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In the late 1800’s, millions of European immigrants arrived on the shores of the Rio de la Plata in South America, in the two port cities of Montevideo, Uruguay and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Most of them were Italian and Spanish, and the vast majority were single young men looking to make their fortunes in America. They brought their music: the sweet sounds of the violin, the driving flamenco guitar, the strange mournful wail of the bandoneon – and their dances: the waltz, the mazurka, the polka – and mixed them with the Argentine folk music and dance, with the Cuban habanera, with the African candombe rhythms from the freed slaves’ street parties. With very few women around, many of these young men found themselves looking for excitement in the bordello districts of the burgeoning port cities. The tango dance arose in these seedy waterfront areas from this turbulent mix, becoming a “mating dance” between barmaids and their customers in shady nightclubs. Shunned by the upper and middle classes in Argentina, it nevertheless became a sleazy fixture of urban nightlife in Buenos Aires. Young men in neighborhood gangs would practice the steps with each other in order to become skilled enough to win the attentions of a woman. A beginner would often dance the follower’s part for six months to a year before being shown how to lead.
As Argentina became very wealthy around the turn of the century, the sons of rich families would often look for adventure and excitement in the rougher parts of town, and learned the tango as part of their escapades. Some of these young men of privilege would show off the tango as a treat for their friends on their sojourns to Paris, then the cultural capital of the world. The Parisians were shocked and titillated by this raw, sensuous dance. This led to a “tango craze” that swept all of Europe, and reached America in the years just prior to World War I. New York newspapers in 1916 feature ads from over seven hundred tango establishments. While the original tango was disturbing to many arbiters of good taste, a heavily sanitized version of tango found its way into the European and American dance academies, where it remains a fixture in ballroom competitions today.
But in Argentina, the blessings of the tango-mad people of Paris led to an acceptance of the original homegrown tango in all classes of society. Tango musicians found themselves elevated from roughneck street performers to respected and adored composers. The tango dance became the courtship ritual of the middle class. In the ’40’s, the “Golden Age” of tango, every night found half a million people dancing from midnight until 3 or 4 in the morning. The best tango orchestras would be booked for more than a year in advance. Each neighborhood would feature its own variation of tango, and intense rivalries often turned dance competitions into riots ended by the police. Elaborate unwritten codes of behavior in the “milongas” or dance gatherings became as much a part of tango as the dance itself.
Influenced by the rise of repressive military dictatorships in Argentina after World War II, tango dancing slowly declined in the face of curfews and clampdowns on public gatherings. Tango music developed a rich new concert-hall tradition, more and more removed from the dance. The culture of late-night dancing went underground, and nearly all the regular milongas closed their doors.
Accompanying the return of democracy and social liberalization after the Falklands War of 1982-83, a groundswell of interest in learning to tango surfaced throughout Argentine society. A younger generation of dancers and teachers began reclaiming their tango heritage while re-examining the structural underpinnings of the dance they had inherited. Simultaneously and independently, the Paris debut of “Tango Argentino”, a large tango touring stage production, brought the dance back to worldwide awareness. In theatrical reviews reminiscent of the shocked Parisians of two generations before, Broadway, London, and Paris again became enraptured by the smoldering passion in this exotic dance and music, cultivated in far-off Buenos Aires. A new generation of Argentine tango dancers, tango teachers, and tango musicians found receptive audiences for their country’s primary cultural export. Audiences first enraptured by the stage spectacle of the big tango shows discovered for themselves the passionate pleasures of the social dance connection, available to anyone willing to invest a minimum of time in learning the silent vocabulary of the dance. Today, major cities around the world (including the Denver/Boulder metro area) feature active tango communities where strangers and acquaintances can once again meet to share the sweetness of “the three minutes that can last a lifetime.”
Copyright (c) 2006 Brian Dunn & Deborah Sclar, Dance of the Heart – All Rights Reserved
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Note to the Teacher
For the past two weeks, we’ve been focusing on some of Jesus’ teachings as he neared the end of his life. The theme was “End in Sight,” and here we are, this week, in Revelation and celebrating those who have completed their time on earth. You will likely receive questions about the afterlife and perhaps even interesting questions regarding interpreting Revelation.
The book of Revelation’s genre is called apocalyptic literature, and “apocalypse” simply means “unveiling or revealing.” (If you’re thinking of the ending of something…that is Armageddon – the Greek word for the valley where a final battle of good and evil would take place can be found within the book of Revelation as well!) There's a lot of imagery: monsters, numbers, trumpets, angels, letters, and animals. It's kind of like a fever dream, written by a person named John after he was exiled to a remote island as punishment for his faith in Jesus.
Revelation serves as a form of prophecy, but not in the sense that it predicts the future. A prophecy is revealing God’s truth about a current situation. So, John was writing to first-century Christians in coded language to encourage them to hold fast and remain faithful during times of persecution and hardship as opposed to predicting the end of the world.
When you cut through all the imagery, in the end, we find that love wins, that Jesus conquers. He conquered the cross once, and he conquers Death, always. In Revelation, we see this beautiful vision of God restoring creation and humanity and us living in right relationship with God and one another.
The icebreaker invites youth to consider imagery in storytelling. The discussion encourages youth to apply imagery in storytelling to the scripture as they unveil the potential meanings behind coded text. The activity allows youth to remember their loved ones who have passed away while holding the mystery of the end times in tension. Times are based on a fifty-minute lesson period but may be adjusted.
Icebreaker (10 minutes): Emoji Charades
You will need: Printouts of various emojis OR blank sheets of paper and markers; strips of paper; pens/pencils; hat, cup, or bowl.
Preparation: Divide the students into two teams. Set out enough emojis so that each team has around twenty. If you do not have printouts of emojis, allow the students to draw their favorite emojis and put them into a pile. Divide the emojis evenly among the teams. Have the students write down their favorite stories on different strips of paper. Stories can be books, movies, fairytales, stories from the Bible, or whatever. Put the strips of paper in the hat, cup, or bowl.
How to play: This is similar to charades, except instead of acting out the story, the teammate puts emojis together to either tell the story or the title!
Read Scripture (5 minutes): Revelation 7:9-17
Just like the activity may have gotten a little wonky, confusing, or silly, our scripture for the day may seem that way!
The author, John, is describing a vision: there are countless people from all over the world with different looks, languages, cultures, and customs. And they’re all worshiping God! These are the ones who have endured and have gone home to God.
When people talk about the book of Revelation, sometimes they get caught up in the details and lost in the codewords. Some believe that we should be reading it literally and that everything will happen the way it’s written, but we can interpret John’s vision similarly to how we interpret our dreams. We can cut through the details to “get to the bottom of it.”
The bottom line? We may not know exactly what happens “in the end,” but we can be encouraged that God is with us and every people group on Earth, and “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Discussion (15 minutes)
- What’s going on here? What makes you say that?
- What emojis would you use to tell this story?
- What’s the wildest dream you’ve ever had? What do you think it meant?
- Maybe we can take a look at this text the same way we look at dreams – there are some wild images, but the meaning is behind the images.
- If we look at it that way, what do you think the meaning of this text is?
- Spend some time discussing the context provided in the notes.
- Given all that context and the meaning of the text, what emojis would you use now to tell this story?
Activity and Discussion (20 minutes): Remembering the Saints
You will need: Table, candles, matches or lighter, various tablecloths or fabrics, random empty picture frames, special trinkets or ways to decorate the table. Invite students to bring printed photos of loved ones who have passed. It may be beneficial to have photo paper available to allow students to print photos onsite. Students may also choose to create a slideshow of their loved ones instead of bringing physical photos.
Activity: Spend time decorating the table to create a special space to honor students’
loved ones. You may want to play some soothing music during this activity. Here’s a playlist to help you get started.
After the table is finished, light the candles, and invite everyone to take three deep breaths.
Today we are celebrating the saints in our lives. It is a celebration because we know that God is with us, and those who have passed away are with God now. We may not know every detail of what happens in the end, but we trust that in the end, love wins.
- What is your favorite memory of the loved one you’re honoring today?
- How can we best honor their lives with our actions?
Join hands or hold a photo of your loved one as you read the following blessing (For Those Who Walked With Us by Jan Richardson):
who walked with us,
this is a prayer.
who have gone ahead,
this is a blessing.
who touched and tended us,
who lingered with us
while they lived,
this is a thanksgiving.
who journey still with us
in the shadows of awareness,
in the crevices of memory,
in the landscape of our dreams,
this is a benediction.
Close in the manner that is typical for you. Consider taking joys/concerns from the students, then asking for a volunteer to close in prayer.
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Like every other species on earth, we humans are all part of a food web. Fortunately for us, we occupy the very center of that food web, which means that, while we ourselves eat many kinds of vegetables, fruits, and animals, very few other living things view us as something good to eat.
So, what does eat kids? In the Grimms fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel, a wicked witch eats children—or at least, she tries to. In the end, the brother and sister outsmart the old hag and avoid being eaten.
Aside from wicked, cannibalistic witches—which, of course, don’t exist—the only other creatures that ever make a meal of people, either children or adults, are big sharks and other large apex predators. But, it is important to know that this is very rare—even the largest, strongest animals in the world have much more to fear from humans than we have to fear from them.
What Really Eats Children?
What eats kids? While morbid, the question comes from a natural curiosity to know what threats are in the world. It is natural for parents and caregivers to want to keep their children safe. Looking at potential dangers can help us better safeguard young ones.
It is important to avoid sensationalizing or exaggerating risks when discussing this topic. While accidents are possible, the majority of threats to children can be prevented with the right precautions. Parents can help their children stay safe by learning the main risks and taking reasonable precautions.
When examining what could prey on young humans, disease, household accidents and natural disasters are the most common dangers. Animal attacks can also be a threat.
Adults can mitigate these threats by understanding them, without having to dwell on unlikely and exaggerated doomsday scenarios. Overall risks are extremely low with awareness and reasonable precautions.
The threat of illness to the safety of children is one that affects them all over the world. Malaria, pneumonia, rotavirus and other diseases affect children disproportionately in developing countries because of factors such as malnutrition and poor sanitation.
More than half of all deaths in children under the age of five are caused by such conditions. Children can be at risk of illness in developed countries if it is not treated properly. Infections bacterial and viral can spread quickly in young immune systems.
Emergency care is often required for high fevers, breathing problems, and seizures. Unchecked, some childhood illnesses can cause serious harm or even death. With timely treatment and responsible prevention, most diseases are not dangerous.
Vaccination and regular checkups can help reduce the risk of illness. To protect their children, parents need only to follow the standard medical advice.
Parents cannot predict exotic risks, but a lack of basic health care is the primary cause of serious health problems. Simple prevention guidelines make sickness very preventable and manageable.
Accidental injury is also a major safety concern for children. Every year, too many children die from preventable causes, including traffic accidents, drownings, burns and chokings.
Children, especially toddlers, are not aware of the dangers in their surroundings. The risks are also higher for older children who engage in sports, recreation or other active pursuits.
Taking reasonable precautions to reduce the risk of accidents is important.
Avoiding most tragic accidents is as simple as supervising children’s play, using appropriate equipment, child-proofing your home, learning CPR and ensuring that smoke detectors are working. Accidents may happen, but serious harm is not always the result.
Even when the unexpected happens, attention and care can usually bring about good results.
Floods, fires and earthquakes are all environmental catastrophes. They can be unpredictable and unpreventable.
Children can die directly from such disasters or indirectly through disease, lack of food, water and medical assistance. Many parents feel helpless in protecting their children from the fury of nature.
As seen with the 2011 Japanese tsunami, preparedness and caution in emergency response can improve survival rates. By heeding warnings of disaster, preparing evacuation plans and keeping emergency supplies and kits on hand, you can better adapt to a crisis.
Protect all family members including children by following official instructions before, during and after crises. Environmental disasters may be frightening but they don’t always lead to the worst outcomes.
Even though they are rare, tragic animal attacks that result in injury or death can be the source of some of the most disturbing “what eats kids?” fears. Jaws scenes and other films that show animals snatching children can cause primal fear.
In reality, animals that kill humans are more likely to attack children because they perceive a threat than because they intend to. Most of these incidents are caused by provoked animals or dire situations, rather than pure predatory hunger.
Males and mothers with their cubs are the most likely to attack, but not because of hunger, but out of self-defense. Crocodiles and other animals such as wolves, tigers or crocodiles will usually avoid humans rather than attack them.
Attacks are often the result of sudden fear, territorial disputes or desperation due to illness or lack food. These situations are difficult to predict and prevent. Irrational fear can be a dangerous thing.
Animal attacks are just as dangerous as lightning strikes, so parents can rest assured. Basic wildlife precautions can easily reduce a risk that is already minimal to the lowest reasonable level.
Predators of children
When you look at the specific dangers of predators, you will find a list of possible culprits. However, all of them can be easily deterred to limit the risk of harm.
Five animals are notable for viewing children as prey in certain circumstances, but attacks on all species remain extremely rare.
The main reason these modern dinosaurs are at the top of the list is that their population has recovered, resulting in more human contact. Alligators are dangerous neighbors because of their size, speed and deadly death roll.
Attacks are usually in the water when there is a misidentification or if there is no other food source. Alligators are less likely to attack if parents supervise their children, stay away from infested water, and avoid swimming during the mating season.
Coyotes are increasingly found scavenging in suburban areas as populations grow and habitats shrink. Toddlers are concerned as small pets and animals are becoming food targets.
The majority of threats are caused by curiosity or food attraction, rather than deliberate hunting behavior. Risks can be reduced by accompanying children outside, watching pets, securing garbage, and removing outdoor foods.
Lethal control measures can also be used to manage populations effectively and minimize untoward incidents.
Bears are rarely known to hunt humans, despite their formidable abilities.
Desperation due to habitat loss, or surprising a mother’s cubs can elicit defensive aggressive behavior. Coexistence is greatly improved by teaching children not to approach wildlife and properly securing food scraps.
When they do, however, lions, tigers and their relatives make headlines. Bear attacks and big cat attacks are similar in that both occur when the animals feel threatened or lack their usual prey.
Zoos, private collections and illegal exotic animals can sometimes be the cause of incidents.
Now, legislation prohibiting ownership and accredited protocols of zoos enforce strict housing and disaster plans to prevent escapes and tragedies. Parents can dismiss the worry that their children will become cat toys.
Snakes such as anacondas and boa constrictors have killed small animals due to a mistaken identity, or because of opportunistic impulses. The majority of escapes are due to unreliable captive environments that allow for escape.
This can be prevented by limiting the ownership of exotic pets and ensuring that they are supervised.
In the case of all wildlife, it is best to accompany children and avoid encouraging interaction. By taking basic precautions, parents can focus on more important issues.
When we ask the question “what eats kids?” it reveals that there are a few main threats which can be managed with reasonable care and vigilance.
The common causes of tragedies that worry parents around the world include disease, accidents, nature and rare predatory species. Objective data should be used to guide the response, rather than fostering nightmares by a morbid fascination for bizarre doomsday scenarios.
By calculating the likelihood of a threat and taking basic precautions, you can ensure your child’s safety. Parents do not need to become helicopter guardians in the face of unrealistic movie monster attacks.
They can instead focus on protecting where it is most important, based on actual risks versus imagined ones.
By avoiding information overload, you can focus on the real dangers. Prepare calmly, but do not panic.
For more information on what eats what, and who eats whom in all the food webs of our amazing planet, just type the name of a living thing into one of the two red search boxes on this page—you’ll find one at the top of the page, and another one over to the right. Then press Enter or Return—and have fun reading!
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There is the view among some in education that the way we have always done it is the best way. There are many reasons why we tend to fall back on what we are comfortable with—methods or tradition. However, comfort tends to be the enemy of growth. Fear of failure or the unknown can derail us from taking the risks needed to implement new and better ideas. Change can be hard, confusing, scary, and unpredictable, but none of these reasons should stop anyone from doing what’s best for students.
The need for digital leadership is more urgent than a few years ago. Our learners will need to thrive and survive in a world that is almost impossible to predict thanks to exponential advances in technology. Automation and robotics are already disrupting the world of work as we know it. The Internet of Things (IoT) impacts virtually all of us. IoT is a network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances, and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and connectivity that enable these objects to connect and exchange data.
Society is now in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Personalized and blended learning pathways have been proclaimed to be the future of education. More schools have gone 1:1 thanks to the cost-effectiveness of the Chromebook and cloud-based tools. Makerspaces have moved from fringe initiatives to vibrant components of school culture. Emerging technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, open education resources, coding, and adaptive learning tools are moving more into the mainstream in some schools. Twitter chats have increased from a handful of participants to now millions on a weekly basis.
Expectations are also changing in a knowledge- and information-based society in which information can easily be accessed from virtually anywhere. The World Wide Web has transformed how we access, consume, create, and share knowledge. Providing pertinent information in a timely fashion helps to build powerful relationships and is a more substantial component of working smarter, not harder.
Innovation in education is, in many cases, not an entirely new idea. Each of the seven pillars of digital leadership (see image above) are either embedded components of school culture or an element of professional practice that leaders already focus on.
Student Engagement, Learning, and Outcomes
We cannot expect to see increases in achievement if students are not learning or engaged in their learning. As technology changes, so must pedagogy, especially assessment and feedback. Educators and leaders should always be looking to improve instructional design and establish accountability protocols to ensure efficacy in digital learning and innovation. Schools should reflect real life and allow learners the opportunity to use real-world tools to do real-world work. Don’t prepare learners for something; prepare them for anything!
- Work with educators to scaffold questions and tasks to ensure learners are being empowered to think and apply their thinking in relevant ways.
- Focus on improving and building pedagogical capacity first before investing in it—or implement both digital tools and innovative ideas.
- Provide job-embedded and ongoing professional learning support so teachers have the confidence to use technology effectively in the classroom. This is vital for school leaders as well, so they know what to look for and so they can provide teachers with meaningful feedback for growth.
Innovative Learning Spaces and Environments
Research has shown the positive impact that innovative spaces can have on learning outcomes. Educators and leaders must begin to establish a vision and strategic plan to create classrooms and buildings that are more reflective of the real world. This empowers learners to use technology in powerful ways through either personalized or blended strategies and increased access to “bring your own” devices or 1:1. However, when it is all said and done, flexible spaces must lead to flexible learning.
- Make learning spaces a priority by working flexible furniture and mobile technology into the budget.
- Prior to making any purchases (furniture or technology), develop a plan for how pedagogy will change to take advantage of these resources.
- Include students, teachers, and parents in the planning process.
Research continues to show that job-embedded, ongoing professional development improves learning outcomes. Prioritize this. Digital leadership compels educators to create more personalized learning pathways for students and adults during the school day and year.
- Determine the learning needs of your staff by polling and eliciting input from them.
- Work with your central office to secure professional development or Title funds to provide meaningful learning opportunities that are job-embedded, ongoing, and aligned to research. Give educators an opportunity to apply what has been learned.
- Make the time to create or improve your professional learning network by connecting with other school leaders through tools such as Twitter, edWeb, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook.
Effective leaders are effective communicators. Leaders can now provide relevant information in real time through a variety of devices—newsletters and websites no longer suffice. Communicate using various tools and simple implementation strategies to create a more transparent culture.
- Meet your stakeholders where they are by employing a multifaceted, hybrid communications strategy that blends traditional methods with social media.
- Pick one or two tools and be consistent in sharing important information on a daily basis.
- Engage with your stakeholders when the opportunity arises. It is “social” media, after all.
If you don’t tell your story, someone else will. Leaders need to become the storyteller-in-chief. Use free social media tools to form a positive public relations platform and to become the de facto news source for your school or district. Share all the positives that happen in school every day to create a much-needed level of transparency in an age of negative rhetoric toward education.
- Actively pitch original thinking and innovative ideas to local and national news outlets.
- Create and share stories on social media using a combination of text, hyperlinks, images, and video.
- Empower students, teachers, and communities to share their stories with you to amplify your message.
Branding defines your school or district. It is not something that you want to leave up to others. School leaders can leverage social media to create a positive brand presence that emphasizes the positive aspects of school culture, increases community pride, and helps to attract and retain families. Tell your story, build powerful relationships in the process, and empower learning with a branded mindset.
- Conduct a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis annually with a committee to continually build a positive brand presence.
- Consistently use social media and public relations communications to organically create your brand.
- Develop a hashtag, and use it across all social media.
Leaders must consistently seek out ways to improve existing programs, resources, and professional learning opportunities. It requires a commitment to leverage connections made through technology—the other six pillars connect and work together to bring about unprecedented opportunities that would otherwise be impossible, such as securing donations, resources, authentic learning experiences for students, and mutually beneficial partnerships.
- Continually evaluate programs and resources to ensure the learning culture is meeting the needs and interests of all students.
- Connect with alumni and local businesses around innovative work taking place at your school, and form partnerships. These can lead to authentic off-campus experiences, internships, and donations.
As you think about change, always remember why you do what you do and who you serve. All kids have greatness hidden inside them. It’s the job of educators to help them find and unleash this greatness. When it is all said and done, the interconnectedness of the pillars of digital leadership work to create a culture grounded in relationships. Without trust there is no relationship, and without relationships no real learning occurs.
Eric Sheninger is a senior fellow and thought leader on digital leadership for the International Center for Leadership in Education and co-author of BrandED: Tell Your Story, Build Relationships, and Empower Learning.
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Water to Wood: Where Am I going?
Somewhere between the age of seven and ten years old (depending on your child’s nature) the winter to spring cycle of transformation begins. Often one of the earliest signs of adolescence we may notice in our child is that his sleep habits change. Your child may begin having difficulty falling asleep at the usual times. Likewise, he may have trouble waking up in the morning. Perhaps your child is showing signs of wanting more privacy for sleep. These are the first stirrings of Wood’s need for separation and independence.
In our modern, mechanized society, we don’t always allow for subtle changes in our children. Most adolescents are chronically sleep deprived. At night they are plugged into high-energy screens (TV, cell phone, video games) that trick the brain into thinking that it’s daytime, and the brain fails to increase the natural melatonin levels that signal sleep. Schools schedule earlier start times, leading to sleep deprivation, which studies have shown puts undue stress on the growing child’s metabolism, and may contribute to excessive mood swings, poor attention, and immune dysregulation.
- Look for subtle changes in sleep cycles and explain (without judgment) the meaning of these natural shifts in growth rates.
- Allow your teen to make up sleep on the weekend. He will thank you for this!
- Come up with a plan to turn off video screens well before sleep time to allow for an easier transition into sleep. This is a good time to do some breathing exercises together, to promote physical and mental relaxation.
- Practice what you preach! Make sure you turn off your video screens and get enough sleep as well. You’re going to need it in order to deal patiently with your teenager.)
Wood to Fire: What’s New?
As your child moves further into adolescence, her moods may become more intense and volatile. Inwardly your child is asking, “What’s happening to me?”, as physical changes begin to manifest outwardly. These are the first flames of hormonal fire. Frightened and confused, children often cannot imagine that you understand what they are experiencing. Sudden shifts in their emotional life can drive impulsive cravings and risk-taking behavior. Poor dietary habits contribute to these mood swings. Junk food and sodas only feed these erratic behaviors, and exacerbate physical changes such as acne, obesity and blood sugar instability that, taken together, exaggerate vicious cycles of emotional instability.
- Expect and respect volatility in your teen. During intense episodes, there is a refractory period during which reasoning with your child simply will not work. Give your child space and time to recover from mood shifts, and then acknowledge her ability to recover. This will empower her rather than humiliate her.
- Don’t lose your sense of humor. Laugh with your child not at her! This may be one of the best ways to lessen the drama.
- Leave reading material in your child’s room for her to explore on her own that offers accurate information about the physical changes she’s experiencing. Create opportunities to discuss privately what’s happening, but don’t force your child to discuss things if she’s not ready.
- Practice what you preach! Developing healthy eating habits begins with you.
Fire To Earth: How Do I Fit In?
One of the natural ways children move through the transitions of adolescence is by building new bonds outside the family. The loyalty of friends takes on increasingly important meaning in a teenager’s life. This is a subtle sign of Earth’s uniting power. Fitting in takes on a sense of urgency for survival within the emerging subculture of the teen, shaping his interests and desires. As your child moves out into his own peer group, he may become less willing to share his thoughts with you. Maintaining open communication can be challenging. Forced interactions never work, but it is critically important to create opportunities for a teen’s voice to be heard – a safe haven that solidifies bonds of trust between you.
- Develop a tradition of storytelling in your family. This is one the most powerful ways we solidify family bonds and honor our ancestors. Telling stories about your experience and childhood can help your children feel less alone and develop confidence by connecting to the big picture of their lives.
- Go for a walk or a drive with your child. Occasions that do not require eye contact allow your child to open up naturally without feeling coerced.
- Remember, there is a lot of misinformation being passed around between teenagers. Be a voice of compassionate reason, not judgment, in listening to your child’s thoughts and feelings. Create a field of security in your conversations by exploring answers together.
- Practice what you preach! If you want your child to bond with you, consider asking his opinion about a problem you are having. This is a great way to gain his respect and let him feel like he’s an important member of the family.
Earth to Metal: Why?
As children move further into the complexities of adolescence, bodily changes trigger increasing concerns about their personal appearance. Your child’s styles of clothing and hair may begin to take on quasi-religious importance. A teen’s “look” is an outer expression of her emerging personal identity. The power of Metal inspires children to question rules, values and group dynamics. The advertising media capitalize on this, creating unnatural distortions in a young person’s self-image. This can place them in situations they are not emotionally ready for, causing lasting effects on a child’s emotional health and identity.
Teenagers are very concrete in their thinking, with difficulty anticipating consequences. I once had a conversation with an adolescent specialist who had been doing an MRI study of the typical teenage male brain. His anthropologist acquaintance noticed that the part of the prefrontal cortex that enables us to plan ahead was underdeveloped, just like the brains of Neanderthal they had discovered. When I explain to parents that they have a Neanderthal living in their house, suddenly their child’s inflexible behavior makes sense.
- Never tell a Neanderthal that he’s acting like a Neanderthal! No teenager wants to be told they’re acting like a teenager. This only engenders humiliation and resentment.
- Every teenager feels like he’s not being heard. When your teenager growls, “I don’t want to do my homework!”, for example, don’t try to reason with him. First try repeating what he said back to him: “You don’t want to do your homework!” You may find this is a much more effective way of getting him to shift, trust and reconnect with you by validating his resistance.
- Help your teen discover shades of emotions. This takes practice. Try asking your teenager to grade his feelings on a scale of 1 – 3. This allows him to learn how to say, “I’m just a little angry.” That’s a major breakthrough.
- Practice what you preach! Your own spiritual practice can have a profound influence on your child’s life. Teaching your children how to work with themselves through such arts as qi-gong, meditation or yoga, can be wonderfully empowering, nurturing their self-esteem and helping regulate metabolic functions that are key to good health.
Metal Returns to Water: Who Am I?
During the great upheaval of change that is the journey of adolescence, we can help our children discover their own secret powers of wisdom and compassion. Identity begins to regain some sense of stability around 15 years of age. In traditional cultures this is a time for moving out into the world and establishing one’s own family responsibilities. Because we now delay this process through high school, many teenagers feel unsure of their purpose and direction in life, manifested by identity crises and distorted self-images. This can lead to unhealthy and dangerous habits that dissipate a teenager’s energy, resilience and adaptability. When as a parent you pay attention to the subtle signs of change, you honor the powerful physiological and psychological processes that are taking place within your child as she becomes an adult. When you remain mindful of the balance of outside forces that are influencing her life, you can promote long-lasting harmony between you. This is one of the keys to a good life for the child and for the family.
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Our theory program for Year 10 in Semester 1 is called “Party without Pain”. It deals with the intersection of multiple risk factors when celebrating, and hopefully leaves the students with a better understanding of the concept of “celebrating safely”.
One of the risk factors we cover is road safety. Trying to make this concept interesting and providing the students with an authentic way to demonstrate their understanding can be tough. I like the impact of visuals on learning, but the number of road safety ads in the media means the opportunity for exposure to new, interesting visuals is pretty low. So it struck me… why not invite the kids make their own?
Thinking about it, I decided to base my idea on Tropfest, the “World’s Largest Short Film Festival”. I liked the Tropfest concept for a couple of reasons – the films are necessarily short, and they have something called a TSI (Tropfest Signature Item). More on the TSI later.
So our work in this class looked like this.
I explained that as a way to show me what they understood about our topic, they would be making movies with a road safety focus (there were some concerned looks at this point..), revolving around some specific themes, using the Tropfest model. I showed them the Tropfest site, and this movie. (We struggled to see the TSI (a balloon) – can you?)
We had already explored some road safety issues prior to this lesson and so had a bit of an idea of what managing risk on the roads meant. The question we posed for this lesson was “What are some important road safety questions that still need to be answered?”
The kids formed groups, discussed the question amongst themselves and then on mini whiteboards posed their important questions.
These are some of their responses:
Why do people speed?
Why are young people in so many crashes?
What are the risk most associated with crashes?
Are cars to blame?
What happens after an accident?
We then talked about these questions, and the concepts that the questions distilled down to. We came up with the following: Cars, Sad, Risk, Shock, Stupid, Angry, Tired.
The groups picked a word from the concept list. This word would be their film title and theme. The film also had to include an ESI (Erina Signature Item). In this case the ESI is a set of traffic lights. The ESI can be used in any way.
The task is to create a short movie, using the theme as focus, with road safety as the general setting. Each film has to have the ESI somewhere in there too. They can use their phones to shoot footage (or any camera for that matter) and the software on their DER laptops will be fine to edit, compile and publish their final product. A storyboard of their synopsis (as a draft of their work) is required as well.
The production buzz in the room was cool once they knew what they had to do. Ideas and laughter flowed – two things that I really value in a learning environment!
But the proof is always in the pudding. I’m interested to see what the kids make of it. I’ll let you know how opening night at the Erina Road Safety Film Festival goes.
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In 1947, the Communists seized power in Poland and Hungary. Edwin Land introduced the first Polaroid instant camera. Jackie Robinson signed a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Saab produced its first car. The United Nations voted to partition Palestine. Harry Truman created the Central Intelligence Agency and the United States Air Force. Pakistan and India gained independence. And Howard Lloyd began working in the Matawan-Aberdeen school district.
Prior to teaching, Mr. Lloyd served with distinction in the Engineering Corps during World War II under generals Patton and Clark.
As a teacher, he focused on the students' futures, teaching character, language, and history. He believed the students’ needs always took priority and objected to shortcuts that would shortchange a child.
Over time, Mr. Lloyd instructed thousands of students. I don’t know how many remember what he taught but I doubt many forgot how he taught. Through the decades, Mr. Lloyd saw many teaching fads but maintained a simple approach – master the material, love the student, and see greatness in your pupil.
After 61 years, Mr. Lloyd announced his retirement when he was unable to attend a high school graduation.
Mr. Lloyd, thank you and best wishes. >>> Read more!
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When people in Scotland or Flanders or Catalonia talk of independence, they have an invisible but powerful ally: globalization.
Nations no longer need as much territory to be viable as they did in the period of the great colonial empires, or even 25 years ago. The dismantling of international trade and financial restrictions plus technological advances that facilitate cross-border business make it unnecessary for a country to sustain itself only, or even primarily, with the fruit of its own soil.
These days, whatever a country can’t do or make at home, it can get from abroad. If it’s a fragile state that doesn’t have the financial means, it can stay afloat through official and other aid structures that have become global institutions in their own right.
Naturally, a nation benefits by having assets like natural resources and plenty of land for agriculture on its own territory. But today there are numerous alternatives. A country with little farmland can import crops, or import the food it’s made into, or buy or lease the foreign land where the crops are grown. All of these practices are already widespread, along with other more specialized ones – using commodity futures, for instance. The same holds true for oil, financial services and anything else a nation might use to sustain itself.
In exchange, a country that relies on the global market for its needs can offer various means to obtain them – money, skills, specialized knowledge, a beneficial geographical situation, rights to exploit local activities – practically anything that has value abroad. Recognizing and developing a country’s assets and using them for domestic gain is simply good governance.
Indeed, how a country is governed has arguably become more important for its long-term sustainability than having sovereignty over a large territory or even military strength beyond defensive needs. The Soviet Union more or less proved this by disappearing.
Diplomacy has been a catalyst for the diminishing importance of a state’s territorial size. The system that allows countries to be small yet viable is the product of the intertwined relations that exist through bilateral and multilateral agreements that cover everything from trade to defense.
The European Union exemplifies this on a regional scale. If its 27 members one day become 30 through the breakups of the United Kingdom, Belgium and Spain, the EU’s total territory would stay the same and the things that have happened on it would keep happening on it. That’s because of achievements like the unified market, freedom of movement for EU citizens and other EU-wide projects.
In fact, the EU’s successes like these have actually fostered a climate that can allow, say, Flanders and Wallonia to displace Belgium in the same territorial space without wrenching economic or social transitions, much less war.
Just as the medical or legal professions have become increasingly specialized, one can envision countries going down the same route: thanks to the effects of globalization, we may see a larger number of smaller countries in the future, each with its own needs and assets, and with greater interdependence and interaction among them. The modern recognition of self-determination as a human right offers the legal cover for this to occur, and the spread of democratic systems offers the mechanism.
Thus, a place like Scotland doesn’t have to rely on the fact that it produces oil in order to be a viable state, useful as it may be in the near term. The day may come when the oil, or the market for it, is no longer its economic pillar – and when that occurs, it will not matter whether Scotland is independent or still part of the United Kingdom except in how the situation is offset.
