the more androgenic its substance and the more harmful it is for the body. The first anabolic/androgenic steroids were officially available during the 1950’s (Hanrahan, 1994. Pg. 16). Only a decade later, most of today’s available compounds were already on the market. In the meantime, only a few new steroid compounds have been developed. Many steroids have been removed from the market; some were reintroduced in other countries under a generic name. Nevertheless steroids are still the most effective method of improving muscular mass and strength (Lenehan, Bellis, and McVeigh, 1996. Pg. 65).\n The physiology of anabolic/androgenic steroids is a very complex subject. It is almost impossible to give exact configurations of all biochemical processes that take place in the body during the intake of steroids. Steroids are either injected intramuscularly or taken orally. When injected, the substance directly enters the bloodstream while tablets, taken orally, reach the liver through the gastrointestinal tract. Here the substance is either completely or partially destroyed or sent into the bloodstream in its original form. The administered steroid is now present in the blood in the form of numerous steroid molecules that, through blood circulation, move around the entire body. Each steroid molecule contains a certain message or information that it tries to transmit to specific body cells. The cells designated for this purpose possess various receptor types on their membranes. One of these is the steroid receptor that, for example, is present in large amounts at the muscle cell. The form and size of these steroid receptors match those of the steroid molecules. Receptor and molecule show a high affinity, comparable to a key that fits the right lock. The steroid receptor absorbs the matching molecules while rejecting thousands of other molecules, which do not fit in size and shape. Only when the steroid receptor and the steroid molecule have formed a complex can the molecule transmit its message to the muscle cell. In the bloodstream usually close to 98% of the steroid molecules in the blood are bonded with binding proteins, while only 2% of the steroid molecules are present in a free unbonded state (Keith, et al.1996. pg. 250). The formed steroid receptor complex now travels to the cell nucleus where it bonds to certain sequences on the nucleic acid sections of DNA (desoxy ribonuclein acid). Now a transcription takes place, where a template of the DNA is made. The resulting MRNA (messenger ribonuclein acid) leaves the cell nucleus and bonds with the RNA in the cytoplasm where, through translation, an increased protein synthesis takes place. When combined with an intense weightlifting workout, an increase in the diameter of the muscle cell occurs (muscular hypertrophy). After the steroid complex has done its job in the cell nucleus, the steroid molecule returns to the blood stream and can either be reused briefly for the some purpose of changed into a weaker, ineffective molecule, which is then excreted through the urine. Not all-steroid molecules end up doing their job. Some are metabolized and eliminated by the body, while others can be converted into the female sex hormone estrogen. \nAlthough the increased protein synthesis is considered to be the most important effect of steroids on the muscle cell, the steroid molecules also forward other information important to the bodybuilder. There is increased evidence that steroids have a high anticatabolic effect. Thus, the rate at which protein in the muscle cell is broken down is reduce (Grunding and Bachmann, 1996). The steroid molecule also occupies the cortisone receptors on the membrane of the muscle cell and blocks them. Therefore, the cortisone produced by the body, a highly catabolic (reducing) hormone, cannot become effective and the muscle cell does not release protein (Grunding and Bachmann, 1996. Pg. 16). Another advantage of steroids is that they increase the phosphocreatine synthesis (CP) in the muscle cell. As stated earlier in the paper, CP is of crucial importance during the restoration of ATP (adenosine triphosphate). The more ATP available to the muscle means the muscle has the ability to become stronger. Another factor, which benefits the athlete, is that steroids store more carbohydrates in the muscle cell in the form of glycogen. This process, together with a higher liquid retention, which takes place simultaneously, results in a higher muscle volume, improved endurance, and more strength (Phillips, 1997). Steroids also reduce the release of endogenous insulin since the steroid allows the muscle cell to absorb nutrients (carbohydrates in the form of glucose and protein in the form of amino acids) by depending less on the insulin. This helps the athlete in lowering the body fat and hardening the muscles since insulin helps in stimulating the growth of fat cells. The last benefit that steroids have on gaining muscle mass is the pump effect that occurs from working out. The reason for this is that steroids increase the blood volume and amount of red blood cells in the body. The muscle has a larger appearance and becomes more vascular. In addition to these advantages, the increased blood flow allows for a greater transport of nutrients to the muscle cells (Grunding and Bachmann, 1996).\nIn general, steroids are frowned upon by society because of ethical and moral doubts, and because of the potential negative side effects that occur from using them. Brower, Blow and Hill stated that the potential effects upon the liver are most apparent in steroid users. These can manifest themselves in various dysfunctions of the liver such as cholastasis (bile obstruction in the liver), a peliosis hepatis (blood-filled cavities in the liver tissue, cysts), or liver cancer. Other side effects of taking steroids are the inhibition of the gonad cycle, water and salt retention, feminization (gynocomastia, A.K.A.bitch tits), changes in skin, psychological changes, gastrointestinal symptoms, baldness, cardiovascular defects, virilization, growth deficit, prostate hypertrophy, high blood pressure, cardiac hypertrophy, and kidney damage (Evans, 1997. Pg. 350).\nSteroids are not a wonder drug since their effectiveness depends on external factors such as workout, nutrition, attitude, and the genetic predisposition of the individual. This last point, in particular, will determine how the individual responds to the intake of anabolic/androgenic steroids and how he/she copes with their side effects. The fact that it is illegal in America to use steroids other than for medicinal reasons has not stop bodybuilders from using and abusing the drugs. For an individual wishing to gain outrageous amounts of muscle mass over the shortest period of time there is no denying the fact that steroids are the most effective compounds for this purpose, regardless of their side effects.\n\nAdams, W.C. (1993). Foundations of Physical Education, Exercise, and Sport Sciences. Philadelphia. Lea and Febriger.\n\nAllsen, Philip. (1996). Strength Training. 2nd ed. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, Iowa.\n\nBouchard, C., Mc Pherson, B.D., & Taylor, A.W. (1992). Physical activity sciences. Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc.\n\n\nBridge, J.D. (1996). Reasons for anabolic steroid use. Journal of performance enhancing drugs. 1 (3), pg. 113-117\n\nBrouns, F. (1993). Nutritional Needs of Athletes. Queensland. Wiley Pub.\n\nBrower, K.J; Blow, F.C; Hill, E.M. (1994, August). Risk factors for anabolic-androgenic steroid use in men. Journal of psychiatric research. 28 (4), pg. 369-380.\n\nBurgess, R. (1993). Pumping Iron or Drugs?Institute for the study of Drug Dependence. Pg. 30-32.\n\nCohen, L.I; Hartford, C.G; Rogers, G.G. (1996, February). Lipoprotein (a) and cholesterol in bodybuilder using anabolic androgenic steroids. Medicine and science in sports and exercise. 28 (2), pg. 176-179.\n\n\nCormier, Chris. (1995). Flex Magazine, (May 1995 issue.) Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 16, 1999 :\n\n\nDavis, R.J., Bull, C.R., Roscoe, J.V., & Roscoe, D.A. (1991). Physical education & the study of sport. Wolfe Publishing Ltd.\n\nEvans, N.A. (1997, December). Local complications of self administered anabolic steroid injections. British journal of sports medicine, 31 (4), pg. 349-350.\n\nFair, J.D. (1993). Isometric or Steroids? Exploring new frontiers of strength in the early 1960=s. Journal of sport history. 20 (1), pg. 1-24.\n\nGarlick, P.J., McNurlan, M.A., and Patlak, C.S. (1999). European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 53: 34-43.\n\n\nGrunding, P., and Bachman, M. (1996). World Anabolic Review. Houston. MB\n\nMuscle Books.\n\nHanrahan, J. (1994, March). The steroids scene. Inside sport, 27, Pg. 15-24.\n\nHesson, James L. Weight Training For Life. 3rd ed. Morton Publishing Company. Englewood , CO, 1995.\n\nHeyward, Vivian H. (1997). Advanced fitness assessment & exercise prescription. Burgess Publishing Company.\n\nKeith, R.E; Stone, M.H; Carson, R.E; Lefavi, R.G; Fleck, S.J. (1996, September). Nutritional status and lipid profiles of trained steroid-using bodybuilders. International Journal of sport nutrition, 6 (3), pg. 247-254.\n\nKreider, R.B. (1999). Dietary Supplements and the Promotion of Muscle Growth with Resistance Exercise. Journal of Sports Medicine, 27(2): 97-110.\n\nKuipers, H; Peeze-Binkhorst, F.M; Wijnen, J.A; Keizer, H.A. (1993, June). Muscle ultrastructure after strength training with placebo or anabolic steroids. Canadian journal of applied physiology. 18 (2), pg. 189-196.\n\nLenehan, P; Bellis, M; McVeigh, J. (1996). A study of anabolic steroids use in the North West of England. Journal of performance enhancing drugs, 1 (2), pg. 57-70.\n\nMcArdle, W.D., Katch, F., and Katch, V. (1996). Exercise Physiology. Baltimore. Williams and Wilkins.\n\nO=Connor, S; Lenehan, P. (1994, June). Why do male bodybuilders take anabolic steroids? Relay. (1), pg.4.\n\n\nPeterson, M. (1996). Eat to Compete. St. Louis. Mosby-Year Book, Inc.\n\n Phillips, B. (1997). Sports Supplement Review (3rd Ed.) Golden. Mile High\n\n\n\nRankin, J.W. (1995). Nutritional Needs of Resistance Weight Trainers. Olympic Coach, 5(4): 13-14.\n\n Tobin, A.Brannon, Gregory R. Adams, Cory L, Conniff, and Kenneth M. Baldwin. (1997, November). Effects of creatine loading and training on running performance and biochemical properties of rat skeletal muscle. Medicine and Science in sports and exercise. 29 (4).\n\n\n Jeff S. Volek; William J. Kraemer; Jill A. Bush; Mark Boetes; Thomas Incledon; Kristine L. Clark; James M. Lynch. (1997). Creatine supplementation enhances muscular performance during high intensity resistance exercise. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 97.\n\nWeider, J. (1993, January). Synthetic heroes. Muscle and fitness, 54 (1), pg. 10.\n\nWescott, Wayne. Be Strong- Strength Training for Muscular Fitness for Men and Women. Brown and Benchmark. Madison, WI, 1993.\n\n Williams, Melvin H. Nutrition for Fitness and Sport. 4th ed. Brown and Benchmark. Madison, WI, 1995.\n\nThe Scientific Basis of Increasing Skeletal Muscle Mass\n\nHome Order Page Pro-Shop VIP CLUB About Me Benefits Profile Training Principles Links Paper Glossary References", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8770762085914612} +{"content": "Farmer’s friend\n\nWords by Jess Fogarty Words by Jess Fogarty Pictures by Steve Newbould\n\nConserving wildlife in the Karoo with the Anatolian Shepherd dog\n\nEvery year, in South Africa, farmers lose precious livestock to predators; but, when a farmer retaliates, by hunting or trapping these predators, no one is happy. Most farmers try to eradicate these killers because the loss of livestock results in large income losses, which is a heavy blow to the farmers – especially in Namaqualand where most of them are subsistence farmers.\n\nThe aggression felt towards the trespassing predators is understandable, but the number of local leopard, jackal, caracal and other such predators killed each year is unsettling and heart-rending. Farmers will set traps for jackals and caracals, the main suspects, but more often than not these will catch an unsuspecting cheetah, aardwolf, mongoose, or even a tortoise.\n\nThis rivalry is age-old and has been seen all over the world, and, without a solution, one side will eventually come off second best. However, in the lists we now have the Anatolian Guard Dog Project, run by Namaqua National Park, which offers the possibility of allowing the farmers to win without having to destroy the enemy. This project breeds Anatolian Shepherd Dogs, which are then sold to farmers to protect their herds and flocks, and to ward off predators.\n\nThe purpose of the project is to breed and train the Anatolian Shepherd dogs and offer them at an affordable price to farmers who cannot afford to pay the full market price for the dog. This is in an effort to protect both the farmers’ livestock, and the wildlife in the vicinity.\n\nThe negative impact of humans on wildlife can be seen by the large difference between the number of animals found inside, and those found outside, of the Namaqua National Park, but this project has been a pivotal turning point in this negative cycle, as it provides a non-lethal means for farmers to protect their livestock from predators. As a result, there is an obvious reduction in conflict between the farmers who use the Anatolian Shepherd dogs and the predators.\n\nFrom a conservation perspective, using the dog instead of traps increases the chance of survival of small mammals on private land. This is good for the species gene pool, as the animals will migrate across land borders and breed. Fewer small mammals are now being killed in these predator traps, benefiting the whole of the Succulent Karoo biodiversity hotspot in the long run.\n\n\nRead 2301 times", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9857258796691895} +{"content": "Inside Requirements - PowerPoint PPT Presentation\n\n1 / 2\n\nInside Requirements (Application Development Advisor 7(3), May–June 2003).\n\n\nDownload Presentation\n\nInside Requirements\n\n\n\n\nPresentation Transcript\n\nInside requirements\n\n\nRequirements are hard enough without throwing around vague phrases like\n\nnon-functional. Kevlin Henney sorts out the language of requirements\n\nInside requirements\n\n\nwhich means that it’s important to know stuff.\n\nFollowing an observation from Alan O’Callaghan,\n\nformer ADA columnist, programming is applied\n\nthought, which means that programmers need to\n\nthink about stuff.\n\nSo, what is it that programmers need to think\n\nabout? Many, many things, but let’s concentrate on\n\nrequirements. Requirements come in many possible\n\nflavours, but are commonly cast into two categories:\n\nfunctional and non-functional requirements. As a\n\nlabel, it has to be admitted that non-functional is\n\nfairly lame. It is unhelpfully vague and amusingly\n\n\nMost things that are non-functional don’t work:\n\nwashing machines, cars and programs that are\n\nnon-functional are broken. Also, by prefixing\n\nfunctio nal re quire m e ntswith no n, other requirements\n\nseem to be relegated to second- or third-class\n\n\nRequirements can be better and more fairly\n\nconsidered under the headings of functional\n\nrequirements, operational requirements and\n\ndevelopmental requirements. The requirements\n\nthat programmers must consider are not just the\n\ncustomer-centric ones specified for the application\n\nas a whole. As a problem-solving activity programming\n\nis recursive, which means that requirements at\n\nthe level of the application generate requirements\n\nat the level of the component or subsystem, and so\n\non down.\n\npassed or it failed.\n\nThat’s the nice thing about functional requirements.\n\nThey are precise. There is no approximation. They\n\nare easy in the sense that it’s easy to tell whether or\n\nnot they have been implemented correctly. If a\n\nfunctional requirement is not met precisely, you have\n\na bug. Some bugs are systemic, but many functional-\n\nrequirement bugs can be traced to a single expression\n\nor a handful of statements.\n\nAll this means that functional requirements can\n\nbe tested directly, objectively and, as a result,\n\nautomatically. This applies from the level of a\n\nwhole system all the way down to its individual\n\nmethods. Hence the idea that unit tests can\n\nrepeatedly, automatically and meaningfully pass\n\njudgement on a component [1, 2, 3].\n\nThe common expression of functional requirements\n\nat the class level is in terms of a contract [4]. An interface\n\nestablishes a contract between its implementer\n\nand its user. The most common perception of\n\nthis contract is in terms of preconditions and\n\npostconditions on methods, describing what is\n\nrequired of the caller before a method is called and\n\nwhat is guaranteed as a result [1, 5]. However, this is\n\nnot always effective or possible. Callbacks, or any\n\ninversion or discontinuity of control flow such as\n\nmultithreading, do not sit well with just the pre-\n\nand postcondition model [6]. Some functional\n\nrequirements can be expressed more simply by\n\nother means. For example, the equal s method in\n\n\nreasonably redistributed or outsourced, but\n\nthis is not to say that people haven’t tried.\n\nProgrammers are knowledge workers,\n\n\nG Requirements inform and shape a\n\nsystem,which means that although\n\nfunctional requirements are\n\nnecessary,they are not sufficient.\n\nG Functional requirements focus on a\n\nsystem’s purpose and are,in principle,\n\nautomatically testable.\n\nG Operational requirements focus on a\n\nsystem’s quality of service.\n\nG Developmental requirements focus on\n\na system’s quality of implementation\n\nand are the preserve of the\n\n\nFunctional requirements\n\nFunctional requirements focus on purpose. They\n\ncollectively define what a system does, typically in\n\nterms of visible changes that you can effect in the\n\nsystem or that it can cause in the outside world. These\n\nshared phenomena are governed by rules, and are\n\ntypically deterministic — how interest accrues\n\nover time, how a shopping basket is totalled up, how\n\ntime-series measurement data is ordered.\n\nFunctional requirements are typically binary in\n\nnature: you either meet a requirement or you\n\ndon’t. There are no shades of grey, no extra-Boolean\n\npossibilities lurking between trueand fals e . It either\n\n\n\nInside requirements\n\n\nJava, used for implementing an equivalence relation between\n\none object and another, is defined in more mathematical terms.\n\nThe requirements of reflexiveness, symmetry, transitivity, consistency\n\nand null inequality differentiate correct implementations from incorrect\n\nones. Unit test cases can also be considered to explore a contract\n\nby example and in executable form.\n\nUltimately all code is a fiction, but a fiction shaped by\n\nexpectations. Programs exist in an artificial universe, fabricated for\n\nfunction, created for a purpose. The functional requirements\n\nrelate the story and move the plot forward. But a good story needs\n\nmore than just a decent plot: it needs style. A lot of it is in the telling.\n\nThis is where requirements other than functional come into\n\n\nlog N, giving the functional guarantee that all the elements will\n\nbe in ascending order. st d: : st abl e_sort guarantees an upper limit\n\nof complexity of N (log N )2or, if enough memory is available, N\n\nlog N, with the stronger functional guarantee that not only are the\n\nelements in ascending order, but the ordering of equivalent\n\nelements is also preserved.\n\nThe subscript operator, oper at or [ ] , on STL sequences is\n\nguaranteed to be present only if subscripting into the container\n\ntakes constant time to perform the lookup. No such contract exists\n\nfor the moral equivalent in Java. Calling get to access an element\n\nby its index may take constant time, in the case of an ArrayLi st,\n\nor it may be linear, in the case of a Li nkedLi st. This means that\n\na loop using get to visit each element of a 5000 item list will result\n\nin 5000 accesses on an ArrayLi st… and up to 12500000 accesses\n\non a Li nkedLi st as the trail of links is traversed and retraversed.\n\nIt is good to separate concerns and encapsulate unimportant\n\nimplementation details, but encapsulation does not call for\n\nsmothering all operational qualities under the guise of abstraction.\n\nIn a relatively recent and retrospective move a Random Access\n\nmarker interface was added to the Java Collections API to allow\n\n(but not require) collection users and authors to differentiate between\n\nconstant- and linear-time implementations of get.\n\nOperational requirements\n\nOperational requirements focus on how a system achieves its functional\n\nrequirements. Operational requirements — and the ability too meet\n\nthem — determine the quality of the user experience. Functionality\n\nforms part of the user experience, but inasmuch as functional\n\nrequirements are satisfied, they do not uniquely determine the quality\n\nof the experience. Of course, if the application is buggy, the user\n\nexperience will be somewhat less than stellar.\n\nUnder the umbrella of operational requirements, you can find\n\nperformance, throughput, memory footprint, scalability, usability,\n\navailability, manageability, etc. These quality-of-service aspects are\n\ncontinuous — even fuzzy — rather than binary in nature, often\n\nlacking the concrete objectivity of functional requirements.\n\nApplication usability is somewhat harder to quantify than the desired\n\neffect of a cash withdrawal on your account. Likewise, 99.49%\n\navailability in a given week against a requirement of 99.5% is not\n\nnecessarily an outright failure. It amounts to around a minute in\n\n24x7 period, which is likely to be less significant than the\n\naccumulated standard error in the measurement.\n\nThe subjective nature of usability means that automated testing\n\nis an impossibility. The statistical nature of many other qualities\n\nmeans that deeper analysis of results is required before conclusions\n\ncan reasonably be drawn.\n\nUnlike functional requirements, operational requirements cut\n\nacross the code structure. Where functional requirements can be\n\nfulfilled in a modular fashion, e.g. by decomposition into classes,\n\noperational qualities are typically emergent in nature. This is\n\nwhat makes them harder to assess and to design for.\n\nOperational questions draw a programmer into a more complex\n\nengagement. Prototyping can be used to demonstrate both user\n\ninterfaces and the performance (or scaling, or memory usage, or...)\n\nviability of a particular proposed design.\n\nThe absence of a will to prototype is a common problem and\n\ncan lead to architecture by guesswork. For instance, the introduction\n\nof threading into an application is often a reflexive response to\n\noperational requirements that call for responsiveness or throughput.\n\nHowever, sometimes threading is a problem to a solution rather\n\nthan the other way around. Multithreading is not a drop-in\n\nfacility. If applied incautiously it can slow an application down rather\n\nthan speed it up. Worse, threading can introduce shy bugs, which\n\ncome out only once in a blue moon.\n\nOperational requirements can also form part of a class’s contract.\n\nOf course, such contractual undertakings do not fit the tidy\n\nBoolean universe of pre- and postconditions. For example, C++’s\n\nSTL is strong on performance complexity contracts for functions.\n\nst d: : sort of N elements guarantees an average complexity of N\n\nDevelopmental requirements\n\nIf operational requirements define the user experience, developmental\n\nrequirements are about the programmer experience. The -ilities\n\nof interest are portability, comprehensibility, changeability, etc. These\n\nquality-of-implementation aspects do not necessarily affect\n\nfunctional and operational qualities directly, but over time they\n\ncan drag on them.\n\nAs we have just been talking about performance complexity, it\n\nseems appropriate to point out that changes to well-factored\n\nand clear code tend to follow a linear cost curve over time, but code\n\nthat is left to rot and accumulate changes tends to follow a square\n\nlaw. The resistance of such code to successful change increases\n\ndisproportionately over time, so that it can eventually reach a steady\n\nstate: as many problems are introduced as are fixed.\n\nWhere functional and operational requirements are the preserve\n\nof the customer, developmental requirements fall to the programmer.\n\nThis means that they are often neglected, more so than operational\n\nrequirements, because they are not directly visible to or demanded\n\nby the customer. However, it is the job of the programmer to address\n\nthese. This is part the knowledge that any domain expert is\n\nexpected to bring to the table; it is not something to be prompted\n\nfor. I\n\n\n1. Andrew Hunt and David Thomas, The Pragmatic Programme r,\n\nAddison-Wesley, 2000\n\n2. Kent Beck, Te s t-Drive n De ve lopme nt, Addison-Wesley, 2003\n\n3. Kevlin Henney, “Put to the test”, Application Development\n\nAdvis or, November–December 2002\n\n4. Butler W Lampson, “Hints for computer system design”,\n\nOpe rating Sys te ms Re vie w, October 1983\n\n5. Bertrand Meyer, Obje ct-Orie nte d Software Cons truction, 2nd\n\nedition, Prentice Hall, 1997\n\n6. Clemens Szyperski, Compone nt Software , Addison-Wesley, 1998\n\nKevlin Henney is an independent software development consultant\n\nand trainer. He can be reached at\n\n\n\n • Login", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5978140830993652} +{"content": "Feb 1 2010\n\n\nHarrison Schmitt\n\nFormer Senator Schmitt Finds New Space Policy Cedes Moon to China, Space Station to Russia, and Liberty to the Ages\n\nThe Administration announced a new Space Policy in 2010, after a year of morale bending clouds of uncertainty. The lengthy delay, the abandonment of human exploration, and the wimpy overall thrust of the policy indicates that the Administration does not understand, or want to acknowledge, the essential role space plays in the future of the United States and of liberty. Antagonism against America’s demonstration of predominance in space continues.\n\n\nWith a new Cold War looming before us, involving the global ambitions and geopolitical challenge of the national socialist regime in China, President George W. Bush attempted to put America back on a course to maintain space dominance. What became the Constellation Program comprised his 2002 vision of returning Americans and their partners to deep space by putting astronauts back on the Moon, going on to Mars, and ultimately venturing beyond. Unfortunately, like all Presidents since Eisenhower and Kennedy, the Bush Administration lost perspective about space. Inadequate budgeting and lack of Congressional leadership and funding during Constellation’s most important formative years undercut Administrator Michael Griffin’s effort to fully implement the Program beginning in 2004. Delays due to this period of under-funding have rippled through national space capability until we must retire the Space Shuttle in 2011 without a replacement to access to space. Now, we must pay at least $63 million per seat for the Russians to ferry Americans and others to the International Space Station. How the mighty have fallen.\n\nNot only did Constellation never receive the Administration’s promised funding, but the Bush Administration and Congress required NASA (1) to continue the construction of the International Space Station (badly under-budgeted by NASA Administrator O’Keefe, the OMB, and ultimately by the Congress), (2) to accommodate numerous major over-runs in the science programs (largely protected from major revision or cancellation by narrow Congressional interests), (3) to manage without hire and fire authority (particularly devastating to the essential hiring of young engineers), and (4) to assimilate, through added delays, the redirection and inflation-related costs of several Continuing Resolutions. Instead of fixing this situation, the current Administration did not retain Administrator Griffin, the best engineering Administrator in NASA’s history, and now has cancelled Constellation. As a consequence, long-term access of American astronauts to space rests on the improbable success of an untested plan for the “commercial” space launch sector to meet the increasingly risk adverse demands of space flight.\n\nHistories of nations tell us that an aggressive program to return Americans permanently to deep space must form an essential component of national policy. Americans would find it unacceptable, as well as devastating to human liberty, if we abandon leadership in deep space to China, Europe, or any other nation or group of nations. Potentially equally devastating to billions of people would be loss of free nations’ access to the energy resources of the Moon as fossil fuels diminish on Earth.\n\nIn that harsh light of history, it is frightening to contemplate the long-term, totally adverse consequences to the standing of the United States in modern civilization if the current Administration’s decision to abandon deep space holds for any length of time. Even its commitment to maintain the International Space Station using commercial launch assets constitutes a dead-end for Americans in space. At some point, now set at the end of this decade, the Station would be abandoned to the Russians or just destroyed.\n\nWhat, then, should be the focus of national space policy in order to maintain leadership in deep space? Some propose that we concentrate only on Mars. Without the experience of returning to the Moon, however, we will not have the engineering, operational, or physiological insight for many decades to either fly to Mars or land there. The President suggests going to an asteroid. As important as asteroid diversion from collision with the Earth someday may be, just going there hardly stimulates scientific discovery anything like a permanent American settlement on the Moon! Other means exist, robots and meteorites, for example, to obtain most or all of the scientific value from a human mission to an asteroid. In any event, returning to the Moon inherently creates capabilities for reaching asteroids to study or divert them, as the case may be.\n\nReturning to the Moon and to deep space constitutes the right and continuing space policy choice for the Congress of the United States. It compares in significance to Jefferson’s dispatch of Lewis and Clark to explore the Louisiana Purchase. The lasting significance of Jefferson’s decision to American growth and survival cannot be questioned. Human exploration of space embodies the same basic instincts— the exercise of freedom, betterment of one’s conditions, and curiosity about nature. Such instincts lie at the very core of America’s unique and special society of immigrants.\n\n\n\nReturning to the Moon first and as soon as possible meets the requirements for an American space policy that maintains deep space leadership, as well as providing major new scientific returns. Properly conceived and implemented, returning to the Moon prepares the way to go to and land on Mars. This also can provide an infrastructure for space exploration in which freedom-loving peoples throughout the world can participate as active partners.\n\nAgain, if we abandon leadership in deep space to the any other nation or group of nations, particularly a non-democratic regime, the ability for the United States and its allies to protect themselves and liberty for the world will be at great risk and potentially impossible. To others would accrue the benefits—psychological, political, economic, and scientific—that the United States harvested as a consequence of Apollo’s success 40 years ago. This lesson has not been lost on our ideological and economic competitors.\n\nAmerican leadership absent from space? Is this the future we wish for our progeny? I think not. Again, future elections offer the way to get back on the right track.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6907323598861694} +{"content": "the studio\n\nDDIR Architecture Studio was created in 2003 by the combined inspirations of French-Canadian architect Dominic Dube and Inge Reick, originally from Germany. Dominic has received his training in Canada and Italy and has been practicing architecture professionally for over 25 years. He has worked in countries all over the world, including Canada, Italy, Mexico, Thailand, Greece, France, the United States and, for the past sixteen years, India, and has been involved with projects of all scales, from intimate interior spaces to large town- and urban-planning schemes.\n\nThe vision of the studio is the integration of architecture and design with art (nature), technology (structure), life (light) and culture (spirit). The goal is to discover the inherent spirit in each project, accomplished through a hands-on approach and complete immersion into the design. Dominic’s instincts as a painter are evident in the work: projects are conceived as paintings on a three-dimensional canvas. The studio consists of architects and designers from both the East and the West, and the varying backgrounds, views and experiences of the individuals involved combine to produce complex and rich spaces filled with light and life.\n\n\nthe directors\n\nthe team\n\nthe collaborators", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9950748085975647} +{"content": "Heliocentric and geocentric model of\nPlanet Motion\n\nMotion of Sun:\n\nWhen we look at the sun it seem to be moving around us in a circle, the vector SE (the straight line drawn from earth (E) to sun (S)) rotate with its earth end (E) fixed.\n\nMotion of Mars:\n\nWhen we look at mars it seem to be describing a \"loop-the-loop\" motion (also known as retrograde motion) as shown in the picture below:\n\nThis puzzle (retrograde or loop-the-loop motion of mars as observed from earth) is easily explained in the above physlet by comparing the motion of the planet mars in the two models: heliocentric and geocentric. Watch the vector EM (the green line drawn from earth to mars) in both models as the simulation runs. In geocentric model the the E end of this vector is fixed, whereas in the heliocentric model it moves around the sun; however in both models the vector EM remains identical to each other at any given time (same length. and direction). The relative positioning of all three (sun, earth and mars) is the same in both models throughout. Thus the retrograde motion of the mars confirm the heliocentric model.\n\nThere was an earlier attempt (developed by Ptolemy (87 - 150 A.D.)) to explain this retrograde motion: here the planets moved around small circular paths (epicycles) that in turn moved around larger circular orbits around the Earth. This accounts for retrograde motion, as shown in the animation below:\n\n\n\nHit Counter", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9025186896324158} +{"content": "Friday, April 28, 2017\n\n\"Waiting\" by Smurph\n\nHere I sit, if you please\nWaiting for my slice of cheese\nI am waiting, as I must\nWaiting to consume some crust\nPossibly I’ll take a loss\nIf I do not get my sauce\nAll other food appears like prawns\nComparéd to my Papa John’s\nNothing else do I want, only\nTo enjoy some pepperoni\nMy disappointment starts to rise\nAs I dream about my pies.\nSurely if I keep on strong\nMy food will promptly come along--\nSo here I am, and here I wait\n\nFor pizza soon to grace my plate.\n\n\"Who Cares About Writing?\" by Phosphorescent\n\nHow is that authors are always able to write without getting tired. Years of crafting precise sentences in coffee shops accompanied by endless nights of typing. If people find printing essays difficult, imagine how authors of the 17th century felt. Not only did they have to handwrite with authentic ink, but they were also perpetuated to find reliable methods to transfer their work. Considering that the 17th century lacked resources such as email, to easily transfer their work; google drive, to prevent authors from losing their work; and, to ensure their work isn’t plagiarized by others, it was difficult to preserve and profit off of writing; however, writers persevered through it. No obstacle was enough of a blockade to these aspiring writers. This phenomenon can be seen transcending all the way to the 21st century. Writers no longer face the same dangers and circumstances as they did in the 17th century due to the advancement of technology.\n\nTechnology has allowed for more writers to not only have jobs, but to become genuine authors. For example, there is a large market for writers in the science department. Engineering requires writers to make procedures for their products, whilst Chemistry demands writers to develop coherent labs. Businesses require writers to develop eye-catching advertisements, while the film industry requires writers to make entertaining plots, characters, and stories that motivate and influence society to make the right decisions. Yes you heard that right, well technically you read that right: Writers help society make the right decisions.\n\nWhy do students study literature from the 17th century? While it might be due to the fact that your teacher is evil, it’s mostly to demonstrate how a piece of writing could influence a society to an elysian degree. This idea can even be translated to television and movies, which both can be easily translated as a 21st-century take on allegories. All of those Batman movies were really just subliminally teaching you moral lessons. Think about it this way, an adolescent born with opportunity has to grow up alone, coping with loss. All that anger, yet Bruce still fights for justice in Gotham. If that isn’t a moral lesson, then Christian Bale isn’t the best Batman. This advancement of technology has allowed writing to become an art that can be mastered, even if an individual does not wish to become an English major or author.\n\nJust because you might find yourself reading a boring book about a telepathic ape named Ishmael doesn’t mean it should be taken lightly. Even a book about rabbits fighting (cough Watership down cough) should be acknowledged to own an important moral lesson. It’s up to 21st century writers to take advantage of the opportunity we have, the opportunity that generations of writers did not have due to the lack of technology and motivation. The ability to write without the risks and burdens of the 17th century, the ability to write with freedom and pride. Every piece of writing has a meaning and it’s our duty as humans to honor these themes throughout our lifetimes, to ensure that they remain relevant for several more generations, several more centuries, and several more civilizations in order to uphold our modern morals in the future; to ensure that humanity as a whole advances in the right direction.