Most of the time, polio has no symptoms unless the polio virus gets into the blood. It is uncommon for the virus to enter the brain or spinal cord. If this does happen, it can cause muscles to become paralyzed. Some people get better from the paralysis. Others will be disabled. Depending on which muscles have been affected, these people may need a mobility aid or a wheelchair; they may have difficulty using their hands; or they may even have trouble breathing.
About 15 out of every 10,000 adults who get polio die. (This means an adult has a 0.015% chance of dying from polio.)
Vaccination with polio vaccines could stop the disease all over the world. Organizations like the World Health Organization have been trying to vaccinate as many people as possible against polio. Vaccinations have eliminated polio from most countries in the world.
Worldwide, polio has become much less common in the past few decades. In 1988, there were about 350,000 cases of polio in the world. By 2007, the number of cases of polio in the world had decreased by over 99.9%, to just 1,652 cases.
The 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, had polio. So far, he is the only President of the United States to have had this disease.
Dystopia
A dystopia is the opposite of a utopia, and can mean a utopia that has become corrupt. This can be seen in George Orwell's book "1984". and Aldous Huxley's book "Brave New World". A dystopia often has many problems, such as poverty, pollution, or a cruel ruler.
A frequent theme is a place that is supposed to be a beautiful and perfect utopia, but where something unforseen ruins it.
Centre (department)
Centre is one of the ten departments (French: "départments", singular "départment") of Haiti. It is in the center of the country, along the border with the Dominican Republic. It is the only department of Haiti that does not border the sea.
The "Départment du Centre" has an area of 3,675 km². It is bordered to the northeast by the Nord-Est Department, to the northwest by the Nord Department, to the west by the Artibonite Department and to the south by the Ouest Department. It borders the Dominican Republic to the east.
The mountain chains here run from west to east and the most important are the "Montagnes Noires" (in English, "Black Mountains"). There is also part of the "Chaine du Trout d'Eau".
Lake Peligre, the second largest lake in Haiti, is in this department; it is an artificial lake created with the construction of the Peligre Dam on the Artibonite river.
The main rivers of the department are Boucan Carré, Fer-à-Cheval, Libon, Macacia, Thomonde and La Tombe, and all are tributaries of the Artibonite.
The department had, in the 2003 census, a population of 581,505 persons: 289,028 men and 292,477 women, with only 94,619 (16.27%) living in cities and towns.
The main city is Hinche, the capital of the department.
The department is divided into four "arrondissements" (like districts) and 12 "communes" (like municipalities). The "arrondissements" and their "communes" are:
Burj Khalifa
Burj Khalifa (, ""Khalifa Tower"") is an extremely tall skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates named after Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and is the tallest building ever built, at . Before the building opened, it was called Burj Dubai. The building is 162 stories high. Construction of the tower was started in 2004. The building was officially opened on 4 January 2010. It is the tallest structure made by humans in the world. The building is more than taller than Taipei 101. Taipei 101 was the tallest building until 2010 before Burj Khalifa was built.
Adrian Smith designed the tower. He worked with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) until 2006. It was built by Samsung Engineering & Construction, Besix, and Arabtec. The tower cost US $1.5 billion to build. The building is part of a building project on Sheikh Zayed Road, Downtown Burj Khalifa. It is near Dubai's main business district.
The main contractor was Samsung C&T of South Korea. They also built the Taipei 101 and Petronas Twin Towers. Other contractors who helped with the building included Belgian group Besix and Arabtec from the UAE. The Turner Construction Company was chosen as the construction project manager.
The design architect, Adrian Smith, did not like the first design of the upper part of the building. He added 27 new floors and an aluminium spire to the top of the plans. The design of Burj Khalifa based on those used in Islamic architecture. Burj Khalifa has been said to have had several other planned height increases since it was first built. This has not been proven to be true yet. The TV/radio communications mast was added to the tower's plans in 2007. This was after building work had begun in 2006. There are pressurized, air-conditioned refuge floors about every 35 floors. These were put into the tower in case of an emergency or fire.
The unusual design and engineering problems of building Burj Khalifa have been shown in many television documentaries. These include the "Big, Bigger, Biggest" series on the National Geographic and Five channels, and the "Mega Builders" series on the Discovery Channel.
The most important building material of Burj Khalifa is reinforced concrete. A special concrete was needed because of the high pressures of the building's weight and the hot local climate of Persian Gulf temperatures that can reach . Any major cracks could have caused a large amount of damage to the building.
The foundation of the building is deep. It was built with 192 columns being put into the ground. Each column was in diameter and long. of steel rebar was used in the construction of the tower. It took 22 million man-hours to build. A high density, low permeability concrete was used in the foundations of Burj Khalifa. A cathodic protection system is used to lessen any bad effects from corrosive chemicals in local ground water.
A fountain system was built outside the tower. It was designed by WET Design of California. They built and planned out the fountains at the Bellagio Hotel Lake in Las Vegas. The fountain cost UAEd 800 million. It is lit by 6,600 lights and 50 coloured projectors. The fountain is long. It shoots water into the air to the sounds of classical and modern Arabic and world music. On 26 October 2008, the fountain was named the Dubai Fountain.
Emaar Properties said on 9 June 2008 that construction of Burj Khalifa was slowed because of changes to finishes. An Emaar official said that the luxury finishes that were decided on in 2004, when the tower was first planned, were being being replaced by better finishes. The design of the apartments were also made better. This was done to make them both look better and work better. There were problems with the marble decorations, flooring, the top floors' sanitation system, broken glasswork and a poorly done wall mural of the Sultan of Oman. A new ending date of 2 December, 2009, was then given. Burj Khalifa opened on 4 January 2010.
Burj Khalifa was built mainly by people from South Asia. Press reports said in 2006 that skilled carpenters at the site earned UK£4.34 a day, and labourers earned UK£2.84. According to a BBC investigation and a Human Rights Watch report, the workers lived in very bad conditions. Often they were not paid for the work. Their passports were taken by their employers. It was said that they were working in dangerous conditions that caused high number of deaths and injuries. Companies not paying workers has been reported to the authorities several times.
On 21 March 2006, about 2,500 workers protested. They were mad about buses that were delayed for the end of their shifts. They damaged cars, offices, computers, and construction equipment. A Dubai Interior Ministry official said they caused almost UK£500,000 in damage. Most of the workers who were part of the riot returned the following day but would not work.