The irony is that sovereignty hasn’t lost its allure, even as the effects of globalization continue to displace sovereign control as the only option for managing a nation’s territory.
Opinions voiced by Global Minds do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Global Journal.
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A school is a place where children and adolescents have their initial education and academic learning. It is, indeed, the place where a child receives his/her first formal education. The initial stages of life of an individual are spent in a school. A child, usually, enters school at the age of five and stays there till the age of seventeen or eighteen. This means each person begins his/her school-life at early childhood and ends it at late adolescence. Thus, the time spent by an individual in school is known to be the most critical phase of human development.
The main aim of a school is to provide education and train students for academic achievement and build their intellectual ability. The environment outside the school premises is completely different from what it is inside. A school is known for its protectiveness and discipline. An individual spends so much of his/her early as well as critical life in school that it can become difficult for him/her when he/she passes out of school and steps into the unpredictable and somewhat unsafe environment that exists outside the school.
This gives an indication that apart from focusing on academic achievement, schools should also give a lot of importance to the social and emotional competence of students in order to make him/her cope and adjust to the stressful life and deal with varied life situations once he/she moves out of school and enters to face the unpredictable world. Social and emotionemotional competence refers to the capacity to recognize and manage emotions, solve problems effectively, and establish and maintain positive relationships with others.
Learning of social and emotional competence should be in-built within the curriculum of the school so that each and every student is able to have maximum advantage from it and by the time he/she completes school, grows into a person who is fully secure as far as personal growth and adjustment is concerned. Social and emotional competence will also be very helpful for students to overcome many of the psychological and emotional problems that they face during their time in school.
Some schools categorize students in different sections in each standard (grade) according to the academic ability and/or the intelligence quotient (IQ) of the students to develop a sense of competition and to enhance their academic achievement. Instead of this it would be much better to categorize students in different sections according to their personalities rather than academic performance or IQ. It would be much more beneficial if students with similar personalities are kept together in one section. For instance, all introverts in one section and all extroverts in the other section. Likewise, students with a high need for affiliation can be put in one section and students with low need for affiliation in the other section, etc.
This will be a very good platform to encourage healthy interaction between students. Students with similar personalities will obviously gel very well with each other and will have many common needs and interests to share among each other. Once they mix-up well among each other and thus develop good communication skills, the students can later be gradually moved in and interchanged with students of different personalities to develop a much more healthy interaction and also build the ability to interact with different kinds of people.
This will also be very helpful for many students in overcoming the problems of the feeling of being left out and being unwanted, which is known to be quite common in schools. A school is a place where students meet different fellow students and get to know each other and develop friendships. The students also form small or large groups according to their needs and interests. But, unfortunately, some students do not find themselves to be a part of any group and develop feelings of worthlessness and low self-esteem causing them to feel unwanted. This will obviously not happen if students are made to interact with other students who have similar personalities.
Therefore, keeping students with similar personalities together in one section will be very good in enhancing the emotional wellbeing of the students that will contribute in a major way in building the social and emotional competence of the students.
Schools should also hold training sessions to train students in building their Social Intelligence. Social Intelligence is the ability to act wisely in human relationships. It is the level of mastery of the particular cluster of knowledge and skills relevan to interpersonal situations. Social Intelligence involves cognitive skills and attentional control to be empathetic, sensitive, influential, inspiring, compassionate, exciting, humorous, charming, etc. in interpersonal situations.
Social Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence are very useful in enhancing the overall personality of an individual. They can be very useful in diverse life situations and provide a lot of help in the social adjustment of individuals. Thus, the skills of Social Intelligence will obviously be of a lot of significance for students, especially if learnt from an earlier age.
Students should be discouraged in getting involved in social comparisons and the school authorities should play a big part in this. When individuals evaluate themselves by comparing them to others, then it is known as social comparison. Students generally have a habit of comparing themselves with others. This should be strictly discouraged, because each student is unique in their own way. Each student has his/her own unique strengths and abilities and they should be made to believe in them and have confidence in them.
Social comparison is an incorrect and inadequate way of evaluating oneself. When students compare themselves to others, then it can give them a negative picture about themselves. This may create some kind of confusion among the students and lead them to evaluate themselves as someone who is unworthy and may develop the feelings of inferiority complex.
A student may not be good in a certain aspect compared to the other student, but that does not mean that there is something wrong with that student. That student obviously may have some kind of ability in which he/she is extremely efficient or has the potential to be so. Students should be encouraged to believe in themselves, have their own way of thinking, use their unique abilities to move forward in life, and create their own identity rather than comparing themselves with others.
Students should be made to build a positive and high self-esteem. Self-esteem is known as the self-worth and self-evaluation of an individual. It is perhaps the most important attitude that an individual has about himself/herself. It depends on the opinion of others as well as how one perceives specific experiences. Self-esteem is a very important aspect of an individual’s personality and depending on its degree (high or low) can affect an individual’s life in many ways.
A high self-esteem has a lot of benefits and plays a big role in adjustment, emotional stability, optimism, and goal attainment. A person with high self-esteem perceives himself/herself as better, more capable, and of greater worth than does someone with low self-esteem. A high self-esteem can make student’s realize their real potential and accordingly set goals in life. It helps in developing their own interests and build-in confidence and self-belief about their abilities and about the goals that they have set for themselves.
It also makes them understand the true meaning of success and failure. Success and failure depends on what an individual gives importance to. If a student is aware about the things that are important to him/her, then he/she will use their potential in a proper manner and try to become more and more competent in things that he/she values. All this tells a lot about the significance of having a high self-esteem and this is why schools should take special care in increasing the self-esteem of students.
In schools, students should be helped to enhance their creativity. They should be encouraged to use and develop their own creative ideas. Creativity is the ability to produce something that is novel as well as useful and appropriate. The enhancement of creativity in a student can help him/her to identify their own interests and real potentials.
Creativity may not be necessarily confined to a particular task. Being creative can also be helpful in many other aspects of everyday life. A student may like to do things in his/her own unique and creative style depending on his/her own comfort level and satisfaction. Rather than forcing students to follow the old conventional style of doing particular things, it will be much better if he/she is allowed to do things on his/her own way, which in turn will make it interesting for him/her and will also lead to enhancing his/her abilities.
Creativity can also be helpful in using decision making and problem solving, regarding various aspects of one’s life, in an appropriate manner. Rather than making the same stereotypical decisions, a student may use his/her creativity and make decisions that suit him/her. In this way, a student can make important as well as appropriate decisions of his/her life regarding his/her career as well as other facets of life. Thus, creativity can be a very important factor in a student’s life and rather than being curbed, should be enhanced and encouraged among students.
There is no doubt that academic achievement and intellectual ability are very important aspects of students’ life. However, social and emotional competence enables students to use that academic and intellectual ability in an appropriate manner. There is no use of having good academic and intellectual abilities without being able to apply them appropriately.
On the other hand, students with limited academic and intellectual abilities can achieve a lot more if they have a strong social and emotional competence. Due to their social and emotional competence, they have a realization of their strengths and weaknesses and have the ability to use it pertinently throughout life. This may not really be possible with being limited to only academic and intellectual abilities.
The skills of social and emotional competence are very useful and helpful in adjustment, coping with stress, realization of real abilities and interests, goal attainment, emotional wellbeing, and satisfaction in life. Such benefits cannot be provided by academic and intellectual abilities and this is where social and emotional competence score over them. In fact, research shows that most of the times social and emotional competence is much more important than academic and intellectual abilities and is more helpful in achieving success and happiness in life.
Learning of any kind is most affective at the time of childhood and adolescence. This is why schools should take up the responsibility in providing the learning of social and emotional competence. Also, learning of such skills at an early age will train them perfectly to use it effectively in the later stages of life, when such skills will be needed the most.
A curriculum comprising of learning of academic and intellectual abilities as well as social and emotional competence is the true sense of education. When such learning is provided, in a school, to all of its students like any other form of education, then it will enable to build the ideal school environment.
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Our planet works in circles
Everything inside it, works in circles, that’s why it has lasted forever..
- Day and Night Cycle: Morning and night follow a circular pattern, with our Planet rotating on its axis to create day and night cycles.
- Seasonal Cycle: Our Planet’s tilt and orbit around the Sun create a circular pattern of seasons – spring, summer, autumn (fall), and winter.
- Water Cycle: Water evaporates, condenses, and precipitates, repeating a circular process that sustains life on our Planet.
- Planetary Orbits: Our Planet also called Earth and other planets orbit the Sun in elliptical circles, maintaining a delicate balance in our solar system.
- Tides: The gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun creates circular tidal patterns, influencing ocean currents and coastal ecosystems.
- Life Cycles: Birth, growth, decay, and rebirth are common circular patterns in nature, seen in plants, animals, and ecosystems.
- Food Chains: Nutrient cycles and energy transfer between species follow circular patterns, sustaining ecosystems and supporting biodiversity.
- Weather Patterns: Global wind patterns, ocean currents, and atmospheric circulation create circular weather patterns, influencing climate and weather phenomena.
- Cellular Processes: Cellular regeneration, metabolism, and division follow circular patterns, maintaining life and supporting growth.
- Ecosystems: Nutrient cycles, predator-prey relationships, and species interactions create complex circular dynamics, sustaining ecosystems and supporting life.
These examples illustrate the prevalence of circular processes on our planet, from the smallest cellular scales to the largest planetary and cosmic scales.
You see, if everything on our planet that we live in, works in circles, why would you not follow that circular way to achieve success in your business..
To run a forever business, you need to accept our planet and it circular way of doing things.
Our planet according to science is round and rough, the roundness is you evolving in a circular way, the roughness are the problems you face and you solving the problems, keeps you evolving in circles, to live and run your business Foreverrrrr.
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Problem: People addicted to nicotine require multiple attempts to quit, and often give up before succeeding.
We have developed a mobile application that encourages adherence to your smoking cessation efforts/programs.
During the workshop we will keep a list of all the terms we find. It's a good idea to get into the practice of keeping research notes to evolve your search as you go along.
Google works by indexing full text for keywords and ranking results. Its proprietary search engine lists the pages that contain the same keywords that were in the user's search term. Google selects search results by prioritizing webpages with relevant page titles and headers, as well as frequency of clicks on webpages. Source: Google Inside Search
Note: The focus is on quantity, but remember, the largest number of results doesn’t guarantee the most relevant search results.
Note: Google can't index anything behind a firewall. So proprietary content such as market research or subscription journals won't be found in a Google web search.
Save time and narrow your web search more efficiently with Google Advanced Search: https://www.google.ca/advanced_search
Combine search terms (or keywords) rather than using questions.
The question format sometimes works for Google, but it can pull in too many results. Instead focus on building a search using the following tips for Google and many other research databases.
**Source: Hack College. (2011, November 23). Infographic: Get more out of Google [Infographic].
This page is adapted from a guide created by Carey Toane and Kate Johnson in January 2017
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Software Engineering with Microsoft Visual Studio Team System: A Value-Up Paradigm
- "A theory should be as simple as possible, but no simpler."
Figure 1.1 Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity was the focal point of a paradigm shift in our understanding of physics. It capped forty years of debate on the most vexing technical challenges of his day—how to synchronize clocks and how to accurately draw maps over long distances.
A Paradigm Shift
Paradigm shifts come in fits and starts, as old theories can no longer explain the world as observed.1 A poster child for the scientific paradigm shift is Albert Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity, published in 1905. Einstein’s work reduced Newtonian mechanics to a special case, settled forty years of debate on the nature of time and synchronicity, and set the agenda for much of science, technology, and world affairs of the twentieth century.
According to a posthumous legend many of us learned in school, Einstein was a solitary theoretician whose day job reviewing patent applications was a mere distraction from his passionate pursuit of physics. Yet this popular view of Einstein is misguided. In fact, the majority of patent applications that Einstein reviewed concerned the very physics problem that fascinated him—how to synchronize time over distance for multiple practical purposes, such as creating railroad schedules, maritime charts, and accurate territorial maps in an age of colonial expansion. Indeed, the synchronization of time was a great technological problem of the age, for which special relativity became a mathematical solution, capping decades of debate.
Einstein was not the only person to solve the mathematical problem in 1905—the far more prominent Henri Poincaré produced an alternative that has long since been forgotten.2 Why is Einstein’s solution the one taught in every physics class today? Poincaré’s calculations relied on the "ether," a supposed medium of space that had pervaded nineteenth-century physics. Einstein’s Special Relativity, on the other hand, used much simpler calculations that required no ether. This was the first notable example of the principle attributed to Einstein, also posthumously, that "a theory should be as simple as possible, but no simpler."
Three Forces to Reconcile
A shift similar to the contrasting views of physics 100 years ago has been occurring today in software development. On a weekend in 2001, seventeen software luminaries convened to discuss "lightweight methods." At the end of the weekend, they launched the Agile Alliance, initially charged around the Agile Manifesto.3 Initially, it was a rallying cry for those who saw contemporary software processes as similar to the "ether" of nineteenth-century physics—an unnecessary complexity and an impediment to productivity. Five years later, "agility" is mainstream. Every industry analyst advocates it, every business executive espouses it, and everyone tries to get more of it.
At the same time, two external economic factors came into play. One is global competition. The convergence of economic liberalization, increased communications bandwidth, and a highly skilled labor force in emerging markets made the outsourcing of software development to lower-wage countries (especially India) profitable.4 The Indian consultancies, in turn, needed to guarantee their quality to American and European customers. Many latched onto Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) from the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.5 CMMI epitomized the heavyweight processes against which the agilists rebelled, and it was considered too expensive to be practical outside of the defense industry. The offshorers, with their cost advantage, did not mind the expense and could turn the credential of a CMMI appraisal into a competitive advantage.
The second economic factor is increased attention to regulatory compliance after the lax business practices of the 1990s. In the United States, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) epitomizes this emphasis by holding business executives criminally liable for financial misrepresentations. This means that software and systems that process financial information are subject to a level of scrutiny and audit much greater than previously known.
These forces—agility, outsourcing/offshoring, and compliance—cannot be resolved without a paradigm shift in the way we approach the software lifecycle. The modern economics require agility with accountability. Closing the gap requires a new approach, both to process itself and to its tooling.
What Software Is Worth Building?
To overcome the gap, you must recognize that software engineering is not like other engineering. When you build a bridge, road, or house, for example, you can safely study hundreds of very similar examples. Indeed, most of the time, economics dictate that you build the current one almost exactly like the last to take the risk out of the project.
With software, if someone has built a system just like you need, or close to what you need, then chances are you can license it commercially (or even find it as freeware). No sane business is going to spend money on building software that it can buy more economically. With thousands of software products available for commercial license, it is almost always cheaper to buy. Because the decision to build software must be based on sound return on investment and risk analysis, the software projects that get built will almost invariably be those that are not available commercially.
This business context has a profound effect on the nature of software projects. It means that software projects that are easy and low risk, because they’ve been done before, don’t get funded. The only new software development projects undertaken are those that haven’t been done before or those whose predecessors are not publicly available. This business reality, more than any other factor, is what makes software development so hard and risky, which makes attention to process so important.6
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Mathematics is a broad subject which mainly focuses on the numbers, quantity, change, and space. Majority of the subjects, including Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer, Economics, and Statistics derive various concepts from Mathematics. Students pursuing a degree in Mathematics often run away from the Maths assignment writing tasks as they usually find its problems difficult to understand. Solving Math assignments can become easy if you have analytical knowledge and good calculation skills. But in case you lack them, you can avail our online Maths assignment help and shake off all the stress of working on mind-boggling problems.
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Color pattern worksheets are learning tools that help children learn to identify, analyze, and recreate color sequences.
What are Shape Patterns? Shape patterns are sequences of shapes that are repeated in a specific order. The shapes can be anything you want but the most typical shapes used are circles, squares, and rectangles. The less common shapes used can be hearts, stars, balls or even an object that represents a holiday. To find a […]
Designed for preschoolers, these printable activities make learning colors enjoyable and easy. From matching colors to words, to identifying colors of objects and crayons, our worksheets provide the practice your child needs to master color recognition. And the best part? They are completely free and printable!
What are Short e Phonic Worksheets CVC? Short e Phonic Worksheets CVC are worksheets designed to help children learn to read and write words with the short e sound. The worksheets focus on words with the consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) pattern, such as “bed”, “pet”, and “red”. These worksheets are typically used in early elementary classrooms and […]
The first hundred Fry words are the ‘instant words‘ that should be master by first grade. ‘Instant words‘ are the most used words in reading and writing. These high frequency words should be instantly recognized by sight in order to build up your students reading fluency. Have your children practice reading and memorizing these sight […]
Kindergarten Sight Words Kindergarten words are the most frequently used words in the English language. This Kindergarten worksheet includes the 56 sight words in alphabetical order. Sight words, often also called high frequency sight words, are commonly used words that young children are encouraged to memorize as a whole by sight, so that they can […]
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Avoid foods that have artificial dyes, colors, flavors, additives, and preservatives. Once again these are good for all people to avoid but especially children with autism as it can cause issues with development. It can also cause stomach irritation as well as being linked to disrupting normal emotional processing.
Many autistic people experience hypersensitivity to bright lights or certain light wavelengths (e.g., LED or fluorescent lights). Certain sounds, smells, textures and tastes can also be overwhelming. This can result in sensory avoidance – trying to get away from stimuli that most people can easily tune out.
Sensory overload, changes in routine, social isolation, co-occurring conditions, and lack of support can all exacerbate the symptoms of autism. However, with early intervention, therapy, and support, individuals with autism can manage these challenges and improve their quality of life.
Prenatal exposure to air pollution or certain pesticides. Maternal obesity, diabetes, or immune system disorders. Extreme prematurity or very low birth weight. Any birth difficulty leading to periods of oxygen deprivation to the baby's brain.
Children with ASD may have difficulty developing language skills and understanding what others say to them. They also often have difficulty communicating nonverbally, such as through hand gestures, eye contact, and facial expressions.
Anxiety, depression, and other mood disorders. Communication challenges. Difficulties with emotional regulation. Executive functioning problems.
Science fiction and fantasy are often of great interest to autistic people. Depending on their interest levels and abilities, people on the spectrum may learn every detail of a particular "universe," write their own stories, watch and rewatch movies, read comics, attend conventions, or even make their own costumes.
Does The Father Or Mother Carry The Autism Gene? Autism was always thought to have a maternal inheritance component, however, research suggests that the rarer variants associated with the disorder are usually inherited from the father.
There are many different factors that have been identified that may make a child more likely to have ASD, including environmental, biologic, and genetic factors.
Among those with autism, common triggers include disturbing breaks in routine, lack of sleep, jarring “sensory stimuli” (noises, lights, or smells) or even undiagnosed mental health problems. Clearly, it's important to look beyond the behavior itself to identify the underlying cause.
Strategies to consider include distraction, diversion, helping the person use calming strategies such as fiddle toys or listening to music, removing any potential triggers, and staying calm yourself.
Autism characteristics can change significantly from ages 3 to 11.
Kids with autism experience “deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships, ranging, for example, from difficulties adjusting behavior to suit various social contexts; to difficulties in sharing imaginative play or in making friends; to the absence of interest in peers (DSM-5).”
Children with autism are often unaware of their behaviors and struggle with reading the body language of others. Yelling at a child with autism can cause chronic levels of stress in the child and is not helpful in working towards a solution or strategy for change.
Kids with autism may screech or yell when overwhelmed or frustrated. Some autistic children bolt from the room, hit others, or even injure themselves when upset. Children on the spectrum may not look directly at a person when speaking. Autistic kids may rock, flick, or pace when they are expected to sit still.
Advances in diagnostic capabilities and greater understanding and awareness of autism spectrum disorder seem to be largely driving the increase, the Rutgers researchers said. But there's probably more to the story: Genetic factors, and perhaps some environmental ones, too, might also be contributing to the trend.
A common question after an autism diagnosis is what is the cause of autism. We know that there's no one cause of autism. Research suggests that autism develops from a combination of genetic and nongenetic, or environmental, influences. These influences appear to increase the risk that a child will develop autism.
High levels of stress during pregnancy may also be connected to autism in children. This connection appears to have the most impact when the parent experiences stress between weeks 25 and 28 of pregnancy.
It's something you're born with. Signs of autism might be noticed when you're very young, or not until you're older. If you're autistic, you're autistic your whole life. Autism is not a medical condition with treatments or a "cure".
Autism is a disability under the ADA. Some adults and children with autism can access Social Security benefits, including disability benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Continue reading to learn more about autism and available disability benefits.
Research shows that autism can indeed run in families. If you already have one child with ASD, you have a 1 in 5 chance of your next child developing autism. If you have more than one child with ASD, the odds of having another child with ASD are even higher.
The best food for children with autism are fatty fish, eggs, grass-fed beef, sustainably raised animal proteins, shellfish, beans, nuts, and seeds. Research has found that fatty fish such as salmon and free-range eggs share the healthy omega 3 acid. Foods that contain omega 3s help fight inflammation in the body.
When Does Autism Get Easier? A new study found that around 30% of young autistic children have less severe symptoms at age 6 than they did at age 3. Interestingly, some children lose their autism diagnoses entirely.
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Each coastal community has its problems, needs, and solution, trough living in the community and observing their daily lives and environmental problems, we design strategies to develop marine conservation skills and education, useful skills for women that can generate income, introducing cost-effective and self-sustainable alternative solutions that can help their livelihood and environment, we build teams from selected teens and train them in coral rehabilitation, propagation, and eco-tourism and give them work opportunities locally or internationally.
Aquaponics is a sustainable and innovative method of food production that combines aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (soil-less plant cultivation) in a symbiotic system. In this closed-loop system, fish waste provides the nutrients needed for plant growth, while the plants filter and purify the water for the fish. It is a highly efficient and environmentally friendly way of growing both fish and plants, as it eliminates the need for soil, conserves water, and reduces the use of chemical fertilizers.
In an aquaponic system, fish are raised in tanks or ponds, where they produce waste rich in ammonia. The water containing fish waste is then pumped into the hydroponic component, where it is broken down by beneficial bacteria into nitrites and then nitrates, which serve as essential nutrients for the plants. The plants uptake these nutrients, effectively cleaning the water for the fish. Cleaned water is then recirculated back into the fish tanks, completing the cycle.
We setup the small system for educational purposes at coastal community for selfsustainability drive.
Pollutants To Produce
Community based programs with volunteers to collect plastic trash and produce different products such as waste bins, grow pots for plants, dog leash, jewelry and plastic brick for constructions.
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No definitive answer exists as to whether or not HCG needs to be refrigerated, as there is conflicting information on the matter. Some say that refrigeration is necessary in order to maintain the potency of the hormone, while others claim that it can be stored at room temperature without issue. The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle, as HCG is a delicate hormone that can be degraded by exposure to extreme temperatures.
The best way to store HCG is probably in a cool, dark place, such as a refrigerator. However, it is important to note that HCG can be stored at room temperature for short periods of time without losing its potency. If you are planning on using HCG shots for fertility purposes, it is probably best to refrigerate the hormone to ensure maximum effectiveness.
What is HCG?
The hormone Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) is created during pregnancy. It is made by the placenta and helps to maintain high levels of progesterone, which is necessary to keep the pregnancy going. hCG can also be used as a fertility treatment and is often prescribed to help women who are having difficulty getting pregnant. When used as a fertility treatment, hCG is often combined with another fertility drug, such as clomiphene citrate (Clomid) or menotropins.
hCG levels can be measured in a woman's blood or urine and are often used to help diagnose pregnancy. hCG levels usually double every 48 to 72 hours during early pregnancy, so doctors may order multiple hCG tests to check for a healthy pregnancy. hCG levels usually peak around eight to 10 weeks into pregnancy and then start to decline.
While hCG is most commonly associated with pregnancy, it can also be used as a cancer treatment. hCG injections are sometimes used in conjunction with other cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy, to help shrink tumors.
What is the function of HCG?
The function of HCG is to help maintain pregnancy by prevents the deterioration of the corpus luteum, and thus progesterone production. Progesterone is important for maintaining the uterine lining, which is necessary for a successful pregnancy. Additionally, HCG helps to regulate the immune system during pregnancy, which is important for protecting the developing fetus from the mother’s immune system.
What are the consequences of not refrigerating HCG?
If you don't refrigerate HCG, the consequences can be dire. The hormone can become unstable, which can lead to a decreased effectiveness in treatment, or even total failure. Injections may be painful, and users may experience bruising and swelling at the injection site. There is also a risk of infection, as HCG is a live virus. If not properly refrigerated, HCG can lose its potency and become less effective, or even dangerous.
What is the shelf life of HCG?
The half-life of HCG is approximately 36-48 hours. This means that it takes that long for the body to break down and eliminate half of the hormone. Therefore, the shelf life of HCG is probably no more than a few days, although it may be possible to extend it by keeping it chilled.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does hCG last in the fridge?
Most people have found that pharmaceutical HCG loses potency after just 30 days in the fridge.
Do hCG pellets need to be refrigerated?
No, the hCG pellets don't need to be refrigerated. They are shelf stable in this powder/tablet form.
What is the best way to store hCG powder?
We like to keep ours covered with foil and stored in the fridge.
How long do homeopathic HCG drops last?
They can last as long as five years with no loss in potency.
How long does hCG stay good for?
HCG is supposed to last for 60 days refrigerated, but many people find that the potency decreases after only 30 days. A person would need to order enough HCG for one round of dieting.
Featured Images: pexels.com
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All disasters disrupt communities, but impacts are never evenly distributed. Research has shown that socially marginalized groups bear the brunt of disaster harm—whether due to lack of resources, institutionalized discrimination, or being left out of disaster planning processes. Among these groups, undocumented immigrants are one of the most overlooked.
Undocumented immigrants come from diverse countries and have a variety of statuses—including those with Temporary Protected Status and those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, often referred to as DACA or Dreamers. While these groups may have differing approaches for surviving while being racialized as “illegal,” their undocumented status makes them less likely to access disaster relief and protect themselves from hazards.
In addition to disasters, undocumented immigrants face the added risk of deportation. Furthermore, like disasters, deportation is a systemic threat that upends lives and leaves devastation in its wake. The lived experiences of undocumented immigrants illuminate these layered dangers and how they prepare for them.
Recognizing deportation as a form of disaster broadens our conceptualization of vulnerability while also highlighting how undocumented communities have created their own systems of preparedness. The resilience and resourcefulness that undocumented immigrants demonstrate in their preparation for deportation provide lessons for disaster planners and could strengthen disaster planning for all.
Preparing for Disaster Every Day
For the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the United States, the fear of deportation isn’t an occasional worry; it’s a daily reality. Imagine living with the constant knowledge that, at any moment, a knock on the door could mean being torn away from your family, your home, and your community. This fear can become a constant hum in the background, shaping everyday behavior. For example, undocumented parents might avoid attending public events, such as festivals, where there is a risk of encountering police or immigration officials.
Unlike many disasters, there are no advance warnings or shelter-in-place orders for deportation. It strikes suddenly, often without any semblance of fairness or justice. And while disaster preparedness plans emphasize readiness for events like floods or fire, there’s no official guidebook to help prepare for a deportation raid. Yet, undocumented communities do just that—plan, prepare, and find ways to survive despite the looming threat of expulsion.
Deportation planning may not be the type of preparedness that comes to mind when considering disaster management. But it is, in many ways, more comprehensive and resourceful than most conventional emergency plans. Families prepare documents, arrange guardianships for children, and create networks of trusted contacts who can provide support in case of detainment. These strategies are born out of necessity, not choice—because being caught unprepared could mean losing everything.
These are all forms of crisis management that parallel disaster response strategies, illustrating how deportation planning functions as an implicit form of disaster preparedness. The reality of deportation forces undocumented communities to live in a constant state of readiness. It also holds promise for learning how people come together to prepare for worst case scenarios.
Living with Layers of Vulnerability
Many undocumented immigrants live in areas at risk of natural hazards. This combination of threats—being undocumented and living in hazard-prone places—creates a double layer of vulnerability that limits their choices and the ability to protect themselves in disasters.
For example, during the 2017 Thomas Fire in California, many undocumented farmworkers were forced to choose between working in conditions that damaged their health or losing the only income they had to sustain their families. Without proper protective equipment, multilingual emergency alerts, or the ability to easily access disaster relief, they were left to fend for themselves.
During the 2017 Sonoma County wildfires, stories emerged of undocumented families that chose not to evacuate because they feared U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would find them in the shelters. These families knew the risks, but the threat of deportation was even more frightening than the flames. Such decisions reflect a grim reality—the intersection of immigration status and disaster can be deadly.
Despite these barriers, undocumented communities continue to organize and advocate for themselves. They participate in Know Your Rights workshops, share resources within trusted networks, and develop their own disaster plans. This resilience deserves recognition—not just as a survival strategy but as a form of resistance. By taking control of their preparedness, these communities articulate that they will not be erased.
Rethinking Disaster Preparedness: A Call to Action
Disaster planners can learn a lot from how undocumented families approach preparedness. Their actions show that disaster planning isn’t just about physical safety—it’s about maintaining dignity, agency, and the ability to protect one’s family. Imagine how much stronger disaster planning could be if undocumented people were not just included, but actively engaged and carefully consulted, in the process.
Disaster preparedness is more than just a technical exercise—it’s a moral obligation for governments and emergency planners to ensure the safety of all communities. When we exclude the most marginalized from planning, we actively decide whose lives matter.
Even as the number of undocumented people in the United States has risen over the decades, undocumented status has been overlooked in the planning process, treated as an afterthought, or ignored altogether. But as climate-induced disasters become more frequent and severe, it’s time to rethink what it means to be prepared.
Preparedness means building trust, creating accessible resources, and ensuring that everyone has a seat at the planning table, regardless of citizenship status. When undocumented families plan for deportation and disasters, they’re not just preparing for the unexpected—they’re preparing for survival. It’s time we acknowledge that and plan with them.
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By: Dan Hallo
bucu dinky dau
ಠ_ಠ Mea culpa.
aetiologyˌ(US etiology )
Article V; amending the constitution
in spite of that; notwithstanding; all the same: statements which, although literally true, are nevertheless misleading.
The Constitution’s Preamble, like a preamble in any Legal Document, outlines the Constitution’s raison d’être “reason for existence,” and it begins with clearly stating under whose authority it was written, “We The People!” Don’t let anyone take your authority away from you by claiming it was under the authority of any church!
“Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae”
Definition of ABSOLUTISM
a : a political theory that absolute power should be vested in one or more rulers
b : government by an absolute ruler or authority : despotism
: advocacy of a rule by absolute standards or principles
: an absolute standard or principle
— ab•so•lut•ist noun or adjective
— ab•so•lu•tis•tic adjective
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Title: Enfoque UTE
Abbreviated Title: Enfoque UTE
ISSN (print): 1390-9363
ISSN (electronic): 1390-6542
Publisher: Universidad UTE (Quito, Ecuador)
Management of organizations in a modern world requires the right technologies and tools to provide products and services of high quality and fully oriented towards the customers. Moreover, the knowledge dimensions (people, processes and technology) of an organization has to be managed in an efficient way.
One of the things that organizations require to accomplish this goal is the creation of architectures to visualize the current situation and make decisions for the implementation of new projects or initiatives. The term architecture comes from the Greek words arch (ἀρχ) meaning chief and tekton (τέκτων) meaning builder. The term architecture is widely known in the design and construction fields. This happens due to the use of this word by the Greek to describe the chief or leader of any construction. Within this context, architecture is both the process and the outcome of planning, designing, and constructing buildings or any other structures (Collins, Scruton, Gowans, & Ackerman, 2018).
Nowadays, the term architecture is also applied in information and technology related sciences, and in business as well. The IEEE 1471-2000 standard defines architecture as (IEEE, 2000): “fundamental concepts or properties of a system in its environment embodied in its elements, relationships, and in the principles of its design and evolution.”
In other words, the architecture can be seen as the structure and blueprint of organizations of any kind.
In today’s business environment, an integrated business and information technologies (IT) approach is essential. However, in many companies, this integrated vision is very far from reality. The lack of a properly established Enterprise Architecture (EA) translates into problems in visualizing all the domains of the company such as people, business processes, applications and technological infrastructure (Op’t Land, Proper, Waage, Cloo, & Steghuis, 2009). Moreover, the management of organizational knowledge is hard to achieve and change initiatives require great efforts of implementation.
In big and complex institutions with several years of existence, the problem is even greater. On the one hand, there are many departments that work in isolation (silos) so there is no standardization and therefore, the strategic alignment is unlikely. On the other hand, there are not tools available for knowledge management. This represents an issue for the creation of blueprints in institutions with change initiatives (Moscoso-Zea, Luján-Mora, Cáceres, & Schweimanns, 2016).
EA is a discipline in expansion worldwide. A study performed by Gartner in 2009 said that 60 percent of the executives interviewed, view investing in improving their EA capabilities as a top five priority for running their business (Burns, Neutens, Newman, Power, & Tim, 2009). The current business competition forces industries to be in constant change. In the same way, business strategies and objectives must be flexible to tackle sudden changes in the market. These changes have brought serious problems, delays, loss of investment and customers. One of the main problems is the lack of planning and strategic alienation which is most likely solved with the implementation of an EA. The business architecture allows a holistic view of the organization, making it indispensable for change and knowledge management and in the start-up of new initiatives.
