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Presentation on theme: "“The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose” J.B.S. Haldane."— Presentation transcript: “The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose” J.B.S. Haldane Astronomy and Religion In 1600, the Italian philosopher, Giordano Bruno was burned at the stakes because he maintained the "heretical" notion that there were countless other worlds out there containing life. In the 18 th century, the pendulum shifted to the other extreme; many astronomers were convinced that every star had planets with life. Will Herschel (the man who discovered Uranus), even speculated that the sun was populated with life. Church vs. Science The possibility of life on other planets is another topic which creates great debate between scientists and religious beliefs. Once again Old Testament biblical teachings tell us that one God created man in his image and all life on Earth. Would our Christian values be shaken by the presence of life on other worlds? What about intelligent, sentient life? How does the Catholic Church respond? The Catholic Churches View The following are thoughts from Vatican Astronomer and U.S. Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno with the help of the British-based Catholic Truth Society in 2005. (The following quotes were taken from his interview with the Catholic News Service). "What Genesis says about creation is true. God did it; God willed it; and God loves it. When science fills in the details of how God did it, science helps get a flavor of how rich and beautiful and inventive God really is, more than even the writer of Genesis could ever have imagined” The Churches View The limitless universe "might even include other planets with other beings created by that same loving God," Consolmagno added. "The idea of there being other races and other intelligences is not contrary to traditional Christian thought. "There is nothing in Holy Scripture that could confirm or contradict the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe," Consolmagno wrote. The Churches View More recently, Father José Gabriel Funes, an Argentine Jesuit, told the Vatican newspaper: "Just there is a multiplicity of creatures on earth there could be other beings, intelligent ones, created by God.“ However the Jesuit astronomer went on to speculate that if intelligent beings exist in another solar system, "they might have remained in full friendship with the Creator," and thus might not require salvation as the human race does. What Makes Earth Special? Planet Earth is the only known host for life, but we have now gained the technology to search other worlds within our own system and to locate planets in other systems. Is life unique on Earth or is life common throughout the ? What do you think? Let’s poll the class for opinions. What are the reasons given for their opinions? Let us start by defining the special circumstances that allow for life on Earth. Video Introduction Let’s watch these videos to get an idea of the astronomical and Biological requirements for life: Video: A Teacher’s Guide to: What makes Life on Earth Possible? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zCQ7QM3CZU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zCQ7QM3CZU IMAX: The Secret of Life on Earth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRkGb7inQ5I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRkGb7inQ5I 1. Temperature (The Habitable Zone) and the presence of Water! A stars habitable zone is defined as the region in which orbiting planets could be habitable (contain life. The most important factor is temperature. Since life as we know it requires water on its surface, temperatures must be between 0 and 100°C somewhere on the surface. All the chemical reactions of life occur in aqueous conditions – in other words with chemicals dissolved in water! High temperatures cause proteins/DNA to degrade. These are the molecules of life. Very low temperatures mean that chemical reactions (including biological reactions) occur slowly. Habitable zones vary for each star system. At right, the conservative and optimistic habitable zones for our Solar System. 2.The Effect of Gravity A planet (or moon) must have enough mass to have substantial enough gravity to maintain an atmosphere. Mercury and the moon, despite being massive enough to be spherical, are not massive enough to keep an atmosphere. Similarly, too much gravity may crush possible life. 3.An atmosphere Volcanic activity furnished Earth with an early atmosphere. Though this atmosphere did not contain oxygen gas, it supplied the chemicals of life – carbon (in the form of CO2), nitrogen (in the form of ammonia NH3), oxygen and nitrogen in the previous compounds and a wide variety of important metals and non-metals in abundance. An atmosphere is often required to trap heat and to maintain stable surface temperatures. Atmosphere’s also provide protection against smaller meteorites. 3.Atmosphere (Protection from Meteor Bombardment) Many astrobiologists have suggested that life took hold on the surface of Earth several times only to be exterminated by a massive meteor bombardment in each case. Once Earth orbited in a clearer path, life was able to take hold permanently. 4.A Magnetic Field A magnetic field is required to protect an atmosphere from being blown away by the forces of the solar wind. The solar wind is a flow of radiation and charged particles emanating from a star. These particles can interact with the particles in a planetary atmosphere and slowly remove it. A magnetic field can be created by a molten, spinning iron core (like Earth) or by a rotating charged metallic layer like that seen in the Gas Giant planets. We know that a planet’s age and size can be a factor. Mars was large enough to maintain an atmosphere, but its liquid core “froze” and its magnetic field was lost! 5.A Stable Climate (Axial Tilt) Wildly fluctuating temperatures and sudden changes of climate do not allow living things to adapt. It is thought that the Earth’s very small wobble on its rotational axis keeps these climatic changes to a minimum. Remember that this wobble is significantly lessened by the presence of our large moon and its gravitational influence. Similarly, an orbit with low eccentricity will result in a much more stable climate. 6.A Stable Medium Sized Star Our sun has released radiation with little variation in its quantity for billions of years. This stability is critical for Life on Earth. A star whose energy output was variable would have a wildly changing habitable zone and life could not take hold. Large bright stars burn out very quickly and would not leave much time for life to take hold. Small dim stars have been suggested as possible hosts for planets with life but these planets would have to obit vey close to their stars. 7.Location in the Galaxy The Sun location in the “galactic suburbs” of the Milky Way Galaxy is fortuitous. The cores of most galaxies contain a much higher density of stars and such high energy objects as black holes and quasars. The intense radiation of these regions would likely strip away the atmosphere of any planets and bake their surfaces. Our search for exoplanets occurs in the “Galactic Habitable Zone” 8.Availability of heavy elements. Earth has an abundance of heavy elements – many of which are found within complex living organisms. Earth must have been formed in a region of space where its protoplanetary disk formed from a nebula that contained heavy metals. This is only possible if the nebula was produced near a supernova (the only source of elements heavier than iron) 9.Plate Tectonics A geologically active planet will have moving tectonic plates (crust). This process creates volcanic activity which releases gases such as CO2 and recycles elements that get trapped in the crust. Early life is likely to have formed around hydrothermal vents. Life used the heat energy and abundance of chemicals to sustain life functions. 10.Time for Evolution The process of evolution is very slow. It took nearly 4 billion years for life to develop past the single-cell stage! It has been 600 million years since the first explosion of multi-cellular life. Short lived stars and planets that lose their atmosphere too quickly are not suitable for the development of complex life. The Drake Equation The Drake Equation was developed by Frank Drake in 1961 as a way to focus on the factors which determine how many intelligent, communicating civilizations there are in our galaxy. The Drake Equation The Drake Equation is: N = R * f p n e f 1 f i f c L It depends on seven factors R * = The number of suitable stars form each year in our galaxy. f p = the fraction of these stars that have planets n e = the number of these planets suitable for life f 1 = the fraction of these planets that develops intelligent life f i = is the fraction of these life forms that develop intelligence. f c = is the fraction of these intelligent life forms that choose to communicate with other civilizations. L = the lifetime of such as civilization. One of the problems of this equation is that it cannot be calculated with any certainty since no accurate value can be determined for any of the 7 variables. However, it gives us a good framework to estimate the probability of alien life. The Drake Equation Drake’s calculation for our Galaxy based on data from his time period: N = R * f p n e f 1 f i f c L = 5 x 50% x 2 x 100% x 20% x 100% x 10 000 = 10 000 possible civilizations in our galaxy. The Drake Equation o SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) gives the following data: R * = The number of suitable stars form each year in our galaxy = 100 billion f p = the fraction of these stars that have planets = 20 to 50% n e = the number of these planets suitable for life = 1 to 5 f 1 = the fraction of these planets that develops intelligent life = 0 to 100% f i = is the fraction of these life forms that develop intelligence = 0 to 100% f c = is the fraction of these intelligent life forms that choose to communicate with other civilizations = 10 to 20% L = the lifetime of such as civilization = 100 to 10000 N = ? o Go to the SETI website to calculate your own value! http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/topics/seti/drake_equati on.html http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/topics/seti/drake_equati on.html What about Extraterrestrial Life? Evidence that life could exist on other worlds: 1. Amino Acids the building blocks of life These have be formed in a lab in simulated primitive atmospheres. The Miller-Urey Experiment (The Primordial Soup). Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF9U5x6Nxnw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF9U5x6Nxnw The conditions of this experiment have since been determined to be dissimilar to the actual conditions of the early Earth. The term abiogenesis is used to describe the development of living organisms (or life processes) from inorganic compounds and abiotic conditions. Amino acids have been found in meteorites. This suggests that life might have been carried to Earth from “outer space”, a theory called Panspermia. What about Extraterrestrial Life? 2. Extremophiles Micro-organisms adapted to environments once thought so extreme that life could never exist there in any form. Examples Light and Oxygen-free environments like the bottom of the ocean No sun-light environments like caves Acidic environments like around “Old Faithful” in Yellowstone National Park. Many biologists believe that the first living organisms on our planet lived in these extreme conditions (on an Early Earth that was very hostile to life) Extremophiles - Hydrothermal Vents http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XotF9fzo4Vo (2:52 Nat Geog) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XotF9fzo4Vo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JzUgi6YNlY (4:00 Evolution of Life on Earth) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JzUgi6YNlY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FFnrW_SUdM (4:42 - no audio, music only, great video footage) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FFnrW_SUdM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRqrT_rHvAw (8:45 - extremophiles) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRqrT_rHvAw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtLJzsRYvaI&index =1&list=PL1HikUR5c27lxTOv9mU3HzLe8dfM3wAln (4:56 - extremophiles) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtLJzsRYvaI&index =1&list=PL1HikUR5c27lxTOv9mU3HzLe8dfM3wAln Possibility of Life in Our Solar System Given that life can form in extreme environments - it is thought life could exist in extreme environments elsewhere in our solar system. Extremophiles also hint at the development of life on Earth. Here are the top five solar objects in our solar system that might be able to support life: 5. Io Jupiter’s moon Io is one of the few solar system moons to support an atmosphere, and it contains complex chemicals promising for life. Volcanism on the moon also makes it warmer than many other. Io is still a long shot, though, because its location inside Jupiter’s magnetic field means it is constantly being pelted with lethal radiation. Its violent surface also seems inhospitable, with temperatures often too cold to support life, as well as molten hot spots that are equally deadly. 4. Titan Saturn’s largest moon looks suspiciously like it might have hosted life, because its thick atmosphere is rich in compounds that often mark the presence of living organisms. For instance, Titan’s air is filled with methane, which is usually destroyed by sunlight. On Earth, life constantly replenishes methane, so it might similarly be responsible for the methane on Titan. Titan is rather cold, however, and if liquid water exists, it must be deep beneath the frozen surface. 3. Mars The red planet is the most Earth-like of solar system planets, with a comparatively similar size and temperature range as our own planet. Large bodies of water ice lie on Mars’ poles, and there’s a reasonable chance of liquid water beneath the surface. The thin atmosphere on the planet is not strong enough to shield the planet against lethal solar radiation, though microbes could potentially exist beneath the surface. 2. Europa Jupiter’s moon Europa also seems a possible stomping ground for E.T. due to its potential water and volcanic activity. Though the surface seems to be frozen, many suspect that buried underneath is an ocean of liquid water. Microbial life could potentially survive near hydrothermal vents on Europa, as it does on Earth. 1. Enceladus The sixth-largest moon of Saturn has been called the most promising possibility for life thanks to its welcoming temperature and the likely presence of water and simple organic molecules. The surface of the icy moon is thought to be about 99 percent water ice, with a good chance of liquid water beneath. The moon seems to have a boiling core of molten rock that could heat the world to the toasty temperatures needed to give rise to life. The Search for Other Planets AND the Search for Extraterrestrial life Locating Exoplanets Video: (Exoplanets: Are there other Earths) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvET91EYoyc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvET91EYoyc (National Geographic: Alien Planets) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thMCmzvoLPs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thMCmzvoLPs Difficulties with locating Exoplanets 1. Planets don’t produce any light of their own. 2. They are an enormous distance from us. 3. They are lost in the blinding glare from their parent star. Techniques for Locating Exoplanets 1. Doppler Wobble A star orbited by a planet will wobble due to the gravitational pull of the planet. This wobble shifts the stars absorption spectrum between the red and blue ends. The amount of shift allows astronomers approximate the planets size and mass. The doppler shift is very small (1/10,000,000 th of a wavelength), thus detection equipment must be very sensitive. As a result this technique has only been available for a decade. Locating Exoplanets 2. Transits A planet passing in front of a star minutely dims the light of a star. This allows astronomers to measure the orbital period, diameter and atmosphere of the exoplanet. The dips in the stars brightness are miniscule - usually less than 1% Locating Exoplanets 2. Transits The Kepler Space Telescope (shown below) is designed to look for transiting planets in front of stars. The data from 5 exoplanets is shown below. The Kepler Mission NASA has an entire website dedicated to the Kepler Spacecraft and its mission to find exoplanets (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kep ler/overview/index.html#.VEcfOWejI6A )http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kep ler/overview/index.html#.VEcfOWejI6A The Kepler Spacecraft collects light using a special telescope called a photometer and has a very wide field of view (105°) The spacecraft stares at the same small portion of space continually for 3.5 years and collects light continuously at over 100,000 stars. It uses the transit method of detecting exoplanets and needs this amount of time to see the minute changes in light intensity. The Kepler Mission will soon come to an end and will be taken over by the ESA’s Plato mission Locating Exoplanets 3. Astrometry Astrometery is a long used technique to precisely measure the position of a star in the sky. Today, planet hunters use astrometry, they look for a minute but regular wobble in a star's position. If such a periodic shift is detected, it is almost certain that the star is being orbited by a companion planet. This technique was used in early planet hunting, but not recently. The future SIM mission will hunt for exoplanets using this method. Similar to the Doppler Wobble Method, the star’s positional wobble is measured except using a star’s position vs. spectrometry. Locating Exoplanets 4. Direct Imaging Blocking a star’s light has yielded images of 11 planets Locating Exoplanets 5. Gravitational Microlensing If a star and planet pass in front of another star, their gravitational fields act as a lens, bending the light from the far star in a distinctive way. The lensing causes the intensity of the star’s light to increase (like any lens) If a planet happens to be orbiting the star, a slight additional lensing effect is added and the star shines brighter. Discoveries As of October 2010, astronomers have found evidence of the existence of 490 exoplanets. By 2014, over 2000 exoplanets have been found. Most of these planets are much bigger than our planet because planets our size are often too small to see at these great distances. The easiest planets to spot often orbit stars at very close range, with orbital periods measured in days not years. Transits must be fast to be noticed. Recent work has found an increase in Earth sized planets Discoveries Most planets are thought to be similar to Jupiter (large gas giants) but recent work has detected Earths and Super-Earths (rocky planets with masses 10 times our planet’s mass. The search for life is focused on Earth-like planets found in stellar habitable zones - more of these planets are coming to light. Top 10 Exoplanets: Weird Worlds in a Galaxy Not So Far Away A look at some of our extreme planetary neighbors right here in the Milky Way Galaxy from an article produced by Adam Hadhazy for Scientific American in 2008 10. FIRST EXOWORLD: The first solid evidence for an exoplanet (extrasolar planet) came in 1992 when scientists calculated that two bodies must be orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257 Distance from Earth: 978 light-years (One light-year equals the distance light in a vacuum travels in a year: 5.88 trillion miles, or 9.46 trillion kilometers.) Exoplanet Mass: 4.1, 3.8 Earths (0.013 and 0.012 Jupiter) TYPICAL STAR; EXTRAORDINARY PLANET The first exoplanet spotted around a Main Sequence star similar to our sun, gaseous 51 Pegasi b completes an orbit around its host star every four days. Many exoplanets found after this one are very similar "hot Jupiters," named for their size and proximity to their star. Distance from Earth: 48 light- years Exoplanet Mass: 0.47 Jupiter 8. SURVIVOR OF APOCALYPSE: V392.1 Pegasi b. distinguishes itself as the only planet known to orbit a star that has passed through its red giant phase. Remember when our own sun goes red giant in about it will likely swallow Mercury and Venus and, if it doesn't also envelop Earth, will scorch the planet: boiling off Earth's oceans, eventually leaving the once-verdant world a barren cinder. Distance from Earth: 4,550 light- years Exoplanet Mass: 3.2 Jupiters 7. POTPOURRI OF PLANETS: Distance from Earth: 44 light-years Exoplanet Masses: Range from 18 Earths to four Jupiters Astronomers discovered a fifth planet around the sunlike star 55 Cancri in 2007, making it the most planet- populated one outside our own--so far. All five confirmed planets in the system are jumbo versions of Earth and its neighbors, including a rocky mega-Earth and a gas giant four times as massive as Jupiter. 6. FREAKISHLY FROZEN WORLD: Scientists think Gliese 436 b (aka GJ 436 b), a Neptune-size exoplanet, is too heavy to be all gas but not heavy enough to be entirely rock. They surmise that in addition to gas and rock, it also contains a kind of pressurized, high-temperature ice that only exists on Earth in laboratories. Distance from Earth: 33 light-years Exoplanet Mass: 22 Earths (0.07 Jupiter) 5. NOT TOO HOT OR NOT TOO COLD. When astronomers spotted Gliese 581.C, it set off a flurry of reports that this exoplanet fell within the so- called Goldilocks Zone. Gliese 581 c orbits closer to its star than torrid Mercury orbits the sun, but the host is a dwarf star 50 times cooler than our sun, which researchers thought placed it in that star's habitable zone. Distance from Earth: 20.5 light- years Exoplanet Mass: five Earths (0.016 Jupiters) 4. EXOHOTTIE: HD 149026 b ranks as one of the hottest known exoplanets, with a lead-boiling surface temperature of around 3,700 degrees Fahrenheit (2,000 degrees Celsius). Tricky measurements of light reflecting from its surface suggest that this world may be pitch-black in color, perhaps because of a strangely high concentration of heavy, metallic elements in its atmosphere. But even in that case, it may glow red like an ember from all that heat. Besides its fearsome exterior, researchers believe this gaseous "hot Saturn" has the largest known planetary core, estimated at about 70 to 90 Earth masses. 3. IT'S A SMALL(ER) WORLD: Besides being the first exoplanet ever directly observed from Earth as it transited in front of its host star, it is also shrinking. Its proximity to the inferno of its host star superheats the planet to an estimated 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit (10,000 degrees Celsius), which researchers believe is causing it to sweat off about 10,000 tons (9,000 metric tons) of atmospheric hydrogen every second, forming a cometlike tail. It is thought that HD 209458 b might eventually lose its entire atmosphere. The world was also the first exoplanet to give up evidence of water vapor in its atmosphere, followed by the discovery of methane. 2. EARTH TIMES THREE: Distance from Earth: 1,000 light years Exoplanet Mass: 3.3 Earths The exoplanet MOA-192 b, which orbits a purplish star in this artist's impression, is the smallest discovered so far, measuring about 3.3 Earths in mass. It revolves about a dim star that is about one twentieth the mass of our sun, making this the planet with the teensiest host star, to boot. This star's diminutive size, however, is quite common in the universe, so finding that it can sport planetary bodies encourages researchers about the odds of finding Earthlike planets. 1. PRIMORDIAL PLANET: Distance from Earth: 5,600 light-years Exoplanet Mass: 2.5 Jupiters Exoplanet PSRB1620-26b is believed to have formed an incredible 13 billion years ago, less than a billion years after the big bang. Aptly nicknamed Methuselah, this probable gas giant resides in an ancient type of galaxy known as a globular cluster, where it orbits two stellar hosts, a dwarf star and a pulsar, both remnants of larger stars. It is thought that Methuselah once orbited a common yellow star like our sun, which became a red giant, giving up its matter to a dense neutron star--the latter of which became a spinning pulsar in the process. Packed in amongst other stars in the cluster, scientists think it is likely that Methuselah has been blasted by radiation from many supernovae over its lifetime. It however, indicates that a long time ago, in a globular cluster far, far away, a world can exist.

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Basic Facts About Giraffes Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) are the world's tallest mammals. They are well known for their long necks, long legs, and spotted patterns. © Giraud Patrick/Wikimedia Commons Their long necks help giraffes eat leaves from tall trees, typically acacia trees. If they need to, giraffes can go for several days without water. Instead of drinking, giraffes stay hydrated by the moisture from leaves. Giraffes are non-territorial, social animals. They travel in large herds that are not organized in any way. Herds may consist of any combination of sexes or ages. Giraffes have small "horns" or knobs on top of their heads that grow to be about five inches long. These knobs are used to protect the head in fights. Female giraffes typically give birth to one calf after a fifteen-month gestation period. During the first week of its life, the mother carefully guards her calf. Young giraffes are very vulnerable and cannot defend themselves. While mothers feed, the young are kept in small nursery groups. Giraffes are hunted for their meat, coat and tails. The tail is prized for good luck bracelets, fly whisks and string for sewing beads. The coat is used for shield coverings. Habitat destruction and fragmentation are also threats to giraffe populations. Height: Male giraffes can be up to 19 feet tall; females around 16 feet. Weight: Males weigh between 2,400 and 3,000 pounds; females between 1,600 and 2,600 pounds. Lifespan: Healthy giraffes live about 25 years in the wild.

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Overview Incidence Risk Factors Symptoms Evaluation Treatment questions for doctor specialist Home Care diet warning signs Prevention vaccine Outlook Complications Transmission Anatomy Hepatitis A Diet - High carbohydrate intake: - Bread, pasta and grains - The increased carbohydrate helps in preserving the protein in the body and prevent muscle wasting. - Moderate to high fat intake: - The increased fat helps in preserving the protein in the body and prevent muscle wasting. - Restrict protein: - 1 gram of protein per kilogram (2 pounds) of body weight per day. - Restrict salt: - No more than 2 grams per day. - Take vitamin B supplements, particularly B complex vitamins: - Vitamin B1 (thiamine) - Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) - Vitamin B3 (niacin) - Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) - Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) - Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) - Do not take vitamin A supplements - Avoid foods that are rich in vitamin A: - Egg yolks - Dairy products - Fish oil Continue to Hepatitis A Warning Signs PubMed Hepatitis A References - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Positive test results for acute hepatitis A virus infection among persons with no recent history of acute hepatitis--United States, 2002-2004. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2005 May 13;54(18):453-6. - Jacobsen KH, Koopman JS. Declining hepatitis A seroprevalence: a global review and analysis. Epidemiol Infect. 2004 Dec;132(6):1005-22. - Murdoch DL, Goa K, Figgitt DP. Combined hepatitis A and B vaccines: a review of their immunogenicity and tolerability. Drugs. 2003;63(23):2625-49. - Oncu S, Oncu S, Sakarya S. Hepatitis A and B seropositivity among medical students. Health Policy. 2005 Sep 28;74(1):39-45. - Saab S, Lee C, Shpaner A, Ibrahim AB. Seroepidemiology of hepatitis A in patients with chronic liver disease. J Viral Hepat. 2005 Jan;12(1):101-5. - Wasley A, Samandari T, Bell BP. Incidence of hepatitis A in the United States in the era of vaccination. JAMA. 2005 Jul 13;294(2):194-201.

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Update added at end. Back in 2005 I wrote about dolphins that had developed a culture of placing protective sponges over their beaks to root along the seafloor for fish, which was noteworthy as a rare instance of tool use among cetaceans. (In my post on the subject, which I brushed off for use here last February, I also discussed how some dolphins seem to use bubbles as tools, too, and I flagged Emily Anthes’s Wonderland post with video about those.) Now it may be clearer why those dolphins go to so much trouble. Georgetown University researchers Eric M. Patterson and Janet Mann have reported in PLoS ONE that dolphins off the coast of Western Australia that use this technique can catch more nutritious fish and may thereby improve the odds of their offsprings’ survival. I was particularly interested in this comment on the work, from a ScienceNOW article by Virginia Morrell: Patterson’s and Mann’s results also “reinforce a pattern” often seen in other tool-using animals, says Simon Reader, a behavioral biologist at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. “Tool use appears to be almost a last option, taken when other options fail or are unavailable,” he says, noting that woodpecker finches in the Galápagos Islands “turn to tool use only in arid areas,” wielding cactus spines to extract grubs from tree branches. Using tools takes time and energy, Reader says, and animals tend to rely on them only when there’s a guaranteed payoff, such as turning up a fatty fish that most other dolphins (and fishermen) know nothing about. The generalization that animals engage in tool use only as a last resort isn’t one I remember hearing said before, though it may stand to reason. I do wonder what implications that might have for the evolution of more flexible tool users such as humans, though. Meanwhile, elsewhere in dolphin news, Michael S. Zasloff, a former dean of research at Georgetown University Medical Center, has speculated in a letter to the Journal of Investigative Dermatology that dolphins may recover quickly from shark bites and other severe wounds because of antimicrobial and possibly regenerative compounds in their blubber. He holds out the possibility that those compounds, if they could be identified, might lead to similarly useful therapeutic compounds for humans, as notes in this press release and other articles. We can all hope that will be true, but for now, consider it a long shot. Zasloff, you may recall, discovered unusual antimicrobial peptides called magainins in frog skin more than two decades ago, as well as similar antimicrobials in sharks and other creatures. He founded the company Magainin Pharmaceuticals in 1988 to develop those compounds for therapies, but it was nearly destroyed when the Food and Drug Administration rejected its most promising product (a magainin-related drug for treating diabetic foot ulcers) as no better than alternative treatments. Perhaps something derived from dolphins, a fellow mammal, would be more helpful in treating humans, but there are a lot of ifs ahead for it. Update (7/25): AnimalWise has a particularly thorough retelling of Janet Mann’s work on sponge-using dolphins, if you’d like to know more about that project. Update (7/27): And now, dolphins are electric. That is, Nicole Czech-Damal of the University of Hamburg has shown in the Proceedings of the Royal Academy B that small, seemingly vestigial pits on the snout of the Guiana dolphin allow the animal to detect electric fields, an ability that sharks and some other types of aquatic life use to detect prey. So far this electroreception has only been demonstrated in the Guiana dolphin species, in which those pits are particularly large, but it’s distinctly possible that other dolphins use it, too. As usual, Ed Yong at Not Exactly Rocket Science tells the story beautifully. The Dolphins: Sponge-worthy? Yes. Antimicrobial? Maybe by Retort, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Some of the important process of protein metabolism occurred in an organism are as follows: Proteins are high molecular weight compounds in which the building blocks are the amino acids. During digestion proteins are broken down by proteolytic enzymes (peptidases) to their respective amino acids units. These amino acids are absorbed by the blood stream and transported to different tissues of the body where they are either used in replacing the damaged tissues or in the synthesis of proteins. Some amino acids are oxidised in the body to form CO2 and H2O, and others may be deaminised in the kidney or liver. The amino acid metabolism involves a number of enzymes, and amino acids may undergo the following metabolic fates: 1. Oxidation, transamination, deamination and decarboxylation reactions. 2. Conversion to other nitrogen containing compounds such as certain vitamins. 3. Protein biosynthesis. Following are some of the important processes: This process involves the reversible transfer of an amino group to an organic acid, called keto acid. Thus, there is an interconversion of an amino acid to the corresponding keto acid and vice versa. These changes are catalyzed by transaminases. An important example of transamination is the conversion of glutamic acid in the presence of pyruvic acid to α-ketoglutaric acid and alanine as shown below. With a few exceptions nearly all amino acids take part in transamination. These are of great importance as connecting links between carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism. Thus, carbohydrates may enter amino acid metabolism and vice versa. This process involves the removal of amino group by oxidation of a particular amino acid to produce the corresponding keto or hydroxy acid and free ammonia. The reaction is catalyzed by an oxidase, an enzyme specific for the deamination of a particular type of amino acid. Thus, alanine is converted into pyruvic acid, glutamic acid into a-ketoglutaric acid and so on. The deamination of glutamic acid is catalyzed by the enzyme glutamic dehydrogenase and the coenzyme NAD or NADP. The action of glutamic dehydrogenase is also an important link between carbohydrate and protein metabolism, since it converts α-ketoglutaric acid (an intermediate of Kreb’s cycle) to an important amino acid, namely glutamic acid. The latter is used not only as amino acid component of many proteins but also takes part in the formation of other amino acids. In this enzymatic reaction of amino adds, amino acid decarboxylases require pyridoxal phosphate as cofactor. Some of the amines formed as a result of decarboxylation have important physiological effects. Thus, histidine decarboxylase, found in animal tissues produce histamine, a substance which, among other effects, stimulates gastric secretion. Formation of Urea: It is also an important aspect of the protein metabolism. The urea is formed in the liver (to some extent in the kidney also) from ammonia, amino groups, and CO2 in the presence of ATP and some enzymes. The amino groups separated in the deamination process unite with CO2 to form urea. The ATP yield of protein and amino acid respiration vary considerably, depending on whether the respiratory pathways follows the ketogenic or glucogenic routes. The efficiency of protein respiration is roughly equivalent to that of fats or carbohydrates, that is, about 40%. The net usefulness of protein as energy source is only about 70% of its potential value as protein respiration is accompanied by many other energy requiring and, therefore heat producing reaction.

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Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a potentially permanent side effect of drugs used to control schizophrenia and other psychoses. This late-developing (tardy, or tardive) complication consists of annoying, mostly uncontrollable movements (dyskinesias). Typical symptoms include repetitive sucking or blinking, slow twisting of the hands, or other movements of the face and limbs. TD can cause tremendous social embarrassment to particularly vulnerable individuals. Several different theories have been proposed for the development of TD. 1 According to one, long-term treatment with antipsychotic drugs causes the brain to become overly sensitive to the neurotransmitter dopamine, resulting in abnormal movements. According to another, imbalances among different neurotransmitters can cause or aggravate symptoms. In a third theory, TD may arise in part from damage to the brain caused by free radicals generated by schizophrenia treatments. All of these theories may contain some truth. Unfortunately, discontinuing medication that caused TD usually doesn’t help, and may even worsen the dyskinesia as well as the underlying schizophrenia. 2 Drugs such as L-dopa and oxypertine may improve TD but present their own significant risk of side effects. Fortunately, newer medications for schizophrenia that are less likely to cause TD have been developed in recent years. Vitamin E is an antioxidant , a substance that works to neutralize free radicals in the body. As noted above, it has been suggested that free-radicals may play a role in TD. If this is true, it makes sense that vitamin E might help prevent or treat the condition. Between 1987 and 1998, at least five double-blind studies were published which indicated that vitamin E was beneficial in treating TD. 3,4 Although most of these studies were small and lasted only 4 to 12 weeks, one 36-week study enrolled 40 people. 5 Three small double-blind studies reported that vitamin E was not helpful. 6,7 Nonetheless, a statistical analysis of the double-blind studies done before 1999 found good evidence that vitamin E was more effective than placebo. 8 Most studies found that vitamin E worked best for TD of more recent onset. 9 However, in 1999, the picture on vitamin E changed with the publication of one more study—the largest and longest to date. 10 This double-blind study included 107 participants from nine different research sites who took 1,600 IU of vitamin E or placebo daily for at least 1 year. In contrast to most of the previous studies, this trial failed to find vitamin E effective for decreasing TD symptoms. Why the discrepancy between this study and the earlier ones? The researchers, some of whom had worked on the earlier, positive studies of vitamin E, were at pains to develop an answer. 11,12 They proposed a number of possible explanations. One was that the earlier studies were too small or too short to be accurate, and that vitamin E really didn’t help at all. Another was the most complicated: that vitamin E might help only a subgroup of people who had TD—those with milder TD symptoms of more recent onset—and that fewer of these people had participated in the latest study. They also pointed to changes in schizophrenia treatment since the last study was done, including the growing use of antipsychotic medications that do not cause TD. The bottom line: The effectiveness of vitamin E for a given person is simply not known. Given the lack of other good treatments for TD, and the general safety of the vitamin, it may be worth discussing with your physician. For more information, including dosage and safety issues, see the full vitamin E article. According to one theory, TD symptoms may be caused or aggravated by an imbalance between two neurotransmitters, dopamine and acetylcholine. The nutrient choline and several related substances— lecithin , CDP-choline, and DMAE —have been suggested as possible treatments, with the goal of increasing the amount of acetylcholine the body produces. Lecithin and CDP-choline are broken down by the body to produce choline, and choline provides one of the building blocks for acetylcholine. DMAE (2-dimethylaminoethanol, sometimes called deanol) may also increase production of acetylcholine, although this has been questioned. Although a variety of small studies have been conducted on these substances, evidence for their effectiveness is mixed at best. Three small double-blind studies of lecithin had conflicting results: one found lecithin more helpful than placebo, 20 one found it to be barely superior, 21 and one found it no better than placebo. 22 In two small double-blind trials of choline itself, some people experienced decreased TD symptoms on choline compared to placebo but other people did not, and several people grew worse. 23,24 CDP-choline, a natural substance closely related to choline, has also been the subject of a couple of small studies with mixed results. An open study of 10 people found it helpful for TD, 25 but a tiny double-blind study did not find any evidence of benefit. 26 The substance DMAE is better studied than these other cholinergic treatments for TD—but the preponderance of evidence suggests it is not effective. Of 12 double-blind studies reviewed, only one found DMAE to be significantly effective when compared with placebo. 29 A meta-analysis of proposed treatments for TD found DMAE to be no more effective than placebo. 30 One small pilot study suggests that vitamin B 6 may be helpful for the treatment of TD. In this 4-week, double-blind crossover trial of 15 people, treatment with vitamin B 6 significantly improved TD symptoms as compared to placebo. 31 Benefits were seen beginning at 1 week of treatment. A follow-up study tested the benefits of vitamin B 6 used over a period of 26 weeks in 50 people with tardive dyskinesia, and, once again, the supplement proved more effective than placebo. 45 Preliminary evidence suggests that BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids) might decrease TD symptoms. 32 Other proposed treatments include niacin33 and manganese . 34 but so far evidence for their effectiveness is weak at best. Two double-blind trials of evening primrose oil, which contains large amounts of the essential fatty acid GLA (gamma-linolenic acid), found that it was not significantly more effective than placebo at reducing TD. 37 The herb ginkgo biloba has also been investigated as a treatment for tardive dyskinesia. One randomized study involving 157 subjects found that ginkgo (240 mg/day for 12 weeks) was more helpful than placebo in reducing tardive dyskinesia symptoms in people with schizophrenia. 46 An informal 20-year study of more than 60,000 people treated with antipsychotic drugs plus high doses of vitamins found that only 34 of them (0.5%) developed TD. 38 This is far fewer than might be expected: the estimated rate of TD among people treated with traditional antipsychotic medications is 20 to 25%. 39 These results were based on reports from 80 psychiatrists who routinely used high-dose vitamins along with drugs to treat people with schizophrenia. Vitamins typically included vitamin C , niacin , vitamin B 6 , and vitamin E in varying dosages. However, because the study design was very informal, it is not possible to draw firm conclusions from its results. There is some concern that the amino acid phenylalanine , present in many protein-rich foods, may worsen TD. 40,41,42 In a double-blind study of 18 people with schizophrenia, those who took phenylalanine supplements had more TD symptoms than those who took placebo. 43 33. Kunin RA. Manganese and niacin in the treatment of drug-induced tardive dyskinesias. J Orthomol Psychiatry. 1976;5:4–27. In: Werbach MR. Nutritional Influences on Illness [book on CD-ROM] . 2nd ed. Tarzana, Calif. 1996. 34. Kunin RA. Manganese and niacin in the treatment of drug-induced tardive dyskinesias. J Orthomol Psychiatry. 1976;5:4–27. In: Werbach MR. Nutritional Influences on Illness [book on CD-ROM] . 2nd ed. Tarzana, Calif. 1996. 35. Peet M, Laugharne JD, Mellor J, et al. Essential fatty acid deficiency in erythrocyte membranes from chronic schizophrenic patients, and the clinical effects of dietary supplementation . Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids . 1996;55:71–75. 41. Gardos G, Cole JO, Matthews JD, et al. The acute effects of a loading dose of phenylalanine in unipolar depressed patients with and without tardive dyskinesia. Neuropsychopharmacology . 1992;6:241–247. 46. Zhang WF, Tan YL, Zhang XY, Chan RC, Wu HR, Zhou DF. Extract of ginkgo biloba treatment for tardive dyskinesia in schizophrenia: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. J Clin Psychiatry. 2010 Sep 21. [Epub ahead of print] Last reviewed December 2015 by EBSCO CAM Review Board Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Copyright © 2012 EBSCO Publishing All rights reserved. What can we help you find?close ×

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Sharecroppers Challenge U.S. Apartheid The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party This lesson explores one of the most important events in the fight for true democracy in U.S. history, when a coalition of grassroots activists challenged the Mississippi political system, the federal government and the national Democratic Party that excluded citizens on the basis of race. Working within the political “rules,” the activists formed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP or FDP) in 1964 and mounted a legitimate challenge to the existing system of race-based exclusion. In the process, they garnered a national audience and sparked moral and ethical debates. As historian John Dittmer explains in Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi: The Freedom Democratic Party (FDP) was one of the most important and distinctive institutions to emerge from the civil rights movement. It challenged white supremacy in the most repressive state in the South, combining grassroots activism with a radical social agenda. FDP had its origins in the fall of 1963, when the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) conducted a “Freedom Vote” to dramatize the exclusion of African Americans from the political process in Mississippi. More than 80,000 blacks voted black NAACP state president Aaron Henry for governor and white Tougaloo College chaplain Ed King for lieutenant governor in this mock election. The election’s success led to the creation of an independent, black-led, state Democratic Party that would challenge the legitimacy of the state’s white supremacist delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the summer of 1964. The events surrounding the MFDP’s efforts to be seated at the Democratic National Convention of 1964 in Atlantic City provide a strong example of the unprecedented and sophisticated organizing techniques used to challenge the state sponsored terrorism that blocked voting rights based on race. In this lesson, students step into the shoes of key people at the Democratic National Convention in a dramatic role play based on the real challenges and decisions facing the MFDP delegates. It is our hope that after this introduction to the MFDP, students will want to learn more about the people and the strategies used to fight for voting rights in the United States. We look forward to your comments and suggested edits/additions as you use this lesson. - Compromise does not always equal justice. - When voting rights are denied to anyone, everyone lacks democracy. - The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was not fighting for integration to the existing structure, but instead for a new structure that was truly equitable and democratic. - The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party demonstrated that true democracy and full citizenship are possible with everyone having an equal voice regardless of literacy levels, gender, class, race, and connections. - What would it take for there to be legitimate democracy in the United States? - Why did Mississippians, in the face of state sponsored terrorism, take the leadership in challenging the national political party structure? Two to three class periods For students in grades 7 and above - MFDP background from Eyes on the Prize - Fannie Lou Hamer speech at 1964 Democratic National Convention from Freedom Summer - MFDP response to compromise from Eyes on the Prize Learn as much as possible about the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) before you teach the lesson. Here are some key resources. - MFDP Challenge to the Democratic Convention (PDF). A detailed history from the Civil Rights Movement Veterans website, crmvet.org - Mississippi at Atlantic City by Charles Sherrod in Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching - Martin Luther King Papers Project description of the MFDP - Civil Rights Movement Veterans website primary documents and reflections - I’ve Got the Light of Freedom by Charles M. Payne - SNCC: The New Abolitionists by Howard Zinn - Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi by John Dittmer - Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC edited by Faith S. Holsaert, Martha P. N. Noonan, Judy Richardson, Betty G. Robinson, Jean S. Young, and Dorothy M. Zellner - For a Voice and the Vote: My Journey with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party by Lisa Anderson Todd

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Björnsson, Sveinn (svān byörnˈsôn) [key], 1881–1952, Icelandic diplomat and political leader, first president of Iceland (1944–52). A distinguished lawyer, he was elected to the Althing (Icelandic parliament) for the first time in 1914. From 1912 to 1920 he was president of the Reykjavík city council. During World War I, Björnsson undertook numerous diplomatic missions to Great Britain and the United States and afterward served as minister to Denmark (1920–41). He was regent of Iceland from 1941 to 1944, when, on Iceland's independence from Denmark, he became president. He was reelected in 1945 and 1949. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia articles on: Scandinavian History: Biographies

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See what questions a doctor would ask. Hypokinetic dysarthria: A motor speech disorder caused by damage to the part of the brain called the basal ganglia which in turn affects the muscles involved in speech. Causes include infection. Stroke, tumor and ataxic cerebral palsy. More detailed information about the symptoms, causes, and treatments of Hypokinetic dysarthria is available below. Read more about causes of Hypokinetic dysarthria. Medical research articles related to Hypokinetic dysarthria include: Visit our research pages for current research about Hypokinetic dysarthria treatments. Read about other experiences, ask a question about Hypokinetic dysarthria, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards: Search Specialists by State and City

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According to the CEUD (Centre for Excellence in Universal Design), universal design is “the design and composition of an environment so that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people, regardless of their age, size, or disability.” More and more homes and buildings are being built according to universal design, which is great news for seniors. Additionally, it is possible to make changes to your home, or your loved one’s home, which correspond with universal design principles and allow a senior to live at home for a longer time in a space that is safe and accessible. This post will review some of the key components of universal design, particularly those that relate to seniors. These points can be used as a starting point if you’re considering renovating your parent’s home, or as a list of items to look for if you’re selecting a new residence for an elderly family member – or even as you’re thinking about your own future. Lighting in Senior Homes Our eyesight diminishes as we age, so it’s essential for seniors to have good lighting in their living spaces. Well-lit spaces have many benefits: not only do they help to prevent trips, slips, and falls, but they also allow seniors to continue to engage in tasks they enjoy like reading or doing puzzles. There should be relatively high-wattage light bulbs in all light fixtures, and extra attention paid to hallways or corners that don’t receive much light. It’s also a good idea to provide extra lighting in areas where the senior often completes tasks that might require more light, like reading. It’s also important to make sure there are windows to let in natural light, so your loved one can enjoy the benefits of vitamin D and a balanced circadian rhythm. Universal Design for Ease of Use We lose dexterity as we age. To prevent daily tasks from becoming too difficult, it’s important to implement changes that allow seniors to move through their homes easily. Some of these features include: - Lever door handles. Knobs can be hard to turn with arthritic hands; levers are much easier to use. - Handrails. Handrails provide stability for seniors and help prevent falls. Handrails are particularly useful by chairs, in washrooms, and in stairways. - Pull-out shelves. In kitchens, shelves that pull out allow much easier access to stored items. These decrease possible strains from reaching too far, and prevent seniors from having to bend too often. - Faucets. In senior homes, faucets should pass the “closed-fist test,” meaning that they can be turned on and off with a closed fist. This is another adjustment that allows seniors with arthritis to independently use the features of their homes. - Doorways. If possible, doorways should be a minimum of 36 inches wide. If the senior in the home is ever in a wheelchair, this will allow them space to move through the doorway without risking damage to the chair or doorframe. Designing or Renovating Senior Bathrooms Re-designing a bathroom is one of the key components of implementing elements of universal design in a senior’s home. The bathroom is an area in which slips and falls tend to occur, so it’s a particularly important area to consider when a senior decides to age in place. Larger bathrooms are ideal, because they allow room for a wheelchair, but even if extra space is not available, adjustments can be made to create safer bathrooms. To prevent slips, handrails or grab-bars are very useful. Another adjustment to consider is the addition of non-slip flooring, which will also reduce the risk of falls. The ideal shower for a senior will be curbless, meaning that your loved one can walk in without having the step over any barriers. Showers should also include a form of seating. You may choose to purchase a portable seat, or to install a bench directly in the shower. If a senior prefers bathing to showering, walk-in tubs are available. These can be installed directly over an existing bathtub, and may be very useful for a mobile senior, but as mobility decreases, these tubs can also present potential dangers. Be sure to think carefully about the possible pros and cons of a walk-in tub for your loved one. If a walk-in tub is not the right choice, a slide-in tub might be. Often, higher toilet seats are a good choice for seniors, as they are easier to use for a person with limited mobility – but be sure not install a toilet seat so high that the senior cannot keep their feet on the ground. A good rule of thumb to follow is that the height of the toilet seat and the height of a senior’s wheelchair should be about the same. Finally, it’s important to remember that the bathroom can pose another risk: burns. When designing or re-designing a bathroom, make sure that the hot and cold sides of taps are clearly labelled and colour-coded. If your loved one experiences forgetfulness, or has arthritic hands that make changing the temperature quickly difficult, you may want install a valve that will set a maximum temperature in order to minimize the risk of burns. Universal Home Design for Your Future The elements of universal design aren’t just useful for your senior loved ones – they’re useful for you, too. As you help your parents or other relatives make adjustments to age in place, you’ve probably considered what that stage of life will look like for you. Thinking about universal home design now can make your own future much easier, and can improve your quality of life as you grow older. If you’re buying a new house, building a new home, or renovating, you might want to look into finding an architect or contractor with some knowledge about Universal Home Design, but even if you don’t, there are some principles of universal design that you can consider on your own. - Single story living. Stairs are one of the biggest problems seniors face when they want to age in place. If you think you’ll want to stay in your home for the long term, a house without a second floor is your best bet. - Fewer hallways. Generally, open-concept home designs are gaining popularity, but they are particularly important to consider if you’re hoping to stay in your home for decades to come. The fewer hallways in a home, the easier it is to manoeuvre through, especially if you find yourself needing a walker or wheelchair one day. - Entrances. Even single-story dwellings like bungalows often have a few steps to the front door, and these can be an inconvenience in later life. Try to find a home that has at least one entrance on ground level. - Locate switches conveniently. Don’t put your light switches or thermostat control too high on the wall. Locating these switches at a height that can be reached from a wheelchair isn’t bothersome when you’re upright and mobile, and can greatly simplify your life as you age in place in your later years. The majority of seniors want to stay in their homes long term. If you have an elderly loved one, the principles of Universal Home Design can help make that desire a reality for them, and will allow them to maintain a degree of independence, even if they reach a time when they need care.

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By: Taylor McCann Did you know that around 8.3 billion tons of plastic have been produced since the 1950s, but only 9 percent of it has been recycled? Many well-known companies like Hasbro, Kroger, PepsiCo and Starbucks recognized the depth of statistics like these and decided to take action to decrease the amount of single-use plastics in their products. Although this path is different for each corporation, they all have the same end goal in mind. In an article released back in August, Hasbro, Inc. announced its decision to phase out single-use plastics from new toy and game packaging starting in 2020. This elimination plan will include Hasbro brands like Nerf, My Little Pony, Monopoly, Magic: The Gathering and Power Rangers. Hasbro plans to eliminate all of its plastic packaging, including its polybags, elastic bands, shrink wrap, window sheets and blister packs by the end of 2022, a corporate sustainability venture that has been in the works for over a decade. Hasbro’s decision to eliminate plastic packaging isn’t the company’s first effort to reduce its plastic use. Starting in 2010, Hasbro eliminated wire ties from its game and toy packages. In 2016, the company added How2Recycle labeling, and in 2018, Hasbro began using bioPET, a plant-based plastic made from things like molasses, hay and bagasse. BioPET plastics share the same functional characteristics as traditional petroleum-based plastics, but are environmentally friendly. Hasbro also recently launched a toy recycling program with TerraCycle last year that allows users to send in Hasbro toys and games to be recycled into materials for use in the production of play spaces, flowerpots and park benches. Along with Hasbro, The Kroger Company also realized the impact of plastic pollution and is taking action. An article published in 2018 by NPR outlined Kroger’s decision to stop distributing single-use plastic bags across its chains by the year 2025. The phase-out kicked off with Kroger’s Seattle-based chain, QFC, who set a goal to eliminate single-use plastics by this year. In the meantime, the company is encouraging consumers to make the transition to reusable grocery bags. Kroger also offers paper bags at checkout stations for a more environmentally friendly alternative. PepsiCo is also following suit by transitioning its Aquafina water away from plastic bottles. Instead, starting in 2020, the company will begin packaging its water in aluminum cans. Why aluminum? According to the Aluminum Association, the metal is easier to recycle than most other materials and is recycled more often than most other packaging types. Related packaging changes for Pepsico include moves to package its LIFEWTR brand in 100% recycled PET and remove plastic packaging from their flavored water brand, Bubly. As stated in a company press release, these decisions will “eliminate more than 8,000 metric tons of virgin plastic and approximately 11,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.” By 2025, PepsiCo has set a goal to make 100 percent of its packaging recyclable, compostable or biodegradable and use 25 percent recycled plastic in all of their plastic packaging. Following close behind in the fight to decrease single-use plastics is Starbucks Coffee Company. The last time you purchased a cold beverage at one of their stores, you may have noticed that Starbucks’ trademark green straw was missing: back in July 2018, Starbucks announced its decision to eliminate plastic straws from over 28,000 of its stores. Starbucks’ straw-less lids are available in over 8,000 of its locations. Next, the coffee company will be releasing straws made out of other materials such as paper or compostable plastic for its blended drinks and customers who need or prefer to have a straw. Leading companies like the ones mentioned above have the capacity to convince many other corporations to work towards zero plastic in their products and packaging. In a way, the race towards zero plastic has prompted a game of follow-the-leader among corporations. Hasbro, Kroger, PepsiCo and Starbucks have established large goals to combat plastic pollution, which can take many years to fully implement. While these companies are working hard to reach their goals, here are some tips on how you can decrease single-use plastics in your everyday life: -Use reusable bags or paper ones when you go clothes or grocery shopping. -Use a reusable plastic or metal water bottle instead of single-use plastic ones. -Carry reusable utensils in your bag with you! You can whip them out anytime you eat somewhere that only offers plastic forks, straws, or spoons. Cover photo courtesy of Pixabay

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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced) Topic: Illustrate the meaning of “Don’t Try to Walk before You Can Crawl” (without using the actual phrase or literal example). (01/17/08) TITLE: Veruka's Revenge By Sara Harricharan LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT ADD TO MY FAVORITES They believe they can get away with giving me the menial tasks of a servant girl instead of the errands fitting an ambassador’s daughter. It was my father’s idea for me to learn more about my special gift. Mama made it worse with her insistence. Now I am stuck sweeping floors because I dared to use my position for better arrangements. My teacher is a man that outdates this century. Master Drogan believes that every student is equal and that every action has either consequence or reward. That is so old-fashioned. All I did was state my opinion of that wretched girl in arithmetic and he retracted my gift and ordered me to clean out the holding room. He says I need to learn to control the little power I have along with my tongue. No wonder it is called a holding room, even the air is stifling. Smudged walls and dirty floors surround the perfect glass box to showcase The Orb. It is the heart central of all energies for this school. This must be where Drogan put my gift. Oh how I wish I had it. Levitation is one of the most prized gifts on the planet of Marrin. With my gift, I could easily set this broom to sweep the floor and these cloths to clean the walls. I could also sit outside by the door and breathe the clean air without having to lift a finger. My hands are sore, my feet and my back ache. The Orb is so bright. Horrible Master Drogan warned me to stay away from it. He says it is far too powerful and that even a lifetime of training couldn’t prepare any one person to control that much free energy. I think he wants it all for his pompous self. The broom and cloth rags are set aside as I tiptoe to the showcase. Surely no one will notice if I just open the edge enough to retrieve my gift. My gift is so deeply embedded that all I’d have to do is touch the Orb. That would make the perfect revenge. My fingers tremble as the cover slid away. It is so beautiful. A sudden wind takes my breath away. Before I can begin to puzzle fresh air in this prison-hole, I am seized by something I cannot describe. Every fiber of my being is transformed into the most torturous pain imaginable. My mind struggles in vain to comprehend the fact that I have completely absorbed the entire Orb. I cannot scream. I cannot cry. I cannot even discern my own gift. The door bursts open. “Veruka!” Master Drogan forces me to sit on the floor. I can hardly see his face. He mutters words I cannot understand and the pain is lifted by a fraction. He repeats them until I feel the fire fade. I am helpless to escape the scolding that follows. He now shares the energy and the responsibility. “You will clean this room from top to bottom.” He says, calm. “Do not even think of resisting.” Golden energy shimmers at his finger tips. My will is no longer my own. Because of the shared energy, I am at his mercy. Feet shuffle to the wall and my hands pick up the broom. I begin to sweep the floor with patience that is not mine. The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com. Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.