\n\nThursday, April 20, 2017\n\n\"Irrational Fears\" by emily_fairy1432\n\nI woke up and stared at the glowing stars stuck to my ceiling. Those glow in the dark sticker things were probably the best things to ever happen to me; they make me feel so safe and so at ease which is extremely important in my own home. The longer I laid in silence staring at the ceiling, the more and more frightened I got. I could faintly make out the shapes of the small Winnie the Pooh figures that were plastered on my bright yellow wall. Anyone who even took a small glance into my room could immediately tell I was a fan of the little yellow bear and his many friends. The stuffed animals of Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore were scattered all over my room and I got increasingly more and more mad at myself as I realized I hadn’t remembered to take any of them up to bed with me that night. I had a loft bed with a ladder on one side to get up and a slide on the other side to get down, so I couldn’t just hop out of bed and look for them. Even if I could, I’d be too scared. I never told anyone that the dark was my biggest fear because I thought if any of my friends knew, they’d make fun of me. They just wouldn’t understand. It’s not the dark itself, but it’s the thought of what’s in the dark that I can’t see. What if someone is hiding and I can’t see them? Or, better yet, what if someTHING is hiding and I can’t see IT? It’s terrifying and others should be able to see that too. After about ten minutes of pure terror went by, I couldn’t take it any longer. I grabbed Flatso, my favorite stuffed dog since I was 2 years old, slid down my slide, and full on sprinted to my parents’ room. Usually they slept apart because my dad snored so loud to the point that you could hear it from the other side of the house. Tonight, however, they were together, which was perfect for me because that meant I got both of them to make me feel better. I ran in their room and immediately shook my mom awake. She knew exactly why I was there as I had done it every night since I had my own room in the first place and responded with a simple, “oh get in”. Those words were just music to me ears and without any hesitation, I did exactly as she said. I hopped into their bed right in between my mom and my dad and turned on the TV for some light. It was a very comforting routine until the next morning when my mom would tell me it’s a habit I need to kick. Being scared of the dark isn’t something I can just “get rid of”. That’s not how fears work mom. Anyways, this comfort routine continued until I was in 5th grade, yes, I know. But why is this all important you ask? Well, because to this day, I’m still scared of the dark and the amount of times I wish it was still acceptable to run into my mommy’s room and climb into bed with her is just embarrassing.\n\n\"SAT: Why was it so bad?\" by John Doe\n\nStandardized tests are always a thorn in the test taker’s side. They are another glorious moment in any student’s life, Though many tests are somewhat tame, the vast majority of standardized tests pale in comparison to the hellish experience that is the SAT: the mothership of tests.\n\nThough the exam itself was not particularly difficult on its own, the anticipation was the deal breaker. The moments before each section were marked with an air of fear and anxiety, each participant gasping for air before plunging once more into the cold depths of the “A”s, “B”s, “C”s, “D”s, and “E”s of the Scantron sheets. My prior conceptions about the test clouded the information placed before me, the questions twisting into complicated patterns and perplexing figures of bleak statistics about some new scientific discovery.\n\nAt some point, your mind just goes blank. You get tired of answering questions, the massive weight of the world pressing down upon your pencil as you struggle to allot sufficient energy to darken the circle of the Scantron paper. Once reaching this point, there is no going back. Your mind is adrift, focused on the bus outside or the birds flying outside the window. The train of the thought has left the station and crashed immediately.\n\nIf, by some miracle, you have the inherent ability to retain your focus, the test becomes immensely more difficult. From trying to recall information on math problems that you haven’t used in years to some obscene grammar rule that Dr.Hull scolded you about on the previous week, the challenges have just began once you sit down to begin the SAT.\n\nNothing and everything can go wrong once you open up the test booklet. It is truly an adventure, though not one worth going on multiple times. The atmosphere of test taking was the defining factor that keeps you looking at a mirage, keeps you bound to your seat in fear of\nfailure, or keeps you frozen with doubt in your abilities as a student. One of the most life-changing moments in a high school student’s life is certainly also one of the worst.\n\nLooking back on the SAT experience, it was nothing you can describe. The mental gridlock is unfathomable, and the test unforgettable. No metaphor can truly illustrate the dismay that one faces upon finishing such a grueling challenge. No class can prepare you for it, the SAT is a test worthy of an epic hero, awaiting to be slain by a No.2 pencil.\n\n\"'There is Still Fear and Insecurity that Hide in the Blank Sheet Paper': Reflections on How Tutoring and Writing Have Influenced My Architectural Design Process\" by HWC Alum Emma Gallagher\n\nHWC Alum Emma Gallagher ('16) tutored in the HWC from 2013-2016. Emma wrote this essay for a class at Virginia Tech, where she now studies Architecture.\n\nMy three years as a tutor in the Herndon Writing Center have helped me more than I could imagine being an architecture major at Virginia Tech. In high school, I decided to take Advanced Compostion for many reasons: I wanted to help people; I’m (comparatively) good at writing; it would look good on a resume; I liked my classmates and my teachers. One reason that I wasn’t thinking of as I checked the box for Advanced Composition each year was that the skills I learned in this class would be applicable to my studies and life as an architect. I learned way more from just that one class than I ever thought that I would.\n\nThe writing process is one of the biggest focal points of the course. We spent the whole year not only reading about and experiencing the writing process, but teaching it to other students. In Advanced Composition we used this process only in writing. However, I have been using that process every day in my studies of architecture.\n\nEach year on one of the first days of class we read “Madman, Carpenter, Architect, Judge” by Betty S. Flowers. The article talks about being able to just write before writing well. She emphasizes the process of the writing and recognized that that process is integral to the final product. The acceptance of bad ideas, sentences or paragraphs can help the writing overall. It’s okay to cut entire pages out if they aren’t beneficial to the purpose of the piece. Moving on and learning from mistakes are essential in creating quality work. If mistakes in the writing can be accepted and transformed, then they can even be helpful to the final product.\n\nLearning about not only acceptance of mistakes but the process of getting over failures and moving on from them in a positive direction has helped me in the design process every day. Without process, it can be hard to start any project. At times, I feel that a bad drawing can mean so much more than a bad sentence, especially when I worry that my future learning for my college degree and eventual profession is going to be built on the learning that stems from that specific project. There is still fear and insecurity that hides in the blank sheet paper. Many of my first ideas seem to be lacking direction or don’t answer questions that I wished they would. It’s hard to accept that the project that I just spent all day creating didn’t achieve the goals I had set for it. Even in the face of discouragement, I’ve found that being too hard on myself slows the design process and hinders the development and advancement of my ideas. I can move on because of the lessons about process I learned and taught while I was a writing tutor. Being in the Herndon Writing Center helped me understand that failure is common and acceptable, but one misstep doesn’t amount to an overall lack of success. My time as a tutor also showed me how important process really is. The first step to a successful final product is often failure.\n\nGoing back to a project after a break often leads me to be able to look at it analytically. I can find where it went wrong and what it accomplished. I use those assessments to cut out the things that didn’t work (carpenter), build up the ideas that were beneficial to my idea (architect) and make sure that all the technicalities of the project (does it fit the size/material requirement, is the construction clean and stable, etc.) are met (judge).\n\nOne thing that I haven’t figured out is when the cycle of Madman, Carpenter, Architect, Judge can be stopped. Once everything is clean at the end of a paper or a project, I find that it’s always possible to go back and add to it or change it completely. It’s hard for me to tell when it’s time to put down the pencil and submit the final product. Often, I submit the final product when the deadline comes and I don’t stop developing it a second sooner. Finishing a project is not something that only I struggle with as an architecture and writing student, but that people from all fields struggle with daily.\n\nAnother thing that being in the Herndon Writing Center has helped me with is—not surprisingly—the ability to do all types of writing. My sophomore year at Herndon High School we had to write a research paper in Advanced Composition called “writing in the discipline.” Its function was to show that writing is important in every field. I understood that after I wrote the paper my sophomore year, but I was forcibly reminded of it at the end of my first semester at Virginia Tech. My professor told our class that we would need to describe the depth of our ideas and the months of process involved in just two to three sentences per project for our final portfolio. He wanted us to connect our projects to broad concepts we learned and ideas we pursued while exploring through the project. Without my times as a tutor in the writing center I would have thought that this was impossible, but my experiences gave me the confidence to express myself through writing. I was reminded that sometimes the objects or drawing that I create don’t express every idea I wanted them too. Writing is an important communicator in every situation and profession.\n\nBeing in the Herndon Writing Center was a wonderful experience. In high school, it provided me with a good community. It was an interesting class and it was less demanding than my core classes, so I found I could enjoy it more. It helped me develop my communication skills, leadership skills, patience and so many more skills that are necessary in college and in the workplace in addition to my writing and ability to recognize the importance of process. Now that I’m in college, I have been using what I learned in Advanced Composition every day. Being in that class helps me with architecture, and I can see through my relationships with other students I can see that what I have learned is applicable in every field. \n\nThursday, April 6, 2017\n\n\"The Care in Carrying\" by Betty Rizzo\n\nOn nights when my icecream sugar rush plummeted to a crash and the living room TV started to sound like a lullaby, one of my parents would find me curled up on the couch, fast asleep. Mom or Dad would scoop me up with arms that were strong enough to hold me up yet so gentle that I wouldn't stir; I would only sink further into their embrace as they carried me off to bed. Maybe there was a little moment of consciousness during the trip from the couch to my bed, though I never remembered the following morning. Maybe when the stairs creaked under our combined weight, my sleepy eyes would flutter open to look up and see my mom or dad. But just as fast as I opened them, the radiating warmth of my mother’s chest or the loud and steady beat of my father’s heart would have my eyelids heavy again as they pulled my bed covers up to my chin and kissed me on the forehead. My dreams were always pleasant on nights like this. I would wake up in the morning, well-rested but disoriented, wondering how I made it from the couch to my bed. It was a magical feeling; in my imagination, I pictured myself floating up the stairs and into my room, or sleep walking up there like a zombie. \n\nNow, when I think back on that surprise of waking up in my bed after having falling asleep on the couch, I think about what it means to care for someone. It's such a small moment, such a seemingly thoughtless gesture: carrying a loved one to safety. It seems like common sense when you look at it from a glance. But it's the act of doing something for someone when they aren't even conscious. Guiding someone to safety, when they themselves can’t get to safety on their own. They say your character is built when no one is looking, same goes for committing an act of kindness for someone who you know won’t acknowledge your doing. So why do it then, if there isn’t any reward or recognition? For these people, the reward is the liberation of worry they experience knowing that someone they care about is safe and sound. There is care in carrying.\n\nFirst, caring is a dad taking his daughter up to bed after a long day of fun left her snoozing on the sofa. Next, it's the girl who’s had too much to drink, the one passed out in the corner of the party. It’s the boy who waits for everyone to clear out and pushes the hair back from behind her ear, carries her up to room, and leaves a glass of water on her bed side table before heading home. Not the douchebag jock she was talking to all night, the one who gave her the booze in the first place in the hopes of getting laid. No, its the boy who knows his gesture will go unnoticed, the one who doesn’t mind that the girl won’t remember his kindness in the morning. Caring is a son who helps his single mother up to bed after she falls asleep at her desk with her hands still on the keyboard. Another stressful week at work, he knows how exhausting it is for her to make ends meet. Caring is an elderly man who, even with his bad hip, insists on carrying his wife upstairs every night so her arthritis won’t act up. \n\nOne day, you might not be a kid anymore and you might not have a person to do your carrying for you. You might fall asleep on the couch, and wake up in the same place. It’s a hard reality to wake up to. It might feel like the magic doesn’t exist anymore. In the end, you have to care for yourself. You have to bear that weight and climb those stairs yourself if no one is there to lessen the load. There is care in carrying. Where there is care, there is love, there is respect, and there is dependence. Whether someone is doing your carrying for you or you’re out there on your own, get yourself off that couch and give yourself the comfort and respect you deserve.\n\n\"In Cycles\" by Hunter Vega\n\nI could try to check myself right now, or I could stop letting them do this to me. Julie is telling me to sit down, she wants me to stop making a scene in front of Theo. She’s wanted to drop me for like the last month. I’m almost sure she’s sleeping with him already. What does it matter. I’m done with her. She’s been having me watch Girls and keeping me on a leash. I mean, she’s practically had my balls in her hands since we’ve gotten together. And here she goes again, with the darting eyes and cocking head. She always puts on this act in front of people. She says “baby!’ a lot, swinging the second syllable up into screeching registers before letting the word melt into a weird kind of whimper and coaching her blushing face into a mask of saddened surprise. She’ll call me Michael, pretending she knew me before I was just Mike. Invoking my mother’s voice, like she can startle me into being agreeable. The whole thing is a gross display. I’m supposed to duck my head and slink back to her side. Because I’m supposed to be a nice guy. I’m supposed to be sweet or cute, like a kid. I wasn’t supposed to get a girl like her, even though we used to be right for each other. Everyone thought I got lucky. Big things don’t happen to Mike.\nNow we’re that couple. We’re a nuisance to all of our friends, and entertainment to the people I met through her. We go places to fight in front of other people. I look like a joke. Her friends laugh. One of them leaves with one of my friends. Theo’s brow knits. He talks to Julie in private. He’ll just stare at me. I almost never get what he’s trying to say when he’s staring like that. I get that there’s no respect there, though. I always fall into line like I’m not a man, and he won’t ever have a real conversation with me. And he’ll probably take Julie home one of these nights. And this group of people won’t meet up again. Because she has to put on this act.\nNo. I know it’s my fault. All I feel anymore is anger. I don’t get happy. I don’t get sad or afraid, I just know the heat in my face and the dark edges of my vision and the tension in my arms when we go another round. I hate that I’ve started looking forward to this. It’s the bulk of our relationship, It’s kind of all we got.\nJulie and I never really had feelings for each other. So maybe this whole thing was a farce. I’ve felt obligated to be with some girl for so long. There was no reason for us to get together, but this disastrous mistake took shape almost without our consent. Everyone around us had shifted, it seems, and we ended up in this cycle of hate., or jealousy, or whatever it was everyone thought we were doing. Their ideas always seemed to matter so much more than ours.\nI feel, sometimes, like she doesn’t need this as much as I do. I’m really the reacher, no matter how you look at this. She can have this sort of audience whenever she wants, she’ll call up her girls and head out to go throw drinks in guy’s faces and pretend she’s capable of getting that upset. It would hurt, but nothing really does.\n\nSo she’s acting like I’m going to sit down and watch Parks and Rec and let her lean on my shoulder again while she traces the hems of Theo’s jeans with her toes. And I’m feeling like I’m about to break a dam when someone tells us to take it outside. So we do. And when I reach down to kiss her hard, I think for the first time that this might go on forever.\n\n\"Waiting\" by Smurph\n\nHere I sit, if you please Waiting for my slice of cheese I am waiting, as I must Waiting to consume some crust Possibly I’ll take a...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.793351411819458} +{"content": "People on a tour boat watch as lava pours from the Kilauea volcano into the Pacific Ocean in January.\nWarren Fintz/Eppix Adventures Photography\nJim McMahon\nGases rise from a vent on Kilauea’s eastern side in 2014.\nHot Shot\nIn Hawaii, lava has been gushing like a waterfall into the ocean since December.\n\nBy Tricia Culligan\n\nHawaii is home to one of the world’s most active volcanoes, Kilauea (kee-lah-WAY-ah). The volcano has been erupting nonstop for more than 35 years. Lava from Kilauea usually pours slowly into the Pacific Ocean, creating a fiery show. But recently, a much more dramatic show started.\n\n“Lava began gushing out of the tube opening like water gushes from the end of a fire hose,” says Janet Babb. She’s a scientist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.\n\nLava is still bursting from a huge hole on the side of a cliff on Kilauea. This rare event is known as a fire hose flow. As the lava slams into the ocean, it creates an explosion of steam and rock.\n\n\nKilauea is located on what is known as Hawaii’s Big Island. (The island’s official name is Hawaii, the same as the state.) Lava from the volcano can cause destruction when it flows into nearby towns. But it also creates land, making the island bigger. When lava reaches the ocean, it cools and hardens into a type of rock called basalt.\n\nLast May, a new vent, or hole, opened on Kilauea. As lava from the vent flowed over land, the air cooled the top layer. That lava crusted over to form a tube. In July, lava from that tube began oozing into the sea. It eventually hardened into an unstable (likely to fall, move, or sway) landmass called a lava delta. The delta grew to be about the size of 20 football fields. On New Year’s Eve, it collapsed, along with a huge section of the sea cliff near the delta. That exposed much more of the underground tube. Millions of gallons of lava began to rocket into the sea.\n\nBabb says there’s no telling when the fire hose flow will end. These events usually last a day or two. But as Scholastic News went to press, this one had been gushing for nearly two months.\n\nVisitors from around the world have flocked to Hawaii to see the fiery flow. But park officials won’t let anyone get within a half-mile of it. Babb warns that the superhot steam and flying rocks are dangerous.\n\n“Lava flows are beautiful but must be respected for the hazards associated with them,” she explains.\n\nThis article originally appears in the March 20, 2017, issue of Scholastic News Edition 4.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7771947979927063} +{"content": "Fifth Grade Music Expectations\n\nIn the Fifth Grade, students will continue to develop their music literacy and vocal skills through solfege study and sight singing using more difficult literature. We will strengthen our musical vocabulary and analysis skills throughout the Composer of the Month series using a Music Listening Journal. We will expand our recorder technique and repertoire on soprano recorder through Recorder Karate and two-part music. More time will be spent developing student composition and improvisation on the Orff and percussion instruments. Advanced instruction is offered through Chorus, Orff Ensemble, and Recorder Ensemble.\n\n(Compiled from the 1994 MENC Content Standards, NYC Arts Blueprint, and the Skills Scope Sequences of Making Music and Share the Music Series)\n\n -will sing in a small group and with full class with attention to blending vocal timbres\n -will experience singing with piano, guitar, and Orff accompaniments as well as well as acapella\n -will sing with accuracy in pitch, intonation, and rhythm with a steady beat\n -will sing with appropriate vocal timbre, expression, style, phrasing, diction, and dynamics while maintain good singing posture and breath support\n -will develop a varied repertoire of song literature (from memory) representing genres and styles from diverse countries\n -will sing ostinatos, partner songs, and rounds\n -will develop aural perception of melodic intervals as well as ascending,descending, and repeated melodic patterns\n -will develop audiation skills with familiar patterns and songs\n -will follow musical cues while singing including dynamic changes, tempo changes, fermatas, releases, accents, and preparatory breaths\n 1. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.\n -will explore percussion instruments and body percussion for sound effects in stories, poems, mini-dramas, rhymes, and songs\n -will identify names of all percussion instruments including specialization such as Soprano, Alto, Bass, etc.\n -will demonstrate awareness of timbre and specialization through sight and sound: woods, shakers/scrapers, metals, sound effects, drums/skins, and melody instruments\n -will demonstrate correct playing techniques of percussion instruments with special attention sound quality\n -will demonstrate accurate mallet technique on Orff instruments\n -will arrange Orff instruments accurately for pentatonic scales\n -will accurately perform advanced ostinato patterns on instruments and body percussion, with and without speech\n -will accurately perform intermediate melodies on the Orff instruments\n -will sing a melody accurately while playing an ostinato pattern\n -will develop basic recorder technique with attention to posture, breathing, intonation, fingering, expression, and self-control (B, A, G, E, C, D, F#)\n -will echo short rhythmic and melodic phrases\n -will develop basic ensemble skills: awareness of multiple layers, maintaining a steady beat across the ensemble, breathing together (recorder), responding to cues, performance etiquette, rehearsal techniques\n -will show proper care of instruments during classroom routines\n -will show manners and patience during instrument routines (taking turns)\n 1. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments\n -will experience improvising ostinato accompaniments to songs, chants, and recorded music\n -will improvise simple phrases in call and response form or for a given number of beats/phrases on recorder and Orff instruments in various styles, tempos, and dynamics\n -will improvise expressive melodies on Orff instruments and recorder in pentatonic scales\n -will improvise a simple melodic phrase on Orff instruments over a harmonic accompaniment\n -will improvise simple rhythmic variations and simple melodic embellishments on pentatonic melodies\n -will improvise short melodies, unaccompanied and over given rhythmic accompaniments, each in a consistent style, meter, and tonality\n 1. Composing and arranging music within specific guidelines.\n -will create and arrange music to accompany poems, readings, dramatizations, specific subject matter, and visual artwork\n -will use a variety of sound sources when composing\n -will compose movement and instrumental introductions to familiar folk songs and speech pieces\n -will arrange Orff ostinato accompaniment parts for songs in various styles, meters, and tempos\n -will compose expressive melodies on recorder and Orff instruments\n -will create contrasting sections within various larger forms (AB, ABA, ABC, ABACA) through change in dynamics, timbre, tempo, or texture that demonstrates how elements of music are used to achieve unity and variety, tension and release, and balance\n -will compose a simple melody that they are able to write down in traditional music notation for others to play\n 1. Reading and notating music.\n -will use solfege and Curwen hand signs when echo-singing while relating to the solfege ladder and music staff\n -will identify musical alphabet and pitch names of treble clef notes\n -will identify the music staff, numbered lines and spaces, line notes, space notes, treble clef, barlines, measures, repeat signs, double bar, time signature, etc.\n -will identify symbols and traditional terms referring to dynamics, tempo, form, and articulation and interpret them correctly when performing\n -will identify the basic line-space pattern of diatonic musical scale in relation to the solfege scale ladder and music staff\n -will identify numeric intervals in written notation and aurally\n -will be able to sight-sing simple four to eight beat melodic patterns in major keys using movable Do\n -will use standard rhythmic notation to notate simple four-beat rhythmic dictation phrases including quarter note and rest, paired and single eighth notes, half and whole notes, whole and half rests, dotted half note, sixteenth notes, and selected ternary beat divisions (three eighths, dotted quarter, quarter-eighth, dotted quarter rest)\n -will distinguish between duple and triple meters in a variety of tempos\n -will perform simple four measure phrases on percussion instruments, body percussion, and recorder by reading standard rhythmic notation, alone and with class\n -will identify meter in both rhythmic and melodic examples\n -will be able to accurately label and follow a simple music score of up to five parts\n -will recognize orchestral, percussion ensemble, and symphonic band scores by instrumentation and layout\n 1. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music. (Movement-see below)\n -will demonstrate appropriate listening behaviors for classroom activities and audience members\n -will identify the composer and title of the piece, identify a brief history of the composer’s life, and understand the broad format of multi-movement works\n -will identify solo, orchestral, band, chamber, and choral music according to instrumentation\n -will identify instruments by name and instrument family\n -will identify the special uniqueness of each instrument (slide, double reed, valves, chin rest, end pin, etc.)\n -will demonstrate ability to follow one instrument/melody line in a piece with multiple parts\n -will identify the tempo of the piece by accurately finding the steady beat\n -will experience music that has no steady beat\n -will identify male, female, and child voices and their roles\n -will experience many genres of music and compare/contrast them using appropriate music vocabulary\n -will identify the purpose/function of music in other cultures\n -will identify and illustrate emotional and expressive qualities of music and text\n -will identify if parts of the music are the same or different and label parts accordingly, using simple two part patterns: AB, ABA, AABB, etc.\n -will identify ascending, descending, and repeated patterns in music\n -will experience and label “home” and away for tonal centers\n 1. Evaluating music and music performers.\n -will be given the opportunity to express their opinion/thoughts/preferences for music heard in the classroom through discussion\n -will share “self-critiques” about their own performances\n -will share critiques and suggestions for collaborative group performance efforts in the classroom (small group recorder/percussion performance, group dance, composition projects, etc.)\n -will grade performances and musical collaborations during class using a predetermined rubric score\n -will participate in class discussions following music or video clip examples expressing their interpretations\n -will describe the roles of participants in a performance\n -will capture and share music through a recording or performance\n -will critique recorded and group performance (too loud/soft, too fast/slow, incorrect pitch/words)\n 1. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.\n -will experience literacy in the music classroom through theater pieces, monologues, and by simply adding music to stories and poetry\n -will perform mini-dramas and tableaus from fairytales and fables using expressive voices and movement and musical accompaniment\n -will identify related patterns in rhythm, reading pitch notation, musical forms, and math\n -will identify the science of sound production related to instrument timbre and family including tube length and vibration\n -will experience using music composition computer programs like Garage Band or Sibelius\n -will identify similarities and differences in the meanings of common terms used in the various arts and other content areas\n -will identify the relationship between music and dance, between music and theater, and between music and visual art\n -will apply familiar observational strategies to music analysis: the 5 W’s\n 1. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.\n -will learn historical purpose and meaning of folk songs, dances, and children’s games from various cultures\n -will discuss and understand roles and functions of music in different cultures across the world\n -will attend live performances and concerts in their community and school\n -will share their musical experiences with the school community\n -will share their musical experiences with the neighborhood community\n -will identify various job opportunities in the music field including performance, composition, education, marketing, and technology\n -will identify opportunities for life-long music involvment\n -will understand that music reflects a composer’s ideas, emotions, life experiences, imagination, and cultural context\n\nAdditional standards inspired by Dalcroze and Orff-Schulwerk:\n\n 1. Movement and Dramatic Play:\n -will move purposefully to show expressive elements, musical events, and prominent musical characteristics in a specific piece of music\n -will demonstrate importance of beginning and ending a piece with stillness\n -will be able to discern and move to the steady beat and change movement in response to tempo fluctuations\n -will demonstrate ability to discern dynamic changes and show changes through movement\n -will demonstrate movement during interrupted and uninterrupted canons\n -will demonstrate respect of personal space\n -will be able to form and move in one or two lines, a circle, concentric circles, and in free space with little assistance\n -will show a variety of emotions, energy levels, styles, and moods through contrasting movements\n -will use a clear speaking voice with a variety of expressive qualities\n -will create movements to songs and poems for performances\n -will experiment with pathways in the air and on the ground\n -will coordinate their individual locomotor movements during a singing game or circle dance with those of the entire class\n -will explore concepts of large and small, heavy and light, tension and flow, accented and unaccented, and will identify relationships between these pairs\n -will demonstrate movements of various durations related to rhythmic or melodic patterns\n -will demonstrate ability to change between four movements on predetermined musical cues", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.853786289691925} +{"content": "Woman in Jeopardy\n\nJu Ephraime's picture\nWoman in Jeopardy Bookcover\nGeorge Hatcher\n\n\nDescription of Sales Url: \nPurchase from Amazon Kindle store, Itunes or any brick and mortar bookstore\n\nHatcher is a gifted writer and this is clearly obvious in his book, Woman In Jeopardy.\n\nThe author plot moves with a smooth pace while pouring on enough suspense to keep the reader turning the pages to find out what happens next. The dialogue is realistic, and the diabolical mindset of Francisco, the key player, and Carmen, the underdog were vividly portrayed with Hatcher's ability to create sympathetic characters that raises this novel to the next level. Although not all of the personalities are given equal treatment or enough stage time to become fully developed, those that are such as Elena, Manuela, Milton and his sister Delores, prove that the author has the skills necessary to craft a story with protagonists the audience can like, hate and relate to.\n\nIn addition, Hatcher obvious yet never heavy-handed messages about the strength of Carmen’s love for her sister, that she sacrificed herself to protect her, and in the end, did what was necessary to revenge her death, without a second thought, give the novel added depth. Overall, it is a book that grips you and doesn't let go until the last page has been turned.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8419336080551147} +{"content": "Mahjong (ma jiang) is a Chinese game of skill, strategy, and calculation. Some research shows that Mahjong is beneficial for individuals suffering from dementia and other cognitive and memory difficulties. Now, Mahjong has become a game played internationally.\n\nMahjong is very similar to Rummy and is played with tiles. The main objective is to build sets with the tiles through drawing and discarding them. In different variants it has different tiles but it is always played by four players. Traditional Chinese Mahjong is played with 144 tiles (including 8 flower/season tiles) and some variants incorporate just 136 tiles (without flower/season tiles which are optional tiles used to apply bonuses).\n\nIn this course, we will introduce the basic rules of Chinese Mahjong and will play the game.\n\nInstructor Bio\n\nDr. Xiaohong Du is an Associate Professor from Beijing Normal University, and a Master Instructor. Professor Du began to learn and practice Chinese Wushu (Martial Arts ) at 8 years old. She practices Taiji quan, Taiji Sword, Chang quan, Shaolin quan, Nan quan, Xingyi quan, Sword fighting, and Spear fighting among others. She won the Northern China college Wushu Competition and has gained the first-class athletes on Wushu in China. And now she is the director of Wushu Department of College of Sports and Physical Education, and the President of Wushu Association in Beijing Normal University. Dr Du has over 32 years experience training and teaching Tai-Chi and Wushu in China.\nTherefore, Dr Du' research is about Chinese traditional culture on Wushu and Chinese traditional exercises, Chinese TaiJi and the body Aesthetics , sports and the self-concept. She have directed some important research in China, and have published several papers.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9993857145309448} +{"content": "Iceland: Travel\n\nImage 10 of 58\n< Prev Next >\nLooking down at the lovely Gullfoss waterfall, which is a UNESCO nature site, just north of Reykjavik, Iceland. Iceland is one of the most isolated countries at the world and has been drawing adventure tourists for years and continues to be one of the most visually stunning places in the world.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9976822733879089} +{"content": "TCV Vocational Training Centre, Selakui\n\nWith the ever increasing number of students graduating out of Tibetan school system in India, it is clear that not everyone pursue higher academic studies in colleges and universities. On the other hand, there is always the need for skilled workforce in any society. More importantly, if we are to return back toTibet one day, we will need the necessary skills for rebuilding our country in different technical fields.\n\nThe VTC thus provides this opportunity for our school graduates who are less academically gifted but has the potentials to excel in a range of technical skills in varous trades so that they can serve in different industries, community centres in India or abroad and even set up their own business entrepreneurship and generate self-employment. The Center stretches over 65 acres of land and built with support of the SOS Kinderdorf International in August 2000. Today, it provides training in technical trades such as Motor Mechanic, Wireman/Electrician, Carpentry, Service Trades such as hair and skin care, hair dresser and spa therapist, professional computer application and front office combined with secretarial practice and hotel trades such as house keeping, food and beverage service, food production, bakery and confectionary.\n\nAfter their training, every effort is made for their placement within and outside the Tibetan community in their respective field of trade. Encouragement and support is also given for self-employment and entrepreneurship.\n\nNumerical Data (31/3/2013)\n\nStudents: 143\nStaff: 23\n\nHow You can Help\n\n\n\nStay informed on our latest news!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9567710757255554} +{"content": "Slowing down to look\n\nThis is a heads up on thought provoking article about how we Slowing down in a Museum from The New York Times. Make a cuppa and read the article as the key point Stephanie Rosenbloom makes is to slow down and spend time with a painting. I am suggesting you slow down, read the article and think about how we encounter artworks in a gallery. Stephanie Rosenbloom suggests that 20 minutes in front of painting will reveal more meaning to the viewer than racing to see the top 10 pieces in a collection. I agree with her.\n\nMuch of contemporary life has become about collecting experiences and catching a selfie in front of not only famous works of art but in front of famous icons such as the Sydney harbour bridge or the Eiffel Tower, London Bridge, on the Great Wall of China etc. I have nothing against selfies as such, but I do wonder what does this experience mean? What is actually happening when people dash here and there, seeing this and that? What is this fetish with collecting experiences? The activity becomes similar to someone collecting stamps.