The design of an EA facilitates technological management and organizational change, allowing managers to prioritize high-level requirements and generate projects that positively impact the organization.
This paper aims to analyze EA as an enabler for knowledge management and change management and comparing it to other management tools, techniques, and frameworks that use different approaches for improving business governance. In this way, we can help decision-makers in the process of implementing EA in an organization based on the tools that are being used at the time. As Vicente states (Vicente, Gama, & Silva, 2013), different approaches may lead to duplication of investments, costs, and wasted resources, making imperative the need to establish the critical areas where EA takes part.
With this background in context, the research question that we want to answer in this paper is:
What is the role that EA plays in change and knowledge management and how it can work together with other management tools and techniques in the market?
This work is organized as follows: in Section 2, a brief description of the state of the art is presented, in Section 3, a description and the analysis of the current management tools is shown, in Section 4, a comparison of the different ways each tool can use EA to support the techniques and guidelines is described, finally in Section 5, conclusions of the work are presented.
EA is defined as the set of principles, methods, and models used in the design, production, and maintenance of the business architecture, organizational structure, information systems, and technology architecture (Lankhorst, 2013). Another definition is given by the director of the information systems research center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he describes EA as the business or enterprise aspects which are under analysis (Will, 2007).
On the core of EA is a blueprint that incorporates methods and techniques to model different objects and business processes of any organization. A well-established EA allows accomplishing the perfect balance between IT efficiency and business innovation (The Open Group, 2009) which is the ideal scenario for change management. At the same time, EA ensures that the organization is aligned with the IT strategy and knowledge management (Kurniawan & Suhardi, 2013).
EA provides a long-lasting view of the processes, systems, and technologies used in an enterprise. This long-lasting view enables the projects to build capacities on their own. In other words, the projects go far beyond than just meeting the immediate needs. The EA practitioners or enterprise “architects” are responsible for analyzing the business processes and structures to achieve effectiveness, efficiency, agility, and durability of the business processes established in the enterprise. Moreover enterprise architects are the leaders in knowledge management projects to obtain a blueprint which can be used to produce explicit knowledge which can be used in change initiatives
The main goal of EA is to optimize the organization process in a cohesive environment which is ready to support incoming changes and the business strategy (The Open Group, 2019). That said, EA describes the current state of the organization and bring forward the best alternative to achieve the desired results.
According to The Open Group (The Open Group, 2019), EA provides the following advantages to the organization.
A more efficient business operation.
A more efficient IT operation.
A better return on investment (ROI), reducing the risk of future investments.
Faster, simpler and cheaper results.
EA enables decision-makers to answer the following key questions (Niemann, 2006):
What is supported by one IT system?
How is this support realized?
What resources are used to realize this support?
What costs are incurred? What benefits? What are the gaps? What are the breaches and redundancies?
What objectives are met by the deployed IT systems? What is the business case involved? What are the requirements that form the basis of the system?
EA is used as a knowledge instrument to manage the daily operations, activities, development of the enterprise, change management. However, EA is not the first nor the only instrument used for this purpose. Through the years, several techniques, guides, and frameworks have been developed creating a wide range of options.
An EA framework defines how to create and use an EA by providing principles, guidelines, and practices for creating and using the architecture description system. There is a big number of EA frameworks developed by consortia, governmental, open source, proprietary, etc.
Some of the most outstanding are (Urbaczewski & Mrdalj, 2006):
Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture.
Department of Defense Architecture Framework (DoDAF).
The Open Group Architectural Framework (TOGAF).
Federal Enterprise Architecture.
Among others, these frameworks can be used to carry out the development of complete architectures. A complete EA is a knowledge base for change management initiatives in organizations which is a capability to improve decision making.
The research started analyzing the role of EA as an enabler of change and knowledge management. After that, the tools to be analyzed were selected. The chosen ones were Balanced Scorecard (BSC), European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT), and Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) as they provide guidelines to strategic governance, performance measurement through indicators and managing by visualizing different points of view (Cáceres & Moscoso Zea, 2014) Moreover, the decision was taken by identifying the most used management tools in the largest enterprises around the world (Niemann, 2006)(Peña, Vicente, & Ocaña, 2010)(Balanced Scorecard Institute, 2017).
After the tools were selected, a deep analysis of the guidelines, processes, and layers of each tool was performed in order to find the critic spots were EA is crucial.
Then, we present a summary and comparison between them to establish the role of EA as a management tool and how it can be used for change and knowledge management.
Traditionally, the administration has focused mainly on financial aspects. Kaplan and Norton (Kaplan & Norton, 1992) say that financial analysis is an important aspect but it is not enough to guide the management and development of a company. Other indicators are needed such as user and customer satisfaction, internal processes, innovation and environment (Kaplan & Norton, 1992). BSC is used in over 50% of large US firms (Balanced Scorecard Institute, 2017).
BSC suggests analyzing a company from four perspectives:
Consumer perspective: analyzes how the consumer perceives the company. This perspective uses indicators such as satisfaction or customer retention.
Financial perspective: analyzes the economic retribution of the business and the value created. It uses metrics to report results to shareholders.
Internal business processes: analyzes the efficiency and effectiveness of the company's internal operations.
Organizational capacity (originally called learning and growth): analyzes the corporate and individual capacity to evolve and innovate.
For each of the four perspectives, the BSC establishes a three-layer structure:
The EA will have a special application in the perspective of internal business processes or even from the perspective of organizational capacity since the organizational models that EA can provide are a source of explicit knowledge that can support the evolution of an organization and the implementation of new projects.
The shortcomings of BSC lies in the fact that the proposed management indicators, which must be aligned with the prioritization of the strategy, are difficult to identify using only the strategic plan (Cáceres & Moscoso Zea, 2014).
The BSC technique is perfectly complemented with EA adding specific metrics to measure the objectives. The difficulty to identify the management indicators will be overcome by using the EA generated models as shown in Figure 1.
In this case, knowledge in EA is used as an input before the BSC systems are carried out. This does not mean that EA must go first. In an institution which is already using BSC, the indicators (metrics and targets) can be adjusted and improved based on experience.
COBIT is a good-practice framework created by the international professional association ISACA for IT management and IT governance. COBIT provides an implementable set of controls over information technology and organizes them around a logical framework of IT-related processes and enablers (Haes & Van Grembergen, n.d.).
EA is already tightly integrated into the COBIT 5 framework. Within the “align, plan and organize” domain of the COBIT 5 management area, there is a dedicated process called “Manage Enterprise Architecture”. For the EA process in COBIT, there are five practices and several activities for each of those.
Even though COBIT covers most of the activities of TOGAF, it describes them only at a high level and is mainly focused on the IT perspective, lacking some business perspective that is given by EA. The overarching objective of both COBIT and EA is value creation, and to ensure that the requirements for the governance of enterprise IT and EA are in place to achieve the enterprise’s mission, goals, and objectives.
EFQM is a quality model developed by the European Foundation for Quality Management, a well-known institution with about 500 partners around the globe (EFQM, 2019).
The main criteria used by the EFQM are:
Partnerships and resources
Processes, products, and services
EFQM’s objective is to “evaluate the process of an organization towards excellence” and it is applicable to institutions of any kind.
The criteria in which EA could have major participation are people and processes. Processes because they are presented in detail in the EA models and people as the agents that carry out the processes. A clearly established EA can, without any doubt, ease the processes of excellence achievement providing the necessary complete view of all the components of the enterprise.
The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a set of detailed practices for IT service management that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of business (Vicente et al., 2013). ITIL describes processes, procedures, tasks, and checklists which are not organization-specific or industry-specific (AXELOS, 2019).
ITIL has grown to be an industry standard (not a standard itself), having thousands of practitioners. What differentiates ITIL from the other tools reviewed is that ITIL has been created to support IT services. Both EA and ITIL provide guidance for design, but EA lays at an enterprise level and ITIL at a service level.
ITIL defines a service as a mean of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks. As ITIL centers itself on the services lifecycle, it can be considered as an iterative tool and focuses on the process maturity. The ITIL Service Lifecycle is compound by five processes described in the following list:
Service strategy: guidelines on how to design, develop and implement service management.
Service design: guidelines on how to design appropriate and innovative IT services.
Service transition: guidelines on delivering services to meet current and future agreed business requirements.
Service operation: guidelines to coordinate and carry out process delivery and management.
Continual service improvement: guidelines on how to maintain the value of customers through the continual evaluation and improvement of the business services.
ITIL divides these processes into “books”, which are distributed as shown in Figure 2.
EA can participate mainly in the early stages of the service lifecycle. During the service strategy process, ITIL establishes business requirements, which are provided by the EA models as explicit knowledge. On the other hand, knowledge derived from EA provides input as well as requires input from ITIL. It is a two-way dependence relationship.
Every enterprise seeks for success (value creation). To achieve this desired success, organizations should implement ITIL to establish a quality process to ensure the best outcome possible. ITIL does not offer mechanisms to evaluate the reference quality levels or measurement of quality improvement.
To establish the managing setting, it is necessary to perform a comparative analysis between the models. This analysis is summed up in Table 1.
A few studies have been carried out on how these tools can work together or what are their comparable characteristics. COBIT itself, in its introductory chapters, describes the relation within ITIL and the BSC (ISACA, 2012).
ITIL, COBIT, and EFQM can be valuable for organization targets. Decision makers should consider using ITIL to define strategies, plan, and processes for services, COBIT for metrics, benchmarks, and audits (Sunil, 2016). If implemented correctly, both COBIT and ITIL provide the necessary framework of good practices that enable an IT organization to clearly align itself with the goals of the business.
But neither ITIL nor COBIT includes a mechanism to evaluate the reference quality levels. We suggest using EFQM to fulfill the quality management needs.
As shown in the gathered data, the main role of EA is as an enabler for knowledge and change management that serves as an input and support for other frameworks and techniques. Every analyzed tool needs as input information about the status and characteristics of the organization and it can be perfectly provided by the knowledge obtained from EA.
As seen on the previous analysis, the EA models represent a fundamental input for all the management processes in an enterprise.
As an outlook of the work, a new approach can be envisioned, which is to use the EA models for optimization and automation of processes. Model Driven Software Development (MDSD) considers itself as an alternative to traditional styles of programming. This approach states the alternative on building models of a software system, mainly through diagrammatic design notations, e.g. UML. The goal is to specify all the software components and then generating the code in a conventional programming language to making it useful. With the evolution of CASE tools, the accuracy of the resulting software has improved. However, many researchers remain skeptical on the future of MDSD, mainly because the traditionally used modelling languages have several abstraction limitations.
EA models can be an optimistic alternative to UML into MDSD, as they provide the knowledge involved in an enterprise, processes, functions, roles, actors, objects and so on. For this, we must specify a methodology to represent the business components into a software architecture, e.g. Model View Controller (MVC).
The level of success in the resulting software will be designated by the bridge we create between the EA model and the software architecture chosen for the system. In future works we will propose a bridge between EA and MVC
With this approach, the software will be aligned to the strategic planning, the business needs and current state of the organization.
We have analyzed in this paper EA as a management tool. It has been proven that EA is adequate for knowledge management and recommended for change management.
EA can successfully work with the major management tools and techniques available in the market these days. But every enterprise must be aware that even though these practices are compatible, they still work from different point of views in the myriad of possible organizational scenarios. It is imperative to know each of these in depth, so the important and critical facts are known, and no unwanted outcomes result when using the wrong tools.
Before starting to use or merge any management tool, it is necessary to perform a current enterprise as-is analysis to identify the actual needs of the evaluated enterprise. This process is perfectly fulfilled by EA. Answering the research question, EA represents the foundations for knowledge and change management on which the other practices can be built. As expected, these foundations must be strong and give the needed support making the management process smooth and straight-forward.
The tool which has major compatibility with EA is COBIT, as it explicitly makes use and provides a set of good practices for EA. In the processes mentioned in the analysis, EA is an indispensable component on enterprise management and COBIT makes it a key factor.
We strongly suggest decision-makers to establish EA before making use of any of these frameworks and tools as it will lower the costs and enhance the frameworks and good practices carried out without any difficulty or blurry information.
A previously version of the paper was presented in which we defined the role of EA as a management tool (Paredes-Gualtor, Moscoso-Zea, & Lujan-Mora, 2018).This initial version was published as “The Role of Enterprise Architecture as a management tool”, in the 2018 International Conference on Information Systems and Computer Science (INCISCOS).
In this current version of the paper we analyze EA as an enabler of Knowledge and Change Management which can give efficiency to organizations in the implementation of innovation and new initiatives.
AXELOS. (2019). What is ITIL Best Practice? https://www.axelos.com/best-practice-solutions/itil/what-is-itil.
Balanced Scorecard Institute. (2017). What is the Balanced Scorecard? https://www.balancedscorecard.org/BSC-Basics/About-the-Balanced-Scorecard.
Cáceres, C. E., & Moscoso Zea, O. (2014). Propuesta de un marco de referencia de gestión de organizaciones usando Arquitectura Empresarial. Enfoque UTE,, 5(4), 70, https://doi.org/10.29019/enfoqueute.v5n4.48.
EFQM. (2019). EFQM Model. https://www.efqm.es/.
Kurniawan, N. B., Suhardi, 2013, Enterprise Architecture design for ensuring strategic business IT alignment (integrating SAMM with TOGAF 9.1)., 2013, Joint International Conference on Rural Information & Communication Technology and Electric-Vehicle Technology (rICT & ICeV-T), 1, 7, https://doi.org/10.1109/rICT-ICeVT.2013.6741505.
Lankhorst, M. (2013). Enterprise Architecture at Work - Enterprise Modelling, Communication and Analysis - Second Edition. Springer, 36, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-387667-6.00013-0.
Paredes-Gualtor, J., Moscoso-Zea, O., Lujan-Mora, S., 2018, The Role of Enterprise Architecture as a Management Tool, In 3rd International Conference on Information Systems and Computer Science (INCISCOS), 306, 311, . https://doi.org/10.1109/INCISCOS.2018.00051.
The Open Group. (2019). Leading the development of open, vendor-neutral IT standards and certifications. https://www.opengroup.org/.
Vicente, M., Gama, N., Silva, M. M. da, 2013, The Value of ITIL in Enterprise Architecture., In 17th IEEE, 147, 152, https://doi.org/10.1109/EDOC.2013.24.
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Due to the influence of many pressing factors such as the increased demand for food, scarcity of arable land and resources, and various environmental factors has made it necessary to manage agriculture smartly through sustainable and environment-friendly approaches while simultaneously increasing productivity. Although plant physiologists sometimes view soil as simply a source of nutrients to plants, it is actually a complex ecosystem hosting bacteria, fungi, protists, and animals. In their natural environment, plants belong to rich ecosystems which include a diverse variety of microorganisms that are present in the soil. For quite some time, it is known that some of these microbes play the crucial role of improving the mineral content of the soil, such as the mycorrhizal fungi which live symbiotically with plants and fix soil nitrogen. Yet, understanding the potential impact that the entire range of microbes that perform such functions have and how they can help reduce synthetic inputs has only started being explored. Over the last few years, significant progress has been made in the knowledge of the composition of rhizospheric microbiomes and their dynamics. Global climate change is expected to have an impact on the drought and rain patterns throughout the world, which is going to affect these microbial communities and how they function, ultimately shifting microbially-mediated biogeochemical cycles.
The present book highlights wide-ranging aspects of soil microbiology, and practical, impactful information for its many applied and fundamental disciplines. The book aims to understand the microbial community composition and function variations in drought conditions and following rewetting events, using a soil metaproteomic approach. Fumigants are used to control various pests that can affect the soil, such as nematodes, pathogens, and weeds. A study of the effects that these fumigants have on microbial communities and biomass as well as the target pests is essential to understand their biocidal activity. Therefore, the book also aims to determine the efficacy of fumigation treatments on both target and nontarget microorganisms in the soil. In addition, the book explores the effect of nitrogen sources on microbial biomass nitrogen under different soil types and metagenomic analysis of microbial community and function involved in cd-contaminated soil respectively. This book examined the impact of triclosan, an antibacterial agent commonly added to consumer products, on microbial populations and microbial diversity in soil irrigated with greywater. Finally, the book reports on the importance of NF bacteria and P solubilizing/mobilizing microbes as well as their interactions with mineral P fertilization in improving crop productivity and fertilizer efficiency. Finally, it discusses the synergy that exists among multi-trophic interactions that involve those two microbial groups and positive effects they have on mineral absorption, crop productivity, and reliance on the environment of plants.
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When we hear “mind control,” images of dystopian futures and sci-fi tales usually flood our minds. It’s often dismissed as mere fantasy, far from the realities we face in our day-to-day lives. Yet, nature’s complexities reveal that the power to shape behaviors and thoughts may be closer to reality than we think.
The Power of the Parasite
Nature has showcased the brilliance of adaptation and evolution, particularly through the relationship between hosts and their parasitic counterparts. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s William G. Eberhard has documented that certain parasites can influence their host’s behaviors. Some flatworms, for instance, steer ants to position themselves in places conducive to the parasite’s life cycle. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The Wonders of Wasp Warfare
Consider the tale of the Costa Rican spider, Plesiometa argyra, and its parasitic counterpart, the wasp, Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga. The spider’s behavior undergoes a drastic change due to the wasp’s larva’s influence, leading to its ultimate doom. Even without the larva, the spider continues to weave a cocoon-supporting web—a striking testament to the lasting impact of this parasitic interaction.
Mammalian Mind Games
Moving up the evolutionary ladder, mammals aren’t exempt from parasitic persuasion. Take Toxoplasma gondii, a protozoan parasite that intricately changes the behavior of rats to make them more susceptible to predation by cats—the parasite’s final host. This microscopic invader’s influence extends even to our species, with studies suggesting a correlation between toxoplasmosis infection and behavioral changes in humans, including an elevated risk of suicide among infected individuals.
The Bacterial Benevolence or Betrayal?
Stepping into the world of microorganisms, our very gut might house billions of potential puppet masters. An astonishing 95% of our body’s serotonin, responsible for mood and sleep regulation, is produced by these gut bacteria. This fact, paired with the idea that microbial cells in our body outnumber our human cells, gives a whole new meaning to “trust your gut.”
Novels like Greg Bear’s “Vitals” have played with the idea of our microbiome controlling our actions. While the claim might seem exaggerated, recent findings suggest that the human body might indeed be “an elaborate vessel optimized for the growth and spread of our microbial inhabitants.”
Unearthing the Depths of Mind Control
For generations, tales and myths have surrounded the concept of “mind control.” It delves deep into nature’s ways, showing that control, especially from the microscopic realm, might be closer to home than you’d ever imagined. Pondering on this intricate dance between nature and behavior, one wonders about the future implications of such a concept on our day-to-day lives.
Steering the Evolution of Behavioral Science
Considering the revelations that parasites and our very own microbiome can manipulate behavior, future studies in behavioral science might pivot in a groundbreaking direction. The disciplines of psychology and biology could intersect more frequently, with biopsychological research seeing a surge. For you, this might mean a deeper understanding of your actions, emotions, and inclinations, deciphering whether they truly belong to “you” or are nudged by these tiny tenants within.
Redefining Mental Health Interventions
There’s a connection between Toxoplasma gondii and changes in human behavior, including increased risks of suicide. Recognizing these parasitic influences can revolutionize the way we approach mental health. Instead of solely focusing on cognitive interventions, treatments might also incorporate biological examinations and remedies to ensure that your mind remains your own.
Cultivating a Conscious Lifestyle
Awareness of these microbial manipulators can lead to a more conscious lifestyle. The knowledge that your gut bacteria significantly impact your mood and actions might make you more proactive about maintaining a healthy gut environment. Personalized diets, probiotic supplements, and routine medical checks could become integral to ensuring that your decisions remain authentically yours.
Bridging the Gap Between Fiction and Reality
Intriguing as it is, the bridge between fiction and reality may become shorter than ever. While novels like “Vitals” once seemed pure fantasy, they might hold elements of truth, given our microbial revelations. For aspiring writers and readers alike, this could signify a renaissance in science fiction, with narratives mirroring possible realities closer than ever.
The Ethics of Harnessing Mind Control
- Can mind control be ethically used for therapeutic purposes?
- What are the moral ramifications of intentionally manipulating behavior for the “greater good”?
The topic of mind control often evokes ethical considerations. If we, in the future, gain the capability to harness this phenomenon therapeutically, what boundaries would we need to set? While there’s potential for revolutionary treatments in areas like addiction, PTSD, or severe mental health disorders, there’s also room for misuse. Who gets to decide the line between therapy and manipulation? How do we ensure that individual autonomy isn’t compromised? Ethics committees, medical boards, and public debates might play a crucial role in safeguarding rights while exploring these new frontiers.
The Role of Technology in Mind Manipulation
- How are advancements in AI and neural technologies influencing our thoughts?
- Can devices, like Neuralink, create unforeseen behavioral alterations?
As we tiptoe into an era dominated by neural interfaces and AI-driven experiences, it’s essential to ask how technology might be influencing our behaviors and decisions. While parasites provide a natural paradigm of mind control, could we unintentionally be creating technological parasites that shift our perceptions and choices? The intertwining of our neural pathways with artificial interfaces may hold both promises of enhanced cognitive abilities and potential risks of unintended mind manipulation.
The Global Impacts of Parasitic Control
- How might widespread parasitic influences affect societal behaviors on a global scale?
- What are the economic, social, and political implications of such widespread behavioral changes?
It’s worth debating the larger-scale implications. If a significant portion of a population were under the subtle influence of a parasite like Toxoplasma gondii, could it shift societal norms, political decisions, or even economic trends? Understanding these broader effects might be essential in drafting public health policies, international relations strategies, and economic forecasts.
The Link Between Gut Health and Global Diets
- How have modern diets influenced our gut biomes and, by extension, our behaviors?
- Can global dietary shifts help enhance collective cognitive well-being?
With the influence of gut health on our minds, It stands to reason that modern diets, which have changed drastically over the past century, might be altering our gut biomes and potentially our behaviors. Debating the global implications of this could lead to a renaissance in food industry practices, agricultural policies, and public health recommendations. If we could steer global diets towards enhancing gut health, we might be indirectly promoting collective mental well-being.
Nature vs. Nurture: The New Dimension
- With the knowledge of external biological influences, how does this redefine the age-old debate?
- Can nurture elements be responsible for introducing nature components?
The classic debate of nature vs. nurture takes on a new dimension with the revelations about parasitic and microbial influences. We must now consider that “nurtured” environments (like diets or habitats) could introduce “natural” elements (like parasites) that then influence behavior. This blurred line could shift the paradigms of psychology, biology, and even philosophy, leading to richer, more nuanced debates on human behavior’s driving forces.
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Tuberculosis is still a rampant problem in the developing world. Doctors are looking for even more advanced ways to test for TB beyond the GeneXpert tests.
Read MoreWashing hands in between contact with patients is one of the most important things a healthcare worker can do to prevent the spread of disease and reduce the rise of superbugs like MRSA. A new technology is increasing rates of hand washing by displaying, via a sensor in an employee's badge, whether the healthcare provider has washed their hands recently.
Read MoreSlow test results make it difficult to stop the spread of tuberculosis. Using faster diagnostic technology and driving vans to rural areas in Tanzania, GeneXpert is making progress in treating this curable disease.
Read MoreAlthough patients go to hospitals to receive medical care, many Americans will acquire infections that did not already have them. The United States as a whole has made modest progress at reducing the rates of hospital-acquired infections. Spearheading the efforts, the Veterans Affairs Medical Centers have devised anti-MRSA strategies to keep patients safe.
Read MoreFor decades, AIDS has taken the lives of millions of people and infected millions more worldwide. The key to reducing the effect of AIDS, and even potentially curing it, involves treating patients as early as possible after being diagnosed with HIV, before the disease damages organs. San Francisco General Hospital developed the RAPID program for this purpose, with the goal of “Getting to Zero” the number of new infections and deaths.
Read MoreMillions of families of arrested individuals do not know what to do to help, how to obtain a lawyer, or what the process entails in the court system. Created by Albert Cobarrubius Justice Project, participatory defense is a type of community organizing that teaches and empowers people who face criminal charges. Individuals know how to work with attorneys in order to navigate the system and ultimately feel equipped to become drivers of their own change.
Read MoreTwo columns on how Iran is treating its massive epidemic of injecting drug use by tackling it as a health problem, effectively lowering H.I.V. rates among drug users using an approach to drugs known as harm reduction.
Read MoreCivic leaders in the U.S. struggle to effectively help their distressed neighborhoods. East Lake, Atlanta, created a replicable model that mixes residents of differing socio-economic status, and focuses on education and health in the area.
Read MoreGlobal social and economic problems are difficult to change. However, fan-activism fuels the interests of fans of popular young adult fiction. Books such as Harry Potter and the Hunger Games have inspired activist groups that raise awareness of global hunger, reading, and relief supplies to impoverished nations, among others. Being a fan has served as a bridge to become politically active and solve the world’s problems.
Read MoreIndia has, for years, been a hotbed of polio. Supported by the WHO as well as local health-care workers, immunizations have officially rid the country of the disease. There are still challenges in maintaining records and reaching everyone, but the message continously changes and adapts.
Read MoreCollections are versatile, powerful and simple to create. From a customized course reader to an action-guide for an upcoming service-learning trip, collections illuminate themes, guide inquiry, and provide context for how people around the worls are responding to social challenges.
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October 20, 2020
In many parts of the world, there is a nip in the air and we are beginning the task of winterizing our lives: preparing our homes and gardens, getting our jackets out and — for folks in northern climes — changing to our winter tires.
In regions prone to harsh winter weather, “black ice” and sleet create particularly hazardous driving conditions. Black ice is aptly named because it is so transparent that it takes on the appearance of the roadway beneath it, making it hard to spot and avoid. Thankfully, advances in vehicle safety, including tire design, have made travel in challenging weather conditions far safer.
Simulation technologies have advanced the state of the art in tire design. Even before manufacturing a new tire design, simulation enables you to gain important knowledge of how tires will perform in different conditions. For example, through footprint analysis, designers attain a clear picture of the traction and handling of the tire. Other examples include free rolling and braking performance, which are often evaluated using steady-state rolling analysis.
Such analyses are critical, especially on icy roads, where the softer compounds in winter tires provide extra traction and shorter braking distances. Simulation helps you to optimize tire design parameters for handling characteristics without compromising tire life.
Watch the “Analyzing and Simulating a Tire” webinar to learn more.
The capabilities in Ansys Mechanical make it an ideal choice for tire design. The ability to represent details including the layered plies, reinforcements and tread pattern allow for advanced, accurate tire modeling.
Mapping results from an initial 2D axisymmetric analysis to a 3D analysis provide a computationally efficient framework to model initial mounting and inflation followed by footprint or cornering studies.
The optimal workflow to optimize tire shape and reinforcement details includes creating a 2D cross-section of the tire in Mechanical and performing 2D tire mounting analysis and 2D inflation analysis. A 3D meshed model is then created from the 2D cross section to perform final analyses, including 3D inflation, footprint, steady-state rolling, steady-state rolling with different camber angles and 3D rollover bump analyses.
Contact pressure at the end of footprint analysis in Ansys Mechanical
You can perform steady-state rolling analysis in Mechanical via an Arbitrary Eulerian Lagrangian approach, where the inertial effects of rolling tires are accounted for in a static framework. This includes accounting for different camber angles. You can also evaluate extreme events, such as the behavior and safety of tires when the vehicle rolls over speed bumps, potholes or curbs.
3D tire inflation analysis in Ansys Mechanical
The lifespan of tires is also strongly affected by over- and under-inflated tires, which can cause excessive wear. You can study the effects of inflation using detailed road surface to tire contact results.
During normal travel, tires can experience heating due to viscoelastic losses in the rubber material. Ansys Mechanical can help you account for energy dissipation and conversion to heat that increases tire temperatures. This is particularly important for safe driving because underinflated tires can experience excessive heating, leading to tire blowouts.
Tires are mainly made of rubber and rubber-based composite material. Due to the viscoelasticity of rubber, a tire in steady-state rolling will generate heat. The energy loss mainly comes from the periodic deformation of rubber in the tire, which is converted to heat, leading to higher tire temperatures and reducing the service life of the tire.
Left: A 3D tire model undergoing thermal analysis in Ansys Mechanical. Right: Harmonic analysis in Ansys Mechanical.
To determine the temperature rise in tires under free-rolling conditions, the first steps are to create a 3D model, and then perform inflation, footprint and steady-state rolling analyses, as stated in the prior section. You can then determine the equivalent stress and strain variation during the period of one revolution, perform a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis in Ansys Fluent to simulate the airflow over the tire and export the data back to Mechanical to solve the model and determine the temperature increases.
With electric cars becoming common place, rider comfort is of utmost importance. Traditionally, noise from internal combustion (IC) engines helped mask the tire noise, but with silent electric powertrains, you need to ensure tire noise is kept low.
In Mechanical, you can perform a tire pavement noise prediction using harmonic analysis. Harmonic analysis can be performed using steady-state rolling analysis and prestressed modal analysis data, and extracting road surface toughness data and excitation nodes in the contact path.
Thanks to simulation technology, tire technology has advanced to yield smooth, safe driving experiences. To learn more about optimizing tires for winter weather, watch the on-demand webinar: “Analyzing and Simulation a Tire.”
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Broadly speaking, drylands are two immense belts around the world’s two hemispheres (see figure 1). They are the consequence of climate patterns that have shaped the general atmospheric circulation on Earth over the last millennia. The first distinction is related to landscape: they contrast with the humid regions due to the lower vegetation density and the prevalence of colors with a tendency to brown and yellow. Their climate presents a high thermal contrast between night and day, and between summer and winter, with notably lower rainfall than in humid areas of the planet. They have a unique geographic feature: they concentrate the vast majority of the population that lives directly from agriculture and livestock and are the most dependent on water for survival.
The aridity index sets the tone
From a technical point of view, drylands are determined by the aridity index. The United Nations Environmental Programme () defines drylands as areas with tropical and temperate climates with an aridity index below 0.65. There are many different aridity indexes; the one used by the UNEP is calculated as the ratio of average annual precipitation (P) in mm and the potential evapotranspiration (PET) also in mm.
AI = P/ETP.
It is interesting to understand the concept of potential evapotranspiration, which is rather complex. First, evapotranspiration is defined as the loss of humidity of a surface due to direct evaporation, adding the loss of water due to the transpiration of plants. It is expressed in millimeters per time unit. In other words, evapotranspiration includes water evaporation from the soil and plant transpiration. Both processes are caused by heat. Plant transpiration is a process that provides cooling to the plant and adjusts its photosynthesis.
Since the 1950s, geographers researching climate and its impact on soil condition have used potential evapotranspiration (PET), the maximum amount of water that evaporates from a soil entirely covered by vegetation growing under optimal conditions of unlimited water supply. The PET differs from actual evapotranspiration (AE) because the latter considers the availability of water, which means that the less water available, the lower the AE. For instance, in Spain, covered mainly by dryland, the PET is 894 mm, a value significantly higher than the average annual PET, 454 mm.
The term “dry” has many nuances
Based on the AI of the UNEP, lands can be classified by this chart:
We can see the geographical location of this classification in figure 1:
Dry subhumid zone. It is the least arid. It extends, for example, into the Sudanese savanna, the forests and grasslands of South America, the European and Siberian steppes, and the grasslands of Canada. Most of the dryland forests are in the subhumid zone (52% of its surface is forested), and some significant areas of intensive irrigated agriculture, favored by the existence of perennial rivers (which do not dry up all year round).
Semiarid lands. They can be found in various regions worldwide. For example, in sub-Saharan countries, in the Mediterranean, western North America, northern Mexico, much of Australia, Central Asia, and southern Africa. They also have a significant amount of forested area: 41%.
Arid zones. These occupy the Sahelian zone, the northern Sahara Desert, the central Middle East, some areas of central Asia, and much of Western Australia. In these areas, the proportion of forest drops drastically to 7%.
Hyperarid zones. The Sahara, Arabian, and Gobi deserts are included here.
Aridity is full of life
As we can see, drylands encompass very diverse territories that, in total, make up 41% of the planet’s land surface; this means some 6.1 billion hectares. This figure gives us an idea of these lands’ importance in the planet’s environmental balance.
Although it may seem surprising, according to the latest , these regions hold more than 27% of the world’s forests, equivalent to about 1.1 billion hectares, and only 28% of their surface is barren; the remaining 25% is occupied by grasslands and 18% by crops.
From a different perspective, in nearly one third of the world’s drylands. These trees and forests highlight one of the critical aspects of the importance of these lands: they provide habitats for biodiversity, protect the land from wind erosion and desertification, provide shade for crops, animals, and people, help water penetrate the soil, and contribute to its fertility. They are the main defense farmers and cattle breeders have against desertification and the world needs them to reduce the absorption of atmospheric carbon.
A key aspect for safeguarding planetary biodiversity is that they constitute essential migration territories for birds. These migrations regulate ecosystems between continents in a north-south direction. They are currently endangered by the disappearance of many wetlands that are the resting and feeding grounds of migratory birds.
IPCC reports warn that climate change is degrading drylands. If global warming is not stopped, conditions will be more extreme, with more droughts, intense heatwaves, and strong erosive winds. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) estimates drylands lose 23 hectares of vegetation per minute due to drought and desertification. And this loss is likely to increase during the next few decades, as rising temperatures lead to increased evapotranspiration.