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Study links type of blood pressure medication to increased variability and higher risk of death Two types of blood pressure medications — alpha blockers and alpha 2 agonist — show increased variability in blood pressure measurements between doctor visits, which is associated with an increased risk of death, according to new research from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City. As a result of the study findings, researchers are encouraging physicians encouraged to use other classes of blood pressure medications that show a decrease in mortality risk. "This study helped us identify blood pressure medications that produce more consistent blood pressure and better mortality outcome data," said Brian Clements, DO, an internal medicine physician with the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute and lead author of the study. "Those medications include ace inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, calcium channel blockers, and thiazide diuretics. People who are on other types of blood pressure medications have an increased risk of death." Results of the study will be presented at the 2018 American College of Cardiology Scientific Session in Orlando on March 12, at 9:45 a.m., ET. The systolic blood pressure reading (the upper number) indicates how much pressure blood is exerting against the artery walls when the heart beats. According to the American Heart Association, normal blood pressure is less than 120/80. Elevated blood pressure is between 120-129/80, and anything over 130/80 is categorized as stage one and two high blood pressure. Prior research has shown that patients with large variances in blood pressure between doctor visits are at an increased risk of death. The Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute researchers looked for connections between the type of blood pressure medication a patient was using and the variations in blood pressure readings to see if certain classes of medications reduced the visit-to-visit blood pressure variability. More than 10,500 patients with at least seven recorded blood pressure medications between January 2007 and December 2011 were followed for five years — through June 2016. Researchers tracked the range of variances in blood pressure measurements and the class of blood pressure medication each patient was using. "Patients should know what their blood pressure is, and if it's up and down all the time, the patient should work with their physician to explore options for the best blood pressure medications that will reduce variances," added Dr. Clements. "Where possible, the two types of medications that show an increase in variances should be avoided." Researchers say the next steps are to look at other medications that are proven to reduce the variability in blood pressure measurements and better evaluate methods for taking evidence-based blood pressure measurements. In most people, systolic blood pressure rises steadily with age due to increased stiffness of large arteries, long-term build-up of plaque, and increased incidence of cardiac and vascular disease, according to the American Heart Association. "Hypertension affects many people — roughly one in three adults in America, according to the American Heart Association," said Dr. Clements. "But because of the variables that affect blood pressure measurements, finding ways to more accurately measure blood pressure can better identify effective treatments for patients who have hypertension." Dr. Clements also recommends that people control their environment when measuring their blood pressure to help reduce additional variables from influencing the measurement. - Sit or lay down for 15 minutes prior to taking your blood pressure. - Don't do things that will cause you stress, since that may raise your blood pressure. - Use a blood pressure cuff that fits. Make sure it's not too tight or too large. Members of the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute team involved in the study include: Nathan Allred, MD; Erik Riessen, MD; Benjamin Horne, PhD; Raymond O. McCubrey, MS; Heidi May, PhD; and Brent Muhlestein, MD. The Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute, which is part of the Intermountain Healthcare system based in Salt Lake City, is one of the premier cardiovascular centers in the country. Jess C. Gomez

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"Music is a hidden arithmatic exercise of the soul, which does not know that it is dealing with numbers, because it does many things by way of unnoticed conceptions which with clear conception it could not do. Those who believe that nothing can happen in the soul of which the soul is not conscious are wrong. For this reason the soul, although not realizing that it is involved in mathematical computation, still senses the effect of this unnoticeable forming of numbers either as a resultant feeling of well-being in the case of harmonies or as discomfort in the case of disharmonies." Pythagoras laid the foundation for a holistic science which integrated spiritual, ethical, and metaphysical, as well as practical techniques. Pythagoras is famous for his axiomatic viewpoint that "there is geometry in the humming of the strings. There is music in the spacing of the spheres." From Plotinus we hear, "All music based upon melody and rhythm, is the earthly representative of heavenly music." And from Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan, "When one looks at the cosmos, the movements of the stars and planets, the law of vibration and rhythm, all perfect and unchanging, it shows that the cosmic system is working by the law of music, the law of harmony; and whenever that harmony in the cosmic system is lacking in any way, then in proportion disaster comes to the world, and its influence is seen in the many destructive forces which are manifest there. The whole of astrological law and the science of magic and mysticism behind it, are based upon music." Pythagoras systematized the laws which allow the creation of stringed instruments: musical scale intervals (octaves, fifths, fourths, thirds). He recognized that these fundamentally abstract relationships pervade all creation--even matter irself. In music, as in nature, a wave is a shape in motion. Each note has a wave-shape. The octave comes from exactly doubling, or halving the string length, that is in 1:2 proportion, while the harmonious fifth has a 2:3 ratio and the fourth 3:4. There is also the less obvious 4:5 interval of the third, and even less obvious consonances. Any tone in the overtone scale is higher than the preceding tone by precisely one whole number. These are the so-called harmonics. The lower the proportions of the numbers, the stronger the consonance, the more harmonious the sound of the two tones together. The primal polarity ratio of 1:2 is the most harmonious to our ears which are biologically geared to seven basic laws of harmony based on the primal law of whole-number quanta (which prevails in physics as well as music): THE SEVEN LAWS OF HARMONY 1. the overtone scale 2. the interval proportions 3. the division of the octave into twelve semitones 4. the difference between consonance and dissonance, the consonance growing as the proportion of the numbers gets smaller 5. the difference between major and minor, the major proportion being the most frequent by far 6. the predominance of the 1:2 polarity, the octave 7. the law of the Lambdoma (a column of numbers written in the form of the Greek letter lambda, whose right leg consists of whole numbers going from one to infinity while the left leg contains the fractions of these same whole numbers, so that the coordinates of the open isosceles triangle follow the scale of overtones or undertones). There are correspondences in physics, acoustics, arithmatic, geometry, crystallography, cybernetics, theology and philosophy, the genetic code and I Ching. The Mysticism of Sound: Music, The Power of the Word, and Cosmic Language (Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan Ser: Vol. 2)

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About 300 million children in the world are living in areas with outdoor air so toxic – six or more times higher than international pollution guidelines – that it can cause serious health damage, including harming their brain development. This shocking finding has just been revealed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in a new report — ‘Clear the air for children‘. “Pollutants don’t only harm children’s developing lungs – they can actually cross the blood-brain barrier and permanently damage their developing brains – and, thus, their futures,” UNICEF’s executive director Anthony Lake on Oct 31 said while announcing the report. These findings come a week ahead of the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP 22) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Marrakesh, Morocco, where UNICEF is calling on world leaders to take urgent action to cut air pollution in their countries. Using satellite imagery, the report further shows that around two billion children live in areas where outdoor air pollution, caused by factors such as vehicle emissions, heavy use of fossil fuels, dust and burning of waste, exceeds minimum air quality guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO). South Asia has the largest number of children living in these areas, at 620 million, with Africa following with 520 million children, and the East Asia and Pacific region with 450 million children living in areas that exceed guideline limits. Children Breathe Faster, Take in More Air than Adults UNICEF further stressed that children are more susceptible than adults to both indoor and outdoor air pollution as their lungs, brains and immune systems are still developing and their respiratory tracks are more permeable. It added that young children also breathe faster than adults, and take in more air relative to their body weight. In particular, the most disadvantaged, who already tend to have poorer health and inadequate access to health services, are the most vulnerable to the illnesses caused by polluted air. The UNICEF report also examines the impact of indoor pollution, commonly caused by the use of fuels like coal and wood for cooking and heating, which mostly affects children in low-income, rural areas. “Together, outdoor and indoor air pollution are directly linked to pneumonia and other respiratory diseases that account for almost one in 10 under-five deaths, making air pollution one of the leading dangers to children’s health.” UNICEF further added that it is asking world leaders attending COP 22 to take four urgent steps in their countries to protect children from air pollution, these include: reducing pollution to meet WHO global air quality guidelines; increasing children’s access to health care; minimising children’s exposure to sources of pollution such as by locating sources of pollution such as factories away from schools and playgrounds as well as by use of cleaner cook stoves; and monitoring air pollution. For its part, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) in partnership with the Coalition for Climate and Clean Air (CCAC) and the Government of Norway on Oct 20 launched a global awareness campaign on the dangers of air pollution – especially ‘invisible killers’ such as black carbon, ground-level ozone and methane – for the health of individuals and the planet. Air Pollution Kills Seven Million People a Year Titled BreatheLife: Clean air. A healthy future, the campaign aims to mobilise cities and their inhabitants on issues of health and protecting the planet from the effects of air pollution. ‘BreatheLife’ brings together expertise and partners that can tackle both the climate and health impacts of air pollution. According to WHO, air pollution kills nearly seven million people each year, nearly 12 per cent of deaths worldwide. And it is responsible for 35 per cent of deaths due to lung disease, 27 per cent of deaths from heart disease, 34 per cent of deaths from stroke, and 36 per cent of deaths from lung cancer. “Urban air pollution levels also tend to be higher in many low and middle-income cities and in poor neighbourhoods of high-income cities. This means reductions in pollutants can have particularly large health benefits for lower income groups as well as for children, elderly, and women.” The campaign seeks to cut in half the number of deaths from air pollution by 2030 – the target year for the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015. ‘Breathe Life’ highlights the practical policies that cities can implement to improve the air quality through better housing, transport infrastructure, managements of waste and energy systems. It also educates individuals and communities about the measures they can take daily to achieve cleaner air, such as stopping the incineration of waste, development of green spaces and the choice of walking or cycling. “Improved vehicle standards, prioritization of clean public transport, and the adoption of stoves and more efficient alternative fuel for cooking, lighting and heating are also part of the actions put forward by the campaign the goal of saving more lives and protect the environment.” For WHO and its partners, this series of measures to achieve a reduction of pollutants could significantly reduce the number of annual deaths from air pollution.

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4th commandment, baptist catechism, Christian sabbath, confessing baptist, fourth commandment, keach catechism, law of God, london baptist confession, Lord's day, moral law, sabbath, ten commandments, third use of the Law, threefold division of the law, westminster larger catechism, westminster shorter catechism In this section of the Baptist Larger Catechism, we continue our exhaustive discussion on the Ten Commandments, which is the summary of the moral law. This section consists of an expansion of questions 63-68 in the Keach Catechism and the Baptist Catechism on the Fourth Commandment. Because of the essential agreement between Reformed Presbyterians and Reformed Baptist on the use and function of the law, the extended answers are very similar to questions 115-121 in the Westminster Larger Catechism. As before, feel free to comment on the additional questions added and the expanded questions below. Q. 107: What is the fourth commandment? A: The fourth commandment is: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.1 Q. 108: What is required in the fourth commandment? A: The fourth commandment requires all men to sanctify or set apart to God the times He has established in His Word, and specifically one whole day out of every seven. This was the seventh day from the creation of the world to the resurrection of Christ, and the first day of the week ever since, which will continue until the end of the world. This is the Christian Sabbath,1 in the New Testament called the Lord’s day.2 Q. 109: How is the Sabbath to be sanctified? A: The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting for the whole day,1 even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days.2 Except for necessary works or acts of mercy,3 we should joyfully spend all our time publicly and privately worshiping God.4 To that end, we must prepare our hearts and carefully plan ahead so that our worldly business is taken care of beforehand in order that we may more readily spend the day the way God requires.5 Q. 110: What is forbidden in the fourth commandment? A: The fourth commandment forbids failing to do anything required by the commandment;1 or doing it carelessly, negligently, or in such a way as not to benefit from it, and being tired of keeping it;2 also treating the day as unholy by loafing, by doing anything in itself sinful,3 and by all useless works, words, and thoughts about our worldly affairs and recreations.4 Q. 111: What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment? A: The reasons added to the fourth commandment to emphasize its importance are first of all implied by its inherent fairness; God allows us six days out of every seven for own affairs and reserves only one for himself, in these words: Six days shall you labor and do all your work.1 God also insists that this day belongs to him, The seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.2 And there is the example of God himself, who in six days made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested on the seventh day. Finally God put a blessing on that day, not just by making it a holy day for serving him but also by establishing that our keeping the Sabbath holy will be a blessing to us as well, Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.3 1. Exodus 20:9 2. Exodus 20:10 3. Exodus 20:11 Q. 112: Why does the word Remember begin the fourth commandment? A: The word Remember begins the fourth commandment1 in one respect, because it is highly beneficial to remember it: the word helps us prepare ourselves to keep the commandment,2 and when we do, it helps us to do a better job keeping all the other commandments;3 and the word also reminds us to remain ever thankful for the two great benefits of creation and redemption, which contain the essence of true religion.4 In another respect, the word “remember” reminds us how easy it is to forget to keep the Sabbath,5 for several reasons. First, keeping the Sabbath is not obvious to our natural, human understanding,6 while it additionally restricts our freedom from doing things that are lawful on other days.7 And, coming only every seventh day leaves plenty of time for us to become so engrossed with our own worldly affairs that we forget to prepare for the Sabbath or keep it holy.8 Finally, Satan himself with the tools at his disposal is hard at work to blot out the glory and even the memory of the Sabbath and so promote the neglect of religion and irreverence.9 1. Exodus 20:8 7. Exodus 34:21

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- Spark new ideas - Know the structure and format of the dissertation - Know what to include in each chapter and much more... By: Dominic Corey If you are a student reading this piece, you will have some inkling of why students tend to copyothers works, or you may even have an idea how it is done, keeping in mind some of the assignments or a custom paper at college. With easy availability of every book, encyclopedia and other informational recourse, the most frequently talked about thing we hear about these days is the concept of copying the work that has already been publish and the way original content is being copied by students to suit their own needs. The students are accused of plagiarism due to their need for custom paper. However, what we need to concentrate here is why students require to take such steps and what are the factors which make them turn to copying the work,to write their own custom paper. Being a student, you may yourself now realize the factors which provoke you into such an act. Nonetheless, here we have brought together some of the reasons which have been studied thoroughly and in detail to determine the reasons, which will explain as to why students get engaged in such an act. Let us start with the basic things and first understand what its concept is and how we comprehend such work, while writing custom papers. It is not an easy task to define such a work in academic terms, as it consists of a wide variety of actions which range from not mentioning the right sources or citations to wholly stealing someone else’s work while labeling it as your own. One important thing to be mentioned here is that it can be intended as well as unintended. A student may copy the work from some source thinking that it is alright as long as it is being properly used, or a student may take the whole piece from a source thinking that it does not matter and who will check the work for such an act of writing due to lack of time. In most of the cases, it has been observed that students use this techniques,as they think that they will never be caught or discovered. Many students do not know how to search properly for the required information. They do not know how to use the encyclopedia, search the library or use other informative resources. This causes frustration and in the end with the deadline fast approaching for submitting their custom paper to the college, they go for copying from other resources available on webpages. Inability to Evaluate Information A large number of students are unaware of the correct way to critically evaluate any piece of information whether it is an Internet resource or any book. This greatly hampers a student’s ability to research and write the required piece of custom paper. Due to this reason, the quality of the work done by the student is not up to the standard which leads him to plagiarize in order to get maximum scores. Misconception of Plagiarism and Paraphrase It has been found that most of the students cannot differentiate between these two terms quite easily at first contact to write their big dissertations. When trying to produce custom papers, this problem intensifies and students face the task of paraphrasing technical material into layman’s language. When the task becomes too hard to complete, they resort to copying the information as it is which leads to copying some other person’s work. This also causes them to give incorrect citations and references enhancing the problem. Usage of Proper Language Language or terminology is another factor which makes students confuse and increases their uncertainty about writing custom papers on their own. Many students cannot distinguish between words that sound same but mean entirely different. This may confuse them and provoke them into cheating and copying kinds of acts for completing their own dissertations on time. A large number of students are careless during their classes or academic days and forget to distinguish during their lectures if the material they have is quoted or paraphrased. This carelessness makes them forget to write if the notes they took were dictated by a teacher, quoted or made by themselves. In the end, they write all of it when writing a dissertation paper which is later found to be a copy of others already constructed work. It may also happen that they do not cite the quote properly and write incorrect reference which again results into unintended non paraphrased work. Improper Citations and References A large number of students are confused between the various citation styles such as MLA, Chicago, Turabian etc. They may consult the books which may not contain the right information and which can lead to wrong way of citation. If copying from an Internet resource, it might happen that a web URL can change overnight and the student may find the copied dissertation all over the Internet. Maintaining High Standards Students want to do their best and achieve the highest possible scores when writing a custom dissertation. When they are unable to come up with a quality paper of their own, they might seek information or a prepared paper on the Internet. They copy the whole thing thinking that theirs would be the best custom paper. On the contrary, this results in the act of crime as in the rights of writing laws. In many instances, students just want to complete their course or degree for which a paper is a requisite. Knowledge or learning is of no essence to them. In such cases, they try to submit their custom papers without any regard for the information or knowledge. To get the work done, they copy paper and present them as their own. Devaluation of Education The need to study just for the purpose of attaining high pay jobs and commercialism has led to devaluation of education. The students just study to get high jobs and not to learn in the strict sense of the word. Thinking from this perspective, they do not give enough attention to their studies or strive hard enough to do their assignments themselves and thus end up with copying other person’s original works. Lack of Time to Carry out Research and Write Students working in foreign universities do not have ample time to conduct researches and write. They have to study as well as work in order to support themselves. This lack of time and energy after a long and hectic day leaves them too tired out to conduct research, study long hours and produce custom papers. They get stressed and overwhelmed by the great energy and hard work needed to compile their custom papers. Due to this very reason, students turn towards this act. These reasons are some of the most common among the factors which cause students to copy, while writing their custom papers. Each of the students must have faced at least one or more than one of these reasons for committing this act of crime in terms of writing or compiling a dissertation paper. However, with proper guidance and management it is possible for students to avoid this act. Check Essay for Plagiarism: Make sure you check your dissertation or essay for any traces of cheating or copying of other person’s work. It must not be copied at all. Learn the proper way of citing references and ensure you know how paraphrasing works and what its limitations are Free Plagiarism Detection: There are custom essay writing services that provide free detection. When you acquire their assistance in completing your dissertation, they send you a report which substantiates the truthfulness of their claim that the work was not plagiarized at all. Universities Check for Plagiarism: If you are thinking your university won’t check whether you have your work for originality or not then you are making a big mistake. There are software available which can easily detect if they whole dissertation or even some part of it was copied from somewhere or not. You can easily get caught. So, make sure you avoid cheating at any cost and make sure that your work is full original proof. Detecting Such Crime in Writing is Easy: Detecting such acts in writtings, is not a big deal nowadays. You may even buy an Anti-Plagiarism Software and check your own dissertation to make sure it’s custom written and you have not even accidentally written anything without mentioning proper references.

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If you think fire ants are a nuisance, you might have another problem if crazy ants takeover your yard. According to a study done at the University of Texas at Austin and published this week in the journal Science Express, invasive “crazy ants” are rapidly displacing fire ants in areas across the southeastern United States by secreting a compound that neutralizes fire ant venom. When a crazy ant is smeared with fire ant venom it can detoxify itself. In lab experiments, crazy ants that were allowed to detoxify themselves had a 98 percent survival rate. This chemical counter-weapon allows crazy ants to take over fire ants nesting sites and food resources. Watch a video of the process: Ed LeBrun, a research associate with the Texas invasive species research program at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory in UT Austin’s College of Natural Sciences saw these two groups in action in the wild. The fire ants found a dead cricket first and were guarding it in large numbers. “The crazy ants charged into the fire ants, spraying venom,” said LeBrun. “When the crazy ants were dabbed with fire ant venom, they would go off and do this odd behavior where they would curl up their gaster [an ant’s modified abdomen] and touch their mouths.” Crazy ant populations are popping up across the southern U.S. While colonies of crazy ants don’t spread as quickly as fire ants, they are still a concern. “Crazy ants nest opportunistically in any cavity they can find,” said LeBrun. “That includes things like potted plants, plywood left around, recreational vehicles.People are just moving around these ants like gangbusters.” Last year, the researchers reported that where crazy ants take hold, the numbers and types of arthropods – insects, spiders, centipedes and crustaceans – decrease, which is likely to have ripple effects on ecosystems by reducing food sources for birds, reptiles and other animals. LeBrun also warns crazy ants can also move into homes and treatments for them aren’t very effective.

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Harassment and Discrimination Complaints Definitions and Prohibited Acts and Behaviors Harassment on the Basis of Protected Characteristic(s) other than Sex/Gender Harassment based on race, color, age, religion, or national origin (including an individual's ancestry, country of origin, or that of the individual's family members, or ancestors), disability, sexual orientation or other protected characteristics may be oral, written, graphic or physical conduct relating to an individual's protected characteristics that is sufficiently severe, pervasive, or persistent so as to interfere with or limit the ability of an individual to participate in or benefit from the educational institution's programs or activities, or terms, conditions or status of employment. Sexual Harassment in the Employment Setting is defined as: Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when any of the following occurs: - Submission to such conduct is made a term or condition of an individual's continued employment, promotion or other condition of employment. - Submission to or rejection of such conduct is used as a basis for employment decisions affecting an employee or job applicant. - Such conduct is intended to interfere with an individual's work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. Sexual Harassment in the Educational setting is defined as: Unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment can include unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, nonverbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment of a student denies or limits, on the basis of gender, the student's ability to participate in or to receive benefits, services, or opportunities in the educational institution's program. An employee or student who participates in the procedure has the right to do so without fear of retaliation. It will be made clear that retaliation against an employee, a student or a witness who has filed a discrimination complaint will result in appropriate sanctions or other disciplinary action as covered by collective bargaining agreements, and/or applicable University policies. is a clear, unambiguous, knowing, informed, and voluntary agreement between all participants to engage in sexual activity. Consent is active, not passive. Requesting and having consent accepted is the responsibility of the person(s) initiating each specific sexual act regardless of whether the person initiating the act is under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. Consent may be initially given but withdrawn at any time. When consent is withdrawn, sexual activity must stop. ** The definition of consent does not vary based upon a participant's sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Silence, in and of itself, cannot be interpreted as consent. Consent cannot be given when it is the result of any coercion, intimidation, force, or threat of harm. Consent to any sexual act or prior consensual sexual activity between or with any party does not constitute consent to any other sexual act. Consent cannot be given when a person is incapacitated. Incapacitation occurs when an individual lacks the capacity to fully, knowingly choose to decide about participating in sexual activity, whether due to a disability that limits informed sexual decision-making, or because of impairment due to drugs or alcohol (whether such use is voluntary or involuntary), the lack of consciousness or being asleep, being involuntarily restrained, if any of the parties are under the age of 17, or otherwise cannot consent.

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36th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry 36th Cavalry Battalion was organized in February, 1863, with four companies, later increased to five. The unit was assigned to A.G. Jenkins’, W.E. Jones’, B.T. Johnson’s, and Payne’s Brigade. It had a force of 125 men at Gettysburg, moved to Western Virginia, then took part in operations in East Tennessee. The 36th was with McCausland at Chambersburg, served with Early in the Shenandoah Valley, and was active around Appomattox. After cutting through the lines at Appomattox, it disbanded. Major James W. Sweeney was in command. [Source: National Park Service, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System] 36th and 37th Battalions Virginia Cavalry, Virginia Regimental History Series, by J.L. Scott, H.E. Howard Publishing.

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It is very typical for students to have misconceptions in different domains (content knowledge areas) and there is a common set of alternative conceptions. We provide excellent essay writing service 24/7. Enjoy proficient essay writing and custom writing services provided by professional academic writers. Piaget's theory of cognitive development The most well-known and influential theory of cognitive development is that of French psychologist Jean Piaget ( Piaget's theory of cognitive development is a comprehensive theory about the nature and development of human intelligence. It was first created by the Swiss. Piaget's theory of cognitive development - Wikipedia I find some definitions of Phenomenography helpful in understanding its broad applicability spectrum. Johns Hopkins studies in Atlantic history and culture illustrated ed. Women, Commerce, and Regional Culture in South. Cognitive development: The Science of Childcare Constructivism is a theory of learning to help the learners to construct something based on their own understanding by assimilating prior knowledge and new ones. Children in this stage commonly experience difficulties with figuring out logic in their heads. American Journal of Human Genetics. After the Emancipation Proclamation, many Chinese Americans immigrated to the Southern states, particularly Arkansas, to work on plantations. The Chinese, on the other hand, though poor, sent a courteous message to the effect that they did not require payment in money, but would be perfectly happy if I would give them, as a memento, copies of their photographs. Dealing with racism from outside sources is also a common area of potential conflict. Performance across the lifespan with emphasis on the elderly. The Rohingya claim to have descended from Bengalis who intermarried with the local women, but this remains a hotly contested issue. Essay Writing Service - qlipe.com | Custom Writing | Paper Writing Service Many men came alone to work and married Costa Rican women and speak Cantonese. It is very typical for students to have misconceptions in different domains (content knowledge areas) and there is a common set of alternative conceptions. It means that knowledge is seen or viewed as learning in how the learners construct the meaning of something that can make sense to them. In his interviews with children, he asked questions specifically about natural phenomena , such as: Whereas intrinsic motivation seems to improve the effectiveness of learning leading to a deep approach, external concerns may limit the value of learning and lead to a surface approach. Volume 1 of European expansion and indigenous response, v. Adult Learning Context and Perspectives /LEARNING PERSPECTIVES ESSAY | Worldconnections Egocentrism is the inability to consider or understand a perspective other than one's own. It means that the role of constructivism theory is in the opposite of behaviorism. The research funded by the Leverhulme Trust upon which this lecture is based, will be published in by Oxford University Press, and titled: If your deadline is just around the corner and you have tons of coursework piling up, contact us and we will ease your academic burden.The hybrid algorithm is implemented in the statistical programming language and environment R, introducing packages which capture – through matrix algebra. University of the West Indies. According to Kanselaar there are two major constructivist perspectives. Introduction. Nazi Germany introduced the Nuremberg Laws in , among which was the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour that banned marital as well as extramarital relations between Germans incl. Understanding the learning process is pivotal to the success of education, both as an institutional enterprise and as a personal engagement aimed at making sense of the world. The process of learning has been a source of amazement, fascination, and study for centuries. Greater sedentary time was associated with more peer problems and fewer hyperactivity symptoms in boys and girls. Their son Ian Khama is the president of that country. That Leonardo had Middle Eastern blood is supported by the reconstruction of a fingerprint: UK households that experience greater financial disadvantage are more likely to contain preschoolers with internalising behaviour problems. Investigators have continually attempted to. Events archive – Oxford University Department of Education It is also generally acknowledged that any play involving one or more senses similarly offers enhanced learning potential. Retrieved 22 June The Phenomenographic perspective CONTEXT Whereas Constructivism is based on a dualistic view of an external and an internal reality, the phenomenographic perspective does not recognize the dichotomy between a subjectively experienced world and an outer objective reality. When black and Indian women had children with Chinese men the children were called chaina raial in Jamaican English. Supported decision making By Cher Nicholson In this article Cher Nicholson looks at supported decision making in practice and discusses a project from South Australia. It was also evident that the role STEM Studio Schools play is, in reality, dependent on the perspective from which they are viewed. Because the majority of the population who migrated to Macau were Cantonese, Macau became a culturally Cantonese speaking society; other ethnic groups became fluent in Cantonese. It is accounted a piece of Policy to do it; for the chief Factors and Captains of Ships have the great men's Daughters offered them, the Mandarins or Noblemen at Tunquin The long nineteenth century: China's Muslim Hui community: However, the application of standardized Piagetian theory and procedures in different societies established widely varying results that lead some to speculate not only that some cultures produce more cognitive development than others but that without specific kinds of cultural experience, but also formal schooling, development might cease at certain level, such as concrete operational level. Using vertically scaled numeracy assessments from a large scale assessment program, this paper shows that eliminating the bias on estimates of the multiple-choice items also impacts on the difficulty estimates of the constructed response items. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The approach is illustrated with examples drawn from a study of English secondary school teachers. The theoretical framework of Bruner is that learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concept based on their current or past knowledge. The study aimed for a total sample size of 60 children from a school in the east of England. With clear references to sociocultural aspects of globalisation, a sizeable body of scholarship has developed specifically examining phenomena such as language hybridity, translanguaging and, in general, language practices in conditions of super- diversity. The presentation will focus on the benefits and problems of using tasks in qualitative interviews, and the design and analysis of task-based interviews. Cooperative learning is the learning by discussing something in group based on their own experience. Also at this phase, passive reactions, caused by classical or operant conditioning , can begin. Interracial marriage - Wikipedia In some of these Dutch wives were still captives of the Chinese. Fictions of Feminine Citizenship: Role-playing included providing the children with props to partake in pretend play. Designed to tackle the twin challenges of missing skills and youth disengagement, 28 of the 36 Studio Schools open at the time of writing are in fact, STEM-focused. Retrieved 22 October Much of the business conducted with foreign men in southeast Asia was done by the local women, who served engaged in both sexual and mercantile intercourse with foreign male traders.

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Advancing health through science, education and medicine Lasting Action in Anti-Doping Efforts. To advance anti-doping efforts among physicians, allied medical professionals and coaches, ACSM and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) have formed Professionals Against Doping in Sports (PADS), a consortium of professional societies working to establish common ethical principles in the fight against doping in sport. The single most internationally read and referenced text in sports medicine, exercise science, and health and fitness, this manual succinctly summarizes recommended procedures for exercise testing… » Read More

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Early Medieval Europe Archaeology Blog Archaeological news about the Archaeology of Early Medieval Europe from the Archaeology in Europe Thursday, 20 July 2017 Southampton Water fish trap dated to Saxon times The trap was found by chance close to the Fawley oil refinery by archaeology students more than 10 years ago. A timber fishing trap exposed on the Hampshire coast dates back to Saxon times, it has been confirmed. The weir, built as a permanent wooden structure to catch fish as the tide ebbed, was found by chance on the shore of Southampton Water in 2005. Radiocarbon dating has shown it was built in the 8th or 9th centuries. Experts from Exeter University said the results were "thrilling" and provided new insights into the process of coastal erosion in the area. Read the rest of this article... David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scot Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest Post a Comment Post Comments (Atom)

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The world was overjoyed when hostilities in the Great War, after inflicting some 37 million casualties, ceased with the signing of the Armistice on November 11, 1918. Simpson County native James Lambert would later share his memories of the event. “In the evening of that day, I was in London,” he recalled. No vehicles could move, as “rejoicing men, women and children” crammed the downtown streets. He marveled at the democratic nature of the celebration. Men carried women on their shoulders, and girls kissed soldiers “right on the streets. They were not women of questionable character either,” observed Lambert, “but some of the best and fairest ladies of the realm.” Indeed, citizens of every age, class and occupation had turned out “with uplifted hands, with upturned faces, and with tears running down their cheeks, thanking Almighty God for peace.” Serving aboard the troop ship USS Powhatan, Thomas O. Helm reported to his mother in Bowling Green that his ship had docked at Brest, and he “certainly did enjoy being in a French port when they signed the Armistice.” Like Lambert, he remarked on the inclusive nature of the festivities. The streets were full of parading citizens, singing and linking arms “regardless of whom they were.” At night, “the harbor was beautiful,” wrote Helm. “There were 25 transports and at least that many destroyers playing their search lights over the harbor. . . it was like riding down Broadway.” Back in St. Charles, Missouri, Annie Raus described the local celebrations to the family of her cousin, Private Clem Phillips, then recovering in France from wounds. “Everybody is so happy we were all so excited we didn’t know if we should laugh or cry.” The noisy parades passing by had interrupted her washing day and made it impossible to “stay at the tub.” And in Bowling Green, Martha Potter took out her scrapbook of son John’s overseas Army service and carefully added the red, white and blue ribbon he had worn on his coat the night the Armistice was signed. Click on the links to access finding aids for these collections, part of the Manuscripts & Folklife Archives holdings of WKU’s Department of Library Special Collections. For more on the end of World War I, search TopSCHOLAR and KenCat.

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Paul Bunyan by: Timothy Jones Key Ideas and details According to Sandburg, what is the origin of the Paul Bunyan stories? 1a Sandburg says the origin of Paul Bunyan stories was Big North Woods and Great Lakes 1075 What does Sandburg mean by saying that some of Paul is "old as the hills, young as the alphabet"? 1b I think when it said "Old as the hill, young as the alphabet" it means his stories have been took for a long time. 1075 Identify two actions that show Paul Bunyan is clever as well as strong. 2a The two action that showed his cleverness and strength was outsmarted the mosquitoes and diving into the lake. 1076 How does these qualities relate to the myth of the heroic character? 2b This is a myth because, his strength is greatly exaggerated. 1076 How does Paul Bunyan stop the rain? 3a Paul stopped the rain by by diving into the lake. 1076 What do this anecdote and other details in this selection tell you about life in the midwest in the early nineteenth century? 3b It tells me that lumberjacks were important. 1076 Do you think the Paul Bunyan stories might have been based on a real person? 4a It very well he could have been based on a real person but exaggerated. What type of person in today's world might inspire this kind of story? 4b The type of person this would inspirer would be a hard worker because, Paul worked very hard. why would a lumberjack have been a hero in frontier america? 5a He would have been a hero in frontier America because, lumber jacks had to cut down trees to make communities. what qualities does Paul Bunyan share with today's heros? (connect to the big question: Are yesterday's hero's important today?) 5b Paul would share strength, and determined with the military. No ones knows where he comes from. He was a lumber jack and his tale was told for many years. He jumped into a river to make it stop raining. Paul out smarted mosquitoes and got them fat. They also became easy to drown and they from new orleans and gulf of mexico. The story has many themes. The theme i get from it is play to your strengths. Like not everybody is good at being social. He had physical strength but there are many other strengths too. Everybody has something they are good at and not everybody is good everything.

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An Articles Archives Diet - Diseases - Enzymes - Exercise - Health - Herbs - Longevity - Medicine - Minerals - Natural Health - Nutrition - Stress - Vegan - Vegetarian - Vitamins We began this archives as a means of assisting our visitors in answering many of their health and diet questions, and in encouraging them to take a pro-active part in their own health. We believe the articles and information contained herein are true, but are not presenting them as advice. We, personally, have found that a vegan diet has helped our own health, and simply wish to share with others the things we have found. Each of us must make our own decisions, for it's our own body. If you have a health problem, see your own physician. Most of these quotations are from the book Moooove over milk (132 pp. published 1997 by Lets Eat, Hot Springs, U.S.A.) BABIES AND INFANTS "Babies who are fed whole cows milk during the second six months of life may experience a 30% increase in intestinal blood loss and a significant loss of iron in their stools." Paediatrics 1992; 89 (6):1105 -1109 "We should strive to use foods . . . . that meet the nutrient needs of the older infant . . . yet avoid toxicity. Cow milk simply does not meet this standard of quality." Journal of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition 1993;16 (1):2 "Drinking cows milk may weaken immune function in children and lead to problems with recurring infections." Nature 1978; 272 (5654): 632 "About 20% of babies suffer from colic, or abdominal cramping and gas. Milk proteins may be one of the leading causes of this digestive disorder." Lancet 1978; 2 (8087): 437-439, Paediatrics 1991; 87 (4): 439 -444 "A young age at introduction of dairy products and high milk consumption during childhood may increase the childs risk of developing juvenile diabetes." Diabetologia 1994; 37 (4): 381 -387 "Early cow milk exposure may increase juvenile diabetes risk by about 1½ times." Diabetes Care 1994; 17 (1): 13 "Epedemiologic and serologic data in humans also suggest a relation between cows milk and diabetes." New England Journal of Medicine 1992; 327 (5): 302-307 ("Cows milk protein) may play a fundamental role in the development of . . . IDDM." Diabetes 1996; 45 (2): 178 -182. [IDDM:Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus] "An estimated 50 million Americans experience intestinal discomfort after consuming dairy products. Symptoms include bloating, stomach-pain, cramps, gas or diarrhoea." Postgraduate Medicine 1994; 95 (1) 113 -120 "Adults who consume large quantities of milk, who have high lactase activity, . . . suffer repeated small galactose challenges, accumulation of galacticol in the lens, and a greater likelihood of developing senile cataracts." Digestive Diseases and Sciences 1982; 27 (3) 257 -264 "Milk fat has been identified as a (cholesterol-elevating) fat because it contains cholesterol and is primarily saturated." Journal of Dairy Science 1991; 74 (11): 4002 -4012 "Milk and many components of milk (butterfat, milk protein, calcium from milk, and riboflavin) . . . were positively related to coronary heart disease mortality for all 40 countries studied." Circulation 1993; 88 (6): 2771 -2779 "Two glasses of whole milk contain about the same amount of cholesterol as one 3-ounce beef steak." Lifestyle Capsules p.309 Substituting just 20 grams of soy protein for animal protein daily can "significantly lower serum concentrations of total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides." James Anderson MD, New England Journal of Medicine 1995; 333 (5): 276 -282 [the volunteers in this study all consumed the same amounts of fat and cholesterol; the reduction in blood cholesterol levels was due to the protective effect of soy.] "Cultures with the highest milk consumption have the highest osteoporosis rates, a disease rarely found in non-milk-drinking cultures." Dr. Hans Diehl, Dynamic Living p.108. "Osteoporosis is caused by a number of things, one of the most important things being too much dietary protein!" American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1974; (9): 916 -925 "Dietary protein increases production of acid (in the blood) which can be neutralized by calcium mobilized from the skeleton." American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1995; 61(4): 909 "Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes are good sources of boron, which helps stop calcium loss in the body. Because milk is low in boron and high in phosphorous and protein, it is not a good osteoporosis-fighting food." Dr. Forest H. Nielsen, U.S. Department of Agriculture, in Nutrition Today Jan/Feb 1988; 4 -7 "Excessive protein intake could account for the 1.0% to 1.5% loss in bone mass each year typically seen in post-menopausal women." Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine 1982; 99(1): 46 -55 "Sulphur amino acids in animal products seem to be primarily responsible for the increased calcium loss." Calcified Tissue International 1989; 44 (5): 335 -338 "Meat based diets are more acid producing than lacto-ovo vegetarian (LOV) diets; and LOV diets are more acid producing than vegan diets." Journal of the American Dietetic Association 1985; 85 (7): 841-845 "In Western countries eating more than 75g a day of protein is likely to cause excessive calcium loss." Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (Am) 1967; 49 (5): 915 -924 "Soybean milk is an excellent source for increasing bone mineral density and mechanical bone strength . . . the peptides (proteins) in the soybean milk are effective for the acceleration of intestinal calcium absorption." American Institute of Nutrition 1993; Journal of Nutrition, Science and Vitaminology 1994; 40; 201 -211 "Nations with the highest dietary fat consumption also have the highest rates of prostate and breast cancer." Advances in Cancer Research 1980; 32:237 -345 "Dietary factors (mainly high fat and animal protein intake) appear to be the most important risk determinants for colon cancer." Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology 1986; 6 (1): 24 -54 In a study involving 3,334 cancer patients, frequent whole milk consumption led to "significant risk increases for cancers of the oral cavity, stomach, rectum, lung, and breast." Nutrition and Cancer 1990; 13 (1-2): 89-99 There is much evidence suggesting that compounds present in soya beans can prevent cancer in many different organ systems". Journal of Nutrition 1995; 125 (3 Suppl): 733S -743S) "US government regulations permit pasteurised milk to have up to 750,000 lymphocytes [pus cells], 20,000 bacteria, and 10 coliform organisms per 1/5th. teaspoon about 8 drops! But at 40 F, the temperature of a good refrigerator, the population of those bugs can double every 35-40 hours!" Moooove over Milk No wonder milk is a major source of human infection. For example as recently as Thursday 29 June 2000 over 5,000 people in Japan became seriously ill after drinking milk contaminated with the Staphylococcus germ, typically found in the pus of boils and abscesses. "Any time a patient of mine is found to have streptococcal pharingytis or pyoderma, we can establish by history that he has ingested milk protein within five days . . ." Dr. Frank Oski, MD (paediatrician). Dont Drink Your Milk p.24 We have not touched on CJD, TB, Listeriosis, Campylobacter, Salmonella, E Coli, Crohns Disease, Lactose Intolerance, or Allergies. Fortunately there are many good alternatives to animal milk. Soy milk for example, especially that fortified with vitamin B12 and additional calcium. Plant-based milk is CLEAN and CRUELTY-FREE! It is admittedly more expensive than cows milk, but how much do you value your health? If the government subsidies were removed from livestock farming the price would be much more competitive. Turning soy into milk via a machine wastes nothing. Feeding the soy to dairy cows to produce cows milk wastes 90% of it. Which should be realistically cheaper? Over nine tenths of the worlds soy production is fed to livestock. Governments continue to subsidise with taxpayers money the production of meat and milk. It is cruel to animals, harmful to human health, and wasteful of land, water and fossil fuels. We should make our voices heard in opposition to this policy. HIPPO, Llangynog, Carmarthen SA33 5BS, Wales, U.K. | Home Page | Health Index | Your Comments Are | Home Page | Animal Issues | Archive | Art and Photos | Articles | Bible | Books | Church and Religion | Discussions | Health | Humor | Letters | Links | Nature Studies | Poetry and Stories | Quotations | Recipes | Site Search | What's New? | Thank you for visiting all-creatures.org.

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Don’t say we didn’t warn you. We told you in the previous chapter that we’d cover every math concept included on the GRE, and this chapter makes good on that promise. Yeah, Math 101 is long, very long, but you don’t necessarily need to read it straight through—it’s here as a resource to help you study any and all topics you need to review. If you’re good with triangles, by all means skip ‘em. If exponents have always baffled you, key in on that section. If you’ve never even heard of modes or frequency distributions—well, you’ll know what to do when you get to that part. If you’re a total super math genius, pass Go, collect $200, and proceed right to chapter 3. (That’s just a Monopoly expression. No one’s really going to give you $200.) Use as much or as little of what follows as you need, but make sure you have a good grasp of the concepts covered in this chapter if you want to ace GRE Math. You’ll see that we have highlighted all the math formulas, which are integral to solving any GRE Math question in this chapter. Additionally, in the subsequent chapters, we have bolded all the math concepts that turn up in our explanations to the practice questions. That way, if anything seems difficult or particularly confusing, you can easily reference that particular math concept and come back here to get some targeted study. As we discussed in chapter 1, GRE Math questions take many forms, but they all test one or more of four main subject areas: We begin with one of the so-called three R’s of education, which for some reason doesn’t even begin with the letter “R”. . .

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Fast-paced board games help bridge the gap between reading and understanding! These fun highly motivating games are designed to build and reinforce reading and language arts skills Each title focuses on a specific skill necessary for comprehension of text in a variety of forms—from fiction to informational texts and directions All games are designed for 2-6 players and include story cards, instructions and playing pieces Reading level: 2.0-3.5 Small Parts. Not for children under 3 yrs. Grade Level(s) : Reading Level : 2.0 - 3.5 Usage Ideas : Players make their way around the world, stopping to sightsee in such far-off places as Paris, Istanbul and Beijing. At every stop, a story card asks them to read a leveled passage and choose the main idea from multiple answers.