\n\nThe process puzzles me. In the case of viewing a painting if people treat the gallery experience as if they are scanning text on a computer screen the quick fleeting impression they gather will be only be partial at best and shallow at worst.\n\nStephanie Rosenbloom article in The New York Times opens with an image of everyone taking photos of the Mona Lisa. The last time I stood in that room I know I spent my time watching people (because I could not really see the painting) and I felt many did not quite know why the painting was so famous. In the hall next door there are 4 paintings by Leonardo da Vinci that people just walk past. There is even a seat in front of them that you can sit and contemplate the works but tired tourists sit with their back to paintings, facing the door to the room that holds the Mona Lisa usually waiting for their spouse or fellow tour companions to exit that room after seeing the Mona Lisa. Who am I to tell someone to turn around and see the Leonardo da Vinci behind them but I was left wondering what people took away from their day at the Louvre.\n\nCycladic figure page spread\n\nCycladic figure sketched at the Louvre\n\nI will happily plonk myself down in front of any of the works in the major galleries of the world as usually if something is in their collection it is worthy of being thought about. Even if I know little about the history or context of the work usually something will reveal itself if I just pay attention and actually look with my brain engaged.\n\nI pull out my sketchbook and take a note of the key elements in famous painting or no so famous. The note itself may not be very important, but what is important is the slowing down to make it, the slowing down to look. I like seeing the brush strokes and seeing how the painting was made or something about the composition might catch my eye so I sketch it out.\n\nThis is important in those big block buster exhibitions where people scoot through the rooms quickly. I use a sketchbook to pace myself because if I am in a crowd that is moving at certain pace, I find I will move with the flow too. It’s like I can easily become part of heard and whisked through the exhibit. So I pull out my sketchbook, stop and stubbornly take notes! I will note the colour scheme as it is an interesting combination and before I know it I have spent a good few minutes in front the painting and I have learnt something. This ‘something’ is a discovery I have made. It is not a snippet passed on by a guide which is useful to place a piece in context, but it something I have discovered and as such will texture my mental life and become something I reflect upon.\n\nEgyptian sculpture in the British Museum in travel journalIf I want to slow down even further I will often sketch an object. This is particularly the case in a museum, as doing so makes me slow down and look at what I am seeing. As I draw I notice all sorts of little things about an object and quite simply I get much more out of the experience of seeing one thing well than twenty things quickly. I find this is really important when travelling as often my senses are on overload and slowing down allows me to focus on key elements of the experience.\n\nOK here is my confession. I have just said that often it appears to me that people in galleries are collecting experiences like they collect stamps yet I love books like 1001 paintings you must see before you die, or 1001 books you must read before you die. What is that contradiction about? I think some of it is that I like to secretly disagree with what is recommended. I am worse with lists of books to read than paintings to see, as I am a real sucker for a good list! In the case of book lists I love being exposed to things I may have not sought out. So there is my contradiction, I like lists but insist on slowing down and not following the crowd.\n\nWhat are your thoughts? How do you approach a gallery visit?\n\nThanks to Danny Gregory for the link to the thought provoking article.\n\nWhy is Art important?\n\nWhat is Art for?\n\n\nFree online Drawing and Photography courses offered by Open2Study\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVan Gogh’s bridges – then and now\n\n\n\nPont Langlois\n\nPont Langlois [source: Wikipedia]\n\n\nPont van Gogh, Arles\n\nPont van Gogh, Arles\n\n\n\n\n\nHiroshige bridge\n\nHiroshige bridge [source: Wikipedia]\n\n And this is Van Gogh’s version:\n\nVan Gogh-Hiroshige bridge\n\nVan Gogh-Hiroshige bridge [source: Wikipedia]\n\n\nEdo-Tokyo bridge\n\nEdo-Tokyo bridge\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8634049892425537} +{"content": "Thing That Are To Be Avoided During the Pregnancy Months\n\nPregnancy is that time in a women’s life when she needs to be extra careful with everything that is supposed to be harmful to her health and also that of her baby. It starts with the diet that one takes to the activities that one is supposed to do during her day to day life. These all have some sort of an effect on the growth of her baby. There are certain important things that a mother is supposed to follow anytime and every time. There are also certain things that are to be better avoided during the months of pregnancy.\n\nDuring the Pregnancy\n\nThings to avoid During the Pregnancy Months\n\n1. The most important thing to avoid during the crucial months of pregnancy is that of the consumption of alcohol. There are absolutely no guidelines that will dictate as to how much a person should intake alcohol or whether she should take alcohol at all. It is absolutely harmful and is must avoidable thing from the list. There have been studies that suggests that if a mother consumes too much of alcohol during these months she may give birth to really a poorly grown child or that may also lead to mental retarded.\n\n2. There is a strict instruction as to not take any sort of drugs that will cause harm not only to the baby but also the mother as well. It may also result in the lowering weight during birth and many more of such sorts of serious complications. This may affect the mother after the delivery as well.\n\nREAD Top 10 Best Hospitals in Visakhapatnam\n\n3. Another very harmful thing that might cause serious damage to the baby and the mother includes that of smoking. It may also lead to a very premature sort of delivery and that of membrane ruptures. It resists the power to inhale oxygen for the baby thus making it really difficult to breathe. It may also lead to a very early puberty that can be especially seen with the boys.\n\n4. If the pregnant ladies are taking a lot of hot baths or in that case steam during their pregnancy, it many often results in the overheated uterus and can also lead to the death of the fetal. There is also a high risk of defects in the neural tube of the baby.\n\n5. If a mother tends to do a lot of hard exercises, then it may affect her pregnancy and may lead to a very high and fast heart rate. This may also lead to brain damage in some cases. Thus, it is said to do certain light exercises that include\n\n6. It is not advisable for a mother to take excessive stress and tension especially in her last few months of pregnancy. It may cause harm in the relationships as well as affect the mental development in the case of the baby.\n\n7. The mother is supposed to take a very balanced diet, and an unbalanced one might lead to harm to the mother’s health.\n\nThus, it is said that a pregnant lady should take the maximum care of herself as well as to her baby by following these following steps. There is also a need for others to take care of them in this crucial period of time.\n\nRead previous post:\nMaruti Vitara Brezza\nTop 10 Best Cars In India\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5484997034072876} +{"content": "Graphene might hold the key to cooling the computer chips used in smartphones, computers and other electrical devices.\n\nResearchers at Rutgers University have utilized graphene to help decrease the excessive heat generated by the increasing power of shrinking electronic components.\n\n“You can fit graphene, a very thin, two-dimensional material that can be miniaturized, to cool a hot spot that creates heating problems in your chip,” Eva Andrei, Board of Governors professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, said in a statement. “This solution doesn’t have moving parts and it’s quite efficient for cooling.\n\n“We’ve achieved a power factor that is about two times higher than in previous thermoelectric coolers,” she added.\n\nThe power factor is the effectiveness of active cooling—when the electrical current carries heat away while passive cooling is when heat diffuses naturally.\n\nGraphene—carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice—conducts electricity better than copper, quickly diffuses heat and is 100 times stronger than steel.\n\nThe researchers placed the graphene on devices made of boron nitride, which is extremely flat and smooth.\n\nIn a tiny computer or smartphone chip, billions of transistors generate substantial heat and high temperatures can hamper the performance of transistors—electronic devices that control the flow of power and can amplify signals.\n\nSilicon dioxide—the traditional base for chips—hinders performance because it scatters electrons that can carry heat away.\n\nCurrent methods to cool chips include small fans in computers, which is becoming less efficient and often break down. Water is also used for cooling but the method is complicated and prone to leaks that can fry computers.\n\n\nIn smartphone and computer chips a piece of wire connect to a hot chip and heat is carried away passively. However, if the metal has hot and cold ends the electrons zip around the hot end and are sluggish at the cold end.\n\nThe researchers applied voltage to the metal, sending a current from the hot end to the cold end. The current spurred the electrons to carry away the heat much more efficiently than via passive cooling. Graphene is actually superior in both active and passive cooling and combining both makes graphene an efficient cooler.\n\n\n“There is a good chance that the graphene cooler is going to win out,” she added. “Other materials out there are much more expensive, they’re not as thin and they don’t have such a high power factor.”\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6995865106582642} +{"content": "Explore BrainMass\n\n\nExplain if you think they're good or bad.\n\nSolution Preview\n\nFind the help in attached document. Hope your find enough clues to write your answer. For any problem mail back.\nBest wishes.\n\nWhat is an investment decision rule?\nWhen faced with new investments and projects, firms have to decide whether to invest in them or not. The characteristics of a good investment decision rule are:\n First, a good investment decision rule has to maintain a fair balance between allowing a manager analyzing a project to bring in his or her subjective assessments into the decision, and ensuring that different projects are judged consistently. Thus, an investment decision rule that is too mechanical (by not allowing for subjective inputs) or too malleable (where managers can bend the rule to match their biases) is not a good rule.\n Second, a good investment decision rule will allow the firm to further our stated objective in corporate finance, which is to maximize the value of the firm.\n Third, a good investment decision rule should work across a variety of investments.\n\nKeeping above three in mind we have to look at which methods - DCF based or non-DCF are better.\n\n\n\nDecision rule and interpretation:\n\n\nDecision rule and interpretation:\nAccept projects with returns greater than the average return on the book value of the firm, or some external ...\n\nSolution Summary\n\nExplains in detail the DCF and non-DCF methods for analyzing investment decisions.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9636455774307251} +{"content": "West Virginia responds to devastating floods\n\nIn response to the devastating floods in West Virginia, many friends, neighbors and leaders across the country are asking how they can help citizens and communities recover. Our colleagues at Philanthropy West Virginia have compiled a list of resources to volunteer, donate, and provide immediate and long-term recovery assistance. Please see the Disaster Philanthropy Playbook for disaster recovery resources.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9273793697357178} +{"content": "Shane Larson\n\n\n\n Shane Larson is a research associate professor of physics at Northwestern University, where he is a member of CIERA (Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics). He is also an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium. He works in the field of gravitational wave astrophysics, specializing in studies of compact stars, binaries, and the galaxy. He works in gravitational wave astronomy with both the ground-based LIGO project, and future space-based detectors for NASA.\n\n\n\nShane grew up in eastern Oregon, and was an undergraduate at Oregon State University where he received his B.S. in Physics in 1991. He received an M.S. in Physics (1994) and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics (1999) from Montana State University. Before moving to Northwestern, he was a tenured associate professor of physics at Utah State University. He was formerly a postdoctoral scholar at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, then at the California Institute of Technology, and finally at the Center for Gravitational Wave Physics at the Pennsylvania State University. He is an award winning teacher, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.\n\n\n\nShane is also an avid amateur astronomer, observing with two homebuilt Dobsonian telescopes, named EQUINOX and COSMOS MARINER. He currently lives in the Chicago area with his wife, daughter and cats. In addition to astronomy, he enjoys hiking, mountain biking, and geocaching. He also collects Legos, fountain pens, and telescopes. He contributes regularly to a public science blog at, and tweets with the handle @sciencejedi .\n\nWHISPERS FROM THE COSMOS: The Dawn of Gravitational Wave Astronomy\n\nVirtually everything we know about the Universe has been discovered from the study of photons --- light in all its myriad forms from radio waves, to visible light, to x-rays and beyond. At the dawn of the 21st century, advanced technology is providing access to the Cosmos through detection of sub-atomic particles like cosmic rays and neutrinos, and through detection of ripples in the fabric of spacetime itself. These ripples in spacetime, called gravitational waves, carry information not in the form of light or particles, but in the form of gravity itself. Gravitational waves are messengers which carry the stories of what happens when two black holes collide, of how the inner core of a star destroys itself during a supernova explosion, and of how the graveyard of the galaxy is filled with the quiet whisper of binary white dwarf stars that spiral together ever so slowly as they fade into oblivion.\n\n This talk will explore the modern description of gravity, what gravitational waves are and how we hope to measure them, and what we hope to learn from their detection. Gravity has a story to tell, and in this talk, we'll explore some of discoveries we hope to make by listening.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9994938373565674} +{"content": "The Beacon\nRSS Feed\n\nStudents meet to discuss dress code policy\n\nAround sixty students gathered at STEP on Wednesday, May 4 to discuss their opinions and experiences with Wilson’s dress code policy. \n\nThe meeting took place in room 205 and was mostly attended by girls. To start off the discussion, junior Alexandra Radifera asked everyone to answer an online survey she and other organizers of the meeting put together. The survey asked students to name any experience they might have had with the dress code, how it made them feel, and “any unfair instance [they had] seen relating to [the] dress code.” The survey also asked what actions the students think should be taken to address the dress code. \n\nAfter everyone completed the survey, there was a large discussion about the dress code and what students should do about it. For a large portion of the discussion, people shared their personal experiences being reprimanded for breaking the dress code. Students talked about how they were often called out in front of classmates and friends, and felt embarrassed afterward.\n\nMany of the students agreed that the dress code is often enforced more with girls of a specific body type, and that the dress code should be applied not just to curvy girls, not just to girls, but to all students.\n\n“It’s so hard to have a dress code that is [enforced] so wishy-washy,” said sophomore Franny Sewell.\n\nClaire Shaw, also a sophomore, shared a story about a male student who went all day without wearing a shirt, yet when she wore something that showed an inch of her stomach, she was yelled at almost immediately.\n\nThe meeting concluded with people talking about how to take action towards fixing the problems they had discussed. A few students made plans to set up a meeting with Principal Kimberly Martin to discuss their grievances with the current dress code policy, and move towards changing it. \n\n\nTags: , ,", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5300124883651733} +{"content": "Blog: Preparing for a 21st century LASTING peace movement – #1, Introduction\n\nOct 27, 2011\n\nWith this blog, I will offer tips, practices, provocative contemplations, and new perspectives to address the fear, confusion, cynicism, isolation and disempowerment that seem to cripple many of the individuals and institutions that value cooperation, diversity, peace, economic balance and integrity, environmental health and care for the poor and the under-privileged.\n\nIt is possible for each of us to develop the skills and courage to make a significant peaceful impact on ourselves, those around us and on society. It is possible to open to new solutions to our current problems. It is my intention to empower and encourage the creative social activist, the peaceful renegade, the openhearted warrior and those ready to join me play a part in the unfolding of our global evolution.\n\nI don’t claim to have all the answers, but if you are interested and intrigued, stay engaged, and let’s explore this together!\n\n\nImagine a world where each individual had the commitment and the skill to positively interact with all beings with respect and honor, even if the others views and beliefs were different. Imagine being committed to collaboration and not breaking the connection through fear, hate or anger, avoiding further misunderstandings and, ultimately, fights, crime, and war. Imagine feeling so fulfilled and confident in yourself that you naturally desire to empower others.\n\nWe have moved into an age of global connection. There is little on this planet that doesn’t in some way affect something else; every altercation has ramifications to all nations. When the economy or government of one nation shifts, ripples will eventually reach other nations. The news is filled with stories showing the volatility of the world economy and the urgency to heal our relationship with the environment. This shift requires us to be more involved with the whole.\n\nWe are currently in a phase of history where much is shifting, even crumbling. This has enormous advantages. This means we discard old, outdated ways to make room for new modes of governing and relating to one another. This also holds the possibility to cause more havoc if we are not responsible. I have been involved with the Occupy Oakland movement for a couple of weeks now and I am learning a lot about passion, frustration and the essential need for solidarity, perseverance, level-headedness and clear structures for communication and collaboration.\n\nConflict can only occur when we are being negatively judgmental and acting from our reactive behavior, when the goal of a relationship or an encounter is to defeat the other or when someone chooses to avoid hearing or speaking the truth. If we are going to move peacefully through the current shifts in our personal relationships, in our communities, and on a global scale, we will need to develop clearer, respectful ways to communicate in order to find new, creative solutions to current problems.\n\nAt the beginning of the twenty first century, we understand very well that our actions have consequences, and that we have the power and the right to transform and evolve. We see the potential of the individual and have created a culture where many of us have the freedom to attempt to manifest our goals.\n\nFor those of us who are fortunate enough to have this opportunity, I say now is the time to take what we have learned and do something with this knowledge! We have the resources, skills, healing, and wisdom to actually make a difference in our relationships, in the workplace, in our neighborhoods, and globally. Every small contribution makes a difference. If we can truly take responsibility for our actions and support others in their process toward conscious interaction, we will see positive change.\n\nPeacemaking should not focus solely on law enforcement and getting armies to put down their weapons. The true work of peacemaking is teaching each individual how to shift his or her personal behavior when engaging with others. For positive, lasting change to occur, we must develop the skills to stay engaged with others in a peaceful way, even when we disagree and especially when someone has been hurt.\n\nThe true practice of the peacemaker is to manage reactive behavior while having the generosity to hear someone else’s side to a story and then skillfully reach resolution and understanding or find ways to disagree respectfully. This is the blueprint of a twenty-first century peacemaking coalition.\n\nAnd it all starts with the individual! It doesn’t take place on the battlefields. It takes place in the family kitchens, the schoolyard, the workplace, in line at the supermarket, and currently in tent villages around the world. Each time we avoid or resolve conflict we move one step closer to a culture of lasting peace. Disturbing feelings and misunderstandings may still be present, but we will feel confident that we can overcome these disturbances and find a way to stay connected.\n\nAlbert Einstein said, “You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must see the world anew.” Using complicated methods to solve problems only creates more complications. The solutions are simple: begin with first acknowledging the power of openhearted connection, which includes respect, compassion, generosity, and understanding. Then, learn the skills to engage from the heart and maintain that connection with others, even when it gets challenging. When you are in your heart you tap into your wisdom and common sense as a source of energy and power.\n\nWe won’t take action until we feel what is happening around us. When you are fully in your heart and feel compassion, you will not be able to tolerate that people are hungry, that you are fighting with loved ones, or that others are suffering. You will search for new policies and strategies that acknowledge that the only way you can win is if everyone else involved also wins.\n\nJudgments, assumptions, and all the concepts that keep us separate (for instance, victim/perpetrator, Democrat/Republican, rich/poor) seem to fall away. You begin to feel what vulnerability really is, and more importantly, you begin to discover the enormous power in vulnerability. And I believe that it is only in your vulnerability that your true power is revealed.\n\n\nYour Feedback:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9952880144119263} +{"content": "Device uses nose shape to sniff out terrorists\n\n • You can tell this idea came from a country where they're not big on plastic surgery. Scientists at the UK's University of Bath reckon that noses are a better way of identifying people than iris or fingerprint scans.\n\n Dr Adrian Evans - himself in possession of a rather noble hooter - used a photographic system called PhotoFace to scan the 3D shape of volunteers’ noses. His team then used software to analyse them according to six main shapes: Roman, Greek, Nubian, Hawk, Snub and Turn-up.\n\n The researchers used three characteristics in their analysis - the ridge profile, the nose tip, and the nasion, or section between the eyes - to produce a ratio that was then used to distinguish between a database of 36 people.\n\n Whilst this was a small sample, the researchers found that there was a good recognition rate and a faster rate of image processing than with conventional biometric techniques such as whole face recognition.\n\n Dr Evans said: \"There’s no one magic biometric – irises are a powerful biometric, but can be difficult to capture accurately and can easily be obscured by eyelids or glasses.\n\n\n\n The Bath researchers plan in the future to build up a larger database and refine the software to see if it can pick out individuals from a larger group of people, or distinguish between relatives from the same family.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9170292019844055} +{"content": "The Reading Machine\n\nThe war had not yet ended in mid-1944, but Vannevar Bush was already anticipating the homecoming of the American troops. As the director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, his attention had turned from driving the war effort forward to the more delicate task of reintegrating thousands of young men — many seriously wounded on their tours of duty— back into the rhythms of daily life.\n\nOf particular concern were blinded veterans. Although braille and audio books were already in (albeit limited) use, a man whose sight was taken by shrapnel on the front lines would be generally barred from accessing the multitude of print material available to his sighted peers. The familiar comforts of newspapers, bookstores, and handwritten correspondence would fade into a mere memory.\n\nVannevar Bush recalled that, since the early years of the twentieth century, there had been attempts to build reading machines — devices that converted the written word into sounds. The machines weren’t readers themselves; they neither recognized words nor synthesized speech. They merely converted pictures into other sensory modalities, like raised bumps (like the device of Gustav Tauschek, below) or noises. There was every confidence that, with the reading machine executed correctly and enough training time allowed, a man or woman of average intelligence could learn a sound alphabet. By associating distinct noises with letters, they could begin to assemble words in their heads. Intuitively, it was no different than learning to use an optical alphabet — more commonly spoken, the written word. Brains that could read by sight, could probably read by sound.\n\nA drawing from a patent for an early (1935) reading machine by Gustav Tauschek, which output raised letters instead of sound. From http://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Basis/OCR.html\n\nOf course, a reading machine had never worked before. But, remarking on the tremendous advancements in all areas of science during the war years, it seemed reasonable to return to the device once more. If the atom could be split, if the German “Enigma” cipher could be cracked, if radar could extend sight to the oceans and skies, was it any more miraculous to make a blind man read?\n\nHaskins Laboratories, a small research center founded in Schenectady, New York founded in 1935 on the independent wealth of biophysicist Caryl Haskins with his collaborator, the physicist Franklin Cooper, was selected to host the project. An early-career psychologist from Yale, Alvin Liberman, was recruited. Liberman would eventually become one of the titans of speech perception and production research. He could not possibly have anticipated, in his transit to the small, independent lab, that the trajectory of his decades-long career would be set into motion by the reading machine.\n\nThe researchers began by borrowing and repairing a used Optophone from the American Foundation for the Blind. The Optophone is a device that scans over a line of text and plays a note whenever black ink occludes a light source. When a few channels are used, the working Optophone resembles the comb of a music box sliding over a studded cylinder, playing different notes when different regions of the paper were inked. An example of a simulated Optophone (developed in MATLAB by the author), playing the notes G, E, D, C, and G (one octave lower) over a scanned sentence, is found below.\n\nPlay to hear a simulated Optophone scan a sentence and output a sound-alphabet version.\n\nOptimism for the reading machine was high at the outset. Alvin Liberman wrote that “…the perception of speech was thought to be no different from the perception of other sounds, except, as there was, in speech, a learned association between perceived sound and the name of the corresponding phoneme. Why not expect, then, that arbitrary but distinctive sounds would serve as well as speech, provided only that users had sufficient training?”\n\n“Given that expectation, we were ill prepared for the disappointing performance of the nonspeech signals our early machines produced,” he concluded. The sound-alphabet approach did not yield easy success. Participants who interpreted sentences played through the Optophone could not do it quickly enough to be useful- most could not “read” more than ten words a minute, which is at least twenty times slower than most sighted people can read from paper. Performance did not improve after hours of training. Nor was the slowness a result of the playback speed — when the experimenters made the Optophone faster, the letters only blurred together, making them entirely indistinct and useless to the listener. Liberman called it “an imperspicuous buzz”.\n\nCooper, Liberman, and the rest of the team had tried a variety of sounds, hoping to find a more efficient signal. After much frustration, they began to look at human speech itself. Although the technology to synthesize appropriate speech from a picture of a word was out of reach, the Haskins group expected to gain an understanding of the principles of the speech signal that made it so easy to understand, even when delivered quickly. Whatever the organizing features of the speech signal were, they could borrow and apply to the output of the reading machine.\n\nFor the first time, speech could be visualized in exquisite detail thanks to a World War II invention, the spectrograph, which emerged from Bell Labs. The spectrograph represents the energy in a range of frequencies over time, a process similar to the workings of the human ear — within the cochlea, sound is separated into its constituent frequencies, converting the frequency profile of a sound into a spatial pattern of activation along the snail-shell shaped organ. The inventors of the spectrograph had hopes of teaching the deaf to use telephones by reading the images (spectograms) produced by their device, but this had proved nearly as unworkable as the Haskins’ reading machine. “As a matter of fact I have not met one single speech researcher who has claimed he could read speech spectrograms fluently, and I am no exception myself,” wrote Gunnar Fant, an early pioneer of synthetic speech.\n\nLooking at spectrograms of the same phoneme (a unit of sound that distinguishes a word from another in a given language) revealed curious patterns that were at odds with the assumptions driving the reading machine. Whereas the sound alphabet had assumed that each phoneme in a word — the “d”, the “o”, and the “g” in “dog” — could be delivered separately, as its own unique segment, the spectrogram told a different story.\n\nConsider the following classical example with spectrograms of the words “see” and “sue”:\n\nImage credit: Matt Winn\n\nNotice the “s” (boxed in orange) represented in the spectrograms. Before /i/, as in “see”, the consonant has a great deal of energy in the high frequencies. When the vowel that follows is /u/, as in “sue”, it is not only the vowel that changes — there is a noticeably different pattern of energy in the “s”. The acoustic signal for “s” is not a discrete segment, like a word in a letter, than can simply be slid into place besides any other sound. Just like nearly every other phoneme, its acoustics depend on its surroundings.\n\nThe phonemes blur into one another by the very nature of speech production. Even as the vocal tract is positioned to make one sound, it is prepared to produce the next. In the above example, there is less high frequency energy in the “s” in “sue” because the tongue and lip formation are already altered during production of the “s” in anticipation of the /u/. Early studies with electromyography, which measures the electrical activity of muscle tissue, suggested that the muscles of the vocal tract could function largely independently of one another, preparing for and executing gestures in parallel.\n\nAfter two decades spent in a rabbit hole of speech perception studies probing these nuances and intricacies of speech, the Haskins group was forced to conclude that the acoustic representation of phonemes could not be easily split into discrete segments. The acoustic signature of a consonant informed the listener what vowel would follow, and vice versa. It was incontrovertibly clear that speech was a code that played by different rules than anything the Optophone had ever produced. Information bled in time, forward and backwards. In this way, speech was more efficient than any rigidly partitioned sound alphabet; no amount of training, and no amount of optimizing, could overcome that glaring limitation of the reading machine. Of course, this raised new questions — if the acoustic signatures of consonants differed depending on what vowel came next, and if the acoustic signatures differed so much by speaker, how could any listener so easily and confidently identify phonemes in speech? Sixty years after these questions were articulated, conclusive answers are still hard to come by.\n\nThe dream of the reading machine would not be realized until the digital age, and even then, not through the use of a sound alphabet. But something more fundamental was realized when the aspirations for reading by non-speech sounds crumbled away. In retrospect, Liberman wrote, “Acoustic alphabets cannot become part of a coherent process; I suspect, therefore, that there is nothing interesting to be learned. But speech was always before us, proof that there is a better way.” The discovery that understanding speech is characteristically different than reading, and possibly different from perceiving other kinds of sound, upended assumptions about the brain’s mechanism for converting acoustic signals into a meaningful percept of language. The next decades would see previously unimagined theories of speech perception and the fruition of ideas as divisive as they were progressive — controversies that would define the world of speech research as it exists today.\n\nFor further reading and even more history, please see:\n\nLiberman, Alvin M. “On finding that speech is special.” Handbook of Cognitive Neuroscience. Springer US, 1984. 169–197.\n\nShankweiler, Donald, and Carol A. Fowler. “Seeking a reading machine for the blind and discovering the speech code.” History of psychology 18.1 (2015): 78.\n\nLiberman, Alvin M., et al. “Perception of the speech code.” Psychological review 74.6 (1967): 431.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9215676784515381} +{"content": "The Worst Thing That Colonialism Did Was To Cloud Our View of the Past\n\n\n“No other continent has endured such an unspeakably bizarre combination of foreign thievery and foreign goodwill.” Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood\n\n\nHave you ever wondered who invented glass? Somewhere in Mesopotamia, thousands of years before Christ, craftsmen made a little discovery that we now use for thousands of things. What I find most fascinating about glass is what my mother calls its “flowy state”. Although glass looks like a solid, it is in fact a liquid. It flows and changes.\n\nHistory becomes much like glass when placed in human hands. It appears fixed and solid but in fact over time it evolves: a fact twisted here, a half lie printed there; the version that suits the majority and sometimes, the minority.\n\nBy now you have probably come to some conclusion about what this post is about and whose side I am taking. You might have realised that this is a follow up to my previous post The liberation struggle was about land.\n\nI want you to imagine that you are sitting in a discussion about land reform in South Africa (specifically The Big Debate on eNCA), when someone stands up and declares:\n\n“We are the rightful owners of this land!”\n\nGive that person a body, clothes, a voice. Let’s play for points, who do you see?\n\nFive points for you if you pictured a middle aged, khaki clad white man who describes himself as a Boer. For those of you who saw an angry black person with a foaming mouth and a raised fist, try again in the next round! I did a quick check to see if the speaker was Leon Schuster in disguise; the rightful owners of this land?! You must be joking!\n\nA cloudy colonial past\n\n\nBarack Obama\n\nMany of you would not be able to read this but for the invention of glass. Some really smart people out there (no one knows when or where for sure) figured out that glass could be used to refract light into a defective eye in such a way that it corrected and improved your ability to see objects from a distance.\n\nThe further we move away from a certain point in history, the blurrier it appears. But perception is not reality and the Boer man who stood up at that debate stands corrected by history’s testimony.\n\nI struggle to remember what I read of my continent’s history from the textbook when I was 13 years old. I know a tiny bit about the events leading to the wars of independence and even less about what life was like before colonialism, before “the men without knees” came; referring to the trousers wearing strangers.\n\nAnd even with my family history, I can only squint into the past and imagine. I see my great-great-great grandmother walking down a dusty road, first as a little girl at her mother’s side and then an old woman, with many grandchildren underfoot. And then my great-great grandfather on the day he was born, the pride of his parents, I wonder: where was he laid to rest?\n\nI ask myself what dreams they had, what prayers they prayed, the hidden desires of their hearts. I construct kraals and walls and cities breached by enemy clans. I see kings and queens, festivals and funerals. But none of it is real, it is all imagined. We lost our cultural legacy to colonialism.\n\nThe reality is that that my grandparents live in a little house on the outskirts of the city, a tiny two bedroomed unit, with a toilet and bathroom outside. I wonder how gogo must have felt when she walked through the pretty houses in the white suburbs that she worked in. And whether she wondered how “Fambeki” (Van Beek?) came to own his farmland. Could she conceive of the a day when her children could venture beyond the boundaries of the township, past the curfew, into the suburbs and buy houses of their own?