According to the UNCCD, desertification is “a degradation process of fertile land in arid, semiarid, and dry subhumid areas due to climate variations and human activities.”
Regarding human activities, desertification originates when the natural and economic systems are not in sync. This usually happens when the water consumption rate exceeds its regeneration. A paradigmatic case is the depletion of aquifers in intensively cultivated areas in many regions of Spain, Arabia, California, the Middle East, western India, Australia, and several Sahel countries (see figure 2). In the latter case, overgrazing during the rainy season in semiarid and arid areas degrades the vegetation cover increasing erosion, which has been endemic in many sub-Saharan countries in the second half of the 20th century.
We must save the land
According to FAO, 70% of the world’s drylands suffer degradation, and desertification directly affects 250 million people. It is a process that threatens 1 billion people, which may cause the forced displacement of 50 million in the next ten years. It is also estimated that the global surface of arid areas may increase between 11% and 23% by the end of the century. The FAO and the World Bank currently estimate that economic losses from deforestation and land degradation amount to US$6.3 to 10.6 trillion.
These losses entail a human drama, as 90% of the inhabitants of drylands live in developing countries and have one of the highest birth rates on the planet. On the other hand, 50% of the world’s livestock and 44% of the world’s food are produced in drylands.
The FAO and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States have implemented the Action Against Desertification program to mitigate the adverse social, economic, and environmental effects of land degradation and desertification. Within the program’s framework, the land is restored by planting appropriate species to improve soil quality, promoting the use of quality seeds, managing the natural regeneration of species, and planting areas through village management committees.
Another project of Action Against Desertification is the Great Green Wall of Africa, which, as we explained in this article, brings hope to the Sahel, one of the areas most vulnerable to the current climate crisis.
The regeneration of aquifers, recovering infrastructures, and practices following nature’s model are essential to fight aridity. In our projects in India, we have proven the effectiveness of the construction of small self-managed reservoirs. In Ganjikunta and Girigetla, and more recently in Settipalli and D.K.Thanda4, these reservoirs bring life to the most impoverished farmers and regenerate aquifers slowing down deforestation. It is a development model to be followed in semiarid and arid areas of India and other countries subject to uncertain and irregular rainy seasons.
Proper irrigation management, such as drip irrigation techniques, which we have developed in Mudigubba and several villages of Andhra Pradesh, can also reduce groundwater abstraction and increase crop productivity and is a key practice for reducing water stress.
The SDGs cannot be achieved without social and economic investment to prevent dryland degradation and desertification. We all depend on them.
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Life Experiences May Shape the Activity of the Brain’s Cellular Powerhouses
Mitochondria appear to ratchet up their activity when life is going well and tamp it down during hard times
Caroline Trumpff, an assistant professor of medical psychology at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, has long been interested in the mind-body connection. While many studies have provided evidence for this link, it’s still rare to see this knowledge applied to clinical practice, she says. That is because it remains difficult to trace a direct path from life circumstances—an extended network of family and friends or, by contrast, a difficult childhood—to what is going on at the molecular level. These gaps are why Trumpff has taken an interest in mitochondria. By investigating how these tiny cellular structures mediate the effects of mind on body and body on mind, she hopes to convince people to take the role of psychosocial factors on health more seriously.
Understanding mitochondria is a good place to start. Mitochondrial problems may be a culprit in a wide range of brain disorders and diseases, ranging from schizophrenia to Parkinson’s disease. But what causes problems in our mitochondria? Evidence from past studies, mostly in animals, has pointed to psychological stress as a key factor.
To investigate the relationship between mental states and mitochondria, Trumpff and her colleagues analyzed data from the Religious Orders Study (ROS) and the Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP)—two large, ongoing assessments of aging and dementia that have recruited thousands of individuals aged 65 and older across the U.S. For these studies, known collectively as ROSMAP, researchers continuously track participants’ mental and physical health—and, after death, examine their donated brain.
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For Trumpff’s study, the team looked specifically at whether there was a relationship between participants’ reported life experiences and the characteristics of mitochondria within the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in emotion regulation and executive functions, such as problem-solving and planning. Life experiences included those associated with better mental health (such as feeling purpose in life and having a large social network) and those with a negative impact on psychological well-being (such as adverse childhood experiences and social isolation).
The researchers’ analysis, which included data from 400 ROSMAP participants, revealed that positive experiences were most closely associated with a greater abundance of mitochondrial complex I, a key group of proteins involved in oxidative phosphorylation, the process by which mitochondria generate energy. Negative experiences, on the other hand, were associated with a lower abundance of the same protein complex. The results were published on June 18 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.
These findings, Trumpff says, suggest that our experiences may have an influence on how this minute cellular component can change its activity—ratcheting energy production up or down—in response to varying life circumstances. This chain of events might also go in the opposite direction: differences in the functioning of mitochondrial machinery could influence mental health in ways that determine what types of experiences a person will have. Trumpff says it’s likely that both things are happening because prior studies—mostly in rodent brains—have demonstrated both that chronic stress can alter mitochondria and that mitochondrial defects can alter behavior.
Previous work examining mitochondria outside the brain also support these results. In 2018, for example, Martin Picard, a mitochondrial psychobiologist at Columbia and a co-author of the latest study, found that people’s mood and stress levels affected the functioning of mitochondria in immune cells known as leukocytes. (Immune cells are commonly used in this type of study because they are found in blood, making them easier to access than brain cells, which can typically only be studied after death.) Researchers have also found signs of mitochondrial dysfunction in individuals with mental health disorders such as depression.
“The findings of this study highlight the significant impact that psychosocial factors—positive and negative experiences—may have on brain mitochondrial function,” says Audrey Tyrka, a translational scientist who studies stress, trauma and resilience at Brown University and was not involved in this work. “We know that, in turn, can influence cognitive function, psychiatric conditions and general well-being.” It is important, she adds, to conduct a similar analysis in a more diverse sample. Because 98 percent of the participants were white, this study cannot address any potential race- or ethnicity-specific issues, such as stress exposures arising from systemic racism and associated health disparities, Tyrka says.
Because the ROSMAP participants were all aged 65 and older when the study began, another open question is whether a similar relationship between life experiences and the functioning of brain mitochondria exists in younger individuals. In previous work, Iris-Tatjana Kolassa, a clinical biopsychologist at the University of Ulm in Germany, and her colleagues found that in adult women, childhood trauma was associated with increased, not diminished, mitochondrial energy production in immune cells after childbirth.
One explanation for this discrepancy, according to Kolassa, is that her study looked at the postpartum period, which is typically a stressful time that is also associated with inflammation. The way that mitochondria respond during such events might be different than during a normal state. Another possibility is that stress might lead to increased mitochondrial energy production in the short term—and, over time, this could lead to wear and tear that results in decreased mitochondrial capacity in older age. It may also be that mitochondria in immune cells react differently than those in the brain, according to Trumpff.
Although more research is needed to confirm the psychosocial-mitochondrial link that Trumpff’s team found, the study itself is a provocative finding that adds to the growing body of evidence indicating that states of mind and prior experiences such as early-life trauma can shape mitochondrial function, says Vidita Vaidya, a neuroscientist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in India, who was not involved in the work. “At the moment, the jury is still out on causality—but there’s something here that’s really intriguing and worth exploring further.”
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When Should I Plant My Bulbs?
The plant parts that form underground and anchor the flower are an essential part of the lifeline to the plant's health. Most of the time, these underground shoots are the roots. But in some instances, they are underground stems that we mistake as roots! For example, rhizomes, bulbs, tubers, and corms are in this category. These are storage containers full of starch and energy like carbs that benefit the plant to survive unfavorable weather conditions.
Rhizomes are thickened stems that develop horizontally under the soil surface. Rhizomes have green bumps called eyes or buds that extend along the top and sides. These serve as growing points for the stems and foliage to emerge and surface the soil. Some rhizomes are fleshy or slender and elongated with internodes.
Tubers are thick, knobby, and enlarged portions that store food for the plant and cluster at the bottom of the stem growing vertically below the soil's surface. New shoots will emerge from the "eyes or buds" of this rooting system.
Bulbs are usually a rounded, ball-like shape with a narrowing tip from which the stem and leaves emerge. They often have a papery layer on the outside called a tunicate. This layer protects the bulb from drying out during dormancy. Although, not all bulbs have this protective layer, such as lilies, and can bruise easier and dry out faster. Notice the flat part on the bulb. This part is the bottom where the roots will grow, and new offsets will emerge. If you were to dissect it down the middle, you would discover a miniature flower waiting to emerge.
Corms appear comparable to bulbs without fleshy scales. Corms will be both rounded or slightly flattened with a distinct upright orientation on top. The parent corm withers away at the end of the season but produces cormels or cormlets from eyes on the primary corm's top or side. Larger new corms will flower the following year, as smaller cormels may take a while to mature enough for blooming.
How To Plant Rhizomes, Tubers, Bulbs & Corms
How To Plant Calla Lilies & Canna Lilies:
To plant, ensure the eyes are facing upwards. Refer to each plant for the specific directions on planting and spacing.
To propagate, split into divisions including at least one eye with the root system. Replant separately.
- Calla Lilies & Canna Lilies are Rhizomes
- Check our chart below for the approximate time your area has its last frost of the season. Around that time, check the forecast for any lingering cooler weather conditions that could damage the tender growth emerging moving forward. Select a safe date to plant after all knowledge of temperatures below 40°F is passed.
- Choose a site in zones 3-7 that provide 6-8 hours of full sun. In higher zones, provide partial shade in the afternoons with a total of 4-6 hours of sun.
- Prepare the soil by adding soil amendments if it isn't well-draining and the earth is heavy. The soil pH range should be 6 to 7. A pH monitor can determine your range. Add amendments such as lime or aluminum sulfate to the soil, depending on your numbers.
- Plant each rhizome generally 3 to 4 inches deep, 6 to 9 inches wide hole, and 12 to 18 inches apart after the last frost in your planting zone. Place your rhizomes in a horizontal position, so the eyes are facing upward. Add compost or soil conditioners and mix in with the native soil.
- Add an organic fertilizer such as bone meal rich in phosphorus, calcium, and a trace of nitrogen. These nutrients will help the roots establish.
- A soluble bulb fertilizer like 3-5-3 can also be a part of the soil amendments to give your bulbs a good start.
- Water the plantings afterward, being careful that the water drains well around the planting area. Continue to water after planting and throughout the growing season when the ground is dry. Use the shower setting on the nozzle to give it an even, rain-like watering to avoid erosion and divots in the garden bed.
- As the foliage emerges, repeat the bulb fertilizer application each month until they start blooming. Stop when the Calla's start flowering to help extend the life of the bloom.
How To Plant Caladiums & Elephant Ears:
Caladiums & Elephant Ears are tuber plants. To plant, find the bud and place it facing upward, bury it two to three times the tuber's height. Refer to each plant for the specific directions on planting and spacing.
To propagate, divide the tubers into sections, with each segment including an eye or bud. Replant separately.
How To Plant Amaryllis, Daffodils, Tulips, Snowdrops, and Hyacinths:
Amaryllis, Daffodils, Tulips, Snowdrops, and Hyacinths are bulbs. To plant, face the basal plate (flat side) downward and the pointy side upward. Usually, you'll bury the bulb two to three times the bulb's height. Dig the hole at least three to four times as wide and amend the soil if it's heavy or clay. Refer to each plant for the specific directions on planting and spacing.
After 2-3 years, bulbils can be removed off the base plate (rooted area) and replanted separately at the same depth to propagate.
How To Plant Gladiolus & Crocus:
Gladiolus & Crocus are Corms. To plant, face the basal plate (flat side) downward and bury two to three times the corm's height.
To propagate, divide the corms at the end of the blooming season and plant them separately.
Gladiolus and crocus are examples of corm plants.
When to Plant My Bulbs
Summer blooming bulbs will begin in the Spring after the last threat of frost in your planting zone. Check your planting zone here. Check our chart for the approximate time your area has its last frost of the season. Around that time, check the extended forecast for any impending cooler weather conditions that could damage the tender growth emerging after planting. Select a safe date to plant after all knowledge of temperatures below 40°F is passed.
When To Plant Summer Bulbs Based On Zone Chart
Planting Zone Map
Schedule to plant blooms that show off in the early Spring in the fall during September and October when the soil begins to cool.
Prechilling in Warmer Climates
If you are planting in warmer zones (8-11), the bulbs will need a "pre-chilling" to produce a bloom. The chilling period lasts 10-14 weeks in a refrigerated compartment free of ripening fruit or ethylene gas exposure. Temperatures at 35°F to 45°F will stimulate a biochemical response that formulates the flower and root growth. Begin this process in mid-October and plant them outdoors fourteen weeks later.
The best area to plant in warmer climates is where there is protection from the afternoon sun. Four to six hours of morning to midday sun would be ideal. The topsoil can be mulched 3-4 inches deep after planting to retain moisture and keep weed seeds from sprouting. Mulching will also keep the ground cool.
If you're ready to add some new plants to the garden this Spring, check out our bulb offerings here! Please share your pictures on Instagram and Facebook of your bundles of beauty!
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Will the toughness of tundra animals be their benefit or their bane in a changing climate?
In this educational tool-kit, your pupils will learn about why and where there is a region called Fennoscandia.
Polar regions have very unique adaptations to the Arctic climate how do they work? GO TO TEACHERS’ GUIDELINES DOWNLOAD OFFLINE VERSION OF MATERIALS Watch the recording of “Plants adaptations to the Arctic climate” webinar
Northern lights are a phenomenon that has fascinated people for centuries.
Zooplankton, small floating or weakly swimming organisms that drift with water currents and, with phytoplankton, make up the planktonic food supply upon which almost all oceanic organisms are ultimately dependent.
What is toxic, how does bioaccumulation and biomagnification work, how do toxins influence Arctic ecosystems?
The taiga is the deep boreal forests of the north.
What are soils, why are they important and how are they formed?
Heavier rainstorms, more landslides, the winds howling more often, a longer summer…
Do you know what happens when a new species arrives in an area where it does not belong?
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In the mid-1990s, mortality rates in certain regions of India began to rise. It was unclear why people were dying, but the problems seemed to be greatest in densely populated urban areas. Soon after, they discovered that the number of vultures also declined dramatically. Not too long ago, almost 50 million vultures were alive, but 97% disappeared since.
In India, the cow is sacred and may not be eaten. As soon as a cow died, the vultures would swoop down and eat the carcass in no time. It was a fantastic system for waste management and disease prevention, but since there are almost no vultures left and so, cow carcasses keep lying around for a long time.
Bacteria and pathogens ended up in the drinking water and spread quickly. Although stray dogs took over the role of the vultures, they were far less effective at cleaning up rotting remains and became sick themselves. This led to more dog-related problems, such as aggression and an increase in rabies, which had serious consequences for public health. Eventually, around 100,000 people died each year.
Further investigation revealed that the vultures died from kidney failure. The cow carcasses they ate were full of diclofenac, a cheap painkiller that works well for cattle but is deadly for vultures. As farmers began to give this drug to their sick cows more often and in larger quantities, the mortality rate among the vultures also increased.
Instead of slowing down to discover the root of the problem, people prefer the fast track. They don’t understand that most quick fixes lead to much extra rework, energy, time, and costs. In the example of the vulture deaths in India, Elam Pharma quickly came up with a solution to cure sick cows with medicines, and the farmers desperately jumped in. Elam Pharma made millions. Ultimately, the consequential damage was enormous, and it is estimated it cost Indian society around 32 billion euros a year.
When solving problems, most of the time, there is not a proper investigation to understand what is really going on, and opportunistic and reductionist actions are taken to quickly get to a solution. In doing so, we lose sight of the bigger picture, and the implemented solutions turn out suboptimal, often causing new problems. We end up in a vicious circle.
This phenomenon of compartmentalisation is everywhere around us. Take the government. Whenever there is a complex problem, they divide it across different ministries, resulting in unsensible and impractical policies.
This also happens in many organisations. Departments such as strategy, innovation, sustainability, (digital) transformation, IT and D&I hardly work together, while they have a lot in common and ultimately share the same goal. They compete with each other for the same resources to achieve their KPIs and seem to forget they are all in the same boat.
Instead of working together, they work against each other. Everyone works hard trying to solve problems caused by the other departments. They go in circles, and the organisation does not move forward while the real issues remain unsolved or worsen.
It often pays to dwell on the problem because you come to different insights when you dig deeper. Years ago, Jerry Sternin of Save the Children was asked to tackle the malnutrition of Vietnamese children. He went into the villages to talk to residents and see with his own eyes what was going on. He discovered there were also poor families with healthy children.
Rather than thinking about how to get the logistics of a large food distribution program off the ground, he asked himself, “How come children of these poor families are healthy?” The insights he gained from his exploration helped him set up a program that used local food sources which were not seen as food for people, solving the problem more structurally.
In the case of the vultures in India, the question should not have been “How do we get the cows healthy again?” but “Why do these cows get sick?”
This article was originally published in Dutch on MT/Sprout, the most popular business and management platform in the Netherlands.
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Some of the projects we develop in enzyme are large-scale master plans, urban design projects and big architectural developments. These types of projects have specific presentation rules and particular materials that architects and designers have to provide in order to explain the global strategies before jumping into detail.
In our profession, we know and admire the power of communication through diagramming. Offices like BIG have created a trend on how architects think and explain their architecture, getting inspired by the simplicity and power of communication with diagrams of various kinds.
Large scale projects need to use this type of documentation to explain concisely the ideas driving the project before getting into detail. Parameters like Circulation, Sunlight Strategy, Flow Analysis, Shape and Form exploration…
Both images courtesy of BIG Architects.
Usually, the workflow to produce these documents would be to create a 3D file in softwares like Rhino or Sketchup and send the images into Illustrator or Photoshop to add colour, arrows, express the line weights, etc. The result is amazing but is quite laborious. This process has a lot of manual steps; if the project changes , then the process needs to be re-started.
We produce this documentation inside ARCHICAD. Yes, ARCHICAD.
Most of the people think that a BIM tool can not be used for concept design, but today I want to show you how you can do it and how easy it is!
With a proper set of layers, few graphic overrides and a pen set prepared for it, it is easy to reproduce similar effects as softwares as Illustrator or Photoshop would do. The huge benefit here is that most of the process remains parametric and linked to your model. Changes on the model will update our diagrams, and will minimise the work we need to do every time there is an update in the model. We save time and our documentation is more accurate.
The first thing to do with the model is to keep the level of detail low for diagramming. We usually use a set of layers for this task. We don’t use the zones at this point yet because the display in section is not very customisable and are a little bit harder to use, but for the purpose of the 3D diagrams, Zones could work as well. I would say this is a user choice.
Use one group of layers for diagrams and Graphic Overrides to play with the look.
One trick we do is to use a “composite slab” with the full height of the story that has two layers: one layer for the structural slab (concrete or white at this stage) and a layer of a building material displaying a particular function of our project. This allows you to give just the right amount of detail to create at the same time 3D diagrams, Floor Plans and Sections from the same diagrammatic model. Yes, ARCHICAD allows you to do all this with a very smooth process.
One last benefit of using this “trick” is that while giving you a great control of the graphics, this composite slabs can create automatic schedules of areas, total gross area and also a breakdown of the different building categories.
There are many ways we can create these type of images, today we are going to explore the simplest one.
In order to create the 3D diagram, we are going to use 3D Documents. 3D Documents are like a 2D line work “photograph” of the 3D, but still linked to it. If the Model changes the 3D document will adapt. But at the same time it is a vectorial “flat projection”, like a plan or a section. That means that you can program the 3D document with Graphic Overrides (3D doc settings has its own set of overrides as well) to get the look that you want, but also you can work in 2D on top of that vectorial “photograph”.
You can add colours, you can add people, arrows… anything you want in order to achieve the look that you want!
In this example, I drew a “3D arrow” with a fill using the gradient type fill.
One more thing, 3D documents are alive! That means that if you change the layers, the pen set, or the override it will affect the 3D document. The good news is that you can save views of them as well. So you can alter the view settings as in any other viewport of ARCHICAD. You can create a layer combination, a graphic overrides set and even a special pen set with the adequate line thickness and colours for your diagrams and save them all together as view settings.
Combine the different views in Layouts and draw on top of them.
And the last thing, you can create various 3D documents and combine them together in the layouts to give different effects. The possibilities are endless! Combine your BIM model and your creativity drawing in 2D inside the 3D document or directly on the layout. Use different degree of detail in 3D and different views in the layouts.
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Please note: this software was written and designed before 64-bit operating systems (OS) were introduced. If you are running a 64-bit OS, such as a 64-bit version of Windows Vista or Windows 7, this software may not function. Please note that suppliers do not accept returns of sealed software that has been opened, and NHBS can therefore not refund such items. If in doubt, please contact customer services or the software supplier to enquire after compatibility before purchasing this item.
New multimedia CD-book from Pisces, drawing on the huge amount of material assembled by Henderson, one of the leading authorities on Amazonian fish.
From the publisher's announcement:
An invaluable resource for aquarists, and anyone interested in Amazonian ecology.
This multimedia CD presents an array of in-depth information on the topic, written by an expert in the field. The original texts, photographs and videos are presented with an array of features designed both to make research easier in finding the facts you need, and to make the material accessible to amateurs. Graphs, tables and diagrams present original and complete recordings, in addition to the comprehensive texts.
Many popular aquarium fish originate in Amazonia; anyone interested in either the fish or the ecology of the region will find this CD invaluable. Information is not limited to the fish; plants, animals, birds, and even human life is discussed, to provide a remarkable insight. With hundreds of original colour photographs, maps, and diagrams, Peter Henderson provides one of the most complete reference works about the region ever published.
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Vaping and Wildlife: Assessing the Environmental Impact
While the health risks of vaping for humans are becoming increasingly clear, the potential impact on wildlife remains largely unexplored. As the popularity of e-cigarettes continues to rise, understanding the potential ecological consequences is crucial for protecting our environment.
Wildlife can be directly exposed to vape emissions through several pathways:
- Inhalation: Animals living near areas with high vaping activity, such as parks or outdoor cafes, may inhale the exhaled aerosol containing harmful chemicals.
- Ingestion: Birds and small mammals might mistake discarded e-cigarette components or vape Packman disposable liquid for food or water, leading to poisoning.
- Habitat Contamination: Leaked or discarded e-cigarette liquids and devices can contaminate soil and water bodies, potentially harming aquatic life and animals that rely on these resources.
The consequences of vaping can also indirectly affect wildlife through:
- Disruption of Food Chains: The presence of contaminants in the environment can disrupt food chains, impacting animal populations at multiple levels.
- Habitat Degradation: Discarded e-cigarette devices contribute to plastic pollution, harming wildlife through entanglement and ingestion.
- Impact on Biodiversity: The overall health of ecosystems can be compromised if vaping-related factors harm key species or disrupt crucial ecological processes.
Limited Research, Urgent Need for Answers:
Currently, research on the specific effects of vaping on wildlife is limited, making it difficult to draw definitive conclusions. However, the potential risks highlighted above necessitate further investigation. Studies are needed to understand the extent of exposure, the specific effects on different species, and the long-term implications for ecosystems.
As we await more research, several precautionary measures can be taken:
- Promote responsible vaping practices: Encourage proper disposal of e-cigarette waste and discourage vaping in areas frequented by wildlife.
- Support research initiatives: Allocate resources to study the ecological impact of vaping and develop solutions to mitigate potential harm.
- Raise awareness: Educate the public about the potential risks of vaping to wildlife and encourage responsible behavior.
By acknowledging the potential impact of vaping on wildlife and taking proactive steps, we can work towards a future where both human health and the environment are protected.
It is important to note that this article does not make any claims about the safety or risks of vaping for humans.
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A BlogBook is a collection of blog posts intended to be weaved into a book.
This page is the BlogBook I called “Programming Wisdom”. It is incomplete and will probably remain so for a long time. I’m still grappling with what I want to write here even years later.
Nevertheless, here is what I wrote:
What is Programming Wisdom?
This is the first post of my new BlogBook, Programming Wisdom.
This initial post starts off by discussing exactly what I mean by "wisdom" in the context of programming. Non-programmers may still be interested as it is more about wisdom than programming.
Wisdom is now one of those Old English words that you're probably only likely to encounter in a church nowadays, like Atonement or Reconciliation. In the era of exponentially-exploding knowledge, wisdom has been just plain crowded out.
For a long time, my favorite definition of wisdom was: "Knowledge is the knowing of a fact; wisdom is understanding how to apply the knowledge." I think there's still some truth to that, but I've come to prefer this formulation:
Knowledge is when you know some fact about something.
Wisdom is when you have a sense of the whole system, and can take actions based on the whole of the system, not just a part.
I think here are two basic kinds of wisdom:
- Received wisdom: Hard and fast rules generalizations, often passed down the generations and now phrased in absolutes, because after every person passing along the wisdom is done simplifying and distorting it, like in the classic Telephone game, what's left is incomprehensible and worthless. This is best demonstrated by the well-known joke/parable about the mother who cut of the end of her pot roast for reasons unknown; what started as a perfectly reasonable practice was brittle and useless "received wisdom" within two generations.
- Learned wisdom: The wisdom you have put together yourself over the years, from your own experiences.
Every generation of recorded history has had to re-examine its received wisdom, and replace some of it with learned wisdom. This is both a personal process and a societal process, especially important in a democratic government where "prevailing wisdom" can have an impact on the actions of the society.
Learned wisdom can not be taught, because it is too complicated; the full totality of a system of understanding can not be expressed in words. The wisest solution for any given problem changes radically depending upon every aspect of the specific situation. Everything from the smallest technical consideration to the largest political consideration matters.
Received wisdom may be inferior to true wisdom, but it is also simpler, and there are times when that is enough. One of the better ways to conceptualize parenting is providing the child with a good enough "received wisdom" scaffolding so that they can survive long enough to develop their own true wisdom.
There are many things like this in life, including life as a whole. You can read all about football strategy all you want, but until you're out there on the field you can't understand the full depth of the situation, and once you are out there, you realize that the theory only scratches the surface. You can't become a master chess player by reading about chess.
It is easy to conclude from this that reading about chess or football is a waste of time, but that's untrue. What can be done for wisdom is to sensitize the student to the structure of the problems they will encounter, to offer them initial tools to approach the problem with, and (ideally) to encourage the student to eventually work out their own understanding of the topic, and fly free. You may obtain mastery without ever learning the theory, but done properly, you'll attain mastery faster if you bootstrap off of the theory. Most likely, you'll learn it better in the end too, and the theory can provide you with new words and concepts you can use to communicate with other people who share your understanding of the theory.
The purpose of this book is to so sensitize you, to speed wisdom and to a lesser degree, to offer you some initial scaffolding you can build around. I consider the latter a lesser goal because you can find many places online and in the book store that could help with the scaffolding; it is the other ideas I chose to write about here because I do not know of a single place to find them. Some received wisdom is inevitable, because without discussing real problems this already-abstract work would become too abstract to be useful. I also hope to help you avoid the common error of prematurely mistaking some particular bit of received wisdom or dogma as Absolute Truth; you must learn to make your own judgments.
Much of what I say here is said elsewhere of course, but I believe the consistency with which I apply my unifying principle (about which more later) may be unique. Some of the perspectives I have here are also at the very least unusual and possibly unique among the set of people who write about programming. I am directly targeting programmers first starting out on their way, perhaps a sophomore or junior in college, or someone who has been programming for a year or two. Those whom have been actively working on building their own wisdom will probably find somewhat less value here.
In fact, they will certainly find things they disagree with; I'd even go so far as to call it a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for being wise. One of the characteristics of the rich problem space that so many things in life present is that due to our different experiences and perspectives, no two of us ever come to the exact same understanding. But even though you will eventually end up disagreeing with me, you will hopefully develop faster for having been exposed to the right kind of wrong idea.
## Why Do We Care What's Special About Programming?The first step to attaining wisdom is to understand why special "programming wisdom" is needed in the first place.
It's easy to get the idea that software is easy to create, because it is partially true. Computers get more powerful every year, and we trade in on that power to make programming easier. Every year results in more and better libraries. Changing software is very easy, and it's relatively easy to test compared to an equivalently-complex real-world object. J. Random User can write an Excel macro with a reasonable amount of effort that saves him a lot of time, and early programmers can become excited about what amazing things they can do just by assembling existing libraries and frameworks together which makes everything seem so easy.
This rosy picture is brought to you by confirmation bias, paying attention only to the uniquely easy characteristics and ignoring the things that make it uniquely challenging. Poke past the surface and you find a strange, complicated, chaotic beast. Learning to tame the power requires a lot of experience and wisdom.
## Programming is Uniquely DifficultEngineers of other disciplines often take offense at the claim that software is uniquely difficult. They do have a point. As pointed out by Fred Brooks in hyper-classic The Mythical Man Month, one reason software is hard because software is so uniquely easy.
We fundamentally built on top of components that have reliability literally in the 99.999999999% range and beyond; a slow 2GHz CPU that "merely" failed once every trillion operations would still fail on average in eight hours at full load, which would be considered highly unreliable in a server room. Physical engineers would kill for this sort of reliability in their products. Or an equivalent to our ability to re-use libraries. Or how easily we can test most of our functionality with the ability to replicate the tests 100% accurately. Or any number of other very nice things we get in the software domain. Our job is far easier in some ways than any discipline concerned with the physical world, where nothing ever works 100%.
Every library, every new computer, every new programming paradigm, and every other such new thing is designed to make programming easier. Some significant fraction of these things actually do make programming easier, though it can be surprisingly difficult to figure out exactly which. And with every task made easier, we face a choice: We can do the task in less time and then be done, or we can do the task in less time, then take on some other task.
Almost without fail, we choose the latter. This is not unique to software by any means; humans have been making this choice for centuries across a wide variety of fields. What is unique is that this interacts with the unique reliability of software; we can, and therefore do, create huge stacks of software for various purposes. The amount of software involved in running even the simplest of static web sites is well beyond what one human could fully understand. (Full understanding here means the ability to describe the reason for absolutely every design decision, and the ability to then make informed decisions about changes in such a way that minimal adverse affects occur. By this standard, it's likely nobody even fully understands things like the Linux Kernel; even the more central people in kernel development have sometimes made incorrect decisions about core components.)
It's because it's easy to build and build on top of software that the "simple" task of web development requires understanding at least three languages (one a full-fledged programming language), and then at least two more languages (another full-fledged programming language and SQL for the database) on the server, and the server code itself may be even more complicated than that. It's because it's easy to build and build on top of software that this language count is going up, not down, in the future. It's because of this that Windows development tends to get more complicated over time, as more and more abstractions and layers are created.
If these layers could perfectly seal off the layers below them, this wouldn't be so bad, because what really matters is the set of knowledge you have to have in order to do useful work. If the abstractions were perfect, you'd only need to understand the top layer, and that is much simpler than having to understand the whole stack. Unfortunately, since all abstractions leak, the result is increasing complexity over time.
We make these trades for good reasons. I would not trade my software stack for a Commodore 64. I look forward to the next iteration as much as the next programmer. But modern software development is complicated beyond belief, beyond comprehension. Where once a Renaissance Man might know "all there is to know" about the whole of science, today you are an above-average developer if you can stay fully competent in more than one language of the many tens of languages that are viable for doing large projects... and that's just the mainstream general-purpose language count. Go beyond the mainstream or into specialized languages and the count goes into the high hundreds or low thousands.
Ironically, it is exactly the unique ease of software development that ends up making it uniquely complicated.
## The Programming Construction MetaphorI've gone on before about how distrustful of metaphors I am, and it seems like every year I'm getting more distrustful of them. Either deal with the thing as it is, or just give up understanding it. Metaphors lead to the beginning of understanding, but no farther.
Programmers aren't immune to the metaphor sickness, and if there's one metaphor you can expect to see trotted out at the earliest available opportunity, it's the "programming as construction" metaphor. This metaphor has been skillfully deconstructed many many times before, but I'm going to deconstruct it from the opposite angle... what if construction was like software engineering?
If we built buildings the way we wrote software, we wouldn't even call a contractor; we'd go down to our local hardware store and pick up a copy of Microsoft House. We'd poke the parameters into Microsoft House, push a button, and our house would be templated within seconds. Rather than mucking about with blueprints and plans, we'd walk through an actual physical house, and customize it in real time, because there's nothing they're going to ask for that Microsoft hasn't already heard and incorporated into Microsoft House. Building a house has been done.
Microsoft House costs $59.95 and is certified to comply with the building and housing code in every jurisdiction in North America. You could also use GnuHouse, which is Free and has a few more features but a bit less style, since nobody could afford to hire the best designers.
Anyone who has even built a shed in the back yard knows this is not how construction works. Construction is nothing like software engineering. The difficulty of doing what has been done before is nearly zero, and as a result we don't spend much time on that. If you have to draw an analogy with something, "engineering" in software is more like "research" in any other field; you can't know exactly how long something will take, even if you have a good idea about where you're going and how to get there, because at any moment something new and surprising may jump out at you and change everything.... and I'm not even considering the possibility of "changing requirements" when I say that.
## Software is Uniquely ComplicatedIn 2007, with a well-loaded Linux desktop installation, my /usr/bin is 257 megabytes, with debugging off and dynamically-linked libraries not contributing to that count. My particular copy of the Linux kernel 2.6.19 with certain Gentoo patches has 202,381,268 bytes of C code alone. If I'm computing this correctly, at a constant 100 words per minute (5 chars/word), that's 281 24-hour days just to re-type the C code in the kernel.