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The Concept "Social Forces" In American Sociology Section I: Introduction Floyd Nelson House University of Chicago Two values for sociological method. The present study is intended to promote two methodological values, recapitulation of what has already been done in a certain direction, and standardization of an equipment of concepts with corresponding terms, the latter the more important for sociologists since they cannot use the strict laboratory method. The term "social forces" illustrates the need for standardization, since it is used in at least three quite different meanings. Method of the present study. The materials brought together here have been arranged chiefly in topical, not chronological order. A formal definition of the term "social forces" as primarily understood here is given. Origins of the social-forces concept. The sociologists' use of the social-forces concept can be traced apparently to two writers, Herbert Spencer and Lester F. Ward. Small gave evidence of discriminating appreciation of the value of the concept in 1897. In the conception of the present writer, the study set forth in the following pages derives its value from the truth of two theses. The first can be very simply stated. It is that for the development of adequate sociological method there is considerable utility in the making of surveys of what has already been done, in the field of sociology generally, and in its various subdivisions, including both those developments which have survived and enjoy current favor, and those which have seemingly proved abortive. Conviction of ( 146) the value of studies in the history of the sciences to the workers in those sciences appears to be growing, on the whole, not only in those disciplines which are most nearly related to sociology, such as economics, political science, and psychology, each of which has its history now embodied in a considerable and reputable literature, but also in the so-called "natural" and mathematical sciences. In the latter field, there appears to be a growing tendency in the various universities to introduce graduate courses in the various departments dealing with the histories of the subjects in question, where such courses were not previously given. In the particular field of sociology, Professor Small has done valuable and scholarly pioneer work in collecting and publishing studies concerning the development and origins of sociological theory as such; and Professors Lichtenberger and Bogardus have written books dealing especially with the history of social thought down to the time when sociology became differentiated from the main trunk of social science. But for the comparatively short period during which sociology has had a substantial following in its own right, we have as yet comparatively little historical literature. The second thesis upon which the present study is based has to do with the importance to sociological method of an equipment of fundamental concepts or categories, with corresponding terms of general acceptance, as tools of research and explanation. It is probably true that such sets of fundamental concepts and agreed terms by which they are labeled constitute an important part of the methodological equipment of any science or intellectual discipline. The sciences dealing with human behavior are particularly dependent upon their basic concepts for their own further development. The social sciences are in the nature of things permanently debarred from any extensive use of the laboratory method in the most rigorous sense of the term, and are compelled therefore to devise for themselves substitutes. Certain types of statistical procedure promise to yield valuable results and may perhaps be grouped together as one type of substitute for the laboratory method which is available for the social scientists. Most of the other research procedures which now appear to be possible can be sum- ( 147) -marized as "the statement of historical and existing social situations in such a way that the results in one case will demonstrate what can and should be done in another." Such a statement of social situations which are a matter of satisfactory record, or are subject to present or future observation, as will enable the sociologists to derive from them generalized conclusions which can be applied to subsequent situations, is evidently dependent upon the existence and common acceptance among sociologists of general concepts and corresponding terms which can be used for the description, classification, and explanation of the given cases. Before sociologists can assert that their science is in a reasonably mature condition, it is evident that the equipment, of concepts and the vocabulary which is understood in the same sense by all members of the guild must be expanded to very considerable dimensions. The first task, however, is and has been the definition through a slow process of tentative formulation and criticism and a consequent selection, of a relatively short list of concepts and terms of the most fundamental necessity. Down to the present time, it could not readily be shown that there are more than a half-dozen concepts of this sort which are accepted in about the same sense by sociologists in the United States generally. Probably the leading sociologists in this country would agree fairly well upon the importance and meaning of the following terms: "social group," "social process" or "interaction," "social control," "collective behavior," and "social forces." As we shall see, the term "social forces," which it is the especial purpose of the present paper to study in its historical setting, is still far from receiving the same emphasis or the same definition by all of the various leading sociological writers today. In general, the concept "social forces" is used as a special case within the broader notion of social causation. No sharp lines of demarcation, therefore, separate the social-forces concept from the ( 148) concepts "social control" and "social process." As will be brought out in the remainder of this paper, various sociologists have emphasized quite widely different and sometimes contradictory or inconsistent doctrines as of primary importance within their general explanations of social causation; and some of them have found little or no use for the concept "social forces." Nevertheless, the term and the conception persist both in academic and in popular discussion, and there is reason for believing that the concept is one naturally adapted to our intellectual capacities and tendencies. It seems therefore worth while to study the meanings which have been attached to the term "social forces" in the sociological and popular literature in the past, for the purpose of arriving at a better understanding of the purpose it has served. A survey of the literature of sociology, social science generally, and social work and social reform reveals that the term "social forces" has been employed in at least two, perhaps three, quite divergent meanings. To the social worker and the social reformer, the social forces have been the persons, institutions, and groups which they have felt it necessary to take into account, either as obstacles to be circumvented or as resources to be mobilized in connection with their particular and concrete problems. From this use of the term it is possible, and would be considered by some students helpful, to distinguish the meaning which historians have been disposed to attach to the term "social forces," or to the term "historic forces," which they frequently use in preference. To the historian, the expression "social forces" is likely to mean the main lines of change which he thinks he can distinguish in the history of a particular state, continent, or region, through a given period in which he may be interested. He thinks of these lines or currents of change as having a tendency to continue in the same general direction after a particular date which they can be shown to have had before it, except as they may be impelled by interference with one ( 149) another or by the mounting to larger dimensions of a new factor to change their directions. Naturally, the historians' conception of social forces is not marked off by any hard-and-fast line from the social workers' and politicians' conception. But a number of writers in the field of sociological theory, starting with Spencer and Ward, have asserted and used a quite sharply distinguishable meaning for the term. To these latter thinkers, as we shall see, the fundamental social forces have been universal human-nature tendencies, desires, cravings, and interests, postulated as the underlying motives of all human behavior, social as well as individual. It is this last-mentioned meaning of the term "social forces" and its variants with which the present study is primarily concerned. We shall have occasion, however, to consider more carefully in a later section the distinction between it and the social workers' conception. The attempt to trace the history of any particular doctrine or concept in American sociology is certain to be attended with substantial difficulty. It is a matter of common knowledge among students of our field that the development of sociology in the United States has been an extremely complicated process. To be sure, there is a sense in which modern science and philosophy have made it apparent that all processes are complex, but it is possible to discuss some types of developmental processes in a simplified and abstract form which does no serious violence to the facts, and which yields useful generalized representations. The history of American sociology, and likewise of most of the concepts and doctrines found within the science, presents a complexity which is particularly hard to unravel without serious perversion of the facts. One can say with approximate accuracy that American sociology has arrived at its present degree of sophistication within four and a half decades. In 1880, there was no separately existent discipline of sociology, in this country or anywhere else. Within two decades after that date there existed, not a science of sociology, but at least a half-dozen different doctrines consisting of attempted answers to the ques- ( 150) -tion, What is sociology? drawn from as many divergent sources: from Darwinism, Comtean positivism, paleobotany, from Tarde's rather offhand generalizations concerning the communication and imitation process, from Ratzenhofer and the ethical permutation of economic theory, and from ethnographic data. Since then, these different streams of sociological or near-sociological thought have mingled and fertilized one another, until today one can almost say that there are as many sociologies as there are sociologists; while the number of sociologists is constantly increasing. Indeed, there are at the present time signs of integration in sociological thought; but this integration process is only beginning, and it is still possible for any sociologist or teacher of sociology to appropriate one idea here and one there, to the end that his sociology is more or less original as a synthesis; while, at the same time, if he has moderate powers of systematizing his own thought, he can cause his doctrine to present a degree of internal unity and coherence which compares favorably with that of his contemporaries. In the face of these circumstances, the task of reducing the history of one of the doctrines which has been conspicuous in American sociology to a concise statement necessarily involves an arbitrary treatment of the data. Two courses of procedure were most evidently possible for the purposes of this paper: (1) to set down what each sociologist has said that is pertinent to the problem, with the attempt to show his thought in historical sequence with the sources from which he may have drawn; or (2) to classify the material under the smallest number of headings which would be reasonably discriminating from a theoretic point of view, and to attempt to exhibit these doctrinal variations in their sequence with antecedent doctrines and in their interaction with contemporary doctrines. With some hesitation, the writer has followed a modification of the latter method in the present study. It may be added in apology for the obvious gaps in the treatment that the lack of a type of biographical data much to be desired makes it impracticable to present as fully as would be otherwise in order the relation of the theories and concepts of the various writers in their relation to probable antecedent sources. It is not to be supposed that any American sociologist has been more strikingly originative than sci- ( 151) -entists in general are, in the formulation of his theories; but it is by no means easy to determine in many cases what the ingredients were which entered into the synthesis which we know his work must have been in large part. In the sense of the term "social forces" which was mentioned above as sociological, in distinction from the social workers' and the historians' conceptions, we shall understand, in general, some variation of a certain abstract doctrine to be implied—a doctrine which may be stated as follows: It is possible to enumerate in terms of relatively few class names or categories, causal factors, tendencies, motives, or pressures, which are more or less universally at work in the social process and in all self-contained group processes, or in all group processes in the measure that they are self-contained. These general categories of causal forces are understood to be such that we may reasonably hope to be able to interpret a given concrete social situation A, for example, in terms of so many units of factor M, so many units of factor N, and so on; and that we may expect to be able to interpret situation B, or any other reasonably comprehensive social situation, in terms of different intensities of the same basic types of factors. As we shall see, although most of the attempts which have been made to formulate such lists of general social forces have been severely criticized, and none has found very general acceptance, it is a conspicuous fact of the history and present trend of sociological thinking and writing in the United States that the attempts to formulate such categories persistently recur. Although it is the intention of the writer to confine the study arbitrarily to the writings of American sociologists, there is evident justification for beginning the examination of most lines of development in American sociology with Herbert Spencer. Certainly this is true of the social-forces concept. There is no easy method by which one can discover how many of the American sociologists were consciously or unconsciously influenced in their formulation of outlines of social forces by Spencer's example, but it is certain that Spencer was universally read by students of sociology in the last decades of the nineteenth century. An examination of his scheme of the "factors of social phenomena" shows at once that we ( 152) have here a conceptual outline which, in general form at least, is a prototype of all later analyses of social forces which were developed in the United States. The following is a redaction to brief outline form of the substance of the second chapter of Spencer's Principles of Sociology: The factors of social phenomena.—"Be it rudimentary or be it advanced, every society displays phenomena that are ascribable to the character of its units and to the conditions under which they exist." A. Original factors I. Extrinsic factors: climate, surface, fertility of soil, configuration of surface, vegetal productions, fauna II. Intrinsic factors: physical traits, emotional traits, degree of intelligence of the individual and his peculiar tendencies of thought B. Secondary or derived factors I. "The progressive modifications of the environment, inorganic and organic, which societies effect": culture of desirable plants and animals, destruction of forests, of noxious plants and animals, drainage, irrigation II. The increasing size of the social aggregate, accompanied, generally, by increasing density III. The reciprocal influence of the society and its units—the influence of the whole on the parts and of the parts on the whole IV. The influence of the super-organic environment—the action and reaction between a society and neighboring societies V. The accumulation of super-organic products: material appliances, language, science, systems of laws, aesthetic products As we proceed to examine passages from later writings in which the concept "social forces" is discussed, it will become apparent that Spencer can be placed only in a general sense in the line of development which runs through Lester F. Ward. He is as much the intellectual forerunner of those who did not accept ín any sense, or at least did not make use of, Ward's dictum that the desires are the fundamental social forces as he is of those who did follow that lead with more or less qualification. The foregoing analysis which Spencer laid down is as much an attempt at a formal analysis of "social process" as it is a schedule of underlying forces which might be supposed to operate in that process. Indeed, it is more the former than the latter. Nevertheless, with this outline, ( 153) and particularly with his phrase, "the factors of social phenomena," it seems very likely that Spencer must have contributed to the hypothesis which subsequently had wide currency among American sociologists—that it should be possible and helpful to list the fundamental, universal factors of social phenomena in such terms as to promote the development of a generalizing, "scientific" sociology. It was at about that time, whether it still is or not, the general conviction of scientists in every field that it is essential to the very existence of a science to have a relatively short list of basic elements and relations, with reference to which all of the phenomena under examination may be explained. A "science," they thought, must consist from one point of view of a body of general laws, and of course general laws presuppose general elements, forces, and relations. The fact that Spencer was accused of divers high crimes against the inductive method does not destroy the fact that in the chapter we have summarized above he did help to define what came to be regarded as one of the basic problems of sociology. How that problem was successively redefined is shown by the following passages, which constitute a chronological series of exhibits of the thought on the topic of a leading American sociologist: So with the explanation of social phenomena. They are the point of intersection of many factors which we need to know, first in general, as typical and constant social forces. Then they must be known in particular, as they emerge in the special case under consideration. The process of deriving these insights into social forces in general is so independent and peculiar that its distinctiveness from the process of getting the generalized results should be beyond question. My interpretation of the social movement .... makes it, with all its faults, a proof that the natural force of humanity is not abated, that social virility is not exhausted. The social movement is today's form of the same vital facts which have always been the impulse of human advancement. When Professor Small wrote the foregoing passages in 1897, Ward had already published his first version of his social-forces ( 154) doctrine in Dynamic Sociology (1883), but it was Ward's manner to lay down what he conceived to be the truth in quite didactic fashion. He had simply enunciated his conclusion that the desires are the social forces, and enumerated what he conceived to be the fundamental human desires, without discussing particularly the rôle which the concept of social forces had to play in sociology as an objective, research science. Small's articles in the early issues of the American Journal of Sociology from which the foregoing quotations are taken are among the earliest critiques in which sociologists engaged in the United States, whereby they sought to make their projected science a method as well as a body of a priori, speculative generalizations about the way in which human beings behaved, or should behave, in their relationships with one another. The point in which we are interested here is that by 1897 at least one sociologist had become self-conscious and critical with respect to the use of the social-forces concept toward the definition of which Spencer had made some sort of essay in his Principles, and which Ward had made more definitive in Dynamic Sociology. It is further of interest that Small had at the time a favorable critical opinion of the social-forces concept; he felt that it was possible and desirable that "general social forces" be discovered and labeled. It will be interesting at this point to compare the comments of a general methodological character upon the social-forces concept and its place in sociological theory which Small embodied in his General Sociology, published eight years after the foregoing passages were written: Every social incident whatever, be it the daily experience of an individual within a restricted group, or the secular career of a continental society, is determined by forces not wholly within itself. It is a function of a great number of variables, working within conditions that are constant in essence, but changeable in their manifestation in particulars. Every social situation is the product of everything else that exists in the world. To change the situation, it is necessary to break down the equilibrium of forces that preserve the status, by setting free some new factor. The dependence of each and every social element, whether larger or smaller, upon outlying elements of which it is a part, requires this first step in every process of understanding the social situation, (155) namely: the effort to determine precisely what the particular conditions are that exert a significant influence upon the element in question . Our problem is to discover all the actual oneness in human affairs, and to find the meanings of parts of experience by making out their relation to this common element. Prime factors—or, as Spencer would say, data—of the problem are, first, the essential similarity of the individuals concerned; second, the essential similarity of the conditions within which the individuals act; third, the continuity of relationships from individual to individual and from situation to situation. The generations of men have been linked together from the beginning in a common work. This work may be described in bulk as discovery and control of the conditions that set the limits to satisfaction of essential human interests. At this date Small was arriving at insights concerning the relation of what we have taken as the particular problem of social forces to other aspects of the broader problem of social causation. The factor of "continuity" is seen as one of those other aspects, and Small has discussed at greater length the significance of this factor in more recent publications. Here we are more concerned with the fact that in the light of that broader conception of social causation, Small still felt the need of a doctrine of "essential human interests," which concept has been ever since his publication of General Sociology, his variant of the social-forces concept. The attitude toward the problem of social causation and the narrower problem of social forces which is exhibited in the quotations given above can also be found in other passages of General Sociology. In this introductory section the intention has been, first, to distinguish from other phases of the developing body of theories of social process, social causation, and social control the specific doctrine of social forces, in the meaning which the latter concept ( 156) was first given by Ward in Dynamic Sociology. Second, we have noticed some of the evidences to be found in early American sociological literature that those who were trying to build up the science and clarify its terminology had the growing conviction that among the fundamental conceptions of which they would have need was this one—the concept of basic, universal social forces, in the sense of human desires, interests, or "drives" of behavior. What the vicissitudes and suggested permutations of that conception have been in the hands of different thinkers who have contributed to American sociology since 1885, it will be the task of the remaining sections of the paper to explain.

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The massif consist of three main complexes: 1) ultramafic-mafic rocks 2) foidolites 3) alkali granites and syenogranites [Polkanov et al., 1967]. Interpretation of sequence is complicated because of late tectonic and metamorphic processes that are occurred here intensive. To view the location on the map click here. It is wonderful, you can see faults in granite complex form satellite. Our object of study were alkaline rocks, particularly alkaline granites. Some authors do not recognize alkaline granite as the product of the same source as for ultramafic and basic alkaline complexes. They consider granites and layered ultramafic-alkaline pluton separately. It is difficult to belive because of emplacement and the similar age (?) of all rocks. I will not publish our geological schemes because of their incompleteness. |Geological scheme of Gremyakha-Vyrmes massif. Alkaline granites located on the North (elongated crosses). (Kukharenko et al., 1971)| Granites consist of two alkaline feldspars, quartz, aegirine, arfvedsonite, aenigmatite. They are distinguished from others similar granites by its age, setting and chemistry. In some old ditches we found uranium-molybdenum occurrence with anomaly high radiation. There is a video demonstrating this. |Materials of prospecting work in 1970's.| I should say that vegetation covers all the territory and it took a lot for observing outcrops. |Aegirinite. Alkaline metasomatic rock.| |Old prospecting ditch.|

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I started playing with NetLogo years back as a possible avenue for modeling housing markets. Ultimately, I decided that agent-based modeling, while a powerful analytic tool, was likely best suited to explore phenomena that interact in a closed system like a network. I created the below model of classroom evacuation really as a teaching tool to help students understand the role of complexity in an otherwise mundane situation – like evacuating a classroom. The model works as follows: Assuming a fire has begun in the classroom, ask the students sitting in the lecture hall to ‘get out of their seats’ and either evacuate the classroom based on a routine that minimizes their distance to the exit or by a routine that trades-off distance and time minimization. You can play with the simulation here or read on below to find out how it works. Note that given the number of calculations it’s making, it may run a bit slow in the browser (turn the speed slider bar to three quarters to have it run faster). To setup the model press “Setup”. Then, given the emergency, ask the students to “Get out of your seats”. The first routine, ‘Evacuate on distance’ has the students calculate their (manhattan) distance to the exit and then move in that direction. They never deviate from this course, despite the traffic in front of them and despite the fact that ‘going around’ would be more efficient. You can see this effect in the image below. This is clearly not a good representation of reality. In reality, people in this situation trade off their preference for minimizing distance with an additional preference for minimizing the time it takes to get out. If the model is run again using the ‘Evacuate w/ distance and time’ option, the result is much more realistic. Here is the routine: - Assign my ‘target’ to one of the two nodes at either end of my row that has the least wait time. Wait time is the mean accumulated number of turns that a student agent and its neighbors could not move. - Move to an adjacent patch on my row with no other agent present and having the least distance to the ‘target’. - Calculate wait time at each node. - If I make it on to the aisles flanking the rows walk ‘downhill’ (to accumulate the least distance) to the exit. - Repeat until everyone gets out. Shades of blue are used to represent wait time. You will notice that students waiting to exit the rows shuffle back and forth as the constantly changing wait times means they are constantly changing their target node. The distance/time routine is not only more realistic but it’s more efficient as well (see the ‘tick’ counter). This is the case even over several hundred model iterations as seen in the graph below: In the end, the dynamics of evacuation are exceptionally difficult to model. It really comes down to the following question: “What is the probability that an alternate route might get me out quicker even if I accrue more distance in the process?” This is such a complex problem given so many possible alternative routes at any given moment, and that the efficiency of any given route is ever-changing.

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Tuesday, August 4, 2009 Develop below given points into a story: Write your story in the 'comments box'. To write in the 'coment box', clik on 'comments' at the end of this blog. Wait for the new page to open. Write in the given space and publish your comment. Use your google account for log in and identification. Publish one post named as 'Feedback on Story Writing'. Teacher's comments on your story will be published in the 'comments' of your blog. * Lion sleeping beneath a tree - rat came to play - climbed over the body of the lion - unknown to dangers, rat started playing with whiskers of the lion - lion wake up - angrily roared - rat trembled - lion ready to savour the rat - the rat begged to be pardoned - promised to help him in the hours of need - arrogance of lion smugged at rat - left alive - lion trapped by hunter in the net - roared for help - rat came with fellow friends - lion saved - friends forever. The moral of the story is: 1. Friend in need in friend indeed. 2. Never trust mousy friends. 3. One never knows how one can be helpful to others.

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Saint Zephyrinus, (born , Rome?—died c. 217, Rome?; feast day August 26), pope from c. 199 to 217. Of humble birth, he succeeded Pope St. Victor I and is believed to have appointed his own successor St. Calixtus I (Callistus) as his chief deacon. During Zephyrinus’ pontificate, the Roman priest St. Hippolytus vigorously opposed the spread of Monarchianism, a Trinitarian heresy that affirmed the sole deity of God the Father. Zephyrinus failed to condemn Monarchianism or favour the Logos doctrine (emphasizing the distinction of the Persons of the Trinity), of which Hippolytus was the passionate champion. Opposing Zephyrinus, Hippolytus thus started the first schism in the history of the Christian Church. Unfortunately, the primary source of information on Zephyrinus is Hippolytus’ Philosophoumena, in which he describes the Pope as a weak man “unskilled in the church’s rule” and dominated by Calixtus. Hippolytus considered both men culpable for being unwilling to enter the theological debate on the Trinity. Zephyrinus died during the persecution of Christians that was instigated by the Roman emperor Lucius Septimius Severus.

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In a previous blog about the affect medications have on the mouth, we wrote that dry mouth (xerostomia) is caused by over 400 different medications. But, there are additional causes of this uncomfortable condition, and your Smile Design Dentistry dentist can help. mouth is no laughing matter. Dry mouth affects about 10% of all people and is more prevalent in women than men. In addition to decreasing your quality of life, xerostomia can raise your risk of gingivitis (gum disease), tooth decay, and mouth infections, such as thrush. Dry mouth can make it difficult to wear dentures, and to speak and eat. It may even lead to malnutrition. Saliva has several important functions in maintaining a healthy and comfortable mouth. As a lubricant, it helps protect the soft tissues against ulcers, sores, and uncomfortable friction. Saliva neutralizes acids and helps digest food, initiating the digestion of carbohydrates in the mouth. It helps clear away food particles on and between teeth. It helps re-mineralize tooth enamel. Enzymes in saliva not only start digestion but also contribute to taste. It’s antibodies help defend our bodies against bacterial threat. Extreme dry mouth and salivary gland dysfunction can produce significant and permanent mouth and throat disorders. If you are chronically or repeatedly suffering from any of the following common symptoms, seek diagnosis and treatment from your local Smile Design dentist. Common Symptoms of Dry Mouth - A sticky, dry feeling in the mouth - Frequent thirst - Sores in the mouth; sores or split skin at the corners of the mouth; cracked lips - A dry feeling in the throat - A burning or tingling sensation in the mouth and especially on the tongue - A dry, red, raw tongue - Problems speaking or trouble tasting, chewing, and swallowing - Dry nasal passages, - Sore throat, and - Bad breath Common Causes of Dry Mouth Dry mouth most commonly occurs as a side effect of medications that cause decreased saliva production. These medications include blood pressure medications, antihistamines, antidepressants, diuretics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, and many others. If you are on a medication for more than a few days, for example, in the case of blood pressure, anti-depressants, and Parkinson’s disease medications, dry mouth may make it difficult for you to swallow. These medications repress salivary flow which then increases the acidity levels in your mouth causing the bad bacteria to flourish. Regular prescription fluoride toothpaste use will help neutralize the acidity levels and thus decrease the risk of cavities caused by these bad bacteria. Discussion with us about your condition allows us to help you with the problem if it lasts more than a few days. Although decreased saliva production most frequently affects elderly people and those who are taking prescription and nonprescription medications, there are many other causes such as radiation treatments to treat cancerous tumors of the head and neck, salivary gland diseases, diabetes, hormonal imbalance, mouth breathing, sleep apnea, and autoimmune disorders such as Sjögren’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, and systemic lupus erythematosus. Eating disorders, such as bulimia and anorexia, are other risk factors for developing xerostomia. Salivary production can be decreased if a there is nerve damage to the head or neck due to an injury or surgery, or if a major salivary duct becomes blocked from a stone or infection. Dry mouth will often occur during pregnancy or breastfeeding due to dehydration and hormonal changes. Other causative factors include smoking or chewing tobacco, stress, anxiety, depression, and dehydration. Solutions for Dry Mouth Talk to your dentist at Smile Design dentist to help determine and understand why you are experiencing this condition. If medications are the cause, a consultation with your prescribing doctor may result in an adjustment in dosage or change in medication. An oral rinse can be prescribed to help restore mouth moisture. If that doesn’t help, a medication can be prescribed to boost saliva production. If your symptoms are not severe, the following may increase saliva production and provide comfort: - Suck on sugar-free candy or chew sugar-free gum. - Drink plenty of water to help keep your mouth moist. - Brush with a fluoride toothpaste, use a fluoride rinse, and visit your dentist regularly. - Breathe through your nose, not your mouth, as much as possible. - Use a room vaporizer to add moisture to the bedroom air. - Use an over-the-counter artificial saliva substitute. Always remember we are here to help you understand and find solutions for any oral health discomfort or issues that arise. If you are experiencing symptoms, give us a call today.

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Immersion is a breathtaking journey into the world of freshwater mussels. In it, veterinarian and award-winning writer Abbie Gascho Landis explores the hidden lives of mussels in our rivers and streams—and asks whether our capacity to love these alien creatures can power us to protect freshwater for humans and nature alike. Check out nine surprising words that describe freshwater mussels below, and ask any questions you may have about freshwater mussels in the comments. - Weird. Mussels’ names echo their diverse shell shapes and are equal parts poetry and cartoon. Common names for mussels include the threehorned wartyback, sheepnose, fatmucket, heelsplitter, rabbitsfoot, pistolgrip, pigtoe, monkeyface, and snuffbox. - Pearly. Each mussel shell glows inside with a pearly lining—pink, white, or purple. Last century, people harvested mussels wholesale to punch circles from their luminous shell lining for use as pearl buttons. - Unpalatable. In the past mussels fed Native Americans, but people no longer harvest them, perhaps due to a chemical called putrescine (a characteristic of decaying animal tissue) that may affect their flavor. - Epic. Freshwater mussels can live for 100 years, recording their age by adding rings to their shells, similar to the rings of a tree trunk. They were once called naiades, named for Greek mythology’s water nymphs whose lives were inextricable from their rivers. - Multitasking. Mussels breathe, eat, and defecate with the same organs—their gills. Those gills help mussels filter water, removing particles to make it cleaner. - Broody. Female mussel gills have marsupial compartments that brood larval babies. Sealed in these compartments, the larvae are protected from contaminants in the ambient water. - Deceptive. Mussel larvae must hitch a ride on fish gills to proceed with their lives. Brooding mussels lure fish to their babies by mimicking that fish’s preferred prey with exquisite accuracy—copying a minnow, for example, down to the fin, tail, stripes, and eye-spot. - Dexterous. After dropping off fish gills, juvenile mussels—the size of sugar crystals—extend a tiny foot from their translucent clamshells to ingest food from the river bottom. As they mature, their gills take over eating, via filtration. - Imperiled. Nearly 70% of mussel species are in danger, with populations shrinking in damaged rivers. Of roughly 1,000 mussel species in the world, over 180 species are found in Alabama, making it the global hotspot for mussel diversity.

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Copyright 2008 s8int.com In 1978 Brad Steiger wrote a book entitled “Worlds Before Our Own” which advanced a theory about an ancient, global civilization, supported by his chronicling of hundreds of out of place artifacts. His book may not have been the only one of its kind or the first but much of the interest which exists today in out of place artifacts—and ancient civilizations began there. It was certainly one of the inspirations for s8int.com—albeit from a Christian perspective. Mr. Steiger’s book was not well received by the powers that be—one angry reviewer actually called for it to be burned, because it made it clear that there was something very wrong with the theory of evolution or at least with its time scale. As it happens, Mr. Steiger is out with an updated version of his 1978 book which can be found Here Just over 125 years prior to the publishing of Worlds Before Our Own, Wendell Phillips gave a lecture along very similar lines that was covered by the New York Times. Call it out of place artifacts-1852. He called it the "Lost Arts". Wendell Phillips was born on November 29, 1811, in Boston. He graduated from Harvard Law School, but gave up his life of status and wealth in order to join the anti-slavery movement. Phillips recommended that the South should be expelled from the Union until slavery was abolished. After the Emancipation Proclamation, he worked to better the lives of the newly freed men and women. After the war ended, Phillips worked for the women's movement, civil rights, voter's rights, temperance and Native American rights….... Perspectives in American Literature. Mr. Phillips began by buttering up his audience a bit: “perhaps the most popular feature in the character of our country is self conceit. Not many years ago we voted ourselves the most enlightened nation on the face of the earth, and we yet believe we are the “model republic”. And so afraid were we that this idea would die out, that we set apart some days in the year to keep up the national feeling. And this is not confined to us. It is the characteristic idea of the age.” The problem that Mr. Phillips begins with is a problem for every age and certainly for today. We have voluminous records and evidence from the past that are mostly disregarded because we don’t believe that peoples of the past were sophisticated enough to have made accurate reports. If the world stands, this will be believed about us by future generations. Mr. Phillips (pictured) went on to inform his audience that his purpose would be to convince them that they were not the giants that they thought they were; on the contrary, they stood on the shoulders of giants, inheriting nearly everything and inventing very little. “In the whole region of the fine arts the genius and superiority of the old masters was acknowledged. To be thought a Raphael in painting was the highest praise. In all arts perfection might be considered a lost art—we were only imitators. Let him remind them that the army of novels was said to be built on three hundred roots of fiction, of which, two thirds were borrowed from the East. Shakespeare never stopped to frame the story of his plot; he always found them ready to his hand. This was not only true of novels, but even the most common newspaper anecdotes had a respectable antiquity about them.” The latest French fashions he suggests were not invented by the French, but instead simply combined patterns from the “Mosaic” with that of the “Oriental” There was he insisted, a great deal of truth to the assertion by “Rosalina” that modern art does not surpass the ancient and that there was nothing in current art to surpass or even to equal the art in the Pharaoh’s palaces of Egypt. “In reading the works of old authors, frequent mention was made of wonders, which modern readers were apt to dispose of by rejecting them as fables; and Herodotus, in whose writings mention of such wonders often occurred (including the historicity of Jesus Christ) had got his name reversed, and from being known as the “Father of History”, got to be regarded as the “Father of Lies”. But, modern research and antiquarian discoveries had tended to prove the correctness of what Herodotus and others put forth, and in American parlance, his name had come up to par again, and he once more assumed his place as the “Father of History”. He provides a list of the advances of the ancients; Egyptian Glass: Not long ago, a book had been published proving that the ancients did not and could not have known how to make glass, but right after the publication of the book, a room at Pompeii was found to contain glass of every color and description. Not only did the ancients know how to make glass, but the best and most innovative and artistic examples that we have are the ancient ones. It is now believed because of the discovery of every color and type of glass in the monuments of Egypt, that the knowledge for glassmaking originated there. “Sir George Wilkinson discovered in Egypt, a white bird beautifully formed, made of glass, the pieces of which had been joined, and subjected to the annealing process. The Lecturer spoke of malleable glass, as an art known to the ancients, and which he believed had recently been revived". The ancients he lectured, knew and understood the motions of the heavenly bodies and had built machines that could mimic their motions in the correct order on a flat surface. “Polycrates, a Greek said he saw arts made of ivory, the natural size of the insect; yet, in this small space, the artist had contrived machinery sufficiently complex to cause it to move on a level surface. Such minute work could not be made without the aid of the microscope.” He was sure that the ancients also possessed the telescope along with the microscope. In a history by Pliny the Elder, he relates how Nero was able to recognize a ring across the vast expanse of the gladiatorial amphitheater by means of what can only be called an “opera glass”. “But a few days since, there was exhibited at the Historical Society, a Cheops signet ring, engraved three thousand years ago, the deliency of the work being such that a microscope was required to appreciate it. How then could it have been engraved without the aid of one?” Some believe that the eyesight of the ancients was better than ours, if you don’t want to believe that they had the microscope. Lenses have surely been found in the artifacts of the ancients, science usually just labels them as “religious objects”. Phillips notes that the Spaniards reported that they found both convex and concave lenses among the natives of Mexico which were made from obsidian. While current painting and pigments almost immediately begin to fade, he lectured, many ancient paints and colors retained there original color and brightness. He related how a recent portrait of only five years of age had already begun to change color while a portrait of Cleopatra from thousands of years ago remained unchanged and unfaded. “A picture of Cleopatra, still extant showed an eye as bright and a lip as red, as when she captivated an Anthony and Cesar. Now, these were triumphs of ancient art; and yet we were sometimes bold enough to say, they knew nothing. The Egyptian colors were said by one to be absolutely changeless.” He mentioned that some of the greatest works of Egyptian art was executed on porphyry which is extremely hard and yet that they were covered with engravings. He suggested that this would have required extremely high temperatures. To support this thesis, he mentioned a block of the material found in France, in which six sets of tools were ruined in an attempt to engrave upon it the circumstances of its discovery. In the east, he continued, the steel made there was equal to Damascus steel and would not rust, its resistance like crystal. This steel, like Damascus was certainly superior to the steel of 1852. “The lecturer next spoke of mechanical power, which he said must have been thoroughly understood by the Egyptians, to enable them to raise those immense blocks which composed their pyramids, and other monuments. All the mechanical skill of the sixteenth century was required to raise the column of porphyry, in front of St. Peter’s at Rome, on its base, and it was regarded as a feat of mechanical power. But the Egyptians moved and raised such blocks, and never said anything about it.” His next topic was that of ancient canal systems found all over the world. These projects are evidence of ancient civilizations, evidence of ancient technologies; of civilizations with the technical know how, the labor force and the size to complete these huge projects. “He next instanced the historical records of immense canals, which enabled bots to pass from level to level, proving their knowledge of locks. That they were acquainted with the principle of railroads, and put it in operation, was also evident, by the report of Mr. Stephens in Central America, and other engineers who visited the site of Thebes, where there were vestiges of a raised groove, covered with metal.” A lock he mentioned which had caused a great deal of excitement at the London Exhibition was it was admitted by the curator, taken from the design of a three thousand year old Egyptian lock. Even as modern an invention as the balloon he noted had been seen in paintings floating through the air at Nineveh. His conclusion was that ancient civilizations were not primitive as supposed but had in fact been the inventor of much of what we enjoy. He believed that the democracy of Christianity would be the engine to preserve civilization around the world going forward. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70 Next>>>

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|TIPS 4 TAKS| |Free TAKS Information Source with Tips and Free Sample Tests| Best Resource for TAKS Preparation What do we offer — This site provides the most comprehensive information about TAKS in order to help Texas students, parents understand more about the TAKS tests and provide them with useful hints. Here you will find Sample Quizzes, TAKS Preparation tips, and information about concepts covered at each grade level. These TAKS preparation tips are not intended to replace the teaching of the TAKS curriculum, but as a supporting help to maximize the student performance in the TAKS tests. What is TAKS - The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) is a test administered beginning from the 2002-2003 school year. The TAKS measures the statewide curriculum in reading at Grades 3-9; in writing at Grades 4 and 7; in English Language Arts at Grades 10 and 11; in mathematics at Grades 3-11; in science at Grades 5,10, and 11; and social studies at Grades 8, 10, and 11. The Spanish TAKS is administered at Grades 3 through 6. Satisfactory performance on the TAKS at Grade 11 is prerequisite to a high school diploma. How to prepare best for TAKS — By making TAKS preparation a part of a daily or weekly routine, students can gradually understand the concepts, as well as get accustomed to general test-taking techniques. Preparation for TAKS should occur over a sufficiently long period of time so that students do not feel flooded by information or overwhelmed with practice. In developing a study routine, consider spacing of sessions; choose shorter intervals as opposed to long blocks of time; and be consistent about the time of day and conditions under which you provide opportunities for study. © Tips4Taks, Inc. 2005 - 2008 Exam Taking Tips

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Percent Change in Iowa Land Values by Crop Reporting District from Sept. 2010 to March 2011 (RLI) 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% C EC NC NE NW SC SE SW WC State Basic idea is that an informed buyer won’t pay more than the cost of constructing an equal, substitute property minus the depreciation and assuming no delay. Market data is used to value the components of the subject property including the land. Even though both the cost and sales comparison approaches use market data DO NOT mix the two; the cost approach uses a different methodology. Most applicable when: Improvements are new and are highest and best use Subject property has characteristics typical in the area Subject property is a special use property Enough data to value the property components but limited data to value the whole property Least applicable when: No vacant land sales available Construction costs are hard to measure Depreciation is hard to measure Improvements are very old Steps: Develop a land value opinion; vacant land in highest and best use valued as highest and best use regardless of present use. Use similar highest and best use Estimate reproduction or replacement costs for improvements. Estimate amount of depreciation Subtract the depreciation from the cost estimate Total the land and building components New cost of improvements $300,000 Depreciation -175,000 Depreciated value of improvements $125,000 Value of the land $600,000 Value from Cost Approach $725,000 Land value is the value for vacant land Unimproved is land without building or structures Urban usually means land without a house/structure even if there are roads, sewer, etc. Rural unimproved doesn’t mean there aren’t fences, tile, ponds, etc. Just that there are no buildings or structures. Why? Subject property has 160 acres of pasture with fences and stock pond Three other sales are located for $2800 an acre all with similar fencing and water The indicated value of $2800 would include the fence and water If an appraiser valued the land at $2800 and then added the value of the fence and water they’d be overstating If the request was for an appraisal that valued them separately then the other 3 sales would have to be allocated between the land and site improvements The Cost approach inventories the land for the subject property into various classes Cropland, tillable pasture, permanent pasture, woodland, farmstead roads, ditches, etc. Vacant sales are used to estimate the values for the various classes of land on the subject property Values are applied to the subject WITHOUT making the plus or minus adjustments used in the Sales comparison approach (except be sure you still make the time adjustments) Tillable ground: 90 + CSR 85 – 90 CSR Cropland A Cropland B 50 acres of Cropland A 75 acres of Cropland B Total tillable 15 acres of pasture 5 acres of farmstead 2 acres of roads/ditches Total non-tillable 22 acres TOTAL 147 acres $8,000/ac 7,500 $400,000 562,000 $962,000 $1,050 $8,000 $ 15,750 $ 40,000 0 $ 55,750 0 $2,534 $1,017,750 $6,923 Value of the land determined first Cost for the building; Reproduction; cost to construct an exact replica of the existing building Replacement; cost to construct a building with the utility equivalent to the one being appraised; using modern material, current standards, design, layout, etc. Using either method use the date of the appraisal and with current prices Local builders Market abstraction; based on sale of a new building after the land is subtracted; works best with houses, not so good with rural property Cost services; this is a group that summarizes costs for the appraiser; they provide manuals and other information to use in making the appraisal Depreciation is the difference between the cost to reproduce or replace property and its contributory value as of the date of the appraisal Three types of depreciation to consider: Physical deterioration; Functional obsolescence Defects in design; material, design, otherwise obsolete by current standards Sometimes this could be cured External obsolescence; effect on value from outside property itself; traffic, odor, hazards, etc Corn used to be harvested on the ear and stored in ‘cribs’. Today most of the cribs have been abandoned. This is an example of A modern hog confinement needs greater ventilation of the waste pits. This is an example of: Functional depreciation Asphalt singles on the garage are starting to leak. This is an example of: Functional depreciation Physical depreciation A ethanol plant is located across the road. The resulting dust, traffic, etc. would cause: External obsolescence What is an economic term for this? Two kinds of physical depreciation to remember: Curable; this is when the deterioration is economically feasible to cure and they generally are taken care of; deferred maintenance; be sure to include all costs! Physical incurable; this is when the deterioration either can’t be corrected or it would cost more to correct than its contributory value to the property Short lived; roof, furnace, etc. that would be replaced some time but not at the time of the appraisal Long lived; basically the ones that will last the life of the improvement; foundation, etc. Economic age-life method: Depreciation = Effective age/economic life * replacement cost Actual age is when it was built but there could have been extensive remodeling that would change the effective age; the effective age is based on condition and utility of the structure; there are judgments that has to be made Economic life is the time where the improvements contribute to the property value; they can be extended Remaining economic life is time left where the improvements continue to contribute to the property value Econ. life = effective age + remaining econ. life Effective age = Econ. Life - remaining econ. life Remaining econ. life = Econ. life - effective age A major problem with this approach is that it groups the types of depreciation together. Reproduction cost Effective age Economic life Remaining econ. life Ratio for cost Total Depreciation $100,000 10 yrs 50 yrs 40 yrs. 20% $20,000 Depreciated value of improv. $80,000 Land value $250,000 Value indicated by cost approach $330,000 The appraiser can recognize the curable items of physical deterioration and functional obsolescence by estimating the cost to ‘cure’ them. This amount is then subtracted from the replacement costs. The appraiser has to recognize the impact this adjustment might have on the effective age and economic life Reproduction cost Minus curable items Effective age 9 yrs Economic life 50 yrs Remaining econ. life 41 yrs. Ratio for cost (9/50) 18% RC minus the curable Other depreciation 17,460 Total Depreciation (+ $3,000) Depreciated value of improv. Land value Value indicated by cost approach (rounded $100,000 $3,000 $97,000 $20,460 $79,540 $250,000 $329,500 Market abstraction First step is to estimate the depreciation from a sale Second step is to apply this estimate to the subject building This works for properties either with similar problems as the subject with respect to curable and incurable or for properties without physical curable or incurable short live items The appraiser is trying to estimate the annual percentage depreciation from the sale and apply it to the subject Sales price $400,000 Land value $100,000 Contributory value of improve. $300,000 Reproduction cost new (RCN) $500,000 Accrued Depreciation ($500,000 - $300,000) $200,000 Overall percentage ($200/$500) 40% Effective age 10 Annual percent depreciation 4%/yr. Reproduction cost $600,000 Effective age 15 years Total depreciation percentage 60% Total depreciation ($600,000 * 60%) $360,000 Contributory value of improvements $240,000 Land value $150,000 Value estimated by cost approach $390,000 The market abstraction approach can also be modified to consider the curable depreciable items Similar process Sales price $1,700,000 Land value $100,000 Contributory value of improve. $1,600,000 Reproduction cost new (RCN) $2,875,000 Accrued Depreciation (RCN – contrib. value) $1,275,000 Physically curable 200,000 Long lived depreciation 1,075,000 Long lived costs (RCN – curable) $2,675,000 Long lived dep. ($1,075/$2,675) Effective age Annual percent depreciation 40% 20 2%/yr. Remember that the whole purpose of this is to come up with an estimated value for the property. We want to correlate the values indicated from the different approaches we used and to come up with a single value. “Reconciliation is the method of bringing together all of the data and analyses into one final estimate of value.” The reliability of the data is crucial, garbage in, garbage out A wide spread in the estimates from the different approaches indicates a strong possibility there were mathematical and/or technical errors made. In theory, all of the approaches should lead to the same estimate. But, for this you need; The markets to function perfectly The appraiser to function perfectly That’s not likely to happen The market is the market and sometimes things don’t happen the way you’d expect. I think this is especially true with land and land values It is important to strive for perfection but don’t let that get in the way of being honest; don’t manipulate data beyond its limits; one paired sale isn’t the same as multiple and so on At the end, don’t forget to ask yourself, if the property is really worth the value stated!

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Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians Bessie Smith was the first singer to popularize early jazz song. Her iconic performances of the urban blues paved the way for singers such as Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, and Sarah Vaughan, all of whom proclaimed their debts to her, and wove the blues into their repertoire. Bessie was born on April 15, 1894 in Blue Goose Hollow, Chattanooga, Tennessee to Laura (Owens) Smith and William Smith, a Baptist minister. Her father died while Bessie was an infant, and her mother was dead by the time she was nine. Viola, her oldest sister, shouldered the task of providing for her three sisters and two brothers by taking in laundry. This strong work ethic made a lasting impression on Bessie. Bessie was determined to leave the poverty and inequality of Blue Goose Hollow, and show business was her ticket. After her brother Clarence ran away from home to tour with a vaudeville troupe led by Moses Stokes, she started street corner singing and dancing with her brother Andrew to boost the family’s income. When Clarence came back to town with Stokes in 1912, Smith got him to set up an audition for her. Stokes hired Bessie as a dancer, since he already had a singer – Ma Rainey. Bessie toured with the show and settled in Atlanta, where she began to perform her own act at the 81 Theatre. During this time, she developed a reputation as a performer at black theaters across the South and along the Eastern Seaboard. While she shares an affinity with Ma Rainey, Bessie was decidedly an original, and a natural singer. Rainey is a contralto with a rural blues feel, and an almost male delivery. Bessie Smith is a soprano with a more urban, polished style. In any case Bessie undoubtedly learned how to handle herself on stage from Rainey, even though their styles were different. Things began to change after 1920, when singer Mamie Smith recorded “Crazy Blues” for Okeh. The single broke all sales records and created a new market for black blues singing. In 1923, Smith, then living in Philadelphia, auditioned successfully for a recording contract with Columbia. Bessie’s first release for Columbia, “Downhearted Blues,” became a major hit whose success overwhelmed the earlier version of the song recorded for Paramount by its composer, Alberta Hunter. While Bessie was not the first blues singer to reach a national audience, she quickly became their favorite, and was acclaimed by the press as the “Empress of the Blues.” That same year she married Jack Gee. Her first husband, Earl Love, had apparently been killed in World War I, and Gee, a security guard who was not in show business, never acquired a taste for it. Their stormy relationship served as an inspiration for some of her later lyrics. The instrumentation in Smith’s recordings varies, but is often piano, cornet, and trombone, and banjo, with elements of Dixieland and ragtime. She did several sides with Joe Smith, her favorite cornetist, Fletcher Henderson on piano, and Charlie Green on trombone. Another key collaborator was Louis Armstrong. 1925’s “St. Louis Blues” captures both artists at the peak of their creativity. In the words of Smith biographer Chris Albertson, “The result is that you have a great singer accompanied by a great trumpet player, but it sounds more like a duet.” Smith gives the song all its pathos, and Armstrong’s fills and harmonic sense complement her like a bird. Her famous, gutsy growl punctuates the lyrics, and she belts out the finish singing up to the tonic, just as Armstrong would have played it himself. Modern-day audiences can watch Smith sing this W.C. Handy classic in a 1929 movie called “St. Louis Blues,” which captures Smith’s vocal power and depicts the lifestyle she sang about. Smith’s songs are also important for their themes. A woman wronged, unrequited love, avenged unrequited love, the good-for-nothing, abusive philanderer – and how a woman still loves him, no matter how he treats her – this is the heart of Smith’s lyrics, and life. In Albertson’s view, “almost every song is autobiographical.” Although much of Smith’s life is shrouded in myth, one true story was the time a drunken man stabbed her in Chattanooga after an argument. She chased the man, knife still in her, and performed the next day after hospital attention. Smith also liked to drink. Even after prohibition, “the sealed stuff made her sick,” according to her niece Ruby Walker. Smith had a gift of throwing herself entirely into the emotion of a song. Three 1927 recordings show this well. Her high-spirited joy in “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” and “There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight” are as rousing as the deep sorrow in “Backwater Blues,” a song Smith wrote about losing everything in a storm and flood. Pianist James P. Johnson accompanies her on it. In evidence of Smith’s influence on future generations of jazz singers, Dinah Washington recorded a powerful version of this song in 1957. The wit in Smith’s lyrics and sexual innuendo are renowned. In “Kitchen Man,” a lady laments losing the cook with a hard jelly roll, who makes her sweet frankfurters and sausage meat. He’s great at opening clams, the lyrics say, and when she eats his donuts, all that’s left is the hole. In 1933, Smith had what was to be her last recording session. With Frank Newton on trumpet, Jack Teagarden on trombone, Buck Washington on piano, Bobby Johnson on guitar, and Billy Taylor on bass, it had a touch of a swing feel. Swing was where tastes were headed in the thirties, and Smith’s career slowed down as the Swing Era dawned. But she was ready to change along with musical fashion, because she was a survivor. When she died after a car accident in 1937, Lionel Hampton, the nephew of her then companion Richard Morgan, was planning to record Smith with a star lineup of Swing musicians, according to Albertson. Though she never made it to that date, her contributions to jazz song have been tremendous and lasting. Contributor: Roanna Forman

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Sometimes the scale doesn't matter. Your child might be at a healthy weight -- her body mass index (BMI) is in the normal range and she doesn't look like she has extra pounds. But looks can be deceiving. If your child doesn't move enough and doesn't eat well, being at a healthy weight doesn't always mean she's actually fit and healthy. The goal for all parents should be to help their kids adopt healthy habits now, so you can help them avoid health problems like diabetes and heart issues related to being unfit. Experts agree that a person's weight is not always a clear sign of good or bad health or fitness level. Carl Lavie, MD, medical director of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention at the John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute in New Orleans, says the key is being physically fit -- especially getting aerobic exercise. "The people who are unfit, it almost doesn’t matter if they're thin or fat." Lavie was one of the first researchers to document the "obesity paradox," which found that people who are overweight sometimes live longer and are healthier than people who are thinner. "If you just look at weight alone, it can be very misleading," Lavie says. "Weight is both fat and muscle. You can have somebody who is normal weight but they don’t have any muscle and they're all fat. On the other hand, you [can] have someone who has pretty high weight and BMI and they're low fat -- like a middle linebacker in the NFL who is huge, but solid muscle." Then Why Weigh? Weight isn't the perfect predictor of good health. But it's still an important piece of information. Weight and BMI give you and your child's doctor a basic idea of health, says Jeffrey Schwimmer, MD, director of the Weight and Wellness Center, Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego. If your child isn't in the "normal" range, he may eventually be more likely to have certain health problems, like high blood pressure, heart disease, and liver disease. The doctor will also care if someone in your family has a history of health problems like high blood pressure, type-2 diabetes, or fatty liver disease. Family history is a key part of your health information. A Parent's Responsibility As a parent, your job is to help your child build healthy habits, says Stephanie Walsh, MD, medical director for child wellness at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. - Make sure they're active 60 minutes a day. "Are they out there playing and getting sweaty? They need to breathe hard and be a little stinky so you know they're really moving," Walsh says. - Fill up half their plates with fruits and vegetables. Give them water, not sugary drinks. - Be sure they get plenty of sleep. "If you don’t get enough sleep, everything seems worse," Walsh says. "Lack of sleep puts our bodies at significant stress." - Limit screen time, including computers, phones, TV, and video games.