\n\nWrongs don’t make a right\n\nIn a recent discussion about land reform one of the issues that came up was the unlawful occupation of farms and the violation of private property rights. The argument was something along these lines:\n\nMy grandfather bought the land X years ago for a fair price. We hold the title deed to the land and have held and farmed on it it lawfully for years. The invasion of our farm was illegal and unfair.\n\nFirstly, as a matter of principle, I believe that anyone who can prove ownership of land today is entitled to protection of their ownership rights. In practice what that means is that issues of compensation become relevant when a government is implementing a land reform policy. That is the just thing to do. But before you wave your title deed around, you must ask yourself the question:\n\nIn a country where most of the people are black, how did so much land end up in the hands of white people?\n\nAfter 1994 in South Africa “so much” amounts to just under 90% of the land. Do bear in mind that white people made up about 10% of the population. Various legislation was passed by the government, restricting ownership of land by black people and allocating the majority of the land and the best of the land to white people. Today, given the failure of South Africa’s land reform programme, the majority of land remains white owned.\n\nIn Zimbabwe too, most of the land was in the hands of white people. Decades after independence, the land invasions began which became the catalyst for the land reform policy.\n\nObama was right when he said that colonialism clouded our view our past. Because white people fail to see that their position of privilege today is the fruit of a seed of injustice that was planted generations ago. And because black people have adopted the means of their colonisers, forgetting that racism is a powerful weapon; but one that will ultimately destroy anyone who raises it against another, no matter what colour.\n\nAfrica’s past is distant, but not too distant for us to have gained the right forget that the rightful owners of this land were forced out of it by a law written in a language that they did not understand and by a people that they did not know.\n\nThere are many wrongs that must still be made right, including the issue of land. God says that those who sow in tears will reap in joy (Psalm 126:5) and in my imagination I see every tear cried by Africa’s people being counted by God and kept in a multicoloured bottle made of glass.\n\nThanks for reading.\n\nThis is not an academic article, it is a collection of my opinions on certain issues. If you are looking for a credible academic source of African history or current issues, this is not it.\n\nWhose Lobola Is It Anyway?\n\n\nFor those of you who do not know, lobola is a dowry or bride price that is given to the bride’s family by the groom’s. The word encompasses a marriage custom that has been practised in Africa for generations and has evolved as society has changed.\n\nI recently attended a relative’s lobola ceremony where we were representing the bride’s side of the family. It was only the second time that I had been a part of one and it was both a pleasant and an unpleasant experience. And it made me think. I want to raise some issues that the custom brings up and would love your engagement on them.\n\nThe benefit and cost of lobola\n\nEvery custom and traditional practice serves a purpose for that particular group of people that observes it. Or at least it is supposed to. Traditionally, lobola has been one of the ceremonies that forms a part of the process of solemnising a marriage as well as bringing the two families together. From beginning to end, there are steps that must be followed and ways of doing things that are very specific. For example, there are certain people who can attend the negotiation and presentation ceremonies and others who are excluded. The groom’s family should be especially careful to perform their obligations lest they offend the bride’s family.\n\nThere is a blessing and a curse in lobola. It is blessing because it provides a framework within which a couple can make their relationship official, before those closest to them and before the world. This, in contrast to the “hook up” culture that prevails amongst us today. Very importantly, it makes sure that both people know the family that they are marrying into, which ensures that the couple will not be isolated.\n\nOn the other hand, the focus on the idea that two families are coming together, while promoting a sense of community, can take away from the fact that it is actually two people coming together. I have countless stories of people whose marriages were wrecked because of interference from parents, aunts and uncles. Every decision that the couple has to make must pass through the family council first and needs their approval.\n\nThe role of women and men\n\nA very large number of women today have been raised in single parent households, usually by their mother. And yet the process today is still dominated by male family members who consult with other family members but ultimately are in charge of making the decisions. There is a share of the bride price and gifts that is given to the mother of the bride but the father as the head of the household, receives most of it on behalf of the the family.\n\nI attended a ceremony where the father acted as the father of the bride even though he had made no contribution to the raising of his daughter. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. I think it is worth saying that I have no issue with a father occupying a position of honour per se but I think that, in that situation, he occupies a position that he is not entitled to. And it just looks like he is showing up at the end for the financial benefits. Surely there is something wrong with this?\n\nI am also struck by the fact that in these kinds of ceremonies, women occupy a subservient position. And regrettably, it is not just at events such as this but is a prominent feature of our culture. The men sit in the house waiting to be served while the women slave away all day- peeling, chopping, cooking, cleaning and minding the children. The men discuss important matters and call for more beer every once in a while. Someone suggested that in times gone by, the men were probably in charge of slaughtering the livestock, chopping the wood etc, but convenience has changed things.\n\nBut if things have changed for men why do women still bear most of the burden?\n\nTradition for tradition’s sake?\n\nThere are so many more issues I could raise, like overcharging by families, made being delayed because families cannot agree and the culture clash that arises as a result of mixed marriages. What do you think?\n\nIs lobola important to you?\n\nDo you plan on observing it when you get married, do you have a choice?\n\nFinally, has lobola lost it’s meaning or does it serve a legitimate purpose today?\n\nThanks for reading.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5283089876174927} +{"content": "> Sightseeings in Bulgaria > \n\nArchaeological Reserve Deultum - Develt\n\nAuthor: Стела Горова, 9 km From Drachevo. , GPS coordinates: N 42.3874467 E 27.2841373\nArchaeological Reserve Deultum - Develt, Picture\nArchaeological Reserve Deultum - Develt, Picture 1Archaeological Reserve Deultum - Develt, Picture 2Archaeological Reserve Deultum - Develt, Picture 3Archaeological Reserve Deultum - Develt, Picture 4\n\nArchaeological Reserve Deultum - Develt is located 10 km west of the city of Burgas, in the land of Sredetska Debelt village. Deultum is the only archaeological site in the country with \"European cultural heritage.\" According to sources, the name of the ancient Thracian settlement has the root meaning \"place between two swamps.\" Deultum ancient city was declared a national archaeological reserve in 1988 32 years ago for the first time began archaeological investigations of the region, which continues today. Deultum - Develt was an ancient settlement founded during the reign of the Roman Emperor Vespasian (69-79). the site of an ancient Thracian settlement from the seventh century. etc.. Chr. The Roman colony was settled military veterans August Legion participated in the suppression of the revolt in Judea. Veterans were rewarded for their excellent land between today's complex Mandra and Bourgas lakes. Because of its strategic location, Deultum quickly became an important commercial center, and during the Severan dynasty settlement was in its heyday. Its area reaches more than 250 acres, build road network and infrastructure are built numerous temples and at the time of Emperor Septimius Severus was built and the temple of the imperial cult. The town even had its own emissions of bronze coins, some of which have been found in archaeological excavations and can be seen in the museum part of the reserve. Deultum - Develt became a major economic center - developing fisheries, agriculture, many crafts, metallurgy and most - already trade in the Middle Ages and has established itself as one of the - largest ports of strategic importance. Deultum - Develt was conquered in 812 by the army of Khan Krum, who migrated population in the city is settled Bulgars. The settlement soon became an important border crossing between Byzantium and Bulgaria with ancient customs, which next 200 Bulgarian rulers received an annual tax of Byzantine emperors. Archaeological finds in the area are numerous and invaluable - found the remains of a Roman bath, the foundations of the palace, many temples, several large coin treasures, statues, pottery, inscriptions, small finds, which can be seen both in the Archaeological Museum in the town. Burgas and on-site archaeological base in. Debelt.\n\nOpinions and useful advice\n\nVoted (1) Rate\n\nShare your opinion or advice\n\n\nБоженци 2\nAdd sightseeing!\nVIP OFERTA - Velingrad - Baner 2\n\nDestinations in Bulgaria\n\nAlbena70 hotels\nAhtopol137 hotels\nBalchik137 hotels\nBurgas235 hotels\nByala, Varna60 hotels\nVarna327 hotels\nVelika20 hotels\nGolden sands150 hotels\nKavarna62 hotels\nKiten215 hotels\nKranevo62 hotels\nLozenets149 hotels\nNesebar283 hotels\nObzor110 hotels\nPomorie492 hotels\nPrimorsko411 hotels\nRavda231 hotels\nSarafovo63 hotels\nSveti Vlas219 hotels\nSinemorets72 hotels\nSunny Beach615 hotels\nSozopol504 hotels\nTsarevo202 hotels\nChernomorets246 hotels\nAll >\nclose map", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9920674562454224} +{"content": "Your capital multitasking\n\nProprietary research from an emerging manager, working to grow your capital, across the allocation spectrum.\n\n\n√ Your own account\n\nImplemented in your own account at Interactive Brokers. $125,000 minimum. You have 24/7 visibility. \n\n\n Simple fee structure\n\nNo asset management fee. We charge a performance based fee of 12% of profits, subject to a high-water-mark test.\n\n\nOur approach\n\nWe utilize a quantitative approach for our top-level allocations and a discretionary approach for our individual equity positions.\n\nOur quantitative research efforts are focused at the top end of the allocation pyramid where allocation decisions are most consequential - the academic evidence is clear that top-level allocations account for the majority of your performance, while sectors and individual stocks selections make a much smaller contribution. We build models that rely on sustainable logic - not anomalies, patterns or cycles, which are not likely sustainable over the long term. This entails understanding and modeling the interplay between economics, valuations, and behavioral factors.\n\nOur discretionary research is more opportunistic and focused at the individual stock level. This generally entails screening stocks on a combination of fundamental and technical factors and then performing rigorous fundamental research and analysis on ideas we choose to evaluate further. As a cardinal rule, all stocks are first filtered through a valuation process; i.e. we are only long stocks that we determine are fundamentally cheap and wish to own for the long-term, and only short stocks that we determine are fundamentally expensive.\n\nOur Actavest Long/Short Equity Solution combines both of the above approaches into a single long/short equity strategy. Our quantitative models guide our overall market exposure, and our discretionary research identifies individual stocks that are then tilted in line with our overall market outlook.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9592407941818237} +{"content": "Securus Technologies Shows Great strength\n\n\n\nSecurus Technologies\n\n\n\n\nBICSI, Building Industry Consulting Service International\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat is Kabbalah? : Kabbalah Centre\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Strength of Business Women Like Malini Saba\n\nMalini Saba is one of the best when it comes to inspiring women in the business world. Her business life operation is twofold. She has a business for investing called Saban and a non-profit organization called the Stree Foundation. That right there should be all the inspiration that women would need, but she has even more things that inspire women.\n\nIn addition to starting two businesses, Malini Saba is a philanthropist. I have found myself trying to figure out how someone that grew up in a regular middle class household would become a multi-millionaire that could give away a million dollars to help start a hospital. How does someone that only has $200 to her name at the age of 19 become a woman that could pledge $10 million to the victims of the Tsunami when it occurred? That is the thing that puzzled me. I was inspired to read more and find out more about Malini Saba.\n\nSaba has stated that she loves the commodities industry. She doesn’t shy away from the fact that she has lost a lot of money in the past from some investments that have gone horribly wrong, but these are all life lessons. Every investor – at some point in their life – will make bad investment decisions. What I know, however, is that she has made a lot more good investment decisions than bad. Otherwise, she would not be where she is today.\n\nIt is just interesting to see how she moved up the ladder in the corporate world when she didn’t have any real connections to any people in power. There are a lot of people that get to the top because of who they know. Malini moved from Malaysia to Australia to America all before she turned 20 years of age. She was never in a position to meet and build any important connections in her youth that would help her make her career advancement easier in her adult life. She was someone that knew that she would have to study hard at Stanford and make it on her own.\n\nThere is a lot of praise for her ability to lead in an industry where men are often taking the lead. Saba knows that she is good as what she does, but she is always striving to be a better boss. Her dedication to her businesses is quite inspiring to me.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8800267577171326} +{"content": "In the old days, Gaelor Manghem raised an army so vast, it would take three days to see all of them march past. He took the continent of Daeren in less than two years. His armies marched into the kingdoms of Jadda, Laniveer, and Mobrin, knocking down castles and dynasties as he went. When the ash settled, Emperor Manghem was coronated at Crosswynd Castle by the remaining lords of the three kingdoms.\n\nThirty-three years later, when Gaelor Manghem lay on his death bed, he decreed that his eldest son would be named Emperor of Daeren, and King of Mobrin. He also decreed that his other two sons would be named kings, ruling in Laniveer and Jadda. For over fourteen hundred years, the empire stood.\n\n228 years ago, everything changed. The Hammerfell clan in The Hills openly rebelled against the empire. Both Jadda and Mobrin were attacked by the unknown forces of Kundar, a desert people in the south. Pirates from the Finger Islands began raiding the coasts of Laniveer. Suddenly, the once glorious empire was crumbling. Other kingdoms rose up and rebelled and they fought in what is known as the great War. When the dust settled from the fighting, the Empire was no more, the Kingdoms of today forming out of the dust.\n\nIn the past decade, every Kingdom, nation, and tribe in the known world has been to war. Alliances have formed and fractured. Lands have been conquered and blood has been spilled in every corner ofDaeren.\n\nToday War is brewing once more.\n\nA new generation of rulers and leaders are prepared to assume control of Mobrin and Laniveer, while the old guard are not yet willing to relinquish their power to them. The gods are awakening from their long slumber and are awakening magic within mortals to prepare for the days ahead.\n\nMobrin is a kingdom located on the southern portion of the continent of Daeren. King Callem Kilgour is recently dead and his son, Prince Tyrel has been crowned the new King! They are rich in gold and silver and are seeking alliances. So far Prince Tyrel has two infant sons and his marriage secured an alliance with Aberdeen/Fairisle. They are fast becoming the strongest naval power in the land.\n\nLaniveer is in northern Daeren. Their cultural and scientific contributions has been many. They have several large cities and many massive castles throughout the land. While they don't have as much gold or silver as Mobrin, their output of steel is double that of their southern neighbor. Their army is feared. They are ruled byEldwin Stewart. Whose children have reached adulthood.\n\nCurrently Kingdoms of Jadda and Laniveer are forming an alliance and are fighting tooth and nail to re-establish the old empire. The only thing standing between Mobrin and Laniveer is Jadda and the Sea. The gods are awakening and old religious fervor is awakening as the temple seeks to increase their power throughout both lands.\n\nThe Tales of Daeren are set in a time and place that would be somewhat similar to early 1390's - 1490s on Earth but without gunpowder. Please keep this in mind generally in your rp. The following tips are items that have come up during character creation and rp:\n\n • Modern conveniences do not exist - the public washrooms are outhouses in inns and tavern.\n • Communications between areas is relatively quick with the use of pigeons and ravens\n • Libraries are rooms in homes/castles of the very rich and noble, used for their private books; they do not lend books out and commoners are usually illiterate. Books are expensive.\n • Suspected witches are burned at the stake - often by a mob, rather than the king's justice\n • Government is a feudal system based on divine right to rule by the nobility.\n • The main story lines will center around the royal of Laniveer and Mobrin courts, with many subplots taking place in their midst.\n • Our Gods are real. Magic is real.\n\nThe staff of Tales of Daeren is aiming to have players write the story going forward - this means that every character is important. Will your character be the one to write the next chapter, to change the world?\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5987032651901245} +{"content": "Saturday, September 22, 2012\n\nUranium APEX Mineral\n\nUranium (U #92) is the next element on the periodic table for my APEX mineral collection. \n\nI skipped Protactinium (Pa #91) which is radioactive and exists only in extremely trace amounts. \n\nWikipedia Uranium\nUranium Minerals - There are many \nUranium minerals. \nUraninite (UO2)(Uranium Oxide) with 88% Uranium is the obvious APEX Mineral. \n\nUranium is the LAST element for my APEX Mineral collection for MEOWSER. All elements past Uranium are radioactive. Except for rare natural transmutation reactions, they do not exist except in man made nuclear reactors. \nUranium has very high density, being approximately 70% denser than lead. It reacts with almost all nonmetallic elements and their compounds\n\nUranium is weakly radioactive because all its isotopes are unstable. \n • 99% of Uranium ores contain Uranium-238 with 4.5 billion year half-life.\n • 1% of Uranium ores contains Uranium-235 with 700 million year half-life. \nU-235 is the only natural element that is fissile (capable of sustaining a nuclear chain reaction). The enrichment process to recover U-235 for nuclear weapons (90% U-235) and nuclear reactors (5% U-235) is quite complicated. The unwanted enriched U-238 is called Depleted Uranium and is used as a metal for high density weapons.\nIn West Africa, about 2 billion years ago, many natural nuclear reactors commenced operation in a rich deposit of uranium ore deep underground. \nU-235 concentration back then was 3.7 percent instead of todays 0.7 percent\nThese natural chain reactions continued for about two million years before finally dying away. A study of these sites shows there has been little movement of radioactive waste in the 2 billion years since then.\nProponents of underground nuclear waste disposal cite this evidence to support their views.\nUranium was unknown until modern times.\nUranium is primarily used for fueling nuclear reactors. \nDepleted Uranium is used by the military to create high-density armor penetrating ammunition.\nUranium has no known biological role.\nThe story of Uranium is the story of the Universe. Here is my version of this story.\n\nMost stars can only produce elements up to Nickel (#28) (which quickly decays to Iron (#26)). All these primary stellar nucleosynthesis reactions OUTPUT energy (yes, the star is hot!) as the elements are produced. That is why there is so much Iron in the Universe. Iron is basically the lowest energy state (most stable) element in a sense.\n\nA star that explodes as a supernova creates lots of elements greater than Nickel. The massive amounts of explosive energy are captured into successively heavier elements during the brief period of the explosion. All these secondary stellar nucleosynthesis reactions require the INPUT energy of the supernova explosion. All these Iron+ elements are basically storing the energy of the explosion perhaps to be released later!\n\nAny solar systems which later coalesce from this supernova blast cloud will then have lots of fancy elements greater than Nickel (e.g. Copper, Silver, Gold, Uranium, etc.). Earth contains many elements greater than Iron so it was created from the gas cloud emanating from supernova explosion(s). \n\nEarth is 4 billion years old. Any of the Iron+ supernova elements which were radioactive are mostly long gone. The only ones left are the most stable ones. \n\nUranium is one of the remaining supernova elements on Earth. It's half-life is 4.5 billion years. It is the ONLY remaining element, with all of it's stored supernova energy that is still available to us as a fissile material. Mankind is very smart and has discovered the secret of unleashing this leftover supernova energy in very productive and destructive ways!\nUranium (and its brother Thorium) are the primary source of all radioactive materials on Earth. Uranium itself is unstable and radioactive. When it decays it creates a cascade of very nasty radioactive elements you don't want to mess with. At some point the decay chain arrives at Lead (#82) and safety. This is one of the reasons there is so much Lead. Below are the 3 main decay paths creating all these elements.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9962770342826843} +{"content": "Cairnwood Mansion\n\nThis was the home of John Pitcairn, a Scottish-born American industrialist and religious philanthropist who lived from 1841 through 1916. Pitcairn rose through the ranks of the Pennsylvania railroad industry, and played a significant role in the creation of the modern oil and natural gas industries. He went on to found the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company (now PPG Industries), an early industry innovator which quickly grew into the largest manufacturer of plate glass in the United States, and amassed one of the largest fortunes in the United States at the time. Pitcairn was also the primary financial benefactor of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, evidenced by his funding of Bryn Athyn Cathedral which is located just next door to the mansion. The Cairnwood mansion was designed by the firm of Carrère and Hastings and construction was completed in 1895. The structure features 28 rooms and includes a chapel housed in the third story turret. The house is modeled after a Beaux Arts style French country estate. The property is now owned by Bryn Athyn College and serves as a special events facility and a prime spot for very high end weddings and corporate fundraising events. The home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. \n\nFor more of my work, please visit \n\nCamera: Calumet CC-401 4x5 large format monorail view camera\n\nLens: Rodenstock Geronar 150mm F6.3 lens in a Copal 0 shutter. I used a Cokin Neautral density filter in a 100mm Pro-Z holder to give the otherwise featureless sky, some definition. \n\nFilm: Arista EDU 100 Ultra 4x5 B&W sheet film which I shot at 64 ISO\n\nSettings: Shot at F32, 1/4 second shutter speed. Metered with a Pentax 1 degree spot meter. \n\nDevelopment: Self Developed film in Kodak Xtol 1:2 in Paterson Universal Tank using the Taco Method. 9 minutes @ 20 degrees Celsius. Tap water stop bath. Ilford Rapid Fixer. Photo-Flo. Hung on shower curtain to dry on film clips. \n\nScanning: Negative scanned with Epson V600 in two parts and merged in Photoshop CS5 since the V600 doesn't natively support scanning 4x5 sheet film and I haven't stepped up to the V700 yet. Cropped to 16x10 in Lightroom 4.\n\nI probably could have used some tilt with the front standard of the camera and perhaps some other movements to correct the lean of the tower and the vertical lines on the left side of the building. Notes made for next time.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.898993968963623} +{"content": "Monday, May 5, 2014\n\nBrighton Dam Azalea Garden\n\nAs you may have noticed, most of my posts recently involve nature. That is because there are so many amazing things to see and share this time of year. Here's another one.\n\nThe azaleas in our yard have just started to bloom, so I thought it was time to check in on the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden which has five acres and over 20,000 azaleas to see. Although the garden was in the beginning stages blooming, there were still several varieties providing a beautiful show. Here are a few of the sights.\n\nOne of these pictures is not an azalea. Can you pick which one?\n\nAnswer: The lower left white flowers are dogwood blooms.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9637846350669861} +{"content": "References in classic literature ?\nMeantime I rolled bread pills and remembered my sins; M'Leod considered his own reflection in a spoon; his wife seemed to be praying, and the girl fidgetted desperately with hands and feet, till the darkness passed on--as though the malignant rays of a burning-glass had been shifted from us.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9996480345726013} +{"content": "ESTEM “\\i-ˈstēm\\”\nEquity in\nEngineering &\n\nESTEM is a project, which has been designed to address gender equity in education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). This project offers opportunities for SFSU undergraduate and graduate students to learn and to contribute to gender equality and social justice in STEM with a focus on applying basic theory-based research on stereotype threat to inform interventions.\n\nESTEM team:\n\nKatlyn Milless is an undergraduate research assistant in the Complex Cognition Lab. Katlyn is an integral member of the ESTEM team. Her interests lie primarily in uncovering cognitive mechanisms underlying stereotype threat effects, in women in STEM, and exploring possible intervention strategies for mitigating gender disparities in STEM fields.\n\nLiz Scharnetzki is a recent graduate of the Mind, Brain, & Behavior Master's Program, as well as the Complex Cognition Lab Manager and the ESTEM Project Coordinator. Liz is dedicated to understanding the role of social context (e.g., what environmental cues signal threat versus safety) in women in STEM’s intellectual performance and sense of belongingness.\n\nDr. Avi Ben-Zeev’s research focus on stereotype threat over the \n\n past several years has been on understanding, in part, the \n\n failure of large groups of students to perform to their\n\n potential, such as women in math and science. His stereotype\n\n threat studies have been designed to identify a set of\n\n contextual factors that might profoundly affect the\n\n performance of devalued group members, pointing to the\n\n power that social context has in creating, perpetuating, or\n\n eliminating stereotyped individuals’ underperformance.\n\nWomen in Science collage (from The San Diego Supercomputer Center)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9992535710334778} +{"content": "This concerto turns the double bass into the most virtuosic and melodic of instruments\n\n5 July 2016, 13:44\n\nbottesini double bass\n\nIf you’ve always seen the double bass as the great lumbering engine room of the orchestra, think again - this concerto makes it a melodic, lyrical giant.\n\nGiovanni Bottesini was a bit of a bass legend, occasionally referred to as the Paganini of the double bass. But he wasn’t just about fireworks.\n\nHe wrote incredibly challenging works, but they were works that placed the importance of melody at the forefront - making a successful performance an exceptionally difficult and understated thing.\n\nHere’s his Concerto No. 2 in B minor, in a piano reduction with virtuoso Rinat Ibragimov taking the lead.\n\nClassic FM Apps\n\n\nMozart or Drake?\n\nQuiz: Are you more like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Drake?\n\nTetris accordion\n\n\ndinosaur conducts jurassic park\n\nJurassic Park conducted by an actual dinosaur is hilarious", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9984681010246277} +{"content": "Icebreaker opens up to the public\n\nClick to follow\n\nThe new owners of the Japanese icebreaker Shirase have opened the refurbished vessel up to the public and plan to use it as an exhibition center and a venue for conferences examining such issues as climate change and the environment.\n\nLaunched in December 1981, the 11,786-ton vessel was the third Antarctic observation ship to be operated by the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force until it was decommissioned in July 2008. Initially scheduled to be scrapped, the weather forecasting company Weathernews Inc. stepped in at the last moment to buy the ship.\n\nSince being handed over to Weathernews in November 2009, the company has installed a range of observation equipment to keep track of environmental and meteorological changes.\n\nWithin the vessel, the Global Ice Center monitors sea ice around the world - particularly looking for signs that ice on potential polar routes is thinning sufficiently for the opening of shorter sea routes, which will in turn reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that is released by ships.\n\nSimilarly, the Terrestrial Center monitors global seismic activity - particularly important in the world's most earthquake-prone country - while the Weathernews Satellite Center controls an orbiting satellite that gathers information in conditions around the world and monitors the density and distribution of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.\n\nIn addition, the Shrase has been fitted with radar that is able to detect meteorological phenomena in the lower troposhere, enabling it to predict and warn of so-called \"guerrilla thunderstorms\" and extreme wind gusts.\n\nVisitors to the ship, which is moored at Funabashi, to the east of central Tokyo, are able to watch some of these functions and explore the vessel, including in her aft helicopter hangars, the engine room and bridge.\n\nThe Shirase - which is named after a glacier discovered by explorer Nobu Shirase - completed 25 Antarctic expeditions and was able to break ice up to 1.5 meters thick. It has been replaced by a new ship bearing the same name that was commissioned in 2008 and recently returned from her first voyage to the Antarctic.\n\nFurther information (in Japanese) - or telephone +81 43 274 5504.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6403164863586426} +{"content": "One set of chopstick, one crisp toothpick, and a loom band. What have you got to lose?\n\n-Enough power to make your older sister chase you around the house.\n-Super simple\n-15 ft.+ in range\n\n-Single shot\n\nStep 1: Materials\n\n1-Pieces needed. Each name is above or below the object shown.\n\nStep 2: Toothpick\n\n1-Break off about... Emm... 1/4 of the toothpick as shown.\n\nStep 3: ...Everything Else?\n\n1-Slide the larger part of the toothpick through the chopsticks as shown.\n2-Wrap a loom band 7 times around the end as shown. Slide the smaller part of the toothpick in between, and you're done.\n3-To fire, take your left pointer finger and push up on the green dot, then, with your right hand, take another loom band for ammo and stretch it from the red dot to the yellow dot. Release your left hand to fire. Enjoy!\n\nAbout This Instructable\n\n\n\n\nMore by cjester2:RBG's of War-The Bandit (Knex) RBG's of War-The Wild Wooden Rifle (Household) \nAdd instructable to:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9594010710716248} +{"content": "\n\nDialectical behavior therapy provides tools\n\nDialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) teaches people to better regulate their emotions to serve their goals, increase their sense of personal identity, improve their judgment, sharpen their observational skills and reduce the sense of crisis in their life. DBT is a psychosocial treatment developed by Marsha M. Linehan, a psychologist at the University of Washington, for individuals with borderline personality disorder, but it has been proven effective as a therapy for people with other diagnoses, such as depression, bipolar and anxiety disorders, as well.\n\nIn Depressed and Anxious–The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Workbook for Overcoming Depression and Anxiety, Thomas Marra, Ph.D.., (2004 New Harbinger Publications Inc) provides a blueprint anyone can follow to put this therapy to work in their life.\n\nIn the book, Marra teaches you to identify dialectics: competing demands that require different and incompatible responses. For example: You want to feel good, but you don’t have the initiative to take part in activities that could be enjoyable. He focuses on the dialectics we respond to with contradictory reactions:\n\nActivity: I don’t let my momentary feelings interfere with my long-term plans.\nPassivity: When I’m anxious or depressed, I stop and wait for a better day.\n\nIf you’re depressed, you may be passive out of a sense of incompetence, hopelessness or lack of energy. But sometimes passivity is appropriate, for instance, as a way to tolerate feelings while you wait for a more propitious time to act.\n\nDBT invites you to consider balance and strategy on a continuum at any particular moment. Balance means that your responses aren’t always extremes. The strategy is to change your responses along the continuum depending on your goals, not on your mood.\n\nDBT is about learning to regulate and tolerate your feelings, to change your feelings and their intensity and learn how to endure unpleasant feelings when appropriate.\n\nEmotions, Marra emphasizes, just like sight, hearing, taste and touch are a form of information processing vital to our quest for survival. Sometimes our senses fail us. What we thought we saw turns out to be something else. Yet, if our emotions are invalidated, we feel ourselves invalidated. “Feelings,” says Marra,” are never wrong. They just are.”\n\nWith anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder, meaning shrinks. We avoid potentially meaningful situations as our interpersonal world shrivels, notes Marra. Depression causes us to question the meaningfulness of our lives. But the engagement in meaningful activities and relationships reduces depression. Marra’s asks us to search for the things that are important in our lives:\n\nWhat would I miss if it were taken from me?\nWhere do I go when I need comfort?\nDoes this speak to both my heart and my head?\n\nMindfulness, an important element of dialectical behavioral therapy, is the ability to improve your observational skills and enhance your interaction with your environment. Mindfulness comes from the Buddhist tradition. Emotional regulation begins with identifying the emotion, what thoughts are accompanying the emotion, what prompted it, what behavior results from it, and what, if any, consequences resulted.\n\nTaking control of your life takes energy, courage, patience, humility and sensitivity, says Marra. But dialectical behavioral therapy is a tool that can bring about improvements to anyone’s life.\n\nDepressed and Anxious–The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Workbook for Overcoming Depression and Anxiety, Thomas Marra, Ph.D.., (2004 New Harbinger Publications Inc) can be used as a self-help tool, or ask your doctor for a recommendation to a DBT therapist or program.\n\nRelated posts:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9316680431365967} +{"content": "International Society of Primerus Law Firms\n\nLow Liability vs. High Demand: Overcoming the Aggressive Plaintiff Attorney’s Delusions of Grandeur for Policy Limits\n\nWritten By: Joshua A. Golembe, Esq.\n\nNicklaus & Associates, P.A.\n\nCoral Gables, Florida\n\nToday many Claimants hire aggressive attorneys who make unreasonably high demands for big dollars in cases that have low, to no, liability. In turn, insurance providers are forced to spend a lot of time and money defending these low exposure claims.\n\nThe question is, “what are efficient and effective strategies for defending these claims?” The answer is simple, a strong pre-suit defense. Yet, this begs another question. What constitutes a strong pre-suit defense? Is it the claims representative calculating the cost of a defense budget versus a potential settlement amount analysis to determine a settlement range, and attempting to resolve the matter in pre-suit without defense counsel? Is it requesting documentation from Plaintiff’s counsel, sending that documentation to Defense counsel for legal evaluation and requesting a settlement range? Or does it include a short and simple denial of the claim and then wait for the lawsuit to be filed?\n\nThere is no set methodology or formula for dealing with these low exposure/high demand cases. Every law firm and client has its own specific way of dealing with aggressive attorneys in low liability cases. I am fairly certain that these firms and insurance carriers are wrinkling their eyebrows as they read this article. Therefore, this commentary is not so much about what must be done, but rather what should be done.