One of the projects I was able to work on during my schooling years was a relatively obscure Learning Content Management System with over a decade of history behind it. At the moment, that project contains roughly 3000 files in its CVS repository, nearly 300,000 lines of Perl code in just under 9 megabytes, and still going. One rule of thumb says multiplying by five converts a line count from Perl to something like Java, which would be 1.5 million lines of code. And this is just the project-specific code; it is layered on top of also-complex tools like the Perl implementation, the Apache webserver, the Linux kernel, and numerous other libraries and frameworks of all shapes and sizes. Some of these things, like the library used to support internationalization, are tiny. Others like the Linux kernel or the Apache webserver dwarf this single project.
No matter how you slice it, software has a lot of moving parts, but there's no obvious way to compare source code complexity to mechanical complexity. Trying to do a straight part-count comparison is probably therefore disingenuous, so we can't make a straight quantitative comparison. I'd assert that even relatively simple pieces of software have more parts in them than even relatively complex machines like modern automobiles (minus their software), but I have no way to prove this.
There is a qualitative distinction we can draw between the physical world and the world of software, though: the interaction of the parts of a program qualitatively differ from a real-world device. A real world device's connectivity between parts is limited by physical three-dimensional space; with rare exceptions, parts that are interacting must be physically next to each other. In software, any part can interact with any other part at any time. It's as if they are all right next to each other, a physically untenable situation, the equivalent of zero-dimensional space. (There are some exceptions to physical proximity, like process boundaries, but these are often crossed as well.) Software can also include as a critical component arbitrary pieces from any place in the world, thanks to network communications; the Internet as a machine is the size of the planet. The software stack to run a Google search on the client side is already complex (web browser, OS, graphics driver, text services, graphics renderers, and more), but add in the need for Google's server system to be functioning correctly with it's own mind-boggling complexity, and you start to see why it's a miracle software ever works at all.
Fortunately, we can also harness some characteristics of software to reduce the complication that any one person needs to worry about at any one point in time to a reasonable level, or it really would be impossible to write a program that can be counted on to work. Again, it is the unique ease of software that makes all this complexity possible; part of the reason other fields don't deal with the kind of complexity that software can deal with is because they lack the reliability of the basic components, testability, and other such aspects of software. They are forced to keep it simple by the nature of the physical world. The only thing stopping medical doctors from dealing with equal or greater complexity is that they can't see into biological processes as well as we can see into software processes, so they are forced to deal with a simplified model of the human body. As we continue to master the physical world, physical engineers and biologists will begin to experience this complexity too. Programmers may be blazing a trail, and it may be unique today, but someday everybody will get to deal with the complexity of software.
## Software is Uniquely ChaoticIn my continuing series on why software is special, motivating writing a book about it, this post discusses how software is chaotic.
Here I refer to the mathematical definition of chaos, which I will define as: "A chaotic system is one in which small changes in the initial conditions can cause large and unpredictable changes in the system's iterated state." This is based on the mathematical definition(s), but simplified for our purposes. It's not just a word, it's a quasi-formal concept.
Every clause of the definition is important. In particular, people often leave out the "unpredictable" part of the definition of chaos, but you do not have chaos if everything is predictable. If you are at the top of a very round, smooth hill with a heavy ball, the final destination of the ball is predictably determined by the initial direction you give it when you drop it. This is what physicists would call "unstable", but it is not chaotic.
Every computer science curriculum worth anything will talk about the fundamental limits of computing, such as the halting problem in all of its guises. One of the most important things to carry away from that seemingly-academic discussion, even if you have no interest in pursuing further academics, is that unpredictability is fundamental to the building blocks of software. Once you start using Turing Machines, you have entered the realm of chaos. A single bit changed in the data or the program can have arbitrarily large effects, and in the general case, you can not predict what those effects are, not even in theory.
Software is almost the canonical embodiment of mathematical chaos. You can control and limit the chaos to some degree, but there is a boundary beyond which you fundamentally may not pass, and the reality of this boundary is so thoroughly embedded in the way we program that it is almost invisible. (The people who can best help you see this boundary are those who are studying ways to prove correctness in programs. They push the frontier a little further back with great effort and cleverness, and for this I salute them, but they will never be able to completely remove the chaos.) Per my earlier discussion about the lack of spatial separation, the full state space of a system is inevitably incomprehensibly large, leading to a lot of "room" for chaos to manifest, more than we could ever hope to examine. ("Room" grows exponentially in the size of the computer's memory.) This makes the system more unpredictable in practice, even if in theory the full behavior of the program could be understood. And being discrete, even the smallest change of a single bit can have arbitrarily large changes in the evolution of a program's state space.
Many other engineering disciplines certainly encounter chaos, though most try to minimize it, because unpredictable systems are generally less preferable than predictable ones. Even those that embrace it try to contain and minimize it; studying chaos can help you build a better muffin batter mixer but you wouldn't build the entire bread factory's mechanisms to function mathematically chaotically. (If you did wish to invoke chaos for some reason, you'd do it with software managing the system. The machines would still be designed to function non-chaotically.)
It can be very valuable for a computer programmer to take some time to study some of the characteristics of chaotic systems; I don't think a truly mathematical approach is necessary, so an informal overview and some time with a fractal-generation program should suffice. Things like "attractors" have obvious correlations to how software functions. You'll get enough practical experience once you start coding on your own, once you know what you're looking for.
## [Cheap] Good Practice is Unusually Hard to CreateThe most common complaint about software is that it is "too buggy". The question is, "What does too buggy mean?" People making this complaint are often holding software to absurdly high standards, even when making comparisions to other engineering disciplines. In fact, bridges do fall down. Architects fail; often the designs can be seen to fail and corrected or maintained before catastrophic collapse, but it happens. Software is no more likely to be absolutely perfect than any other human endeavor.
Software is an engineering concern, and one of the things that means is that you can't have anything for free. If faced with the choice between a $100 piece of buggy or incomplete software, and a $50,000 piece of production-quality bullet-proof highly-tested quality software, it's unfair to complain that the $100 piece of software is buggy and incomplete.
Because software exists as an amorphous collection of numbers, and is mostly concerned with the manipulation of other amorphous numbers, when it fails, it is on average not as big of a problem as when other engineering artifacts fail. Software generally can't kill someone. (To the extent that it can, more care needs to be taken.) Thus, given a choice between a program that occasionally sort of eats your data but mostly works for $50, or a solid program that never ever eats your data but costs X*$50, people will generally take the former. Even if it's a bad idea. Even if the program will end up eating more than (X-1)*$50 worth of data. I'm not saying it's rational, I'm just saying that's how people are. The more expensive, higher quality program often won't even get made because nobody will buy it.
How many of you out there in the audience have complained about Microsoft's OS products? How many of you have even seriously considered spending many thousands of dollars more on robust UNIX-based systems? A few hands, yes, but not many. (Note that the quoted price includes some estimated training costs and such.) How many of you would actually shell out $2000 for a hypothetical version of Windows that never crashed, but didn't actually have any more features than your current Windows OS? Not many, I see. What about during the Windows 3.1 days, back when Windows itself crashed more often? Ah, that's a few more, but most of you are still picking the cheap-but-crashy software. Don't lie, I can see it in your spending patterns.
Here lies the core problem with finding good practice for software engineering. We can adapt the same basic processes used in other engineering disciplines. We have the examples from NASA and select other applications to show that software can be created with extremely high reliability. However, in the "real world" people simply aren't willing to spend the money necessary to create software with these heavyweight good practices, because thanks to the previously mentioned unique aspects of software (the number of interacting parts, mathematical chaos), this sort of software is extremely expensive. People want cheaper software. This is perfectly rational; often the thing that costs $X and does 90% of what you need is honestly the better choice than the thing that costs $100*X and does everything you need perfectly; it all comes down to a complicated and situation-dependent set of calculations for each choice.
The other problem is that it's not necessarily clear what the best practice actually is after all. Non-software developers will often be seen accusing software developers as a whole of not caring about process, but the truth is almost the exact opposite: Software engineering as a whole is nearly obsessed with process. From the Agile Methodology proponents, to those pushing UML, to any number of management methodologies ranging from the heavy to the light and everything in between, everything has been tried at one point or another. Metrics? Tried 'em, from the simple ("lines of code") to the obscure and mathematical ("cyclomatic complexity"). None of them are worthwhile. Testing methodologies all fail in the face of exponential state space. Design methodologies have experienced some ups and downs, but still there's nothing like a "one true answer". It's not that software engineers haven't tried to produce good process, it's that it's really hard to create a good process that meets all the constraints placed on us by customers.
Research into better methodologies is an ongoing process. Progress is slow due to the near impossibility of doing true scientific research on the topic, but some progress is being made. It's actually an amazing accomplishment for a 2007 program to have the same number of apparent bugs as a 1987 program; the same number of apparent bugs is spread out over a much larger code base, which implies that code bases are in fact improving in quality. This quality improvement happens as we improve our libraries, as we improve our methodologies slowly but surely, and as we tune our tools and libraries for these improved methodologies.
"Cheap, good, soon - pick two." In engineering terms, we are in fact learning how to make things cheaply and well, just as critics want, but it's at the cost of "soon". It's an extremely hard problem, so it's taking a long time. There's a long way yet to go. The way people want software to be all of "cheap, good, and soon" isn't really unique, but the degree which software is affected by these pressures is unusal... and as far as I can tell, the sanctimonious pronouncements about how we should do our job "better" from non-programmers do seem to be unique.
(One note: Throughout this section, when I talk about the costs of software, I am mostly talking about production costs, not actually the cost to the user. Thus, "free" software is not an issue here, because there is no such thing as software that is free to produce. "Free" or "open source" software simply pays for production costs in ways other than directly charging users; the mechanisms of such production are way out of scope of this book.)
## Programming is not Uniquely UniqueI want to be clear about my purpose here. My point is not to claim that the uniqueness of programming is itself unique. Every interesting field is unique in its own special way. For each field, it is helpful to understand why it is unique if you wish to truly excel, or you may bring inappropriate concepts from other domains in, or export inappropriate programming concepts to other domains. I say that programming has several unique aspects and that these aspects are worth thinking about, but this does not mean that programming is privileged somehow.
In fact, that would be a very bad attitude to have since the very purpose of a professional programmer is to serve somebody else, and service workers don't succeed with a holier-than-thou attitude.
This chapter is intended both to combat the perception I have seen that programming is somehow equivalent to some other task, prompting bad suggestions and in the worst cases bad decisions, and to explicitly call out the things that are special about programming to encourage people to think clearly about them. None of this takes away from the specialness or uniqueness of anything else.
There is a delicate balance to be had here. There are powerful underlying similarities shared by many disciplines, but everything is also unique. Ideal skill development can only be had both truths are correctly balanced, when you learn how to correctly leverage your past experiences while at the same time seeing how the new task is different.
(This work is of course about programming because a programmer is what I am. I am not qualified to write Baseball Wisdom or Accounting Wisdom, presuming I'm even qualified to write Programming Wisdom. In a way, nobody ever really is, but it's better that somebody try.)
The unifying principle of this book is:
Everything costs something. Everything worth talking about has benefits. Nothing is free; nothing has infinite value.
This sounds very simple and unobjectionable, but experience shows people have a hard time putting it into practice and realizing how pervasive the principle is.
## CompressionBelow the fold, a discussion about compression, using this as a clear example of a principle I intend to relate to other programming principles, and indeed engineering principles in general.
The Pigeonhole principle is named for the fact that if you have five holes and six pigeons that need holes, no matter how you arrange the pigeons in the holes you have at least one hole with two pigeons in it.
A simple and air-tight proof that no algorithm can possible compress all sets of data is based on this principle. A real-world compression algorithm defines a reversible mapping of input bytes to output bytes. (It has to be "reversible", or you can't write a perfect decompresser.) Imagine starting with a compression algorithm that maps all input back to itself (the identity mapping). Now, if you map the five-byte input ABCDE to the four-byte output WXYZ (20% compression), the input string WXYZ now must go somewhere else. It can only increase in size in the putatively compressed output, because all outputs four bytes and smaller are now taken. In order for a compression algorithm to shrink some inputs, some others must grow.
This is not a rigorous proof, but the rigorous proof takes this form.
If this is true, than how can compression algorithms do useful work? Like many mathematical concepts, there are many equivalent ways of looking at the answer. The best formulation for my purpose is that algorithms can take advantage of the fact that not all data sets are equally probable.
The best way we can measure how much of the total possible space we will probably use is with a mathematical concept from information theory called entropy. This gives us an algorithm that can look at a data set and give us the number of bits it "really uses". Truly random data will tend to have an entropy measurement around 8 bits of entropy per byte, meaning that it is "really using" all 8 bits and is therefore incompressible; an endlessly repeating character will have an entropy very close to 0 bits per byte, meaning that it isn't "really" using those bits and is therefore compressible.
The entropy of English text is around 0.6 to 1.3 bits per character. Let's use 1 bit for our computing convenience. A modern ASCII-based encoding of this text uses 8 bits per character. Using these numbers, we can compare the total number of possible data strings for a given number of bytes, and the total amount of this possibility space that is "really consumed" by possible English phrases.
For a message of a mere 15 characters, the number of possible byte-based messages is 28*15, which is approximately 1.3*10^36. The number of possible English messages using this measure is 21*15, or 32,768.
Don't lose sight of the point here by taking that number too literally; it's a probabilistic thing. Arguing about piddling differences here or there is unimportant when the gulf is already 31 orders of magnitude, and growing exponentially with every byte!
If you take a moment to digest those numbers (1036 is not an easy thing to wrap your mind around!), you might intuitively glimpse at how compression algorithms manages to work. The data that we are interested in is a vanishingly small island in a sea of useless random data. Any compression algorithm must expand inputs to shrink others, but we can let that useless random garbage "take" the expansion, while we concentrate our compression mojo on that small little island.
Nothing is free. If you want compression, you have to pay. But sometimes it's a really, really good deal.
## Language Design TradeoffsWherein the point I was setting up in Compression is made.
What was the point of that little discussion about compression? Talking about compression is a pure way to introduce a general principle: To make one thing easier, something else must be made harder.
Consider a C compiler, and the C language it defines. It makes "subroutines" much easier to deal with, but at the cost of not allowing you arbitrary sequences of machine code. You can embed assembler, but even then the assembler code can't be arbitrary. It must work in harmony with the rest of the C code.
Examples can be seen everywhere you look, once you know what you're looking for. Take two top languages from two different paradigms and pit the strengths of one against the weaknesses of the other. Watch a simple Prolog exercise devolve into a multi-thousand-line C program, because Prolog makes easy some things C makes hard. On the other hand, imagine trying to write the Linux kernel in Prolog; C makes many things easy that Prolog makes hard, or even impossible. The compilers that implement these languages had to make different tradeoffs; a correct choice for C may be horribly wrong in some other context.
Many people believe that the purpose of higher-level languages is to add power, but the best way to think about it is that they are taking away power, so they can trade that power in for some other benefit. No language, however clever, can actually add power to machine code; machine code is the very definition of the capability of the machine itself. A language can only manifest as limitations on the machine language the machine may actually execute. But in return, all the features that we normally think of as ``added'' features are actually built on these chosen limitations.
When learning a new language, the first thing to do is to seek out what the language forbids, and why it forbids them. The second is to find out what the language builds on top of those restrictions. For reasons that should be obvious, few languages loudly advertise the things they forbid, so this may take some research but you can usually find it. Beginner exercises: Find out what Java forbids, and why; find out why functional languages are so keen on immutability, and what restriction that names.
Nothing is free. If you want to make some compiled output or result easier to generate, you must make others harder or even impossible. If somebody is telling you something is free, that's just a sign to look even harder for the tradeoff; it must be a doozy if they're trying to hide it that hard. (Or maybe they're just ignorant. But one thing they aren't is right.)
## Higher Level TradeoffsExpanding the points made in Compression and Compression in Languages up to the Methodology level, and beyond.
Above languages we have design methodologies and team management methodologies, and the trade offs continue. A methodology that works great with a team of four may crash and burn with a team of 400. A methodology that works well with that team of 400 may have horrible overhead for the team of four.
One common methodology trade off, not just in software, is to improve consistency at the cost of creativity and spontaneity. McDonalds uses this to their advantage, because they are all about consistency and not at all about creativity. Managing your programmers like a McDonalds is a recipe for disaster under most circumstances. Managing a McDonalds with an Agile methodology is little more than an amusing mental image:
Hello, welcome to McDonalds. We are currently not serving hot food while our chefs refactor the grill and deep-fat fryer to use the same heat source, and our drinks won't be available until Bob completes running the unit tests to verify that we haven't accidentally caused our fountain drink system to dispense boiling hot oil... again.
When I pointed out that software is unusually hard to find a single good methodology for, here is where the problem manifests; it isn't that you can't produce a good methodology, it's that there doesn't seem to be one methodology that works across the entire domain of project scale, resources available, and other business pressures. Usually when someone is rhapsodizing about what's wrong with software and how to fix it, they will propose extremely heavyweight methodologies involving vastly more design and testing than is typically used in a real software project, which is all find and dandy, but such things are very, very costly. Can a methodology that virtually guarantees that you will run out of money and go out of business before completing your perfect gem of a program actually be considered "the answer"? (Hint: No. Once "practicality" is discarded as a judgment criterion, who really cares about the rest of judgment?)
Every methodology's performance varies along many axes depending on the circumstances it is applied in, and the people who apply it. Bug rates, code output, code quality, cost, none of these are independent variables. If you want effectively bug-free code, you'll need a very expensive methodology. If you want a cheap methodology, prepare for either low quality or quantity of output. And so it goes for any number of different combinations of criteria.
Nothing is free. If a methodology makes it easier to obtain one type of result, it makes it harder to obtain another type of result with the same resources.
## Judging TradeoffsThe core point of the entire Programming Wisdom blogbook.
With every choice, no matter how large or small, we bring some things closer and push some things farther. Just as with compression, the idea is to make the trade offs that bring the things you want closer, and primarily make the things you don't care about harder, so in the end you come out ahead.
And also like compression, there is a large set of things that nobody really needs or wants, and the corresponding trade offs typically are as close as you can get to no-brainers in programming. If your program will ever be maintained at all, your variables shouldn't all be named with single characters, or in languages foreign to the primary maintainers, or with otherwise obviously-bad names. One can argue about how much care to put into naming, but clearly mario.save(thePrincess) is right out for a bit of code that downloads and verifies an XML file.
Long lists of such bad tradeoffs have been collected for your amusement and edification. Let those who have not read the list and pondered it beware.
We can take these large sets of things nobody wants as our baseline. That means (more-or-less by definition) the low-hanging fruit in any methodology or language has already been picked, and in practice, whenever we allow something useful, we must be disallowing something else useful, since we've already kicked out the majority of useless things. This is why the highlighted paragraph I opened this chapter with includes the phrase everything worth talking about has benefits; sure, Whitespace theoretically makes some things easier, but who really cares? And sure, you can construct languages with obvious flaws that can then be simply corrected, but in practice, you are unlikely to run into such a beast on any real project, so who cares about arguing about such hypotheticals? (If you do encounter such a language in the real world, unless you are in the middle of creating a new environment for some sufficiently-good reason, it's probably proof you should run screaming.)
Here is the key sentence for this entire work: Programming wisdom is the ability to correctly determine the costs and benefits of a set of solutions and judge which solution is best.
Of course it sounds obvious when I put it that way, but clearly many people do not think this way. Many people will read this and say Well, duh!, talking the talk about already knowing this, but I can see by actual actions taken that few exhibit a deep, internalized understanding of this principle. There are many subtleties involved with putting this into practice and shortcuts to avoid; people frequently fail to account for entire value categories, let alone judging them correctly.
## What Is Programming?What is programming?
When you first start programming, the answer is painfully obvious: Programming is making the computer do what you want.
However, if you have any aptitude for it at all, you will rapidly get to the point where making the computer do what you want really isn't that hard. Oh, you may be betrayed by your environment, your libraries, even your hardware sometimes, and you never get to the point where you are immune to the multi-day debugging sessions, but in general, getting the computer to do what you want ceases to be a challenge.
The true challenge of programming is learning to want the right things, and then how to obtain those things, beyond the mere first-order consideration of "does it run right now?"
When you work on the same product for three years, you will learn to want maintainable code. Writing code that works is easy; learning how to write maintainable code is a worthy challenge.
When you start work on a project that has fifty man-years already put into it, you will learn to want code that is properly documented. Learning exactly what "properly documented" truly entails is a worthy challenge.
When a project exceeds the size that one person can comfortably hold in their head, you will learn to want code that is conceptually clean and easy to come back to; a worthy challenge.
And so on, for a number of worthy challenges.
If only it were so easy as "making the computer do what we want"!
Programmers that can make computers do things are a dime a dozen. Programmers that have learned to want the right things are unusual.
## On ValuesWhen we make a judgment, we are saying that one thing has a larger value than another. We have a value function in our brains that takes two arguments and returns whether the first is less than, equal to, or greater than the other. As cruel or as crazy as it may sound, that function can take any two things and compare them; we have to make decisions like Value(CoolJob, CloseToFamily) all the time.
Many people have an instinctive revulsion to the idea that such a value function exists, but it is important to understand that it does, no matter how much you'd like to avoid it. If you are in an improbable situation where you are forced to chose which of your children lives, you will have to make a choice. Refusing to choose is itself a choice, and is a piece of your value function.
In programming, as in life, people often end up using a value function provided by somebody else, rather than actually deciding what they value and what gets them the most with their resources.
Many people are peddling value functions. When someone advocates a methodology, they are also selling you on the value function which their methodology theoretically maximizes. When someone advocates a language or platform, they are selling you the value function where their language or platform has more value than any other.
The correspondence of these value functions to your true value function varies widely. If you use a value function that is greatly at odds with your true value function, you will invariably end up with less true value than you could have gotten. Simple proof: If you choose something you accidentally overvalued, then you pay the opportunity cost on the additional value of what you should have chosen. If you undervalue something, you are likely to end up choosing something else incorrectly and getting less than you should. If you choose poorly enough, you may end up with negative value, even discounting opportunity cost.
It's one thing to choose Java because it's the best choice for you. Maybe you value the cross-platform support. Maybe there's a Java-only library you can buy that gets you closer to the goal in one step than you can get in any other language; that can be valuable. Maybe all of your developers already know Java and that outweighs the costs it has.
It's quite another to choose it because "everybody uses Java", without analysis. Java's got some serious disadvantages, too; are you so willing to accept them without thought?
As you might get from the somewhat slanted tone of the last two paragraphs, I think the "use it because everybody else is using it" heuristic is one of the worst value functions you can adopt. Life's just not that easy.
I can also now re-express the goal of this book more precisely. My goal is not to try to provide you a value function; my goal is to help you build your own. Step one is realizing you need one. Some elements of my personal value function will shine through in this work, but that is because it is unavoidable (and therefore I don't try to hard), not because I truly want you to adopt mine. One of the important ways I can do that is help you consciously think about your value functions.
## Emotional ValueWhen I was a child, I wanted to be like Spock. For those few who do not know whom I mean, Spock was the science officer on the star ship Enterprise in the famous 1960's sci-fi television show Star Trek. His claim to fame was being half-human and half-Vulcan. Vulcans were an alien race who are so naturally violent that they felt themselves forced to renounce their emotions and turn to a life of pure logic, lest they extinguish themselves in endless war. A common misconception is that Vulcans have no emotions; they do, but they rigidly suppress them.
Spock's major character arc involved a conflict between his "human side" and his "Vulcan side", between "emotions" and "logic". During the television series, he had chosen to attempt being pure Vulcan/logical, but he met with less success than he would have liked. Something never made clear was whether this was purely a personal issue or if perhaps being only half-Vulcan made it somehow biologically more difficult to live with the Vulcan philosophies and disciplines. (Most likely even the writers themselves were conflicted over their interpretation of this.)
Spock's initial choice reflects a common view of emotions, that they are intrinsically opposed to logic, unpredictable and uncontrollable, that you are forced to choose either the cold, cruel world of logic, or the squishy, utterly irrational world of emotion and feeling, but that ne'er the twain shall meet. This is view can be seen in our most ancient literature, where the fiery passions of somebody's loins are routinely contrasted with their cold, austere logical mind.
What absolute garbage!
It is not true that logic is a cold, cruel discipline. Logic is nothing at all; it is merely a way of manipulating a set of statements with some truth value to obtain new statements with some truth value. What is cold and cruel is not logic itself, but the axioms fed to the logic system to get it started. Certainly if you start with axioms like the axiom scheme for universal instantiation, then you are going to end up with a logic that is not capable of dealing with emotion. But then, it's not capable of dealing with much of anything outside of pure math without fully specifying the universe, something generally considered impractical. (And possibly not even if you did provide such a specification; it is impossible to prove that the Universe works solely according to any given logical axiom system.)
On the other hand, feed logic what you know about emotions from life, like
If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
and use a form of probabilistic, experience-fed logic we call "common sense", and by golly, those emotions become highly tractable and reasonably predictable.
It is true that mere knowledge about emotions does not intrinsically allow you to manipulate them; the mere knowledge that you will be angry does not prevent you from becoming angry. However, it does allow you to indirectly manipulate your emotions, or the emotions of others, by giving you the insight to prevent the anger-inducing situation from arising in the first place, or if nothing else at least allowing you to prepare yourself for the anger and perhaps mentally rehearse your actions before your emotions determine them for you.
There are a lot of people who try to deal with their emotions as Spock did, by rigidly suppression or denial, and as a result, they assign no value to their emotional well-being, assuming it to be something they can simply ignore or change with raw willpower. But there is a value to your emotional well-being, a value greater than zero, and this should never be ignored or downplayed because of stupid ideas about emotions. You should not consider the value of loved one's emotional well-being to be zero either; this can be harder since you don't directly experience their emotions.
This concept will generally not come up directly throughout this book, but it is a constant background presence. Your mental state is always a consideration in programming decisions. On the trivial level, the answer to the tricky problem of weighing the costs and benefits of five competing solutions to your problem may be to give up for the night, call a couple of your friends, and hit the bar for the rest of the night. This is not a joke.
On a more serious level, if you are constantly being forced into sub-optimal solutions by an authority figure and the prospect of having to spend another month patching servers and restoring backups that could have been prevented if you had just been given the opportunity to take two days and write the input parsing routines correctly, when it comes time to decide whether or not to keep the job or look elsewhere, do not make the mistake of valuing your emotional state at zero. Only you can decide the exact value, but you should make that decision with the full awareness of the value of your emotions.
If you are making programming decisions that affect a team, you mustn't ignore these factors either. Working your team 80 hours a week isn't a neutral decision, because not only are they not really doing 80 hours of work anyhow (one of the few facts about productivity that has abundant scientific support), but you are wrecking their lives, burning them out, and, if you still can't find it in yourself to care about that, greatly increasing the chances that you will lose employees, which also represents a loss of knowledge and skills that can only be painfully replaced, if that.
Programming seems to attract a lot of people, both managers and managees, that somehow have come to the conclusion that being human is a failing that can be overcome merely with sufficient will power. Pervasive belief does not make it true.
You are not a Vulcan. You should not plan to live like one.
## The Money Value FunctionI've loosely defined the value function (link) to only compare two "things", without further specifying what "things" it can take, because some things we put in there (like CloseToFamily) are fundamentally non-numeric properties. But some people have their own specializations of this value function. One that almost nobody will admit to using, but a lot of people live by, is the Money value function. This function takes just one argument and returns a single concrete number with the unit "Dollars" (or relevant local currency).
I do not recommend this function for personal use, but it is a value function you should become familiar with, because it is the one in use by businesses.
This sounds horrible, but the horror doesn't intrinsically come from using a dollar-based function. It comes from the valuation the business places upon the non-concrete factors like ``employee happiness'' and other such things. Contrary to popular belief, no company can afford to put a negatively-infinite valuation on employee happiness, nor can they afford a true zero (if nothing else local labor laws, unions, or if necessary vigilante justice will impose some lower limit), but certainly very low values can be used.
It is the nature of that function that differentiates companies, not whether or not they have one.
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Most parents begin their quest for knowledge as soon as their child is old enough to recognize letters and hold a pencil. The desire to educate them goes beyond that, however, and extends to familiarizing them with subjects such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. While it is not expected that children will grow up to be experts in these areas, it is expected that they will enjoy learning about them and retain this knowledge for the rest of their lives.
Kindergarten marks the beginning of a new phase in a child’s life. It is an exciting time as they begin their formal education and experience new things. Students will be learning through play, activities, and most importantly, reading and writing. They will also be experiencing a classroom environment for the first time in their young lives. As much as this is a time for triumph and celebration, it is also a time for concern. Teachers and parents need to work together to ensure that the transition to kindergarten is as smooth as possible. This article will discuss some of the things that teachers and parents can do to help ensure that students are prepared for the challenges of kindergarten.
Writing is a crucial skill to possess as a student in today’s world. Not only is it something that you will use for the rest of your life, but it is also a key requirement for most academic and professional careers. This fact coupled with the increasing emphasis that schools place on writing makes it essential that students should be developing their writing skills even when they are not yet in school. The best way to prepare for kindergarten writing is by getting the students used to writing on a regular basis even when they are not in a formal setting. Some parents and teachers may feel that writing is a task that should be reserved only for the classroom, but there are many great ways that you can integrate writing into your daily life with your children even when they are very young. For example, you can have a family meeting and get together to write a letter to a friend, or you can write a short story about a character you created. These are just a few examples of the many ways that preschoolers can practice writing even if you do not have time to dedicate a whole lesson to it. Writing is a skill that will benefit them for the rest of their lives, so it is important that they learn to value it and make the most of the opportunity that it presents.
Arithmetic is another subject that parents should be familiarizing their children with. It is expected that students will learn arithmetic facts and be able to apply this knowledge to solve problems. Teachers expect that students will be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in their head, so it is important that parents work with teachers to ensure that their children understand the basics of arithmetic before they enter kindergarten. The best way to prepare for arithmetic is by being sure that your children understand the basics before they begin going to school. For example, if they know how to count from one to ten, they will be able to add and subtract numbers easily once they are in school. Counting and totaling are also important skills that students need to learn, so you can have them practice these skills at home even though they are too young to be in school yet. There are many resources available to teachers to help them educate their students on the importance of arithmetic and how to make effective lessons. Having a good understanding of arithmetic will greatly benefit their writing and learning experiences in school.
Reading is another area of study that students need to learn. It is important that students be able to read both fiction and non-fiction stories, as well as be able to look up words that they do not know. Teachers expect that students will listen to reading lessons and be able to comprehend what they are reading. Helping your child develop this skill does not necessarily mean that you read to them every night, but it does mean that you ensure that they have access to books that they can read and that you continue to educate yourself about new things and offer advice on what they can read next. As children get older, they can have books delivered to their homes, or they can join a school library if they do not yet have access to one at home. If possible, have books delivered to their homes after school so that they can continue their education there. Reading is an important skill for students to learn, both in and out of school. It will help them become literate and assist them in their studies. If they are prepared for the challenge of kindergarten, students will have an advantage over their peers who have not had the same experience.
Working with your local school can be a great way to ensure that your child is prepared for kindergarten. The staff there will be able to assess how well your child is doing and help you find the best ways to continue their education. Talk to your child’s teacher about the different subjects that they are learning and whether or not these subjects are going to be on the kindergarten curriculum. You should not expect that just because your child is young that they will automatically learn all of these subjects, but you should prepare them for the opportunity to learn as much as they can. Parents and teachers should work together to ensure that students are as prepared as possible for the challenges of kindergarten. This way, every student will be able to succeed and enjoy their time in school.
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It's all part of the same picture: We’re worried about our children's weight; we’re worried about their inactivity; we're worried about the amount of time they spend in front of a screen. So it's no surprise that now, we’re worried about their cholesterol levels, too.
It seems unthinkable, but more and more children have cholesterol levels approaching those of middle-aged adults.
First, a quick review. When your cholesterol is checked, the lipid panels are comprised of several values: Total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and Triglycerides.
LDL cholesterol is referred to as bad cholesterol, as it can build up on your artery walls and cause problems.
When your LDL is lower, your risk of cardiovascular disease is lower. HDL cholesterol is considered good cholesterol because it helps protect you from the bad effects of LDL cholesterol by keeping it off your artery walls. When your HDL cholesterol is higher, your risk of CV disease is also lower.Children with the worst blood tests were those who were also obese, and one-third of the children screened were obese.
Finally, triglycerides are circulating fats that are typically derived from food we eat. Higher triglyceride levels are associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular problems.
A recent study of nine- to 11-year-olds found that one-third of the over 12,500 children in the study had borderline or clear elevations of their total cholesterol.
The findings serve as a dire prediction for the future heart health of American children because the precursors of adult cardiovascular disease, such as changes in the blood vessels that lead to atherosclerosis, can start early in life.
Boys were more likely than girls to have elevated total cholesterol, as well as having elevated LDL or bad cholesterol and triglycerides. Girls had lower HDL or good cholesterol.
Children with the worst blood tests were those who were also obese, and one-third of the children screened were obese. Among Hispanic children in the study, there was a higher incidence of high triglycerides and lower HDL (good cholesterol) than non-Hispanics.