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This A-Z Accounting guide is specifically written for Grade 9 learners and beginners. It is a continuation of the Grade 8 e-book Learning your Accounting basics. The resource is written in simple English, is user-friendly and the concepts link together to enable the reader to move successfully onto the next section. The Grade 8 e-book is based on a story of a girl who started a Sweets Business and the underlying Accounting concepts and skills necessary to succeed in this. Grade 9 is a continuation of Grade 8, and is linking the concepts learnt from Grade 8 to Grade 9 in story format, through the transactions. The e-book can be used by all Educators who are teaching Accounting or EMS, and sections or topics can be covered to suit the specific lesson plans or needs in the classroom. The e-book is written in a one concept per page format, is colourfully illustrated and takes the user step by step through the process of learning Accounting. It is written in such a way to enable the learner to practise while learning the concepts. ALSO SUITABLE FOR ALL BEGINNERS OF ALL AGES WHO WANT TO LEARN ACCOUNTING AND HAS TO FINANCE BACKGROUND. It covers all the basic concepts including: 1) Introduction, theory and accounting equations. Definitions, illustrations and equations with lots of practical examples are covered in these sections. 2) Cash and credit journals (books of first entry). Compiling of the journals are shown step by step, and source documents are linked to each page, showing the importance and relevance of these documents. The double entry principle is clearly illustrated, using colors. 3) Posting to the General Ledger (step by step instruction on how to post, the relevance of columns in the journals and how to distinguish debits and credits in the ledger, contra accounts and their meaning, folios and cross references are explained in detail. The use and meaning of Analysis of Receipts and Sundry accounts column) are covered. 4) Balancing the ledger accounts. Steps are clearly explained and illustrated. Different scenarios of balancing a ledger account are covered. 5) Preparing a Trial Balance. Detailed illustrations of each entry from the General Ledger, and finally the full Trial Balance is shown how it is balanced. 4) Debtors Ledger (Accounts Receivable Ledger), Debtors Control (Accounts Receivable Control) and Introduction to Bank Statements. This section is illustrated and explained in great detail with examples. The general ledger is taken step by step and the effects of each entry is illustrated. Lots of examples will ensure understanding of the concepts. Bank statement and comments are highlighted, ensuring that the user is grasping the principles taught which lays the foundation for further bank reconciliations. 5) Creditors Ledger (Accounts Payable Ledger) and Creditors Control (Accounts Payable Control). As with the Debtors Ledger and Debtors Control, this section is covered in great detail with illustrations and examples to facilitate understanding and grasping of the topics. 6) Petty cash. Accounting equations of the transactions, entering each transaction in the Petty Cash Journals, showing the cumulative entries, posting to the Ledger, and detailed illustrations of restoring Petty Cash. Source documents are also shown. 7) Mark-ups and gross profit percentages. Relationship between Sales, Gross Profit and mark-up. Illustrations and examples to illustrate these important accounting concepts. 8) Income Statement (Statement of Comprehensive Income). Definitions, illustrations and step by step instruction on how to prepare the Income Statement. 9) Balance Sheet (Statement of Financial Position). Balance Sheet and Notes are shown step by step on how to do, and how it is interlinked. 10) Ratios and Interpretation of Financial Statements. Illustrations explaining the relevance of the figures, and the relationship of these elements and their meaning.

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Jemez pueblo is located along the east bank of the jemez river, 25 miles north of bernalillo, new mexico, and approximately 50 miles northwest of albuquerque the pueblo of jemez (pronounced hay-mess or traditionally as he-mish) is one of the 19 pueblos located in new mexico. Southwest jemez mountains collaborative forest landscape restoration pueblo of jemez : primarily composed of the upper and middle jemez river watershed s . Harrison eiteljorg purchase award eastern band cherokee doyunis (the water spider) wampum necklace jemez pueblo corn maiden 3rd. Since 1996, the eastern flanks of the jemez mountains have been dramatically impacted by hotter droughts and fire severity far outside the historical range of variability. By october, not a single spaniard remained in nuevo mexico, except for captives taken earlier of the 1,946 who left, at least 500 were servants, including pueblo indians, apaches and navajos some spanish women were retained as captives by the insurrectionists. Meetville is a dating site, which will help you to meet the local single in new mexico, united states, searching in thousands of single people looking for each other online to build successful, long-lasting and happy relationship. Frommer's reviews the best attractions in jemez springs, and our free guide tells what to see and the can't-miss things to do middle east & africa north america . Jemez pueblo (heh-mes towa: walatowa) is a census-designated place (cdp) in sandoval county, new mexico, united states the population was 1,953 at the 2000 census it is part of the albuquerque metropolitan statistical area the cdp is named after the pueblo at its center among pueblo members it . First established in 2005 as the national sex offender public registry (nsopr), nsopw was renamed by the adam walsh child protection and safety act of 2006 in honor of 22-year-old college student dru sjodin of grand forks, north dakota, a young woman who was kidnapped and murdered by a sex offender who was registered in minnesota. Some of the present-day jemez families can trace their heritage back to the pueblo of pecos, a ruined towa pueblo a few miles east of santa fe several potters went back to their ancestral home, so the story goes, and picked up and copied pottery shards found at the ruins and museums. Get the jemez pueblo weather forecast access hourly, 10 day and 15 day forecasts along with up to the minute reports and videos for jemez pueblo, nm 87024 from accuweathercom middle east . Here's a guide to pecos national monument in santa fe - everything you need to know with relatives at the jemez pueblo central & south america europe middle . The pueblo donated land for a building site at walatowa (site of today’s jemez pueblo) on condition that it was the church’s as long as it was used for a mission later that year, shields’ wife emily died. The associated press jemez pueblo, nm a firefighter missing for a week in a rugged new mexico forest was found dead friday atop a mesa, where he apparently had crashed his atv, officials said. Best places to live in jemez pueblo, new mexico while more middle class areas spread west, and south towards the large kirtland air force base within a day . Jemez pueblo, nm new homes for sale your jemez pueblo real estate search starts here view 0 active homes for sale in jemez pueblo, nm and find your dream home, condo, townhome, or single family . Golden women eastern blanket 1st place – stacy perry/narragansett 2nd place – cheryl frye-cromwell /mashpee wampanoag 3rd place – imelda marie eaglestar . Jemez pueblo, nm a firefighter adding that she also wanted to thank every single man and woman who refused to quit looking until they found token bridging the middle east conflict . The historic red pottery manufactured by jemez women after the revolt eastern keres, tewa, and jemez jemez pueblo . Jemez pueblo pottery native american indian jewelry bracelets for men & women old pawn jewelry rings boulder opal jewelry tommy singer jewelry. The puebloans or pueblo peoples are native americans in currently solely spoken at jemez pueblo the pecos pueblo, 50 miles east of the rio grande pledged . View 1 photos for 63 c de baca ln, jemez pueblo, nm 87024 a bed, bath, 219 acres single family home built in nearby schools include jemez valley elementary school, jemez valley middle school . What is the meaning of jemez how popular is the baby name jemez learn the origin and popularity plus how to pronounce jemez. In the year 1838, jemez culture became diversified when the towa speaking people from the pueblo of pecos (located east of santa fe) resettled at the pueblo of jemez in order to escape the increasing depredations of the spanish and comanche cultures. Middle east europe latin america/carribean savoring the slow way to santa fe the jemez trail byway is made for dawdling the jemez pueblo is one of only two in new mexico without . Jemez valley middle 8501 hwy 4, sandoval county, jemez pueblo, nm, 87024 phone: (505) 834-7391 lincoln middle (directions) 2287 lema road se, sandoval county, rio rancho, nm, 87124.

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Being able to drive a vehicle is critical to an elderly living at home. Although driving is not essential for fundamental functioning, this enables an individual to live independently in a community. Most older adults especially in developed countries like the U.S. and New Zealand view their driver’s license as a symbol of maturity and independence. This stems from owning a car during their younger days. Losing a driver’s license as an older adult only validates one’s fear of being frail and being dependent on others. Public transportation is not much of a help either as they oftentimes prove to be unavailable, inconvenient or expensive. Getting Around With The Prowler 3-Wheel Mobility Scooter Mobility scooter is one of the emerging approaches, aside from pet ownership and e-bikes, to encourage physical activity among older adults. This power-operated vehicle accommodates only one person. The device is controlled via a mechanical tiller system. Some have 4 wheels; others have 3 wheels. The prowler 3-wheel mobility scooter can travel up to 23 miles with a maximum cruising range of 7 miles per hour. It also has safety features such as anti-tip wheels, turn signals, rearview mirrors and a headlight. Aside from travelling distances, this technology conserves energy compared to propelling a manual wheelchair. In New Zealand, for instance, 50% of people aged 65 years and above have some form of mobility-restricting physical disabilities. Many elderly, including those in the U.S. and New Zealand, reported of being unable to walk several blocks, creating a dependence on others. A study by Sullivan et al. suggested that with the projected rise of people aged 65 years and over, it is reasonable to assume that there will be a rise of people using this assistive device in the immediate future. The Sullivan et al. study showed that this assistive technology was the main form of transportation and in many instances it replaced the ownership of a car after a loss of a driver’s license. The study further suggests that this modern form of transportation facilitated wide range of activities such as shopping, recreational and socializing. The study added that the regular use of this device improved the ability of the users to “get around” in their community. This, in turn, may have a positive impact on the overall health status of the users, the study stressed. Driving a Car Versus Driving a Mobility Scooter The health requirements for driving a scooter are less than the requirements for driving a car. Here are the basic health requirements for driving a scooter: Visual capacity: One must have a decent visual ability in order to drive a mobility scooter. This Optometrist in Calgary strongly prohibits the use of mobility scooters if you have problems related to eye sight; Ability to walk even for short distance; Finger control to operate the vehicle; Ability to sit down and stand up independently and safely from a chair; and Good trunk control and good balance while sitting.

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The American founding fathers penned to the world, and to the future generations of Americans, some truths they saw as self-evident. These concepts are the foundation stones of western civilization. The American founders began their list of self-evident truths with the statement that all men are created equal. They were specifically referring to both king and commoner, but knew the principle applied to everyone. Somehow that idea of equal intrinsic value of all individuals still needs to be pointed out, because we don’t have that thinking today. We tend to think government officials are more valuable than average individuals. In their day the king thought this AND the people thought this. We tend to think bosses are more valuable than laborers, men than women, rich than poor, professors than students. And this thinking directs our lives. It also tends to make us angry! Also, it is still necessary to be reminded that man is created at all. Many think man is a higher form of monkey. That influences how we live. Also, the founders wrote that God gave certain rights to all mankind, such as the right to live. But many think others can decide that – especially for babies. Or the aged. Or the sick. Also, that God gave a right to liberty was obvious to the founders. But some think they can burn people alive in cages. Though obvious to many, the right to liberty is not self-evident to everyone. Also, they saw a right from God to property as self-evident (the pursuit of happiness was an expansion of the concept of property in their minds). But some think they know better how to allocate other people’s property (money), or even what other people should buy – how others should use their own property. Also, the founders thought it self-evident that the proper job and purpose of civil government is to protect all society by securing these God-given rights of the individual. The challenge is to leave the individual free while keeping civil government confined to its proper boundaries, and purpose of protection. But there are many today who think the purpose of civil government is to rule and control the people – for their own good, of course. The founding fathers also wrote that if any civil government is destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it. Many think, however, that civil government is permanent from ages past and cannot be changed – there is nothing we can do. Who do you suppose would want us to think that way? Elections are the peaceful way to alter or abolish civil government. Since civil government is continually being destructive of these ends, we must continually alter or abolish it by voting. Therefore, all qualified Biblical people must vote. And vote intelligently for Bible ideals. And vote always in every election. This is self-evident. We must begin to prepare now for upcoming elections. For further study, get your copy of Self-Evident Truths, by Bill Burtness: Paperback textbook ($15.99) available HERE. Also, subscribe below to our Education For Liberty Project e-mail list for notices of upcoming blog posts, videos, reports and learning opportunities.

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Robots for Real: A Helping Hand From a Robot The Quality of Life Technology Center, in Pittsburgh, is developing intelligent systems to help older adults stay independent and healthy This segment is part of the special report "Engineers of the New Millennium: Robots for Real." Transcript: A Helping Hand Fron a Robot Reported by Lisa Raffensperger Lisa Raffensperger: In a condo in a residential part of Pittsburgh, researcher Matt Lee sits on a couch next to a man we'll call Rob. He's giving Rob a memory quiz about a trip to the zoo he took two years ago. Rob: ...different animals, I think they had birds in one section....I remember, vaguely. Lisa Raffensperger: But as it progresses, Rob hesitates. Rob: Did I see lions and tigers and gorillas? I'm not sure; I think I might've. Lisa Raffensperger: Rob is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, a form called mild cognitive impairment. He was diagnosed four years ago. Now, says his wife, Sandy... Sandy: His memory for what happened 40 years ago is good. It's what happened yesterday or two or three days ago or this morning. Lisa Raffensperger: But for a while after this zoo trip, two years ago, Rob could remember it in detail—in fact, for almost a month, a very long time for someone with memory loss. Lisa Raffensperger: What made the difference was an intelligent memory recorder, called the MemeXerciser. The device was developed at the Quality of Life Technology Center—a joint engineering research center between University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon. Lisa Raffensperger: The MemeXerciser is a wearable cluster of sensors that automatically records memories. There's a camera that goes around the neck of the memory-impaired person and an audio recorder in their pocket. A separate GPS unit tracks their location. Lisa Raffensperger: Then the memory-impaired person and a caregiver go out on "experiences"—a trip to the museum, for instance. Lisa Raffensperger: And what happens next is really the transformative part. The software sifts through hours of data to pick out "cues." Cues are the threads your mind might pull on to evoke the whole rest of a memory—someone you met, maybe, or what your spouse was wearing. It's similar for people with early Alzheimer's, says Ph.D. researcher Matt Lee. Matt Lee: We know that people in early stages of Alzheimer's disease, they can still remember their memories; they just need a little bit of a hint. Lisa Raffensperger: Image and audio cues are paired together. Finally, the caregiver can record narration on the photos to give personal meaning. The end result is an interactive slide show, displayed on a small tablet computer. Lisa Raffensperger: Like Rob's zoo memory. He clicks through it with a stylus. Lisa Raffensperger: The simplicity of the device masks its ingenuity. In trials so far, patients were able to remember... Matt Lee: Four weeks after the experience, which is a long time for people with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease to remember the kind of details of the experience. Lisa Raffensperger: Patients recalled more details after using the robot than after talking through the memory with a caregiver. And they reported more confidence in those recollections. Matt Lee: Sometimes with quality of life, when you're thinking about it from that perspective, confidence in memory might be even more important than actually having good memory abilities—to feel at ease with yourself and not constantly having to doubt your own abilities. Lisa Raffensperger: Lee thinks these positive results are because patients can relive their memories alone and at their own pace. And that frees the caregiver, too, from what can be a tiring repetition of reminders. Lisa Raffensperger: The MemeXerciser is just one of many intelligent systems being developed at the Quality of Life Technology Center to complement human skills and help fill the gaps. There are robotic arms to reach for things in the kitchen, smart wheelchairs that could navigate through doors on their own, sensors on a pill bottle that may someday record whether a person's taken his or her medicines. Lisa Raffensperger: The thing that ties all these technologies together is awareness, says executive director Jim Osborn. Jim Osborn: We look at a computer being able to interpret what a person is able to do, what a person is doing at the moment, if that person needs any type of assistance at the moment, and what the right type of assistance is to provide. That's what awareness means. And that's our secret sauce. Lisa Raffensperger: But accomplishing that human-computer collaboration means breaking some molds. Jim Osborn: We've all been striving for these systems, these robots to be able to do as much as they can with as little human involvement as possible. But maybe there's—we've leapt too far forward to making robots work by themselves, to the sacrifice of paying attention to what they could do together with people. Lisa Raffensperger: And in fact, engineering collaborative systems that respond to human needs requires a different way, says director Takeo Kanade. Takeo Kanade: In order to do that, surprisingly, you actually need higher technology than just looking for autonomy. Because at the end, the best system is, the system can do everything if needed, but based on what human can do and also what human wants to do. Actually, it let human do what they can do, and collaboratively we get the best, not only result, and also best satisfaction. Lisa Raffensperger: It's that same satisfaction that's on display back in the condo living room. Rob and Sandy sit talking on the couch. Sandy: Do you remember where we're going to dinner tonight? Rob: We're going to a relative's. Sandy: Which relative? Rob: Jack and Ruth. Sandy: Very good. That's terrific, because a lot of times, you don't remember. This time it sunk in. Rob: What's your name again? I winked at her when I said it! Sandy: I saw, I saw. Lisa Raffensperger: It's one of those small successes that make up the satisfaction of a life. Lisa Raffensperger: I'm Lisa Raffensperger.

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The tiny 6x5 cm device, mounted above the steering, can detect radiation emitted by the driver’s mobile phone, especially when the vehicle is in motion, and immediately switch it off New Delhi: A cutting-edge technology pioneered by an Indian engineer deactivates mobile phones before they can cause accidents or deaths on the highways. As soon the use of cell phone is detected, while the vehicle is in motion, the jammer flashes warning beeps within five seconds. Pic for representational purpose only “Even a momentary distraction while dialling a number or chatting on the cell phone can result in an accident or fatalities on the road,” H Abdul Shabeer, the man behind the innovation which is still untitled, said. The tiny 6x5 cm device, mounted above the steering, can detect radiation emitted by the driver’s mobile phone, especially when the vehicle is in motion, and immediately switch it off, said Shabeer. The low cost device, powered by the vehicle, can differentiate between a mobile phone being used by a driver or any passenger in a van or a bus, even if many of them are making simultaneous calls. “This differentiation is crucial because the driver holds the steering, with a direct bearing on passengers’ safety,” explained Shabeer. The system could be a boon for a country like India, accounting for the highest number of road accidents worldwide, claiming thousands of lives every year, according to reports. “Other commercial systems operating abroad, unlike ours, do not have the capability to differentiate whether a mobile phone was used by the driver or the passenger,” Shabeer said. As soon the driver’s use of cell phone is detected, especially when the vehicle is in motion, the jammer flashes warning beeps within five seconds. If he still continues with his chat, a micro camera will click him in the very act and transmit it along with the number plate to the traffic control room or near a signal post so that police can act on time. If anybody tries to damage or remove the system, then the device will automatically transmit the vehicle’s registration number to the control room. Shabeer and his research associates spent six years testing the jammer on scores of cars, vans, SUVs, auto-rickshaws, buses and trucks before perfecting and miniaturising it. They used a Blackberry 8520 cell phone and GSM connection for the purpose. The idea of a jammer germinated in Shabeer’s head years ago after a school friend, Balamurugan, met with a horrific accident while driving and chatting on a cell phone. Shabeer has applied for a patent on the product, which is ready for commercial applications.

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Zéro Waste of Human and Natural Resources An answer to the challenges of development in the Mediterranean? Copublished by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the CIHEAM, the Mediterra Report 2016 entitled "Zero Waste in the Mediterranean: Natural Resources, Food and Knowledge" was presented at Sciences Po Paris on Tuesday, 24 January 2017. It analyses the multiple challenges to address related to waste and offers solutions that highlight the significance of this issue for the sustainable, responsible and inclusive development in the countries of the Mediterranean. In order to facilitate exchanges on this crucial issue of agricultural and rural development, a debate was organised in collaboration with Presses de Sciences Po, publishers of this Report, in presence of Enrico Letta, Dean of the School of International Affairs of Sciences Po and former President of the Italian Council; Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, Deputy-director general and Regional representative of the FAO in the Near East and North Africa; Cosimo Lacirignola, Secretary General of the CIHEAM and Sébastien Abis, scientific and technical coordinator of Mediterra 2016. Previous editions of Mediterra

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Today’s Highlight in History: On September 19, 1777, the first Battle of Saratoga was fought during the Revolutionary War; although British forces succeeded in driving out the American troops, the Americans prevailed in a second battle the following month. On this date: In 1796, President George Washington’s farewell address was published. In 1881, the 20th president of the United States, James A. Garfield, died 2½ months after being shot by Charles Guiteau; Chester Alan Arthur became president. In 1934, Bruno Hauptmann was arrested in New York and charged with the kidnap-murder of Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. In 1945, Nazi radio propagandist William Joyce, known as “Lord Haw-Haw,” was convicted of treason and sentenced to death by a British court. In 1957, the United States conducted its first contained underground nuclear test, code-named “Rainier,” in the Nevada desert. In 1959, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, visiting Los Angeles, reacted angrily upon being told that, for security reasons, he wouldn’t get to visit Disneyland. In 1960, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in New York to visit the United Nations, angrily checked out of the Shelburne Hotel in a dispute with the management; Castro ended up staying at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem. In 1964, the family TV show “Flipper,” about a dolphin adopted by a Florida family, premiered on NBC. In 1970, the situation comedy “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” debuted on CBS-TV. In 1985, the Mexico City area was struck by a devastating earthquake that killed at least 9,500 people. In 1989, a Paris-bound DC-10 belonging to French airline UTA was destroyed by a bomb over Niger, killing all 170 people on board. (A French court later convicted six Libyans in absentia for the bombing; Libya agreed in 2004 to pay $170 million in compensation, although it stopped short of acknowledging responsibility.) In 1994, the medical drama “ER” premiered on NBC-TV. Ten years ago: Hu Jintao (hoo jin-tow) became the undisputed leader of China with the departure of former President Jiang Zemin (jahng zuh-MEEN’) from his top military post. Militants decapitated three hostages believed to be Iraqi Kurds in a videotape that surfaced hours after Iraq’s prime minister said that January elections would be held on schedule. The United States suffered its biggest Ryder Cup loss in 77 years as it lost to the Europeans, 18 1/2 to 9 1/2. “The Sopranos” won best drama series at the Emmy Awards while “Arrested Development” won best comedy series. Country singer Skeeter Davis, 72, died in Nashville. Five years ago: Russia said it would scrap a plan to deploy missiles near Poland after Washington dumped a planned missile shield in Eastern Europe. Art Ferrante, 88, half of the piano duo Ferrante and Teicher, died in Longboat Key, Florida. (Lou Teicher had died in 2008 at age 83.) One year ago: Signaling a dramatic shift in Vatican tone, Pope Francis said in a published interview that the Roman Catholic church had become obsessed by “small-minded rules” about how to be faithful and that pastors should instead emphasize compassion over condemnation when discussing divisive social issues such as abortion, gays and contraception. A Texas appeals court tossed the criminal conviction of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, saying there was insufficient evidence for a jury in 2010 to have found him guilty of illegally funneling money to Republican candidates. Hiroshi Yamauchi, 85, who ran Nintendo for more than 50 years, died in central Japan. Today’s Birthdays: Author Roger Angell is 94. Host James Lipton (TV: “Inside the Actors Studio”) is 88. Actress Rosemary Harris is 87. Former Defense Secretary Harold Brown is 87. Actor Adam West is 86. Actor David McCallum (TV: “NCIS”) is 81. Singer-songwriter Paul Williams is 74. Singer Bill Medley is 74. Singer Sylvia Tyson (Ian and Sylvia) is 74. R&B singer Freda Payne is 72. Golfer Jane Blalock is 69. Singer David Bromberg is 69. Actor Randolph Mantooth is 69. Rock singer-musician Lol Creme (10cc) is 67. Former NFL running back Larry Brown is 67. Actor Jeremy Irons is 66. Actress Twiggy Lawson is 65. TV personality Joan Lunden is 64. Singer-producer Daniel Lanois (lan-WAH’) is 63. Actor Scott Colomby is 62. Musician-producer Nile Rodgers is 62. College Football Hall of Famer and former NFL player Reggie Williams is 60. Singer-actor Rex Smith is 59. Actor Kevin Hooks is 56. Actress Carolyn McCormick is 55. Celebrity chef Mario Batali is 54. Country singer Jeff Bates is 51. Country singer Trisha Yearwood is 50. Actress-comedian Cheri Oteri is 49. News anchor Soledad O’Brien is 48. Rhythm-and-blues singer Espraronza Griffin (Society of Soul) is 45. Celebrity chef Michael Symon is 45. Actress Sanaa Lathan (suh-NAH’ LAY’-thun) is 43. Actress Stephanie J. Block is 42. Rock singer A. Jay Popoff (Lit) is 41. “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon is 40. TV personality Carter Oosterhouse is 38. Actress-TV host Alison Sweeney is 38. Rock musician Ryan Dusick is 37. Folk-rock singers-musicians Tegan (TEE’-gan) and Sara Quin are 34. Actor Columbus Short is 32. Rapper Eamon is 31. Christian rock musician JD Frazier is 31. Actor Kevin Zegers is 30. Actress Danielle Panabaker is 27. Thought for Friday: “He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god; he is no part of a state.” – Aristotle, Greek philosopher (384 B.C.-322 B.C.) Copyright 2014, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Guido van Rossum is writing about the history of Python. It struck me that behind Python and other programming languages van Rossum has worked on was the intention to have a language customized for the problem at hand. Of course, he was working for a research institution with ample experience on designing and compiling programming languages. After reading most of the blog, I went back to the task at hand, which is adding some new features to a program I started writing over ten years ago. Having been away from the code for a long while, I had to study it to know how to best approach the new task, and Behold! Most of what the core of the code does is to work around the strictness of Delphi Pascal to create an environment in which extensibility, attribute inheritance, and unlimited undo is easy to do! I created my own Python-like programming language without knowing I was doing it. On hindsight (everything is clearer in hindsight), it would have been best to embed Python in the core, or go ahead and implement a custom language. But that was then. Today, mainstream languages have an enormous amount of support from all kind of high-quality libraries and tools, something very difficult to have with your own language. The story told, my suggestion is to use Python for this pragmatic reasons: - The language is nice an comfortable to program in. The learning curve is mild and it doesn't get in your way like corporate/bureaucratic/committee languages do (sorry Java and C++). - If you can't find what you need in the standard or the third-party libraries, you probably don't want it. - Python makes it easy to fall back to another programming language when you decide that's what you need. - Python is an extraordinary base to create a Domain-specific Language (i.e. your own language) without renouncing to modern tools and libraries (take a look at what Pyparsing has showed to be possible in Python).

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John Snow was a medical doctor who mapped out an outbreak of cholera in 1854 London. His map helped him figure out the cause of cholera was water based (the point of origin of the outbreak was a water pump's well) rather than the "bad air" of urban living which was the accepted scientific cause at the time. Snow's use of geographical thinking started the field of medical geography. Countless lives have been saved by his research and spin-offs from it. John Snow and Geography: Knew It, Mapped It, and Still Stops Epidemics Around the World.

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I have been doing research on this, but I just can find a lot on the question of when Zoroaster [editor: the founder of Zoroastrianism, the chief religion in Persia from about 500 BC until the time of Islam] lived. I know that some claim that he must have lived 1500 BC because the language which the Avesta was compiled in dates back to that time. But still no one ones when he was born. Yes, it is true that Zoroaster incorporated some earlier material into his teaching. Some early material in the Avesta may predate Zoroaster. That is consistent with what I already said. [editor: this is a follow-up to an earlier question about when Zoroaster lived in which I pointed out that he included aspects of an older religion endemic to Persia] An analogous situation is in Confucianism. Confucius used much material which predated him by hundreds of years. The I-Ching has been estimated to have been written about 1000 BC, but Confucius lived more like 550 BC. This does not cause us to think that he lived before this material was written. Similarly, Jesus used the Old Testament. This does not cause us to believe he lived 1500 BC. Our sources on Zoroaster are much less reliable than those on Jesus (or Confucius, David or Isaiah or many other Old Testament figures, for that matter), so we do not know exactly when he was born and until what year he lived, but I have looked at the material more than once and fairly carefully, and all reliable sources say he probably lived some time in the seventh century, plus or minus one hundred years. MY tentative conclusion is that those who say he lived 1000 to 1500 BC are probably confusing the fact that some of the material in the Zoroastrian scripture may come from that early time–before he lived.

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An example of script. - Script is defined as the written words of a play, movie or show, or a standard message to deliver on the phone or in person. - An example of a script is the screenplay for the movie Chinatown. - An example of a script is the greeting which is spoken when making phone calls for a call center. - Script means handwriting, handwriting with connected letters or a printed typeface that is connected like handwriting. - An example of script is calligraphy. - An example of script is cursive writing. - handwriting; written words, letters, or figures - a style of handwriting; manner or method of forming letters or figures - Printing a typeface that looks like handwriting, with the letters connected - a written document; original manuscript - the manuscript, or a copy of the text, of a stage, film, radio, or television show Origin of scriptMiddle English ; from Middle French escript ; from Classical Latin scriptum ; from neuter of scriptus, past participle of scribere, to write: see scribe - a. Handwriting.b. A style of writing with cursive characters.c. A particular system of writing: cuneiform script. - Printing a. A style of type that imitates handwriting.b. The matter set in this type. - a. The text of a play, broadcast, or movie.b. A copy of a text used by a director or performer. - Law The original of a legal instrument, as opposed to a copy. - Computers A simple program in a language that the computer must convert to machine language each time the program is run. transitive verbscript·ed, script·ing, scripts - To prepare (a text) for filming or broadcasting. - To arrange, direct, or control (an event or a person) as if supplying a script: “the brilliant, charming, judicial moderate scripted by his White House fans” (Ellen Goodman). - Computers To write (code) for a program. Origin of scriptMiddle English skript, a piece of writing, alteration of scrite, from Old French escrit, from Latin scrīptum, from neuter past participle of scrībere, to write; see skrībh- in Indo-European roots. - Written characters; style of writing. - (typography) Type made in imitation of handwriting. - (countable, law) An original instrument or document. - (countable) The written document containing the dialogue and action for a drama; the text of a stage play, movie, or other performance. Especially, the final form used for the performance itself. - (computing) A file containing a list of user commands, allowing them to be invoked once to execute in sequence. - (linguistics) A system of writing adapted to a particular language or set of languages. - An abbreviation for a prescription. (third-person singular simple present scripts, present participle scripting, simple past and past participle scripted) - to make or write a script script - Computer Definition (1) A program written in a general-purpose programming language. Such languages are typically interpreted and less comprehensive than full-blown compiled languages. See scripting language and interpreter. (2) A program written in a special-purpose language such as used in a communications program or word processor. Such languages are typically interpreted. See macro language, scripting language and interpreter. (3) A typeface that looks like continuously flowing handwriting (not hand printing) or calligraphy.

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Written and Illustrated by Yuyi Morales Frida Kahlo, one of the world’s most famous and unusual artists is revered around the world. Her life was filled with laughter, love, and tragedy, all of which influenced what she painted on her canvases. Distinguished author/illustrator Yuyi Morales illuminates Frida’s life and work in this elegant and fascinating book. Primary Source Pairing: Sparse, purposeful text with exquisite, intricate illustrations tell the story of famous artist Frida Kahlo in this beautiful book. Yuyi Morales has created a book full of visual learning opportunities for readers. Each page holds a new masterpiece to study and analyze. Invite students to look for all the small details in the puppets and figures used in the illustrations in the book. For this primary source pairing, use the image of Frida Kahlo painting in bed and slowly look at all the details in the photograph. Couple the primary source analysis with reading the Author’s Note to begin a discussion of Frida’s artwork, life, and style. Questions for Discussion: - Describe what you see. - What do you notice first? - What’s happening in the image - What people and objects are shown? - How are they arranged? - What is the physical setting? - Find something small but interesting. - What do you notice that you didn’t expect? - What do you notice that you can’t explain? Book Cover and Summary: Follett Frida Kahlo Photograph: HuckMagazine.com

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Berries—such as blueberry, blackberry, and raspberry—possess several biological activities including antimicrobial and nutritional effects. A study published in Food Control shows that blackberry juice may be used as a preservative in food processing and a preventive in foodborne infections as a natural antimicrobial. The researchers investigated the antimicrobial activities of blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) juice against foodborne pathogens including Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Escherichia coli O157:H7. They measured the inhibition of growth of these foodborne pathogens in broth (Luria–Bertani broth for E. coli O157:H7 and S. Typhimurium, and brain heart infusion broth for L. monocytogenes), skim milk, and whole milk supplemented with 10% blackberry juice at different time points (0, 24, 48 and 72 hrs). The effects of blackberry juice on the growth of Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus plantarum, and Lactobacillus rhamnosus were also investigated in Man–Rogosa–Sharpe (MRS) broth and skim and whole milk supplemented with blackberry juice. The researchers found that the growth of L. monocytogenes, S. Typhimurium, and E. coli O157:H7 were significantly inhibited by blackberry juice by 1–3 logs in both milk and broth. They also observed that the growths of Lactobacillus strains—good bacteria—were significantly stimulated (1–4 logs CFU/mL) by blackberry juice in both milk and MRS broth.

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Diversity is the natural state of the world (Harmon 2001). It is the quintessence of the evolutionary process as found in the natural world in its multiplicity of flora and fauna called biological diversity and in the constructed world in its multiplicity of cultures called cultural diversity. Language diversity is part of the co-evolution of humans with ecological diversity and it is comparable with the evolution of diversification of species. Languages are the core component of the ecologically evolved cultural diversity, which enable representation and transmission of the core aspects of cultures for acquisition by succeeding generations of the community and for interaction with other contemporary communities. It is natural for cultural diversity to emerge and sustain itself through language diversity. It is established empirically (Harmon 2002) that the diversity in nature and culture are integrally related and they are connected with the development of ecosystems and with their sustainability. This has given rise to the concept of biocultural diversity as a unified phenomenon. Most of the specialists in the respective fields of study of nature and of culture and the common people seem not to be aware of the connection between diversity in nature and culture. The awareness of the common people about the connection between culture and language is more socio-political and psychological and less philosophical in nature. One piece of evidence is that an increasing number of minority linguistic communities transplanted in the midst of a dominant linguistic community ask seriously the question whether they can maintain their culture without their language. The awareness of, and scientific enquiry into, biological diversity transformed into concern and activism for the preservation of that diversity, renamed in the 1980s as biodiversity (Wilson1988), when the people saw the loss of diversity to be coupled with environmental degradation instigated by human behavior. It is not that extinction of biological species did not occur before in paleo-historical times. It has occurred five times in a massive scale, each separated by millions of years, extinguishing together more than ninety per cent of species that ever lived (Heywood 1995). But the earth regenerates itself every time with new species. The impending sixth extinction feared by specialists will be the first one after modern humans (Homo sapiens) came into existence 250-200 thousand years ago and the human language emerged sometime after this evolutionary happening and before the modern humans migrated out of Africa 100-70 thousand years ago. The sixth extinction, if it happens, will be the one caused by humans and it may include the human species (Pimm and Brooks 2000). It will then be the one that includes extinction of languages. Even if there is no total extinction as feared, there is increasing loss of language diversity now directly attributable to human action. It is a natural assumption that international development programs lead to direct improvements in lives around the world. Decreasing rates of under-five mortality from malaria? Absolutely. Improving lives in the wake of unimaginable destruction from natural disasters? Without question. It was under these obvious assumptions that I worked for years on various development programs as part of a large government agency. However, I quickly realized that this dominant model of development – one that often takes a Western approach to what progress looks like and applies it to people in all parts of the world regardless of their own values – does not fare so well in empowering cultures, languages or local solutions. With time I saw clearly that in addition to building health clinics, schools, and green revolutions, I was in some cases unknowingly contributing to the creation of a Western monoculture and the destruction of beautifully diverse cultures and languages that hold immeasurable value. What I learned and experienced through that work led me to believe that deep and fundamental change is needed to this Western led and strictly structured development paradigm. Along with many others, I now call for a new approach to international development that breaks with Western tradition to embrace local tradition: one that empowers local people to drive their own progress; one in which diverse approaches, practices and ideas are heard, embraced and celebrated. These two models of development– the dominant Western approach and this new, sustainable one that values biological and cultural diversity – are reconcilable. The old model is rooted in indisputable good will, far reach, and well-researched methodology, but desperately needs to be reframed into one that allows the development conversation to be defined and led by those to whom it is most critically relevant. The Dominant Development Paradigm It is widely agreed that there are three primary aspects to the traditional development model that together create a three-legged stool upon which a healthy society rests: environment, society and economy[i]. Undeniably, this dominant approach has made great strides in creating opportunity and improving lives – indeed for the ‘recipients’ of the aid, but also for the development industry and those who work within it. Through working within that approach, I was given the invaluable opportunity to learn from some of the most brilliant, creative, and driven local and indigenous peoples from India to Tanzania. Deeply impressed by the vast storehouses of ideas, practice and knowledge that these communities held, I realized that more often than not, the solutions to their own development needs already existed within their respective communities. What do we need to do to further promote biocultural diversity conservation? Since the existence of an “inextricable link” between cultural and biological diversity was affirmed in the pioneering 1988 Declaration of Belém, the field of biocultural diversity (BCD) has grown organically out of a variety of sources in the natural, social, and behavioral sciences, humanities, applied sciences, policy, and human rights. It has developed as an integrative approach that sees biodiversity, cultural diversity, and linguistic diversity as three interrelated and interdependent aspects of the diversity of life. BCD research has also shown that there is a “converging extinction crisis” of BCD: BCD is in significant decline globally, under the cumulative and synergistic effect of environmental degradation and rapid socio-economic, cultural and political changes driven by economic globalization and cultural homogenization. These changes affect in particular Indigenous peoples and local communities, who represent most of the world’s cultural diversity and are the main stewards of BCD. Efforts are underway all over the world—many of them spearheaded by Indigenous peoples and local communities themselves—to sustain and restore cultures and biodiversity, often against tremendous odds. Efforts are also underway to further advance knowledge and understanding of BCD and impart this approach in education, as well as to promote the adoption of bioculturally friendly policies at international and national levels. In short, BCD is becoming an increasingly accepted paradigm; yet, the overall prospects for sustaining the biocultural diversity of life remain precarious. The very fabric of life in nature and culture continues to unravel, leaving our biocultural world increasingly fragile and the outlook for humans and all other species increasingly uncertain. What more needs to be done to foster a global shift in values toward a new paradigm that celebrates, cherishes and protects the biocultural diversity of life, in order to ensure that sustaining and restoring BCD becomes a primary societal goal and a fundamental object of political, social, and economic action? What obstacles need to be overcome, what opportunities need to be seized? In our book Biocultural Diversity Conservation: A Global Sourcebook (Earthscan, 2010), Ellen Woodley and I identified a number of gaps and needs at various levels: in research and field work, in policy, in synergizing with other germane approaches and common interest communities, and in education. Some examples are: In research and field work: Identify causal links between effective conservation and the maintenance of traditional and local values, beliefs, continue reading–>

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Researchers at the Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL) of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna made a breakthrough for the Platynereis model system, as they describe the first method for generating specific and inheritable mutations in the species. The method, in combination with other tools, now places this marine bristle worm in an excellent position to advance research at the frontiers of neurobiology, chronobiology, evolutionary developmental biology and marine biology. The study and a review on Platynereis dumerilii genetic methods were chosen by the renowned journal Genetics as one of the May 2014 Highlights and also got the cover image. Many fascinating biological phenomena, of which we currently have little to no molecular understanding, can be observed in the tiny marine bristle worm Platynereis dumerilii. It displays a slow rate of evolution, which permits analyses of ancestral genes and cell types, possesses a vertebrate-type hormonal system, as well as the ability to regenerate large pieces of its body. Furthermore, its reproductive timing is controlled by multiple timers – a feature likely to be common to many other organisms. These characteristics make it an ideal model for evolutionary studies as well as for chronobiology, amongst other research fields. However, dissecting Platynereis gene function in vivo had remained challenging due to a lack of available tools. TALENs as a new tool to engineer targeted modifications in Platynereis genes To address this need, scientists from the Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL) and the Research Platform "Marine Rhythms of Life" of the University of Vienna and supported by the VIPS (Vienna International Postdoctoral program) have now established customized transcriptional activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) as a tool to engineer targeted modifications in Platynereis genes. These tailored enzymes bind specific DNA sequences and "cut" the genome at these locations. The repair mechanisms of the cell promptly repair the damage, however small errors in the form of insertions and deletions can be introduced during the repair process. The result is the generation of small mutations that render the protein product of the gene non-functional – allowing the generation of the first-ever Platynereis mutants. The researchers found out that the induced mutations are heritable, demonstrating that TALENs can be used for generating mutant lines in this bristle worm. "This new tool opens the door for detailed in vivo functional analyses in Platynereis and can also facilitate further technical developments. For example, we hope to use TALENs to insert fluorescent reporter genes into the genome. In this way we can study how gene expression is regulated across the entire lifecycle", explains first author Stephanie Bannister, VIPS Postdoc in Florian Raible's group at the Department of Microbiology, Immunobiology and Genetics at the University of Vienna. She spearheaded the establishment of the technique. "In addition, we have provided a streamlined workflow that can serve as a template for the establishment of TALEN technology in other non-conventional and emerging model organisms", Stephanie Bannister adds. Explore further: Genome editing goes hi-fi: Technique in stem cells to boost scientists' ability to study genetic disease More information: Stephanie Bannister, Olga Antonova, Alessandra Polo, Claudia Lohs, Natalia Hallay, Agne Valinciute, Florian Raible, Kristin Tessmar-Raible: TALENs mediate efficient and heritable mutation of endogenous genes in the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii. In: Genetics (March 2014). DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1534/genetics.113.161091 Juliane Zantke, Stephanie Bannister, Vinoth Babu Veedin Rajan, Florian Raible, Kristin Tessmar-Raible: Genetic and genomic tools for the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii. In: Genetics (May 2014) DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1534/genetics.112.148254

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* Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.Moves to include the Democratic Republic of Congo in forest protection efforts may not work unless the country’s problems with conflict are taken into account According to a recent WWF press release, the Democratic Republic of Congo may be on the cusp of unlocking $60 million in payments for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+). DRC’s emissions reduction program idea note (ER-PIN) was reviewed last month in Paris by the Carbon Fund of the World Bank-run Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), beginning a process of gradual REDD+ implementation in the Central African country. REDD+ aims to reward forest owners for maintaining their forests rather than cutting them down. The vast Congo Basin rainforest, 60 percent of which lies in the DRC, represents a key prize for REDD+ proponents. In a country faced with extreme poverty, where firewood and charcoal provide a critical resource for local livelihoods, REDD+ appears to show a way where forest conservation could pay for development. “WWF believes that REDD+ can provide significant benefits to the people and biodiversity of the DRC, and is pleased that the Carbon Fund review has identified areas of the ER-PIN that can be strengthened to maximize effectiveness and potential benefits,” says Raymond Lumbuenamo, head of WWF-DRC. But is REDD+ missing something? Between 1998 and 2003, the deadliest war in modern African history ravaged eastern Congo, leaving millions dead and displaced from their homes. Effects of the conflict linger to this day, as the recent fighting between the M23 rebel group and the Congolese Army over the city of Goma attests. Yet even at the local level, many forest dwellers live with insecure tenure rights and conflicts over ownership and usage are common. As a recent report by International Alert and the London School of Economics highlights, implementing a complex climate mitigation programme such as REDD+ in a country beset with serious governance challenges is difficult enough, but doing so in a context of lingering conflict and displacement raises some particular issues. The case of neighbouring Uganda, outlined in the report, is instructive. One of the most enthusiastic proponents of REDD+ in Africa, Uganda also has one of the continent’s highest rates of deforestation. Yet due to unclear tenure arrangements the country has also been the alleged site of recent forced displacements related to carbon-offset tree plantations. Considering that wood fuel makes up 90 percent of the country’s energy consumption – even more among rural communities – the potential for negative impacts on livelihoods is clear. As such, the report recommends that not only will safeguards, land tenure rights and information need to be addressed, but that REDD+ programmes should have mechanisms for conflict resolution built into their design to manage future disagreements. DRC now needs to ensure that its REDD+ proposal aligns with the five guiding principles outlined by a group of international non-governmental organisations, including WWF. Although the group stresses that local rights and livelihoods should be protected, none of the principles specifically addresses the need for REDD+ to be conflict sensitive. Poorly conceived policies in vulnerable communities can inadvertently do more harm than good. For International Alert, understanding the links between forest policy and conflict is crucial to ensure that environmental changes are managed peacefully. If REDD+ is going to actively contribute to peace and security it will need to make a positive impact for people on the ground. Ensuring that it is sensitive to conflict will be a good place to start. Ian Madison is a student in the MSc International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies programme at the London School of Economics, where his studies have focused on REDD+ and forestry in the developing world.

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It’s a famous quote we’ve all heard. William Shakespeare’s famous line spoken by Juliet in Romeo and Juliet “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” But is the same for the contrary? Does bad breath smell as sour by other names? Here are a few synonyms for bad breath: Halitosis – a commonly used Latinate term meaning affliction. Its origin comes from Victorian times when studies into the causes of bad breath were gaining momentum. The first recorded use of Halitosis was in 1874. J.W. Howe’s work titled The Breath and the Diseases Which Give It a Fetid Odor states “Chronic poisoning from lead, arsenic, or mercury may also be enumerated as a common cause of halitosis.” Howe lists other possible causes of halitosis which include emotional pangs, catarrh, mineral poisons and dyspepsia. Clearly, today’s causes of bad breath have changed dramatically since the late 19th century.

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From American Extremists. Since liberals and conservatives monopolize the political debate, they concentrate on their differences in order to maintain group cohesion, distinctiveness and relevance. However, it has been often noted that there’s not that much difference between them, or at least that the differences are minor compared to the similarities. In what ways are liberals and conservatives similar? - The most obvious similarity is that they both believe in hierarchies as an organizing principle of society. This is not to say that they believe in hierarchies in the same way. They support different hierarchies and withdraw support from different hierarchies: for example, conservatives support religious power but doubt union power, while liberals do the opposite. They also support and withdraw support from different parts of government (e.g. the military-industrial complex versus the welfare state). In general, liberals and conservatives believe in hierarchies: they merely disagree on who should be in charge (people who think like they do, of course). They agree that there are superiors and inferiors, and that the inferiors should obey the superiors’ power; they merely agree that there is such a thing as “excessive” power (like “unhealthy competition”) and an excessive amount of differentiation between inferiors and superiors (e.g. liberals want “the poor” to be supported financially, but they support the continued existence of poverty). Another, less obvious, consequence of this fact is that they support all hierarchies, including government, the patriarchy and capitalism, even though they may profess to disagree with them. Conservatives shout loudly that government is not a good organizing principle of society, but their own worldview depends on government to implement neo-liberalist policies at home and abroad. Liberals claim to be against “unbridled capitalism” and corporations but support the capitalist system. They also claim to support women but support gender roles and systems that exploit women. Since the power elite is almost exclusively composed of men, liberals or conservatives can only be feminists despite their liberalism or conservatism. - They both believe in boundless economic growth and neo-liberalism. Not only do they believe in it, but they see no possible alternative. The bizarre belief that economic growth is always good monopolizes discourse about economic news because both liberals and conservatives have complete unwavering faith in it. And this means that they cannot criticize neo-liberalism, even though neo-liberalism is responsible for decimating entire economies, compromising the lives of hundreds of millions of people, and the mass kidnapping/murder of critics in many countries (for more on this, see The Shock Doctrine). Liberals oppose neo-liberalist policies at home (while having no clear alternatives), but they don’t mind inflicting them on innocent people elsewhere. - They both believe in equality of opportunities. - They both believe that radicalism is a crime, is evil in nature, and is inevitably violent. We see this in their support of the neo-liberalist murderous suppression of criticism; in their rationale for war, where the pro-democracy agenda justifies the deaths of innocent people and opponents alike; and in the way liberal and conservative governments violently deal with, and talk about, opponents of democracy and capitalism in their own country. - They both believe that children are not full human beings. - They both define freedom as the absence of coercion. As I argue in “Free will as an ideological weapon…”, the dichotomy between coercion and conditioning is illusory and leads to the acceptance of tyranny as long as it’s not openly violent. This probably explains how Americans can describe their country as “the free world,” while living in a society which has the greatest inequality and penal population in the first world, as well as one of the most conformist and anti-individualist. To call this delusional would be generous. - They both believe in the “middle class.” Sustaining the “middle class” serves the (implicit or explicit) role of suppressing discontent or rebellion against the government by creating an entire segment of society that buys into the economic and social games and has a lot to lose. Positive and negative self-interest are clearly powerful factors in fostering consent. Nonetheless, at any given time, it is likely that there will be a number of people who are seriously disaffected with the current structure- most obviously the bottom 20 percent who have almost nothing to lose by change. Given that the middle 60 percent are receiving less than their equal share, it is likely that their consent will be unstable as well, at least insofar as it arises from rational or calculated self-interest alone. The Culture of Conformism, p58 The last part is key, especially since this is a whole book that seeks to explain why people conform. We do not act our of calculated self-interest alone, and there are a host of reasons that explain why we do not rebel. One of them is the absence of class consciousness, as George Carlin succinctly expresses: That’s the way the ruling class operates in any society. They try to divide the rest of the people. They keep the lower and the middle classes fighting with each other so that they, the rich, can run off with all the fucking money!… Anything different–that’s what they’re gonna talk about–race, religion, ethnic and national background, jobs, income, education, social status, sexuality, anything they can do to keep us fighting with each other, so that they can keep going to the bank! You know how I define the economic and social classes in this country? The upper class keeps all of the money, pays none of the taxes. The middle class pays all of the taxes, does all of the work. The poor are there just to scare the shit out of the middle class. Keep ‘em showing up at those jobs. A great deal more could be said about this, but I think you get the idea. - They both believe that human life is basically worthless. Their policy discussions, whether it is on welfare, war, “reproductive rights” or the economy, treats individuals as means to an end, instead of beings with rights and dignity. Any issue will do as an example, so let’s take immigration. Conservatives believe that “immigrants” “steal jobs” from documented citizens and that “immigrants” weaken the national culture, while liberals believe that most “immigrants” are hard workers who deserve to join “the economy.” In all cases, we are treated with rhetoric which, in addition to being racist, treats “immigrants” as means to an end. The values, desires or needs of “immigrants” are irrelevant. We can also use the war on drugs as another example (using drugs as disturbing the social order v making drugs legal and taxing them to get more money). In fact, you can do this for every issue that concerns liberals and conservatives. These are, I think, the fundamental similarities between liberals and conservatives (in general, not only in the United States). Post in the comments if you think I missed something.