\n\nSo what comes first? Usually, it’s a threat of litigation that generally comes in the form of a demand package advocating and revealing to you everything that your insured did wrong. The facts almost always portray the Plaintiff as a model citizen who was, for lack of a better word, victimized by your insured. These demand packages are generally supplemented with volumes of medical records (or maybe none), medical bills and pictures of injuries. Okay, now what is the next move? How can you help the insured and stop the aggressive claimant attorney in their tracks? The answer is obvious and simple; retain Defense counsel right away.\n\nWhy right away? Let’s use the difference between conviction rates of federal criminal prosecutions and state criminal prosecutions as an example. In Florida, the conviction rate for a federal crime is approximately 93%, as opposed to 59% for state crimes. One reason for this disparity is that federal prosecutors and their respective agents work together on the criminal investigation from its inception.\n\nSimilarly, the Plaintiff’s attorney and injured party have formed a relationship and have been working together before sending out a demand package or contacting the insurance company. Most likely, way before the insurance company has been contacted, the aggressive attorney has already discussed the facts of the case with the client, interviewed potential witnesses and obtained documentation from both medical and liability experts and has referred the Claimant to hand picked doctors for diagnosis and treatment. Defense counsel should be retained immediately to level the playing field. The worst decision is to retain counsel several months and/or years after learning of a potential suit after the Claimant attorney’s frustration has peaked. Bringing in Defense counsel quickly serves several purposes: (1) Protects the insured’s interest; (2) Allows the claims adjuster to work the new claim in conjunction with Defense counsel; (3) Enables the defense to conduct cost efficient pre-suit discovery to solidify future defenses; and (4) Provides an equalizer in the form of a member of the bar.\n\nMore importantly, once Defense counsel is retained, the course of the case is now changed. When a demand package is received from the Plaintiff’s attorney, they are on the offense. Many attorneys will assemble all of their one-sided information and documentation into one large demand package, attach an arbitrary demand deadline and justify the necessity of your “prompt” response in the guise of a usually inappropriate “bad faith” letter. Now is the time to put the aggressive attorney on the defense by accurately evaluating the demand package and requesting further documentation from the attorney and diffusing the “bad faith” assertions. These suggestions can of course be accomplished by a claims representative, and in the event that Defense counsel has not been retained, should be utilized. However, due to the voluminous caseloads that most claims representatives, and/or corporate counsel handle, (which can range from 150-200 cases, or more, per adjuster) back up is usually needed. Therefore, in the majority of low value/high demand cases, the inclusion of the Defense attorney affirms to Claimant’s counsel that the case is not just “one on the list,” but is important and warrants an aggressive defense.\n\nNext, it is important to discuss some basic strategies to put the aggressive Claimant attorney on the defense. As stated above, the general demand letter is geared towards getting an insurance carrier to pay out quickly. Inherently, these letters are composed by depicting the insured as the villain and the injured party as the innocent victim. This is not acceptable! Most demand letters neither acknowledge nor discuss any of the defendant’s strong points against liability, do not include a full and unbiased evaluation, and do not make mention of any potential third-party defendants and/or co-defendants. How many times have you seen and/or heard the expression, “liability is clear?” Any attorney who does not discuss these points in their initial demand letter will have a difficult time proving a “bad faith” claim. Use this to your advantage. Many claims representatives will request additional documentation, but not to the extent necessary. Put pressure on the Claimant’s attorney to disclose any and all information relevant to your defense. Make them work! Follow-up!\n\nCarefully examine the demand package and issue detailed correspondence requesting the information that has been excluded, particularly MRI’s and x-rays (not just the reports, but actual films). This information can include additional documentation from medical experts detailing injuries, other expert reports, employment records and pre-suit statements from the injured party. Remember, it is the Plaintiff’s burden of proof if a claim proceeds to litigation. Any information obtained early is beneficial, and the more information you obtain pre-suit, the better position you will be in if a lawsuit is filed. Moreover, by starting the investigation early you can limit discovery costs later. Use the pre-suit defense as a means of obtaining discovery from the Plaintiff. Also, put yourself in the role of the Plaintiff. Don’t just send a letter and casually wait for the attorney to respond. Provide the aggressive attorney with a reasonable deadline to respond and follow-up with written correspondence. In the event the aggressive attorney attempts to make a bad faith claim, use these letters to evidence how they slowed down your investigation and hindered your ability to provide a thorough evaluation of the claim.\n\nAlso, take this opportunity to begin formulating your defense. Most claims representatives have access to private investigators. This is the time to get them working. Even though you are not able to take depositions at this time, a private investigator should be utilized to locate important witnesses and obtain their statements. If the claim involves a motor vehicle accident, obtain statements from all of the witnesses listed on the accident report. Do not limit your investigators to surveillance detail only; actively use them to help build a defense. If surveillance is utilized, it needs to be carefully monitored. Remember, the aggressive attorney has already begun the process of conducting their own pre-suit discovery.\n\nNow that some basic defense strategies have been put into place, it’s time to pursue the next step. At some point during the pre-suit investigation, settlement negotiations may normally arise. When dealing with the Claimant attorney, the settlement demand most probably will be for the policy limits or slightly below or just too high. How do you control an unreasonably high demand in a low liability case?\n\nUnlike the world of sports, the best defense is a good offense. Use what you have learned in your pre-suit defense and share that information with the Claimant’s attorney. For example, if you have an expert that rendered a strong defense opinion, present this material. Remember, behind every attorney there is usually a client who has the vision of making a substantial amount of money from this claim. So, not only do you have to convince the attorney of the futility of this aspiration, you also have to indirectly convince his/her client. The lesson being, “Do not be afraid to share.” If the claim is not settled, or no offer is made at all, the aggressive attorney will most likely file a lawsuit, and this material may become discoverable. Anyway, if it is adverse, you do not give it up of course. Now, for all of the attorneys out there shouting, “What about attorney-client privilege?” Relax, you may be waiving a work-product privilege, but any information that is beneficial to the defense will most likely be disclosed at some point during discovery anyway. This is the time to share this information! Show the strength of your case to the opposing attorney and consequently that attorney will have to share the knowledge that the case is less than ideal with their client. Hopefully the lawyer already promised his client too much. Many make that mistake.\n\nOnce a thorough pre-suit investigation has been done, it is time to formulate an appropriate settlement range. Each party has an expectation about what the pre-suit settlement should be. Do not choose a settlement amount that you just assume the attorney will take or a “cost of defense” type of amount. The settlement range should take into consideration your entire pre-suit investigation, and evaluation, in order to make a strong yet realistic offer. Let the aggressive attorney know that you have done your homework and that your offer is firm. Then hold fast! Let it be understood that the case has been worked up properly, and even if they choose to file a lawsuit the numbers will not change. Be clear that even if the client refuses, the offer will remain the same throughout litigation.\n\nSimilar to a game of chess, each move needs to be carefully calculated. Submitting your offer early sets up the next crucial step in the event that the adverse attorney files a lawsuit. So, if a lawsuit has been filed, make an Offer of Judgment at the beginning of the litigation. Each state has its own laws and rules for offers of judgment, or proposals for settlement. In the State of Florida, it is codified in Florida Statute Section 769.79 and Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.442. Basically, it states that when a Defendant files an offer of judgment which is not accepted by the Plaintiff within thirty (30) days, and the Plaintiff recovers a judgment in an amount that is at least 25% less than the offer, the Defendant shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred from the date of the offer. This usually ends up as a set-off to any judgment that qualifies because most Claimants do not have the funds to pay anyway. Therefore, given that a thorough pre-suit investigation has been done, and a realistic pre-suit offer has been made, file an offer of judgment immediately (of course take into consideration when the rules of procedure in the applicable state permit). The aggressive attorney should be aware of the fact that if they recover less than 25% of your offer, they will be on the hook for all of your costs and fees from the date the offer expires.\n\nAgain, most readers are probably thinking that insurance companies, et al., already know how to manage these types of cases and that offers of judgment are utilized often. The lesson learned is to not delay filing until the Offer of Judgment until you have been litigating for months, or even years. Do it early so it is effective, and when you win that summary judgment, or the case comes in at your evaluation, get your litigation expenses back!\n\nThese measures will most often allow for efficient and effective strategies for defending the low exposure/high demand case.\n\nFor more information about Nicklaus & Associates, P.A., please visit or the International Society of Primerus Law Firms\n\nFind a Primerus Lawyer\n\n\nPrimerus News Archive\n\n Select Month: Go\n\nFind a Lawyer\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8770723342895508} +{"content": "Insight into the dazzling impact of insulin in cells\n\nin medicine\n\n\nNano-messenger opens way for new cancer treatment\n\nin technology, environment, medicine\n\n\n\nin medicine\n\n\nStudying sharks and fossilized teeth gain insight into sharks' ancient ancestors\n\nin biology\n\nThe lasting legacy of the great white shark is sharp, strong and pointy: its teeth.\n\nNot only is it the part of the creature that resonates most strongly with people, it's usually the only part left behind after death, as the rest of its skeleton is cartilage.\n\nNewfound gene may help bacteria survive in extreme environments\n\nin biology\n\n\nNew device may inject a variety of drugs without using needles\n\nin medicine\n\nGetting a shot at the doctor’s office may become less painful in the not-too-distant future.\n\nIndia the Queen of Internet Spam? Most junk emails originate in India\n\nin technology\n\nAccording to a news report from BBC, India has become the top spam-spewing nation on the planet. This was measured by determining the amount of emails routed through computers in different countries.\n\nSpaceX Dragon capsule, the private spaceship, launch delayed\n\nin technology\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9052841067314148} +{"content": "Technological Advancements in Architecture and Product Development\n\nTechnological Advancements in Architecture and Product Development\n\nTechnology has been making our lives easier and more efficient for as long as humans have been alive. Specifically, programs like AutoCAD have been making architecture and product design more practical. Where architects and designers used to have to hand draw their houses or inventions, requiring painstaking work and left much of it up to human error they are now able to effortlessly create and duplicate objects. With the invention of 3D printing, people are able to create prototypes for a relatively low startup fee.\n\nThe true concept of architecture began in Egypt where buildings became more than about survival, they started to become aesthetically pleasing and had some form of design. Pyramids were some of the first geometrically designed, accurate structures erected. Following that the Greeks began constructing buildings using pillars, which led into the Romans building structures designed for large gatherings of people. Creation of the Arch and the Vault. Medieval ages invented the domes to roof large spaces, which spawned the creation of skeleton framing. The renaissance was a time of refinement leading into the industrial era which called for the creation of large factories and warehouses. In modern architecture strength and sleek appearance has become at the forefront. Clean lines with polished surfaces and smooth finishes reign supreme. With the increase of the population in recent decades buildings have begun expanding upwards to increase city densities. The buildings we take for granted today are the result of centuries of technological advancements and refinement.\n\nMany traditionalists in the architecture field feel that powerful technologies are stifling creativity; however, in my opinion, what it is doing is allowing a wider base of people to use this tool. This may create a feeling of mediocrity among the elitist architects or design obsessed, in reality the software is simply a tool for creation, the end result is achieved faster and easier with more precision, it is up to the artistic abilities of the architects to push this medium to new boundaries which many are capable of doing.\n\nCreating prototypes used to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, required teams of designers and manufacturers to\n\nTop Architectural Rendering Services\n\nTop Architectural Rendering Services\n\n6 Best Services for Architectural Rendering\n\nWhen creating an architectural render there are some must-have programs to help you put together the best 3d rendering scene you possibly can. They make the work easier, faster and higher quality.\n\n 1. Xfrog Vegetation packs are premade, gorgeous 3d models of trees, shrubs, and flowers, although they are very realistic, they present a problem of computing resources. Architectural Rendering Studio, RealSpace 3d utilizes premade, high-quality 3D models with their high-end architectural rendering services. They are able to put a high number of models into their scene because of an auto distribution tool which saves them time. In addition to time savings from not having to individually place single trees, RealSpace is able to save computing resources by instancing the models. Because of RealSpace’s use of Octane, they are able to instance hundreds of trees and not impact the rendering time greatly. Most architectural rendering companies are forced to cheat their images with 2D tree images photoshopped on top of their render, this typically works reasonably well; however, when moving to animation projects this technique falls flat. Because RealSpace uses 3-dimensional trees in their scenes animations can occur fluidly and are created with relative ease.Architectural 3d rendering\n 2. Octane Render provides a fantastic unbiased, physically correct 3d rendering engine. They were the first company who utilized graphic card’s untapped potential in the rendering world. Up to 50 times faster than conventional CPU-based rendering software. In addition to providing a fast, realistic, rendering engine Octane is easy to learn and easy to use. Despite these benefits I have found that it’s integration into Maya is less than ideal. I believe the initial architecture of Octane was wonderful, especially the standalone. They then hired another company to work on creating the plugins for programs like 3Ds Max, Blender, and Maya. I’ve personally only used the Max and Maya versions, in my experience they are not logically setup and riddled with bugs, the quality and speed of the backbone of the rendering engine keeps me around though.\n 3. realspace3d renderingRender Farm Services one of the struggles with 3D rendering is the render time. A single image can take days to render. If you are working on an animation project with a deadline the solution may lie in render farm services. Imagine a service which allows the speed of your render to only be limited by the size of your checkbook. Cloud computing is becoming increasingly viable and it makes sense as data transferring improves.\n 4. 3D Warehouse if you’re in need of a quick model which doesn’t need to be overly detailed 3d warehouse provides a huge library of 3d models. The models are created using SketchUp and are typically not the cleanest meshes to work with, especially if moving to another program like Maya or 3ds Max; however, I tend to use them as filler meshes when creating a scene. There is a large amount of appliances which, when textured and lit properly, are more than sufficient for background pieces in an architectural rendering. The 3d mesh isn’t overly clean though so don’t expect to be able to do too much modification.\n 5. Turbo Squid if it is high-quality 3d models which you’re after but on too tight of a time constraint to model it yourself, purchasing models from turbo squid are a great solution. I’ve bought high-quality architectural visualization packages which allowed me to quickly populate a scene with extremely detailed models which fit the scene perfectly. It is important to choose models which are compatible with your personal 3D software as it makes editing significantly easier.\n 6. Textures Creating high-quality textures is arguably one of the biggest keys to creating realistic 3d renders. Creating each texture from scratch or searching through google can be time-consuming. offers high quality, seamless textures ready to use.\n\n5 of the Biggest Tech Advances for the Month of November\n\nTech News for the Month of November 2016\n\n 1. Microsoft has reached human parity for speech recognition. Speech recognition has been around since the 1970’s but this is the first time speech recognition has been on par with that of humans. This does not mean that the recognition is perfect but it is a monumental step. Microsoft says their next step in this development will be to pursue speech understanding. Microsoft already uses the somewhat creepy “Cortana” as their robot listening device. Their goal is to develop Cortana into a more effective assistant, and likely a better robot at understanding what your advertisements should look like.\n 2. Edward Snowden is growing increasingly concerned about the number of people who rely solely on facebook for news. The main concern isn’t the plethora of fake news which consumes facebook, but rather, the limited alternative sources people are seeking. Many people are beginning to exist in an echo chamber politically, it is easy to tailer your google searches and article titles to suit your political views with no regards for facts. Snowden’s greatest concern seems to be the monopoly companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter have on providing people with new, especially news which contains misleading headlines. People were inundated with politcal content leading up to the election, lots of which was untrue or mis represented at the least “To have one company that has enough power to reshape the way we think, I don’t think I need to describe how dangerous that is,” Snowden said.\n 3. Elon Musk unveiled the new Tesla Solar Roofs this month. This complete’s the 3 step plan to generate (solar roof) store, (powerwall) and transport (motors). As per usual, Elon Musk’s company has present an obvious solution to a very apparent problem. There is no doubt Elon is one of the greatest minds of our generation, but this is not a terribly complicated problem. The obvious question is why hasn’t this been done for decades. There have been a number of examples of electric cars being squashed by big oil companies, for example, those features in “who killed the electric car”\n 4. Finland could become the first country to ban coal use for energy. Finland is looking to put forth a ban on all coal usage for energy. The country has been working towards this goal for years now and it seems it is finally taking shape. In addition, France has said they are planning to go coal free by 2023. Canada has said it will aim to be coal free by 2030. The chips are starting to fall with regards to archaic, polluting fossil fuels but is it too little too late. The earth has crossed 400 parts per million for CO2 recently, Toby from the office seems to think it’s already hopeless.\n\nScientific Research\n\n\nScientific discoveries have been around, dating back to the Stone Age. The improvement of straightforward apparatuses from wood or shards of shake demonstrate a portion of the primary uses of information to produce innovation to determine an issue.\n\nInnovation investigate is the branch of learning that agreements with the development and utilization of specialized means and their interrelation with life,society, and the earth, drawing upon such subjects as mechanical expressions, designing, connected science, and unadulterated science.\n\nInnovation research is a mechanical procedure, development, strategy, or the branch of information, managing designing or connected sciences and may been craftsmanship, science, and so forth.; specialized terminology.\n\nAdvances research center conveys the world’s most exceptional advances, imaginative thinking and trained research to the organizations of Technologies in aviation drive, building foundation and administrations, warming and ventilating, fire and security frameworks and power era.\n\nTalking about the most recent advancements in innovation look into has been a clasp of the Internet people group since the start. Buyer gadgetry, the car business, the military, and the space office are a portion of the numerous territories given quirky dismemberments in the Web’s top science-and-innovation.\n\nThe revelation of flame, which gave an approach to cook nourishment and make warmth and light, was additionally a stage along the street of innovation.\n\nThe Bronze Age demonstrates the developing capacity of man to work with metal and the capacity to shape more grounded apparatuses. The presentation of the wheel permitted individuals more noteworthy capacity to travel and talk.\n\nPropels proceeded with similarly as quickly into the Iron Age where individuals built up the capacity to work with harder metals than copper and tin. They built up the craft of refining iron and expelling it from mineral found in the earth.\n\nTechnology Science In Your Life\n\nTechnology SCIENCE\n\nDevelopment Of Science Technology Alluring Your Life\n\nToday science and innovation have come to a matchless stature. As a matter of first importance I might want to get out the significance of innovation to all of you, so what is innovation? Innovation is alluded to the alteration and use of old machines to help the general population. Presently we go to another question that what is the need of the improvement of innovation? This question has an extremely basic answer the need of improvement of innovation is just to help the general population in their everyday work. Every one of the advancements of innovation science are just to give helpful to people.\n\nIt will get to be clearer to you after a case, for example let us take the development of the immense researcher Albert Einstein the electric however before the creation of electric globule individuals used to complete their work before the sun set and they dispensed with their home with candles yet after the innovation of the electric knob this turned out to be much less demanding individuals can work till late night and this offered ascend to the utilization of power in making distinctive sorts of contraptions and this offered ascend to another innovation which comprised the utilization of power. Presently as one path prompts to another route in a similar way one innovation takes you to the method for another innovation, thinking about how? See when we concocted the innovation of utilizing power then another innovation of creating this power took birth yes, you are correct the innovation of dams like hydrological dams; those dams which deliver power utilizing the force of water, tidal dams; these are those dams and wind processes; these are those dams which create power by the force of winds .so it`s very easy to comprehend that how the development of one innovation brings forth another innovation. I will give you another case to make this unmistakable as a matter of first importance when the innovation of PC was presented then PC innovation offered ascend to another innovation called web innovation and gradually and gradually this prompted to the production of the virtual world and today these advancements have grown today and web innovation and PC innovation are exceptionally created which are helping us in our day today life and we ought not overlook that if today you are perusing this substance it has got to be conceivable just because of the PC and programming innovation . Presently the hypothesis that how one innovation prompts to the development or generation of new innovation must be clear to all of you.\n\nPresently let us discuss the significance of the advancements. The first and the premier significance of the innovations is that innovation furnish us with persuade of doing any work, it can likewise be said that innovation is vital on the grounds that it acts as our assistance and help us in doing are straightforward day by day works, another significance of innovation is to get advancement the country innovation has helped us incredibly to make a created world innovation permit us to research and discover the truths of this and the realities of this universe.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5327355861663818} +{"content": "Daily Om ~ The Truth of Interdependence\n\nautumn leavesEarth is home to a web of living things that are connected to each other through a kaleidoscope of relationships. Picking a leaf off the ground and contemplating it as an object in and of itself is very inspiring. Its shape and color, the way it feels in your hand, its delicate veins and the stem that once held it fast to the branch of a tree—all of these qualities reveal a leaf to be a miniature work of natural art. As we contemplate this small object more deeply and consider where it came from and what purpose it has served, we find that the leaf is one small but essential part of a system that harnesses the energy of the sun, plumbs the depths of the earth, and in the process brings into being the oxygen many living things rely on to live.\n\n\nOne of the many gifts that nature offers us is a clear demonstration of the interdependence between all living things. The person who exhales the carbon dioxide, the clouds that produce the rain, the sun that gives light, the leaf that transforms all these things into sustenance for a tree—not one of these could survive without being part of this cycle.\n\n\nSource: Daily Om\n\nDaily Om ~ Silent Change\n\n\n\n\nSource: Daily Om\n\n\nDaily Om ~ Acknowledging Our Pain\n\n\n\n\nSource: Daily Om\n\nDaily Om ~ Waking Up\n\n\n\n\nSource: Daily Om\n\n\nDaily Om ~ Value Your Own Wisdom\n\nuniverse-within-2Your very own inner wisdom should be valued more than any other and will always guide you in the direction you need to travel. Throughout our lives, we will encounter individuals who presume to know what is best for us. The insights they offer cannot compare, however, with the powers of awareness and discernment that already exist within us. From birth we are blessed with wisdom that cannot be learned or unlearned. It exists whether or not we acknowledge it because it is a gift given to us by a loving universe before we chose to experience existence on the earthly plane. Yet for all its permanence, it is vital that we value and honour this incredible element of the self. It is when we do not use our inborn wisdom that we begin to doubt our personal truths and are driven to outside sources of information because we are afraid. What we know to be true in our hearts is invariably true, and we discover how intensely beautiful and useful self-trust can be when we recognize the power of our wisdom.\n\nInner wisdom is not subject to the influences of the outside world, which means that it will never demand that we surrender our free will or counsel us to act in opposition to our values. We benefit from this inspiration when we open ourselves to it, letting go of the false notion that we are less qualified than others to determine our fate. The wisdom inside of us is the source of our discernment and our ability to identify blessings in disguise. When we are unsure of who to trust, how to respond, or what we require, the answers lie in our inner wisdom. It knows where we are going and understands where we are coming from, taking this into account though it is not a product of experience but rather a piece of our connection to the universal mind.\n\nIn the whole of your existence, no force you will ever encounter will contribute as much to your ability to do what you need to do and be who you want to be as your natural wisdom. Through it, you reveal your growing consciousness to the greater source and discover the true extent of your strength. If you heed this wisdom with conviction and confidence, the patterns, people, and fears that held you back will be dismantled, paving the way for you to fulfill your truest potential.\n\nSource: Daily Om\n\nDaily Om ~ Finding Deep Strength\n\n\n\n\nSource: Daily Om\n\nDaily Om ~ A Magical Potion\n\nuntitledOur very own lives can be magical like the fleeting morning dew on a flower tip.\nThe world awakens each day from its nightly slumber, transformed by a sparkling layer of morning dew on the grass, on flower petals and leaves, on cars and car windows. These glistening droplets last only a little while, an integral part of what imbues the early morning with its aura of magic. If we sleep too late, we miss the magnificent display of sunlight playing upon an infinite amount of tiny crystal balls. To step onto the dew-covered grass is to anoint our feet with a form of water that comes only once a day for a short time, a rarefied gift of the night air that will soon evaporate in the full light of the sun. If we inhale slowly and consciously enough, it is almost as if we are drinking in this magical elixir formed in the boundary between darkness and light.\n\nIn one myth, morning dew is believed to be tears from heaven, and in another, the droplets are poured from the vessel of the goddess of dawn. When we see the earth draped with these shimmering drops, it is easy to imagine fairies bathing in the water, or a sky god weeping from a longing to be closer to his beloved earth goddess. Seeing the sparkling beauty of the earth emerging from darkness, we may understand this longing in terms of our own gratitude; how blessed we are to be here.\n\nPerhaps heaven really does long to be here on earth, and perhaps that is why we are here—as conduits between the divine and the earthbound. As we drink the morning dew in with our eyes, our skin, our breath, it is easy to imagine that it really is a magical potion, a gift from heaven, a reminder of our true purpose, and a daily opportunity to be transformed.\n\nSource: Daily Om", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8910903930664062} +{"content": "Reply to Criticism on my EA Post\n\n\n\nStructurally, what I did in my previous post was\n\n • quote some EAs making comments on forums and Facebook\n • interpret what I think is the attitude behind those quotes\n\nThere are three possible points of failure to this argument:\n\n • The quotes don’t mean what I took them to mean\n • The views I claimed EAs hold are not actually bad\n • The quotes aren’t evidence of a broader problem in EA.\n\n\nI’m going to address each of these possibilities separately.\n\n\nCase 1: Ben Todd’s Quotes on Criticism\n\n\n\nI said,\n\n\n\n\nHi Sarah,\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCase 2: Robert Wiblin on Promises\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCase 3: Robert Wiblin on Autism\n\n\n\n\n\nCase 4: Jacy Reese on Evidence from Intuition\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHolly Elmore:\n\n\n\nGleb Tsipursky:\n\n\n\n\n • Dishonesty will predictably damage your life.\n\n\nI also believe consent is really important.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPossibility 4: My point stands, but my tactics were bad\n\nI did not handle this post like a pro.\n\n\n\n\nI definitely think these were mistakes on my part.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEA Has A Lying Problem\n\n\nWhy hold EA to a high standard?\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLying for the greater good\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCriticizing EA orgs is harmful to the movement\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHe also said:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKeeping promises is a symptom of autism\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“Because I Said So” is evidence\n\n\n\n\n\n\nReese continues:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn the midst of this debate somebody commented,\n\n\n\n\n\nSo what? The issue of exploitative marketing\n\n\n\n\n\nwhich is a perfect description of Tsipursky’s behavior.\n\n\n\nWhat do I mean by that?\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAin’t Gonna Study War No More\n\nEpistemic Status: Personal\n\nPeople are often confused when I say I’m an anarchist, and it takes a while to explain what I mean, so I think it may be worth posting about.\n\nThe thing is, I believe in peace.\n\nYep, this is the old-fashioned non-aggression principle. Consent. Voluntariness. Mutual benefit. Live and let live. All that jazz.\n\n\nFor me, it’s not an abstract formalism set up to justify why taxes should be lower or something. Peace is a state that you can be at, or not, with others. Peace is what happens when two cats take a nap next to each other in a square of sunlight, and they don’t bother each other, but are okay in each other’s company. Peace is a state of deep, secure, calm nonintrusion. Peace is what my husband and I try to practice in our marriage, for instance.\n\nPeace means that nobody is giving orders, implicitly or explicitly. It means when you speak to a person you’re saying “I think you would value hearing this”, not “I’m going to try to alter you.” It’s a kind of politeness and respect for privacy. To get it exactly right takes a lot of work, and everyone makes mistakes at it. But it’s a beautiful thing when it can be achieved.\n\nPeace is the precondition for individual perception or creation. You have to be left alone for long enough to have a mind of your own. A child who gets enough time to play and dream will start making things. Poking and prodding interrupts that process.\n\nAdults also have to be left alone to make things, if we are ever going to have nice things. If you don’t let people make factories or houses or drugs, we won’t have any.\n\nAnd cruelty hurts. Harshness hurts. Normal sympathy tells us that. All things being equal, being mean is bad. I don’t care that it sounds childish, that’s what I actually believe.\n\nOk, but non-peace is everywhere. The world contains wars and governments, and pushy assholes, and probably always will as long as there are people. And there may be necessary evils, situations where aggression is unavoidable. Isn’t it naive of me to just stand here saying “peace is good”?\n\nThis is the point when I have to make clear that I’m talking about a stance rather than a system. The question is always “what do I do?”, “where do I place the Sarah in the world?” I don’t have a God’s-eye view; my understanding literally comes out of my own brain, which is embedded in one person, who exists in the world. So there’s no real principled separation between believing and doing.\n\nWhat defines you, as an agent with bounded computation, is what you focus on and what simplifying heuristics you use. Defining the “typical case” vs “outliers” is a form of frame control that is inevitable, an ineluctable form of choice, so you may as well do it intentionally.\n\nMy stance is that my attention belongs on the win-win, peaceful, productive parts of the world. My stance is to place myself on the side of aspiring to higher standards and aiming for joyful wins. I think that outlook is both well suited to me and significantly undervalued in the public. We may need people in this world who are all about making harsh tradeoffs, protecting against tail risks, guarding the worst off, being leaders or guardians or sheepdogs — but that’s a completely different frame, a different stance, and I don’t think it’s really possible to see the world through both simultaneously.\n\nIn the frame I find healthiest, the “typical case” is that people are individual persons who fare best when their consent is respected, that by default “doing well” and “doing good” correlate, that “do your own thing, seek growth and happiness, don’t aggress upon others” is usually the best bet, and that cases where that’s not possible are the exceptions and aberrations, to be worked around as best as possible. Peace is the main course, force is a bitter condiment that we must occasionally taste.\n\nThis is the lens through which Leopold Bloom sees the world:\n\n\n— What? says Alf.\n\n\nI’ve often noticed a hope deficit — people are very quick to try to decide which necessary evil they have to accept, and it doesn’t occur to them to ask “what would it look like if things were just straightforwardly good?” There’s a creative power in optimism that people don’t seem to appreciate enough.\n\nI think I’m not going to do that much more digging into social-science topics, because they aren’t as amenable to finding peaceful wins. The framing puts me in the position of asking “do I support inflicting this harm or that harm on millions of people?” And this is ridiculous; I, personally, will never do such a thing, and don’t want to. If I ever make a valuable contribution to the world it will almost certainly be through making, not ruling. So anything that sets things up as the question of “what would I do, if I were a ruler” is corrosive. The world is a mixture of peace and war, but I want my part in it to be peaceful.