All in all, a significant number of young kids already showed some very troubling lipid profiles.
Many parents and medical providers have been hesitant to screen children and teens for abnormal blood lipids because they weren't sure whether early detection would make a difference later on, and they feared that too many children would end up on medications.
The researchers, all at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, maintain that children should have their cholesterol levels screened periodically, and the results used to guide physicians and parents in making choices about diet, exercise, and, if clearly necessary, medication, that will help reduce a child's risk.
This study supports the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Health, Lung, and Blood Institute, which have recommended routine lipid screening when children are from nine to 11 years old and again when they are 18 to 21.
Most young children with abnormal lipid profiles do not require medication treatment, another benefit of uncovering cholesterol problems early. Research has shown that adhering to weight loss, exercise, and dietary recommendations especially concerning the amount and types of fat intake can make a difference for future health.
Parents of children who are overweight and under-active may want to talk with their children’s doctors about cholesterol screening. On their own at home, they can make sure family meals include heart healthy foods. The American Heart Association offers helpful guidelines for parents.
All families, regardless of their members' lipid profiles, can benefit from appropriate nutrition and exercise.
The study is published in the Journal of American Cardiology.
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The history of Pennsylvania has been largely shaped by religious groups. Pennsylvania is one of few states in America that has a rich history with religions. William Penn, the founder of the state, wanted to create a safe haven for religious followers in the area. He turned to the Society of Friends for help, which was a persecuted religion that opposed war and rejected creeds. Today, it is considered a liberal and progressive religion, with a pro-capitalist outlook.
Pennsylvania's history is often called "The Keystone State" because it played a key role in the creation of the United States. It was a refuge for people of all religions and races. American society has benefited from the ideas and culture that it developed. This book provides an overview of Pennsylvania's rich history. Learn about the state's history and how it became the national state. Also, learn how different cultures and ethnic groups contributed to its growth.
The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography is the scholarly journal of the History Society of Pennsylvania. It was established 1877. It is widely regarded as one the most well-respected state history journals in the country. It is available to both institutional and individual subscribers. Subscribers to the magazine can view the full text of past issues. You can also view the full text online at JSTOR.
PA History Series includes books that tell the story of Pennsylvania's history. It is produced jointly by Temple University Press and the Pennsylvania Historical Association. These books have been carefully researched and written by experts. These books will give you information about Pennsylvania's history, people and places. PA History Series also includes nonfiction and historical fiction.
This book will provide information about Pennsylvania's history and the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Pennsylvania is partly responsible for the formation of both Pennsylvania's State Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Consistency is the most important rule to follow in any workout routine. Consistency is the key to any workout routine. This means sticking with it day after day, week by week. Your body will eventually adapt to you and you will be able lose more weight and gain more calories.
Although you may have heard this advice before it isn't applicable to your daily life. You will lose weight faster if your meals are taken out only once per month.
Because your metabolism isn't as fast if you eat frequently, it's not slowing down. This makes sense. Because your body knows it has food at its disposal, it will keep storing fats instead of burning them.
You could also use an alarm clock to wake you up every day. You'll sleep longer and feel hungrier when you turn it off for a few days.
This is why it's important to eat healthy and keep active throughout the day. Even if your tired, you won't hunger. But if you wait until nightfall to eat dinner, you'll likely be ravenous by bedtime and crash hard.
The same principle holds for fitness routines. Don't be afraid to stick with your routines. You'll start to see the results sooner than expected.
If you want to add variety to your workouts, try using different weights each time. You could, for example, alternate between using two dumbbells of 5 lb and one dumbbell of 10 lb. Alternately, you could do five sets of five repetitions on a 10-lb barbell before switching to single reps on a 25-lb plate.
Or, you can mix them up. Instead of performing back squats/lunges/pushes, alternate these movements: squat jumping, leg lifts and mountain climbingers.
Or you can vary your cardio. Alter your speed (fast, moderate or slow) and the incline of your treadmill.
For our health, exercise is important. It is also important to exercise regularly, as it helps us stay fit. So how much exercise do we need?
It depends. If you are sedentary, you need more exercise than someone who exercises regularly.
Even if exercise is your primary activity, there are other ways to improve your fitness and not increase your workout time.
You may find that you require fewer workouts per week and can achieve the same benefit from shorter sessions.
An example: Instead of running five times per day, you might run three times per week.
Perhaps you prefer to walk faster for 30 minutes than to jog slowly for half an hr.
There are many options. It's important that you experiment to discover which is best for you.
Focusing on small, but meaningful changes can help you stay motivated.
This means you need to take baby steps in order to achieve your goals. Begin with simple activities, and then increase the intensity and length of your training.
You'll keep going if you feel good after working out. The benefits of exercise aren't limited to the body.
You'll increase your self-esteem by improving your overall well being.
So start now! Get moving! You'll see your waistline shrinking in no time.
Healthy lifestyles include eating well, sleeping well, managing your stress, and being active. You'll notice a greater balance in your life if you take care of these five areas.
You feel better both mentally and physically. You have more energy and can do the things that you enjoy, whether that is spending time with friends, participating in your community or just relaxing.
Being healthy gives you the confidence to make changes in your life. Healthy eating habits, regular exercise, and a healthy stress management system will make you confident.
Healthy living does not require a lot of effort. By setting aside time for each area of your life, you can make sure it gets the attention it needs.
There are many foods that can help you live longer, more healthy lives. We chose these ten foods to be the best for health.
Healthy living means eating right, exercising regularly, being positive and enjoying life.
There's more to it than this. You must learn to balance work and play, manage your time well, communicate effectively, embrace change, and take responsibility for your health.
Being able to live a happy lifestyle takes focus, discipline, and commitment. With the right mindset, tools and mindset, you can succeed.
The key to achieving a successful lifestyle is to stay focused on the big picture while taking small steps towards your goal. It is important to break down any project into smaller, manageable tasks in order to make it a reality.
Once the tasks are complete, it's important for you to determine if they were correctly completed. Then, it is time to move onto the next step. This is where planning comes in to play. Without a plan, nothing can happen.
Planning is a way to establish goals, make decisions, then execute them. Planning is a way to organize your thoughts.
Planning gives you direction, which helps you achieve your goals. You'll be more productive if you plan consistently.
There are two types, one that strengthens muscles and the other that increases flexibility.
The former will increase strength, while the second will increase suppleness. If you want to increase muscle mass, you can do push-ups, pull-ups, and chin-ups. There are stretching routines such as yoga, pilates, and even gymnastics for increased flexibility.
Fitness doesn't care how much time you put into it; it only matters that you do it often. You can set aside 15 minutes every day to walk, jog or swim.
Because you have more energy and won't feel tired, you will feel better after exercising. This will give you plenty of motivation to continue your exercise routine.
What matters most when it comes down to exercise is consistency. It takes 21 days to form a new habit, which means that if you start working out for just one hour per day, you'll still need at least 20 hours of consistent training to get fit.
Do not expect to be able to workout for 30 minutes every day. You should feel energized and ready for anything.
Weight loss isn’t always easy. Many people struggle with losing weight, even if they eat less than others. However, if you want to get rid of stubborn belly fat, you don't need to starve yourself. These are some tips that you can use to get rid of stubborn belly fat.
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(Warning: contents and dates are approximates. Want exact data, look it up yourself.)
“It’ll never happen!” We’ve heard the naysayers before, over and over again. “It’s not possible! If God wanted us to fly, he’d have given us wings!” Yet there’s something in us that wants to reach beyond our frail bodies. We took to the seas, without God giving us fins. It was only natural we’d want to fly too.
From ancient myths to the Chinese building giant kites, to Leonardo Da Vinci’s designs for a flying machine, to Newton’s Third Law of Motion, man wanted to fly like the birds. Some birdbrains briefly became tower jumpers, in a variety of winged outfits, briefly being the operative word.
Yet the list of aviary dreamers continued to grow, right into the 20th century. The Wright Brothers got it right in December 1903 with the first powered flights. Their original contraption of wood, wire and canvas, coupled with intense research, took off several times, the last flight of the day lasting 59 seconds and covering approximately 850 ft.
That 59 seconds only flamed our desire to feel the wind in our faces, but the achievement of air flight came at a dangerous time in history. World War I. Driven by war, aviation advanced in leaps and bounds. Fabric and wood gave way to aluminum. Engines got bigger, distances further and payloads larger. 59 seconds turned into trans-Atlantic crossings and the 1930’s brought us the first jet engines, followed shortly thereafter by World War II.
The aeronautical demands of war left destruction in the wake of larger and larger planes, but post-war led to military bombers being recycled into commercial airlines. In only 50 years we were taking the civilian masses airborne. However, our desire to fly wasn’t limited to the mile of air above our heads. We had entered the Jet Age.
We wanted to go further, faster, and higher. WWII had introduced deadly missiles and the Atomic bomb. Building on that research, the Jet Age leapt into the Space Race. Russia beat us into orbit, but in 1969 the USA landed on the moon. Flight went from a bumpy 59 seconds to an 8 day roundtrip adventure to the moon.
Not too bad for a species that was face-planting in the Danube River as human-powered wings failed to flap hard enough. Now here we are, 115 years later with various ships, satellites and Rovers wandering our solar system. Billionaire venture capitalists/commercial companies are vying to be the first to take John/Jane Doe on their honeymoon space flight. And people are applying to be the first Mars colonists, despite it being a one-way ticket.
Clearly the galactic dream lives on in the hearts and minds of all us Nerds. We dream of locating, then reaching the next near-Earth planet, but to do that successfully we need ships capable of Faster-Than-Light, or something even more spectacular.
But is that even possible? I mean, seriously, there are limits to the theory of relativity, and EVERYONE says FTL exceeds those limits. Yeah, I get it, but we heard the same thing for centuries upon centuries. If God wanted us to fly, he’d have given us wings, but we proved those pessimists wrong.
So I’m launching my own speculative investigation, mixing hard science and humor as I Ask 5 Friends, who spend their days imagining our futures, what they think.
First up to the launch pad is acclaimed author, L.E. Modesitt
If God Wanted Us to Fly… in Space
To begin with, if there is a Deity, I’ve got a beef. Actually, I’ve got several, but the one pertinent to the topic is simple enough. Why did You put all those lovely stars and planets out there, and then design us with enough intelligence to want to explore them, but put us in a universe whose rules seem to preclude the possibility? Or is it a great cosmic test to see if we can break the rules and get there anyway? Is there a universe-wide competition to see which civilization can discover and master Faster-Than-Light travel first?
In fact, getting to the stars may just prove the greatest test possible for homo-not-so-sapiens, because, either through Intelligent Design [with which I have great problems, but throw out, perhaps in more ways than one] or evolution, if there was ever an organism NOT designed for interstellar travel, most probably the human body fits that definition. After all, we can’t survive outside of a comparatively narrow habitat range, even on our own planet, without artificial aids, and the farther we depart from that range, the more assistance we need… and that’s just to survive without going anywhere. But then human beings aren’t designed to do a whole lot of things that we do, thanks to our ability as gadgeteers and toolmakers.
So what gadgets do we need, besides some form of artificial biological habitat [which we already largely have the ability to produce]? Given the considerable distance between stars, we need either a Faster-Than-Light propulsion system, a warp drive, or the ability to create wormholes in the fabric of space. Without one of those, or the equivalent, we aren’t going anywhere fast enough that the equipment we build won’t expire of old age and material fatigue before we can reach anywhere we want to go.
Well… we could re-engineer ourselves toward extreme longevity, but given the human tendency to get easily bored, that just might result in any astronaut becoming terminally suicidal somewhere in the millennia it takes to get anywhere with any technology we now have or can logically project under special and general relativity.
There’s at least one theoretical possibility for circumventing the restrictions of the laws of the universe as we now know them, and that’s by utilizing or creating wormholes. Of course, there’s problems with that – so far it appears that the energy requirements, assuming that we can even develop the necessary gadgetry, are on the magnitude of that possessed by a small black hole. That also suggests that, whatever technological gadgetry we might develop for interstellar travel, one of the greatest associated problems will be just how to power it.
So all we need is a better theory, technology that breaks or circumvents the known physical laws of the universe, and an enormous amount of power for every FTL ship. Shouldn’t be too hard for a wingless species that flies, survives, and often thrives in places and spaces that should immediately kill us… should it?
NOTE: Certain aspects of this issue are the underlying subject of my next – and very hard-science-based – book – Solar Express, due out from Tor in November 2015.
L.E. Modesitt, Jr. is the bestselling author of over sixty novels encompassing two science fiction series and four fantasy series, as well as several other novels in the science fiction genre. His most recent releases are Heritage of Cyador (2014) and Madness in Solidar (2015). Check out his website at: www.lemodesittjr.com
Second to the speculate FTL is a newcomer to Ask 5 Friends, author E.E. King
Can We Travel Faster than the Speed of Light?
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” – Albert Einstein
“For NASA, space is still a high priority.” – Dan Quayle
Can we travel faster than the speed of light? We already do.
Thoughts travel Faster-Than-Light. Emotions travel Faster-Than-Light – and what about entanglement theory?
When two particles become entangled, one affects the other instantaneously, Faster-Than-Light. This connection, quantum connection, persists – no matter the distance. Even when particles are on opposite sides of the universe, even if one is 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the other is off on The Chase of the Golden Meteor.
It seems more like voodoo than science. But the evidence that it exists is overwhelming.
We used to think that space – whatever else it is – served as a medium that separated. We believed that to influence something, we had to have physical contact. In other words, to open a door you must be able to turn the handle. Now we know that is not true. Quantum entanglement contradicts that and accounts for why the universe is so drafty.
One of the most fundamental delusions of humanity is to suppose that I am here, and that you are there. Despite what I see, despite what you feel, we are both here and there at the same time. That is why we never know if we’re coming or going.
Einstein was among the first physicists to recognize—and sharply criticize—this possible feature of quantum mechanics. He dubbed entanglement theory, ‘spooky action at a distance’, denying the evidence before him as too weird to be correct. It was the biggest mistake of his career.
Faster-Than-Light communication between entangled systems can be achieved because the time dilation of special relativity allows time to stand still from Light’s point of view. Or at least that’s what Light claims, though it’s been known to stretch certainty and hide itself under a barrel.
Time refutes this, claiming it never has time to stand still and needs a vacation. But it lies. It has all the time in the world.
So – to travel faster than the speed of light, all we’d need to do is to entangle enough particles that contain consciousness with something that we could send into the far reaches of space and voila!
I think we should begin experiments with subjects who would have less consciousness to transmit, say, Dan Quayle or Sarah Palin.
Let’s begin by putting Dan into the CERN Particle Accelerator. Spin him around so quickly that a few of the particles of his brain become entangled with something similar, like rocks.
Then, wherever we send the rock particles, Dan’s consciousness, what there is of it, would go too – and Faster-Than-Light.
We could begin with Dan and move gradually up the evolutionary ladder to amphibians, guinea pigs, politicians, primates and eventually cephalopods.
E.E. King is a performer, writer, biologist and painter. Ray Bradbury calls her stories “marvelously inventive, wildly funny and deeply thought provoking…” Her books; Dirk Quigby’s Guide to the Afterlife, Story Collections: Real Conversations with Imaginary Friends, Another Happy Ending, are available in audible, in print and on-line. Her short stories have been published widely. Check out stories, paintings and mayhem at www.elizabetheveking.com
Third up to join us on this journey is another new friend, author Alan Black
If God meant us to fly, he’d have given us wings.
Oh wait! He created the man who invented the airplane. Going Faster-Than-Light? God already put in place all abundance above all that humans can ask or think. He has readied the multi-verse for us in everything and anything we can imagine. It’s up to us to figure out how to use what he has already created. But, FTL? Nothing can go faster. Oh wait! Science has already proven the existence of substances going FTL.
Let’s look at black holes. A black hole’s gravity traps light and completely renders the speed of light moot with light effectively going zero on the speed-of-light-ometer. What happens when a human slaps into a black hole’s nasty event horizon? Spaghettification and death, right? We are stretched beyond the cohesive limits of our physical bodies as we are three dimensional and unable to touch that zero thick event in 3D, part of you is there and part is not. I believe that as we race forward reaching top speed of light limit, the result at the other end will be the same. Spaghettification. Light’s speed limits rule us at both ends, with speeding tickets resulting in death, not to mention the really bothersome time dilation issues.
Many postulate Einstein-Rosenberg Bridges (wormholes) generated in our universe will take us from point A to point T in an instant, skipping the BS in between. The only trouble with this theory is the wormhole’s event horizon must somehow be thick enough for the spacecraft to both enter here and exit into normal space there, at the same time. If not, spaghettification. Those two points on the ‘folded piece of paper illustration’ ignore the deadly conundrum of being in two places at the same time. How can my head be in Alpha Centauri when my ass-end is still at home?
Our only other clear option is to get off the freeway and go around the speed limits. Let’s cut across the side streets, learning to skip from one universe to another and back again, completely ignoring both FTL limits. Too fast and the top limit kills us. Stopping completely at zero speed kills us. So, we must build engines to go less than zero.
No. I don’t mean backing up. That’s just speed in a different direction. The engine configuration must power our spacecraft in negative speed. This will push us out of this universe where the speedometer controls our movements and into a space between universes, where FTL doesn’t control how quickly we move. Sort of like driving country roads on the county sheriff’s day off.
I will admit the whole navigation thing is a bit troubling at this point, as distances become nullified since we are no longer moving in any direction, but rather we’re moving in every direction at the same time. Time would also cease to exist since we aren’t ruled by motion or non-motion, but by negative motion.
Alan Black has written ten novels since 1997, starting with Eye on the Prize. He is a multi-genre author who never met a good story he didn’t want to tell. He was born in Kansas and raised in Missouri, then did a stint in the U.S. Air Force, but ultimately he and his wife made Arizona home. Alan is a #1 Amazon Best Selling author for Metal Boxes, a YA SciFi/military/action adventure. His most recent novel is Empty Space. Find out more about Alan at www.alanblackauthor.com.
Fourth to plot the future of man is the ever funny imaginative author, Gini Koch.
Is FTL Possible?
What man can imagine, man can create.
Considering that we already have NASA and other scientists talking about creating realistic FTL ships – potentially ready in our lifetimes – heck yeah, we can do it.
Since the first stories of people trying to fly, the naysayers have been there, sharing how it couldn’t be done and using every failure or setback as a way to show, “Look, can’t be done!” And yet we’ve broken the sound barrier, commercial airline flight is so common as to be boring and something to get through versus an adventure, we have a manned space station floating around Earth, and cool rockets and rovers and telescopes and more zipping about all over our own solar system and beyond.
Sure, FTL sounds difficult, and we’ve been told it’s impossible. But we were also told that personal computers weren’t important and wouldn’t catch on, that telephones smaller than bricks weren’t a possibility, that cars driving themselves was just fiction, that it was impossible for the Kardashians to actually become celebrities and stick around for years and years, and so on. And yet, every one of these things and more happens every day, overcome and ignore the naysayers, exceed expectations, and become commonplace.
So, how will we do it? I’m honestly putting my money on however they did it on Star Trek. We’ve got the replicators (those nifty 3D printers), we’ve got the communicators (take a look at your phones), we’ve got the medical apps and more (on those phones), and we’re damned close to the holodeck (give TV and, most importantly, Madison Avenue just a little time to figure out how to totally IMMERSE us in a buying experience and the holodeck will be in everyone’s living room). Truly, warp drives cannot be far behind.
Sure, dilithium crystals don’t exist in the way Star Trek created them, but, if we look to Galaxy Quest – Star Trek’s loving satire – beryllium actually exists. Can that be used to power warp drives? Maybe. Why not go for steam and/or water? The science exists to make a generational steam or water-powered spaceship, so why not? Less than a year ago, IFL Science reported on how NASA is working on a variety of warp ship designs. All of them viable, though some will of course be more equal than others. But warp drive is coming.
We’ve imagined it. We’ll create it.
Gini Koch writes the fast, fresh and funny Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series, as well as lots of others. She’s made the most of multiple personality disorder by writing under a variety of pen names, including G.J. Koch, Anita Ensal, Jemma Chase, A.E. Stanton and J.C. Koch. Buy her books – her meds don’t come free, you know. Gini can be reached through her website www.ginikoch.com
And lastly is an author who has launched many readers into space, Ben Bova
Flying Faster-Than-Light (?)
Let’s assume that Einstein was – well, not wrong, exactly – but a little shortsighted. His relativity theories claim that nothing in the universe can move faster than light. The speed of light – 186,000 miles per second (300,000 kilometers per second if you’re not an American) is a universal speed limit.
Despite all the evidence that’s piled up over the past century in favor of Special and General Relativity, let’s assume that faster-than-light (FTL) might be possible, after all. Let’s try flying FTL and see what happens.
No matter how fast we go, we’ll still be bound by some physical constraints: for example, the Laws of Thermodynamics. They appear to be quite basic to the behavior of the universe, as any gambler can tell you, no matter whether your favorite natural philosopher is Newton, Einstein, or Pope Innocent I.
The Laws of Thermodynamics are quite simple. They tell us that you can never win. You can’t even break even. You always have to pay for what you get, and what’s more, you must always pay more than the value of what you receive. Happens all the time.
What does this tell us about FTL travel?
Let’s think about an interstellar journey. Nothing spectacular, just an easy jaunt in our 10,000-metric-ton cruiser over to the star Arcturus, a scant 36 lightyears from downtown Earth. For openers, we’ll poke along at a stately one-third (0.33) of lightspeed.
Using Newton’s formula for kinetic energy, E = 1/2mv2, my trusty electronic calculator tells me that the energy involved in moving our cruiser at 0.33 Lightspeed is 1033 joules, in metric units. If you’re an American engineer, that’s 7.376 x 1022 foot-pounds, or 2.78 x 104 kilowatt-hours, which your friendly local electric utility will sell you for something under ten thousand million million dollars (9.89 x 1015 dollars, including fuel adjustment charges). If you’re a physicist, the kinetic energy comes to 1030 ergs.
An interesting number, that last one. Since the Sun puts out 3.86 x 1033 ergs per second, the kinetic energy of our space cruiser flying at 0.33 Lightspeed is equal to 0.000259 second’s worth of solar output. Trivial.
But 0.33 Lightspeed is not FTL.
Nasty things begin to happen when you “get the lead out” and start tootling along closer lightspeed. For one thing, your mass begins to grow. At 0.95 Lightspeed, our 10,000-ton cruiser masses 32,000 tons. At 0.99 Lightspeed the mass has grown to 71,000 tons. And the closer we inch to 1.00 Lightspeed (assuming that’s possible), the more massive we become.
Which means the more energy we’ll need to push us along. The mass curve rises very steeply – asymptotically, in mathematicians’ lingo – as we close the distance between 0.99 and 1.00 Lightspeed. In fact, when we reach the speed of light, 1.00 Lightspeed, our mass becomes infinite. To propel an infinite mass, we need an infinite amount of energy.
How much energy is there in the universe? Doesn’t matter. A ship moving at 1.00 Lightspeed will need it all. If we really open up the throttle in our desire to fly faster than light, we’ll pull the plug on the entire universe. The ship will use all the energy in the universe. Everything collapses. The universe falls in on itself and – perhaps – implodes into another Big Bang.
Which is why there are no FTL ships flitting around our space-time continuum. There can only be one per universe, and that one ends it all. That Big Traffic Cop in the Sky doesn’t allow FTL speeding.
Let’s hope nobody tries it.
Ben Bova is the author of more than 130 books of fiction and nonfiction. The former editor of Analog Science Fiction and Omni magazines, he has served as president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, as well as the National Space Society. He has won six Hugo Awards and received numerous other honors. Check out his website for latest and future releases, www.benbova.net
Whew. I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of heavy stuff to consider. Guess there’s a reason I didn’t go for a degree in Astrophysics. So let’s see if I can do a quick summary here…
Ben Bova thinks FTL will bring on the next Big Bang.
E.E. King wants to send the politicians into FTL first, a sentiment probably shared worldwide.
Gini Koch says if Gene Roddenberry can dream it, we can do it.
Alan Black hopes for a technology that allows our heads and asses to reach the destination still attached… to the appropriate bodies.
And L.E. Modesitt thinks our thumbs got us this far, so what’s a bit a genetic modification and the harnessing of a black hole, if it gets us to the stars?
Me… I think, that as a species, we’re driven to achieve the impossible, like FTL, while ignoring the possible, like simple kindness to each other. Maybe it’s too hard to do the ‘possible’ because it requires a voluntary, fundamental change in the human psyche to not fight over every natural resource laid out before us.
So we focus on the ‘impossible’ and somehow achieve that. We’ve sailed the treacherous oceans and flew our unfriendly skies, because, while God didn’t give us fins or wings, he did give us brains. We bit the apple, but we’re still a long way from the core. I think with a few more bites we’ll achieve our goals. It might not be what we expected. It might not be the FTL everyone imagines. It might not be FTL at all. It might require a better understanding of, and the redefining of Space itself.
Maybe when there is no end to where we can go, and truly unlimited resources, we’ll be able to achieve the inner compassion necessary to survive out there. So I pray we do achieve that level of technology, hoping it brings us to the next level of humanity.
That what me, and my 5 friends think. What do you think?
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Physical activity in children is essential for their physical and mental state. Active kids will develop healthy bone structure, strong muscles and joints. They’ll improve their heart and lungs’ health, maintain healthy body weight and improve their posture and balance. They’ll be better with orientation and coordination and learn how to socialize and develop friendships for a lifetime. Plus, sports, games, and other activities are fun and stimulating and will positively encourage them to explore the world.
Safety Gear for Kids
There are countless activities and sports kids can do to maintain a healthy lifestyle – from gymnastics to playing football and basketball to riding bikes, roller-skates and everything in between. But to play these sports, they should have the proper safety equipment to be protected from injuries. Especially when they enjoy riding their scooters. A minor distraction can make them lose control and end up with a scraped knee or head injury.
Helmets reduce the chance of head injury by 80%, and because kids’ skulls are fragile, they make suitable protectors. Most kids get a scooter at the age of 2, and it’s essential to develop a healthy habit of wearing an open face helmet from this early age. It will become almost a reflex for them when they’re getting ready to go for a ride.
Take them shopping with you to get them enthusiastic and excited to wear one. This way, they can try them on and choose the one they like the most. When it comes to scooter helmets open face models are great for children because they keep an open horizon, and kids can see better without any obstacles. One size doesn’t fit every child so make sure the helmet fits them correctly. Otherwise, it may slide and cover their eyes.
The inside foam of the helmet that protects the head should be firmly attached, and the straps need to function properly to make sure the helmet stays on the head. Air vents can be an excellent addition to keep the child’s head cool. Also, having a flashlight at the front and a flashing red one at the back can be good for traffic. This way, everyone can see the child and be careful around it. When choosing helmets open face designs are a great choice but there are also some with visors to protect them from the sun or dirt coming their way. It doesn’t matter which style you choose, as long as it keeps the child safe.
Wrist guards are not just for kids that ride a scooter; they are great for riding a bike, skateboarding or snowboarding. They use moulded plastic wrapped around the wrist to protect it, prevent it from bending and absorb 40% of the impact. Wrist guards are essential for beginners because they’re prone to injuries. Children sweat during their rides, so it’s crucial to wash the wrist guards from time to time to prevent the spread of bacteria.
Elbow and Knee Pads
Elbow and knee pads can prevent a lot of injuries with kids. They’re a piece of essential safety equipment that guards the knees and elbows and provides support. They’re made to absorb impact and give the child more confidence to ride and feel safe. To work best, these pads need to fit your child correctly. If you can’t go to the store and try the knee pads on, there is a way to measure to get the right size. Wrap a soft measuring tape in the middle of the knee cap while the child is standing. Some companies take measures in kg, so you’ll need to know the right weight. They should be tight enough but not too much; otherwise, they can cut-off circulation.
You can measure elbow pads in a similar way. Take the same measuring tape and wrap it around the centre of the elbow on an outstretched arm. If you don’t have this type of measuring tape, take a string or a lace, mark the size, transfer it on a ruler, or take it with you to the store. They’ll feel safe, secure, and not afraid of falling by wearing these pads. Because falls are inevitable with kids, wearing elbow and knee pads can be a lifesaver on many occasions.
Other Safety Tips
Besides having the right safety equipment, there are other things to consider. If the place where the ride is crowded, make sure they wear visible clothing. Something with bright colours so you can easily find them. Comfortable and durable clothing will also help keep them safe if they fall and warm them up if the weather is cold. Scooters are very flexible when it comes to where kids are riding them. You can do it in the park, in the neighbourhood or on a playground. Explain to your child the safest route they can take and make sure they keep to it.
Kids should also know how to cross the street with their scooters, so talk about that. They’re on wheels and should be more careful in traffic and around pedestrians. Waiting for the light to turn green or finding a crosswalk to get to the other side should be imprinted in their head. Always do regular check-ups of maintenance of the scooter. This way, you’ll know if something needs to be replaced, fixed or tightened. And last, teach them to always head for the grass when they feel like losing control of the scooter. Grass will soften the blow or slow down the scooter.
You should never compromise when it comes to your child’s safety. Buying the best safety gear is crucial and can save your little one from dangerous accidents and injuries. Make sure you supervise the child while riding to point out the possible risks and hazards.
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Chlorine is widely used to disinfect drinking water and wastewater. It effectively kills bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms, making the water safe for consumption and preventing the spread of waterborne diseases. Chlorine is a primary disinfectant used in swimming pools and spa facilities. It helps control the growth of algae, bacteria, and other microorganisms, ensuring clean and safe swimming conditions. Chlorine compounds, such as sodium hypochlorite (bleach), are commonly used as bleaching agents and disinfectants in various industries. They are used for whitening fabrics, paper products, and as a general-purpose cleaner for household surfaces.
Chlorine compounds are used in the bleaching process for paper and pulp production. Chlorine dioxide is an alternative bleaching agent that reduces the environmental impact compared to elemental chlorine. Chlorine is used in the synthesis of various pharmaceuticals and medicines. It is involved in the production of drugs such as antibiotics, analgesics, and antiseptics. Chlorine-based products are used for odor control in sewage treatment plants, waste management facilities, and other areas where strong odors are generated.
Chlorine is an important Chemical element in water treatment, germicide, pesticides, disinfectants in bleach and mustard gas. Chlorine is also used to make a wide range of everyday items. Chlorine is one of the main and most common chemical elements used in the water and wastewater treatment industry, which is used in industrial and domestic applications in various ways due to its high disinfection and bleaching properties. It is used to eliminate bacteria and other microbes in drinking water reserves. Today, even small water reserves are constantly being chlorinated.
While chlorine is widely used and beneficial, it should be handled with care due to its toxic nature. In its gaseous form, chlorine can cause severe respiratory irritation and damage if inhaled in high concentrations. It can also react with certain organic compounds to produce potentially harmful byproducts. Proper safety measures, such as ventilation and protective equipment, should be employed when working with chlorine or chlorine-containing substances.
One of the main uses of chlorine is water purification and disinfection, which is due to the production of hypochlorous acid HOCL in the reaction of chlorine with water. Hypochlorous acid or free chlorine has a very high power in attacking microbes and pathogens in the water and therefore can eliminate them in the shortest time. It is also used in the production of paper products, disinfectants, pigments, foodstuffs, insecticides, dyes, Petroleum products, plastics, medicines, textiles, solvents and many other consumer products. In organic compounds, if chlorine replaces hydrogen (synthetic rubber), it often causes the required properties in these compounds, so in organic compounds, this element is widely used as an oxidizing agent and substitute.
Chlorine is a key component in the production of a wide range of chemicals. It is used in the manufacturing of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) for plastics, solvents, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and other industrial products. Chlorine is utilized in the production of chlorinated solvents like carbon tetrachloride, trichloroethylene, and perchloroethylene. These solvents find applications in dry cleaning, Metal degreasing, and as industrial cleaning agents. Chlorine-based disinfectants are used in healthcare settings to sterilize medical equipment, surfaces, and instruments. They help prevent the spread of infections in hospitals and clinics. Chlorine is used in the Food industry for disinfection purposes. It is employed to sanitize food processing equipment, water used in food production, and to control microbial growth in food products.
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India, a country with a rich cultural heritage, is a treasure trove of traditional knowledge (TK) passed down through generations. This knowledge encompasses many practices, innovations, and wisdom in agriculture, medicine, and biodiversity.
In recent years, the intersection of traditional knowledge and modern intellectual property rights, particularly patents, has become a critical area of focus. This blog explores the significance of traditional knowledge in India, its patent challenges, and the legal framework designed to protect it.
Simplifying the Complex World of Patents
Here’s where things get a bit tricky. Patents are meant to protect new inventions and encourage innovation. But what happens when someone tries to patent something that’s been part of our traditional knowledge for centuries?
This isn’t just a hypothetical situation. We’ve seen cases where foreign companies have tried to patent turmeric for wound healing or neem as a pesticide. These are things our ancestors have known and used for ages!
What is Traditional Knowledge
Traditional knowledge refers to the long-standing practices, innovations, and wisdom indigenous and local communities developed. In India, this includes a vast array of information, such as Ayurvedic medicine, traditional agricultural practices, and the use of natural resources. This knowledge is often orally transmitted and deeply embedded in the communities’ cultural and spiritual lives.
Examples of Traditional Knowledge in India
An ancient system of medicine that utilises herbs, diet, and lifestyle changes to promote health and well-being. Ayurvedic treatments and formulations have been used for thousands of years and include remedies for common ailments, preventive healthcare, and holistic wellness.