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Caste in Transition Education, economics and protest drive changes and reform to India's ancient societal divisions Caste is not a pleasant topic for Hindus, and in the international arena today, it has elicited a shame upon the Hindu religion. I have written this article to initiate dialogue within our community. The negative issues associated with caste will not go away, but will only tear at the credibility of the religion. I am not suggesting the abolishment of Hinduism or of Hindu texts or the defamation of those in the upper castes. Rather, I write out of reverence for Hinduism itself, to initiate change, to affirm the positive aspects of Hinduism and to bring a spiritual sense of unity to Hindu believers worldwide. Origins: The standard explanations of India's caste system are based on the now discredited "Aryan Invasion" theory of ancient India. We await new speculations from the historians and anthropologists. Suffice it to say that many ancient societies had hereditary classes of people, eventually lost in social upheaval. The modern term caste is derived from the Portuguese casta, alluding to family, tribe or race, and was introduced into Indian society in the late 16th century. The Hindu religious texts describe varna ashrama dharma, the religious/social law delineating duties of four castes. Gurudeva, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, founder of Hinduism Today, wrote, "The original caste system had these four divisions. The divisions were all based on the ability of the individual to manage his body, his mind and his emotions properly. If he stopped fulfilling the dharma of his caste, society would recognize that he had moved from one caste and was now in another. The original caste system was based on self-discipline through education and through personal sadhana. The original caste system was based on the unfoldment of the consciousness within each individual through the chakras. People everywhere naturally divide themselves up into castes. We have the workers. You go to work, you work under somebody elseÑthat happens all over the worldÑthat's the shudra caste. We have the merchants, who are self-motivated. That's the vaishya caste. We have the politicians and the lawmakers and the law-enforcement people. That's the kshatriya caste. And then you have the priests, the ministers, the missionaries. That's the brahmin caste. Every society has these four castes working within it in one way or another." Jati and its advantages: Today, most Hindus do not abide by the chaturvarna (four caste) system but classify themselves according to the more specific colloquial form of caste known as the jati system. Jati are horizontal divisions within the four castes, and there are thousands of them, segregated according to occupational, sectarian, regional and linguistic distinctions. "The operative unit even today for social and marriage purposes is not caste but jati. You talk of brahmins as a caste, which is pan-Indian, but the fact is that a Tamilian brahmin would rarely have a marriage alliance with a Punjabi brahmin," stated Madhu Kishwar, editor of Manushi magazine and one of India's foremost women's rights advocates. "They are as far apart from each other culturally as could possibly be. It's really not the operative and, yet, we have the whole notion of brahmin domination, brahmins as a caste, whereas the regional differences matter much more." Kishwar points out the advantages of the jati system: "It allows even the most disadvantaged and impoverished groups to identify themselves and a political assertion based on their numerical strength. It has kept democracy not just alive, but has given it very deep roots. I think all these modernists attacking caste can't understand the survival strategy of the subcontinent. For example, it has provided social security for a rural migrant when he or she comes to the city as an impoverished economic refugee." Kishwar's points are valid. There are certain advantages to the caste system with regard to communal pride and access to political power. But what about those at the bottom, the untouchable Dalits? On November 4, 2001, the conversion of several thousand Dalits to Buddhism gained worldwide attention. "I am walking out of Hinduism because the 3,000-year-old caste system will never allow me any respect or dignity," stated the organizer of the event, Ram Raj, who dropped his first name upon conversion. Caste and class discrimination: As a Hindu, you might wonder: Is this really a fair portrayal of Hinduism? Is the caste system so unique to Hindu society? And is it really that bad? It cannot be denied that all countries have experienced, or are experiencing, some form of caste. For example, modern-day Britain supports strong class divisions on the basis of economics. Recently Laura Spence, a student of the lower social economic class, was not admitted into upper-crust Oxford, despite her extraordinary academic qualifications. Harvard University gladly admitted her, on a full scholarship. Hierarchical divisions on the basis of race and economics are part and parcel of the American experience as well. "In America, we have caste. There are black people and white people, rich people and poor people, superior people and inferior people," states Swami Brahmavidyananda of the Institute of Holistic Yoga of North America. According to Smita Narula, Director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, the difference between class and caste is "that being born into a particular caste invites a certain amount of restrictions on your basic freedoms, your basic rights. So it is the combination of work and descent-based discrimination that makes caste different from the class system. There's very little mobility." Class divisions are mostly culturally and economically based and, therefore, have the capacity to change as culture changes [though slowlyÑsee sidebar, page 33]. The inequalities associated with the Hindu caste system are more complex, mainly with regard to its undeniable roots in scripture and to the shameful existence of the untouchables. Other religions receive bad press due to patriarchal constraints of women, for example, but Hinduism is the only religion to be bombarded with issues of race, intolerable human rights violations among its own believers and inequality on such a grand scale. The untouchables: Although untouchability was abolished under Article 17 of the Indian Constitution in 1950, it is still widely practiced all over India today. The untouchables or "scheduled castes and scheduled tribes" (as they are listed by name on government schedules) are not associated with any caste mentioned in the original chatur varna Hindu system. Rather, untouchables are outcastes placed below the sudra caste. The untouchable sect of Hinduism is relegated to labor that no other caste will perform, such as the cleaning of latrines, scavenging dead animals and funeral duties. In the 1970s with the revolutionary activities of the Dalit Panthers in Maharastra, untouchables assumed the name Dalit, or "broken people," to represent themselves as politically empowered and mobilized nationwide. "The word itself implies the need to revolt, the need to identify one's oppressions, and then the need to act against it," said Narula. Today, Dalits represent over 16 percent of India's population of over 160 million. After being approached over several years to monitor the issue, Human Rights Watch embarked on a deep investigation of the systemic human rights abuses against the Dalit community across six different states of India. "We realized that we needed to look not only at the outward manifestations of violence but also at the roots of why things were happening, and the roots were both large-scale segregation and economic exploitation," Narula said. Social stratification has forced the physical separation of untouchables from the rest of Hindu society in much the same way Blacks were forceably kept apart in America 40 years ago or in South Africa ten years back. They are not allowed to live within the boundary lines of casted Hindu society and, instead, subsist on separate lands, drinking from separate wells. "We found that in cases, for example, when Dalits demanded land rights or the return of land that had been taken from them, punishment would be meted out against their entire community," Narula said. "Or if somebody drew water from an upper-castewell, that they were not supposed to touch even though it was a public well, their entire village would be burned down." Protective legislation has been enacted, but is slow to be enforced. For example, the 1989 Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act), offered protection for untouchables and allowed for remuneration in cases of violent acts against them. But police corruption, lack of strong law enforcement and political unwillingness have rendered the law almost useless. The Dalit human rights movements have been subjected to a variety of violent acts, as stated in Broken People, the published culmination of Human Rights Watch's investigations (available atwww.hrw.org/reports/1999/india/). It is the most comprehensive NGO documentation of human rights violations against Dalits. In addition to several massacres of Dalits in the 1990s, upper caste men are accused of ongoing cases of rape against dalit women. Out of hundreds of documented cases, for example, the rape of a 12-year-old Dalit girl by a man of the Thevar caste in Tamil Nadu was covered up by the Thevar community via blackmail and kickbacks. Origin of untouchability: In a religion that preaches the all-pervasiveness of God, how did untouchability even come to be? Mahatma Gandhi called it a product of "sheer ignorance and cruelty." "The scheduled tribes and scheduled castes in IndiaÑthis is the biggest problem that we have," said Swami Brahmavidyananda. "This is man's creation." Explanations also include the "unclean" occupations of the untouchables and the eating of meat. Swami Tathagatananda of the Vedanta Center of New York believes that the development of untouchability through Hindu history is a result of some basic human tendency, and has nothing to do with Hinduism itself. "America is a democratic country, but democracy is not practiced all of the time," he points out. "Good Hindus, like Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda and others, did not believe in untouchability, but regardless of their beliefs or convictions or vocations against it, they were not able to remove it. Suppose the American government wants to abolish drugs. Just because we make a law, you cannot abolish drugs. There are many laws, but who is obeying the laws? The division of all society is always based on color, on gender and on money or education." Gurudeva noted boldly, "CasteÑor at least discrimination on the basis of casteÑhas been thrown out of the laws of India, but people still hang on to it as an ego structure. The high caste people love to hurt the low caste people, so to speak, by ignoring them, treating them roughly. That's not the way it should be. If you find the high caste people in your society ignoring and not wanting to speak with and associate with the lower castes, those are nasty people, and those are people you should avoid. Spiritual people, even ordinary kindly people, would never think of behaving that way." Swami Tathagatananda concurs, "What you are seeing today is the hardened system which has misinterpreted the main points of division of labor. This hereditary business was not there originally. Hindu people have perpetuated this system in order to enjoy the benefit of the status." Swami Brahmavidyananda said, "The caste system is in one way good, but in another way harmful. When the ego bonds with ignorance, then it brings harm to society." Other religions and regions: Caste is by no means only a Hindu issue. Today, caste, or the jati system, more specifically, is pervasive, cutting across religions, cultures and national identities both in South Asia and its diaspora, according to Kishwar. All of the religions practiced within the South Asian subcontinent reflect this very same caste system, especially with regard to untouchability. Those who convert from Hinduism into Christianity, Buddhism and Islam still face discrimination on the basis of caste. There are separate churches in South India for brahmin converts and Dalit converts. The Dalits are also rendered more vulnerable to violence from the upper castes, as they lose their right to protection under the 1989 Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act when they change religion. Caste proves to be a troubling factor for the younger generation of Hindus in the diaspora. An anonymous contributor from the US notes: "I am not a brahmin but have brahmin friends who do, from time to time, bring up their spiritual and intellectual superiority to me, in very subtle ways. This really undercuts our friendships and is pretty ridiculous, since I have demonstrated equally, if not more, spiritual and intellectual superiority than they have." Toward a solution: Swami Brahmavidyananda suggests, "We have to reinterpret problematic texts and set a good example in our society. We should not disrespect our culture, but we should condemn those who are not properly versed in the philosophy that God belongs to everyone, God does not feel color or sex, or whether you are white or black." Most activists fighting for Dalits are not fighting to dismantle HinduismÑthough some areÑbut to demand accountability from the Indian government to uphold existing laws, such as the constitutional abolishment of untouchability and the Prevention of Atrocities Act (1989). Narula states: "The Dalit movement is also asking for the international community to work hand in hand with the Indian government and with NGOs in India to insure enforcement of the laws that are already in place to take care of issues such as violence, rape, scavenging, bonded labor and other issues." Higher government representation for Dalits is needed to bring visibility to their issues. Dr. Kiran Bedi, India's highest ranking female police officer, said, "The largest deterrents are the local politicians who use and abuse the situations for narrow political gain." Bedi points out that Dalit leaders themselves need to unite in their views. Swami Brahmavidyananda said, "India today is not the India of 50 years ago. People want to change. In order to protect our religion, our system, we should reorganize properly and slowly. We should pass out right information and correct these issues." The rise in interfaith and intercaste marriages has forced families to overlook issues of caste, to learn to live with one another equally. Gurudeva summarized: "We can see around us the deterioration of the system which has been abused beyond the point of recognition. Members of the brahmin caste are now beating their children, abusing their wives. Members of the kshatriya caste disrespect the laws of the land. Members of the business caste are deceptive and dishonest. All are confused, living in anger and in jealousy. No wonder their families break apart and their businesses fail. In the eyes of the Gods, most of those who adhere to the caste system that exists today are low caste. This is because they live in lower consciousness. These undeveloped humans are struggling through the lower chakras, trying to get out of the dark worlds of the mind. Let us not be deluded about what the sapta rishis [the "seven sages"] had in mind when they casted humans according to the soul's spiritual unfoldment. We should totally ignore the Hindu caste system as lived in India today and, through example, show a better and more wholesome path for modern society." Caste as a Fact of Life in India Economics bends the ancient system BY RAJIV MALIK As deeply embedded in the psyche of hindus ascaste is, there has been a revolutionary change in the situation at the grassroot level in the past few decades. This positive development is more visible and has taken place in a big way in India's metropolitan cities, such as Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. These cities have developed a unique culture and character of their own in which the question of caste is generally relegated to the background. The fast lifestyle, materialism and pressure of living in big cities are factors which leave little patience for people to watch the whole scenario through the glasses of caste. In these cosmopolitan cities there is a free intermingling and interaction between the masses of different castes and religions which allows people to think and live beyond the barriers of caste. Economic interests, not castism, reign supreme in these cities. My personal assessment is that in the cities it is the upper and lower economic strata of the Hindu society who are most caste conscious. The upper stratum is so because they can choose to live the way they want. The lower stratum is entangled in the caste system because they have to live in the slum areas where caste consciousness remains stronger. The real revolution has come in the middle class of India where there is a phenomenal change in the outlook towards the caste system. It is the middle class which is intermingling with all sections and castes of the society, working together in offices, industries, business and government. It is the girls and boys of the Hindu middle class who take part in intercaste and interreligious marriages in a big way. Two other factors are noteworthy in the context of caste-ridden Hindu society in India. One is that latelyÑin the past two decades or soÑthe political system has produced over two dozen well-known national and scores of state level leaders from the lower castes. Due to these leaders, the lower castes and Dalits are now no longer meek and subdued. They have discovered their self respect and prestige, and had a small taste of political clout. Mayawati, of the Dalit community, is the current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, one of the biggest states of India. She projects herself as a leader from the lower caste, proud of her roots and identity. Then there are national leaders, such as Ram Vilas Paswan, who have also helped the Dalits to be proud of their community. We had a Dalit president, which enormously boosted the morale of the lower castes in this country. The second significant factor is the reservation policy of the government. The reservation policy is India's version of affirmative action, providing education and employment opportunities for disadvantaged communities. A government job is a matter of prestige. In India, jobs are reserved, even promotions are given, to those of lower castes on a preferential basis. Government jobs and high government posts have boosted the morale and prestige of the lower caste masses. Lower caste people who thus became successful economically have been welcomed by the middle class Hindus in matrimonial alliances. Times have truly changed in India when affluence trumps caste affiliation. Unfortunately, the situation has not changed much in the villages, where long-practiced caste-based system and infrastructure flourish. There is a little improvement being made in the villages and small towns, but they are far behind the big cities. Caste in the village continues to play an major role in arranging marriages. Now in the cities, and increasingly in the villages, if the choice is between a high-caste poor groom and a low-caste rich groom, the father of the bride, and the bride herself, will consider the well settled, economically well-off lower-caste person very seriously. Similarly, if the choice is between a higher caste girl who is not likely to work outside the home and a lower caste girl working as a government official who has status and money both, the boy and his father definitely consider the proposal of the lower caste girl very seriously. I am not an expert on the extremely complex caste system, but offer my views as an engaged observer within India's middle class. Untouchability, American Style America's version of untouchability is the still-existent racial discrimination against African-Americans. The slaves were freed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 and made citizens of the US in 1868. But upon the reconstruction of the former Southern slave states by 1877, local government policies of segregation went into full effect. Blacks lived in certain areas of town, had different schools, hotels, beauty salons, drinking fountains and public toilets. The US military had separate units for Black soldiers. There were no Black baseball or basketball players in the major leagues. Some of the greatest athletes of the time were relegated to the American Negro league. The military led the way in integration, beginning in 1940. In 1954, the US Supreme Court ruled "separate but equal was inherently unequal" on the issue of segregated schooling. Desegregation of the South began in earnest with the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King, employing the methods of Mahatma Gandhi [see page 56]. How far has America come? Still today, Blacks are twice as likely to be unemployed, and when they do have a job, they earn 70 cents to the white man's one dollar for the same work. The typical Black family's net worth is an eighth of the typical white family's. Blacks, 14 percent of the population, make up 50 percent of the prison inmates, and get stiffer sentences. While overall segregation has decreased in America, it remains very high in the major cities, such as New York, Detroit and Chicago. There white people have fled to the suburbs, leaving Black and now Hispanic students in typically inferior schools. The interracial marriage rate is a mere four percent. On the plus side, President Bush has the most racially diverse cabinet in history. Both his Secretary of State and National Security Advisor are Black. Most Americans don't tolerate racist attitudes too well anymore. Just ask Senator Trent Lott. He was unceremoniously dumped by his own party as Senate Majority Leader, one of the nation's most powerful positions, for informal remarks taken as an endorsement of racial segregation. The comments are owned by the author. We aren't responsible for their content.

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Explore your twenty-first-century culture in light of the first-century world of Jesus. Teachings of the Torah allows you to study the first five books of the Bible through the eyes of a first-century disciple by exploring the text from the viewpoint of those who have also wrestled with and wondered about the Word of God. It invites you into the questions, stories, and interpretations—both ancient and modern—that prove the Bible is a living book. Experience these foundational books of the Bible through this in-depth study tool brought to you in a stunning full-color interior that includes photographs, maps, and illustrations. - The Torah, the first five books of the Bible, in the clear, accessible NIV (New International Version) translation - Word studies illuminate Hebrew words and explore their meanings - Study notes expound on the Scripture and incorporate writings from early church writers, rabbis, and other extra-biblical sources. These notes offer up commentary and ask thought-provoking questions about the text and the Bible times in which they were written. - Book introductions and outlines for each of these five books of the Bible - “Addressing the Text Articles" delve deeper into select passages of Scripture - “Day in the Life Articles” illustrate what daily life was like for people in Bible times - Foreword from pastor and teacher Ed Dobson |Publish Date||Jan 13, 2015| |Bible Translation||New International Version| |Features||Concordance, Ribbon Marker| You may also be interested in the following product(s)

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Running head: SPECIAL NEEDS: PARENTING A CHILD Special Needs: Parenting a Child with High Functioning Autism or Asperger Syndrome San Jose State University Parents who have children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) should define their parenting technique more so than parents of neurotypical children. Children with ASD have many different needs. For example, an ASD child has great difficulties with their social skills; this deficiency causes them not to have meaningful social interactions. Their interests are narrow, and it dominates the child's life (Volkmar & Klin, 2000, as cited in Sansosti & Powell-Smith, 2006). Asperger's syndrome or high functioning autistic children are under a special category. The term AS that is used to describe a child with mildest to highest functioning autism disorder (Atwood, 1998, as cited in Sansosti & Powell-Smith, 2006). It is very important that there should be a different approach when parenting and educating a child with AS. Coping with a child that has special needs is very different from a child that is neurotypical. Since 2001 there has been a significant rise with children that have been identified with AS. According to Hyman, Rodier, and Davidson (2001) they reported that the incidence rate for AS is as high as 63 per 10,000 children born. The children attending preschool are ranging from 8.4 per 10,000 with AS (Chakrabarti & Fombone, 2002 as cited in Sansosti & Powell- Smith, 2006). The children ages 7 to 16 are 71 per 10,000 attending schools (Ehlers & Gillberg, 1997 as cited in Sansosti & Powell-Smith, 2006). This research paper addresses issues on how a family with an ASD child is impacted. The first issue that will be discussed is what problems parents experience when parenting a child with ASD. Next, what are the issues within the family unit? Finally, what are the coping strategies? How does the disability impact the family? How can they become a more resilient and healthy family and where do parents turn to for help? Problems with Parenting Parenting any child can create lots of stress, but parenting a child with AS is a very different experience. There are daily stresses from the day-to-day tasks of caring for the child. The way the parent's socialize and communicate with everyone around them has altered, especially when it comes to relationships. The relationships that an AS child has with caregiver, peers, and educators are very different from that of a neurotypical child. They are very often misunderstood because they look "normal" but have these eccentric social behaviors (Sansosti & Powell- Smith, 2006). According to Dunn, Burbine, Boweres, and Tantleff-Dunn (2001), parents of children with the ASD experience more stress and are more subject to negative outcomes than other parents with non-disabled children and parents of children with other disabilities. Parenting style and expectations change for the family when the child has a disability. The difficulty they face are the additional duties, that are needed for there child. The everyday challenges the parent faces; such as integrating the child successfully into the school environment, having playmates, and looking at the child for what he is and not for what he is not. The parents need to make sure that they can cope emotionally in order to be able to advocate for their child. These parents have to adjust to their child's disability, emotionally, socially, and economically. They way the parents view themselves in society, with their partner, friends, and educators are very different with a neurotypical child. Parents have to put up with judgmental statements from society in regards of their child's disability. Family Issues Cashin (2004) interviewed nine parents with a diagnoses of ASD or AS, with age ranging of four to nine years. The problems that these parents faced were profound changes to self, how others view them as a parent, having less social contact and experiencing... Please join StudyMode to read the full document

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BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan --If the shuttle Discovery launches this month, that will leave just two shuttle launches left before the American space shuttle program comes to an end. Many space experts say Americans will be shocked next spring when they finally realize that we will have to rely on Russia to get to space for years to come. So what does that mean to the US space program, and those who work for NASA? Eyewitness News Anchor Tom Koch just returned from Russia and Kazakhstan and got an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the future of America's space travel. We were the first American news crew in 15 years to cover a Russian space launch. We traveled first to Moscow and then to Kazakhstan, where Russia launched astronaut Scott Kelly and two cosmonauts on the Soyuz rocket. After next spring, the Soyuz will be our only way to get to space, and some space experts think America is making a big mistake. For nearly 30 years, the shuttles have been America's primary space transportation system. But when the final shuttle is retired next June, the only way for Americans to get into space will be on board the Soyuz rocket. After nearly three decades of watching the sleek, modern shuttle launch, Americans must get used to the idea that NASA's near-term future will rely on Russia. It was President George W. Bush who decided six years ago to retire the shuttle fleet next year and build another mode of transportation into space. That was a move Russian space officials told us in an exclusive interview that surprised even them. "It was a surprise for the overall community, and of course to us," said Alexey Krasnov with the Russian Space Agency. "Of course, shuttle is unique as a system; no one can match the capability of the space shuttle." The plan was for the US to build another space vehicle, one that could eventually carry Americans to the moon and Mars. But NASA didn't have enough time or money to get it done. Despite that fact, President Barack Obama and congress have decided not to extend the life of the shuttles until a new spaceship is built. "I m not sure so many Americans actually know that we're not going to have a human space flight program for a while," shuttle commander Mark Kelly said. Kelly was there to watch his twin brother, Scott, launch on the Soyuz to the International Space Station. He admits relying on Russia is not an ideal situation but one that's been in the plan for a long time. "But the good news is we're gonna continue, we're gonna build something new, and we'll be flying again here in hopefully five or six years," Kelly said. NASA officials point out America has been relying on Russia for years, launching many astronauts on board the Soyuz. And they say America will still lead the International Space Station. "It's a misnomer to say that we're not a leader in space," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator. "We still are leading in space; we're doing it a different way." "When the shuttle goes away, we're not gonna be the lead on transportation, but we're the lead across the board on many other things," Joel Montablano, NASA's Russia manager, said. "Together we make it happen; no one country can do this." "I think the United States by giving up the shuttle is making a serious mistake because technologically, it's the most advanced space vehicle in the world, and really there is no reason not to continue to fly it," former Johnson Space Center Director George Abbey said. In Moscow, Abbey told us NASA should keep flying the shuttle indefinitely and in the meantime build a new space vehicle based on the technology it knows -- winged shuttles. He insists the new rockets that NASA has planned are a step backwards. "Here we've got really the greatest vehicle in the world, and we are giving it up," Abbey said. "Don't start a whole new type of architecture that causes you to go back and start flying capsules, which gave up many years ago." Abbey says without the shuttle, NASA has no way to get large cargos into space and that will make it more difficult to operate the space station. And he predicts more big layoffs in Houston and Florida when the shuttle program ends. "For the United States to be in this situation is poor planning, and it doesn't really exhibit very good vision for the future," Abbey said. Many space experts say the fault lies with members of congress who are more interested in saving jobs in their districts than funding a long-range, comprehensive plan for America's space future. Monday on Eyewitness News at 6pm, we will take you inside the Russian space program in both Moscow and Kazakhstan, a place few American reporters have been since the fall of the Soviet Union.

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Chapter 11. The definition of the word ethics are the moral rules that define what is inherently right and wrong. They are generally a code to follow in order to execute the right and minimize and/or avoid or resolve the wrong. There is micro ethics, which constitutes the values and morals based on a person’s life experiences. There are macro ethics, which constitute the general consensus or conventional thought of what is right vs. wrong. 2. One should study ethics because it allows an impartial assessment towards any questionable scenario, leading to a fair or “right” outcome. 3. The definition of morality is essentially the code of conduct that dictates an individual’s behavior. The correctness of the morals differs from culture to culture, countries, religion, etc.4. Normative ethics – creates a standard on the basis of an person’s actions and their consequences in deciding what is morally correct and incorrect Consequential and Teleologic ethics – measures the amount of good that a particular action brings in comparison to the evil; the goal is the achieve the greatest good. Situational ethics – measures the outcome of an action which justifies the result given the situation. Utilitarian ethics -measures the overall usefulness of actions. The intention is to do the greatest food for the max. amount of people in regard. Deontologic ethics – includes duty based ethics and believes that doing the right thing may not necessarily lead to good outcomes. Nonconsequential ethics – code of conduct is based on the properties intrinisic to the actions rather than on the consequence.Ethicial relativisim: considers ethics in relation to one’s cultural background; moral decision are based on the different norms by a religion, society, etc. 5. Ethical relativism is a theory which defines that morality is related to the norm of a particular culture or society. The relevance of this concept is applied in healthcare to those practicing certain religions, are a part of a culture/society. Those particular people may need a different assessment based off those details, which will allow the decision to ultimately be as ethical as possible. Chapter 21. Ethicial dilemmas arise when a choice must be made when there are different ways to approach something. Sometimes, the decision maker must weigh in all the variables and maybe break some ethical norms to make the decision that best suits the situation. Also, there can situations where a deicion must be made when it contradicts that person’s code of ethics, and creates a dilemma. 2. The controversey resided in the fact that it was now federally legal for a woman to have an abortion regardless of the state’s abilitiy to rule whether it was legal or not beforehand. This contradicted a lot of states values of pro life vs pro choice. 3. The ethical principles that surround the abortion issue is that aborting the unborn child denies that child a life to live. Religious ethics are also violated because it is taking another’s life. There is another perspective that if the child is born, it is at harm to the mother, so the abortion is justified. 4. I do think that states should be able to impose reasonable restrictions or waiting periods on women seeking abortions. In Colautti v. Franklin, held that the state can make efforts in order to protect a fetus that has the probability to survive outside the womb in case the physian approves that the fetus can survive. I think humanely speaking, allowing the unbirthed child a chance at life is the least the mother should allow (she does not necessarily have to raise it though). 5. Yes, according to the Abortion Control Act, a married woman doesn’t need the husband’s consent. Because the woman is directly affected physiologicially throughout the pregnancy, she maintains the right to soley choose to abort or not regardless of the man’s interest in the unborn child.

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Syntax is one of the core areas of linguistic research, and is the study of how words are ordered in human language. What rules are necessary to describe a particular language, and how can these rules differ across languages? To use the formal OED definition: Syntax is concerned with ‘the set of rules and principles in a language’, which relate to how ‘words and phrases are arranged to create well-formed sentences.’ (Oxford English Dictionary: 2015) This section of the website is here to offer you an insight into some of the most common structural processes that occur. In addition to this, information will be provided on how syntax relates to other areas of linguistics, like language acquisition and language change, and also how it applies to daily life, in areas ranging all the way from politics to law. If at any point you feel unsure about any terminology used throughout your progression of the following pages, please follow the links to the glossary page, where even the most complex of terms are defined.

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Snapper, Mutton – U.S. Mutton Snapper are most commonly found in the tropical waters of the Caribbean, Florida and Gulf of Mexico. They can live to 40 years of age, have moderate growth rates, and become sexually mature after three years. Mutton Snapper were overfished for many years, but their abundance has increased and today it is at a medium level in the South Atlantic US and Gulf of Mexico. Mutton Snapper are mostly caught by hook-and-line, bottom longlines or traps, fishing methods which cause moderate habitat damage and some bycatch of sea turtles and sawfish.

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18.104.22.168 Changes in phenology Phenology – the timing of seasonal activities of animals and plants – is perhaps the simplest process in which to track changes in the ecology of species in response to climate change. Observed phenological events include leaf unfolding, flowering, fruit ripening, leaf colouring, leaf fall of plants, bird migration, chorusing of amphibians, and appearance/emergence of butterflies. Numerous new studies since the TAR (reviewed by Menzel and Estrella, 2001; Sparks and Menzel, 2002; Walther et al., 2002; Menzel, 2003; Walther, 2004) and three meta-analyses (Parmesan and Yohe, 2003; Root et al., 2003; Lehikoinen et al., 2004) (see Section 1.4.1) concurrently document a progressively earlier spring by about 2.3 to 5.2 days/decade in the last 30 years in response to recent climate warming. Although phenological network studies differ with regard to regions, species, events observed and applied methods, their data show a clear temperature-driven extension of the growing season by up to 2 weeks in the second half of the 20th century in mid- and high northern latitudes (see Table 1.7), mainly due to an earlier spring, but partly due also to a later autumn. Remotely-sensed vegetation indices (Myneni et al., 1997; Zhou et al., 2001; Lucht et al., 2002) and analysis of the atmospheric CO2 signal (Keeling et al., 1996) confirm these findings. A corresponding longer frost-free and climatological growing season is also observed in North America and Europe (see Section 22.214.171.124). This lengthening of the growing season might also account for observed increases in productivity (see Section 126.96.36.199). The signal in autumn is less pronounced and more homogenous. The very few examples of single-station data indicate a much greater lengthening or even a shortening of the growing season (Kozlov and Berlina, 2002; Peñuelas et al., 2002). Table 1.7. Changes in length of growing season, based on observations within networks. |Location ||Period ||Species/Indicator ||Lengthening (days/decade) ||References | |Germany ||1951-2000 ||4 deciduous trees (LU/LC) ||1.1 to 2.3 ||Menzel et al., 2001; Menzel, 2003 | |Switzerland ||1951-1998 ||9 spring, 6 autumn phases ||2.7* ||Defila and Clot, 2001 | |Europe (Int. Phenological Gardens) ||1959-1996 1969-1998 ||Various spring/autumn phases (LU to LC, LF) ||3.5 ||Menzel and Fabian, 1999; Menzel, 2000; Chmielewski and Rotzer, 2001 | |Japan ||1953-2000 ||Gingko biloba (LU/LF) ||2.6 ||Matsumoto et al., 2003 | |Northern Hemisphere ||1981-1999 ||Growing season by normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) ||0.7 to 1 ||Zhou et al., 2001 | Altered timing of spring events has been reported for a broad multitude of species and locations; however, they are primarily from North America, Eurasia and Australia. Network studies where results from all sites/several species are reported, irrespective of their significance (Table 1.8), show that leaf unfolding and flowering in spring and summer have, on average, advanced by 1-3 days per decade in Europe, North America and Japan over the last 30 to 50 years. Earlier flowering implies an earlier start of the pollen season (see Section 188.8.131.52). There are also indications that the onset of fruit ripening in early autumn has advanced in many cases (Jones and Davis, 2000; Peñuelas et al., 2002; Menzel, 2003) (see also Section 184.108.40.206). Spring and summer phenology is sensitive to climate and local weather (Sparks et al., 2000; Lucht et al., 2002; Menzel, 2003). In contrast to autumn phenology (Estrella and Menzel, 2006), their climate signal is fairly well understood: nearly all spring and summer changes in plants, including agricultural crops (Estrella et al., 2007), correlate with spring temperatures in the preceding months. The advancement is estimated as 1 to12 days for every 1°C increase in spring temperature, with average values ranging between 2.5 and 6 days per °C (e.g., Chmielewski and Rotzer, 2001; Menzel, 2003; Donnelly et al., 2004; Menzel et al., 2006b). Alpine species are also partly sensitive to photoperiod (Keller and Korner, 2003) or amount of snowpack (Inouye et al., 2002). Earlier spring events and a longer growing season in Europe are most apparent for time-series ending in the mid-1980s or later (Schaber, 2002; Scheifinger et al., 2002; Dose and Menzel, 2004; Menzel and Dose, 2005), which matches the turning points in the respective spring temperature series (Dose and Menzel, 2006). Table 1.8. Changes in the timing of spring events, based on observations within networks. |Location ||Period ||Species/Indicator ||Observed changes (days/decade) ||References | |Western USA ||1957-1994 ||Lilac, honeysuckle (F) ||-1.5 (lilac), 3.5 (honeysuckle) ||Cayan et al., 2001 | |North-eastern USA ||1965-2001 1959-1993 ||Lilac (F, LU) Lilac (F) ||-3.4 (F) -2.6 (U) -1.7 ||Wolfe et al., 2005 Schwartz and Reiter, 2000 | |Washington, DC ||1970-1999 ||100 plant species (F) ||-0.8 ||Abu-Asab et al., 2001 | |Germany ||1951-2000 ||10 spring phases (F, LU) ||-1.6 ||Menzel et al., 2003 | |Switzerland ||1951-1998 ||9 spring phases (F, LU) ||-2.3 (*) ||Defila and Clot, 2001 | |South-central England ||1954-2000 ||385 species (F) ||-4.5 days in 1990s ||Fitter and Fitter, 2002 | |Europe (Int. Phenological Gardens) ||1959-1996 1969-1998 ||Different spring phases (F, LU) ||-2.1 -2.7 ||Menzel and Fabian, 1999; Menzel, 2000; Chmielewski and Rotzer, 2001 | |21 European countries ||1971-2000 ||F, LU of various plants ||-2.5 ||Menzel et al., 2006b | |Japan ||1953-2000 ||Gingko biloba (LU) ||-0.9 ||Matsumoto et al., 2003 | |Northern Eurasia ||1982-2004 ||NDVI ||-1.5 ||Delbart et al., 2006 | |UK ||1976-1998 ||Butterfly appearance ||-2.8 to -3.2 ||Roy and Sparks, 2000 | |Europe, N. America ||Past 30-60 years ||Spring migration of bird species ||-1.3 to -4.4 ||Crick et al., 1997; Crick and Sparks, 1999; Dunn and Winkler, 1999; Inouye et al., 2000; Bairlein and Winkel, 2001; Lehikoinen et al., 2004 | |N. America (US-MA) ||1932-1993 ||Spring arrival, 52 bird species ||+0.8 to -9.6 (*) ||Butler, 2003 | |N. America (US-IL) ||1976-2002 ||Arrival, 8 warbler species ||+2.4 to -8.6 ||Strode, 2003 | |England (Oxfordshire) ||1971-2000 ||Long-distance migration, 20 species ||+0.4 to -6.7 ||Cotton, 2003 | |N. America (US-MA) ||1970-2002 ||Spring arrival,16 bird species ||-2.6 to -10.0 ||Ledneva et al., 2004 | |Sweden (Ottenby) ||1971-2002 ||Spring arrival, 36 bird species ||+2.1 to -3.0 ||Stervander et al., 2005 | |Europe ||1980-2002 ||Egg-laying, 1 species ||-1.7 to -4.6 ||Both et al., 2004 | |Australia ||1970-1999 ||11 migratory birds ||9 species earlier arrival ||Green and Pickering, 2002 | |Australia ||1984-2003 ||2 spring migratory birds ||1 species earlier arrival ||Chambers et al., 2005 | Records of the return dates of migrant birds have shown changes in recent decades associated with changes in temperature in wintering or breeding grounds or on the migration route (Tryjanowski, 2002; Butler, 2003; Cotton, 2003; Huppop and Huppop, 2003). For example, a 2 to 3 day earlier arrival with a 1°C increase in March temperature is estimated for the swallow in the UK (Sparks and Loxton, 1999) and Ireland (Donnelly et al., 2004). Different measurement methods, such as first observed individual, beginning of sustained migratory period, or median of the migratory period, provide different information about the natural history of different species (Sokolov et al., 1998; Sparks and Braslavska, 2001; Huppop and Huppop, 2003; Tryjanowski et al., 2005). Egg-laying dates have advanced in many bird species (Hussell, 2003; Dunn, 2004). The confidence in such studies is enhanced when the data cover periods/sites of both local cooling and warming. Flycatchers in Europe (Both et al., 2004) provide such an example, where the trend in egg-laying dates matches trends in local temperatures. Many small mammals have been found to come out of hibernation and to breed earlier in the spring now than they did a few decades ago (Inouye et al., 2000; Franken and Hik, 2004). Larger mammals, such as reindeer, are also showing phenological changes (Post and Forchhammer, 2002), as are butterflies, crickets, aphids and hoverflies (Forister and Shapiro, 2003; Stefanescu et al., 2003; Hickling et al., 2005; Newman, 2005). Increasing regional temperatures are also associated with earlier calling and mating and shorter time to maturity of amphibians (Gibbs and Breisch, 2001; Reading, 2003; Tryjanowski et al., 2003). Despite the bulk of evidence in support of earlier breeding activity as a response to temperature, counter-examples also exist (Blaustein et al., 2001). Changes in spring and summer activities vary by species and by time of season. Early-season plant species exhibit the strongest reactions (Abu-Asab et al., 2001; Menzel et al., 2001; Fitter and Fitter, 2002; Sparks and Menzel, 2002; Menzel, 2003). Short-distance migrating birds often exhibit a trend towards earlier arrival, while the response of later-arriving long-distance migrants is more complex, with many species showing no change, or even delayed arrival (Butler, 2003; Strode, 2003). Annual plants respond more strongly than congeneric perennials, insect-pollinated more than wind-pollinated plants, and woody less than herbaceous plants (Fitter and Fitter, 2002). Small-scale spatial variability may be due to microclimate, land cover, genetic differentiation, and other non-climate drivers (Menzel et al., 2001; Menzel, 2002). Large-scale geographical variations in the observed changes are found in China with latitude (Chen et al., 2005a), in Switzerland with altitude (Defila and Clot, 2001) and in Europe with magnitude of temperature change (Menzel and Fabian, 1999; Sparks et al., 1999). Spring advance, being more pronounced in maritime western and central Europe than in the continental east (Ahas et al., 2002), is associated with higher spatial variability (Menzel et al., 2006a). As the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is correlated with temperature (see Trenberth et al., 2007), the NAO has widespread influence on many ecological processes. For example, the speed and pattern (Menzel et al., 2005b), as well as recent trends of spring events in European plants, has also changed consistently with changes seen in the NAO index (Chmielewski and Rotzer, 2001; Scheifinger et al., 2002; Walther et al., 2002; Menzel, 2003). Similarly, earlier arrival and breeding of migratory birds in Europe are often related to warmer local temperatures and higher NAO indices (Hubalek, 2003; Huppop and Huppop, 2003; Sanz, 2003). However, the directions of changes in birds corresponding to NAO can differ across Europe (Hubalek, 2003; Kanuscak et al., 2004). Likewise, the relevance of the NAO index on the phenology of plants differs across Europe, being more pronounced in the western (France, Ireland, UK) and north-western (south Scandinavia) parts of Europe and less distinct in the continental part of Europe (see Figure 1.4a; Menzel et al., 2005b). In conclusion, spring phenological changes in birds and plants and their triggering by spring temperature are often similar, as described in some cross-system studies; however, the NAO influence is weaker than the temperature trigger and is restricted to certain time periods (Walther et al., 2002) (Figure 1.4b). Figure 1.4. (a) Differences between the mean onset of spring (days) in Europe for the 10 years with the highest (1990, 1882, 1928, 1903, 1993, 1910, 1880, 1997, 1989, 1992) and the lowest (1969, 1936, 1900, 1996, 1960, 1932, 1886, 1924, 1941, 1895) NAO winter and spring index (November to March) drawn from the period 1879 to 1998. After Menzel et al. (2005b). (b) Anomalies of different phenological phases in Germany (mean spring passage of birds at Helgoland, North Sea; mean egg-laying of pied flycatcher in Northern Germany; national mean onset of leaf unfolding of common horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) and silver birch (Betula pendula) (negative = earlier)), anomalies of mean spring air temperature T (HadCRUT3v) and North Atlantic Oscillation index (NAO) (http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/). Updated after Walther et al. (2002).

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In 2005, about 15.8 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) of water were withdrawn, including 4.12 Mgal/d from groundwater and about 11.7 Mgal/d from surface-water sources.Public supply use accounted for about 78 percent (12.4 Mgal/d) of the total water withdra In 2005, about 6.67 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) of water were withdrawn here, including about 6.46 Mgal/d from groundwater sources and 0.21 Mgal/d from surface-water sources. Public-supply use accounted for about 76 percent (5.06 Mgal/d) of the total Overview of a project in Virginia to develop a program for assessing public supply source waters to determine their susceptibility to contamination and to determine which systems need detailed source-water assessments. Description of project to study the distribution of saline water in the aquifers of the Coastal Plain of Virginia and the potential for saline water intrusion by evaluating chloride concentrations and the factors affecting chloride distribution. In 2005, about 9.52 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) of water were withdrawn, including about 9.33 Mgal/d from groundwater and 0.19 Mgal/d from surface-water. Public supply use accounted for 70% of the total.

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Caffeine is one of the 2 most widely used psychoactive drugs on earth (the other being alcohol). Psychoactive means that it has an effect on your psychological functioning (in addition to a number of physical effects). One of the primary effects is to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system, which governs the stress response. This produces anger, fear, anxiety, increased heart rate and blood pressure, tremour, a jittery feeling, rapid or shallow breathing, change in pain sensitivity, and dozens of other changes. Caffeine is an addictive drug. Heavy caffeine users may: - become psychologically dependent (believing that the drug is an essential part of their lives) - develop tolerance (requiring more caffeine over time to get the same effects) - undergo a withdrawal syndrome if they don't get it Withdrawal symptoms include headache, drowsiness, irritability, and difficulty concentrating. Many people discover that they are dependent on caffeine when they go for a day or 2 without coffee and develop splitting headaches. Is addiction a serious problem? Probably not, unless some of the effects of caffeine are disrupting your life. Have you been having difficulty with stress, anger, or anxiety recently? Do you have another disorder that stress makes worse (caffeine can aggravate tension headache, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain, and numerous other physical problems)? If so, then you probably don't need a chemical that makes the stress response system even more active. Caffeine may be a special problem in children, who tend to be more susceptible to its effects and who may suffer behavioural and attention problems while under the influence of caffeine. How much caffeine does it take to become dependent? Estimates vary, but the average is about 2½ cups of coffee per day. There are wide individual differences, however. Your age, weight, and personal sensitivity to caffeine all have an influence. Wondering if caffeine is a problem for you? Then you may wish to try going a month without caffeine to see if this helps you. If you decide to reduce your caffeine consumption, do so slowly to avoid the withdrawal symptoms. If you drink 10 cups of coffee a day, reduce to 8 cups, then 6, then 4, then 2, then one, then none. Stay at each level for 4 to 6 days to allow your body to adjust. Remember that you are giving up (or reducing) caffeine. This doesn't mean you have to give away your coffee mug or avoid the coffee shop. Drink as much herbal tea as you like, and feel free to have decaffeinated coffee, tea, and cola. Changeways (a program developed at the Department of Psychology, Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre) in association with the MediResource Clinical Team

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There are some headlines in the media today which suggest the Met Office is warning of exceptionally cold weather for three months. However, the Met Office hasn’t issued a warning along these lines and we have not highlighted months of ‘exceptionally cold’ weather ahead. If there is any sign of significantly cold weather or disruptive snow in the forecast, we will keep the country up to date through our forecasts and warnings. The news stories are based on information taken from our three month outlook for contingency planners, so let’s take a closer look at that. What does our three month outlook say? Instead, the outlook assesses the level of risk connected to five different scenarios for both temperature and rain/snowfall. It’s a bit like the science-equivalent of factoring the odds on a horse race. The current outlook for December-January-February says the chance of the coldest scenario happening is between 20 and 25% and the chances that the period will fall into the warmest scenario is between 10 and 15%. So while uncertainty is quite large, below average temperatures are more likely than above average (for note, average maximum temperatures for the UK in winter are about 6.6C and average minimum temps are about 0.9C). However, as with any horse race, it’s always possible that the favourite won’t win – so these probability scenarios have to be used in the right context. This is why they’re useful for contingency planners who plan ahead based on risk, but not that useful for the general public. So what will winter be like? Obviously there’s always a lot of interest to know what winter will be like – how cold will it be, how much snow will we get and where and when will it fall? The Met Office is working with research partners around the world to improve longer range forecasting, but it’s not currently possible to forecast snow or exact temperatures three months ahead. However, our 30-day outlook (under the text forecast tab) provides a look ahead to the general type of weather we’re likely to see in the UK. Currently it says that after today, we’ll see settled weather and fairly normal temperatures into the first week of December before the chance of some colder, more changeable weather towards the end of next week. This may last a few days before giving way to milder and unsettled weather. For the mid to latter part of December, there are indications that temperatures are likely to remain near or slightly below average for the time of year, but otherwise fairly normal conditions for early winter are most likely. With regards to forecasting snow, because there are so many factors involved, generally that can only be discussed in any detail in our five day forecasts.

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Sign up for offers & news Enter your email address to receive news and special offers. - Shop > - Publishers > - Body and Breath There is a dearth of books to help readers in solving numerical problems and enable them to have a firm grounding in the subject of hydrogeology. This book fills this void, chiefly focusing on the sequential steps involved in solving problems. It concisely covers the fundamental concepts, advanced principles and... This second edition has been thoroughly revised. Part A is devoted to the discussion of chordates' evolution and classification. Part B deals with comparative anatomy and provides an introduction to structure-function concept at the level of organs and the organ system. The subject matter is discussed briefly and lucidly and... Provides comprehensive coverage of the concepts and principles of measurements and instrumentation, and brings to the fore recent and significant developments in this field. The text also offers exhaustive coverage of different types of measuring instruments and their applications. By Anil Lamba By S. A. Kelkar Intended as a handy reference for students of computer science and engineering and computer applications, this book examines the concepts of human-computer interface/interaction in a bulleted format. The succinct approach makes it a perfect learning tool for students and teaching aide for the teachers.

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Even though cats are very clean and proud creatures, most cats fall victim to a cat parasite in one form or another. Parasites can cause a lot of discomfort for the pet, and can also affect your home and even other pets or people in the household, so it is important to get your cat treated if it appears to have a parasite problem. There are many different parasites that can affect cats, and the good news is that most of them are preventable through having appropriate vaccinations and treatments. However, if your cat does pick up a parasite – which is easily done if he or she goes out and about and is not properly protected – it can cause pain and discomfort, so it is important to get it sorted out as soon as possible. There are a number of different parasites that can affect cats, and some are more common than others. Amongst the different parasites that are common amongst cats are: Fleas: If your cat gets fleas it can be a nightmare, because your pet will be miserable, you will be miserable, and any other pets in the home could be at risk of infestation. Rather than having your cat constantly scratching, your home and furniture covered in fleas, and the rest of the household scratching and avoiding these mites as they bounce around the house you should make sure that your cat is on a good flea treatment and prevention program. Ear mites: Setting up home inside the ear canal of your cat, ear mites can cause a lot of misery and discomfort to your pet. Severe irritation and itchiness can result from having ear mites, and in order to avoid your pet being put through the misery of sore, itchy ears you should get the ears checked out every year when your pet goes for vaccinations but also if your cat start scratching its ears a lot more than usual. Cheyletiella mites: These parasites are quite common amongst cats, and they can cause irritation, itching, and dandruff on your pet's skin. The mites can also jump to humans, causing a rash and itching. Again, they can cause a lot of discomfort for your pet, so it is wise to ensure that your cat is looked at and treated if an infestation occurs. Worms: Hookworm is the most common type of worm to affect cats, and this is an intestinal parasite that can also migrate within the skin of humans. The worms hook themselves onto the intestinal walls and feed of blood, tissue, and the nutrients of the cat's meals. Whilst not usually life threatening, they can prove fatal in kittens, as heavy infestations can cause fatal blood loss. When it comes to cat parasites your vet will be able to provide you plenty of information on protecting your cat, your family, and your home from the various infestations that can affect your pet. Some parasites can be treated through preventative measures, such as treatment against fleas, ticks, and worms, which can be quickly and easily administered by the vet or even at home. Given the discomfort and irritation that many of these parasites can cause fore your cat it is definitely worth doing all you can to stop your cat from getting infested in the first place rather than waiting for an infestation before taking action, as otherwise you will have a very unhappy cat, a home that needs fumigating, and you could even end up being personally affected by the parasites.