\n\nHaidt-Love Relationship\n\nEpistemic status: personal, exhortatory, expressive\n\nJonathan Haidt has an ideology. In his academic life, he poses positive questions, but he definitely has a normative position as well. And you can see this most clearly in his speeches to young people, which are sermons on Haidtism.\n\nHere is an example.\n\nIn it, he contrasts “Coddle U” with “Strengthen U,” two archetypal colleges. He’s clearly arguing in favor of psychological resilience, and against fragility. Let’s leave aside the question of whether feminists and other activists are actually oversensitive weenies, and whether trigger warnings are actually coddling, and engage with his main point, that it is better not to be an oversensitive weenie.\n\nHaidt seems to see this as self-evident. The emotionally weak are to be mocked; the emotionally strong are to be respected.\n\nI don’t find it as obvious.\n\nFragility can have a certain charm. Sensitive, romantic, tender spirits can be quite attractive. The soft-hearted can be quick to show kindness. The easily-bruised can be alert to problems that more thick-skinned folks ignore. We usually trust people’s sincerity more when they are moved to strong emotion. A frail, innocent person is often a lovable person. And who wouldn’t want to be lovable?\n\n“Do you want to be strong or do you want to be fragile?” takes us back to Nietzsche’s old conflict of Herrenmoral and Sklavmoral. Is it good to be successful, skilled, strong, powerful (as opposed to weak, cowardly, unhealthy, contemptible)? Or is it good to be innocent, pure, gentle, kind (as opposed to oppressive, selfish, cruel)?\n\nOf course it’s possible to be both kind and strong. Herrenmoral and Sklavmoral are both pre-rational viewpoints, more like aesthetics than actual ethics. It’s a question of whether you want to be this:\n\nor this:\n\nUltimately, the consideration in favor of strength is simply that the world contains threats. Fragility may make you lovable, but it can also make you dead. You don’t get to appreciate the benefits of sensitivity and tenderness if you’re dead.\n\nBeing strong enough to do well at the practicalities of the world — physical safety and health, economic security, enough emotional stability not to put yourself or others at risk — is, up to a point, an unalloyed good.\n\nThink of it as a gambler’s ruin situation. You have to win or save enough to stay in the game. Strength helps you stay in the game.\n\nAnd because strength is necessary for survival, there’s something to respect in the pro-strength aesthetic.\n\nFrom the outside, it can seem kind of mean and elitist. You’re scorning people for failure and pain? You think you’re better than the rest of us, just because you’re pretty or smart or tough or happy?\n\nBut another way of looking at it is having respect for the necessities of life. If you consider that starvation is a thing, you’ll remember that food is valuable, and you’ll feel gratitude to the farmers who grow it. In the same way, you can have respect for intelligence, respect for competence, respect for toughness, respect for all skills. You can be glad for them, because human skill drives out the darkness of death, the hard vacuum of space that surrounds us, and excellent humans are pinpricks of flame in the dark. You can love that hard brilliance.\n\nAnd if respect can tinge into love, love can shade into enjoyment. You can enjoy being awesome, or knowing people who are awesome. It can be exhilarating. It can be a high and heady pleasure.\n\nAnd from that vantage point, it’s possible to empathize with someone who, like Haidt, scorns weakness. Maybe, once you’ve been paying attention to the high points of human ability, anything else seems rather dingy. Maybe you think “It’s so much nicer here upon the heights, why would you want to be down in the valley?” Maybe some of the people who seem “elitist” actually just want to be around the people who light them up, and have developed high standards for that.\n\nNot to say that there doesn’t exist shallow, vindictive status-grabbing. But there are also people who aren’t like that, who just prefer the excellent to the mediocre.\n\nOr, on a smaller scale, there are those who seek out “positive people” and avoid “toxic people” — they’re orienting towards success and away from failure, towards strength and away from weakness, and this is an understandable thing to do.\n\nAn addict trying to get her life together would try hard to avoid weakness, temptation, backsliding — and this would be a good thing, and any decent person would cheer for her. That kind of motivation is the healthy thing that drives people to choose strength over fragility.\n\nSo Haidt’s basic premise — that you want to be more strong than fragile — is believable.\n\nHis prescriptions for achieving that are risk tolerance and minimizing the negative.\n\nI’m going to reframe his ideas somewhat so they refer to individuals. He’s talking about a top-down perspective — how schools can make students stronger. I have an issue with that, because I think that “improving” people against their will is ethically questionable, and especially trying to “make people tough” by exposing them to adversity, if they have no intrinsic desire to toughen and no input into the type of “adversity” involved, is probably counterproductive. However, people self-improve all the time, they make themselves tougher, and that’s a more fruitful perspective, in my opinion.\n\nRisk tolerance is the self-motivated version of “we’re not going to coddle you.” It would mean seeking out challenges, looking for criticism, engaging with “hard truths”, going on adventures. Trying things to test your mettle.\n\nIt’s pretty obvious why this works: small amounts of damage cause you to develop stronger defenses. Exercise produces micro-tears in muscle, so it grows back stronger. Vaccines made of weakened virus stimulate immunity to that virus. Intermittent, all-out efforts against fear or failure are good for you.\n\n(You’re still playing to stay in the game, so an adversity that takes you out of the game altogether is not good for you. This is why I think it works much better if the individual’s judgment and motivation is engaged. Voluntary choice is important. Authorities trying to “toughen kids up” against their will can kill them. )\n\nMinimizing the negative means mentally shrinking the sources of your distress. Haidt cites Marcus Aurelius, Boethius, the Buddha, and the tenets of cognitive behavioral therapy as pointing at the same universal truths.\n\nNow, of course, Stoicism, Buddhism, and modern psychology have very different visions of the good life. The ideal Stoic is a good citizen; the ideal Buddhist is an ascetic; the ideal psychological subject is “well.” The ideal Stoic is protective of his soul; the ideal Buddhist is aware that his “self” does not exist. Trying to be a serious Stoic is quite different from trying to be a serious Buddhist, and it’s not clear what it would even mean to try to be the “ideal person” by the standards of cognitive behavioral therapy.\n\nWhat these philosophies have in common is a lot simpler than that: it’s just “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”\n\nDon’t freak out over trivial shit. Remember that it’s trivial.\n\nStoicism and Buddhism both use meditation as a tactic; both suggest focusing on impermanence and even death, to remind oneself that trivial shit will pass. CBT’s tactic is disputation — arguing with your fears and frustrations, telling yourself that the problem is not that big a deal.\n\nMarcus Aurelius in particular uses pride a lot as a tactic, encouraging you to view getting upset as beneath the dignity of your soul.\n\nOf course, “Don’t sweat the small stuff” imposed from without is a bit insulting. Who are you, authority figure, to say what is and isn’t important? Aren’t you telling me to ignore real problems and injustices?\n\nBut seen from within, “don’t sweat the small stuff” is just another perspective on “focus on your goals and values.”\n\nYou want to stay in the game, remember? So you can win, whatever that means to you. So survival matters, robustness matters, because that keeps you in the game. Freaking out takes you hors de combat.\n\nHaidt tends not to push too hard on Christianity, perhaps because his audience is secular, but it is a very common source of comfort that does, empirically, make people happier. My impression of Christian positivity, from a non-theological perspective, is that it says the good outweighs the bad. The bad exists; but the good is stronger and bigger and wins in the end. And this is another way of not freaking out over trivial shit, which is quite different in aesthetic from the others, and maybe underappreciated by secular people. Instead of trying to shrink your troubles by minimizing or disputing them, you can make them seem less important by contrast to something vast and Good. In a similar, albeit secular, spirit, there’s Camus’ famous line, “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”\n\nStripped of the sneering and the political angle and the paternalism, what we have here is a pretty solid message.\n\nIt’s a good idea to become stronger; in order to do that, try hard things, and don’t freak out about trivial shit.\n\nNow, I immediately imagine a dialogue with my Weenie Self resisting this idea.\n\nBut…that sounds AWFUL! I don’t want to!\n\nWell, the thing is, “I’m not currently doing X” is not a valid argument against doing X. If it were, nobody would ever have a reason to change their behavior. We’d all just follow the gradients of our current stimuli wherever they led. There’s no choice in that world, no deliberate behavior. “But I’m currently freaking out about trivial shit!” doesn’t actually mean that you shouldn’t want to freak out less in future.\n\nI know. It’s weird. This is a way of thinking about things consciously and explicitly, even when they feel kind of awkward and wrong.\n\nHow can it be right when it doesn’t feel right?! I am currently experiencing a sense of certainty that this is a bad idea! You want me to trust a verbal argument over this overwhelming feeling of certainty?\n\nThis, believe it or not, is what people mean when they talk about reason!\n\nTrusting an argument that is correct as far as you can tell, over your feelings, even very strong feelings. Being consciously aware that a thing is a good idea, and doing it, even when it’s awkward and unnatural and feels wrong. You’re not used to doing things this way, because you usually discipline yourself with more feelings — guilt or fear, usually. But there’s a way of making yourself do hard things that starts, simply, with recognizing intellectually that the hard thing is a good idea.\n\nYou can make yourself like things that you don’t currently like! You can make yourself feel things that you aren’t currently feeling!\n\nThis bizarre, robotic, abstract business of making decisions on the basis of thoughts rather than feelings is a lot less crazy than it, um, feels. It’s a tremendous power.\n\nSome people luck into it by being naturally phlegmatic. The rest of us look at them and think “Man, that would suck, having practically no feelings. Feelings are the spice of life!” But we can steal a bit of their power, with time and effort, without necessarily becoming prosaic ourselves.\n\nMy overall instinctive response to Haidtism is negative. The ideology initially comes across as smug and superficial. But upon reflection, I have come to believe that it is right to aim towards self-transcendence, to do hard things and not sweat the small stuff. And I’m resolving to be more charitable towards people who support that creed even when they rub me the wrong way stylistically. Ultimately, I want to do the things that are good ideas, even when that means awkward, deliberate change.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5922137498855591} +{"content": "State Championship Game Times Announced\n\n\nThe Arkansas Activities Association released the times and dates for all championship games.\n\nAll games will be played at Barton Coliseum in Little Rock\n\n3:30 - Jessieville vs Greenland, 3A Girls\n5:15 - Concord vs Bay, 1A Boys\n7:00 - Norphlet vs Marmaduke, 2A Girls\n8:45 - Dollarway vs Pottsville, 4A Boys\n\n3:30 - Harding Academy vs Episcopal Collegiate, 3A Boys\n5:15 - Northside vs Southside, 7A Girls\n7:00 - Alma vs Jacksonville, 5A Boys\n8:45 - Paragould vs Jacksonville, 5A Boys\n\n11:00 - Prairie Grove vs Malvern, 4A Girls\n12:45 - East Poinsett County vs Cedar Ridge, 2A Boys\n2:30 - Weiner vs Nevada County, 1A Girls\n4:15 - Fayetteville vs North Little Rock, 7A Boys\n6:00 - Little Rock Hall vs Little Rock Parkview, 6A Girls\n7:45 - Little Rock Hall vs Joneseboro, 6A Boys", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000100135803223} +{"content": "November, 2003\n\nMartha Schwendener\n\n\nOver the course of his career, Lyle Ashton Harris has moved among installation, video, and photography, often combining the three. His most recent show found him focusing on a single medium, however, and his favorite subject: himself. The twelve large-format Polaroid photographs on view (all works 2002) were all titled “Memoirs of Hadrian, after a novel by Marguerite Yourcenar that takes the form of a letter from Emperor Hadrian to Marcus Aurelius. In eight of the photographs, Harris poses as a pugilist, bruised and bloodied, wearing boxing gloves and a white jockstrap. (Signifiers of imperial Rome are nowhere in sight.) In the rest he appears as a shadowy figure, photographed behind a sheet of Plexiglas covered with drips and smears. Tacked to the Plexi in the photo are smaller Polaroids of objects (mouthpiece, boxing gloves).\n\nEach large-scale Polaroid bears a distinct painterly quality. The surfaces are smooth, but from a short distance they look like expressionist canvases of some kind. The Polaroids within the large-scale Polaroid create a collage effect in the final product that mimics the layering of pigment on canvas. But unlike a painting, each successive layer is transparent, because a photograph of a photograph adds rather than conceals visual information.\n\nTaut and lean and lustrous, these images of Harris call up historical shots of black athletes, and the evident reflexivity-shading-into-narcissism signals an ongoing engagement with a set of issues the artist has explored before: black male and/or black gay identity. But-aside from homosocial/sexual considerations of hand-to-hand combat-somehow those issues were not explicit enough in this body of work. Clues that Harris has often included elsewhere (from family photos to references to Jeffrey Dahmer) are absent here, and a greater load is placed on the shoulders of Harris as subject.\n\nIn three of the works, Harris appears almost as if shot through a sheet of rain. This blurring or semi-erasure is reminiscent of whole bodies of work that strive to address issues of visibility vis-à-vis race and gender. Just as Yourcenar’s letter recipient is never given a voice, Harris’s opponent in the ring is never shown. But in fact, naming the project after Yourcenar’s text hinders rather than helps, and the putative imperial Harris/boxing/Rome connection never justifies itself at all. (Learning that Harris spent a year in Rome as an American Academy fellow adds nothing.) The idea of the artist as battered boxer is at once imprecise and heavy-handed; the works leave us to wonder how the images relate either to their stated inspiration or to Harris’s project more generally.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9866713881492615} +{"content": " Alzheimer's disease - Atlas of pathophysiology, 2 Edition \n\nAtlas of pathophysiology, 2 Edition\n\nPart II - Disorders\n\nNeurologic disorders\n\nAlzheimer's disease\n\nAlzheimer's disease is a progressive degenerative disorder of the cerebral cortex, especially the frontal lobe. It affects approximately 4 million Americans; by 2040, that figure may exceed 6 million.\n\nAge Alert\n\nAlzheimer's disease typically affects adults older than age 60, but some cases have been reported in individuals as young as in their late 30s.\n\nThe disease has a poor prognosis. Typically, the duration of illness is 8 years, and patients die 2 to 5 years after onset of debilitating brain symptoms.\n\n\nExact cause unknown\n\nPossible contributing factors\n\n· Genetic patterns\n\n· Beta-amyloid plaque development\n\n· Inflammatory and oxidative stress processes\n\n· The role of estrogen in the brain\n\n\nThe brain of a patient with Alzheimer's disease has three characteristic features: neurofibrillary tangles (fibrous proteins), neuritic plaques (composed of degenerating axons and dendrites), and neuronal loss (degeneration).\n\nNeurofibrillary tangles are bundles of filaments found inside neurons that abnormally twist around one another. Abnormally phosphorylated tau proteins accumulate in the neurons as the characteristic tangles and ultimately cause neuronal death. In a healthy brain, tau provides structural support for neurons, but in patients with Alzheimer's disease this structural support collapses.\n\nNeuritic plaques (senile plaques) form outside the neurons in the adjacent brain tissue. Plaques contain a core of beta-amyloid protein surrounded by abnormal nerve endings or neurites. Overproduction or decreased metabolism of beta-amyloid peptide leads to a toxic state causing degeneration of neuronal processes, neuritic plaque formation, and eventually neuronal loss and clinical dementia.\n\nTangles and plaques cause neurons in the brain of the patient with Alzheimer's disease to shrink and eventually die, first in the memory and language centers and finally throughout the entire brain. This widespread neuron degeneration leaves gaps in the brain's messaging network that may interfere with communication between cells, causing some of the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.\n\nSigns and symptoms\n\n\n· Disorientation to date\n\n· Impaired recall\n\n· Diminished insight\n\n· Irritability\n\n· Apathy\n\n\n· Increased disorientation (time and place)\n\n· Fluent aphasia\n\n· Difficulties with comprehension\n\n· Impaired recognition\n\n· Poor judgment\n\n· Trouble performing activities of daily living (ADLs)\n\n· Aggression\n\n· Restlessness\n\n· Psychosis\n\n· Sleep disturbances\n\n· Dysphoria\n\n\n· Unable to use language appropriately\n\n· Memory only to the moment\n\n· Needs assistance with all ADLs\n\n· Urinary and fecal incontinence\n\nDiagnostic test results\n\n· Neuropsychologic evaluation shows deficits in memory, reasoning, vision-motor coordination, and language function.\n\n· Magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography scan reveals brain atrophy at later stages of the disease.\n\n· Positron emission tomography scanning shows decreased brain activity.\n\n· EEG shows evidence of slowed brain waves at later stages of the disease.\n\n\n· Cholinesterase inhibitors, such as tacrine, donepezil, rivastigmine, and galantamine\n\n· Behavioral therapy\n\n· Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs\n\n· Cholesterol-lowering drugs\n\n· Estrogen", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999967813491821} +{"content": "Representing a state-wide trade association, ESP work with rule-making and Executive Branch leadership to prevent passage of regulations that would have had a significant negative impact upon this industry. Recognizing that some level of increased regulation appeared inevitable, ESP set up meetings with key State leadership to assure that the regulations would meet the State’s goals without destroying the industry’s ability to prosper. ESP’s leadership led to a result that all sides could support.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9762029647827148} +{"content": "Repository Listing\n\nTo provide a better understanding of the regional biodiversity found throughout the Kimberley, identify and characterise in finer detail the major habitat types in selected coastal areas such as Camden Sound Marine Park.\nPreviewBaited remote underwater video stations (BRUVS (TM)) were deployed to census deep water fish communities (30-70 m) at 19 sites in South Scott Reef lagoon in November and December 1999.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9947316646575928} +{"content": "Increasing the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy with hypnosis\n\n7 Jul 2015 | Print\n\nIncreasing the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy with hypnosis\n\nPain often requires multimodal treatment, with pharmacotherapies frequently supplemented by non-pharmacological approaches.[1] Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a good example; hypnosis is another, albeit less commonly used.\n\nCBT is a form of ‘talking therapy’ that can help patients to manage their pain by changing the way they think and behave. It can involve a wide variety of techniques, including psychoeducation about behavior and mood, strategies for relaxation, effective communication, and cognitive restructuring for distorted and maladaptive thoughts about pain.[1] CBT has improved a variety of outcomes in chronic pain populations, including reductions in pain and disability, as well as improvements in functioning.[1]\n\nIn the past, CBT might have been considered somewhat unorthodox, perhaps even ‘alternative’. However, its positive effects are now well recognized, and CBT has moved into the mainstream of pain management.\n\nBut hypnosis?\n\nIn truth, hypnosis remains a relatively unconventional therapy, and not one that many physicians would regularly advocate.\n\nHowever, there is a substantial body of the evidence to show that hypnosis can be an effective treatment for chronic pain. Indeed, a meta-analysis of 13 trials found that hypnosis consistently produced significant decreases in pain. It was also found to be generally more effective than many other interventions, such as physical therapy or education.[2]\n\nUntil recently, there was relatively little data regarding the combination of hypnosis with CBT. This is now changing, with evidence emerging that hypnosis can be effectively used as an adjunct to CBT in the management of pain.[3,4]\n\nCBT combined with hypnosis\n\nThe first data on the use of hypnosis as an adjunct to CBT came from non-pain-related therapy areas. A meta-analysis of results from 18 studies showed that CBT plus hypnosis substantially improved outcomes compared with CBT alone across a variety of medical conditions – particularly in the treatment of obesity.[5]\n\nIn the past few years, the combination of CBT and hypnosis has also been studied in pain. For example, Jensen and colleagues recently published a report on the effectiveness of cognitive restructuring (a key element of CBT) and self-hypnosis in 15 multiple sclerosis patients with chronic pain.[3] All of those enrolled received four sessions of each of four different treatment modules: (a) an education control intervention; (b) self-hypnosis training; (c) CBT; and (d) combined hypnosis and CBT.\n\nThey found that hypnosis was more effective than CBT with regard to reducing pain intensity, and that the combination of hypnosis and CBT had beneficial effects greater than either therapy alone.[3] The combined approach also had a greater effect on pain interference and catastrophizing than either therapy alone.[3]\n\nA larger study was subsequently conducted to compare the effectiveness of CBT plus hypnosis with CBT alone in 93 patients with fibromyalgia.[4] Patients were randomly assigned to one of three therapies: (a) multicomponent CBT; (b) multicomponent CBT combined with hypnosis; or (c) standard care (control group). Various outcome measures were assessed, including pain intensity, catastrophizing, psychological distress, functionality and sleep disturbances.\n\nThe study found that patients who received CBT alone or in combination with hypnosis showed greater improvements than patients who received only standard care. Furthermore, the addition of hypnosis enhanced the effectiveness of CBT.[4]\n\nHow does hypnosis work?\n\nGiven the positive data now available for the use hypnosis in pain management, it will be important to better understand the underlying physiological mechanisms.\n\nIt has been suggested that the effectiveness of hypnosis could at least partly result from alterations in brain states.[6] In particular, hypnotic suggestions for reducing pain – for example, based on relaxation, decreased negative response to pain, and imagined analgesia – have been associated with increases in brain theta-wave activity.[6] Furthermore, individuals with greater baseline theta-wave activity may be more responsive to hypnosis.[7] This implies that theta activity, which is strongly associated with learning and memory,[8] may facilitate responses to hypnosis.\n\nGiven that responsiveness to other neuromodulatory treatments, such as biofeedback and meditation, is associated with different brain states compared with hypnosis, it is possible that variations in brain activity could be used in future to match patients to appropriate treatments.[7]\n\nIn safe hands – the use of appropriate practitioners\n\nWhen referring pain patients for psychological therapy, including CBT and hypnosis, it is important to select an appropriate caregiver. The use of these therapies – particularly when performed by non-traditional practitioners – can show variable effectiveness unless treatment approaches are appropriately managed.[1]However, well-designed psychological interventions can be effectively administered by a wide variety of healthcare professionals. This may include physiotherapists, physical therapists, nurses, and occupational therapists.[1]\n\nThe likelihood is that these therapies will continue to grow in popularity with both patients and practitioners as further supporting data become available. Increased use of psychological treatments may result in significant reductions in the emotional, physical and financial burdens of pain.\n\n\n 1. 1. Sturgeon JA. Psychological therapies for the management of chronic pain. Psychol Res Behav Manag 2014;7:115-124.\n 2. 2. Elkins G, Jensen MP, Patterson DR. Hypnotherapy for the management of chronic pain. Int J Clin Exp Hypn 2007;55:275-287.\n 3. 3. Jensen MP, Ehde DM, Gertz KJ, et al. Effects of self-hypnosis training and cognitive restructuring on daily pain intensity and catastrophizing in individuals with multiple sclerosis and chronic pain. Int J Clin Exp Hypn 2011;59:45-63.\n 4. 4. Castel A, Cascón R, Padrol A, Sala J, Rull M. Multicomponent cognitive-behavioral group therapy with hypnosis for the treatment of fibromyalgia: long-term outcome. J Pain 2012;13:255-265.\n 5. 5. Kirsch I, Montgomery G, Sapirstein G. Hypnosis as an adjunct to cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy: a meta-analysis. J Consult Clin Psychol 1995;63:214-220.\n 6. 6. Jensen MP, Sherlin LH, Askew RL, et al. Effects of non-pharmacological pain treatments on brain states. Clin Neurophysiol 2013;124:2016-2024.\n 7. 7. Jensen MP, Sherlin LH, Fregni F, et al. Baseline brain activity predicts response to neuromodulatory pain treatment. Pain Med 2014;15:2055-2063.\n 8. 8. Bastiaansen M, Hagoort P. Event-induced theta responses as a window on the dynamics of memory. Cortex 2003;39:967-992.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6728193163871765} +{"content": "Tuesday, April 26, 2016\n\nTop 5 Myths/Reality\n\n#1 Myth: I am at your school to fix technology...full disclosure, I'm to blame for this mindset\n\nReality: I am not a technician. When I first entered this position, I pigeon holed myself into the perceived technician role. When teachers had Promethean boards that didn't work or had a slight glitch with a computer or an iPad in distress, I did my best to remedy the problem. After all, I couldn't assist with technology integration if it didn't work. My thought process was in order to serve my educators, I had to ensure the technology worked. That being said, my favorite part of my career (and what it's really about) is to work with educators to utilize technology to support classroom learning goals, infuse technology tools into the curriculum and enhance student learning in a blended learning environment. I still occasionally fix technology because I want to be helpful but my primary goal is to infuse technology integration as a seamless part of the curriculum, not as option or as a reward.\n\n#2 Myth: I expect educators to use technology all the time, for every activity...\n\nReality: I l\nove technology tools and devices! I get so excited that sometimes it enthusiastically leaks out! BUT I want educators to use technology to support learning goals, not because it's a shiny new toy. I firmly believe technology should enhance learning and support curriculum goals. Technology opens up the world to students!\nMy goal is to infuse technology into the curriculum because it enables student to complete projects in a way that is inconceivable with traditional methods. Yet, I truly believe you need a balance between traditional classroom pedagogy and technology integration. I feel strongly that all students need technology to function in today's technological world but that doesn't mean I think it's exclusive. If I mention 15 technology tools, I'm really hoping that at least 1 or 2 will work for you. My goal isn't to overwhelm you, it's to make sure that I am suggesting a variety of option because I want to meet your need.\n\n#3 Myth: My students can't do...because of...\n\nReality: Students can achieve more than we can imagine. We are often the resistors and it's not because students lack the ability to achieve. It's because we lack a mindset to embrace change to step out of our comfort zone, especially when that change is scary. I started suggesting new tools and techniques for use with the kinderpups...the teachers ran with it. My thought, if kinders can do it, anyone can...I was surprised at how well they did!\n\nThen the unforeseen happened. I believe in encouraging teachers and I was surprised when I heard teachers say, \"that's not a tested subject so they have time to explore technology.\" I want to say, have you tried logging 25...age 5...students onto a computer when they not familiar with keyboards and have only recently learned to read. I refrain and smile while devising a plan of action to use technology with their content. Don't get me wrong, I take exception to these thoughts. BUT I understand they really stem from a lack of comfort and an uncertainty within the educator. The reality is that kindergarten is the foundation for all learning and we could learn from them. We have wonderful students that keep trying, they get frustrated but don't give up, they give honest feedback, they don't let a lack of access to technology or a lack of understanding the tool hold them back, and they ask for help. All of this would not be possible if I didn't have teachers who are open to infusing technology while embracing a growth mindset. These teachers are a blessing because they are Wonder-Woman style educators who transform education before my eyes!\n\n\n#4 Myth: Learning has to be serious which requires lecture & book work...\n\nReality: A student having fun is participating in engaged learning. An engaged student takes an interest in learning and is less likely to be side tracked. Engagement can easily be accomplished with technology but also with group work, STEM projects and maker-space areas. As educators, we need to remember how to have fun with teaching and ask ourselves if we'd (realistically) want to sit through our own class. Chances are if you only use handouts and you are doing all the talking, this is a teacher centered class and not a blended learning environment. The positive, it's super easy to add infuse technology and it only takes you.\n\n#5 Myth: Adding rigor means I need to add worksheets or book work...\n\nReality: Higher order thinking (HOT) comes from questions that require thinking (not a cookie cutter response), student discussion, project based learning, researching ideas, trial/error, and realizing that there is no such thing as failure if students are learning in the process. None of this requires a handout and technology integration can enhance the learning experience. I challenge each of you to be HOT educators!\n\nWednesday, April 20, 2016\n\nRole as an Instructional Technology Specialist\n\nInstructional Technology Specialist\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nI'm not Wonder Woman but I am empowered by growing educators!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5941034555435181} +{"content": "Americans Much Less Likely to Identify as Middle Class\n\n\nSocial Class Identification\n\n\nGuns Make Us Less Safe. That’s a Fact.\n\nDavid Hemenway, a Harvard professor and director of the Harvard Injury Control Center, writes in the L.A. Times that his polling to determine scientific consensus with respect to the relationship between firearms and death rates “won’t please the National Rifle Assn. ”\n\nFor example, “one survey asked whether having a gun in the home increased the risk of suicide. An overwhelming share of the 150 people who responded, 84%, said yes.”\n\n\n“Of course it’s possible to find researchers who side with the NRA in believing that guns make our society safer, rather than more dangerous. As I’ve shown, however, they’re in the minority.”\n\n“Scientific consensus isn’t always right, but it’s our best guide to understanding the world. Can reporters please stop pretending that scientists, like politicians, are evenly divided on guns? We’re not.”\n\nThe Irrelevance of Independents\n\nWashington Post: As the chart below suggests, it’s somewhat meaningless to “talk about how the ranks of independents, those famously fickle people without a preferred party, are growing in every state as people sour on the traditional bifurcated model of elections.”\n\n\n\nConservatives Hold Out on Global Warming\n\nGallup: “While notable majorities of all other political party/ideology groups say the effects of global warming will happen within their lifetime, fewer than four in 10 conservative Republicans (37%) agree, a sign of that political identity’s strident skepticism on this issue.”\n\nAmericans' Views on Global Warming, by Party and Ideology\n\n“This stable consensus belies the sharp political divisions that have paralyzed the national government’s ability to grapple with this issue, at least in a way that both Congress and the president approve of. While Obama may pursue international accords aimed at combating greenhouse gases, the Republican Congress unabashedly opposes these endeavors. In what amounts to a perfect summation of the distance between the two parties, Obama recently identified global warming as the biggest threat to future generations, while the Republican Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, James Inhofe, has previously called global warming a ‘hoax.’ Inhofe, considered by the National Journal as one of the most conservative U.S. senators, undoubtedly represents an extreme viewpoint, just as Obama’s heightened language may not accurately capture how many Americans interpret the consequences of global warming.”\n\nRepublican States Trump Democratic States in Voting Their Party\n\nPhilip Bump: “One of our favorite metrics gauges partisanship in a state’s presidential voting by comparing it to the national vote margin.”\n\n“Since the 1990s, the margin by which states have been more Republican has indeed grown, while the margin by which states vote more Democratic has been relatively flat. This reinforces the idea that partisan loyalty has strengthened — but only on one side of the split.”\n\nBump asks: “How much more or less partisan have states been of late? Let’s create four ranges: States that voted more than or less than five points more Democratic or Republican than the nation on the whole.”\n\n“There’s a solid block visible: States that have voted more than five percentage points more Republican than the nation on the whole in the last several elections. Democratic states have been closer to the national margin — in part, because that margin has favored the Democrats.”\n\n“States that vote more Republican than the rest of the country have voted increasingly more Republican. States that vote more Democratic haven’t changed as much.”", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8761290311813354} +{"content": "Ravna Gora\n\nRavna Gora first aired in April 1972. This program consists an audience of men and women over the age of 30. It attracts different religions such as Orthodox, Catholics, Muslims, and different nationalities such as Serbs, Croats, Macedonians, and Slovenians. Ravna Gora consists of community and world news, history, literature, and music. It features interviews with Canadian politicians and religious and community leaders. The program also broadcasts from various locations throughout Toronto.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.89079350233078} +{"content": "Battle to save Chicago's Gropius architecture has preservationists and city at odds\n\n\nGrahm Balkany's mood lurches from admiration to anguish as he strolls among a group of small, flat-roofed hospital buildings on Chicago's South Side.\n\n\"Look how progressive that is,\" he exclaims, pointing to where slatted awnings filter sunlight that falls on patients' rooms. A moment later, he gazes mournfully on scattered trash, uncut grass, and other signs of neglect. \"I can't tell you how beautiful this was at one point,\" he says.\n\nRecently, while studying engineering and architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Mr. Balkany discovered that one of the great minds of modern architecture, Walter Gropius, lay behind many of these buildings, built in the 1950s and early '60s in a great gust of urban renewal on the South Side. But what began as a triumph for scholarship and Chicago's architectural history has quickly soured. The city intends to tear down at least 28 buildings on the Michael Reese Hospital campus, including those linked to Gropius, to make room for the 2016 Olympics. Architectural preservationists have so far protested in vain.\n\n\"There's no question that Walter Gropius was instrumental in the overall master planning of the campus and in designing many of the buildings,\" says Jonathan Fine, executive director of Preservation Chicago, a group that tries to bring attention to important buildings that are imperiled. \"On that basis alone, at least the buildings he designed should be preserved.\"\n\nChicago is famous for its modern architecture. Incorporated in 1837 and destroyed by fire in 1871, the city was a clean slate on which architects could invent the new. The first skyscrapers went up in Chicago. From his studio on the city's outskirts, Frank Lloyd Wright revolutionized the American home. Later, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a refugee from Nazi Germany, built the spare, glass-and-steel structures that made Chicago a center of modernism.\n\nKevin Harrington, a professor of art and architectural history at IIT and coauthor of \"Chicago's Famous Buildings,\" says the city's architecture stands out not only for its compressed history but also for its richness and stylistic continuity. \"People from all over the world recognize it,\" he says. \"It's kind of a coherence of form and material and vocabulary.