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice that originated in ancient India. It encompasses various practices, including postures (asanas), breath control (pranayama), and meditation, aimed at achieving a balance between mind, body, and spirit.
- Indigenous Agricultural Practices:
Techniques like crop rotation, mixed cropping, and the use of organic fertilisers. These practices are tailored to local ecological conditions and have been developed over centuries, ensuring sustainable and efficient use of natural resources.
The traditional medical practices and beliefs of indigenous cultures, including medicinal plants and natural remedies. This knowledge is often passed down through generations and remains an integral part of healthcare in many rural communities.
- Textile and Craft Techniques:
Traditional weaving, dyeing, and embroidery techniques that reflect the cultural heritage and artistic skills of various Indian communities. These techniques often involve the use of natural dyes and sustainable materials.
Challenges in Patenting Traditional Knowledge
- Documentation and Disclosure:
Traditional knowledge is often not documented in a manner that meets patent application requirements. The oral transmission of this knowledge makes it difficult to prove prior art. For example, an ancient herbal remedy used by a community for centuries may not have been formally recorded, making it challenging to establish its prior existence.
- Novelty and Inventiveness:
Patents require knowledge to be novel and involve an inventive step. Traditional knowledge, being ancient and widely known within communities, often does not meet these criteria. A well-known conventional agricultural technique may not qualify for a patent because it lacks the requisite novelty.
- Misappropriation and Biopiracy:
There have been instances where companies have patented traditional knowledge without proper community consent, leading to biopiracy. This unethical practice exploits the knowledge and resources of indigenous communities without providing fair compensation or recognition.
- Economic and Social Impact:
The commercialisation of traditional knowledge through patents can have significant economic and social implications for indigenous communities. It is essential to ensure that these communities benefit from using their knowledge and that their rights are protected.
Legal Framework for Protecting Traditional Knowledge in India
Recognising the importance of safeguarding traditional knowledge, India has implemented several measures and legal frameworks.
Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL)
The TKDL is an initiative by the Government of India to document traditional knowledge in a digitized format. It provides information in five international languages and aims to prevent the misappropriation of this knowledge by providing patent examiners worldwide with access to the database. This ensures that patent applications involving Indian traditional knowledge are scrutinized more effectively.
The TKDL includes documented knowledge from Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and Yoga. By providing evidence of prior art, it has been instrumental in thwarting several attempts to patent traditional Indian knowledge.
Traditional Knowledge Resource Classification (TKRC)
The Traditional Knowledge Resource Classification (TKRC) system is an advanced classification framework for the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL). The Indian traditional medicine system has been meticulously organised and categorised by TKRC into approximately 25,000 subgroups, encompassing Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and Yoga.
This system has facilitated the inclusion of around 200 sub-groups under A61 K 36/00 as defined by the International Patent Classification. Previously, there were only a few sub-groups available under A61K 35/00, specifically for medicinal plants. This enhancement significantly improves the accuracy and efficiency of prior art searches and reviews for patent applications in traditional knowledge.
In 2011, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held an International Conference in New Delhi in partnership with CSIR on the ‘Use of Virtual Knowledge Digital Library as a Model for the Security of Virtual Knowledge.’ As part of this initiative, WIPO organised an ‘International Study Visit to TKDL’ in collaboration with CSIR and DIPP (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) for 19 countries interested in replicating the TKDL model.
The TKDL has proven to be a powerful tool in defending against illegitimate claims over existing traditional knowledge and exclusive intellectual property rights. It highlights the constructive efforts made to preserve this valuable information for current and future generations. The goal is not to restrict the use of traditional knowledge but to ensure that incorrect patent rights are not granted due to a lack of access to prior art for patent examiners.
IPR Protection of Traditional Knowledge in India
Traditional knowledge requires effective protection in developing and underdeveloped countries. This includes recognising the rights of original traditional knowledge holders and preventing the unauthorised acquisition of these rights by third parties. Due to globalisation, international collaboration and cooperation are essential to protecting and nurturing traditional knowledge. Protective strategies must consider societal, national, regional, and international dimensions, giving due regard to the original knowledge holders.
These mechanisms should address the economic aspects of protection, ensuring that it is affordable, understandable, and accessible to traditional knowledge holders. Traditional knowledge within the current IPR regime can be protected through two main approaches: Positive Protection and Defensive Protection. The distinction between these two types of protection is not rigid, and both strategies should be effectively employed to safeguard traditional knowledge.
The Biological Diversity Act, 2002
This act regulates the access to biological resources and associated knowledge to ensure that benefits arising from their use are shared fairly and equitably with the local communities. It aims to protect India’s biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge from exploitation. The act mandates obtaining prior informed consent from local communities before accessing their knowledge and resources.
The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001
This act protects plant varieties and farmers’ rights to save, use, exchange, and sell their farm produce of protected varieties. It also ensures that traditional farming practices and knowledge are recognised and safeguarded. The act acknowledges farmers’ contributions to conserving plant varieties and aims to promote the conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity.
Copyrights and Traditional Knowledge
Copyright can protect Traditional Knowledge (TK) holders’ artistic expressions, particularly those of indigenous and migrant communities, from unauthorised use and exploitation. This includes a wide range of works such as:
Stories, legends, myths, customs, and poems.
Academic and scholarly contributions.
Paintings, drawings, and other visual arts.
Fabrics, clothing, textile compositions, tapestries, and carpets.
Songs, compositions, and other forms of music.
Pottery, ceramics, paintings, wood and stone carvings, and various other objects.
Trade Secrets and Traditional Knowledge under Article 39 of the TRIPS Agreement
Article 39 of the TRIPS Agreement (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) recognises confidential knowledge as a subject matter of intellectual property rights (IPR). This provision safeguards unrevealed information through confidentiality and access agreements, which may include fees for accessing and using the knowledge. Three criteria must be met to qualify as a trade secret: the knowledge must have commercial value, it must not be publicly available, and reasonable efforts must be made to maintain its secrecy.
The protection of a trade secret is contingent upon its continued secrecy, aiming to legally prevent unauthorized exposure, acquisition, or use of the information in a manner contrary to fair business practices. Once the knowledge becomes public, trade secret protection is no longer applicable.
According to Srividhya Ragavan, trade secret law is likely the most effective form of security for traditional knowledge within the existing intellectual property regimes. For instance, trade secrets could impose a duty on a photographer not to sell or display copies of a photograph without the photographer’s consent. This form of intellectual property is ideal for securing unrevealed knowledge.
The initial step towards protecting indigenous knowledge as trade secrets involves the holders recognising its value and understanding their rights and the long-term benefits of such protection. The secrecy regime’s incentives for monitoring the distribution and use of traditional knowledge should be communicated to the relevant sectors and communities. Traditional knowledge holders also retain the right to disclose the information.
Protecting traditional knowledge through trade secrets offers several advantages over other types of IPRs. The process is cheaper, quicker, and easier. The legislative requirements to prove a trade secret are flexible, allowing the protection of information that may not qualify for patent or copyright protection. Unauthorised use of the information can be prevented by suing for misappropriation of trade secrets.
Geographical Indications and Traditional Knowledge
Under the Indian Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999, a “Geographical Indication” (GI) refers to an indication that identifies goods as originating from a specific territory, region, or locality, where a particular quality, reputation, or other characteristic of the goods is essentially attributable to their geographical origin.
For manufactured goods, this connection requires that at least one of the production, processing, or preparation activities occur in the specified territory. Like trademarks, GIs attribute a recognised quality to products with a specific geographical location. Using a GI for products not originating from the designated area is prohibited. Examples of GIs include Darjeeling Tea, Kanchipuram Silk, Alphonso Mango, Nagpur Orange, Kolhapuri Chappal, Bikaneri Bhujia, Agra Petha, and Goa Feni.
Indigenous communities collectively hold traditional knowledge (TK), and GI is one of the most effective means of protecting this knowledge. The Geographical Indications of Goods Act rewards a group within a specific location. GI protection is valid for ten years but can be renewed indefinitely. Over time, production methods improve, enhancing product quality. The prestige and goodwill of products developed over years or decades are rewarded through GIs. GIs not only protect a product’s established manufacturing system but also accommodate its evolution.
Indigenous cultures have preserved and refined traditional methods, imparting unique features to their items. GIs recognise and appreciate these efforts, preventing others from exploiting this hard-earned prestige. The GI remains protected as long as the natural and cultural characteristics of the product are maintained at the appropriate place of cultivation. As collective rights, GI rights cannot be freely transferred from one individual to another.
Reasons to Protect Traditional Knowledge in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
Traditional knowledge (TK) is the accumulated wisdom, skills, and practices of indigenous peoples and local communities, developed over generations. Protecting TK within the framework of intellectual property rights (IPR) is crucial for various reasons, encompassing social justice, cultural heritage preservation, and economic equity. Here are five compelling reasons to protect traditional knowledge:
Traditional knowledge often contributes significantly to innovation, yet those who hold this knowledge are rarely recognised or compensated fairly. For instance, traditional farmers have improved plant genetic resources by cultivating and selecting the best crop varieties. Seed companies frequently capitalise on these improved varieties, securing benefits through mechanisms like Plant Breeders Rights, while traditional farmers receive little to no compensation. Protecting TK ensures that these communities can also benefit economically from their contributions to biodiversity and innovation.
2. Conservation of Biodiversity
Indigenous peoples’ innovations and traditions are deeply intertwined with their cultures and environments. By protecting traditional knowledge (TK), we can preserve this link between people and nature, thereby supporting biodiversity conservation, sustainable agriculture, and food security. Thus, the preservation of traditional knowledge is integral to the broader effort of maintaining ecological balance and cultural diversity.
3. Preservation of Traditional Practices
Protecting traditional knowledge helps maintain cultural identity and ensure the survival of indigenous communities. It provides a framework for preserving traditional practices and knowledge systems, which are essential for the cultural and self-identification of these communities. By safeguarding TK, we elevate its profile, making it more valuable and worthy of preservation, which extends beyond the protection offered by the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement and other multilateral instruments.
4. Prevention of Biopiracy
Biopiracy refers to the unauthorized and unfair appropriation of biological resources and traditional knowledge. Numerous patents have been issued on genetic resources derived from traditional knowledge, often without the consent of or compensation to the originating communities. Notable examples include the patenting of the healing properties of turmeric in the USA, which was successfully challenged by the Indian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). To prevent such misappropriation, it is essential to document TK, establish proof of origin for patent applications, and require prior informed consent from TK holders.
5. TK’s Significance in Development
Traditional knowledge has immense potential to contribute to modern society, offering valuable insights into health, agriculture, commerce, and economic growth. We can leverage this wealth of knowledge for sustainable development by integrating TK into contemporary decision-making processes. Protecting TK ensures that it is used equitably and its benefits are shared fairly with the communities that have nurtured it.
The Neem Patent Case
In the 1990s, a patent was granted in the United States for the antifungal properties of neem oil, a knowledge that has been part of Indian traditional practices for centuries. The patent was revoked after the Indian government and environmental groups provided evidence of prior use, highlighting the importance of documenting traditional knowledge. This case underscores the need for robust mechanisms to protect traditional knowledge from misappropriation.
The Turmeric Patent Case
Similarly, a patent granted in the United States for using turmeric in wound healing was revoked after Indian scientists proved that this knowledge had been part of traditional Indian medicine for thousands of years. The revocation of the patent was a significant victory in the fight against biopiracy and demonstrated the effectiveness of documenting and disseminating traditional knowledge.
The Way Forward
To bridge the gap between traditional knowledge and modern intellectual property systems, several steps can be taken:
- Enhanced Documentation
We will continue to work to document traditional knowledge in accessible and searchable formats. This includes using digital technologies and databases to preserve and disseminate this knowledge.
- Community Involvement
Ensure that the communities that are the custodians of traditional knowledge are involved in the process and benefit from its commercialisation. This can be achieved through community-based participatory research and benefit-sharing agreements.
- International Cooperation
Strengthening international agreements and cooperation to protect traditional knowledge globally. This includes advocating for recognising traditional knowledge in international intellectual property frameworks and promoting ethical practices in bioprospecting.
- Legal Reforms
Updating national and international legal frameworks to protect traditional knowledge better and prevent misappropriation. This may involve developing sui generis systems that recognise the unique nature of traditional knowledge.
- Awareness and Education
Raising awareness about the value of traditional knowledge and the importance of its protection. Educational programs can help foster respect for indigenous cultures and promote the sustainable use of traditional knowledge.
Traditional knowledge is a vital part of India’s cultural heritage and offers valuable insights and innovations. While the modern patent system presents challenges in protecting this knowledge, initiatives like the TKDL and supportive legal frameworks are crucial steps in the right direction. By bridging ancient wisdom with modern intellectual property rights, we can ensure that traditional knowledge is preserved, respected, and utilised sustainably for future generations.
As we move forward, we must find ways to protect our traditional wisdom while also fostering innovation. After all, our traditional knowledge isn’t just about preserving the past – it could hold the key to solving many of our future challenges, from healthcare to environmental conservation.
Frequently Asked Questions of Traditional Knowledge And Patents
Q1. What is traditional knowledge in India?
Ans1. Traditional knowledge in India encompasses long-standing practices, innovations, and wisdom developed by indigenous and local communities, such as Ayurveda, yoga, traditional agricultural techniques, and ethnomedicine.
Q2. How is traditional knowledge passed down through generations?
Ans2. Traditional knowledge is typically transmitted orally from generation to generation, often through storytelling, teaching, and practice within families and communities.
Q3. Why is it challenging to patent traditional knowledge?
Ans3. Patenting traditional knowledge is challenging because it is often undocumented, lacks the novelty required for patents, and is already widely known within communities, making it difficult to meet patent application criteria.
Q4. What are some examples of traditional knowledge in India?
Ans4. Examples of traditional knowledge in India include Ayurveda (ancient medicine), yoga (physical, mental, and spiritual practices), indigenous agricultural practices, ethnomedicine, and traditional textile and craft techniques.
Q5. What is the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL)?
Ans5. The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) is an initiative by the Government of India to document traditional knowledge in a digitized format to prevent its misappropriation by providing patent examiners worldwide with access to this knowledge.
Q6. How does the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 protect traditional knowledge?
Ans6. The Biological Diversity Act, 2002, regulates access to biological resources and associated knowledge, ensuring that local communities receive fair benefits from their use and preventing exploitation.
Q7. What was the significance of the Neem patent case?
Ans7. The Neem patent case highlighted the importance of documenting traditional knowledge. The patent for neem oil’s antifungal properties was revoked after proving its traditional use in India, underscoring the need for mechanisms to protect traditional knowledge.
Q8. How does the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001 safeguard traditional agricultural knowledge?
Ans8. This act protects plant varieties and farmers’ rights to save, use, exchange, and sell their farm produce, ensuring traditional farming practices and knowledge are recognised and conserved.
Q9. Why is community involvement crucial in protecting traditional knowledge?
Ans9. Community involvement ensures that the custodians of traditional knowledge benefit from its commercialisation, fostering respect for indigenous cultures and promoting sustainable use through participatory research and benefit-sharing agreements.
Q10. What are some steps to bridge traditional knowledge with modern intellectual property rights?
Ans10. Steps include enhanced documentation of traditional knowledge, community involvement, international cooperation, legal reforms, and raising awareness and education about the value and protection of traditional knowledge.
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Read and watch
Write a narrative where the central action is around some type of game. Before you write consider the following:
Will the narrative be in first or third person?
Who are the characters?
What is the setting?
What is the central conflict?
How will the story resolve?
Try to figure out how to build a chain reaction machine with this fun game.
Play this game of hex against a family member or against the computer. The rules are simple, but the game is hard! Rules:
Players choose a color and take turns. On each turn one counter is placed in an empty hexagonal cell.
Counters may not be moved except with the swap rule.
The first player to form a connected path of their counters linking the opposing sides of the board marked by their colour wins.
The four corner hexagons belong to both adjacent sides.
Swap rule: on their first move the second player may move normally, or choose to swap their piece with that placed by the first player.
Play a game of uno or war (whichever cards you have). Discuss colors, numbers, what numbers are higher or lower.
Get moving today! Practice some sports skills on your own or with a family member. Throw a baseball, shoot some baskets, or kick around a soccer ball.
First, have your child do some warm up stretches: 10-15 arm circles (front and backwards), 15 jumping jacks, running in place for 30 seconds, 10 leg squats, 10 push ups and sit ups then go to GoNoodle and have your child pick a couple of PE/Dance videos.
Did you do today’s activities?
Push the button below to let us know you’ve completed the activities below:
Turning on transcripts for YouTube Videos [PDF]
Additional lessons are available for this grade level by pressing “More Lessons” above, or selecting a lesson below:
Today's ActivitiesSo...this school year did not end the way any of us could imagine. Despite that, we can still look forward to our future hopes and dreams. The end of the school year is a great time to think about goals. What do you want to accomplish? What do you...
Today's Activities Reflect on this image. Talk to another person and share thoughts with each other. Write your responses.Video: Will Smith's Thoughts on Failure Respond to this video. Do you agree or disagree with Will Smith? Explain what experience(s) in your life...
Today's Activities'The Present' is a short 4 minute animation created by Jacob Frey. What is your overall response to the short film? Rewatch the film and pause at 2:35. Use at least 5 adjectives to describe the boy during this part of the film. Rewatch the...
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As a very small child, I remember watching my grandmother’s mixing bowl full of dough. It bubbled as it gave forth to a sweet smell that would yield the dough she would knead into braids. The whole kitchen would be filled with the smell of cardamom and almond on the sweet bread she baked. Just a small cake of compressed yeast worked wonders when combined with eggs, sugar, flour, milk and the spices.
There are many ways of baking bread, of course. The ancients used other methods of making bread, such as what we call flat breads, cooked on a flat surface rather than baked; tortillas or the South Asian chapatti are usually cooked this way. Other breads are roasted. The bread of Jesus' day was made with combinations of grains, such as barley, spelt, and a coarser kind of wheat and was often unleavened. It was nothing like the soft white bread first introduced in 1921, known as Wonder bread. During the 1940s the parent company Continental Baking began adding certain vitamins and minerals to the bread as part of a U.S. government program to combat certain diseases such as Beriberi and Pellagra, caused by thiamine and b-12 deficiencies. Remember those commercials about how Wonder Bread built our bodies strong in 12 ways?
The real secret to most breads, of course, is the leavening agent; yeast was the traditional way, baking powder or soda not really developed commercially until the early nineteenth century. Although yeast and baking powder and baking soda cause breads to rise in different ways, both are just as susceptible to being killed, as it were. I remember my deaf mother wanting everyone out of the kitchen while a cake was baking or some calamity such as noise or shaking could cause the cake to fall, just as liquid too hot or too cold could kill the yeast.
One of the problems with this metaphor about the kingdom developed as the result of our faith is that it are so well-known and used so commonly that in some respects we have almost lost their meaning. What is it about a seed or leaven that is like to the kingdom? Seeds and leaven occur all around us in nature. The Synoptic Gospel writers also have Jesus compare the religious establishment of his day to the leaven of corruption, leavening being that agent that allows something to bubble and grow. As is often the case, it's just as easy for evil to develop from the leavening agents of hate, fear, and prejudice as it is for the kingdom to develop from the seeds and nutrients of faith.
Yeast, although essential to bread rising, is but one ingredient for the loaves of our social compact. Trust is also an essential ingredient, but how do we learn to trust and who should we trust? It seems that there is a loss of trust in the essential national ideals that hold our society together.
Another important leavening is doubt. At first, it may seem strange to say that we must learn to trust and learn to doubt, but rather than being in opposition to each other, one develops from the other. Trusting does not mean believing everything we hear. Trust involves judgment, discerning judgment. Doubt is one of the instruments of discernment. People who believe everything they hear aren't trusting; they're just plain gullible, simply accepting statements that reinforce their prejudices, and we are all guilty of that temptation.
Just as the yeast can be easily killed off by not being properly nurtured, the bread can also be flattened by not giving it enough attention. The study that leads to questioning is well and good; that is clearly one part of the nurturing of faith. But without the part of love leading to action, the yeast will not live. Just as democracy is not a spectator sport, neither is faith a mere intellectual exercise. It requires action in order to truly grow and live. That action can take a variety of forms, of course, from shopping for school packs for homeless kids to standing up against an army. The leavening of love into action covers many fronts. Not only does it include protecting the social safety net of services for the poor but stewardship of our environment; it includes basic justice issues such as a living wage and the protection of due process in our judicial system. And we haven't even touched the questions of prejudice, racism, or the unequal treatment of disfavored groups.
When we put the dough into the bowl, we make sure the bowl is well oiled or buttered so the bread will rise without hindrance. One of the toughest parts about all this care we give the bread dough is that we need to protect it from drafts or sudden shaking, so we cover it with a clean damp towel. We use a damp towel because the moisture interacts with the bread, rising.
And I always make sure the bowl is warm so I set it on a rack over a pan of water that has been boiled. The warmth given the bowl gives the bread an added oomph, just as the warmth of our care and love gives the added oomph to our faithfulness as Christians. Then the bread will rise.
There is a reason why bread is called the staff of life. The origin of that phrase which is so familiar to all of us seems to be unknown. Bartlett attributes it to Matthew Henry (1662-1714), who in his famous commentaries on Scripture tied it back to the Psalms. Phrases close to “staff of life” are also found in Isaiah and Ezekiel. In other parts of the world, such as the Far East, rice, rather than bread, is called the staff of life.
Bread, like rice, actually signifies hope. Jesus spoke this parable to a people bereft of hope. They lived in a time of brutal occupation by the Romans and their so-called leaders were no more than collaborators in that occupation. Between the taxes due Rome and the taxes due the temple, some have estimated that peasants in the time of Jesus only kept 40% of their crops.
Although evidence is fragmentary, archaeological examinations of children’s skulls indicate serious iron and protein deficiency. For a people living on the edge, bread was critical. Jesus realized this in the prayer he offered: Give us this day our daily bread. But the bread that we need is something to be worked for; bread does not rise by itself without our help.
Similarly, the hope we have called the kingdom of God just won’t rise by itself. It will require our involvement. Well, that’s obvious, you may way, but what kind of involvement is required? Ah! That’s the question, to quote the Dane who faced choices and decisions as well.
Several weeks ago, the Star Ledger carried an article about the Ramapough Lenape peoples here in New Jersey. Like the Sioux at Standing Rock, they face a serious challenge to the integrity of their tribal lands. There are about 5,000 members of this tribe who live in the Stag Hill area near Mahwah and Ringwood. Their old lands were poisoned by sludge and toxic materials produced by Ford in its production of six million vehicles for over 25 years; the plant closed in 1980.
It was only in 1980 that the tribe was recognized as such by the State of New Jersey. But it took almost twenty more years before they were recognized as such by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which involved court suits and fighting the local U.S. Congresswoman at that time Marge Roukema, who agreed with real estate investor Donald Trump that recognition would only create problems.
Although there was a settlement to tribal members, there is much cleanup left to be done. And to add insult to injury, the gleaming Sheraton tower which now sits on the site of the former Ford plant was built on ceremonial grounds at a time when no one cared much about First Nation peoples.
But the tribe and we in New Jersey face a new issue today: the Pilgrim Pipeline proposal which would create two side by side lines, one carrying the highly flammable Bakken crude from Albany to the Arthur Kill Refining plant in Linden, just up the road from here. The Ramapough tribe is fighting it because the pipeline would go right through their land, not to mention at least 29 New Jersey municipalities.
What’s this got to do with our loaf of bread in the bowl? If we are serious in our efforts to bring hope as part of God’s kingdom, then we must take action here as well as the giant towers proposed by JCP&L, and the Penn East Pinelands Pipeline, approved by a commission stacked by you know who. Yes, it’s good to support the Sierra Club in its court battle, but to get the bread to rise so we get a good loaf, we need to do more.
This is an election year in this state. Where do the candidates for governor and state representatives stand on these issues? We need to call them to task because there’s more at stake than property taxes. We need to look at the real issues that face our state: income inequality, decaying cities, the lack of affordable housing, street violence, and, thanks to the current governor, the availability of guns even to the mentally disabled and impaired.
Jesus offered the image of bread rising as a symbol of hope for us all as we strive to realize the kingdom. As we look at this year’s primaries, set for June 6, we should learn where all these candidates stand on the really important issues in our state. And we should offer the hope of risen bread to the many communities in New Jersey that seek to preserve the creation God gave us against the exploitation of large companies seeking only to increase their profits at our expense. To do less betrays our call as a people of God.
Let us pray: Help us to be as faithful to you as you have been to us by being not just the yeast but the hands that work the dough into the kingdom you offer us. In the name of him who is our symbol of hope, even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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Yugan Anime: A Deep Dive into the World of Yugan
Chancerne: Unveiling the Mystique and Impact of a Unique Concept
Yazhuang52: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding This Emerging Trend
GoBlueCC Website: The Ultimate Platform for Students and Education Enthusiasts
Dariaeteri VK: Exploring the Rise of a Social Media Phenomenon
Temperature conversion is a fundamental aspect of many scientific, engineering, and everyday applications. Among the various temperature scales, Fahrenheit (°F) and Celsius (°C) are commonly used,...
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1. Identify, with real aircraft, the five categories of aircraft and the different classes within each category.
iii.single engine sea
iv.multi engine sea
e.Lighter than air
2. Be involved in an interactive discussion that explores the following:
a.Bernoulli’s principle and how it applies to airplanes
b.The four forces of flight and how each affects the flight of an airplane.
c.Three types of aircraft and their uses in aviation today.
d.The three principal axes of an airplane. Demonstrate the type of movement the aircraft does on each axis and what controls that movement.
e.Different types of engines, wings, and other gear and their application/usage.
3.Correctly identify on a real plane the following exterior parts of an airplane.
a.Cowling or Nacelle
4.Correctly identify on a real plane the following parts of the interior of an airplane.
g.Vertical Speed indicator
5.Choose 3 historical figures in aviation who have had an impact on aviation history. Detail their role and importance in aviation history. Some possible figures include: Leonardo da Vinci, Daniel Bernoulli, Sir George Cayley, Otto Lilienthal, Gustave Whitehead, Octave Chanute, Orville & Wilbur Wright*, Glen Hammond Curtiss, or Amelia Earhart.
6.Do one of the following:
a.PREFERRED: Take an intro flight in an airplane and observe the different movements made by three different control surfaces. Record your observations.
b.(If an intro flight is not possible) Demonstrate and explain on the ground the different movements made by three different control surfaces. You may do this demonstration on a real aircraft or in a flight simulator.
7.Do one of the following:
a.Interview a mission pilot or missionary who has used airplanes to help tell people about Jesus. As a result of your interview be able to:
i.List three ways God uses mission aviation to spread the gospel, based on the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20
ii.List three ways you as a Pathfinder can help our mission pilots
b.Interview a commercial full-time pilot. As a result of your interview be able to:
i.List three ways pilots can share Jesus within their workplace, based on the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20
ii.List three ways you as a Pathfinder can share Jesus within a non-church environment.
*The Wright brothers are one historical character
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Request a printed catalogue. We'll mail you a printed catalogue from one of our publishers.
Get introduced to probabilities while reading and understanding information in graphs. Our resource introduces the mathematical concepts taken from real-life experiences, and provides warm-up and timed practice questions to strengthen procedural proficiency skills. Gather information first hand by finding out which month has the most birthdays. Create a class chart for fruits eaten during the week. Count the number of chickens on a farm using a bar graph. Find how many more roses than tulips are in a garden from a circle graph. Count the number of ways you could roll the number seven on two standard dice. Determine whether something is likely or unlikely to happen. The task and drill sheets provide a leveled approach to learning, starting with prekindergarten and increasing in difficulty to grade 2. Aligned to your State Standards and meeting the concepts addressed by the NCTM standards, reproducible task sheets, drill sheets, review and answer key are included.
Author | Tanya Cook & Christopher Forest |
Product Code | MR962 |
Length | 60 pages |
Publisher | Classroom Complete |
Format | Softcover |
Grade | PK-2 |
The Learning House Inc. is a family owned business providing educational resources to schools, home schools, and parents across Canada. In 1994 Harold and Louise House felt led by the Lord to start a business.
Copyright 2025 The Learning House Inc.
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Acquire the necessary skills to showcase your expertise in a subject through journal articles, essays, newspaper columns, and blogs. This course will help you take a step-by-step approach to writing and getting published, starting with selecting topics, planning your task, researching, writing, reviewing your work, and finally, getting published. It even contains the basic learning that you need to start publishing your own work.
Understand the value of scholarly writing
Learn how to select topics and apply focused research
Learn how to plan and budget your writing
Understand how to break down the writing task
Learn how write each section, introduction, and conclusion
Understand publisher requirements
Getting published and self-publishing on the Internet
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We work on 5 main issues:
- Hunger, malnutrition and lack of clean water
- Precarity of family income
- Reducing societal violence: beating, bullying, and conflict
- Illiteracy, school expulsion, and educational precarity
- Lack of access to heath services and basic sanitation
Be one of the hundreds of young professionals acting on their commitment to build a more equitable, socially conscious and integrated society in the Americas.
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India’s flood map needs updation
Present flood map
- Regions susceptible to floods, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), lie mostly along the Ganga-Brahmaputra river basin, from the northern states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, covering Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and stretching to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast.
- The coastal states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, parts of Telangana and Gujarat also witness yearly floods,
Need for updation
- This demarcation, however, is based on estimates made in 1980 by Rashtriya Barh Ayog (RBA) or National Flood Committee formed four-decades ago.
- Around 40 million hectares of geographical area in India is vulnerable to floods, according to the body.
- But over the last four decades, India has been reeling from the effects of climate change like many parts of the world. The global rise in temperatures has led to large periods of no rain followed by extreme precipitation, an observation which is becoming a trend.
- There will be a rise in the frequency of floods in India due to rise in temperatures between 2070 and 2100,
New method to detect colon cancer
- Colon cancer is one of the most common types of cancer: In India and worldwide. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), it is the third most common cancer in men (663,000 cases in 2014, 10 per cent of all cancer cases) and the second most common in women (571,000 cases in 2014, 9.4 per cent of all cancer cases).
- Currently, colon cancer gets detected at very late stages.
- There are two techniques to detect it: CT colonography and colonoscopy or immunohistochemistry.
- While CT colonography involves low dose radiation, colonoscopy is an invasive process whereas immunohistochemistry can be subjective and sometimes not reproducible.
- The upregulated micro RNAs, which were named DNA damage sensitive micro RNA’s or `DDSM’s, were found to target a group of cellular proteins which are essential to maintain the pristine nature of genetic material within each cell of the body.
- micro RNAs, which are small single-stranded non-coding RNA molecules, silence the expression of many proteins. The micro RNAs are known to bind to the messenger RNA molecules that code for the proteins and thereby either inactivate or destroy them.
- Experiments involving laboratory mice confirmed that the cells have a greater tendency to form cancers if there is overexpression of these micro RNAs and consequent loss of these genome stabilisers
- These DDSM can be used for colon cancer detection
- The Government of India is on course to adopt a policy on mandatory fortification of rice distributed through the social safety network programs such as Integrated Child Development Services and mid-day meal schemes.
- The scheme was initiated in 2019-20 and Rs 174.64 crore was sanctioned for a three-year pilot run.
- It was rolled out in recently Madhya Pradesh and fortified rice is being provided through the targeted public distribution system in Singrauli district.
- This scheme will run till 2023 and rice will be supplied to the beneficiaries at the rate of Re 1 per kilogram.
- Such interventions of iron fortification are not being monitored and there is no evidence to show that it has any benefit, experts pointed out. Instead, such fortification can be harmful, they argued.
- For example, consumption of excess iron by pregnant women can adversely affect fetal development and birth outcomes. These children have increased risk of contracting chronic diseases.
- Anaemia is high among poor children in the rural areas but iron deficiency is more among the urban and rich across the country.
- Researchers suggested that instead of fortification, the quality of diet should be improved. Increasing the intake of foods from animal sources and fruits would help more, they said.
- A diverse natural diet is required to meet the normal population need of micronutrients
- The researchers are worried that the push towards fortification is more to help the industry than the people.
- “This is an international market driven solution and doesn’t have a scientific logic,”
- Mandatory fortification will create markets that will be hard to withdraw when we have achieved the target of reduced micronutrient deficiency.
- In a certain sense, our intellectual concerns over the Himalaya have been largely shaped by the assumption of fear, suspicion, rivalry, invasion, encroachment and pugnacity.
- Ironically it is the Delhi-Beijing-Islamabad triad, and not the mountain per se, that defines our concerns about the Himalaya.
- The attempt to create a national Himalaya by each of the five nations (Nepal, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, and Tibet/China)that fall within this transnational landmass called the Himalaya.
- The National Mission on Himalayan Studies, for example, under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, is a classic case in point that provides funds for research and technological innovations, but creating policies only for the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR)
- It needs to be recognised that political borders and cultural borders are not the same thing.
- Political borders are to be considered as space-making strategies of modern nation-states that do not necessarily coincide with cultural borders.