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30 weeks pregnant Your baby at 30 weeks - Your baby will be able to move her eyeballs - although there isn't much to see in your womb -but if she sees a bright light she will have what's called a pupillary light reflex where the pupil (the dark bit in the centre of her eye) will get smaller. Even though your baby has the right nerve cells to distinguish colours, they won't work until she is born, so to her everything in the womb is monochrome. All five of her baby senses will be in working order. - Her fingernails reach the end of her finger tips but her toenails will take longer to grow. - She will be practising how to suck on her fingers and thumbs but she won't be good to go until week 35 to 36. - In her long bones, the spongy marrow in the middle is making her red blood cells. - She's gaining weight rapidly - about 500g between 28 and 32 weeks and then continues to pile on about 250g a week until she is 35 weeks old. - She will be developing her memory. Researchers from the Netherlands, reported in the journal Child Development, watched on ultrasound scan how babies responded to the same stimulus if it was repeated and calculated that at 30 weeks a baby had 10 minutes of short-term memory. They also found that 34-week-old foetuses can store information and use it four weeks later. Your body at 30 weeks pregnant • Pregnancy home page • Pain relief during labour • Swollen fingers and ankles • Antenatal classes • Reviews: baby monitors Your circulation The rise in your blood volume hasn't quite peaked but you will feel the increased blood flow to your skin and mucous membranes and can't fail to notice the red soles of your feet and palms. It is your body's attempt to get rid of the excess heat but it makes your soles and palms itchy. All you can do it try to keep cool - shower often and wear loose cotton clothing. Vaginal infections It's normal to have an increase in vaginal discharge in pregnancy but it should not smell, be green or hurt when you pass urine. Any of these symptoms should have you ringing your doctor. It is common to get a cottage cheesy-type discharge, which for many women is a hello again to thrush - a yeast infection that's associated with being a bit run down (sometimes from taking antibiotics or anything that reduces the acid environment in the vagina). The yeast is present in the vagina anyway but pregnancy encourages it to grow. It is not sexually transmitted and won't harm your baby but you will want to scratch yourself to smithereens, so treat it by buying pessaries. If you are not sure it is thrush you should see your doctor. As well as using pessaries, do not wear tights, keep your vaginal area clean and avoid smellies in the bath. Restless legs If you develop restless legs you will feel an overwhelming need to move your legs, which may also feel as though they have "insects crawling under the skin". It's also called Ekborn's disease, after the doctor who first described it in 1945, and is diagnosed by four criteria: an urge to move your legs, usually accompanied by unpleasant sensations (and burning or aching), the urge comes on when you're resting, is relieved by moving and usually worse at night. Some people jerk their legs while they're asleep, which can upset their partner. Since you can feel it lying in bed it can disrupt sleep and make you tired in the day. Up to a quarter of pregnant women get it (it's not clear why but it usually goes four weeks after giving birth). If your symptoms are severe, ruin most evenings and disrupt your sleep, you should see your doctor. Some people who have restless legs say they drive them mad but for others it is only an annoyance. It can be linked to iron-deficiency anaemia, which is not uncommon in pregnancy, so it worth seeing your doctor. It's also worth seeing your doctor to see if any treatment can relieve your symptoms. Moving your legs can help and distract yourself by watching TV or getting up and doing something (anything). Regular daytime exercise may help. Also avoid coffee and alcohol in the evening and gradually wind down before turning the light off. These simple measures can help less severe restless legs. There are drugs that can help, but these won't be offered in pregnancy. Your skin By the end of your pregnancy your skin will have stretched enormously over your stomach and is likely to get dry and itchy. You can use E45 or cheap moisturisers to stop the itchiness - do not use posh creams. - 31 weeks pregnant - Chat about your pregnancy - Find a local antenatal class - Talk to other mums about childbirth Disclaimer: The information in the pregnancy calendar is for general information and is not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of your own doctor or antenatal team. Not all babies develop at the same time and in the same way, so this week-by-week guide may not always match your own experience. If you have any worries, consult your antenatal team or GP.

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One of HRI's new global research initiatives, Frontier Robotics, is exploring the development of an Intelligent Cyber Physical Systems (ICPS) in which robots support and enhance humans' activities. The ICPS concept envisions a variety of robots that are connected to high-speed networks at home and in public spaces working together to perform activities that save time, empower humans to expand their goals and provide empathetic support. Through the creation of avatars and autonomous intelligent entities, HRI's Frontier Robotics program is positioning robots to work alongside humans in collaborative, scalable networks aimed at extending human capabilities in the physical world while recognizing human intentions and emotions. Working with and learning from humans, robots have the capability of earning human trust; thus becoming more helpful. By supporting human's physical, mental and emotional activities, HRI believes these intelligent and collaborative robots can improve humans' quality of life, allowing friends, families, and communities to spend more time together in life-affirming activities.

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Virtual travel to Ancient Ostia, Italy Top attractions & things to do in Ancient Ostia: History, facts and travel tips about Ancient Ostia In Republican times Ostia was Rome's main commercial port and a military base defending the coastline and the mouth of the Tiber. The port continued to flourish under the Empire, despite the development, of Portus, a new port slightly to the northwest, in the 2nd century AD. Ostia's decline began in the 4th century, when a reduction in trade was combined with the gradual silting up of the harbour. Then malaria became endemic in the area and the city, whose population may have been nearly 100,000 at its peak, was totally abandoned. Buried for centuries by sand, the city is remarkably well preserved. The site is less spectacular than Pompeii or Herculaneum because Ostia died a gradual death, but it gives a more complete picture of life under the Roman Empire. People of all social classes and from all over the Mediterranean lived and worked here.

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Bad news, guys. The chances of making it to 100 are much greater if you're a woman. The 2010 Census found 80% of the 53,364 people age 100 and older are women, according to a report out today. For every 100 centenarians, only 20.7% were men. The overall number of centenarians has increased 5.8% since 2000. What helps the women? The largest study of centenarians in this country, the New England Centenarian Study, suggests that women handle age-related diseases better than men. But among men who do survive to 100, they seem better able to function than the women. The Census report finds the men were more likely to be living with others in a household (43.5%) while women are more likely to be living in a nursing home (35.2%). The Census report also finds: The report also shows that centenarians were less diverse than the rest of the population. Nearly 83% of centenarians are white, compared to about 72% in the total population. Nearly 6% (5.8%) are Hispanic compared to the 16.3% of Hispanics who make up the total population. Most centenarians lived in the South (17,444), followed by the Midwest (13,112), Northeast (12,244) and West (10,564). California has the highest number (5,921), followed by Florida, New York and Texas. Copyright 2013 USATODAY.com Read the original story: Living to 100: 80% are women, report shows

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What is a Physiotherapist? A Physiotherapist is a therapist who helps patients recover from injury and illness. Physiotherapy is a profession which is very popular in the UK, Europe and Australia. What is a Physiotherapist? - A physiotherapist is a health care professional who specialises in maximising human movement, function and potential. - A physiotherapist may work with someone after injury, accident or surgery, or may work to prevent injury for instance with sporting clubs or in the workplace. - Physiotherapists work in a wide variety of settings: hospital; private clinics; hospices; nursing homes; a patients own home; the workplace; sports clubs and gyms. - Physiotherapists are the British equivalent of a Physical Therapist What training does a Physiotherapist have? - In July 2005 a law was passed in the United Kingdom protecting the title “physiotherapist” and “physical therapist” restricting its use in the UK to persons who are eligible to register as a physiotherapist with the Health Professions Council. - In order to receive a certificate to practice and register with the Health professions council Physiotherapists study for three years to gain a BSc in Physiotherapy. Some universities now also offer an accelerated two year course to students who hold a previous degree in a relevant subject. - Once registered with the Health professions council Physiotherapists must maintain a portfolio documenting their continuous professional development, undertaking extra courses and study. - You can check whether your therapist is registered with the HPC on their web site. How do I find a Physiotherapist? - Physiotherapy is available on the NHS. Your family doctor can refer you to physiotherapy. Some areas operate an open access system so you can refer yourself for physiotherapy assessment. - If seeking a private physiotherapist look for the letters HPC after their name this indicates that the physiotherapist is registered with the health professions council. All physiotherapists working for the NHS are registered with the health professions council. - Additionally physiotherapists may have the letters MCSP after their name, this indicates that they are a Member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, The Chartered Society of Physiotherapists maintains a register of members who offer private treatment. What should I expect if I consult a Physiotherapist? First of all the physio will undertake a comprehensive assessment of your problem. This will include asking you a lot of detailed questions about the problem such as how it started, what activities make it better or worse, as well as more general questions about your general health and work, hobbies and sporting activities. Treatment options depend on the problem that you are having but may include exercises to stretch tight structures, strengthen weak ones, improve balance, or change the way you move; hands on mobilization to move joints; or electrotherapy which is the use of machines such as ultrasound or TENS Contributed by Jane Hodgson of Physiobench. If you are a physiotherapist and would like to add to or amend any of the information above then please get in touch with us at email@example.com

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Comfort at Work, School, and the Computer Most of us sit for substantial parts of our day, at a desk, in class, or in front of a computer. When we are engrossed in what we are doing, we often fail to notice that we're not really comfortable. Pretty soon, the shoulders, neck, mid back or lower back are stiff and sore. What can you do about it? - Is your chair comfortable? A good chair should fit you so that you can sit all the way back and have your spine supported while your legs are comfortable and reach the floor. Adjust your chair so it fits. - Make sure your computer monitor and keyboard are at a comfortable height. - The monitor should be at a comfortable level, straight in front of you as you work. - The keyboard should be low enough that your elbows are about 90 degrees and your shoulders are relaxed when your hands are on the keyboard. - Take breaks to get up and move around occasionally - file something, go to the copier, or just stand and stretch. - Make sure your glasses are correct. If you wear bifocals, there is a tendency to tilt your head back to find the best focus - creating neck pain. Consider getting computer glasses that are all one prescription optimized for your computer distance. Your optometrist or opthalmologist will know exactly what to do. - At school, make sure your laptop is easy to see and your glasses are correct for reading your laptop and the screen or teacher at the front of the room. Resist the temptation to slump or collapse on the desk. Sit well back in your chair to take advantage of the back rest. - Get regular chiropractic adjustments to keep your spine mobile and your muscles balanced. You'll be amazed how much it helps.

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Reptile 'cousins’ shed new light on end-Permian extinction Press release issued: 5 May 2011 The end-Permian extinction, by far the most dramatic biological crisis to affect life on Earth, may not have been as catastrophic for some creatures as previously thought, according to a new study led by the University of Bristol. An international team of researchers studied the parareptiles, a diverse group of bizarre-looking terrestrial vertebrates which varied in shape and size. Some were small, slender, agile and lizard-like creatures, while others attained the size of rhinos; many had knobbly ornaments, fringes, and bony spikes on their skulls. The researchers found that, surprisingly, parareptiles were not hit much harder by the end-Permian extinction than at any other point in their 90 million-year history. Furthermore, the group as a whole declined and diversified time and time again throughout its history, and it was not until about 50 million years after the end-Permian crisis that the parareptiles finally disappeared. During the end-Permian extinction, some 250 million years ago, entire groups of animals and plants either vanished altogether or decreased significantly in numbers, and the recovery of the survivors was at times slow and prolonged before new radiations took place. By studying the fossil record, palaeontologists can examine how individual groups of organisms responded to the end-Permian event and assess just how dramatic it was. However, as the quality and completeness of the fossil record varies considerably, both geographically and stratigraphically, palaeontologists need to find a way to ‘join the dots’ and piece together the fragments of a complex mosaic to give a more satisfactory and better picture of ancient life’s diversity. The team led by Dr Marcello Ruta of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, and including scientists from Germany, Brazil and North America, used the evolutionary relationships among known parareptiles to produce a corrected estimate of changing diversity through time. Dr Marcello Ruta said: “Evolutionary relationships can be superimposed on a time scale, allowing you to infer missing portions of past diversity. They are powerful tools that complement and refine the known record of extinct diversity. If you visualize evolutionary relationships in the form of branching diagrams and then plot them on a time scale, new patterns begin to emerge, with gaps in the fossil record suddenly filling rapidly.” One of the team members, Juan Cisneros of the Universidade Federal do Piauí, Ininga, Brazil said: “It is as if ghosts from the past appear all of a sudden and join their relatives in a big family tree – you have a bigger tree. This way, you can start analysing observed and extrapolated abundance of species through time, and you can quantify novel origination and extinction events that would otherwise go unnoticed if you were to look at known finds only.” Co-author Johannes Müller of the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin added: “Researchers who investigate changing diversity through time have a huge battery of basic and advanced analytical and statistical methods at their disposal to study patterns of diversification and extinction. Classic text-book views of waxing and waning of groups through deep time will certainly benefit, where possible, from the use of evolutionary thinking.” University of Washington’s Linda Tsuji, also part of the research team, concluded: “This is the first time that the history of parareptiles has been examined in such detail. But this is only the beginning. These bizarre-looking vertebrates continue to inspire generations of researchers, not only those interested in mass extinctions. They are abundant, diverse, and we still know very little about their biology. We hope that this study will initiate a more in-depth study of the response of terrestrial vertebrates to global catastrophes.” The new findings are published online today in the journal Palaeontology. Ruta, M., Cisneros, J.C., Liebrecht, T., Tsuji, L.A. and Müller, J. ‘Amniotes through major biological crises: faunal turnover among parareptiles and the end-Permian mass extinction’ in Palaeontology

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The Excel Replace function is similar to the Excel Substitute Function. The difference between the two functions is: The Excel Replace function replaces all or part of a text string with another string. The syntax of the function is: Where the function arguments are: |old_text||-||The original text string, that you want to replace a part of.| |start_num||-||The position, within old_text, of the first character that you want to replace.| |num_chars||-||The number of characters to replace.| |new_text||-||The replacement text.| Note that the Excel Replace Function is not suitable for languages that use the double-byte character set (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Korean). These languages should use the ReplaceB function, which is explained on the Microsoft Office website. Column B of the following spreadsheet shows two examples of the Excel Replace Function. Further information and examples of the Excel Replace function can be found on the Microsoft Office website. If you get an error from the Excel Replace function, this is likely to be the #VALUE! error: |#VALUE!||-||Occurs if the supplied start_num or the supplied num_chars arguments are negative or are non-numeric values.| The Excel Replace function is designed for use with text strings and returns a text string. Therefore, if you attempt to use the replace function with a date, time or a number, you may get unexpected results. If you are not planning to use the date, time or number in further calculations, you could solve this problem by converting these values into text, using the Excel Text To Columns tool:

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The Summer Olympics are over, and it’s time to salute the big winners: the United States women. The U.S. team won the most medals of all countries at the 2012 Games. And female athletes played a big role in that achievement. Let’s look at the numbers. The U.S. women won 29 of the team’s 46 gold medals. They also won 58 of the United States’ 104 total medals. And what would the Games in London have been without swimmer Missy Franklin, sprinter Allyson Felix, the women’s gymnastics, soccer, basketball, volleyball and water polo teams, beach volleyballers Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor. The list goes on and on. Of course, it will probably be four more years before anyone focuses this much on women’s sports. After the Olympics, sports fans will go back to watching men’s professional baseball, football, basketball and soccer. That’s too bad; people should watch women’s sports, too. But maybe it’s not so terrible that many girls spend more time doing something other than playing or watching sports. Let’s look at some other numbers. According to the Boys Project, a nonprofit group dedicated to helping boys become successful men, fewer boys graduate from high school than girls. Boys are also more likely to be suspended or expelled from school. A recent American Council on Education study indicated that for about the past 10 years 57 percent of the college graduates in the United States have been women. And now women get more graduate degrees — that’s from schools after college — than men do. So it looks like women are winning medals in the classroom, too. There are lots of reasons why boys do not do as well in school as girls. It’s not a simple issue. But maybe one reason is that too many boys spend too much time watching and playing sports. And way too much time dreaming about getting a college athletic scholarship or becoming the next LeBron James, Peyton Manning or Derek Jeter. That’s because we make such a big deal out of sports — especially boys’ sports. There are magazines and Web sites that rate athletes who are sophomores in high school. Or younger. Most kids will never make a living throwing or catching a ball. Playing sports should be a fun way to get exercise, make friends and test your skills. It is more important for most kids to do well in school. The numbers show that girls are better at finding a smart balance between their sports and school.

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The Kepler telescope, a satellite telescope in orbit around the Sun* designed to look for exoplanets, has come to the end of its original mission. The end of the mission was caused by the failure of ‘s reaction wheels, which are used to point the telescope. Reaction wheels are electric motors connected to metals discs, usually with masses between . As the speed of the motors are altered the conservation of angular momentum imparts a force on the spacecraft, causing it to rotate around its centre of mass. The aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Reaction wheels are usually employed in groups of three, the x-, y- and z-axes, enabling the telescope to be pointed accurately in . Kepler was fitted with , with all , and each acting as a spare for the other three. After wheels (#2) failed in July 2012 the spacecraft was still able to operate normally, but reaction wheel #4 began malfunctioning in January 2013, and whilst the wheel returned to working order initially, it failed completely on, leaving the spacecraft now unable to move and point properly. Reaction wheels aboard Kepler. Reaction wheels are often confused with momentum wheels, but the two are very different. Momentum wheels are much heavier, and spin at much higher rates, and their role is not to point or steer the spacecraft but rather to use the gyroscopic effect to keep it in a fixed position when subjected to perturbing forces such as solar wind or radiation pressure. Satellites in orbit close around Earth can also use a device called a magnetorquer to control their position. By altering the flow of current through a set of coils (again usually three, with the spacecraft pushes against Earth’s magnetic field and the reaction force against this push causes the satellite to rotate. * Technically an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit.

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Ask any grandparent what's top on their list in terms of how they want their grandkids to be raised, and most will tell you, "I want my grandchildren to be good people." But raising 'good people' doesn't just happen, it's taught. "Saying we want good behavior from children can be vague for them, especially when they are young," says Kathy Motlagh, who along with her sister, Sara, has founded ThinkVirtues , an interactive educational program that parents, grandparents and schools can use to teach children as young as four the virtues important to being kind, caring people. "Teaching specific virtues takes the abstract idea of 'good' and makes it tangible for kids." Virtues, everything from enthusiasm to empathy, have been around since the time of Aristotle and are advocated by all religions. "They are the behavior that's expected ever since humanity began," Motlagh says. While there are hundreds of virtues, here are five that set the foundation for the ThinkVirtues program, along with ways grandparents and parents can reinforce those virtues with kids. Enter to Win! Sign up for the ThinkVirtues giveaway, and enter for a chance to win a year-long subscription to the ThinkVirtues online program including a copy of the book, Eutopia: The Discovery, a deck of 52 Virtues Question Cards and the exciting new tool, the Virtue of the Week email subscription. ($99 value). Click here to enter.

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Camellias are tough, evergreen shrubs. If planted and cared for properly, they rarely develop serious disease problems, but they can be bothered by a few pests. Problematic insects on camellias are tea scale, aphids, and spider mites. All three use piercing-sucking mouthparts to feed on the undersides of leaves. Tea scale appears as a fuzzy whitish coating on the bottom of leaves and triggers yellow speckling on top. Aphids cause leaves to curl and become distorted, and also cause sooty mold infestations. Spider mites are typically worse during hot, dry conditions and cause leaves to look rusty or whitish along leaf veins. To get rid of aphids or mites, try blasting your camellia with a garden hose a few times. Tea scale will require an approved horticultural oil spray. - Camellia Pests and Diseases (PDF) - Check Your Camellias for Tea Scale (PDF) - Southern Red Mite, Oligonychus ilicis (McGregor) - Tea Scale, Fiorinia theae (Green)

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Alphabet coloring pages can help your young children to recognize letters and set them on their way to successful reading. One of the first steps in learning to read is learning to recognize letters. Parents have many options to introduce letters to their children. Aside from the standard letter blocks, there are also refrigerator magnets, electronic games, foam letters that will stick to your tub, as well as alphabet coloring pages. Some parents even decorate their children's room with the letters of the alphabet. Any exposure to letters is helpful. When children see the alphabet frequently, the letters become commonplace and familiar. When that happens, children are more comfortable with them and have an easier time learning to read because the letters themselves do not seem foreign to them. One important point, however, that seems be overlooked too often is the importance of lower-case letters. Only a small fraction of letters in written language are upper-case. Yet, they seem to be the focus of most alphabet-related products. In order for children to be ready for early reading, lower-case letter recognition is extremely important. Further, it is very helpful if children have an understanding that the upper-case letters and their lower-case counterparts are essentially the same. When sounding words out, they make the same sound whether they are upper- or lower-case. Therefore, activities that help children link those letters in their minds are very useful. For example, matching games, coloring pages, or books which show both upper-case and lower-case letters together reinforce their connection. © 2004 - 2018 all rights reserved. All text and images on this site may be copied for noncommercial or home use only and may not be altered in any way. Images may be included in noncommercial collections only and must provide a link to Reading-With-Kids.com.

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Top Ten Countries with Largest Armies in the World The major function of army is the defense of a nation and to show existence of courage, bravery , strength and power of a country. Sea, air and land are the three main places in which security is required so for this purpose a country must have Air force, Navy and Army. Different nations have different number of these major forces. but from our point of view these three are equally important, if a country doesn’t have sea or ocean near their border then navy is not needed but for defense of soil and air the other two are more and more important. below is list of top ten largest armies in the world 2014. Following figures are based on research and info is collected from more than ten sources, this list is composed of number of persons enrolled in defense in each country and military power. this doesn’t include overall weapon strength. Top Ten Largest Armies in the World 2014 - Which countries have no military forces in the world - Most powerful Country in the World - Top Nuclear Power Countries - Best Economy in the World - Country Spending Most Budget on Military

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Map Projected Browse Image Click on the image for larger version Holden Crater in southern Margaritifer Terra displays a series of finely layered deposits on its floor (white and light purple in an enhanced color image). The layered deposits are especially well exposed in the southwestern section of the crater where erosion by water flowing through a breach in the crater rim created spectacular outcrops. In this location, the deposits appear beneath a cap of alluvial fan materials (tan to brown in this image). Within the deposits, individual layers are nearly flat-lying and can be traced for hundreds of meters to kilometers. Information from the CRISM instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter suggests that at least some of these beds contain clays. By contrast, the beds in the overlying alluvial fan are less continuous and dip in varying directions, showing less evidence for clays. Collectively, the characteristics of the finely bedded deposits suggest they may have been deposited into a lake on the crater floor, perhaps fed by runoff related to formation of the overlying fans. The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 25.9 centimeters (10.2 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 78 centimeters (30.7 inches) across are resolved.] North is up. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

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What Is Windows Communication Foundation? The global acceptance of Web services, which includes standard protocols for application-to-application communication, has changed software development. For example, the functions that Web services now provide include security, distributed transaction coordination, and reliable communication. The benefits of the changes in Web services should be reflected in the tools and technologies that developers use. Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is designed to offer a manageable approach to distributed computing, broad interoperability, and direct support for service orientation. WCF simplifies development of connected applications through a new service-oriented programming model. WCF supports many styles of distributed application development by providing a layered architecture. At its base, the WCF channel architecture provides asynchronous, untyped message-passing primitives. Built on top of this base are protocol facilities for secure, reliable, transacted data exchange and broad choice of transport and encoding options. The typed programming model (called the service model) is designed to ease the development of distributed applications and to provide developers with expertise in ASP.NET Web services, .NET Framework remoting, and Enterprise Services, and who are coming to WCF with a familiar development experience. The service model features a straightforward mapping of Web services concepts to those of the .NET Framework common language runtime (CLR), including flexible and extensible mapping of messages to service implementations in languages such as Visual C# or Visual Basic. It includes serialization facilities that enable loose coupling and versioning, and it provides integration and interoperability with existing .NET Framework distributed systems technologies such as Message Queuing (MSMQ), COM+, ASP.NET Web services, Web Services Enhancements (WSE), and a number of other functions. The following example illustrates some of the problems that WCF addresses. A car rental company decides to create a new application for reserving cars. The creators of this rental car reservation application know that the business logic it implements must be accessible by other software running both inside and outside their company. Accordingly, they decide to build it in a service-oriented style, with the application’s logic exposed to other software through a well-defined set of services. To implement these services, and thus communicate with other software, the new application will use WCF. Over its lifetime, the rental car reservation application will likely be accessed by a range of other applications. When it is designed, however, the architects of the rental car reservation application know that its business logic will be accessed, as shown in the preceding figure, by three other kinds of software: A call center client application running on the Windows desktops that are used by employees in the organization’s call center. Created specifically for the new reservations system, this application will also be built using the Microsoft .NET Framework and WCF. This application is not truly distinct from the new rental car reservation application, because its only purpose is to act as a client for the new system. From a service-oriented perspective, it is just another client for the reservation system’s business logic. An existing reservation application built on a J2EE server running on a non-Windows system. Due to a recent merger with another car rental firm, this existing system must be able to access the new application’s logic to provide customers of the merged firms with a unified experience. Partner applications running on a variety of platforms, each located within a company that has a business arrangement with the car rental firm. Partners might include travel agencies, airlines, and others that have a business requirement to make car rental reservations. The diverse communication requirements for the new rental car reservation application are not simple. For interactions with the call center client application, for instance, performance is important, while interoperability is straightforward, because both are built on the .NET Framework. For communication with the existing J2EE-based reservation application and with the diverse partner applications, however, interoperability becomes the highest goal. The security requirements are also quite different, varying across local Windows-based applications, a J2EE-based application running on another operating system, and a variety of partner applications coming in across the Internet. Even transactional requirements might vary, with only the internal applications being allowed to make transactional requests. How can these diverse business and technical requirements be met without exposing the creators of the new application to unmanageable complexity? WCF is designed for this diverse but realistic scenario and is the default technology for Windows applications that expose and access services. This topic provides an introduction to WCF, examining what it provides and showing how it is used. Throughout this introduction, the scenario just described will serve as an example. The goal is to make clear what WCF is, show what problems it solves, and illustrate how it solves those problems. Addressing the Problem The foundation for new Windows-based applications is the .NET Framework. Accordingly, WCF is implemented primarily as a set of classes on top of the .NET Framework CLR. Because it extends their familiar environment, WCF enables developers who create object-oriented applications using the .NET Framework today to also build service-oriented applications in a familiar way. The figure shows a view of a WCF client and service. The two interact using SOAP, the WCF native message representation, so even though the figure shows both parties built on WCF, this is not required. WCF is built on .NET Framework 2.0. As the scenario described earlier suggests, WCF addresses a range of challenges for communicating applications. Three things stand out, however, as the most important aspects of WCF: Unification of existing .NET Framework communication technologies. Support for cross-vendor interoperability, including reliability, security, and transactions. Explicit service orientation. Unification of Microsoft Distributed Computing Technologies In the absence of WCF, the development team that implements the rental car application would need to choose the right distributed technology from the multiple choices offered by the .NET Framework. Yet given the diverse requirements of this application, no single technology would fit the requirements. Instead, the application would probably use multiple existing .NET Framework technologies, such as the following: ASP.NET Web services (ASMX). An option for communicating with the J2EE-based existing reservation application and with the partner applications across the Internet. Given that basic Web services are supported today on most platforms, this was the most direct way to achieve cross-vendor interoperability before the release of WCF. .NET Framework remoting. An option for communication with the call center application, because both are built on the .NET Framework. Remoting is designed expressly for tightly coupled .NET-to-.NET communication, so it offers a seamless and straightforward development experience for applications in the local network. Enterprise Services. Used by the rental car reservation application for managing object lifetimes and defining distributed transactions. These functions could be useful in communicating and integrating with any of the other applications in this scenario, but Enterprise Services supports only a limited set of communication options. WSE. Could be used along with ASMX to communicate with the J2EE-based reservation application and with the partner applications. Because it implements more recently defined Web services agreements, known collectively as the WS-* specifications, WSE allows for more flexible Web services security, as long as all applications involved support compatible versions of these new specifications. Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ). Used to communicate with Windows-based partner applications that require guaranteed data delivery as well as decoupling of workloads and application lifetimes. The durable messaging that Message Queuing provides is typically the best solution for intermittently connected applications. Built on .NET Framework, the rental car reservation application must use more than one of these communication technologies to meet its requirements. Although this is technically possible, the resulting application would be complex to implement and challenging to maintain. With WCF, the solution is much easier to implement. As the figure shows, WCF can be used for all the situations previously described. Accordingly, the rental car reservation application can use this single technology for all of its application-to-application communication. The following shows how WCF addresses each of these requirements: Because WCF can communicate using Web services, interoperability with other platforms that also support SOAP, such as the leading J2EE-based application servers, is straightforward. You can also configure and extend WCF to communicate with Web services using messages not based on SOAP, for example, simple XML formats like RSS. Performance is of paramount concern for most businesses. WCF is developed with the goal of being one of the fastest distributed application platform developed by Microsoft. For a high-level performance comparison between WCF and other Microsoft .NET distributed communication technologies. To allow optimal performance when both parties in a communication are built on WCF, the wire encoding used in this case is an optimized binary version of an XML Information Set. Messages still conform to the data structure of a SOAP message, but their encoding uses a binary representation of that data structure rather than the standard angle-brackets-and-text format of the XML 1.0 text encoding. Using this option makes sense for communicating with the call center client application, because it is also built on WCF, and performance is an important concern. Managing object lifetimes, defining distributed transactions, and other aspects of Enterprise Services are now provided by WCF. They are available to any WCF-based application, which means that the rental car reservation application can use them with any of the other applications it communicates with. Because it supports a large set of the WS-* specifications, WCF helps provide reliability, security, and transactions when communicating with any platform that also supports these specifications. The WCF option for queued messaging, built on Message Queuing, allows applications to use persistent queuing without using another set of application programming interfaces. The result of this unification is greater functionality and significantly reduced complexity. Interoperability with Applications Built on Other Technologies While WCF introduces a new development environment for distributed applications, it is designed to interoperate well with the non-WCF applications. There are two important aspects to WCF interoperability: interoperability with other platforms, and interoperability with the Microsoft technologies that preceded WCF. The following section describes both. Interoperability with Other Web Services Platforms Enterprises today typically have systems and applications that they purchased from a range of suppliers. In the rental car application, for instance, communication is required with various other software applications written in various languages and running on various operating systems. Because WCF’s fundamental communication mechanism is SOAP-based Web services, WCF-based applications can communicate with other software running in a variety of contexts. An application built on WCF can interact with all of the following: WCF-based applications running in a different process on the same Windows machine. WCF-based applications running on another Windows machine. Applications built on other technologies, such as J2EE application servers, that support standard Web services. These applications can be running on Windows machines or on machines running other operating systems. To allow more than just basic communication, WCF implements Web services technologies defined by the WS-* specifications. All of these specifications were originally defined by Microsoft, IBM, and other vendors working together. As the specifications become stable, ownership often passes to standards bodies, such as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) or the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS). These specifications address several areas, including basic messaging, security, reliability, transactions, and working with a service’s metadata. For more information, see Interoperability and Integration with Windows Communication Foundation. For more information about advanced Web services specifications. Grouped by function, those specifications cover: Messaging: SOAP is the foundation for Web services and defines a basic envelope that contains header and a body sections. WS-Addressing defines additions to the SOAP header for addressing SOAP messages, which frees SOAP from relying on the underlying transport protocol, such as HTTP, to carry addressing information. Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM) defines an optimized transmission format for SOAP messages with large binary data contents based on the XML-binary Optimized Packaging (XOP) specification. Metadata: The Web Services Description Language (WSDL) defines a standard language for specifying services and various aspects of how those services can be used. WS-Policy allows specification of more dynamic aspects of a service’s behavior that cannot be expressed in WSDL, such as a preferred security option. WS-MetadataExchange allows a client to directly request descriptive information about a service, such as its WSDL and its policies, using SOAP. Security: WS-Security, WS-SecureConversation, WS-Trust, and WS-Federation all define additions to SOAP messages for providing authentication, data integrity, data privacy, and other security features. Reliability: WS-Reliable Messaging defines additions to the SOAP header that allow reliable end-to-end communication, even when one or more Web services intermediaries must be traversed. Transactions: Built on WS-Coordination, WS-Atomic Transaction allows coordinating two-phase commit transactions in the context of Web services conversations. The rental car reservation application would likely use several of these more advanced technologies. For example, WS-Addressing is essential whenever SOAP is used over a transport mechanism other than HTTP, which might be the case for communication with the .NET Framework-based call center client application. WCF relies on WS-Policy and WS-Metadata Exchange to discover whether the system it is communicating with is also using WCF and for other things. Reliable communication is essential for most situations, so it is likely that WS-Reliable Messaging would be used to interact with many of the other applications in this scenario. Similarly, you might also use WS-Security and the related specifications for securing the communication with one or more of the applications, because all would require some kind of protection against unauthorized access or message modification and interception. For the applications that require transaction integration with the rental car reservation system, WS-Atomic Transaction would be essential. Finally, MTOM could be used whenever an optimized wire format for binary data is necessary (for instance for pictures of fleet examples), and both sides of the communication supported this option. The key point is that WCF implements interoperable Web services complete with cross-platform security, reliability, transactions, and other services. To provide maximum throughput, WCF-to-WCF communication can be significantly optimized, but all other communication uses standard Web services protocols. In fact, it is possible for a single application to expose its services to both kinds of clients. Interoperability with Microsoft Technologies Many Microsoft customers have made significant investments in the .NET Framework technologies that WCF includes. Protecting those investments was a fundamental goal of WCF’s designers. Installing WCF does not break existing technology, so there is no requirement that organizations change existing applications to use it. A clear upgrade path is provided, however, and wherever possible, WCF interoperates with those earlier technologies. For example, both WCF and ASMX use SOAP, so WCF-based applications can directly interoperate with those built on ASMX. Existing Enterprise Services applications can also be wrapped with WCF interfaces, allowing them to interoperate with applications built on WCF. And because persistent queuing in WCF relies on MSMQ, WCF-based applications can interoperate directly with non-WCF-based applications built using native MSMQ interfaces. In the rental car reservations application, software built using any of these earlier technologies could directly connect to and use the new system’s WCF-based services. Interoperability is not always possible, however. For example, even though WSE 1.0 and WSE 2.0 implement some of the same WS-* specifications as WCF, these earlier technologies implement earlier versions of the specifications. Version 3.0 of WSE does allow interoperability with WCF, but earlier versions do not. For more information about interoperability, see Migrating WSE 3.0 Web Services to WCF. Interoperability with Other XML Protocols The future of the Internet is not predictable and the technologies used today may evolve or be replaced. Today, a popular trend in building Web-centric applications (called by many “Web 2.0”), is an application model based on communication using only simple XML formats that are not SOAP-based and exclusively rely on HTTP as a transport and as an application protocol. For example, the Representational State Transfer (REST) architectural style has no notion of user-defined operations for dealing with data. Instead, application state is associated with HTTP URLs and HTTP methods (such as PUT, POST, DELETE, and GET). This approach is in contrast to the creation of user-defined procedures or functions that most developers are familiar with in an enterprise environment. However, the REST approach is of value in scenarios where services must function as the back end of Web 2.0 applications.

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When we think of “pests,” we normally think of rodents or of insects like termites, ants, spiders, bed bugs, mosquitoes, or bees/wasps. But in reality, certain bird species can also qualify as pests, especially if they are littering your property with their droppings, spreading diseases, or swooping at customers on your business property or at kids (or you) in your own back yard. 3 Humane Bird Control Methods Some of the worst pest birds in New England are the sparrow, starling, and pigeon. These birds are not “bad” in general, but they do become a nuisance to humans under certain circumstances. You want to solve the problem, but without hurting the birds — how do you accomplish that? 1. Use “Deterrents” One simple, and preeminently “mechanical,” bird control method is to set up bird deterrents throughout your property. Make “your place” unappealing for birds by putting up bird slopes and spikes to discourage birds from landing/perching. (The spikes do not harm birds’ feet.) You can also use strategically placed netting near your building, which will not catch or bounce birds but simply force them to fly higher (over your roof). Finally, an advanced electric track system can be used to nudge birds away with a very mild, low-volt electric shock. 2. Habitat Modification While habitat modification can include use of deterrents as mentioned just above, it goes further. It involves a detailed assessment of your property (from a bird’s point of view) and the elimination of anything that seems inviting to birds. This means eliminating food and water sources, nests and nesting materials, and sealing up any entry points that birds have found on your building. Anywhere a bird can build a nest (like eves with holes in them) must also be changed. This is clearly work for an experienced bird control professional. 3. Use “Scare Tactics” If you feel averse to baiting birds or simply want to double down on scaring them off of your property, there are other ways to do it. By installing speakers that play recordings of distress calls of specific nuisance bird species, you can scare the real birds away. Or, you can play recordings of birds of prey. And projecting shadows or installing dummies that give an appearance of a hawk or raptor, for example, can create a perpetual “Halloween” for your pest birds and keep them at a good distance. Finally, note that these three tactics need not be used in isolation — you can mix and match or do all of them simultaneously to enhance the overall effect. A pest management professional at Bain Pest Control will know how to best approach your specific situation, in a way that solves your bird problems but does it without harming the animals.

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What Is a Sports Physical? In the sports medicine field, the sports physical exam is known as a preparticipation physical examination (PPE). The exam helps determine whether it’s safe for you to participate in a particular sport. Most states actually require that kids and teens have a sports physical before they can start a new sport or begin a new competitive season. But even if a PPE isn’t required, doctors still highly recommend getting one. The two main parts to a sports physical are the medical history and the physical exam. This part of the exam includes questions about: •serious illnesses among other family members •illnesses that you had when you were younger or may have now, such as asthma, diabetes, or epilepsy •previous hospitalizations or surgeries •allergies (to insect bites, for example) •past injuries (including concussions, sprains, or bone fractures) •whether you’ve ever passed out, felt dizzy, had chest pain, or had trouble breathing during exercise •any medications that you are on (including over-the-counter medications, herbal supplements, and prescription medications) The medical history questions are usually on a form that you can bring home, so ask your parents to help you fill in the answers. If possible, ask both parents about family medical history. Looking at patterns of illness in your family is a very good indicator of any potential conditions you may have. Most sports medicine doctors believe the medical history is the most important part of the sports physical exam, so take time to answer the questions carefully. It’s unlikely that any health conditions you have will prevent you from playing sports completely. We perform Sports Physicals at Springdale Health Integrative Clinic.

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As we make ready to enter the season of Spring and celebrate Easter, we must remember that the holiday has roots in the Jewish celebration of Passover. We turn our attention to this festival and feast and examine the picture prophesies that are displayed for our learning. As people gather on Easter Sunday, why do they celebrate? The Jews in Jerusalem celebrated Passover – a reminder of God’s great deliverance of His people from the land of Egypt. God used a specially chosen man, Moses, to accomplish this task. But why do we celebrate? We celebrate God’s

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Redwood Veterinary Clinic - Santa Rosa, CA - Understanding Rabies With all the media attention that rabies gets, you may be surprised to learn that this disease is much less of a danger to Americans now than ever before. Thanks to widespread pet vaccinations, 100% effective post-exposure treatment, and the relative rarity of an undetected bite by a rabid animal, the number of human deaths in the United States due to rabies has declined to an average of only one or two per year (compared to 55,000 per year in Asia). The best ways to guard against rabies: Don't approach or handle wild animals, especially sick wild animals Vaccinate your pets Get prompt post-exposure treatment when advised to do so by a doctor or health department People and Rabies People who contracted rabies in the United States were mostly infected by a bat. Most didn't even know they were bitten. Some may have been sleeping when bitten. Others handled a bat bare-handed without realizing they'd been potentially exposed to rabies. But don't panic over every bat sighting. Less than one-half of one percent of all bats in North America carries rabies. Although raccoon suffer from rabies more than any other mammal in the United States (about 35 percent of all animal rabies cases), only one human death from the raccoon strain of rabies has been recorded in the United States. Despite the long odds of contracting rabies, the remote possibility of infection exists and should not be taken lightly. Don't approach or handle wild animals Vaccinate your pets - cats, dogs, horses, etc. If you see a wild animal that may be sick, contact your local animal control, veterinarian, or wildlife department for help. Don't handle sick wildlife! If anyone is bitten by any wild animal, get medical advice from a doctor or health department immediately If your pet is bitten by any wild animal, get medical advice from your veterinarian immediately Scrub any bite wound immediately and aggressively with soap and water, use antiseptic soap such as betadine or nolvasan, if available. Flush the wound thoroughly with water If anyone is bitten by a potentially rabid animal, scrub and flush the wound then go to your doctor or an emergency room If possible, the animal should be captured and tested for rabies. Unless you can do it without risking further bites, leave this task to animal control professionals If you find a bat in a room where someone was sleeping or where children might have had contact with him, the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that you assume the bat has bitten the sleeper or children and take the step for a known bite. CDC suspects that adults may overlook and children may under report the bites of tiny bat teeth Timely treatment after a bite or other exposure is 100 percent effective. The very few people who die from rabies are those who don't get timely treatment. Interesting fact: Federal and state wildlife officials have been vaccinating wildlife in many regions over the past 15 years. They distribute vaccine-laden baits that the target animals eat and thereby vaccinate themselves. Right now, oral rabies vaccination of wildlife focuses on halting the spread of specific types of rabies in targeted carrier species. Next, it's hoped that this tool can shrink the diseases' range. (taken from an article written by The Humane Society of the United States)

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By Steve Graham, Networx It’s a shame to see rows of bagged fall leaves on trash day, even if homeowners use cute orange jack-o-lantern bags. There are so many beneficial uses for autumn leaves that are better than sending them to the landfill. Granted, the leaves will break down fairly quickly in the landfill, but it’s still a waste. Here are 10 better options for autumn leaves, along with an important warning. 1. Make a garden path: This is perhaps the simplest way to use leaves, as they do not need to be shredded. Mix whole leaves with gravel or wood chips to create a dry, weed-blocking path through garden spaces. 2. Make mulch: Shredded leaves are a perfect organic mulch. The leaves can limit weeds and help retain winter moisture. In mild climates, a bed of leaves can insulate some tender plants from winter’s chills. As the leaves break down, they will also add nutrients to the soil. Be sure to shred the leaves, as whole leaves might block water and starve the plants. Also don’t pile up the leaves against the plants. Give them room to breathe, and limit leaf cover to a couple of inches. Any more can be too much of a good thing. 3. Mix leaves into the soil: If you don’t plan to maintain the vegetable garden or annual flowerbeds through winter, till shredded leaves into the garden. The decomposing leaves will add nutrients, boost the organic content, improve the soil structure and encourage earthworms and other beneficial creatures, leading to less work in the spring to prepare for another growing season. Though the leaves will add nitrogen, experts also suggest adding some slow-release nitrogen fertilizers to hasten the decomposition of the leaves. 4. Add to compost heap: If you are already composting, you can make an even more valuable soil amendment by adding shredded leaves to the compost bin or pile, as suggested by HGTV's Kimberly Lacy on Hometalk.com, a home improvement social network. Whole leaves work, but they will take longer to decompose. Leaves add an important carbon-rich balance to food scraps and grass clippings. In the vernacular of composting, the leaves add good “browns” to the “greens” in the mix. If home composting seems stinky and daunting, you can also look for local companies or city departments that collect autumn leaves for large-scale composting projects. 5. Save for spring compost: If you are composting your autumn leaves, you may also consider saving a couple of bags of leaves. “Brown” carbon-rich materials can be tough to find in the spring and summer, when you might be adding more fresh fruit scraps and grass clippings to the compost mix. Dumping in some dried-out fall leaves can quickly provide some balance. 6. Make lasagna (for the garden): This is basically yet another way of composting the leaves. Also known as sheet composting, lasagna gardening is a simple and effective way to transform a lawn or weed patch into a rich garden bed. Start with cardboard or a few layers of newspaper. Soak this layer, then pile on layers of “browns” and “greens.” Alternate leaves and shredded newspaper (browns) with food scraps and grass clippings (greens). 7. Make leaf mold: If you have more patience, you can create leaf mold, an extra rich type of compost, out of leaves and water. Leaf mold retains water well, and is packed with beneficial fungi, as well as calcium and magnesium. However, be warned that leaf mold can take up to three years to make. Simply pile leaves into a large bin, thoroughly wetting down the leaves. Put a tarp or other cover over the bin and let fungi do their thing. Mary Robson of Washington State University Cooperative Extension suggests that the bottom of the leaf pile will have decomposed into black leaf mold within six to 12 months, but the whole pile may take up to three years to break down.

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The Swedish-Finnish-Swiss International Geophysical Year station Kinnvika in Northeast Svalbard has now been legally protected by the Riksantikvaren - Directorate for Cultural Heritage in Norway. The protection includes all the 10 buildings and covers the interiors, exteriors and fixed furniture. Other loose artifacts which are connected to the original IGY activity 1957-58 and the continuation in 1959 are also included. Outside installations, objects, artifacts and other traces of the original activity are also protected. These include a weasel and sledges. In addition a large area around the research station is included in order to protect the integrity of the site. This is the second protection order according to the Environmental Law for Svalbard on cultural heritage established after 1946. The first concerned the aerial transport system for coal from the mines to the transport centre in Longyearbyen took effect in 2003. Kinnvika is situated in the Northeast Svalbard Nature Reserve, which limits the activities which may take place in the area. However, the 4th International Polar Year created a new wave of enthusiasm for research using Kinnvika station as a base and it was thus felt necessary for the cultural heritage authorities to have better control over the use of the station.

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There are two players, False and True, who take turns. A legal move for False consists of replacing all occurences of one atom with 'false' and you can guess what True's moves are. True wins if the expression evaluates to 'true' with the obvious interpretation of the symbols I've given and False wins if the expression evaluates to false. There is no possibility of a tie. For example consider the game (A+B)(C+D)(E+F). This is a win for True whoever plays next. Any time False sets an atom to 'false' True merely has to set the other atom in the same factor to 'true' making the factor 'true'. Eventually all of the factors will have the value 'true'. So here are some questions: - Has this game already been studied? If so, what's it called? - Is there a nice way to evaluate any position in the game? A partial answer is given by some papers by Anshelevich on the subject of Hex. All Hex positions are positions in this game and many interesting Hex positions and subproblems can be approximated well by simple positions in this game. (Note that a good strategy for this game might not be a good strategy for Hex because a Hex game corresponds to a very large expression.) - Can you assign Conway numbers to positions in this game? What is the value of 'true'? - What happens if you allow the unary operator 'not' and allow the two players to replace an atom with either 'true' or 'false'. - What other games, besides Hex, are special cases of this game? (All combinatorial games I guess.) What games are special cases in an interesting way?

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(LifeScript Health News) Puffing on cigarettes habitually may dramatically increase the risk of rupturing an artery, according to research published this month in the British Medical Journal. The study concluded that women smokers are eight times more likely to suffer an abdominal aortic aneurysm than women who don’t smoke. Abdominal aortic aneurysms are more common in men, but are more deadly among women. The abdominal aorta is the body’s largest artery and supplies blood to the lower body. A rupture occurs when a weak area in the artery expands or bulges, much like a balloon. But the study noted that both smoking and non-smoking women with diabetes were less likely to suffer from a rupture, possibly due to the artery-stiffening effect of diabetes, which can protect against weakening in the arteries. The study also reported that hormone replacement therapy cut the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm. Every year about 15,000 Americans suffer a fatal abdominal aortic rupture. See All Health Alerts

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UK 0203 286 0822 GRANGER - Historical Picture Archive GEMINI 4: SPACEWALK, 1965. Astronaut Edward H. White during spacewalk, 3 June 1965. APOLLO 11: BUZZ ALDRIN. Astronaut Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin standing on moon. Neil Armstrong JAPAN: ASTRONOMY, 1936. Women watching stars. Color drawing, 1936, by Ota Chou. Southern Hemisphere, by Carel Allard, Amsterdam. MARS MISSION, 1950s. American magazine illustration by Chesley Bonestell, early 1950s GALILEO: MOON. Sketches by Galileo of the moon as he saw it through the telescope APOLLO 15, 1971. Jim Irwin standing by the lunar rover, Mount Hadley in the background. MAP OF THE UNIVERSE, 1660. According to the theories of Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) NICOLAUS COPERNICUS (1473-1543). Polish astronomer. Observing the skies at night CHINESE ASTRONOMER, 1675. tower built in the 11th century. Water-driven gears rotate an armillary sphere Anatomical/Astrological Man. Miniature depicting the influence of the zodiacal stars The Earth as the center of the universe, surrounded by the 12 wind gods A pre-Copernican (Ptolemaic) conception of the universe with the earth at the center Johannes Kepler's model of the universe. Line engraving from his 'Mysterium Cosmographicum Astronaut Jim Irwin saluting the American flag by the lunar rover and the lunar module YOUNG ASTRONOMER. Leyden School. Oil on oak, second half of 17th century. MENTAL ILLNESS. The moon affecting women's minds. Detail of a French engraving CELESTIAL PLANISPHERE, 1660. Celestial planisphere of the northern hemisphere ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY. Observatory at Peking, China COMET OF 1812. Seen from the Pont Neuf in Paris. Contemporary French colored engraving. JOHN FLAMSTEED, c. 1700. Royal astronomer John Flamsteed, his one paid assistant PTOLEMY (2nd CENTURY A.D.). Alexandrian astronomer, mathematician and geographer JOHANNES HEVELIUS (1611-1687). Polish astronomer. Hevelius and his wife, Elisabeth TYCHO BRAHE (1546-1601). Danish astronomer CELESTIAL PLANISPHERE, 1660. Schiller's Christianized Heaven, southern hemisphere SPACE: APOLLO 11. President Richard M. Nixon applauds astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins SPACE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER. Photographed in orbit. SPACE: APOLLO 9. Apollo 9, March 1969: Command and Service Modules viewed from docked ZEISS PLANETARIUM PROJECTOR. Greenwich Planetarium, England. APOLLO 17: BOULDER, 1972. Astronaut Harrison H APOLLO 17, DECEMBER 1972: Front of Lunar Rover and Schmitt working by large boulder. APOLLO 11: EARTH. Apollo 11: View of Earth from 160,000 miles. ASTRONOMER, 1530. An astronomer trying to discover the secrets behind the Milky Way APOLLO 15: MOON, 1971. Oblique view of the Moon's farside from command module in orbit APOLLO 16: EARTH. Apollo 16: Earth from command module with North America at center. ASTRONOMERS atop Mount Athos, Greece, study the heavens with the aid of astrolabes JUPITER, EUROPA, & IO. Voyager I photograph of Jupiter, Europa, and Io from 20 million TURKISH ASTRONOMERS. Astronomers in the Istanbul observatory. Ottoman manuscript illumination PTOLEMY: ALMAGEST, 1490. List of star positions from an English ms SPACE: SKYLAB 3, 1973. The Skylab 3 space station photographed in orbit, 1973. EDWIN 'BUZZ' ALDRIN (1930-). Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin. American astronaut PHASES OF THE MOON. Woodcut designed by Hans Holbein the Younger from Sebastian Munster's GALILEO GALILEI (1564-1642). Galileo before the Holy Office in 1633. After the painting ESCORIAL: TAPESTRY. Tapestry depicting astronomy at the Escorial Palace, Spain, 16th ZODIAC SIGN: LIBRA, c1350. Manuscript illumination, Polish, mid-14th century, for ZODIAC: SAGITTARIUS. Fresco, 1575, from Villa Farnese, Caprarola, Italy. back to top

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THE STRUCTURE OF THE PLASMA MEMBRANE 1. The Fluid-Mosaic Model of the plasma membrane was proposed by S. Singer and G. Nicolson in 1972. They proposed that membrane proteins are dispersed throughout and inserted into the phospholipid bilayer. 2. Pictured as "mosaic" because it has various protein molecules embedded in the phospholipid bilayer. The membrane is "fluid" cause the proteins and phospholipid molecules drift laterally in the membrane. 3. Two parts in each phospholipid molecule: (i) a polar head which is hydrophilic ('keen of water') (ii) a pair of non-polar fatty acid tails which are hydrophobic ('hate of water'). 4. Phospholipids are arranged in bilayer = phospholipid bilayer. 5. Types of proteins embedded : (i) pore proteins : has a pore to provide a passage for solutes to pass through the plasma membrane. (ii) carrier proteins :acts as a carrier to carry molecules across the plasma membrane. The Fluid-Mosaic Model of the plasma membrane The movement of a lipid-soluble molecule through the phospholipid bilayer A simulation of the plasma membrane structure

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According to statistics, the average battery life for the non-sealed lead acid batteries typically used in boats is somewhere between 24 months to 48 months, even though some owners could swear it's even less. The seasonal usage habits for people who own boats cause their crafts to lay dormant for most of the year, shortening battery life to such a point that many owners simply buy new batteries every season. But it doesn't have to be that way, according to Terry Fellner, a battery service veteran and president of Thermoil, Inc., a manufacturer of products designed to enhance the lives of non-sealed lead acid batteries. "Deep cycle batteries require more maintenance than a starting battery, and are more expensive because of the amount of power they need to generate, so it really does pay off for owners to take some basic precautions and protect their investment in these types of batteries. Many of these batteries will just flat-out die if they are left dormant for months at a time, so owners should really be vigilant in their service of them." Fellner offered some tips for boat owners to help them get the most from their batteries, including: Why did my battery die? The most common causes of battery failure are: Loss of electrolyte due to heat or overcharging Using tap water If your pontoon or deck boat is not in use, you should charge the battery at least once every other month if it's in a cold climate and once a month for those stored in the warmer climates. Remember that all batteries self-discharge when they are not in use. In cold climates, they lose about three percent per month, while the hotter climates can cause a battery to lose between eight and 10 percent of their charge per month, just from sitting there! Use a battery de-mister "When a battery de-mister is added to a battery it will increase battery life, increase shelf life, maintain battery chemistry, reduce charge time, eliminate corrosion and greatly reduce water consumption," says Fellner. "It also greatly reduces the risk of explosion and will help to keep your battery working under most conditions." Watch The Volts When not in use, you should never let your battery fall below 12.45 volts. This is when they will start to sulfate and go bad. Once sulfated, they become very difficult to completely charge back up. Trying to charge a battery once it has sulfated usually results in the battery heating up, causing the plates to warp, and ultimately destroying your battery. For more information on Thermoil, Inc. visit www.batteryde-mister.com.