\"\n\nUntil recently, Gropius was thought to have played only a minor part in this history. The omission was significant. Together with Mies van der Rohe and the French architect Le Corbusier, Gropius is considered one of the pioneers of modernism, the style that transformed architecture in the middle of the 20th century. He founded the Bauhaus school in Germany after World War I, left the country in the 1930s, and later taught at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. Beginning in the mid-1940s he drew up a master plan to enlarge Reese Hospital, which local architects filled in with individual buildings. At least that's what everyone thought.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBut he and others say that the buildings have increased importance because they belong to a larger group of buildings on the South Side that illustrate in a small space the birth of modern architecture. These buildings include nearby works by Wright; Louis Sullivan; and Mies van der Rohe, who designed the IIT campus, an acknowledged masterpiece of modernism.\n\nTo Harrington, Gropius's buildings also hint at an effort more subtle than simply bringing Bauhaus to Chicago. Views of Lake Michigan and careful attention to orientation and landscaping suggest that Gropius was trying to adapt an architectural style conceived in Europe to the conditions of America. \"The response to the natural world is, I think, somewhat more American than European,\" he says. \"It's an understanding that nature is there first and we insert ourselves. The European model is that we're in a cultural landscape and adjusting it to our purpose.\"\n\nBalkany had hoped to write a book about the buildings. Instead, since winter he's been leading the fight to save them. Even as the city prepares for demolition, he's still trying to rouse public opinion, organizing meetings, handing out leaflets, and appealing to architectural preservationists for help. He's succeeded, at least in part. A growing number of architectural preservation organizations have come out in defense of the Gropius buildings. But his efforts have produced no outpouring of sympathy from either city officials or the public.\n\nThat doesn't mean everyone is indifferent. Adrienne Stanley was walking her dog recently through the shade-covered grounds when Balkany approached and handed her a leaflet. \"It's so sad,\" she says. \"I loved coming over here and looking at the buildings. Why can't they use them?\"\n\nA security guard sitting in his car on the far edge of the campus echoed her sentiments. \"Nobody wants them torn down,\" he says.\n\nRecently, Illinois Landmarks, an organization that tries to save important buildings from demolition, offered a compromise plan that would preserve eight of the Reese hospital buildings, including four \"codesigned\" by Gropius. Balkany's own Gropius in Chicago Coalition plans within the month to advance a compromise of its own that would save all the Gropius buildings.\n\nThe city has talked to architects and preservation groups, but so far it has shown little willingness to compromise. Publicly, at least, it has not wavered from its contention that the requirements of an Olympic village demand the destruction of all the Gropius buildings. Molly Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the city's planning department, says the city has had to move quickly to prepare the site for new construction because \"we were dealing with a tight timeline.\"\n\nIndeed, contractors have already cut down trees around the buildings. They have begun demolition of the interiors. On Aug. 6, the city's Landmarks Commission, while expressing support for the preservationists, voted down a proposal that it recommend placing the buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.\n\n\"We want to be supportive of the city,\" says Balkany. \"But time is running out.\"\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6408839225769043} +{"content": "Boston Gas Company, \"Illuminations\"\n\nThe Boston Gas Company archives are a collection of documents, memorabilia, and photographs dating from the company’s founding in 1822 until today. Housed at Boston College’s Burns Library, the collection’s most impressive aspect are the photographs, hundreds of which date from the dawn of photography, and provided the inspiration for the book “Illuminations.”\n\n“Illuminations” tells the story of the company that literally laid the foundation for much of what is modern Boston. But it also illustrates much more. The photography captures a city emerging from the era of gaslight, while the text traces the social and economic progressions of a predominantly immigrant working class as it moves from the sidelines to center stage in America.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9138832092285156} +{"content": "Research in Geophysics\n\nResearch in Geophysics is an Open Access, peer-reviewed, online-only journal publishing researches about Earth's internal structure, physical properties, processes and evolution. Manuscripts can be submitted in the following subjects: geodesy; seismology; geodynamics; tectonophysics; geomagnetism; paleomagnetism; mathematical geophysics; geophysical surveying; marine geosciences; rheology; volcanology; geological and geophysical engineering.\n\nTime dependent seismicity along the western coast of Canada Tsunami intensity mapping: applying the integrated Tsunami Intensity...\n\n\nTable of Contents\n\nOriginal Articles\nKaterina-Navsika Katsetsiadou, Emmanuel Andreadakis, Efthimis Lekkas\n\nAbstract views: 1245 | PDF: 208\nEvangelos V. Christou, George Karakaisis, Emmanuel Scordilis\n\nAbstract views: 324 | PDF: 203", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998676180839539} +{"content": "Speech Camp\n\n\nWestern Academy’s Speech Camp trains students to dramatize works of prose and poetry for school bard competitions as well as speech tournaments. Participants will learn how to: select and cut prose passages and poems; prepare a memorized introduction; pace their performances; enunciate and pronounce words correctly; imbue pathos and expressiveness into their performance through the intonation, pitch, and tone of their voice as well as targeted body language; and bring to life memorable characterization. Some attention will also be given to improvisational performances and impromptu speaking, too. Finally, advanced students will be encouraged to write and memorize an original oration for performance. The week will culminate with a mini-festival competition on Friday.\n\n(Lower school and upper school speech campers will have separate tracks.)\n\nJune 5-9 (12:30p - 3:30p)\n\nAGE Boys age 7 - 14\nCOST $200 (or $300 for Football & Speech)\nSTAFF Adam Thompson\nCONTACT adam.thompson@westernacademy.net", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9994577169418335} +{"content": "Some detailed methods to help you in memorizing acupuncture points\n\nFounder’s Note: Here’s the second part of Sunjae’s brief series on memorizing acupuncture points, Chinese herbs and anything else you need to memorize. He starts here by jumping into some specific techniques. In his third and final post, he’ll offer some examples that any student or practitioner of Chinese medicine will recognize. Enjoy – and feel free to comment on Facebook to let Sunjae know you enjoyed the post.\n\nI’ll extend my discussion by illustrating some examples of specific aspects of the broad memorization methods, and how they work to help you memorize acupuncture points or just about anything else. If you missed the first article you can read it here.\n\nThere is a basic rule of thumb that governs the effectiveness of the association method, and this is that the amount that your imagination, senses, and emotions are engaged during the encoding/decoding process determines the effectiveness of the technique. Let’s consider two different scenarios in the previous example. One person uses minimal effort in encoding; after coming up with Finland, 3 coins, and Wednesday, they encode into an image of 3 Finnish coins next to a calendar that has Wednesday circled on it.\n\nAnother person uses the same information to come up with a story: a superhero comes to Finland in a post apocalyptic future, finding the country in desolation, except for a lone arcade game in the middle of a square which only takes 3 coins, only on Wednesdays. Every Wednesday all the surviving children, having long ago formed tribal gangs, come to play the game, the only source of joy in their life.\n\nThe second person has completed the encoding step properly; coming up with a scene or image that conjures up a powerful emotional and internal sensory experience.\n\nThis type of information is easy to recall because of how we are emotional and sensory beings, and therefore when going to decode the information, it is that much more natural. The first person, by not using the technique to completion, is just adding the extra burden of additional dry information to memorize– this does nothing and in fact is totally counterproductive. Thus, the more one engages the senses and imagination, the more effective the technique will be.\n\n[clickToTweet tweet=”Struggling to memorize #acupuncture points? Here’s part 2 of a series that will help you.” quote=”When encoding into a story or scene, for example, don’t just imagine a blue car; imagine the biggest, fanciest blue car with shiny rims that blind you.” theme=”style4″]\n\nDon’t just imagine a boring piece of chicken, imagine the most delicious chicken in the world, that makes people faint as soon as they have a taste. The more ridiculous, outlandish, or striking the image/scene, the more likely it is to be remembered.\n\nAnother principle that guides these techniques is the power of story.\n\nWe are hardwired to respond to characters in stories and this can be used to your advantage of while using the association technique. Oftentimes information needs to be memorized in multiple discrete sets; for example 20 drugs that have a random name, mechanism of action, side effects. Encode the name of drug as a person, and then make up a story about that person that involves the properties of the drugs (each associated with something else, as described above). Picturing someone you know, or even a celebrity, in a story or scene with imaginary or ridiculous proportions is an almost foolproof way to tie something down in short term memory– as long as you go to completion and practice decoding the information several times.\n\nThis brings us to the elaboration of the last step, decoding – and the importance of rhythm and repetition.\n\nFrom a musician’s standpoint, when learning a new piece of music, rhythm is used, in a way, as a diagnostic tool to show where the weak spots are in a memorized piece. For example, the piece is played back at a slow tempo, along with the metronome, and when the musician stumbles on the notes and can not keep up the rhythm at a certain point, they stop and focus on that particular phrase, and then go back to the whole section. When the entire section can be played at a steady rhythm, the piece is played at a slightly higher tempos, which will again reveal new stumbling spots which can then be improved upon.\n\nThis same principle can be used to solidify the piece of information in the mind after the encoding/decoding process is complete; the importance of rhythm and repetition as a diagnostic tool. For example, let’s say you encode a few random bits of information into a scene, and then practice decoding it once. The entire process takes about 3 minutes to encode, and then 30 seconds to practice decoding the information.\n\nIt is easy and tempting to just move on at that point; after all, you just proved to yourself once that you locked away the information in a new mnemonic. However, the most effective way to solidify the information is to then repeat the decoding process in looping fashion with increasing tempo– until it gets to a natural, consistent rhythm where you don’t have to think about it so much.\n\nMost people have a resistance to doing this, I think because it seems redundant and they underestimate the power of rhythm. This is probably even more the case when memorizing acupuncture points or other Chinese medicine related information. We have so much to learn, so much to take in, it’s hard to think about engaging in time consuming memorization techniques. But it is worth pondering; the question of how well you know something if you can’t smoothly recite it? Spending an extra 20 seconds per item to achieve this effect enhances the process exponentially as well as reveals where your weak spots are.\n\nSome tricks to have in your bag when memorizing acupuncture points (or anything else)\n\n1. Repetition. Similar to what we talked about in terms of rhythm, but on a larger scale. After the initial encoding / decoding / solidifying session, it’s important to come back to the information later; later that day, the next day, the next week. Each time it gets easier to decode and soon the mnemonic just fades like a biodegradable scaffolding, and the original knowledge remains.\n\n2. Location. Another “trick” is using another hardwired aspect of our beings; our highly developed skills for navigation and spatial awareness. When you are faced with a long list of things to memorize, imagine walking through a very familiar place like your apartment. Encode each item to memorize into an image or object and imagine it in a certain place in the apartment (again following the rules that the more fantastical or disgusting or otherwise engaging images / objects do best), and when you are decoding, in your minds eye “walk” through the apartment, see the images / objects in the various places you put as cues.\n\n3. Numbers. This is an added layer of complexity, but there is a way to memorize numbers that takes advantage of the ideas in this article. Basically it involves encoding each number into a consonant sound:\n\n • 1 = t/d\n • 2 = n\n • 3 = m\n • 4 = r\n • 5 = L\n • 6 = J, soft g\n • 7 = K, hard g\n • 8 = f, ph\n • 9 = b, p\n\nFrom there, a number like 5234 would then become L, N, M, R. This letter combination can be then filled in with vowels and turned into words: Lean Moray, Lone Mare, etc. The words can then be turned into images, and if a longer string of numbers is used, then the images can be combined into stories. I memorized 300 digits of pi using this method and it was not nearly as difficult as it sounds.\n\nThe number to consonant system and the letter to word technique takes a bit of practice to get used to, but it’s a worthy investment if you have to deal with numbers on a regular basis.\n\n4. Details and summary. So far these techniques have dealt more with rote memorization techniques, and not necessarily the process of learning new concepts, which is much more difficult in general. I don’t have much to say on this topic (mostly because it is much more challenging, and personalized), except one thing: to not underestimate the power of summarizing. Much like using rhythm and repetition as a diagnostic tool to reveal weak links in information chains, summarizing can be used to ensure that you actually know what you just learned. It can and should be done on many scales; after a sentence, after a paragraph, after a chapter, etc. Organizing the information hierarchically as you take it in only serves you in the long run.\n\nThis is just a preview into the vast world of memory techniques, but the ones I’ve introduced here are the ones that I found most helpful while in school.\n\nThey can be creatively applied to anything that needs rote memorization in Chinese Medicine, in particular points and formulas. There were many instances when we needed to memorize entire databases of information, whether in pharmacology classes on the Naturopathic side, or herbal medicine on the Oriental Medicine side. By combining the techniques of storytelling, association, encoding, and the other techniques when necessary, taking in vast amounts of information becomes considerably more efficient and allows one to focus more on the actual processing and learning that is required in our education.\n\nIn my next article, I’ll discuss a few concrete examples of memorizing acupuncture points and Chinese herbal information using some of these techniques. If you’ve enjoyed this series and want to get the latest notification of articles – sign up for our newsletter. You’ll also receive access to our free, growing, library of Chinese medicine resources with your sign up.\n\nAbout Sunjae Lee\n\nSunjae Lee graduated from NCNM with a dual degree in Naturopathy and Oriental Medicine and currently practices in Seoul, Korea at a clinic for foreigners in the Itaewon neighborhood, Create Wellness Center. In his free time he also practices Oriental brush painting and jazz saxophone-- find out more at his personal website, Fermata Wellness\n\nView all posts by Sunjae Lee - Website:\n\nDiscuss this article in one of these places below.\n\nDiscuss This on Our Forum", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8596509695053101} +{"content": "14 Olympic Sports You Do Not Watch, But Should\n\nAs American Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, who cleaned up four years ago in Beijing, barely classifies for the next round of competitions in the London 2012 Olympics, the simmering rivalry with fellow American swimmer Ryan Lochte -- who classified in third place while Phelps placed in the eight position -- has taken a new turn.\n\nPhelps, who despite the amazing performance that awarded him eight gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, has been criticized for controversial behavior involving drugs and alcohol, as well as for drawing to much media attention away from other American Olympians who are not as \"sexy\" but just as brave, is starting to be perceived as \"overrated\" by Olympic fans who think big Olympic disciplines and athletes (e.g. Phelps and Lochte in swimming, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant in basketball) suck up all the Games' oxygen -- making fans to often overlook other awesome sports. \n\nHere are the 14 sports you don’t watch, but should:\n\n1) Greco-Roman Wrestling:\n\nGreco-Roman wrestling is the ultimate test of upper-body brawn. Named after the style of wrestling played in ancient civilizations in the Mediterranean, it forbids below-the-waist holds. This forces players to use more throws, arm drags, bear hugs, and headlocks, since they cannot trip others or grabbing the opponent’s leg. Check out this sport if you miss the true Grecian spirit of the Olympic Games.\n\n2) Modern Pentathlon:\n\nThe modern pentathlon is a contest of five events: pistol shooting, fencing, 200 m freestyle swimming, horse show jumping, and a 3 km cross-country run. The contest has roots in the 19th century, when father of the modern Olympics Pierre de Coubertin decided to update the ancient pentathlon (long jump, javelin throw, discus throw, a short foot race, and wrestling). In the modernization, he focused on skills required by 19th-century soldiers and designed a points system. Basically, the contest is a throwback to the Napoleonic Wars. Nice.\n\n3) Triathalon:\n\nTriathlons, which many Americans participate in for fun, are also Olympic events. The event challenges men and women to a swimming, cycling, and running race. Live vicariously through these professional triathletes.\n\n4) Weightlifting:\n\nWeightlifting is mesmerizing. While much skill and strategy are involved, the clean and jerk looks just like a demonstration of pure strength.\n\n5) Taekwondo:\n\nTaekwondo, or Korean martial arts, is a combination of strength, discipline, skill, and artistry. Blocks, kicks, punches, open-hand strikes, and leg kicks characterize the sport. Some versions target the opponents’ pressure points. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, the South Korean military practiced the martial art. Translating as “way of the hand and foot,” taekwondo taught primarily as self-defense, though it also functions as meditation and philosophy and symbolizes Korean history and culture.\n\n6) Canoe Slalom:\n\nThe kayaking event requires athletes to navigate through hanging gates on river rapids as quickly as possible. They paddle upstream and downstream. How intense is that?!\n\n7) Rhythmic Gymnastics:\n\nRhythmic gymnastics require athletes to manipulate rope, clubs, hoops, ball, ribbon, or nothing. The sport combines dance, ballet, gymnastics, and object manipulation an artistic and athletic way.\n\n8) Trampolining:\n\nTrampolining features athletes who perform acrobatics in the air while jumping on a trampoline. It’s a less creepy circus act!\n\n9) Archery:\n\nThe bow-and-arrow sport, recently popularized by Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, is an elegant test of aim and accuracy. Archery in the London 2012 Olympics has already made a rousing start; South Korean male archers set a world record in the opening day - Im Dong-hyun shot 699, breaking the previous record he had set.\n\n10) Badminton:\n\nThink badminton is a lame sport? Well, professional athletes will be whacking the shuttlecock like you’ve never seen.\n\n11) Biking:\n\nCycling will have an equal number of men’s and women’s events for the first time ever. BMX, mountain biking, road cycling, and track cycling have added more women’s events to give equal opportunity to both sexes.\n\n12) Water Polo:\n\nWater polo began in 19th century England and Scotland, so it’s worth watching in its birthplace. I never understood why water polo hasn’t been as popular as other sports -- it’s basically soccer + water. The caps may look silly, but these athletes are serious players.\n\n13) Athletics:\n\nAthletics is an event of running, jumping, throwing, and walking. Track and field, road running, and race walking are common events. It’s another way to watch unbelievable racers.\n\n14) Sailing:\n\nThe U.K. dominates sailing with number of Olympic medals. We should watch the Brits rule their sport.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6622117757797241} +{"content": "Positive And Negative Impacts That Ict On Education Education Essay\n\nPublished: Last Edited:\n\n\nICT stands for Information Communication Technology. ICT is widespread and essential to play a meaningful role in changing and modernizing educational systems as well as the way of learning. It is part of many aspects of our daily lives.\n\nICT refers to the technology that access to information. It includes any product that will store, restore, operate, or receive information in a digital form. ICT is similar to IT that ICT focus more on communication which includes internet, wireless network and other communication mediums. There are some examples of ICT tools, such as computing industry, telecommunications, and electronic display.\n\nThe computing industry includes Internet, computer hardware and software. Internet means a worldwide system of interconnected networks and computers. As we know that it is very useful for everyone today. For example, there are 5 out of 10 students using their iPad to search information while teacher is teaching. It is general and easy to have internet in the 21st century.\n\nThen, software is the various kinds of programs to operate computers and devices. It is often divided into two different types of software which is application and system. Application software is a program designed for users. It also called and-user programs includes database programs, word processors, communications, games, graphics and spreadsheets. In contrast, system software consists of programs that interact with the computer at a very basic level. This includes assembler, debugger, compilers, file management tools, operating system and utilities for managing computer resources. Nonetheless, hardware is the physical aspect of computers and other devices. This could be monitor, CPU or memory chip. The item is something you can touch. The examples of hardware including the computer we touch and the mouse we use to click on this page.\n\nAnother example of tool is telecommunications which it means communication by electronic as through cellular phones, radio, video and others. We always get the latest news and information from all these media. For example, when we are driving to somewhere that very emergency, we usually open the radio to listen about the situation whether jam or not.\n\nLast but not least, electronic display that include calculator is one of the tool of ICT. Electronic means operating, produced, or done by the action of electrons. Calculator helps people to solve the problem a lot and also in the society especially for the accountant. For example, calculator in the computer helps to solve the problem for every company.\n\nAs a result, modern information and communication technologies make a way for people to communicate with others across the world. For this reason, ICT is often affects the education today. Moreover, ICT in education can also be broadly categorized in the following way as a subject (computer studies), a tool to support traditional subjects (computer- based learning, presentation, research) and as an administrative tool (education management information systems). ICT is not only has great impact on education but also provided some bad impact to the educators. Similarly, ICT also has some great impact on practitioners and schools.\n\n\nGreat Impact on teaching, learning and attainment\n\nFor education, the purpose of ICT is generally to familiarise students and teachers with the use and workings of computers, related social and ethical issues. It is generally believed that ICT can empower both teachers and learners. It promotes change to education in 21st century. ICT not only transforms teaching but also the learning processes. The transformation gets to increase learning gains for students that provide learners an opportunity to develop creativity, communication skills, and other thinking skills. Besides, smart solutions for the future including laptop learning, e-learning, smart classrooms, didactic equipment and stimulations is the key to education today. An entire learning environment is needed in which students, teachers, administrators, and parents can easily communicate and collaborate with each other, share secure information around the clock, and, ultimately, access a world of knowledge beyond classroom walls.\n\nReferring to the picture above, we can see that ICT is very useful to society, especially to students in colleges. According to ICT adviser Harriet Price, an ICT-rich educational experience brings benefits to the students. She says that technology is an important part of student's everyday lives. She makes sure that the necessary software and hardware is available for students to use, while also helping them develop their own ICT skills. More than half of the students in the groups have a computer or laptop at home as well as access in College so that they can search for information regardless of time and place.\n\nAs we know, ICT making all schools \"smart\". That means everyone get different information and knowledge from ICT. For example, when we have difficult in the study, this is the way to search the definition online immediately. Computers are also provided in every area of different country in the schools, colleges or labs. It helps students to get the chance to do assignments or group projects by saving a lot of time. It also increases students' knowledge at the same time. Besides, students who have laptops themselves can bring their machines with them. ICT make everyone comfortable by using it.\n\nBased on the research of internet, training is provided in some of the college in Europe as well as to make students to learn to become more independent in their work. Therefore, ICT is provided for the students to have quick and easy ways in doing research, and to train society. It has a great impact for students to have an easier way for research and information compared to the earlier period. For example for our assignment in the previously, we have to go to the library to collect or gather information. It is not only a waste of our time but also there is a limit to the information we can get. And now, ICT is saving our time in doing the work and there is no limit to the information.\n\nOn the other hand, we can have our self-test before the exam. Besides buying the books for exercise, we can get the question from the Internet. It makes students more comfortable to have a test. ICT is also like a learning centre that could help to share ideas and understanding to the students. It teaches us the grammar and improves our English by ourselves. For example, when we are working in pairs and yet by using ICT that students can experience with collaborative learning. ICT represent as the local champions. It supports local needs for the learners which mean social information can be found easily.\n\nIn fact, ICT empowers students to engage in the learning process and give them an interest in their personal education. By integrating ICT into the classroom, students have the ability to learn more effectively, collaborate with each other, and explore the world around them. Anytime, anywhere access to internet-based tools is necessary to encourage learning inside the classroom and beyond. For example, students who are always online or having facebook, they will always explore something and share with their friends. It unknowingly makes them more collaborate with each other, However, ICT provided e-learning to the learners. It is a flexible learning to those who are busy in their own things. For example, they have some people working since they are young. They work because of the family financial. Indeed, they are the people who want to work and study at the same time. E-learning is a way for them to study at home. It is useful and benefit for them. Other than that, hints and tips are the best practice for them to share their knowledge and opinion if they have their own ideas.\n\nToday, ICT brings many benefits to the younger generation especially for students. For example, some of the students who work part-time also can find some time to do their College work. In addition, most of the time students like to use word processing from the computer itself. It is also quick and easy to edit their work and improve their presentation by using ICT. For example, we always use computer as the resources to get our work done in a time. Similarly like now, I using Microsoft Word to do my individual assignment. Besides, the Worldwide Web is the only way to have quick and easy access to information on any topic. ICT gives easy access to a world of knowledge and ICT which including quick guide is to learn 'the basic' of how to use the functions or applications. For example, printer is the one machine that will always show us the quick guide before we press start.\n\nReferring to the information from the internet that I know with a range of ICT equipment, it improved the behavior management through better tracking of students. It helps not only to gain in understanding but also analytical skills which include improvements in reading comprehension as well as increase knowledge. For example, we have to read and understand the essay from the web-sites before we choose the article. It improves our understanding by reading. Moreover, ICT unknowingly help students improve in their development of writing skills such as spelling, punctuation, editing and grammar. Students can become more fluent and original in their work. For instance, when we always read the article from the internet, we will get influence by the way the writer writes on the article.\n\nBased on the research of Software and Information Industry Association 2000, students who used educational technology in colleges are more successful because they are more active in learning and in increasing their self-esteem. ICT then enhances and extends the possibilities of learning across the curriculum. Thus, ICT provides more opportunities to show their hard work to audiences or teachers as well as it is within 24 hours. For instance, we always see some students' work on the internet and it actually written by the writer himself. ICT help to show the ability of the students. ICT would be important to their future career or to employment. Students get to gain confidence because they could do things and show things they had not been able to do before, that students could explore more and share more ideas with others.\n\nIn fact, ICT also gives educators the opportunity to transform the way learning happens, and enable student development. ICT present a range of tools that teachers or lecturers use to present and display as part of their teaching and help educators interact with students as well as engage them in a more meaningful way. These technological tools can be purposefully designed for education, for example, software or hardware used in the context such as word processors and spreadsheets. Computer tools help students and teachers manipulate complex data-sets. This then provides the context for effective discussion that help to develop subject understanding. ICT is beneficial for teachers to share resources, expertise and advice. It is also easier to plan and prepare lessons and design materials for students. Sometimes, ICT helps teachers to access up-to-date students and school data, anytime anywhere. Teachers can enhance their professional image by using ICT.\n\n\nNegative impact on teaching, learning and attainment\n\nOn the other hand, there is some negative effect of the ICT on education. In college, computer is not enough for teachers to make the best use of ICT in the classroom. Based on the research of Sandhoitz, it will take a lot of time in the classroom even up to a year with the support of experienced teams. Teachers always depend on the information that searched from the web. It may make a mistake. Information from the web or internet that mostly came or wrote from personal's opinion. It is not all facts by the way. Teacher who depend more on the ICT do not perform well as a teacher. For example, they may not check through the details of the work that searched from the web.\n\nStudents, however, feel lazy to attend the class if they can easily get the study material from the web. It will change their behavior to become more irresponsible. Let's say lecturer give an assignment to the students, they may not understand if they never attend that class. The technological reliability was important and yet the students could respond negatively to a resource, both of teaching and technology. Across the school or colleges, students might not value ICT that spent too much time on presentation needs and copying without reading and understanding. At the same time, students will search the information from the web and caught by \"cutting and pasting\". Through this type of behavior, reliability of the students will be affected. By then the students will access the internet for other things, for example, facebook, MSN, Yahoo, Twitter and others. While the lecturer having the lesson in front, they will not pay more attention to the lecturer.\n\nThen, it had created severe problems to the students. To those who always play computer games and use instant messaging, they will choose online communication rather than having real life conversation with the teachers. For example, when they are having flu and will not be attending the class or lesson, they might e-mail the lecturer rather than call the teachers. When the problem deteriorates, students will become less confident when they meet outsiders. Furthermore, the students sitting in front of the computer for a long time may cause health problem. Health problem such as stress and eyes strain can affect a student in their education. By then ICT may also created some illegal act such as pornography. Those students who are affected by pornography may suffer in their studies. The students will waste time by using ICT better than study on their work. Overall, the evidence on the impact on attainment of learning through ICT remains inconsistent.\n\nGreat impact on practitioners and schools\n\nThe introduction of ICT into schools has had an impact on teachers in terms of their overall workload that including planning, lesson preparation as well as on the ways in which these are coordinated and managed within the school and wider educational context. The availability of ICT itself has sufficiently enhanced learning and teaching. Teachers have to be confident in their own ICT capacity and understand the potential benefits of using ICT in education area.\n\nIn addition to that, using ICT is to support teacher development for e-learning. Like students, teachers learn in different ways and they need to be able to access support when needed. The provision of improved connectivity, among other developments, has allowed teachers to take advantage of online access to resources. For example, lecturers always give example of mass communication from the internet. As a result of access to resources at a time, teachers have greater control over the planning and preparation. By then teachers have expressed concern about knowing which resources are worthwhile and more research on the impact and availability of online resources. Such case studies provide evidence of changes in the ways in which teachers are approaching their role within the classroom. It is a better understanding of how teachers interact with the online environment.\n\nThen, there is an impact of ICT in the classroom on the teacher's role. While gaining confidence and competence in the use of the technologies is to support e-learning, evidence is on the impact of using ICT on other aspects of the teacher's role. Some forms of learning through ICT, the use of shared resources and collaborative learning, where the teachers facilitates rather than direct learning, might be difficult for some to accept. For instance, teachers and students open the same page from internet is easier for teachers to explain. Teachers will not waste their time on giving their own example.\n\nNext, it is an impact of ICT on administration and overall workload. Once teachers have brought the technicalities involved with classroom- related hardware and software resources, they can enhance their teaching. This can be used to create additional teaching resources. Use of ICT for assessment purposes can also release valuable teacher time. Within schools, those specific technological developments such as connectivity via broadband access to internet will regard to the personalization of the learning experience. A key strand to embed ICT in schools has been and that of networking within schools and also across the education sector. Broadly speaking, schools recognize that systems can improve effectiveness and reduce costs. Across schools, using ICT to manage data was found to promote teaching and learning by facilitating more effective timetabling. The most effective tools were found to be school- devised systems and the use of Excel spreadsheets. As we know, school data was in forming the setting and in compiling reports to parents. For example, after teachers complete the report of students on the Microsoft Word, teachers get to save and print out at a time. Hence, teachers can have more time to prepare the work for the students.\n\nImproved access to ICT, schools networks for teaching and planning were also identified as potential strategies. Use of ICT in schools tended to be raising the quality of the work produced by teachers such as presentations and reports, rather than saving time. For instance, after typing a report, teachers get to print out that one report as many as they want. ICT was also the key factor to improving efficiency, along with staff by using the software and hardware.\n\nFurthermore, teachers also perceived benefits in managing, storing and other work such as preparing reports with the time saved. Looking ahead, ICT would make teachers more effective in their work over 12 months. To use ICT to support learning and teaching, schools need to be 'e-confident'. That means displaying a number of characteristics at a level.\n\nThus, the Internet has increased significantly the range of resources to support and stimulate learning and teaching across the curriculum and at all levels. It has also provided the means by which access to range of services, including libraries and careers' services, can be brought together in one place. As ICT becomes part of the everyday life of the schools, there is a need to ensure the participation in the learning opportunities provided. Here, teachers can identify their own professional development needs and find solutions.\n\n\nIn today's interconnected world, information and communication technology (ICT) is widely used by our nation and it affects our lives everyday. It gives great impact in education for the learners and teachers. ICT has become a key driver in education way as well as it has been identified by a range of important wider benefits of ICT on learning. The positive impact of ICT on students' skills and teamwork are included.\n\nICT also help student and teacher with activities that are provided in the websites. That kind of activities gives ideas to the teachers in their teaching, so that students enjoy the class. Students learn more independently at the same time. They will take more responsibility for learning process. As seen from the information above, ICT can benefit both strong and weak students with their special needs. By the way, they especially improved the performance in students' English and on writing skills.\n\nICT is a part of a social system integrating meaningful communication within an education system. We can use it for analyzing the processes, meanings and functions of ICT in education. ICT also provided the research for us when we have to do the assignments. ICT is also one of the tools that have easy communication with others in foreign countries. It saves cost and time.\n\nSchools use ICT to make it easy for both students and teachers of their work. Different information and opinion can be found from the web-sites. In addition, ICT provides wide array of information and effective lessons. That is also easy for students to do their work by using word processing. It makes our projects or assignments more neat and tidy. From the education system point of view, \"e-\" could mean \"enhanced\" education rather than \"electronic\" education. Consequently, ICT has a great impact on society especially on education.\n\nOn the other hand, ICT also has a bad impact on education system. Teacher who always show the example of the work from the internet and copy the information, will not show a good example for the students. That may cause the students follow the action of the teacher and start to copy and paste. At the same time, the information and knowledge which come from the internet are not necessary correct. We have to more careful when doing research from the web.\n\n\nStudents who generally communicate with friends by the ICT will cause a problem when communicating face to face. It not only has an impact on character but also their attitude. Somehow, they will become more rebellious when influenced by the negative material. Today, we can see that have many teenagers use two or three phones. It will cause them not to pay attention in the lesson time.\n\nIn conclusion, ICT can give both advantages and disadvantages to education. We have to be careful when using it. Internet, TV, radio and others are the ICT that provide the news and information to us. We can increase our vision when we have it. But, when we are too focused on these things, we may suffer health problems by using them. We have to be wise in using the tools of ICT.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9798574447631836} +{"content": "The Biology of Behavior\n\n\nDr. Williams is professor of chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin and consultant to the Clayton Foundation’s Biochemical Institute. His latest book, The Environmental Prevention of Disease (Pitman Publishing), will appear in April. This article is reprinted by permission from Saturday Review, January 30, 1971. Copyright 1971, Saturday Review, Inc.\n\nThe prevalence of student rebellions throughout the world makes one wonder just how effectively modern education relates to real human problems. To approach the problems of generic man from a biological standpoint may be far too superficial in this scientific age with its tremendous advances in technology; yet, could not the general weakness of human science be the basis for the comment by Robert Frost: \"Poets like Shakespeare knew more about psychiatry than any $25-an-hour man\"? Biologically, each member of the human family possesses inborn differences based on his brain structure and on his vast mosaic of endocrine glands—in fact, on every aspect of his physical being. Each of us has a distinctive set of drives—for physical activity, for food, for sexual expression, for power. Each one has his own mind qualities: abilities, ways of thinking, and patterns of mental conditions. Each one has his own emotional setup and his leanings toward music and art in its various forms, including literature. All these leanings are subject to change and development, but there is certainly no mass movement toward uniformity. No one ever \"recovers\" from the fact that he was born an individual.\n\nWhen a husband and wife disagree on the temperature of the soup or on the amount of bed coverings, or if their sleep patterns do not jibe, this is evidence of in-born differences in physiology. If one child loves to read or is interested in science and another has strong likings for sports or for art, this is probably due to inborn differences in makeup. If two people disagree about food or drink, they should not disregard the fact that taste and smell reactions often widely differ and are inherited. If we see a person wearing loud clothing without apparent taste, we need to remember, in line with the investigations of Pickford in England, that each individual has a color vision all his own; some may deviate markedly from the pack.\n\nThe inborn leanings of Mozart were evident by age three, and he began composing when he was four. Capablanca was already a good chess player—good enough to beat his father—when at age five he played his first game. For many centuries, Indian philosophers have recognized innate individuality, which they explain on the basis of experience in previous incarnations.\n\nInborn Individuality\n\nBiology has always recognized inborn individuality. If this inborn distinctiveness had not always been the rule in biology, evolution could never have happened. It is a commonplace fact in biology that every living organism needs a heredity and a suitable environment. Unfortunately, in the minds of most intellectuals biological considerations have been pushed aside.\n\nProfessor Jerry Hirsch, a psychologist at the University of Illinois, has protested in Science that \"the opinion makers of two generations have literally excommuni-cated heredity from the behavioral sciences.\" This neglect of the study of heredity has effectively produced a wide gap between biology and psychology. Biology deals with living things, and psychology is logically an important phase of biology.\n\nBernard Rimland, director of the Institute for Child Behavior Research in San Diego, in reviewing my book, You Are Extraordinary in American Psychologist, wrote: \"Since between-group differences are commonly a small fraction of the enormous, important, and very interesting within-group (individual) difference, psychology’s focus on average values for heterogenous groups represents, as Williams indicates, a chronic case of throwing out the babies with the bath water. ‘Throwing out the babies’ is bad enough, but we psychologists have the dubious distinction of making this error not only repeatedly but on purpose.\"\n\nSocial solidarity exists and social problems are pressing, but we cannot hope to deal with these successfully by considering only generic man, that is, average values for heterogenous groups. We need a better understanding of men.\n\nA Firm Foundation\n\nThe basic problem of generic man is how to achieve \"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.\" The writers of our Declaration of Independence were on solid ground, biologically speaking, when they took the position that each human being has inalienable rights and that no one has, by virtue of his imagined \"royal blood,\" the right to rule over another. In their emphasis on mankind as individuals, Jefferson and his co-authors were closer to biological reality than are those of our time who divorce psychology from biology and center their attention on that statistical artifact, the average man.\n\nBecause each of us is distinctive, we lean in different directions in achieving life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Happiness may come to individual people in vastly different ways, and so the human problem of achieving life and the pursuit of happiness resolves itself, more than it is comfortable to admit, into a series of highly individual human problems. We need to take this consideration into account in attempting to build an advanced society.\n\nIn understanding the scope of human desires, it is worthwhile to consider briefly the problems that real—as opposed to theoretical—people face. These may be grouped under four headings:\n\n1) Making a livelihood;\n\n2) Maintaining health;\n\n3) Getting along with others; and\n\n4) Getting along with one’s self.\n\nThese four categories, singly or in combination, cover most of the familiar human problems—marriage and divorce, crime, disease, war, housing, air and water pollution, urban congestion, race relations, poverty, the population explosion, the all-pervading problem of education, and the building of an abundant life.\n\nMaking a Livelihood\n\nThe importance of approaching the problem of making a livelihood from the individual’s standpoint lies in the fact that in our complex society a multitude of ways exist—an estimated 23,000—in which people can make a living. People are not by any means interchangeable parts in society. While some might function well in any one of a large number of capacities, many others might be highly restricted in their capabilities and yet be extremely valuable members of society. The idea that it is all a matter of education and training cannot possibly be squared with the hard biological facts of inborn individuality. This perversion of education perpetuates the banishment of heredity—an ever present biological fact—from our thinking. Fitting together people and jobs is just as real and compelling as fitting shoes to people. People sometimes suffer from ill-fitting shoes; they suffer more often from ill-fitting jobs.\n\nThe maintenance of health—both physical and mental—involves individual problems to such a degree that it is difficult to exaggerate their role. Ever since the days of Hippocrates it has been known in a vague way that \"different sorts of people have different maladies,\" but we are only beginning to learn how to sort people on the basis of their inborn individual characteristics. When we have become expert in this area, vast progress will result, particularly in the prevention of metabolic and psychosomatic diseases, i.e., those not resulting from infection. As long as we dodge the biological fact of inborn individuality, we remain relatively impotent in the handling of diseases that arise from within individual constitutions.\n\nThe problem of getting along with others is a very broad one, in which individual problems are basic. If husbands and wives and members of the same family always get along well together, we would have some reason to be surprised when squabbles break out within business, religious, or political groups. If all these kinds of squabbles were nonexistent, we would have a basis for being surprised at the phenomenon of war.\n\nDistinctive Qualities\n\nWhile self-interest and differences in training are vital factors in these common conflicts, another factor should not be overlooked: the inborn individuality of the participants. There is a mass of evidence to support the thesis that every individual, by virtue of his or her unique brain structure and peripheral nervous system, is psy-chologically conditionable in a distinctive manner. Thus, a person’s unique nervous system picks up distinctive sets of impulses, and because his interpretive apparatus is also unique he learns different things and interprets the world in a distinctive manner. Even if two individuals were to have exactly the same learning opportunities, each would think differently and not quite like anyone else. This is the basis for the observation by Santayana: \"Friendship is almost always the union of a part of one mind with another; people are friends in spots.\"\n\nIn spite of our attempts to do so, individual minds cannot be compared on a quantitative basis. The minds of Shakespeare and Einstein cannot be weighed one against the other; there were many facets to the minds of each. At birth the two minds were equally blank, but as they matured, each saw, perceived, and paid attention to different aspects of the world around it. Each was conditionable in a unique way.\n\nEach Mind Unique\n\nThe recognition of the uniqueness of human minds is essential to human understanding. By developing expertness in this area, psychology will eventually become far more valuable. In an advanced society with a growing population and closer associations, it is obviously essential that we learn better how to get along with each other. When we are unaware of the innate differences that reside within each of us, it becomes very easy to think of one who disagrees with us as a \"nitwit\" or a \"jerk,\" or perhaps as belonging to the \"lunatic fringe.\" When we appreciate the existence of innate differences, we are far more likely to be understanding and charitable. Strife will not be automatically eliminated, but tensions can be decreased immeasurably.\n\nIndividual problems are at the root of the problem of crime. Many years ago, James Devon placed his finger on the crucial point. \"There is only one principle in penology that is worth any consideration: It is to find out why a man does wrong and make it not worth his while.\" The question, \"Why does a particular man commit crime?\" is a cogent one; the question, \"Why does man turn to crime?\" is relatively nonsensical.\n\nSince all human beings are individual by nature, they do not tick in a uniform way nor for the same reasons. Broadly speaking, however, many doubtless turn to crime because society has not provided other outlets for their energies. If we could find a suitable job for every individual, the problem of crime would largely vanish. The problem of crime is thoroughly permeated with individual problems; it cannot be blamed solely on social conditions, because as the studies of Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck have shown, highly respected citizens may come from areas where these conditions are the worst.\n\nA Race of Individuals\n\nRacial relations would ease tremendously if we faced squarely the biological facts of individuality. If we were all educated to know that all whites are not the same, that all Negroes do not fit in the same pattern, that all Latins are not identical, that all American Indians are individuals, and that all Jews do not fit a stereotype, it would help us to treat every member of the human race as an individual.\n\nIt is no denial of the existence of racial problems to assert that individual problems need to be stressed more than they are. For individual Negroes and individual whites, the pursuit of happiness is by no means a uniform pursuit. Doubtless, although there are whites and Negroes who would think they had reached utopia if they had a decent shelter and were assured three meals a day, this would not satisfy millions of others for whom striving and a sense of accomplishment are paramount. \"The Negro problem\" or \"the white problem\"—depending on one’s point of view—is shot through with a host of individual problems.\n\nLearning to live with one’s self is certainly an individual problem, and will be greatly eased by recognition of inborn individuality. Much unhappiness and many suicides can be traced to misguided desire to be something other than one’s self. Each of us as an individual has the problem of finding his way through life as best he can. Knowing one’s self as a distinctive individual should be an important goal of education; it will help pave the road each of us travels in his pursuit of happiness.\n\nDangers of Oversimplification\n\nWhy have these facts of individuality not been generally accepted as a backdrop in every consideration of human problems? For one thing, many people, including scholars, like being grandiose and self-inflationary. To make sweeping pronouncements about \"man\" sounds more impressive than to express more limited concerns. Simplicity, too, has attractiveness; if life could be made to fit a simple formula, this might be regarded as a happy outcome.\n\nOne excuse for excommunicating inheritance from the behavioral sciences for two generations has been the fact that inheritance in mammals is recognized by careful students as being exceedingly complex and difficult to interpret. It is true that some few characteristics may be inherited through the operation of single genes or a few recognizable ones. But other characteristics—those that differ in quantity—are considered to be inherited in obscure and indefinable ways com-monly ascribed to multiple genes of indefinite number and character. These multiple-gene characteristics include, to quote the geneticists Snyder and David, \"the more deep-seated characters of a race, such as form, yield, intelligence, speed, fertility, strength, development of parts, and so on.\" To say that a particular characteristic is inherited through the mediation of multiple genes is to admit that we are largely ignorant of how this inheritance comes about.\n\nIdentical Twins?\n\nRecently, some light has been thrown on this problem by experiments carried out in our laboratories. These experiments involved armadillos, which are unusual mammals in that they commonly produce litters of four monozygous (\"identical\") quadruplets that are necessarily all males or all females.\n\nBy making measurements and studying sixteen sets of these animals at birth, it became evident that although they develop from identical genes, they are not iden-tical at all. Organ weights may differ by as much as twofold, the free amino acids in the brain may vary fivefold, and certain hormone levels may vary as much as seven-, sixteen-, or even thirty-twofold. These findings clearly suggest that inheritance comes not by genes alone but by cytoplasmic factors that help govern the size of organs (including endocrine glands) and the cellular makeup of the central nervous system. \"Identical\" twins are not identical except with respect to the genes in the nucleus of the egg cell from which they developed.\n\nOne of the most interesting suggestions arising out of this study is the probability that individual brain structures, which have been known to have \"enormous\" differences since the investigations of Lashley more than twenty years ago, are made distinctive by the same mechanisms that make for differences in organ weights. The size, number, and distributions of neurons in normal brains vary greatly; this is biologically in line with the uniqueness of human minds. The further elucidation of this type of inheritance should help to focus more attention on heredity.\n\nIf this line of thought is valid it makes even more ridiculous the invitation issued by the Ford Foundation to the biological sciences to stay out of the precinct of human behavior. The expression \"behavioral science\" came into being many years ago as a result of the formulation of the Ford Foundation-supported programs. Biochemistry and genetics, for example, were kept apart from the \"scientific activities designed to increase knowledge of factors which influence or determine human conduct.\"\n\nWhat can be done to bridge the gap between psychology and biology? More importantly, how can we develop expertise in dealing with the human problems that plague us but at present go unsolved?\n\nDifferential Psychology\n\nA broad, long-range, and practical strategy for learning how to deal more effectively with human problems is to explore, problem by problem, the inborn human characteristics that are pertinent to each one. Differential psychology, for example, needs to be intensified and greatly expanded; this can probably be done most effectively in connection with a series of problem-centered explorations.\n\nSome of the specific problem-areas that require study from the standpoint of how inborn characteristics come into play are: delinquency and crime, alcoholism, drug addiction, unemployability, accident proneness, cancer, heart disease, arthritic disease, mental disease, and broadest of all, education. Each of these problems could be vastly better understood as the result of interdisciplinary study of the influences of inborn characteristics. Such study would include differential psychology when applicable, combined with extensive and intensive biochemical and physiological examinations, for example, of blood, saliva, urine, and biopsy materials. To expedite these investigations, automated equipment and computer techniques would be used extensively to help interpret the complex data.\n\nIt is not likely that these explorations will find that some individuals are born criminals, others alcoholics, etc. Once we recognize the unique leanings that are a part of each of us, we will see how, by adjusting the environment, these leanings can be turned toward ends that are socially constructive. Every inherited factor can be influenced by an appropriate adjustment of the environment. All this should not be made to sound too easy; it may be more difficult than going to the moon, but it will be far more worthwhile.\n\nOne of these specific problems—alcoholism—has been of special interest to me. After about twenty-five years of study, I am convinced that inborn biochemical characteristics are basic to this disease, but that expert application of knowledge about cellular nutrition (which is not far off) will make it scientifically possible to prevent the disease completely and to correct the condition if the application of corrective measures is not too long delayed.\n\nInborn inherited characteristics have a direct bearing on the current revolt against the Establishment. If biology had not been banished from behavioral science, and if students and other intellectuals were well aware of the biological roots of their existence, it would be taken for granted that conformity is not a rule of life.\n\nRecognizing Our Differences Can Lead to Harmony\n\nIf all that we human beings inherit is our humanity, then we all should be reaching for the same uniform goal: becoming a thoroughly representative and respectable specimen of Homo sapiens. There is rebellion against this idea. Revolters want to do \"their thing.\" The revolt takes on many forms because many unique individuals are involved.\n\nIf nonconformity had a better status in the eyes of the Establishment (and it would have if our thinking were more biologically oriented), exhibitionism would be diminished and the desire of each individual to live his own life could be fostered in a natural way.\n\nHuman beings are not carbon copies of one another. Students and others who are in revolt have found this out. Perhaps without fully recognizing it, they are pleading for a recognition of inborn individuality. This is essentially a legitimate plea, but it can take the form of disastrous anarchy. A peaceful means of helping resolve the ideological mess we are in is to recognize heredity by having a happy marriage of biology and behavioral science.\n\n* * *\n\nPostscript: Agreement to Disagree\n\nA \"UNITED STATES\" was only possible if men could agree to disagree about a great many things.\n\nWhat was expedient for them is, however, an essential of liberty. Theoretically, it might be desirable for all men to agree on everything, though I doubt it. Practically, such agreement would only be possible if all individual wills were crushed and subjected to a single will. The effort to do this is always in the direction of the well traveled road to despotism. The alternatives are agreement to disagree or despotism. - CLARENCE B. CARSON, The American Tradition\n\n\nApril 1971\n\ncomments powered by Disqus\n\n\n* indicates required\n\n\nNovember 2014\n\nDownload Free PDF", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6518830060958862} +{"content": "Proxy IP List - Download Proxy List - USA Proxy List 3128\n\ntixati proxy:\n\n\ntixati proxy - use proxy on tixati: tixati tracker - tixati proxy anonymous - tixati how to use proxy", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999420046806335} +{"content": "Karrer, Paul (1889-1971) was a Russian-born Swiss chemist acclaimed for his research on plant pigments and the chemical makeup of vitamins. He received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1937 for his investigation of carotenoids, flavins, and vitamins A and B2. He shared the prize with the British chemist Sir Walter Norman Haworth, who was then studying vitamin C and carbohydrates.\n\nKarrer was born in Moscow, Russia, where his father was working as a dentist, but both his parents were Swiss, and the family returned to their homeland when Karrer was 3 years old. They first settled in Zurich and then moved to the northern canton of Aargau, where Karrer began his schooling. While he was in secondary school, Karrer became keenly interested in science. He entered the University of Zurich in 1908, where he studied chemistry with Nobel laureate chemist Alfred Werner. After completing his Ph.D. degree in 1911, Karrer remained at the university for another year to work as one of Werner's research assistants.\n\nIn 1912, Karrer published his first paper on organic arsenical compounds, which caught the attention of another acclaimed chemist, Paul Ehrlich of Germany. Karrer accepted Erlich's invitation to work as his assistant in Frankfurt-am-Main at the Georg Speyer Haus, a research institute, and stayed there until the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918), at which time he returned to Switzerland and served a tour of duty as a Swiss artillery officer. He then returned to the Georg Speyer Haus and spent the next three years continuing to study the chemical makeup of plant products.\n\nIn 1918, Karrer returned to the University of Zurich to take the position of associate professor of chemistry, again working with Werner. After Werner's death the next year, Karrer became a full professor and also director of the Chemical Institute there. He remained at the University of Zurich for the rest of his esteemed career, serving as a researcher and a highly competent teacher and administrator.\n\nKarrer's early research involved the study of complex metal compounds and moved gradually into investigation of the molecules of proteins, peptides, and amino acids. By the late 1920's, his interest was focused on plant pigmentation, specifically the study of anthocyanins, the red and blue pigments found in flowers and berries, and later crocin, the yellow pigment found in flowers. These substances had been discovered in earlier research by others, but Karrer's contribution was to identify their chemical makeup. He also studied the structure of the carotenoids, the pigments that give yellow-to-orange vegetables such as sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots their hue.\n\nThe German chemist Richard Kuhn had already isolated beta-carotene and was attempting to determine its molecular structure, but Karrer actually succeeded in doing so first in 1930. After he discovered from this important research that vitamin A is synthesized in the body from carotene, he began to investigate the chemical makeup of vitamins themselves, and by 1931, he became the first to explain the chemical structure of a vitamin.\n\nKarrer's demonstration that vitamin A was nearly identical to half of a carotene molecule, containing a regular, ringlike formation of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon atoms, was especially significant because vitamins had previously been suspected to be colloids or some other unusual state of matter. This led to his study of other vitamins, particularly those in the B group. He was the first to successfully synthesize vitamins B, E, and others, and he became known as an authority on flavins.\n\nAfter winning the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1937, Karrer continued to make important contributions to the field of chemistry, including synthesizing all the carotenoids and conducting research on nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), an enzyme involved in energy transmission within cells. Additionally, he made important discoveries about curare, a poisonous resin derived from trees in South America, which is used today in general anesthesia and in treatments for muscle spasms.\n\nKarrer's long and fruitful career resulted in scores of awards, prizes, honorary degrees, and memberships in prestigious chemical and biochemical societies. He was also a prolific writer, having over 1,000 publications to his name. In 1955, he was president of the 14th International Congress on Pure and Applied Chemistry in Zurich.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8615381717681885} +{"content": "Generally, you cannot collect unemployment insurance if you are self-employed.\n\nThe purpose behind unemployment insurance is to provide assistance to workers who become unemployed through no fault of their own. The fact that your business is only breaking even may not really factor into the equation.\n\nBecoming self-employed can be grounds for disqualifying you from benefits--but this can vary depending on state law. So it would make sense to consult with an attorney to get a clear sense of what you can and cannot do in your state.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9088349342346191} +{"content": " Excellence sayings | Excellence quotes | Excellence mottos\nfamous life mottos funny life sayings quotes\n\nExcellence sayings | Excellence quotes | Excellence mottos\n\n\nWhatever you do, don't do it halfway. - Bob Beamon\n\nResolve to make each day the very best and don't let anyone get in your way. If they do, step on them. - Ivan Benson\n\nIt is not from ourselves that we learn to be better than we are. - Wendell Berry\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGood enough never is. - Debbi Field\n\n\n\nIf I play my best, I can win anywhere in the world against anybody. - Ray Floyd\n\n\n\n\nThe quality of expectations determines the quality of our action. - Andre Godin\n\nExcellence is rarely found, more rarely valued. - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe\n\n\n\nMuch good work is lost for the lack of a little more. - Edward H. Harriman\n\nOne shining quality lends a luster to another, or hides some glaring defect. - William Hazlitt\n\nPeople forget how fast you did a job, but they remember how well you did it. - Howard W. Newton\n\nI am a writer because writing is the thing I do best. - Flannery O'Connor\n\n\n\nIf you do things well, do them better. Be daring, be first, be different, be just. - Anita Roddick\n\nDo more than you're supposed to do and you can have or be or do anything you want. - Bill Sands\n\n\nThere never will exist anything permanently noble and excellent in the character which is a stranger to resolute self-denial. - Sir Walter Scott\n\n\nLet each day be your masterpiece. - Source Unknown\n\n\nThe best is the enemy of the good. - Voltaire\n\n\n\n\nYou have to create a track record of breaking your own mold, or at least other people's idea of that mold. - William Hurt\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIt isn't by size that you win or fail -- be the best of whatever you are. - Douglas Malloch\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIf we want to make something really superb on this planet, there is nothing whatever that can stop us. - Shepherd Mead\n\nDetermine to become one of the best. Sufficient money will almost automatically follow if you get to be one of the \"best\" in your chosen field, whatever it is. - Don G. Mitchell\n\n\nRecommended Quotes & Sayings :\n\n\n\nPrediction mottos Prediction quotes sayings : Legends of prediction are common throughout the whole Household of Man. Gods speak, spirits speak, computers speak. Oracular ambiguity or statistical probabilit...\n\n\nAppraisal mottos Appraisal quotes sayings : Appraisals are where you get together with your team leader and agree what an outstanding member of the team you are, how much your contribution has been valued...\n\nCleverness mottos Cleverness quotes sayings : A cul-de-sac to which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled. - John A. Lincoln Find enough clever things to say, and you're a Prime Minister; write them ...\n\nSilence mottos Silence quotes sayings : Sometimes a whisper speaks volumes. - Scott Sheddan Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage. - Publilius Syrus Keep your mouth closed until y...\n\nMind mottos Mind quotes sayings : Don't let your mind go wandering, its too small to go out by itself. - Source Unknown If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, just what does an emp...\n\nInsanity mottos Insanity quotes sayings : Insanity in individuals is something rare -- but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule. - Friedrich Nietzsche I became insane, with long inte...\n\nConventionality mottos Conventionality quotes sayings : Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but religiously follows the new. - Henry David Thoreau...\n\n©2009-2013 | Excellence sayings | Excellence quotes | Excellence mottos | cell phone wallpapers | common useful phrases | famous life mottos | privacy policy | contact us\n\nValid CSS!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9714199304580688} +{"content": "the remains of tropical storm isadore came through the area. wind and rain caused some trees to fall and power outages.\n7000 beam road tree fell across the road and closed the road for an hour. vrews from steel creek vfd on scene and removed the tree. no injuries reported.\n2505 charlotte ave tree on house. caller reported a tree fell on a house accross the street.units founf very large tree on a house causing damage to the home. all searches were negitive. city street crew called in to remove tree. fire units shut off gas and power.engines6,1, ladder 1 bc 1\nw 10th street at adm plant(grain elevator) fire in belt and and wires kept full firat alarm busy for an hour in a 120 foot hugh silo. no injuries reported. damage is minor to plant.engines4,11,1 ladder 4 rescue 10 bc1\ngas line break at shooping center. off of s. tryon street gas line in strip mall broke. closing somestores while repairs made. bc 5 with command had all effected stores saerched and were negitive. gas company on scene and repaires were quick. engines12,30,16,ladder 16 haz mat 1,2 . no one injuried", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8849273920059204} +{"content": "Augustus Frederick Goodridge, businessman, politician (b at Paignton, Eng 1839; d at St John's 16 Feb 1920). First elected as a Conservative in 1880, Goodridge moved into Opposition in the mid-1880s and became leader in 1884-85. He was a member of the Reform Party government led by Sir Robert Thorburn 1885-89. He became premier of Newfoundland in April 1894 when William Whiteway's government resigned after petitions alleging corrupt electoral practices against a majority of its members had been filed in the Supreme Court. Goodridge's Tory government clung to power for 8 months amidst growing political and financial chaos, resigning on December 12 after the collapse of the 2 local banks.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5835050344467163} +{"content": "STRING 9.05 \nNTRK1 [ENSP00000351486]\nneurotrophic tyrosine kinase, receptor, type 1; Required for high-affinity binding to nerve growth factor (NGF), neurotrophin-3 and neurotrophin-4/5 but not brain- derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Known substrates for the Trk receptors are SHC1, PI 3-kinase, and PLC-gamma-1. Has a crucial role in the development and function of the nociceptive reception system as well as establishment of thermal regulation via sweating. Activates ERK1 by either SHC1- or PLC-gamma-1-dependent signaling pathway\nKIDINS220 [ENSP00000256707]\nkinase D-interacting substrate, 220kDa; Promotes a prolonged MAP-kinase signaling by neurotrophins through activation of a Rap1-dependent mechanism. Provides a docking site for the CRKL-C3G complex, resulting in Rap1-dependent sustained ERK activation. May play an important role in regulating postsynaptic signal transduction through the syntrophin-mediated localization of receptor tyrosine kinases such as EPHA4. In cooperation with SNTA1 can enhance EPHA4-induced JAK/STAT activation. May play a role in neurotrophin- and ephrin- mediated neuronal outgrowth and in axon guidance during ne [...]\nEvidence suggesting a functional link:\nNeighborhood in the Genome: \nnone / insignificant.\nGene Fusions: \nnone / insignificant.\nCooccurence Across Genomes: \nnone / insignificant.\nnone / insignificant.\nExperimental/Biochemical Data: yes (score 0.846). In addition, putative homologs were found interacting in other species (score 0.115). \nAssociation in Curated Databases: yes (score 0.800). \nCo-Mentioned in PubMed Abstracts: yes (score 0.105). \nCombined Score:\nEvidence for specific actions:\nBinding:yes (score: 0.621)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9498593807220459} +{"content": "\n\n\nPaul Thomas Anderson\n'Birdman' soars ahead in Independent Spirit Award nominations\n\nExistential black comedy\"Birdman\" led the Independent Spirit Awards nominees on Tuesday,as thriller \"Nightcrawler,\" coming-of-age chronicle \"Boyhood\"and civil rights drama \"Selma\" followed with five nods each. \"Birdman,\" which follows the journey of a washed-up actor ashe embarks on a theater comeback, scored a Best Actor nod forMichael Keaton, Best Supporting Actor and Actress for EdwardNorton and Emma Stone and Best Director for Alejandro G.Inarritu. Fox Searchlight's \"Birdman\" joined four other contenders,IFC Films' \"Boyhood,\" Paramount Pictures' \"Selma\" and SonyPictures Classics films...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9972578287124634}