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Video of a 1936 spring-motor-driven 78 rpm acoustic (non-electronic) gramophone |Problems playing this file? See media help.| A gramophone record (phonograph record), commonly known as a vinyl record or simply vinyl or record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat polyvinyl chloride (previously shellac) disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. The phonograph disc record was the primary medium used for music reproduction until late in the 20th century. It had co-existed with the phonograph cylinder from the late 1880s and replaced it by the late 1920s. Records retained the largest market share even when new formats such as compact cassette were mass-marketed. By the late 1980s, digital media, in the form of the compact disc, had gained a larger market share, and the vinyl record left the mainstream in 1991. From the 1990s to the 2010s, records continued to be manufactured and sold on a much smaller scale, and were especially used by disc jockeys (DJs), released by artists in some genres, and listened to by a niche market of audiophiles. The phonograph record has made a niche resurgence in the early 21st century – 9.2 million records were sold in the U.S. in 2014, a 260% increase since 2009. Likewise, in the UK sales have increased five-fold from 2009 to 2014. As of 2017, 48 record pressing facilities remain worldwide, 18 in the United States and 30 in other countries. The increased popularity of vinyl has led to the investment in new and modern record-pressing machines. Only two producers of lacquers remains; Apollo Masters in California, USA, and MDC in Japan. Phonograph records are generally described by their diameter in inches (12-inch, 10-inch, 7-inch), the rotational speed in rpm at which they are played ( 8 1⁄3, 16 2⁄3, 33 1⁄3, 45, 78), and their time capacity, determined by their diameter and speed (LP [long playing], 12-inch disc, 33 1⁄3 rpm; SP [single], 10-inch disc, 78 rpm, or 7-inch disc, 45 rpm; EP [extended play], 12-inch disc, 33 1⁄3 or 45 rpm); their reproductive quality, or level of fidelity (high-fidelity, orthophonic, full-range, etc.); and the number of audio channels (mono, stereo, quad, etc.). Vinyl records may be scratched or warped if stored incorrectly but if they are not exposed to high heat or broken, a vinyl record has the potential to last for centuries. The large cover (and inner sleeves) are valued by collectors and artists for the space given for visual expression, especially when it comes to the long play vinyl LP. - 1 Early history - 2 78 rpm disc developments - 3 New sizes and materials - 4 Sound enhancements - 5 Formats - 6 Structure - 7 Limitations - 8 Production - 9 Preservation - 10 Current status - 11 See also - 12 References - 13 Further reading - 14 External links The phonautograph, patented by Léon Scott in 1857, used a vibrating diaphragm and stylus to graphically record sound waves as tracings on sheets of paper, purely for visual analysis and without any intent of playing them back. In the 2000s, these tracings were first scanned by audio engineers and digitally converted into audible sound. Phonautograms of singing and speech made by Scott in 1860 were played back as sound for the first time in 2008. Along with a tuning fork tone and unintelligible snippets recorded as early as 1857, these are the earliest known recordings of sound. In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. Unlike the phonautograph, it was capable of both recording and reproducing sound. Despite the similarity of name, there is no documentary evidence that Edison's phonograph was based on Scott's phonautograph. Edison first tried recording sound on a wax-impregnated paper tape, with the idea of creating a "telephone repeater" analogous to the telegraph repeater he had been working on. Although the visible results made him confident that sound could be physically recorded and reproduced, his notes do not indicate that he actually reproduced sound before his first experiment in which he used tinfoil as a recording medium several months later. The tinfoil was wrapped around a grooved metal cylinder and a sound-vibrated stylus indented the tinfoil while the cylinder was rotated. The recording could be played back immediately. The Scientific American article that introduced the tinfoil phonograph to the public mentioned Marey, Rosapelly and Barlow as well as Scott as creators of devices for recording but, importantly, not reproducing sound. Edison also invented variations of the phonograph that used tape and disc formats. Numerous applications for the phonograph were envisioned, but although it enjoyed a brief vogue as a startling novelty at public demonstrations, the tinfoil phonograph proved too crude to be put to any practical use. A decade later, Edison developed a greatly improved phonograph that used a hollow wax cylinder instead of a foil sheet. This proved to be both a better-sounding and far more useful and durable device. The wax phonograph cylinder created the recorded sound market at the end of the 1880s and dominated it through the early years of the 20th century. Lateral-cut disc records were developed in the United States by Emile Berliner, who named his system the "gramophone", distinguishing it from Edison's wax cylinder "phonograph" and Columbia's wax cylinder "graphophone". Berliner's earliest discs, first marketed in 1889, but only in Europe, were 12.5 cm (approx 5 inches) in diameter, and were played with a small hand-propelled machine. Both the records and the machine were adequate only for use as a toy or curiosity, due to the limited sound quality. In the United States in 1894, under the Berliner Gramophone trademark, Berliner started marketing records of 7 inches diameter with somewhat more substantial entertainment value, along with somewhat more substantial gramophones to play them. Berliner's records had poor sound quality compared to wax cylinders, but his manufacturing associate Eldridge R. Johnson eventually improved the sound quality. Abandoning Berliner's "Gramophone" trademark for legal reasons, in 1901 Johnson's and Berliner's separate companies reorganized to form the Victor Talking Machine Company, whose products would come to dominate the market for many years. Emile Berliner moved his company to Montreal in 1900. The factory which became RCA Victor still exists. There is a dedicated museum in Montreal for Berliner. In 1901, 10-inch disc records were introduced, followed in 1903 by 12-inch records. These could play for more than three and four minutes respectively, whereas contemporary cylinders could only play for about two minutes. In an attempt to head off the disc advantage, Edison introduced the Amberol cylinder in 1909, with a maximum playing time of 4½ minutes (at 160 rpm), which in turn were superseded by Blue Amberol Records, which had a playing surface made of celluloid, a plastic, which was far less fragile. Despite these improvements, during the 1910s discs decisively won this early format war, although Edison continued to produce new Blue Amberol cylinders for an ever-dwindling customer base until late in 1929. By 1919 the basic patents for the manufacture of lateral-cut disc records had expired, opening the field for countless companies to produce them. Analog disc records would dominate the home entertainment market until they were outsold by the digital compact disc in the late 1980s (which was in turn supplanted by digital audio recordings distributed via online music stores and Internet file sharing). 78 rpm disc developments Early disc recordings were produced in a variety of speeds ranging from 60 to 130 rpm, and a variety of sizes. As early as 1894, Emile Berliner's United States Gramophone Company was selling single-sided 7-inch discs with an advertised standard speed of "about 70 rpm". One standard audio recording handbook describes speed regulators, or governors, as being part of a wave of improvement introduced rapidly after 1897. A picture of a hand-cranked 1898 Berliner Gramophone shows a governor. It says that spring drives replaced hand drives. It notes that: The speed regulator was furnished with an indicator that showed the speed when the machine was running so that the records, on reproduction, could be revolved at exactly the same speed...The literature does not disclose why 78 rpm was chosen for the phonograph industry, apparently this just happened to be the speed created by one of the early machines and, for no other reason continued to be used. By 1925, the speed of the record was becoming standardized at a nominal value of 78 rpm. However, the standard differed between places with alternating current electricity supply at 60 hertz (cycles per second, Hz) and those at 50 Hz. Where the mains supply was 60 Hz, the actual speed was 78.26 rpm: that of a 60 Hz stroboscope illuminating 92-bar calibration markings. Where it was 50 Hz, it was 77.92 rpm: that of a 50 Hz stroboscope illuminating 77-bar calibration markings. Early recordings were made entirely acoustically, the sound being collected by a horn and piped to a diaphragm, which vibrated the cutting stylus. Sensitivity and frequency range were poor, and frequency response was very irregular, giving acoustic recordings an instantly recognizable tonal quality. A singer practically had to put his or her face in the recording horn. Lower-pitched orchestral instruments such as cellos and double basses were often doubled (or replaced) by louder instruments, such as tubas. Standard violins in orchestral ensembles were commonly replaced by Stroh violins, which became popular with recording studios. Contrary to popular belief, if placed properly and prepared-for, drums could be effectively used and heard on even the earliest jazz and military band recordings. The loudest instruments such as the drums and trumpets were positioned the farthest away from the collecting horn. Lillian Hardin Armstrong, a member of King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, which recorded at Gennett Records in 1923, remembered that at first Oliver and his young second trumpet, Louis Armstrong, stood next to each other and Oliver's horn could not be heard. "They put Louis about fifteen feet over in the corner, looking all sad." During the first half of the 1920s, engineers at Western Electric, as well as independent inventors such as Orlando Marsh, developed technology for capturing sound with a microphone, amplifying it with vacuum tubes, then using the amplified signal to drive an electromechanical recording head. Western Electric's innovations resulted in a greatly expanded and more even frequency response, creating a dramatically fuller, clearer and more natural-sounding recording. Distant or less strong sounds that were impossible to record by the old methods could now be captured. Volume was now limited only by the groove spacing on the record and the limitations of the intended playback device. Victor and Columbia licensed the new electrical system from Western Electric and began issuing electrically recorded discs in 1925. The first classical recording was of Chopin impromptus and Schubert's Litanei by Alfred Cortot for Victor. ... the time has come for serious musical criticism to take account of performances of great music reproduced by means of the records. To claim that the records have succeeded in exact and complete reproduction of all details of symphonic or operatic performances ... would be extravagant ... [but] the article of today is so far in advance of the old machines as hardly to admit classification under the same name. Electrical recording and reproduction have combined to retain vitality and color in recitals by proxy. Electrical recording preceded electrical home reproduction because of the initial high cost of the new system. In 1925, the Victor company introduced the Orthophonic Victrola, an acoustical record player that was specifically designed to play electrically recorded discs, as part of a line that also included electrically reproducing Electrolas. The acoustical Orthophonics ranged in price from US$95 to US$300, depending on cabinetry; by comparison, the cheapest Electrola cost US$650, the price of a new car in an era when clerical jobs paid about $20 a week. The Orthophonic had an interior folded exponential horn, a sophisticated design informed by impedance-matching and transmission-line theory, and designed to provide a relatively flat frequency response. Its first public demonstration was front-page news in The New York Times, which reported: The audience broke into applause ... John Philip Sousa [said]: '[Gentlemen], that is a band. This is the first time I have ever heard music with any soul to it produced by a mechanical talking machine' ... The new instrument is a feat of mathematics and physics. It is not the result of innumerable experiments, but was worked out on paper in advance of being built in the laboratory ... The new machine has a range of from 100 to 5,000 [cycles], or five and a half octaves ... The 'phonograph tone' is eliminated by the new recording and reproducing process. Gradually, electrical reproduction entered the home. The spring motor was replaced by an electric motor. The old sound box with its needle-linked diaphragm was replaced by an electromagnetic pickup that converted the needle vibrations into an electrical signal. The tone arm now served to conduct a pair of wires, not sound waves, into the cabinet. The exponential horn was replaced by an amplifier and a loudspeaker. The Great Depression of the 1930s nearly killed the phonograph industry. RCA, which bought the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1929, introduced an inexpensive turntable called the Duo Jr., which was designed to be connected to radio sets. 78 rpm materials The earliest disc records (1889–1894) were made of various materials including hard rubber. Around 1895, a shellac-based compound was introduced and became standard. Exact formulas for this compound varied by manufacturer and over the course of time, but it was typically composed of about one-third shellac and about two-thirds mineral filler, which meant finely pulverized rock, usually slate and limestone, with an admixture of cotton fibers to add tensile strength, carbon black for color (without this, it tended to be a "dirty" gray or brown color that most record companies considered unattractive), and a very small amount of a lubricant to facilitate mold release during manufacture. Some makers, notably Columbia Records, used a laminated construction with a core disc of coarser material or fiber. The production of shellac records continued until the end of the 78 rpm format (i.e., the late 1950s in most developed countries, but well into the 1960s in some other places), but increasingly less abrasive formulations were used during its declining years and very late examples in truly like-new condition can have as low noise levels as vinyl. Flexible or so-called "unbreakable" records made of unusual materials were introduced by a number of manufacturers at various times during the 78 rpm era. In the UK, Nicole records, made of celluloid or a similar substance coated onto a cardboard core disc, were produced for a few years beginning in 1904, but they suffered from an exceptionally high level of surface noise. In the United States, Columbia Records introduced flexible, fiber-cored "Marconi Velvet Tone Record" pressings in 1907, but the advantages and longevity of their relatively noiseless surfaces depended on the scrupulous use of special gold-plated Marconi Needles and the product was not a success. Thin, flexible plastic records such as the German Phonycord and the British Filmophone and Goodson records appeared around 1930 but also did not last long. The contemporary French Pathé Cellodiscs, made of a very thin black plastic, which uncannily resembles the vinyl "sound sheet" magazine inserts of the 1965–1985 era, were similarly short-lived. In the US, Hit of the Week records, made of a patented translucent plastic called Durium coated on a heavy brown paper base, were introduced in early 1930. A new issue came out every week and they were sold at newsstands like a weekly magazine. Although inexpensive and commercially successful at first, they soon fell victim to the Great Depression and production in the US ended in 1932. Related Durium records continued to be made somewhat later in the UK and elsewhere, and as remarkably late as 1950 in Italy, where the name "Durium" survived far into the LP era as a trademark on ordinary vinyl records. Despite all these attempts at innovation, shellac compounds continued to be used for the overwhelming majority of commercial 78 rpm records during the lifetime of the format. In 1931, RCA Victor introduced their vinyl-based Victrolac compound as a material for some unusual-format and special-purpose records. By the end of the 1930s vinyl's advantages of light weight, relative unbreakability, and low surface noise had made it the material of choice for prerecorded radio programming and other critical applications. When it came to ordinary 78 rpm records, however, the much higher cost of the raw material, as well as its vulnerability to the heavy pickups and crudely mass-produced steel needles still commonly used in home record players, made its general substitution for shellac impractical at that time. During the Second World War, the United States Armed Forces produced thousands of 12-inch vinyl 78 rpm V-Discs for use by the troops overseas. After the war, the wider use of vinyl became more practical as new record players with relatively lightweight crystal pickups and precision-ground styli made of sapphire or an exotic osmium alloy proliferated. In late 1945, RCA Victor began offering special transparent red vinyl De Luxe pressings of some Red Seal classical 78s, at a De luxe price. Later, Decca Records introduced vinyl Deccalite 78s, while other record companies came up with vinyl concoctions such as Metrolite, Merco Plastic, and Sav-o-flex, but these were mainly used to produce "unbreakable" children's records and special thin vinyl DJ pressings for shipment to radio stations. 78 rpm disc size In the 1890s, the recording formats of the earliest (toy) discs were mainly 12.5 cm (nominally five inches) in diameter; by the mid-1890s, the discs were usually 7 in (nominally 17.5 cm) in diameter. By 1910 the 10-inch (25.4 cm) record was by far the most popular standard, holding about three minutes of music or other entertainment on a side. From 1903 onwards, 12-inch records (30.5 cm) were also sold commercially, mostly of classical music or operatic selections, with four to five minutes of music per side. Victor, Brunswick and Columbia also issued 12-inch popular medleys, usually spotlighting a Broadway show score. However, other sizes did appear. Eight-inch discs with a 2-inch-diameter (51 mm) label became popular for about a decade in Britain, but they cannot be played in full on most modern record players because the tone arm cannot play far enough in toward the center without modification of the equipment. 78 rpm recording time The playing time of a phonograph record depended on the turntable speed and the groove spacing. At the beginning of the 20th century, the early discs played for two minutes, the same as early cylinder records. The 12-inch disc, introduced by Victor in 1903, increased the playing time to three and a half minutes. Because a 10-inch 78 rpm record could hold about three minutes of sound per side and the 10-inch size was the standard size for popular music, almost all popular recordings were limited to around three minutes in length. For example, when King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, including Louis Armstrong on his first recordings, recorded 13 sides at Gennett Records in Richmond, Indiana, in 1923, one side was 2:09 and four sides were 2:52–2:59. In January 1938, Milt Gabler started recording for his new label, Commodore Records, and to allow for longer continuous performances, he recorded some 12-inch records. Eddie Condon explained: "Gabler realized that a jam session needs room for development." The first two 12-inch recordings did not take advantage of the extra length: "Carnegie Drag" was 3:15; "Carnegie Jump", 2:41. But at the second session, on April 30, the two 12-inch recordings were longer: "Embraceable You" was 4:05; "Serenade to a Shylock", 4:32. Another way around the time limitation was to issue a selection on both sides of a single record. Vaudeville stars Gallagher and Shean recorded "Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean", written by Irving and Jack Kaufman, as two sides of a 10-inch 78 in 1922 for Cameo. An obvious workaround for longer recordings was to release a set of records. An early multi-record release was in 1903, when HMV in England made the first complete recording of an opera, Verdi's Ernani, on 40 single-sided discs. In 1940, Commodore released Eddie Condon and his Band's recording of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" in four parts, issued on both sides of two 12-inch 78s. This limitation on the duration of recordings persisted from 1910 until the invention of the LP record, in 1948. In popular music, this time limitation of about 3:30 on a 10-inch 78 rpm record meant that singers usually did not release long pieces on record. One exception is Frank Sinatra's recording of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Soliloquy", from Carousel, made on May 28, 1946. Because it ran 7:57, longer than both sides of a standard 78 rpm 10-inch record, it was released on Columbia's Masterwork label (the classical division) as two sides of a 12-inch record. The same was true of John Raitt's performance of the song on the original cast album of Carousel, which had been issued on a 78-rpm album set by American Decca in 1945. In the 78 era, classical-music and spoken-word items generally were released on the longer 12-inch 78s, about 4–5 minutes per side. For example, on June 10, 1924, four months after the February 12 premier of Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin recorded a drastically shortened version of the seventeen-minute work with Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra. It was released on two sides of Victor 55225 and ran for 8:59. Such 78 rpm records were usually sold separately, in brown paper or cardboard sleeves that were sometimes plain and sometimes printed to show the producer or the retailer's name. Generally the sleeves had a circular cut-out allowing the record label to be seen. Records could be laid on a shelf horizontally or stood upright on an edge, but because of their fragility, many broke in storage. German record company Odeon is often said to have pioneered the album in 1909 when it released the Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky on 4 double-sided discs in a specially designed package. (It is not indicated what size the records are.) However, Deutsche Grammophon had produced an album for its complete recording of the opera Carmen in the previous year. The practice of issuing albums does not seem to have been widely taken up by other record companies for many years; however, HMV provided an album, with a pictorial cover, for the 1917 recording of The Mikado (Gilbert & Sullivan). By about 1910,[note 1] bound collections of empty sleeves with a paperboard or leather cover, similar to a photograph album, were sold as record albums that customers could use to store their records (the term "record album" was printed on some covers). These albums came in both 10-inch and 12-inch sizes. The covers of these bound books were wider and taller than the records inside, allowing the record album to be placed on a shelf upright, like a book, suspending the fragile records above the shelf and protecting them. In the 1930s, record companies began issuing collections of 78 rpm records by one performer or of one type of music in specially assembled albums, typically with artwork on the front cover and liner notes on the back or inside cover. Most albums included three or four records, with two sides each, making six or eight tunes per album. When the 12-inch vinyl LP era began in 1949, the single record often had the same or similar number of tunes as a typical album of 78s, and was still often referred to as an "album". 78 rpm releases in the microgroove era For collectable or nostalgia purposes, or for the benefit of higher-quality audio playback provided by the 78 rpm speed with newer vinyl records and their lightweight stylus pickups, a small number of 78 rpm records have been released since the major labels ceased production. The most notable attempt at this was in 1951, when inventor Ewing Dunbar Nunn founded the label Audiophile Records, which released a series of 78 rpm-mastered albums that were microgroove and pressed on vinyl (as opposed to traditional 78s, with their shellac composition and wider 3-mil sized grooves). This series came in heavy manilla envelopes and began with a jazz album AP-1 and was soon followed by other AP numbers up through about AP-19. Around 1953 the standard LP had proven itself to Nunn and he switched to 33 1⁄3 rpm and began using art slicks on a more standard cardboard sleeve. The Audiophile numbers can be found into the hundreds today but the most collectable ones are the early 78 rpm releases, especially the first, AP-1. The 78 rpm speed was mainly to take advantage of the wider audio frequency response that faster speeds like 78 rpm can provide for vinyl microgroove records, hence the label's name (obviously catering to the audiophiles of the 1950s "hi-fi" era, when stereo gear could provide a much wider range of audio than before). Also in the late 1950s, Bell Records released a few budget-priced 7-inch microgrooved records at 78 rpm. In 1968, Reprise planned to release a series of 78 rpm singles from their artists on their label at the time, called the Reprise Speed Series. Only one disc actually saw release, Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going to Rain Today", a track from his self-titled debut album (with "The Beehive State" on the flipside). Reprise did not proceed further with the series due to a lack of sales for the single, and a lack of general interest in the concept. Guitarist & vocalist Leon Redbone released a promotional 78 rpm record in 1978 featuring two songs ("Alabama Jubilee" and "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone") from his Champagne Charlie album. In 1980 Stiff Records in the United Kingdom issued a 78 by Joe "King" Carrasco containing the songs "Buena" (Spanish for "good," with the alternate spelling "Bueno" on the label) and "Tuff Enuff". Underground comic cartoonist and 78 rpm record collector Robert Crumb released three discs with his Cheap Suit Serenaders in the 1980s. In the 1990s Rhino Records issued a series of boxed sets of 78 rpm reissues of early rock and roll hits, intended for owners of vintage jukeboxes. This was a disaster because Rhino did not warn customers that their records were made of vinyl, and that the vintage 78 rpm jukeboxes were designed with heavy tone arms and steel needles to play the hard shellac records of their time. This failure to warn customers gave the Rhino 78 records a bad reputation, as they were destroyed by old juke boxes and old record players but played very well on newer 78-capable turntables with modern lightweight tone arms and jewel needles. As a special release for Record Store Day 2011, Capitol re-released The Beach Boys single "Good Vibrations" in the form of a 10-inch 78 rpm record (b/w "Heroes and Villains"). More recently, The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band has released their tribute to blues guitarist Charley Patton Peyton on Patton on both 12-inch LP and 10-inch 78 rpm. Both are accompanied with a link to a digital download of the music, acknowledging the probability that purchasers may be unable to play the vinyl recording. New sizes and materials Both the microgroove LP 33 1⁄3 rpm record and the 45 rpm single records are made from vinyl plastic that is flexible and unbreakable in normal use, even when they are sent through the mail with care from one place to another. The vinyl records, however, are easier to scratch or gouge, and much more prone to warping compared to most 78 rpm records, which were made of shellac. In 1931, RCA Victor launched the first commercially available vinyl long-playing record, marketed as program-transcription discs. These revolutionary discs were designed for playback at 33 1⁄3 rpm and pressed on a 30 cm diameter flexible plastic disc, with a duration of about ten minutes playing time per side. RCA Victor's early introduction of a long-play disc was a commercial failure for several reasons including the lack of affordable, reliable consumer playback equipment and consumer wariness during the Great Depression. Because of financial hardships that plagued the recording industry during that period (and RCA's own parched revenues), Victor's long-playing records were discontinued by early 1933. There was also a small batch of longer-playing records issued in the very early 1930s: Columbia introduced 10-inch longer-playing records (18000-D series), as well as a series of double-grooved or longer-playing 10-inch records on their Harmony, Clarion & Velvet Tone "budget" labels. There were also a couple of longer-playing records issued on ARC (for release on their Banner, Perfect, and Oriole labels) and on the Crown label. All of these were phased out in mid-1932. Vinyl's lower surface noise level than shellac was not forgotten, nor was its durability. In the late 1930s, radio commercials and pre-recorded radio programs being sent to disc jockeys started being pressed in vinyl, so they would not break in the mail. In the mid-1940s, special DJ copies of records started being made of vinyl also, for the same reason. These were all 78 rpm. During and after World War II, when shellac supplies were extremely limited, some 78 rpm records were pressed in vinyl instead of shellac, particularly the six-minute 12-inch (30 cm) 78 rpm records produced by V-Disc for distribution to United States troops in World War II. In the 1940s, radio transcriptions, which were usually on 16-inch records, but sometimes 12-inch, were always made of vinyl, but cut at 33 1⁄3 rpm. Shorter transcriptions were often cut at 78 rpm. Beginning in 1939, Dr. Peter Goldmark and his staff at Columbia Records and at CBS Laboratories undertook efforts to address problems of recording and playing back narrow grooves and developing an inexpensive, reliable consumer playback system. It took about eight years of study, except when it was suspended because of World War II. Finally, the 12-inch (30 cm) Long Play (LP) 33 1⁄3 rpm microgroove record album was introduced by the Columbia Record Company at a New York press conference on June 18, 1948. At the same time, Columbia introduced a vinyl 7 inch 33 1⁄3 rpm microgroove single, calling it ZLP, but it was short-lived and is very rare today, because RCA Victor introduced a 45 rpm single a few months later, which became the standard. Unwilling to accept and license Columbia's system, in February 1949 RCA Victor, in cooperation with its parent, the Radio Corporation of America, released the first 45 rpm single, 7 inches in diameter with a large center hole. The 45 rpm player included a changing mechanism that allowed multiple disks to be stacked, much as a conventional changer handled 78s. The short playing time of a single 45 rpm side meant that long works, such as symphonies, had to be released on multiple 45s instead of a single LP, but RCA claimed that the new high-speed changer rendered side breaks so brief as to be inaudible or inconsequential. Early 45 rpm records were made from either vinyl or polystyrene. They had a playing time of eight minutes. Another size and format was that of radio transcription discs beginning in the 1940s. These records were usually vinyl, 33 rpm, and 16 inches in diameter. No home record player could accommodate such large records, and they were used mainly by radio stations. They were on average 15 minutes per side and contained several songs or radio program material. These records became less common when tape recorders began being used for radio transcriptions around 1949. On a few early phonograph systems and radio transcription discs, as well as some entire albums, the direction of the groove is reversed, beginning near the center of the disc and leading to the outside. A small number of records (such as The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief) were manufactured with multiple separate grooves to differentiate the tracks (usually called "NSC-X2"). One early attempt at lengthening the playing time should be mentioned. At least one manufacturer in the early 1920s, World Records, produced records that played at a constant linear velocity, controlled by Noel Pemberton Billing's patented add-on governor device. As these were played from the outside to the inside, the rotational speed of the records increased as reproduction progressed. This action is similar (although in reverse) to that on the modern compact disc and the CLV version of its predecessor, the Philips Laser Disc. In 1925, 78.26 rpm was chosen as the standard because of the introduction of the electrically powered synchronous turntable motor. This motor ran at 3600 rpm, such that a 46:1 gear ratio would produce 78.26 rpm. In parts of the world that used 50 Hz current, the standard was 77.92 rpm (3,000 rpm with a 77:2 ratio), which was also the speed at which a strobe disc with 77 lines would "stand still" in 50 Hz light (92 lines for 60 Hz). After World War II these records were retroactively known as 78s, to distinguish them from other newer disc record formats. Earlier they were just called records, or when there was a need to distinguish them from cylinders, disc records. The older 78 format continued to be mass-produced alongside the newer formats using new materials until about 1960 in the U.S., and in a few countries, such as India (where some Beatles recordings were issued on 78), into the 1960s. For example, Columbia Records' last reissue of Frank Sinatra songs on 78 rpm records was an album called Young at Heart, issued November 1, 1954. As late as the 1970s, some children's records were released at the 78 rpm speed. In the United Kingdom, the 78 rpm single lasted longer than in the United States and the 45 rpm took longer to become popular. The 78 rpm was overtaken in popularity by the 45 rpm in the late 1950s, as teenagers became increasingly affluent. Some of Elvis Presley's early singles on Sun Records might have sold more copies on 78 than on 45. This is because the majority of those sales in 1954–55 were to the "hillbilly" market in the South and Southwestern United States, where replacing the family 78 rpm player with a new 45 rpm player was a luxury few could afford at the time. By the end of 1957, RCA Victor announced that 78s accounted for less than 10% of Presley's singles sales, essentially announcing the death throes of the 78 rpm format. The last Presley single released on 78 in the United States was RCA Victor 20-7410, I Got Stung/One Night (1958), while the last 78 in the UK was RCA 1194, A Mess Of Blues/Girl Of My Best Friend (1960). Microgroove and vinyl era After World War II, two new competing formats came onto the market and gradually replaced the standard "78": the 33 1⁄3 rpm (often just referred to as the 33 rpm), and the 45 rpm (see above). The 33 1⁄3 rpm LP (for "long-play") format was developed by Columbia Records and marketed in June 1948. The first LP release consisted of 85 12 inch classical pieces starting with the Mendelssohn violin concerto, Nathan Milstein violinist, Philharmonic Symphony of New York conducted by Bruno Walter, Columbia ML-4001. Also released in June 1948 were 3 series of 10 inch "LPs" and a 7-inch "ZLP". RCA Victor developed the 45 rpm format and marketed it in March 1949. The 45s released by RCA in March 1949 were in seven different colors of vinyl depending on the type of music recorded, blues, country, popular etc. Columbia and RCA Victor pursued their own r&d in secret. Both types of new disc used narrower grooves, intended to be played with smaller stylus—typically 0.001 inches ("1 mil") (25 µm) wide, compared to 0.003 inches (76 µm) for a 78—so the new records were sometimes called Microgroove. In the mid-1950s all record companies agreed to a common recording standard called RIAA equalization. Prior to the establishment of the standard each company used its own preferred standard, requiring discriminating listeners to use pre-amplifiers with multiple selectable equalization curves. Some recordings, such as books for the blind, were pressed at 16 2⁄3 rpm. Prestige Records released jazz records in this format in the late 1950s; for example, two of their Miles Davis albums were paired together in this format. Peter Goldmark, the man who developed the 33 1⁄3 rpm record, developed the Highway Hi-Fi 16 2⁄3 rpm record to be played in Chrysler automobiles, but poor performance of the system and weak implementation by Chrysler and Columbia led to the demise of the 16 2⁄3 rpm records. Subsequently, the 16 2⁄3 rpm speed was used for narrated publications for the blind and visually impaired, and were never widely commercially available, although it was common to see new turntable models with a 16 rpm speed setting produced as late as the 1970s. Seeburg Corporation introduced the Seeburg Background Music System in 1959, using a 16 2⁄3 rpm 9-inch record with 2-inch center hole. Each record held 40 minutes of music per side, recorded at 420 grooves per inch. The commercial rivalry between RCA Victor and Columbia Records led to RCA Victor's introduction of what it had intended to be a competing vinyl format, the 7-inch (175 mm) 45 rpm disc. For a two-year period from 1948 to 1950, record companies and consumers faced uncertainty over which of these formats would ultimately prevail in what was known as the "War of the Speeds". (See also format war.) In 1949 Capitol and Decca adopted the new LP format and RCA Victor gave in and issued its first LP in January 1950. The 45 rpm size was gaining in popularity, too, and Columbia issued its first 45s in February 1951. By 1954, 200 million 45s had been sold. Eventually the 12-inch (300 mm) 33 1⁄3 rpm LP prevailed as the predominant format for musical albums, and 10-inch LPs were no longer issued. The last Columbia Records reissue of any Frank Sinatra songs on a 10-inch LP record was an album called Hall of Fame, CL 2600, issued on October 26, 1956, containing six songs, one each by Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Johnnie Ray, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, and Frankie Laine. The 10-inch LP however had a longer life in the United Kingdom, where important early British rock and roll albums such as Lonnie Donegan's Lonnie Donegan Showcase and Billy Fury's The Sound of Fury were released in that form. The 7-inch (175 mm) 45 rpm disc or "single" established a significant niche for shorter duration discs, typically containing one item on each side. The 45 rpm discs typically emulated the playing time of the former 78 rpm discs, while the 12-inch LP discs eventually provided up to one half-hour of recorded material per side. The 45 rpm discs also came in a variety known as extended play (EP), which achieved up to 10–15 minutes play at the expense of attenuating (and possibly compressing) the sound to reduce the width required by the groove. EP discs were cheaper to produce, and were used in cases where unit sales were likely to be more limited or to reissue LP albums on the smaller format for those people who had only 45 rpm players. LP albums could be purchased 1 EP at a time, with four items per EP, or in a boxed set with 3 EPs or 12 items. The large center hole on 45s allows for easier handling by jukebox mechanisms. EPs were generally discontinued by the late 1950s in the U.S. as three- and four-speed record players replaced the individual 45 players. One indication of the decline of the 45 rpm EP is that the last Columbia Records reissue of Frank Sinatra songs on 45 rpm EP records, called Frank Sinatra (Columbia B-2641) was issued on December 7, 1959. The EP lasted considerably longer in Europe, and was a popular format during the 1960s for recordings by artists such as Serge Gainsbourg and the Beatles. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, 45 rpm-only players that lacked speakers and plugged into a jack on the back of a radio were widely available. Eventually, they were replaced by the three–speed record player. From the mid-1950s through the 1960s, in the U.S. the common home record player or "stereo" (after the introduction of stereo recording) would typically have had these features: a three- or four-speed player (78, 45, 33 1⁄3, and sometimes 16 2⁄3 rpm); with changer, a tall spindle that would hold several records and automatically drop a new record on top of the previous one when it had finished playing, a combination cartridge with both 78 and microgroove styli and a way to flip between the two; and some kind of adapter for playing the 45s with their larger center hole. The adapter could be a small solid circle that fit onto the bottom of the spindle (meaning only one 45 could be played at a time) or a larger adaptor that fit over the entire spindle, permitting a stack of 45s to be played. RCA Victor 45s were also adapted to the smaller spindle of an LP player with a plastic snap-in insert known as a "spider". These inserts, commissioned by RCA president David Sarnoff and invented by Thomas Hutchison, were prevalent starting in the 1960s, selling in the tens of millions per year during the 45 rpm heyday. In countries outside the U.S., 45s often had the smaller album-sized holes, e.g., Australia and New Zealand, or as in the United Kingdom, especially before the 1970s, the disc had a small hole within a circular central section held only by three or four lands so that it could be easily punched out if desired (typically for use in jukeboxes). During the vinyl era, various developments were made or introduced. Stereo finally lost its previous experimental status, and eventually became standard internationally. Quadraphonic sound effectively had to wait for digital formats before finding a permanent position in the market place. The term "high fidelity" was coined in the 1920s by some manufacturers of radio receivers and phonographs to differentiate their better-sounding products claimed as providing "perfect" sound reproduction. The term began to be used by some audio engineers and consumers through the 1930s and 1940s. After 1949 a variety of improvements in recording and playback technologies, especially stereo recordings, which became widely available in 1958, gave a boost to the "hi-fi" classification of products, leading to sales of individual components for the home such as amplifiers, loudspeakers, phonographs, and tape players. High Fidelity and Audio were two magazines that hi-fi consumers and engineers could read for reviews of playback equipment and recordings. Stereophonic sound recording, which attempts to provide a more natural listening experience by reproducing the spatial locations of sound sources in the horizontal plane, was the natural extension to monophonic recording, and attracted various alternative engineering attempts. The ultimately dominant "45/45" stereophonic record system was invented by Alan Blumlein of EMI in 1931 and patented the same year. EMI cut the first stereo test discs using the system in 1933 (see Bell Labs Stereo Experiments of 1933) although the system was not exploited commercially until much later. In this system, each of two stereo channels is carried independently by a separate groove wall, each wall face moving at 45 degrees to the plane of the record surface (hence the system's name) in correspondence with the signal level of that channel. By convention, the inner wall carries the left-hand channel and the outer wall carries the right-hand channel. While the stylus only moves horizontally when reproducing a monophonic disk recording, on stereo records the stylus moves vertically as well as horizontally. During playback, the movement of a single stylus tracking the groove is sensed independently, e.g., by two coils, each mounted diagonally opposite the relevant groove wall. The combined stylus motion can be represented in terms of the vector sum and difference of the two stereo channels. Vertical stylus motion then carries the L-R difference signal and horizontal stylus motion carries the L+R summed signal, the latter representing the monophonic component of the signal in exactly the same manner as a purely monophonic record. The advantages of the 45/45 system as compared to alternative systems were: - complete compatibility with monophonic playback systems. A monophonic cartridge reproduces the monophonic component of a stereo record instead of only one of its channels. (However, many monophonic styli had such low vertical compliance that they plowed through the vertical modulation, destroying the stereo information. This led to the common recommendation never to use a mono cartridge on a stereo record.) Conversely, a stereo cartridge reproduces the lateral grooves of monophonic recording equally through both channels, rather than one channel; - equally balanced reproduction, because each channel has equal fidelity (not the case, e.g., with a higher-fidelity laterally recorded channel and a lower-fidelity vertically recorded channel); and, - higher fidelity in general, because the "difference" signal is usually of low amplitude and is thus less affected by the greater intrinsic distortion of hill-and-dale recording. In 1957 the first commercial stereo two-channel records were issued first by Audio Fidelity followed by a translucent blue vinyl on Bel Canto Records, the first of which was a multi-colored-vinyl sampler featuring A Stereo Tour of Los Angeles narrated by Jack Wagner on one side, and a collection of tracks from various Bel Canto albums on the back. Following in 1958, more stereo LP releases were offered by Audio Fidelity Records in the US and Pye Records in Britain. However, it was not until the mid-to-late 1960s that the sales of stereophonic LPs overtook those of their monophonic equivalents, and became the dominant record type. The development of quadraphonic records was announced in 1971. These recorded four separate sound signals. This was achieved on the two stereo channels by electronic matrixing, where the additional channels were combined into the main signal. When the records were played, phase-detection circuits in the amplifiers were able to decode the signals into four separate channels. There were two main systems of matrixed quadraphonic records produced, confusingly named SQ (by CBS) and QS (by Sansui). They proved commercially unsuccessful, but were an important precursor to later surround-sound systems, as seen in SACD and home cinema today. A different format, CD-4 (not to be confused with compact disc), by RCA, encoded the front-rear difference information on an ultrasonic carrier, which required a special wideband cartridge to capture it on carefully calibrated pickup arm/turntable combinations. CD-4 was even less successful than the two matrixed formats. (A further problem was that no cutting heads were available that could handle the HF information. That was remedied by cutting at half the speed. Later, the special half-speed cutting heads and equalization techniques were employed to get a wider frequency response in stereo with reduced distortion and greater headroom.) Under the direction of recording engineer C. Robert Fine, Mercury Records initiated a minimalist single microphone monaural recording technique in 1951. The first record, a Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance of Pictures at an Exhibition, conducted by Rafael Kubelik, was described as "being in the living presence of the orchestra" by The New York Times music critic. The series of records was then named Mercury Living Presence. In 1955, Mercury began three-channel stereo recordings, still based on the principle of the single microphone. The center (single) microphone was of paramount importance, with the two side mics adding depth and space. Record masters were cut directly from a three-track to two-track mixdown console, with all editing of the master tapes done on the original three-tracks. In 1961, Mercury enhanced this technique with three-microphone stereo recordings using 35 mm magnetic film instead of half-inch tape for recording. The greater thickness and width of 35 mm magnetic film prevented tape layer print-through and pre-echo and gained extended frequency range and transient response. The Mercury Living Presence recordings were remastered to CD in the 1990s by the original producer, Wilma Cozart Fine, using the same method of 3-to-2 mix directly to the master recorder. Through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, various methods to improve the dynamic range of mass-produced records involved highly advanced disc cutting equipment. These techniques, marketed, to name two, as the CBS DisComputer and Teldec Direct Metal Mastering, were used to reduce inner-groove distortion. RCA Victor introduced another system to reduce dynamic range and achieve a groove with less surface noise under the commercial name of Dynagroove. Two main elements were combined: another disk material with less surface noise in the groove and dynamic compression for masking background noise. Sometimes this was called "diaphragming" the source material and not favoured by some music lovers for its unnatural side effects. Both elements were reflected in the brandname of Dynagroove, described elsewhere in more detail. It also used the earlier advanced method of forward-looking control on groove spacing with respect to volume of sound and position on the disk. Lower recorded volume used closer spacing; higher recorded volume used wider spacing, especially with lower frequencies. Also, the higher track density at lower volumes enabled disk recordings to end farther away from the disk center than usual, helping to reduce endtrack distortion even further. Also in the late 1970s, "direct-to-disc" records were produced, aimed at an audiophile niche market. These completely bypassed the use of magnetic tape in favor of a "purist" transcription directly to the master lacquer disc. Also during this period, half-speed mastered and "original master" records were released, using expensive state-of-the-art technology. A further late 1970s development was the Disco Eye-Cued system used mainly on Motown 12-inch singles released between 1978 and 1980. The introduction, drum-breaks, or choruses of a track were indicated by widely separated grooves, giving a visual cue to DJs mixing the records. The appearance of these records is similar to an LP, but they only contain one track each side. The mid-1970s saw the introduction of dbx-encoded records, again for the audiophile niche market. These were completely incompatible with standard record playback preamplifiers, relying on the dbx compandor encoding/decoding scheme to greatly increase dynamic range (dbx encoded disks were recorded with the dynamic range compressed by a factor of two: quiet sounds were meant to be played back at low gain and loud sounds were meant to be played back at high gain, via automatic gain control in the playback equipment; this reduced the effect of surface noise on quiet passages). A similar and very short-lived scheme involved using the CBS-developed "CX" noise reduction encoding/decoding scheme. ELPJ, a Japanese-based company, sells a laser turntable that uses a laser to read vinyl discs optically, without physical contact. The laser turntable eliminates record wear and the possibility of accidental scratches, which degrade the sound, but its expense limits use primarily to digital archiving of analog records, and the laser does not play back colored vinyl or picture discs. Various other laser-based turntables were tried during the 1990s, but while a laser reads the groove very accurately, since it does not touch the record, the dust that vinyl attracts due to static electric charge is not mechanically pushed out of the groove, worsening sound quality in casual use compared to conventional stylus playback. In some ways similar to the laser turntable is the IRENE scanning machine for disc records, which images with microphotography in two dimensions, invented by a team of physicists at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories. IRENE will retrieve the information from a laterally modulated monaural grooved sound source without touching the medium itself, but cannot read vertically modulated information. This excludes grooved recordings such as cylinders and some radio transcriptions that feature a hill-and-dale format of recording, and stereophonic or quadraphonic grooved recordings, which utilize a combination of the two as well as supersonic encoding for quadraphonic. An offshoot of IRENE, the Confocal Microscope Cylinder Project, can capture a high-resolution 3-D image of the surface, down to 200 µm. In order to convert to a digital sound file, this is then played by a version of the same 'virtual stylus' program developed by the research team in real-time, converted to digital and, if desired, processed through sound-restoration programs. Types of records As recording technology evolved, more specific terms for various types of phonograph records were used in order to describe some aspect of the record: either its correct rotational speed (" 16 2⁄3 rpm" (revolutions per minute), " 33 1⁄3 rpm", "45 rpm", "78 rpm") or the material used (particularly "vinyl" to refer to records made of polyvinyl chloride, or the earlier "shellac records" generally the main ingredient in 78s). Terms such as "long-play" (LP) and "extended-play" (EP) describe multi-track records that play much longer than the single-item-per-side records, which typically do not go much past four minutes per side. An LP can play for up to 30 minutes per side, though most played for about 22 minutes per side, bringing the total playing time of a typical LP recording to about forty-five minutes. Many pre-1952 LPs, however, played for about 15 minutes per side. The 7-inch 45 rpm format normally contains one item per side but a 7-inch EP could achieve recording times of 10 to 15 minutes at the expense of attenuating and compressing the sound to reduce the width required by the groove. EP discs were generally used to make available tracks not on singles including tracks on LPs albums in a smaller, less expensive format for those who had only 45 rpm players. The large center hole on 7-inch 45 rpm records allows for easier handling by jukebox mechanisms. The term "album", originally used to mean a "book" with liner notes, holding several 78 rpm records each in its own "page" or sleeve, no longer has any relation to the physical format: a single LP record, or nowadays more typically a compact disc. The usual diameters of the holes are 0.286 inches (7.26 mm) with larger holes on singles in the USA being 1.5 inches (38.1 mm). Sizes of records in the United States and the UK are generally measured in inches, e.g. 7-inch records, which are generally 45 rpm records. LPs were 10-inch records at first, but soon the 12-inch size became by far the most common. Generally, 78s were 10-inch, but 12-inch and 7-inch and even smaller were made —— the so-called "little wonders". |Diameter||Revolutions per minute||Duration| |12 in (30 cm)||33 1⁄3 rpm||45 min Long Play (LP)| |45 rpm||12-inch single, Maxi Single| |10 in (25 cm)||33 1⁄3 rpm||Long Play (LP)| |78 rpm||3 minutes| |7 in (17.5 cm)||45 rpm||Single| |45 rpm||Single with Extended Play (EP)| - Before the mid-1950s the 33 1⁄3 rpm LP was most commonly found in a 10-inch (25 cm) format. The 10-inch format disappeared from United States stores around 1957, but remained common in some markets until the mid-1960s. The 10-inch vinyl format was resurrected in the 1970s for marketing some popular recordings as collectible, and these are occasionally seen today. - The first disk recordings were invented by Emile Berliner and were pressed as 7 inch approx. 78 rpm recordings between 1887 and 1899. They are rarely found today. - Columbia pressed many 7 inch 33 1⁄3 rpm vinyl singles in 1949 but were dropped in early 1950 due to the popularity of the RCA 45. Less common formats In March 1949, as RCA released the 45, Columbia released several hundred 7 inch 33 1⁄3 rpm small spindle hole singles. This format was soon dropped as it became clear that the RCA 45 was the single of choice and the Columbia 12 inch LP would be the "album" of choice. The first release of the 45 came in seven colors: black 47-xxxx popular series, yellow 47-xxxx juvenile series, green (teal) 48-xxxx country series, deep red 49-xxxx classical series, bright red (cerise) 50-xxxx blues/spiritual series, light blue 51-xxxx international series, dark blue 52-xxxx light classics. All colors were soon dropped in favor of black because of production problems. However, yellow and deep red were continued until about 1952. The first 45 rpm record created for sale was "PeeWee the Piccolo" RCA 47-0147 pressed in yellow translucent vinyl at the Sherman Avenue plant, Indianapolis on December 7, 1948, by R. O. Price, plant manager. The normal commercial disc is engraved with two sound-bearing concentric spiral grooves, one on each side, running from the outside edge towards the center. The last part of the spiral meets an earlier part to form a circle. The sound is encoded by fine variations in the edges of the groove that cause a stylus (needle) placed in it to vibrate at acoustic frequencies when the disc is rotated at the correct speed. Generally, the outer and inner parts of the groove bear no intended sound (an exception is Split Enz's Mental Notes). Increasingly from the early 20th century, and almost exclusively since the 1920s, both sides of the record have been used to carry the grooves. Occasional records have been issued since then with a recording on only one side. In the 1980s Columbia records briefly issued a series of less expensive one-sided 45 rpm singles. The majority of non-78 rpm records are pressed on black vinyl. The coloring material used to blacken the transparent PVC plastic mix is carbon black, which increases the strength of the disc and makes it opaque. Polystyrene is often used for 7-inch records. Some records are pressed on colored vinyl or with paper pictures embedded in them ("picture discs"). Certain 45 rpm RCA or RCA Victor Red Seal records used red translucent vinyl for extra "Red Seal" effect. During the 1980s there was a trend for releasing singles on colored vinyl—sometimes with large inserts that could be used as posters. This trend has been revived recently with 7-inch singles. Since its inception in 1948, vinyl record standards for the United States follow the guidelines of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The inch dimensions are nominal, not precise diameters. The actual dimension of a 12-inch record is 302 mm (11.89 in), for a 10-inch it is 250 mm (9.84 in), and for a 7-inch it is 175 mm (6.89 in). Records made in other countries are standardized by different organizations, but are very similar in size. The record diameters are typically nominally 300 mm, 250 mm and 175 mm. There is an area about 3 mm (0.12 in) wide at the outer edge of the disk, called the lead-in or run-in, where the groove is widely spaced and silent. The stylus is lowered onto the lead-in, without damaging the recorded section of the groove. Between tracks on the recorded section of an LP record there is usually a short gap of around 1 mm (0.04 in) where the groove is widely spaced. This space is clearly visible, making it easy to find a particular track. Towards the center, at the end of the groove, there is another wide-pitched section known as the lead-out. At the very end of this section the groove joins itself to form a complete circle, called the lock groove; when the stylus reaches this point, it circles repeatedly until lifted from the record. On some recordings (for example Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles, Super Trouper by ABBA and Atom Heart Mother by Pink Floyd), the sound continues on the lock groove, which gives a strange repeating effect. Automatic turntables rely on the position or angular velocity of the arm, as it reaches the wider spacing in the groove, to trigger a mechanism that lifts the arm off the record. Precisely because of this mechanism, most automatic turntables are incapable of playing any audio in the lock groove, since they will lift the arm before it reaches that groove. The catalog number and stamper ID is written or stamped in the space between the groove in the lead-out on the master disc, resulting in visible recessed writing on the final version of a record. Sometimes the cutting engineer might add handwritten comments or their signature, if they are particularly pleased with the quality of the cut. These are generally referred to as "run-out etchings". When auto-changing turntables were commonplace, records were typically pressed with a raised (or ridged) outer edge and a raised label area, allowing records to be stacked onto each other without the delicate grooves coming into contact, reducing the risk of damage. Auto-changers included a mechanism to support a stack of several records above the turntable itself, dropping them one at a time onto the active turntable to be played in order. Many longer sound recordings, such as complete operas, were interleaved across several 10-inch or 12-inch discs for use with auto-changing mechanisms, so that the first disk of a three-disk recording would carry sides 1 and 6 of the program, while the second disk would carry sides 2 and 5, and the third, sides 3 and 4, allowing sides 1, 2, and 3 to be played automatically; then the whole stack reversed to play sides 4, 5, and 6. The sound quality and durability of vinyl records is highly dependent on the quality of the vinyl. During the early 1970s, as a cost-cutting move, much of the industry began reducing the thickness and quality of vinyl used in mass-market manufacturing. The technique was marketed by RCA Victor as the Dynaflex (125 g) process, but was considered inferior by most record collectors. Most vinyl records are pressed from a mix of 70% virgin and 30% recycled vinyl. New or "virgin" heavy/heavyweight (180–220 g) vinyl is commonly used for modern audiophile vinyl releases in all genres. Many collectors prefer to have heavyweight vinyl albums, which have been reported to have better sound than normal vinyl because of their higher tolerance against deformation caused by normal play. 180 g vinyl is more expensive to produce only because it uses more vinyl. Manufacturing processes are identical regardless of weight. In fact, pressing lightweight records requires more care. An exception is the propensity of 200 g pressings to be slightly more prone to non-fill, when the vinyl biscuit does not sufficiently fill a deep groove during pressing (percussion or vocal amplitude changes are the usual locations of these artifacts). This flaw causes a grinding or scratching sound at the non-fill point. Since most vinyl records contain up to 30% recycled vinyl, impurities can accumulate in the record and cause even a brand-new record to have audio artifacts such as clicks and pops. Virgin vinyl means that the album is not from recycled plastic, and will theoretically be devoid of these impurities. In practice, this depends on the manufacturer's quality control. The "orange peel" effect on vinyl records is caused by worn molds. Rather than having the proper mirror-like finish, the surface of the record will have a texture that looks like orange peel. This introduces noise into the record, particularly in the lower frequency range. With direct metal mastering (DMM), the master disc is cut on a copper-coated disc, which can also have a minor "orange peel" effect on the disc itself. As this "orange peel" originates in the master rather than being introduced in the pressing stage, there is no ill effect as there is no physical distortion of the groove. Original master discs are created by lathe-cutting: a lathe is used to cut a modulated groove into a blank record. The blank records for cutting used to be cooked up, as needed, by the cutting engineer, using what Robert K. Morrison describes as a "metallic soap", containing lead litharge, ozokerite, barium sulfate, montan wax, stearin and paraffin, among other ingredients. Cut "wax" sound discs would be placed in a vacuum chamber and gold-sputtered to make them electrically conductive for use as mandrels in an electroforming bath, where pressing stamper parts were made. Later, the French company Pyral invented a ready-made blank disc having a thin nitro-cellulose lacquer coating (approximately 7 mils thickness on both sides) that was applied to an aluminum substrate. Lacquer cuts result in an immediately playable, or processable, master record. If vinyl pressings are wanted, the still-unplayed sound disc is used as a mandrel for electroforming nickel records that are used for manufacturing pressing stampers. The electroformed nickel records are mechanically separated from their respective mandrels. This is done with relative ease because no actual "plating" of the mandrel occurs in the type of electrodeposition known as electroforming, unlike with electroplating, in which the adhesion of the new phase of metal is chemical and relatively permanent. The one-molecule-thick coating of silver (that was sprayed onto the processed lacquer sound disc in order to make its surface electrically conductive) reverse-plates onto the nickel record's face. This negative impression disc (having ridges in place of grooves) is known as a nickel master, "matrix" or "father". The "father" is then used as a mandrel to electroform a positive disc known as a "mother". Many mothers can be grown on a single "father" before ridges deteriorate beyond effective use. The "mothers" are then used as mandrels for electroforming more negative discs known as "sons". Each "mother" can be used to make many "sons" before deteriorating. The "sons" are then converted into "stampers" by center-punching a spindle hole (which was lost from the lacquer sound disc during initial electroforming of the "father"), and by custom-forming the target pressing profile. This allows them to be placed in the dies of the target (make and model) record press and, by center-roughing, to facilitate the adhesion of the label, which gets stuck onto the vinyl pressing without any glue. In this way, several million vinyl discs can be produced from a single lacquer sound disc. When only a few hundred discs are required, instead of electroforming a "son" (for each side), the "father" is removed of its silver and converted into a stamper. Production by this latter method, known as the "two-step-process" (as it does not entail creation of "sons" but does involve creation of "mothers", which are used for test playing and kept as "safeties" for electroforming future "sons") is limited to a few hundred vinyl pressings. The pressing count can increase if the stamper holds out and the quality of the vinyl is high. The "sons" made during a "three-step" electroforming make better stampers since they don't require silver removal (which reduces some high fidelity because of etching erasing part of the smallest groove modulations) and also because they have a stronger metal structure than "fathers". Shellac 78s are brittle, and must be handled carefully. In the event of a 78 breaking, the pieces might remain loosely connected by the label and still be playable if the label holds them together, although there is a loud "pop" with each pass over the crack, and breaking of the stylus is likely. Breakage was very common in the shellac era. In the 1934 John O'Hara novel, Appointment in Samarra, the protagonist "broke one of his most favorites, Whiteman's Lady of the Evening ... He wanted to cry but could not." A poignant moment in J. D. Salinger's 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye occurs after the adolescent protagonist buys a record for his younger sister but drops it and "it broke into pieces ... I damn-near cried, it made me feel so terrible." A sequence where a school teacher's collection of 78 rpm jazz records is smashed by a group of rebellious students is a key moment in the film Blackboard Jungle. Another problem with shellac was that the size of the disks tended to be larger because it was limited to 80–100 groove walls per inch before the risk of groove collapse became too high, whereas vinyl could have up to 260 groove walls per inch. By the time World War II began, major labels were experimenting with laminated records. As stated above, and in several record advertisements of the period, the materials that make for a quiet surface (shellacque) are notoriously weak and brittle. Conversely the materials that make for a strong disc (cardboard and other fiber products) are not those known for allowing a quiet noise-free surface. Vinyl records do not break easily, but the soft material is easily scratched. Vinyl readily acquires a static charge, attracting dust that is difficult to remove completely. Dust and scratches cause audio clicks and pops. In extreme cases, they can cause the needle to skip over a series of grooves, or worse yet, cause the needle to skip backwards, creating a "locked groove" that repeats over and over. This is the origin of the phrase "like a broken record" or "like a scratched record", which is often used to describe a person or thing that continually repeats itself. Locked grooves are not uncommon and were even heard occasionally in radio broadcasts. Vinyl records can be warped by heat, improper storage, exposure to sunlight, or manufacturing defects such as excessively tight plastic shrinkwrap on the album cover. A small degree of warp was common, and allowing for it was part of the art of turntable and tonearm design. "wow" (once-per-revolution pitch variation) could result from warp, or from a spindle hole that was not precisely centered. Standard practice for LPs was to place the LP in a paper or plastic inner cover. This, if placed within the outer cardboard cover so that the opening was entirely within the outer cover, was said to reduce ingress of dust onto the record surface. Singles, with rare exceptions, had simple paper covers with no inner cover. A further limitation of the gramophone record is that fidelity steadily declines as playback progresses; there is more vinyl per second available for fine reproduction of high frequencies at the large-diameter beginning of the groove than exist at the smaller-diameters close to the end of the side. At the start of a groove on an LP there are 510 mm of vinyl per second traveling past the stylus while the ending of the groove gives 200–210 mm of vinyl per second — less than half the linear resolution. Distortion towards the end of the side is likely to become more apparent as record wear increases. Another problem arises because of the geometry of the tonearm. Master recordings are cut on a recording lathe where a sapphire stylus moves radially across the blank, suspended on a straight track and driven by a lead screw. Most turntables use a pivoting tonearm, introducing side forces and pitch and azimuth errors, and thus distortion in the playback signal. Various mechanisms were devised in attempts to compensate, with varying degrees of success. See more at phonograph. There is controversy about the relative quality of CD sound and LP sound when the latter is heard under the very best conditions (see Analog vs. Digital sound argument). It is notable, however, that one technical advantage with vinyl compared to the optical CD is that if correctly handled and stored, the vinyl record will be playable for centuries, which is somewhat longer than the optical CD. Frequency response and noise In 1925, electric recording extended the recorded frequency range from acoustic recording (168–2,000 Hz) by 2.5 octaves to 100–5,000 Hz. Even so, these early electronically recorded records used the exponential-horn phonograph (see Orthophonic Victrola) for reproduction. CD-4 LPs contain two sub-carriers, one in the left groove wall and one in the right groove wall. These sub-carriers use special FM-PM-SSBFM (Frequency Modulation-Phase Modulation-Single Sideband Frequency Modulation) and have signal frequencies that extend to 45 kHz. CD-4 sub-carriers could be played with any type stylus as long as the pickup cartridge had CD-4 frequency response. The recommended stylus for CD-4 as well as regular stereo records was a line contact or Shibata type. Gramophone sound includes rumble, which is low-frequency (below about 30 Hz) mechanical noise generated by the motor bearings and picked up by the stylus. Equipment of modest quality is relatively unaffected by these issues, as the amplifier and speaker will not reproduce such low frequencies, but high-fidelity turntable assemblies need careful design to minimize audible rumble. Room vibrations will also be picked up if the connections from pedestal to turntable and from turntable to pickup arm are not well isolated. Tonearm skating forces and other perturbations are also picked up by the stylus. This is a form of frequency multiplexing as the control signal (restoring force) used to keep the stylus in the groove is carried by the same mechanism as the sound itself. Subsonic frequencies below about 20 Hz in the audio signal are dominated by tracking effects, which is one form of unwanted rumble ("tracking noise") and merges with audible frequencies in the deep bass range up to about 100 Hz. High fidelity sound equipment can reproduce tracking noise and rumble. During a quiet passage, woofer speaker cones can sometimes be seen to vibrate with the subsonic tracking of the stylus, at frequencies as low as just above 0.5 Hz (the frequency at which a 33 1⁄3 rpm record turns on the turntable; 5⁄9 Hz exactly on an ideal turntable). Another reason for very low frequency material can be a warped disk: its undulations produce frequencies of only a few hertz and present day amplifiers have large power bandwidths. For this reason, many stereo receivers contained a switchable subsonic filter. Some subsonic content is directly out of phase in each channel. If played back on a mono subwoofer system, the noise will cancel, significantly reducing the amount of rumble that is reproduced. High frequency hiss is generated as the stylus rubs against the vinyl, and dirt and dust on the vinyl produces popping and ticking sounds. The latter can be reduced somewhat by cleaning the record prior to playback. Due to recording mastering and manufacturing limitations, both high and low frequencies were removed from the first recorded signals by various formulae. With low frequencies, the stylus must swing a long way from side to side, requiring the groove to be wide, taking up more space and limiting the playing time of the record. At high frequencies, hiss, pops, and ticks are significant. These problems can be reduced by using equalization to an agreed standard. During recording the amplitude of low frequencies is reduced, thus reducing the groove width required, and the amplitude at high frequencies is increased. The playback equipment boosts bass and cuts treble so as to restore the tonal balance in the original signal; this also reduces the high frequency noise. Thus more music will fit on the record, and noise is reduced. The current standard is called RIAA equalization. It was agreed upon in 1952 and implemented in the United States in 1955; it was not widely used in other countries until the 1970s. Prior to that, especially from 1940, some 100 different formulae were used by the record manufacturers. History of equalization In 1926 Joseph P. Maxwell and Henry C. Harrison from Bell Telephone Laboratories disclosed that the recording pattern of the Western Electric "rubber line" magnetic disc cutter had a constant velocity characteristic. This meant that as frequency increased in the treble, recording amplitude decreased. Conversely, in the bass as frequency decreased, recording amplitude increased. Therefore, it was necessary to attenuate the bass frequencies below about 250 Hz, the bass turnover point, in the amplified microphone signal fed to the recording head. Otherwise, bass modulation became excessive and overcutting took place into the next record groove. When played back electrically with a magnetic pickup having a smooth response in the bass region, a complementary boost in amplitude at the bass turnover point was necessary. G. H. Miller in 1934 reported that when complementary boost at the turnover point was used in radio broadcasts of records, the reproduction was more realistic and many of the musical instruments stood out in their true form. West in 1930 and later P. G. A. H. Voigt (1940) showed that the early Wente-style condenser microphones contributed to a 4 to 6 dB midrange brilliance or pre-emphasis in the recording chain. This meant that the electrical recording characteristics of Western Electric licensees such as Columbia Records and Victor Talking Machine Company in the 1925 era had a higher amplitude in the midrange region. Brilliance such as this compensated for dullness in many early magnetic pickups having drooping midrange and treble response. As a result, this practice was the empirical beginning of using pre-emphasis above 1,000 Hz in 78 rpm and 33 1⁄3 rpm records. Over the years a variety of record equalization practices emerged and there was no industry standard. For example, in Europe recordings for years required playback with a bass turnover setting of 250–300 Hz and a treble roll-off at 10,000 Hz ranging from 0 to −5 dB or more. In the US there were more varied practices and a tendency to use higher bass turnover frequencies such as 500 Hz as well as a greater treble rolloff like −8.5 dB and even more to record generally higher modulation levels on the record. Evidence from the early technical literature concerning electrical recording suggests that it wasn't until the 1942–1949 period that there were serious efforts to standardize recording characteristics within an industry. Heretofore, electrical recording technology from company to company was considered a proprietary art all the way back to the 1925 Western Electric licensed method used by Columbia and Victor. For example, what Brunswick-Balke-Collender (Brunswick Corporation) did was different from the practices of Victor. Broadcasters were faced with having to adapt daily to the varied recording characteristics of many sources: various makers of "home recordings" readily available to the public, European recordings, lateral-cut transcriptions, and vertical-cut transcriptions. Efforts were started in 1942 to standardize within the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), later known as the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (NARTB). The NAB, among other items, issued recording standards in 1949 for laterally and vertically cut records, principally transcriptions. A number of 78 rpm record producers as well as early LP makers also cut their records to the NAB/NARTB lateral standard. The lateral cut NAB curve was remarkably similar to the NBC Orthacoustic curve that evolved from practices within the National Broadcasting Company since the mid-1930s. Empirically, and not by any formula, it was learned that the bass end of the audio spectrum below 100 Hz could be boosted somewhat to override system hum and turntable rumble noises. Likewise at the treble end beginning at 1,000 Hz, if audio frequencies were boosted by 16 dB at 10,000 Hz the delicate sibilant sounds of speech and high overtones of musical instruments could survive the noise level of cellulose acetate, lacquer/aluminum, and vinyl disc media. When the record was played back using a complementary inverse curve, signal-to-noise ratio was improved and the programming sounded more lifelike. When the Columbia LP was released in June 1948, the developers subsequently published technical information about the 33 1⁄3 rpm microgroove long playing record. Columbia disclosed a recording characteristic showing that it was like the NAB curve in the treble, but had more bass boost or pre-emphasis below 200 Hz. The authors disclosed electrical network characteristics for the Columbia LP curve. This was the first such curve based on formulae. In 1951, at the beginning of the post-World War II high fidelity (hi-fi) popularity, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) developed a standard playback curve. This was intended for use by hi-fi amplifier manufacturers. If records were engineered to sound good on hi-fi amplifiers using the AES curve, this would be a worthy goal towards standardization. This curve was defined by the time constants of audio filters and had a bass turnover of 400 Hz and a 10,000 Hz rolloff of −12 dB. RCA Victor and Columbia were in a market war concerning which recorded format was going to win: the Columbia LP versus the RCA Victor 45 rpm disc (released in February 1949). Besides also being a battle of disc size and record speed, there was a technical difference in the recording characteristics. RCA Victor was using "new orthophonic," whereas Columbia was using the LP curve. Ultimately, the New Orthophonic curve was disclosed in a publication by R.C. Moyer of RCA Victor in 1953. He traced RCA Victor characteristics back to the Western Electric "rubber line" recorder in 1925 up to the early 1950s laying claim to long-held recording practices and reasons for major changes in the intervening years. The RCA Victor New Orthophonic curve was within the tolerances for the NAB/NARTB, Columbia LP, and AES curves. It eventually became the technical predecessor to the RIAA curve. As the RIAA curve was essentially an American standard, it had little impact outside the USA until the late 1970s when European recording labels began to adopt the RIAA equalization. It was even later when some Asian recording labels adopted the RIAA standard. In 1989, many Eastern European recording labels and Russian recording labels such as Melodiya were still using their own CCIR equalization. Hence the RIAA curve did not truly become a global standard until the late 1980s. Further, even after officially agreeing to implement the RIAA equalization curve, many recording labels continued to use their own proprietary equalization even well into the 1970s. Columbia is one such prominent example in the USA, as are Decca, Teldec and Deutsche Grammophon in Europe. Overall sound fidelity of records produced acoustically using horns instead of microphones had a distant, hollow tone quality. Some voices and instruments recorded better than others; Enrico Caruso, a famous tenor, was one popular recording artist of the acoustic era whose voice was well matched to the recording horn. It has been asked, "Did Caruso make the phonograph, or did the phonograph make Caruso?" Delicate sounds and fine overtones were mostly lost, because it took a lot of sound energy to vibrate the recording horn diaphragm and cutting mechanism. There were acoustic limitations due to mechanical resonances in both the recording and playback system. Some pictures of acoustic recording sessions show horns wrapped with tape to help mute these resonances. Even an acoustic recording played back electrically on modern equipment sounds like it was recorded through a horn, notwithstanding a reduction in distortion because of the modern playback. Toward the end of the acoustic era, there were many fine examples of recordings made with horns. Electric recording which developed during the time that early radio was becoming popular (1925) benefited from the microphones and amplifiers used in radio studios. The early electric recordings were reminiscent tonally of acoustic recordings, except there was more recorded bass and treble as well as delicate sounds and overtones cut on the records. This was in spite of some carbon microphones used, which had resonances that colored the recorded tone. The double button carbon microphone with stretched diaphragm was a marked improvement. Alternatively, the Wente style condenser microphone used with the Western Electric licensed recording method had a brilliant midrange and was prone to overloading from sibilants in speech, but generally it gave more accurate reproduction than carbon microphones. It was not unusual for electric recordings to be played back on acoustic phonographs. The Victor Orthophonic phonograph was a prime example where such playback was expected. In the Orthophonic, which benefited from telephone research, the mechanical pickup head was redesigned with lower resonance than the traditional mica type. Also, a folded horn with an exponential taper was constructed inside the cabinet to provide better impedance matching to the air. As a result, playback of an Orthophonic record sounded like it was coming from a radio. Eventually, when it was more common for electric recordings to be played back electrically in the 1930s and 1940s, the overall tone was much like listening to a radio of the era. Magnetic pickups became more common and were better designed as time went on, making it possible to improve the damping of spurious resonances. Crystal pickups were also introduced as lower cost alternatives. The dynamic or moving coil microphone was introduced around 1930 and the velocity or ribbon microphone in 1932. Both of these high quality microphones became widespread in motion picture, radio, recording, and public address applications. Over time, fidelity, dynamic and noise levels improved to the point that it was harder to tell the difference between a live performance in the studio and the recorded version. This was especially true after the invention of the variable reluctance magnetic pickup cartridge by General Electric in the 1940s when high quality cuts were played on well-designed audio systems. The Capehart radio/phonographs of the era with large diameter electrodynamic loudspeakers, though not ideal, demonstrated this quite well with "home recordings" readily available in the music stores for the public to buy. There were important quality advances in recordings specifically made for radio broadcast. In the early 1930s Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric announced the total reinvention of disc recording: the Western Electric Wide Range System, "The New Voice of Action". The intent of the new Western Electric system was to improve the overall quality of disc recording and playback. The recording speed was 33 1⁄3 rpm, originally used in the Western Electric/ERPI movie audio disc system implemented in the early Warner Brothers' Vitaphone "talkies" of 1927. The newly invented Western Electric moving coil or dynamic microphone was part of the Wide Range System. It had a flatter audio response than the old style Wente condenser type and didn't require electronics installed in the microphone housing. Signals fed to the cutting head were pre-emphasized in the treble region to help override noise in playback. Groove cuts in the vertical plane were employed rather than the usual lateral cuts. The chief advantage claimed was more grooves per inch that could be crowded together, resulting in longer playback time. Additionally, the problem of inner groove distortion, which plagued lateral cuts, could be avoided with the vertical cut system. Wax masters were made by flowing heated wax over a hot metal disc thus avoiding the microscopic irregularities of cast blocks of wax and the necessity of planing and polishing. Vinyl pressings were made with stampers from master cuts that were electroplated in vacuo by means of gold sputtering. Audio response was claimed out to 8,000 Hz, later 13,000 Hz, using light weight pickups employing jeweled styli. Amplifiers and cutters both using negative feedback were employed thereby improving the range of frequencies cut and lowering distortion levels. Radio transcription producers such as World Broadcasting System and Associated Music Publishers (AMP) were the dominant licensees of the Western Electric wide range system and towards the end of the 1930s were responsible for two-thirds of the total radio transcription business. These recordings use a bass turnover of 300 Hz and a 10,000 Hz rolloff of −8.5 dB. Developmentally, much of the technology of the long playing record, successfully released by Columbia in 1948, came from wide range radio transcription practices. The use of vinyl pressings, increased length of programming, and general improvement in audio quality over 78 rpm records were the major selling points. The complete technical disclosure of the Columbia LP by Peter C. Goldmark, Rene' Snepvangers and William S. Bachman in 1949 made it possible for a great variety of record companies to get into the business of making long playing records. The business grew quickly and interest spread in high fidelity sound and the do-it-yourself market for pickups, turntables, amplifier kits, loudspeaker enclosure plans, and AM/FM radio tuners. The LP record for longer works, 45 rpm for pop music, and FM radio became high fidelity program sources in demand. Radio listeners heard recordings broadcast and this in turn generated more record sales. The industry flourished. Technology used in making recordings also developed and prospered. There were ten major evolutionary steps that improved LP production and quality during a period of approximately forty years. - Electrical transcriptions and 78s were first used as sources to master LP lacquer/aluminium cuts in 1948. This was before magnetic tape was commonly employed for mastering. Variable pitch groove spacing helped enable greater recorded dynamic levels. The heated stylus improved the cutting of high frequencies. Gold sputtering in vacuo became increasingly used to make high quality matrices from the cuts to stamp vinyl records. - Decca in Britain utilised high-quality wide range condenser microphones for the Full Frequency Range Recording (FFRR) system c. 1949. Wax mastering was employed to produce Decca/London LPs. This created considerable interest in the United States, and served to raise the customer's overall expectations of quality in microgroove records. - Tape recording with condenser microphones became a long used standard operating procedure in mastering lacquer/aluminium cuts. This improved the overall pickup of high quality sound and enabled tape editing. Over the years there were variations in the kinds of tape recorders used, such as the width and number of tracks employed, including 35 mm magnetic film technology. - Production of stereo tape masters and the stereo LP in 1958 brought significant improvements in recording technology. - Limitations in the disc cutting part of the process later generated the idea that half-speed mastering would improve quality (in which the source tape is played at half-speed and the lacquer/aluminium disc cut at 16 2⁄3 rpm rather than 33 1⁄3 rpm). - Some 12 inch LPs were cut at 45 rpm claiming better quality sound, but this practice was short-lived. - Efforts were made in the 1970s to record as many as four audio channels on an LP (quadraphonic) by means of matrix and modulated carrier methods. This development was neither a widespread success nor long lasting. - Efforts were also made to simplify the chain of equipment in the recording process and return to live recording directly to the disc master. - Noise reduction systems were also used in tape mastering of some LPs, as well as in the LP itself. - As video recorder technology improved it became possible to modify them and use analogue to digital converters (codecs) for digital sound recording. This brought greater dynamic range to tape mastering, combined with low noise and distortion, and freedom from drop outs as well as pre- and post-echo. The digital recording was played back providing a high quality analogue signal to master the lacquer/aluminium cut. At the time of the introduction of the compact disc (CD) in 1982, the stereo LP pressed in vinyl was at the high point of its development. Still, it continued to suffer from a variety of limitations: - The stereo image was not made up of fully discrete Left and Right channels; each channel's signal coming out of the cartridge contained a small amount of the signal from the other channel, with more crosstalk at higher frequencies. High-quality disc cutting equipment was capable of making a master disc with 30–40 dB of stereo separation at 1000 Hz, but the playback cartridges had lesser performance of about 20 to 30 dB of separation at 1000 Hz, with separation decreasing as frequency increased, such that at 12 kHz the separation was about 10–15 dB. A common modern view is that stereo isolation must be higher than this to achieve a proper stereo soundstage. However, in the 1950s the BBC determined in a series of tests that only 20–25 dB is required for the impression of full stereo separation. The empty space before the start of the music has been amplified +15dB to reveal the pre-echo. |Problems playing this file? See media help.| - Thin, closely spaced spiral grooves that allow for increased playing time on a 33 1⁄3 rpm microgroove LP lead to a tinny pre-echo warning of upcoming loud sounds. The cutting stylus unavoidably transfers some of the subsequent groove wall's impulse signal into the previous groove wall. It is discernible by some listeners throughout certain recordings, but a quiet passage followed by a loud sound will allow anyone to hear a faint pre-echo of the loud sound occurring 1.8 seconds ahead of time. This problem can also appear as "post"-echo, with a tinny ghost of the sound arriving 1.8 seconds after its main impulse. - Factory problems involving incomplete flow of hot vinyl within the stamper can fail to accurately recreate a small section of one side of the groove, a problem called non-fill. It usually appears on the first item on a side if present at all. Non-fill makes itself known as a tearing, grating or ripping sound. - A static electric charge can build up on the surface of the spinning record and discharge into the stylus, making a loud "pop". In very dry climates, this can happen several times per minute. Subsequent plays of the same record do not have pops in the same places in the music as the static buildup isn't tied to variations in the groove. - An off-center stamping will apply a slow 0.56 Hz modulation to the playback, affecting pitch due to the modulating speed that the groove runs under the stylus. The effect becomes gradually more acute during playback as the stylus moves closer to the center of the record. It also affects tonality because the stylus is pressed alternately against one groove wall and then the other, making the frequency response change in each channel. This problem is often called "wow", though turntable and motor problems can also cause pitch-only "wow". - Tracking force of the stylus is not always the same from beginning to end of the groove. Stereo balance can shift as the recording progresses. - Outside electrical interference may be amplified by the magnetic cartridge. Common household wallplate SCR dimmers sharing AC lines may put noise into the playback, as can poorly shielded electronics and strong radio transmitters. - Loud sounds in the environment may be transmitted mechanically from the turntable's sympathetic vibration into the stylus. Heavy footfalls can bounce the needle out of the groove. - Because of a slight slope in the lead-in groove, it is possible for the stylus to skip ahead several grooves when settling into position at the start of the recording. - The LP is delicate. Any accidental fumbling with the stylus or dropping of the record onto a sharp corner can scratch the record permanently, creating a series of "ticks" and "pops" heard at each subsequent playback. Heavier accidents can cause the stylus to break through the groove wall as it plays, creating a permanent skip that will cause the stylus to either skip ahead to the next groove or skip back to the previous groove. A skip going to the previous groove is called a broken record; the same section of 1.8 seconds of LP (1.3 if 45 rpm) music will repeat over and over until the stylus is lifted off the record. It is also possible to put a slight pressure on the headshell causing the stylus to stay in the desired groove, without having a playback break. This requires some skill, but is of great use when, for instance, digitizing a recording, as no information is skipped. LP versus CD Audiophiles have differed over the relative merits of the LP versus the CD since the digital disc was introduced. Vinyl records are still prized for their reproduction of analog recordings. The LP's drawbacks, however, include surface noise, tracking error, pitch variations and greater sensitivity to handling. Modern anti-aliasing filters and oversampling systems used in digital recordings have reduced problems observed with early CD players. There is a theory that vinyl records can audibly represent higher frequencies than compact discs. According to Red Book specifications, the compact disc has a frequency response of 20 Hz up to 22,050 Hz, and most CD players measure flat within a fraction of a decibel from at least 20 Hz to 20 kHz at full output. Turntable rumble obscures the low-end limit of vinyl but the upper end can be, with some cartridges, reasonably flat within a few decibels to 30 kHz, with gentle roll-off. Carrier signals of Quad LPs popular in the 1970s were at 30 kHz to be out of the range of human hearing. The average human auditory system is sensitive to frequencies from 20 Hz to a maximum of around 20,000 Hz. The upper and lower frequency limits of human hearing vary per person. For the first several decades of disc record manufacturing, sound was recorded directly on to the "master disc" at the recording studio. From about 1950 on (earlier for some large record companies, later for some small ones) it became usual to have the performance first recorded on audio tape, which could then be processed and/or edited, and then dubbed on to the master disc. A record cutter would engrave the grooves into the master disc. Early versions of these master discs were soft wax, and later a harder lacquer was used. The mastering process was originally something of an art as the operator had to manually allow for the changes in sound which affected how wide the space for the groove needed to be on each rotation. As the playing of gramophone records causes gradual degradation of the recording, they are best preserved by transferring them onto other media and playing the records as rarely as possible. They need to be stored on edge, and do best under environmental conditions that most humans would find comfortable. The medium needs to be kept clean, but alcohol should only be used on PVC or optical media, not on 78s. The equipment for playback of certain formats (e.g., 16 and 78 rpm) is manufactured only in small quantities, leading to increased difficulty in finding equipment to play the recordings. Where old disc recordings are considered to be of artistic or historic interest, from before the era of tape or where no tape master exists, archivists play back the disc on suitable equipment and record the result, typically onto a digital format, which can be copied and manipulated to remove analog flaws without any further damage to the source recording. For example, Nimbus Records uses a specially built horn record player to transfer 78s. Anyone can do this using a standard record player with a suitable pickup, a phono-preamp (pre-amplifier) and a typical personal computer. However, for accurate transfer, professional archivists carefully choose the correct stylus shape and diameter, tracking weight, equalisation curve and other playback parameters and use high-quality analogue-to-digital converters. As an alternative to playback with a stylus, a recording can be read optically, processed with software that calculates the velocity that the stylus would be moving in the mapped grooves and converted to a digital recording format. This does no further damage to the disc and generally produces a better sound than normal playback. This technique also has the potential to allow for reconstruction of broken or otherwise damaged discs. Groove recordings, first designed in the final quarter of the 19th century, held a predominant position for nearly a century—withstanding competition from reel-to-reel tape, the 8-track cartridge, and the compact cassette. In 1988, the compact disc surpassed the gramophone record in unit sales. Vinyl records experienced a sudden decline in popularity between 1988 and 1991, when the major label distributors restricted their return policies, which retailers had been relying on to maintain and swap out stocks of relatively unpopular titles. First the distributors began charging retailers more for new product if they returned unsold vinyl, and then they stopped providing any credit at all for returns. Retailers, fearing they would be stuck with anything they ordered, only ordered proven, popular titles that they knew would sell, and devoted more shelf space to CDs and cassettes. Record companies also deleted many vinyl titles from production and distribution, further undermining the availability of the format and leading to the closure of pressing plants. This rapid decline in the availability of records accelerated the format's decline in popularity, and is seen by some as a deliberate ploy to make consumers switch to CDs, which were more profitable for the record companies. In spite of their flaws, such as the lack of portability, records still have enthusiastic supporters. Vinyl records continue to be manufactured and sold today, especially by independent rock bands and labels, although record sales are considered to be a niche market composed of audiophiles, collectors, and DJs. Old records and out-of-print recordings in particular are in much demand by collectors the world over. (See Record collecting.) Many popular new albums are given releases on vinyl records and older albums are also given reissues, sometimes on audiophile-grade vinyl. In the United Kingdom, the popularity of indie rock caused sales of new vinyl records (particularly 7 inch singles) to increase significantly in 2006, briefly reversing the downward trend seen during the 1990s. Many electronic dance music and hip hop releases today are still preferred on vinyl; however, digital copies are still widely available. This is because for disc jockeys ("DJs"), vinyl has an advantage over the CD: direct manipulation of the medium. DJ techniques such as slip-cueing, beatmatching, and scratching originated on turntables. With CDs or compact audio cassettes one normally has only indirect manipulation options, e.g., the play, stop, and pause buttons. With a record one can place the stylus a few grooves farther in or out, accelerate or decelerate the turntable, or even reverse its direction, provided the stylus, record player, and record itself are built to withstand it. However, many CDJ and DJ advances, such as DJ software and time-encoded vinyl, now have these capabilities and more. Figures released in the United States in early 2009 showed that sales of vinyl albums nearly doubled in 2008, with 1.88 million sold — up from just under 1 million in 2007. In 2009, 3.5 million units sold in the United States, including 3.2 million albums, the highest number since 1998. Sales have continued to rise into the 2010s, with around 2.8 million sold in 2010, which is the most sales since record keeping began in 1991, when vinyl had been overshadowed by Compact Cassettes and compact discs. In 2014 artist Jack White sold 40,000 copies of his second solo release, Lazaretto, on vinyl. The sales of the record beat the largest sales in one week on vinyl since 1991. The sales record was previously held by Pearl Jam's, Vitalogy, which sold 34,000 copies in one week in 1994. In 2014, the sale of vinyl records was the only physical music medium with increasing sales with relation to the previous year. Sales of other mediums including individual digital tracks, digital albums and compact discs have fallen, the latter having the greatest drop-in-sales rate. In 2011, the Entertainment Retailers Association in the United Kingdom found that consumers were willing to pay on average £16.30 (€19.37/$25.81) for a single vinyl record, as opposed to £7.82 (€9.30/$12.38) for a CD and £6.80 (€8.09/$10.76) for a digital download. In the United States, new vinyl releases often have a larger profit margin (individual item) than do releases on CD or digital downloads (in many cases), as the latter formats quickly go down in price. In 2015 was the sales of vinyl records up 32% to $416 million, their highest level since 1988. Meassured in number was 31.5 million vinyl records sold in 2015, and the number has increased annually ever since 2006. |Global Trade Value US$ (SP & LP) | United Kingdom | United States 2012 vinyl LP charts |#||US Top 10||UK Top 10| |1||Blunderbuss||Jack White||Coexist||The XX| |2||Abbey Road||The Beatles||Ziggy Stardust||David Bowie| |3||Babel||Mumford & Sons||Blunderbuss||Jack White| |4||El Camino||The Black Keys||21||Adele| |5||Sigh No More||Mumford & Sons||Lonerism||Tame Impala| |6||Bloom||Beach House||Tempest||Bob Dylan| |7||For Emma Forever Ago||Bon Iver||Bloom||Beach House| |8||Boys & Girls||Alabama Shakes||An Awesome Wave||Alt-J| |9||21||Adele||Go-Go Boots||Drive-By Truckers| |10||Bon Iver||Bon Iver||The Wall||Pink Floyd| - LP album - The New Face of Vinyl: Youth's Digital Devolution (photo documentary) - Phonograph cylinder - Record Store Day - Sound recording and reproduction - Unusual types of gramophone records - Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) - A catalogue issued in 1911 by Barnes & Mullins, musical-instrument dealers of London, illustrates examples in both 10-inch and 12-inch sizes; one is shown containing two records issued by Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd no later than 1908, suggesting that the image is several years old. - It's almost final for vinyl: Record manufacturers dwindle in the U.S. Kitchener – Waterloo Record – Kitchener, Ont., January 9, 1991. - NME.COM. 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Retrieved 2012-09-26. - Cutnell, John D.; Johnson, Kenneth W. (1997). Physics. 4th ed. Wiley. p. 466. ISBN 0-471-19112-4. - Alexandrovich, George (1987). "Disc Recording and Playback". In Glen Ballou (editor), Handbook for Sound Engineers: The New Audio Cyclopedia: Howard W. Sams & Company. p. 1037 §27.9.4. ISBN 0-672-21983-2 - "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 20, 2005. Retrieved September 18, 2005. - "''Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects'' (IASA TC04)". Iasa-web.org. 2012-09-21. Retrieved 2012-09-26. - Fadeyev, V.; C. Haber (2003). "Reconstruction of mechanically recorded sound by image processing" (PDF). Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. 51 (December): 1172. - Sources vary on the actual dates. - Browne, David (October 4, 1991). "A Vinyl Farewell". Entertainment Weekly (86). - Souvignier, Todd (2004). The World of DJs and the Turntable Culture. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 41–42. ISBN 978-0-634-05833-2. - Negativland. "Shiny, Aluminum, Plastic, and Digital". Retrieved 2008-11-06. - Plasketes, George (1992). "Romancing the Record: The Vinyl De-Evolution and Subcultural Evolution". Journal of Popular Culture. 26 (1): 110,112. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.1992.00109.x. - "Record Store Day: This is what happens inside a vinyl factory - BBC Newsbeat". Bbc.co.uk. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2017-01-08. - Tony Glover (2006-05-14). "Back in the groove". The Business Online.com. Retrieved 14 January 2007. - Chris Hastings (2006-09-17). "Why singles are top of the pops again". London: Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 4 October 2006. - Browne, David (2009-01-08). "Vinyl Returns in the Age of MP3". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2008-06-12. - Kreps, Daniel (2009-01-08). "Radiohead, Neutral Milk Hotel Help Vinyl Sales Almost Double In 2008". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2009-03-05. - Zuel, Bernard (January 24, 2009). "Just for the record". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2009-02-07. - "2009 R.I.A.A. 2009 Year-End Shipment Statistics" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-09-26.[dead link] - Kornelis, Chris (2015-01-27). "Do CDs Sound Better Than Vinyl?". L.A. Weekly. Retrieved 2016-04-10. - Perpetua, Matthew (January 6, 2011). "Vinyl Sales Increase Despite Industry Slump". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2011-01-07. - "German Biz Eyes Growth In 2011, Hopes To Top U.K.". Billboard. 24 March 2010. - "Vinyl sales up 55%". Thecmuwebsite.com. Retrieved 2016-04-10. - "Vinyl Record Sales At A 28 Year High". Fortune.com. Retrieved 2017-01-08. - Swedish public service television teletext, 12.December.2016 , page 150 in Swedish (original text) - "Allt fler köper vinylskivor. Trenden med att köpa vinylskivor fortsätter. Sedan 2006 har försäljningen globalt ökat från drygt 3,1 miljoner sålda exemplar jämfört med 31,5 miljoner sålda exemplar 2015. Trots att allt fler vinylskivor säljs är det dock bara en väldigt liten del av skivförsäljningen. I Sverige såldes det förra året 384.000 vinylskivor jämfört med 3.342.000 cd-skivor. De artister som säljer mest är oftast äldre artister och skivor. Mest såld i år är David Bowies sista skiva Black-star. Andra populära artister är Beatles, Led Zeppelin och Adele." - or in English - "More and more buy vinyl records. The trend to buy vinyl records continues. Since 2006 has the global sales increased from app. 3.1 million sold records to 31.5 million in 2015. Dispite of this, is it still a small part of the total record sale. In Sweden was 384.000 vinyl records sold last year (=2015) compared to 3.342.000 CD records. The artists who sell most ar usually older artists and records.(comment - bad Swedish in original text is reflected and translated) Most sold in this year (=2016) was David Bowie's last record Black-star. Other popular artists are Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Adele" (a screenshot of the teletext page exist and can be uploaded, if allowed at Commons and if requested) - "CD: The indestructible music format that REFUSES TO DIE". Theregister.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-04-10. - "ARIA releases 2007 wholesale music sales figures". Aria.com.au. 2008-03-19. Retrieved 2017-01-08. - "ARIA Release - 2009 wholesale sales figures_FINAL DRAFT" (PDF). Aria.com.au. Retrieved 2017-01-08. - "ARIA releases 2010 wholesale sales figures" (PDF). Aria.com.au. Retrieved 2017-01-08. - "ARIA releases wholesale figures for 2011" (PDF). Aria.com.au. Retrieved 2017-01-08. - "2012 ARIA Yearly Statistics" (PDF). Aria.com.au. Retrieved 2017-01-08. - [dead link] - "Musikindustrie: Online-Dienste wachsen, CD-Verkauf schrumpft mäßig". heise online. 19 April 2012. - "Lothar Scholz : Phonomarkt" (PDF). Miz.org. Retrieved 2017-01-08. - "CUMULATIVE SALES : January-December 2007" (PDF). Ifpi.fi. Retrieved 2017-01-08. - "CUMULATIVE SALES : January-December 2008" (PDF). Ifpi.fi. Retrieved 2017-01-08. - "CUMULATIVE SALES : January-December 2009" (PDF). Ifpi.fi. Retrieved 2017-01-08. - "CUMULATIVE SALES : January-December 2012" (PDF). Ifpi.fi. Retrieved 2017-01-08. - "PHYSICAL SALES : January-December 2012" (PDF). Ifpi.fi. Retrieved 2017-01-08. - "CUMULATIVE SALES : January-December 2011" (PDF). Ifpi.fi. Retrieved 2017-01-08. - [dead link] - [dead link] - [dead link] - [dead link] - [dead link] - [dead link] - "一般社団法人 日本レコード協会" (PDF). Riaj.or.jp. Retrieved 2016-04-10. - "Marktinformatie audio 2014 en voorgaande jaren". Nvpi.nl. Retrieved 2016-04-10. - [dead link] - [dead link] - [dead link] - "Vinylförsäljningen fortsätter att öka". Svt.se. - "Vinyl Sales 2000-2009" (PDF). Bpi.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-01-08. - "2012 Top 10 Selling Vinyl Albums, Vinyl Sales Rise In The U.S. And UK - hypebot". Hypebot.com. Retrieved 2016-04-10. - "Radiohead, Neutral Milk Hotel Help Vinyl Sales Almost Double In 2008". Rolling Stone. - "Vinyl LP Sales Up 33% In 2009". Sonicstate. - "Vinyl Sales in 2010 Increase Despite Music Industry Slump - Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. - [dead link] - [dead link] - "German Biz Eyes Growth In 2011, Hopes To Top U.K.". Billboard. 24 March 2010. - "Revival on the Black Market: Editorial". Kunstsoffe-international.com. Retrieved 2016-04-10. - "Building a House of Wax in Cleveland". The New York Times. 23 October 2011. - "U.S. Vinyl Record Sales May Be 6X Higher Than Soundscan Reports". Hypebot.com. Retrieved 2016-04-10. - "SoundScan may be under reporting US vinyl sales". Thecmuwebsite.com. Retrieved 2016-04-10. - [dead link] - [dead link] - "Musikförsäljningsstatistik". Ifpi.se. Retrieved 2016-04-10. - "Increase in vinyl sales helps independent music stores". Newswire.co.nz. Retrieved 2016-04-10. - Guillaume Champeau. "Face au CD en déclin, le disque vinyle fait un retour en force". Numerama. - "Despite Pandora & Spotify, total U.S. music sales grew in 2012 - VentureBeat - Media - by Tom Cheredar". VentureBeat. - Fadeyev, V.; C. Haber (2003). "Reconstruction of mechanically recorded sound by image processing" (PDF). Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. 51 (December): 1172. - Lawrence, Harold; "Mercury Living Presence". Compact disc liner notes. Bartók, Antal Dorati, Mercury 432 017-2. 1991. - International standard IEC 60098: Analogue audio disk records and reproducing equipment. Third edition, International Electrotechnical Commission, 1987. - College Physics, Sears, Zemansky, Young, 1974, LOC #73-21135, chapter: "Acoustic Phenomena" - Powell, James R., Jr. The Audiophile's Technical Guide to 78 rpm, Transcription, and Microgroove Recordings. 1992; Gramophone Adventures, Portage, MI. ISBN 0-9634921-2-8 - Powell, James R., Jr. Broadcast Transcription Discs. 2001; Gramophone Adventures, Portage, MI. ISBN 0-9634921-4-4 - Powell, James R., Jr. and Randall G. Stehle. Playback Equalizer Settings for 78 rpm Recordings. Third Edition. 1993, 2001, 2007; Gramophone Adventures, Portage, MI. ISBN 0-9634921-3-6 - From Tin Foil to Stereo: Evolution of the Phonograph by Oliver Read and Walter L. Welch - The Fabulous Phonograph by Roland Gelatt, published by Cassell & Company, 1954 rev. 1977 ISBN 0-304-29904-9 - Where Have All the Good Times Gone?: The Rise and Fall of the Record Industry Louis Barfe. - Pressing the LP Record by Ellingham, Niel, published at 1 Bruach Lane, PH16 5DG, Scotland. - Sound Recordings by Peter Copeland published 1991 by the British Library ISBN 0-7123-0225-5. - Vinyl: A History of the Analogue Record by Richard Osborne. Ashgate, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4094-4027-7. - "A Record Changer and Record of Complementary Design" by B. H. Carson, A. D. Burt, and H. I. Reiskind, RCA Review, June 1949 - "Recording Technology History: notes revised July 6, 2005, by Steven Schoenherr", San Diego University (archived 2010) |Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vinyl records.| - Playback equalization for 78rpm shellacs and early LPs (EQ curves, index of record labels): Audacity Wiki - The manufacturing and production of shellac records. Educational video, 1942. - Reproduction of 78 rpm records including equalization data for different makes of 78s and LPs. - The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls, a site devoted to all aspects of the making of Gramophone records. - How to digitize gramophone records: Audacity Tutorial - Actual list of vinyl pressing plants: vinyl-pressing-plants.com

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