- The state has dominated the agenda of defining the domain of non-traditional security (such as human rights, cases of ecological devastation, climate change, human trafficking, migration, forced exodus of people, transnational crime, resource scarcity, and even pandemics)
- besides setting the tone of an approach to handling traditional security threats (such as military, political and diplomatic conflicts that were considered as threats against the essential values of the state, territorial integrity, and political sovereignty)
- Google India removed over 1,50,000 pieces of content from its social media platforms in May and June, following complaints received from individual users, according to the transparency report released.
- The report follows the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 that came into force on May 26.
- The Rules require social media platforms with more than 50 lakh users in India to publish compliance report every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken
- The Centre had on February 25 notified the ‘The Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021’, which make it mandatory for platforms such as WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram to aid in identifying “originator” of “unlawful” messages, while also requiring social media networks to take down such messages within a specific time frame, set up grievance redressal mechanism as well as assist government agencies in investigation.
Amendments to the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act (GIBNA)
- The General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021 proposes amending the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, 1972 to remove the requirement for the Centre to hold at least 51 per cent of equity in an insurer.
- It also proposes a new Section, 24B, which will ensure that the Act stops applying to insurers on and from the date the Centre ceases to have control over them.
- “With a view to provide for greater private participation in the public sector insurance companies… it has become necessary to amend certain provisions of the Act
Cycle Threshold (ct)
- Cycle threshold (CT) refers to the number of cycles needed to amplify the viral RNA to a detectable level
- HOW IS CT VALUE DETERMINED?
- This may get a bit technical –
- Once the sample is collected, RNA is extracted and treated with reverse transcriptase enzyme.
- A complimentary DNA is extracted from an initial RNA
- Now the DNA can be easily amplified by using a polymerise chain reaction to make billions of copies of a fragment.
Social Networking and Farmers
- Social networking and knowledge sharing on online platforms have opened up new avenues of opportunity for farmers while providing tech-based solutions.
- “From knowing about different PVC pipes to discovering innovative farming methods, it is all easy through social media,”
- Social media is also used to lend emotional support to farmers under stress
- Challenges of the digital divide disappear in a decade.
- The divide is a minor challenge compared to the centuries old challenges in agriculture that need attention now
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I find myself standing amid the architectural brilliance of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which for me, holds the title of the most beautiful building in the world. The museum's remarkable design and grandeur never cease to amaze me, even after 20 or 30 visits. Each tour unveils a new, striking detail, making me wish that the exterior boasted air conditioning to complement the interior's comfortable climate. But, I digress. My purpose here today isn't merely aesthetic admiration; it’s contemplation—about the role of preserving information in the age of artificial intelligence.
As you wander through the Louvre, your eyes meet with artefacts, papers, and artworks—testimonies of various cultures that have thrived over thousands of years. These relics offer insights into human history, and in turn, help shape our understanding of the future. Preservation has always been central to human progress; it educates us on where we've been and guides us on where we're going.
In this new era dominated by AI, the nature of information has fundamentally changed. What happens when most of what we interact with becomes digitally generated or synthetic? Do we continue to preserve these artefacts the same way we've preserved stone tablets and ancient scrolls? Or does the advent of digital technology render traditional museums obsolete?
We've used advanced techniques like LIDAR to digitise artefacts, creating a fallback in case the originals suffer any damage. But what about AI-generated information? Let's take, for example, language models. They are an excellent representation of human language as it stands today, albeit with their biases.
How should we go about preserving these AI entities? Do we take snapshots of their training data? Do we archive the models themselves? The stakes could be even higher: should we deploy these models onto other planets, like Mars, or position them in satellites around the Earth? All to ensure they survive beyond any potential human-made catastrophes that might occur within our lifetimes.
As I walk around the museum, encountering a stone tablet engraved with ancient Latin, I'm struck with an ephemeral sense of awe. Viewing an artwork sometimes evokes emotions that words can hardly describe. Is this purely a learned behaviour, or is it embedded in our human context? And can AI-generated artefacts ever move us in the same way?
The rapid evolution of AI forces us to question not only how we preserve this new form of 'cultural' output but also whether we should preserve it at all. While we've been focused on preserving the human story for future generations, we now face the additional task of contemplating how to preserve our 'AI selves' in a world where information is continually shifting and evolving.
In the end, it seems that as much as we strive to preserve the tangible and intangible aspects of human history, we must also consider what role AI plays in our story—and how, or if, it should be remembered.
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Our library, until recently, has generally had toys that operated in a similar way. They were adapted so you could connect one switch.
When connected, the switch acted in a ‘momentary’ way. Like a keyboard key, the ‘action’ only happened while the switch/key is being pressed. If you wanted to keep the action going, you needed to keep the switch pressed. This provided strong feedback for learning that the switch was causing the action to happen. If you stopped pressing the switch, the action stopped. A perfect opportunity for using communication systems to comment, request and complain!
We could also attach Action Modifiers such as Switch latch and Timers between the switch and the toy. These are great resources for a therapy toolkit when working with switch toys. Many children cannot hold down a switch for long enough to get the joy of a hundred bubbles blowing in the air or a toy walking across the floor or singing a line of a song.
One of the functions of a Switch Latch and Timer is being able to set a ‘play’ time e.g. 5 seconds. The child can touch and release the switch and the bubbles will blow for 5 seconds before stopping and more commenting, complaining, requesting.
Some of our new toys will play through their whole repertoire of songs with a single momentary switch press which is great for free leisure time, but less of an opportunity for interaction or use in therapy. Others seem to work in a latched mode – like a light switch – you press once to turn on and then you need to press again to turn off. Others do not respond to the timer settings of a Switch Latch and Timer.
How you want your switch adapted toy to operate will depend on your goals. If hiring/loaning purchasing, it is worth talking to the supplier to ask about how the toy works with the switch. For example, if I press the switch, does the toy turn on and stay on only while I’m pressing the switch (direct/momentary action); does it stay on (until it runs through all of its actions) or does each subsequent press of the switch changes the action e.g. changes the song or turn it on and off?
Some toys with multiple actions will have connectors for multiple switches e.g. one for songs, one for talking, one for a physical action. We have one toy that has 4 cables hanging out of its back – the most engaging activity is the songs the toy sings, so we’ve colour coded that cable for speed and sanity!
If you would like to make a referral to explore switch options for your client, you can make a referral to our ComTEC Occupational Therapists. They can demonstrate the different switch options and help you work out some appropriate options for your client.
If you know what you want and you would like to hire some switch toys with switches and / or switch interfaces for your client, you can request a hire from our library.
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Food & Dairy
Is a wide range of manufacturing industries for producing food products for our daily needs.
Among other things, bread, meat, fish and dairy products are processed using modern processing techniques into a range of products that, in addition to being “tasty”, also provide us with the necessary nutrients.
We also know so-called stimulants. These are products that are not a basic necessity of life but do make 'life' pleasant, for example coffee, (soft) drinks, candy, chocolate and many more products.
All these products are produced with care and must meet the highest demands of the food and commodities authorities. The high-quality Sitomatic products are supplied to worldwide operating producers of food and dairy products to ensure that the production process runs optimally, safely and in a controllable manner.
Produces pharmaceuticals. A lot of research is also being done in this industry (R&D).
The manufacturers of medicines often operate worldwide. Medicines are registered by the registration authorities.
Medicines must meet strict requirements. The legal framework for guaranteeing the quality of medicines largely consists of the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) guideline for pharmaceutical companies.
Worldwide there are supervisory standards, Compilation of Community Procedures on Inspections and Exchange of Information.
The high-quality Sitomatic products are supplied to worldwide operating manufacturers of pharmaceuticals in order to ensure that the production process runs optimally, safely and in a verifiable manner.
Beer and (soft) drinks industry
In this industry we often think of alcoholic drinks such as beer, wine, spirits and liqueur.
But non-alcoholic ones also fall under this category of companies: think of soft drinks, waters and juices. Dairy is not included.
The high-quality Sitomatic products are supplied to worldwide operating producers of the beer and (soft) drinks industry to ensure that the production process runs smoothly, safely and in a controllable manner.
Energy (Oil, Gas, Hydrogen)
After the extraction of oil, it embarks on a long journey. Depending on the refining process, different products are obtained, such as asphalt, plastic, pharmaceuticals and cleaning products. Oil is found in many more products than we initially think.
Oil is also the energy source for industry and of course air and road traffic. Natural gas represents the lighter mixture of organic products from that process.
Natural gas is produced in the same process as oil and is often found together with oil. Natural gas is of great importance for industries, but also of importance for, among other things as heating buildings and private homes. In addition to oil and gas, hydrogen is increasingly used as an energy source in a large number of industries and is increasingly used as an energy source for cars.
Whether we will use it to heat our homes in the future will depend on how sustainable hydrogen can be produced.
Sitomatic also supplies its high-quality products to the global energy industry to ensure that the production process runs optimally, safely and in a controllable manner.
This sector covers all companies that use chemical processes for their industrial production, which means that they manufacture products by means of chemical changes to existing (raw) materials.
Chemically produced products are for example coatings, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, dyes, synthetic fibers, pigments and much more.
The boundary between the chemical industry and the process industry is difficult to indicate and, depending on products, overlap. In many cases, the chemical industry is part of the process industry.
For this industry, Sitomatic supplies high-quality products to ensure that the production process runs smoothly, safely and in a controllable manner.
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2 What makes messages more persuasive?
In Session 2, Activity 3 you worked through an example of an email that used the Situation, Target, Proposal, Courtesy (STPC) structure to help make a message more effective.
Your chances of influencing others will increase if you can include credible evidence and data in an argument. For instance, consider whether the additional evidence in italics increases the persuasive weight of the argument in the email example below (from the same activity).
The physio can certainly assist with developing flexibility and help keep her injury free while running faster. Recent evidence from our lab testing suggests that a 10 per cent increase in flexibility might lead to her 20 metre sprint speed increasing by a similar amount. Therefore, we need to have some dialogue about how she could fit this into her work pattern.
Good supporting evidence, provided it is presented in a concise way, helps influence others.
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The aviation industry is on the cusp of major changes driven by advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. As these technologies continue to evolve rapidly, they promise to reshape everything from aircraft design and manufacturing to flight operations and passenger experiences. AI has the potential to make air travel safer, more efficient, and more enjoyable within the next decade.
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Aircraft Design and Manufacturing
AI is already being used to design and manufacture the next generation of aircraft. Aerospace companies are leveraging AI techniques like generative design and machine learning to create lighter, more fuel-efficient airframes. By using algorithms to analyze countless design permutations, engineers can optimize factors like weight, aerodynamics, and fuel burn. Boeing has used AI to design the wingtips for its new 777X airplane. Airbus is also utilizing AI for design work on its A320 aircraft. As AI matures, it will become even more instrumental in developing revolutionary new aircraft shapes and modernizing production systems.
AI will enable manufacturers to simulate full-scale production environments and construct digital twins of aircraft. Digital modeling paired with 3D printing can accelerate the prototyping and testing process. AI-powered robots can handle precise, repetitive production tasks with greater speed and accuracy. This automation of the assembly line will result in higher quality aircraft production. Supply chains will see enhanced forecasting abilities and inventory optimization through AI and machine learning as well.
From gate to gate, AI stands to change how flights operate. AI can automate time-consuming tasks like flight planning. The technology can account for fluctuating conditions, weather patterns, aircraft performance limitations, airspace restrictions, and other variables that human pilots must consider. This level of automation ensures each flight plan is custom-tailored for optimal safety and efficiency. AI can also streamline checklists for pilots, reducing the opportunity for human error.
During the flight, sensor data and AI can be used to detect mechanical issues faster and determine the remaining useful life of parts. Predictive maintenance will ensure parts are serviced at the right time. The connectivity provided by satellite-based WiFi will allow real-time transmission of flight data to the ground for analysis by AI systems. If any abnormality presents itself, AI can quickly interpret the issue and recommend solutions to pilots faster than mission control operators could.
AI can even handle emergencies better through pattern recognition. It can draw insights from millions of flight hours worth of data to determine the best course of action in response to a given emergency. While pilots will remain in command, the AI co-pilot will provide recommendations to aid the crew. As pilots are in shorter supply due to labor shortages, AI assistance will be crucial for keeping flight operations running smoothly.
Air Traffic Control
Billions of dollars are wasted annually in the United States alone due to an inefficient air traffic control system causing delays. AI presents the possibility of automating large parts of this system to improve management of airspace systems. That means air traffic controllers could rely on AI for routing, spacing, sequencing, and separation.
By synthesizing radar data, weather information, flight schedules and more, AI can optimize routing. It can also make calculated decisions on spacing, based on each aircraft’s destination and capabilities, to reduce delays. Sequencing landings and takeoffs based on changing conditions is another application. AI shows promise for safely reducing separation distances as well and enabling more aircraft in airspace safely.
Such improvements will allow air traffic control systems to handle rising consumer demand for air travel. Implementing AI does not necessarily mean fully automating controllers out of jobs either. Humans would continue to make judgments in difficult situations the AI cannot interpret. AI instead aims to reduce the repetitive, time-consuming duties that bog down human controllers today.
AI will personalize and enhance the travel experience for passengers in a variety of ways. At the airport, AI-powered automation will make checking baggage and getting through security faster. Computer vision systems can easily verify IDs and scan for prohibited items. Chatbots will become capable of answering passenger questions about flights naturally. Recommendation engines can suggest additions to itineraries and provide reminders about reservations.
During the flight, passengers will engage with AI via entertainment systems. Voice assistants built into screens and headphones can deliver a concierge-like experience – helping passengers order food and drinks, select entertainment options, answer questions and more. AI can curate content libraries to match the interests of each traveler as well. When mechanical issues lead to re-routing or cancellations, AI systems can rapidly rebook travel arrangements personalized to each passenger’s needs.
Post-flight, smart luggage powered by AI will revolutionize travel. It will autonomously check itself at airports and proceed to baggage claim at the destination. Travelers may even be able to track their bag’s location via an app throughout the journey. Once passengers disembark, chatbots can answer questions about transportation options to leave the airport based on their itinerary. AI will make each step of travel less stressful for passengers.
Challenges to Adoption
While the benefits are immense, there are notable challenges in adopting AI across the sprawling aviation industry. AI systems require massive amounts of training data. There will need to be sweeping digital transformation and connectivity to feed AI the data it requires. Cybersecurity also becomes more critical to prevent data breaches or hacking that could endanger AI reliability. Laying the groundwork with infrastructure upgrades and tailored regulations will take time.
There are financial hurdles as well. Transitioning to AI systems means significant upfront investment. Stakeholders across the value chain will need to work together to bear these costs. Change management is difficult too, as AI changes workflows and even replaces certain job functions. Proper training and new career pathways will be necessary to gain buy-in across airlines, suppliers, air traffic control groups, airports, and regulators. But if adopted methodically, AI can elevate aviation to new heights.
The Future of AI in Aviation
The applications discussed represent just the tip of the iceberg for how AI can reshape aviation in the years ahead. Further out, we may see pilotless commercial planes as AI demonstrated super-human flying abilities. New aircraft shapes previously unattainable through design constraints are also on the horizon. Propulsion systems, nacelle designs, advanced sensors, computing architectures, and new materials are all areas for fruitful AI research.
On the ground side, airports are primed for an AI overhaul as well. Robotics, computer vision, and machine learning will work in tandem to automate airport operations and enhance security. Passenger experiences will grow more seamless with biometrics enabling touchless travel. The future of aviation powered by artificial intelligence is full of exciting possibilities that will ultimately deliver safer, more efficient, and enjoyable air travel to consumers around the world.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some common questions about how AI will impact aviation:
Will pilots become obsolete with the rise of AI in aviation?
It’s unlikely pilots will be fully replaced by AI any time soon. While AI will take over certain tasks, pilots will still be required in the cockpit to oversee flight operations, make critical decisions, and take control in emergencies beyond AI abilities. However, AI assistance will allow pilots to focus less on routine duties.
How soon will fully autonomous passenger flights operate?
Major technological and regulatory hurdles remain for completely pilotless commercial flights. Initial cargo-only flights may occur by the late 2020s, but autonomous passenger flights are not expected until the 2030s or 2040s, if not later. AI still requires human supervision due to liability and safety implications.
Can existing aircraft be retrofitted with AI capabilities?
Yes, existing aircraft can be upgraded with AI technologies to a degree. For example, connectivity systems for data transmission can be installed to feed AI systems on the ground. But full integration likely requires building AI into the design of new aircraft models to realize the greatest benefits.
Will AI improve airline customer service as well?
Absolutely. From chatbots to hyper-personalized recommendations and rebooking, AI promises to enhance the passenger experience substantially. AI can also analyze customer feedback and complaints to help airlines continuously improve. Automation of tedious processes like luggage handling also leads to a smoother customer journey.
How susceptible is AI for aviation use to hacking or data breaches?
Cybersecurity is a major concern. Strict governance processes, encryption, compartmentalized systems, redundancy, and other precautions are critical for the viability of AI in aviation. Extensive testing is also required to prevent biased or imprecise algorithm outputs that could endanger safety. But developed properly, AI can actually enhance security and resilience overall.
The integration of AI across aircraft design, flight operations, air traffic control, and the passenger experience will be a multi-decade process. But aviation is undoubtedly poised for a new era driven by artificial intelligence capabilities. With the proper preparations, airlines and regulators can ensure AI elevated air travel to be more efficient, sustainable, and personalized than ever before.
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In the summer of 2004, a 6-month-old girl who lived in the southeastern part of the Netherlands — prime, intensive hog-farming country — went in for surgery for a birth defect of her heart. As is routine in the Netherlands, which has excellent hospital infection control, she was checked before surgery for MRSA, the drug-resistant bacterium that can live on the skin without causing infections and can be unwittingly transmitted from one patient to another. The girl was carrying MRSA, which was a surprise — but the bigger surprise was that her MRSA strain did not render any results on the standard identification test, PFGE.
Looking for a source for the mysterious strain, the hospital epidemiologists where the girl was being treated asked to check her family: father, mother, school-age sibling. They were carrying it. They asked to check the family’s social circle; some of them were carrying it too. Then, flailing about for an answer — the Netherlands has such low rates of MRSA that these persistent findings were really rather odd — the epidemiologists asked what the family and their friends all did for a living, and received the answer that they were all pig farmers. So they checked the pigs, and the pigs were carrying the MRSA strain as well. And if a new MRSA strain in humans was odd, then a MRSA strain in pigs was very odd — because swine have their own varieties of staph, and are not supposed to get S. aureus, the usually human strain that accounts for the “SA” in MRSA.
That summer of detective work (which is told in full in my book Superbug) provided the first sighting of what would come to be called MRSA ST398, or in Europe CC398: a strain which was not quite like hospital MRSA, and not quite like community MRSA, and which carried a distinctive signature of resistance to tetracycline, a drug that is not much used for human MRSA but is routinely used in confinement-style farming. From its first identification, ST398 spread rapidly through Europe, and then into Canada, and then to the United States, being found first in pigs and pig-farm workers, and then in retail meat, and then in people with no connection to farming at all.
The only mystery was where it had come from.
This week, writing in mBio, the open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, a team from the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Flagstaff provide an answer. Using whole-genome sequencing of 89 MRSA and drug-sensitive (MSSA) isolates from around the globe, they establish that ST398 originated as a human MSSA strain which jumped to pigs — where it acquired both the hallmark methicillin resistance (actually resistance to several dozen drugs in the beta-lactam category) and also tetracycline resistance as a result of farm antibiotic exposure — and then jumped back to humans.
Just to underline that key point: acquired resistance as a result of farm drug exposure. To be clear, MRSA ST398 represents what proponents of large-scale confinement agriculture contend does not exist: an indication that farm antibiotic use breeds resistance that moves off the farm and subsequently affects humans.
The authors say:
Since its discovery, MRSA CC398 has been perceived as a livestock-associated pathogen; however, the WGST-based phylogeny presented here strongly suggests that the CC398 lineage originated in humans as MSSA and then spread to livestock, where it subsequently acquired the SCCmec cassette and methicillin resistance. The isolates that formed the most basal clades on the WGST-based phylogenetic trees were almost all human-associated MSSA strains, suggesting that these isolates were the most ancestral of those tested in this study. Likewise, the clade structure observed in the livestock-dominated IIa clade supports a rapid radiation as CC398 moved from humans to animals. Thus, livestock-associated CC398 infections in humans may be seen as a reintroduction to the original host.
It is possible that this finding will be viewed as no big deal: After all, since pigs tend to experience other staph strains, MRSA had to come from somewhere. That would be a mistake.
The important development in the story of ST398 is its move back off the farm into humans, causing first asymptomatic carriage in that original family, and then illnesses in other Dutch residents, and then outbreaks in healthcare settings, and then movement across oceans, and then appearance in retail meat, and then infections in people who had no connection whatsoever to farming — all from an organism with a distinctive agricultural signature.
That’s an important evolution, and an illustration once again that, once resistance factors emerge, we really have no idea where they will spread. So it would be a good idea to take actions to keep them from emerging, or at the very least to implement surveillance that would allow us to identify them when they do.
For more on this, here’s the ASM’s press release; TGen’s press release; a post by Tara Smith, PhD, who first identified ST398 in the US and was a co-author on this paper; and my archives of posts on ST398, here at Wired and earlier at the original Superblog blog.
Cite: Price LB, Stegger M, Hasman H et al. Staphylococcus aureus CC398: Host Adaptation and Emergence of Methicillin Resistance in Livestock. mBio 21 Feb 2012. doi:10.1128/mBio.00305-11.
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“For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so,” Shakespeare once wrote in his famous play, ‘Hamlet.’ The philosophical questions “What is good?” and “What is bad?” have been discussed over many centuries, and it seems like humanity will not have a clear answer for it any time soon. As much as we think we are absolutely capable of figuring out what is good and bad, and try to manipulate other people’s lives according to our made up definitions, in reality we should try to humble ourselves by remembering that what we, as humans, define as good or bad is actually a very one-dimensional perspective about the absolute truth. Although these kinds of discussions are generally brought up more often for topics related to social sciences, I want to take a peek into biology, and observe the same principles at work. The aspect of biology I want to discuss is the bacterium Escherichia coli.
The genera Escherichia is thought to have emerged around 102 million years ago and is known as a gram-negative pathogenic bacteria mostly found in the intestines of warm blooded animals . German pediatrician and bacteriologist Theodor Escherich discovered E. coli in 1885, and for many years the bacterium was simply considered to be a commensal organism of the large intestine. It was not until 1935 that a strain of E. coli was shown to be the cause of an outbreak of diarrhea among infants . The reason its pathogenic properties were discovered so late is that many of its strains are harmless. However, virulent strains of E. coli can cause various diseases in humans and in domestic animals, and are also sometimes responsible for product recalls due to contamination. Gastroenteritis, urinary tract infections, and neonatal meningitis are the most commonly observed diseases in humans, and in rare cases virulent strains are also responsible for haemolytic-uremic syndrome, peritonitis, mastitis, septicaemia and Gram-negative pneumonia . Various outbreaks all around the world have been caused by E. coli, causing millions of deaths and sick people and billions of dollars have been spent fighting it. Even though death rates have decreased with the evolution of modern medicine and the discovery of antibiotics, the outbreaks are still a major concern for all countries, such as the recent outbreak in Germany in 2011 affecting 3,950 people and killing 53 .
Its reputation has not been one of great dignity, and it has ruined the reputation of many. You may recall in 1993, the fast food chain restaurant “Jack in the Box” suffered a major corporate crisis involving E. coli O157:H7 bacteria. Four children died of hemolytic uremic syndrome and 600 others were reported sick after eating undercooked patties contaminated with fecal material containing the bacteria at locations in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, USA. The chain was faced with several lawsuits, each of which was quickly settled but left the chain nearly bankrupt and losing customers.
But don’t these creatures have any properties to be appreciated, I wonder...
Compared to eukaryotic cells, bacteria have a pretty basic mechanism of functioning. They don’t have sophisticated organelles, and they do not have a cell nucleus where their DNA is stored. Everything is floating along all together in the cell cytoplasm (which shocks me when I reflect upon how such a small and simple organism can cause such severe pain on “highly evolved modern humanity”). It has the basic metabolic tools for survival. And even though, at first sight, it is tempting to look down on its simplicity, today we know that it is this simplicity that gives us space for making many modifications and experiments on it, whereas in more complicated cells, like animal cells, the moment a modification is made, the entire system reacts to that and causes much trouble in the process.
The turning point of E.coli making a huge impact on our lives was in 1973, when Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer discovered the “Recombinant DNA Technology.” This technology allowed specific genes to be isolated from one organism and cloned to another organism by the help of bacterial plasmids. The first commercial product to be synthesized by this technology was human insulin, which is used for the treatment of diabetes . This brought an amazing amount of recognition and appreciation for the technology, as the practical aspect of the technology was now proven to be commercially profitable. For the insulin to be produced, the DNA sequence that encodes human insulin was synthesized and transplanted into a plasmid that could be maintained in a non-pathogenic strain of E.coli . Now the bacterial host cells acted as biological factories for the production of the two peptide chains of human insulin, which, after being combined, could be purified and used to treat diabetics who were allergic to the commercially available porcine (pig) insulin, or for diabetics from certain religious groups who abstain from pork products such as Muslims, Jews, some Christian groups, and many more who have similar concerns.
This was only the start of an incredible new technology which used bacteria to produce different proteins or enzymes to cure human diseases. Today more than 200 new drugs have been produced by recombinant DNA technology and have been used to treat over 300 million people for diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis, and stroke, and to provide protection from other infectious diseases. Over 400 new drugs are in the process of being tested in human trials to treat such diseases as Alzheimer disease and heart disease (to name only two) .
Today E.coli is frequently used as a model organism for all kinds of microbiological experiments. In the lab, E. Coli. is one of the first micro-organisms that is thought of for testing a biological experiment. The reason is that E.coli cells are cheap to purchase and to sustain. They grow easily and rapidly in lab conditions and have non-pathogenic strains, so they are not dangerous for the researches doing the experiment. Whereas purchasing more complicated cells such as cancer cells or stem cells may be very costly, and moreover, may need special lab conditions to be sustained; so before more complicated cells are purchased, the experiments are usually tried out with E.coli or some other kind of model organism. More importantly, E. coli was one of the first organisms to have its genome sequenced; the complete genome of E. coli K12 was published by Science in 1997 . Other areas in which modified E.coli has helped humanity are vaccine development, bioremediation (fighting pollution), and production of immobilised enzymes .
One specific example of the benefit of recombinant DNA technology for the environment is its use in the paper industry. Before the 1970’s, when there wasn’t much environmental awareness in the paper producing industry, poisonous chlorine compounds were conventionally used to achieve pulp brightness of a high order in the manufacture of high-quality paper products . This chemical bleaching technique precipitated a tremendous environmental concern considering the magnitude of the industry. Plants treated with elemental chlorine produced significant amounts of dioxins. Dioxins are highly toxic, and their health effects on humans include reproductive, developmental, immune and hormonal problems. They are also known to be carcinogenic. Over 90% of human exposure is through food, primarily meat, dairy, fish and shellfish, as dioxins accumulate in the food chain in the fatty tissue of animals . One alternative for these chemical bleaching processes is the use of the enzyme “xylanase,” which degrades the linear polysaccharide beta-1,4-xylan into xylose, thus breaking down hemicellulose, one of the major components of plant cell walls. Even though the use of xylanases in this industry has increased significantly with the discovery of Viikarri et al. (1986), the enzyme needs further improvements for it to be commercially acceptable . To ensure the commercial utilization of hemicellulosic residues in the pulp and paper industries, the production of higher xylanase yields at low capital cost is required . Such studies are ongoing with the purpose of partially mutating the amino acid sequence for the purpose of especially increasing the thermal stability of the enzyme and also increasing its metabolic activity. The gene mutation and gene expressions are generally done in either E.coli or yeast cells. Davoodi et al. has mutated the enzyme up to the point where the transition temperature increased 12 0C by introducing disulfate bonds in the enzyme . The wonders this enzyme can do for the health of the environment is breathtaking, and is an area which should be further studied until finding the commercially viable kind that will eliminate chemicals from the paper industry during bleaching.
Even though some controversy remains on gene transferring, its tremendous positive impact on humanity cannot be denied. I personally think that it does need constraints and strict regulations, but this technique is one of the most remarkable techniques discovered in modern times, and E.coli has no doubt played a great role in the availability of this technology.
Even though condemning E.coli and stating its “evilness” seems like the most obvious path, we all ought to appreciate the variety and uniqueness of these creatures which also allow us to produce such large varieties of drugs. We ought to appreciate its simplicity, which allows it to have a chance of producing such sophistication. We ought to reflect upon the fact that something can be classified as “good” or “bad” only by the means in which we perceive it, and the reality of it may be completely opposite of what we had thought initially.
McPen is a freelance writer in natural sciences, Montana, US.
- Battistuzzi FU, Feijao A, Hedges SB. 2004. "A genomic timescale of prokaryote evolution: insights into the origin of methanogenesis, phototrophy, and the colonization of land". BMC Evol. Biol.
- Todar, K. "Pathogenic E. coli". Online Textbook of Bacteriology. University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Bacteriology.
- "German-grown food named likely culprit in deadly outbreak". CNN. (5 June 2010).
- Glick, Bernard, Jack Pasternak, and Cheryl Patten. 2010. “MOLECULAR BIOTECHNOLOGY Principles and Applications of Recombinant DNA . 4th Edition.” Washington,DC: ASM Press, pp. 3-13.
- Blattner FR, Plunkett G, Bloch CA, Perna NT, Burland V, Riley M, Collado-Vides J, Glasner JD, Rode CK, Mayhew GF, Gregor J, Davis NW, Kirkpatrick HA, Goeden MA, Rose DJ, Mau B, Shao Y (September 1997). "The complete genome sequence of Escherichia coli K-12". Science 277 (5331): 1453–62.
- Cornelis P. 2000. "Expressing genes in different Escherichia coli compartments". Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 11 (5): 450–454.
- Beg, Q.K., M. Kapoor, L. Mahajan, and G.S. Hoondal. 2001. "Microbial xylanases and their industrial applications: a review." Springer.
- Davoodi J., Wakarchuk W.W., Carey P.R., Surewicz W.K. 2007. “Mechanism of stabilization of Bacillus circulans xylanase upon the introduction of disulfide bonds.” Biophysical Chemistry, 125 (2-3) , pp. 453-461.
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Therizinosaurs were some of the true freaks of the dinosaur world. I mean that in the nicest possible way for something that looked like the sick offspring of a giant chicken and Freddie Kruger. Perhaps the weirdest things about them were these long, scythe-like claws, that although may have seemed deadly, probably weren’t unless you were a particularly scrummy looking piece of foliage. That’s right, these cousins of tyrannosaurs and other theropods used their wicked sickle-claws for trimming hedges for food.
But how diverse were the claws of these evolutionary oddities, and what does this imply for how they were used? In palaeontology and ecology, we have hypothetical links between form and function – that is, how does the shape and size of a particular aspect of an animal help it to perform a role better. There are now so many cool ways of looking at this, from biomechanical modelling using CT-scanning to analysis of shape using geometric morphometrics.
I’m not as late as usual to the latest in this, but again, it’s the team from Bristol in the UK doing some pretty cool stuff with this. Previously, it has been suggested that these claws, some times over half a metre in length, were used for probing insect colonies for noms, sexual display (claws are sexy?), climbing trees sort of like a sloth, stripping bark from trees, or harvesting vegetation like the old days in mid-western USA – these guys were pretty much the dinosaurian ranch farmers of their time.
To figure out exactly what function therizinosaur claws had, Stephan Lautenschlager used a shape analysis known as Fourier transformation (FT), combined with a mechanical test known as finite-element analysis (FEA), on 65 different theropod species – the group to which therizinosaurs belong and including all the other meat-eating dinos. To draw links to what role the claws might play, he compared these with the claws of a range of extant (living) mammals where the function was known in advance from observation.
To perform the comparative analyses, a multivariate ordination technique known as principal components analysis was used. This method of dimension reduction takes the shape of the claws after they have been transformed into a set of geometric co-ordinates, and plots them according to a number new variables that attempt to explain the maximum amount of variation in the dataset. In this case, the first ‘principal component’ only explained 27% of the variance, with the second only explaining about 18%. Usually, this is pretty inadequate and implies that the new variables aren’t sufficiently capturing the true variation of your original variables (the differences in the claw shapes) – usually the threshold is around 95% of the variance explained by x-number of principal components, each requiring further investigation, not just the first two as they’re easy to plot on a nice graph..
Irrespective of this, most of the change mapped by the analyses described elongation of the claws, but when theropods are analysed alone, a portion of the variance describes a change in their curvature. Interestingly, different theropod groups don’t map out in different ‘spaces’ in the graphs, suggesting broad shape convergence in all groups about the mean shape of all claws analysed. One exception are a group called Alvarezsauridae, which were a weird little bunch, which occupied their own distinct region of this ‘morphospace’ – a two-dimensional area describing the shape variation for each group. This group actually overlaps with one group of mammals that have a peculiar burrowing mode of life, suggesting that perhaps alvarezsaurids were the same..? Importantly, therizinosaurs, the weird Grim Reaper-like dinos, occupied the broadest morphospace of all groups, suggesting a high diversity in shapes. The FEA results compliment this finding rather nicely, suggesting a high diversity in claw functions, which show overlaps with mammals that lived in trees, or simply lived on the ground or in burrows. This was mostly for therizinosaurs with shorter more compact claws, whereas longer and curvier claws might have been used for a more digging scenario when foraging, or a mode of life not found in mammals.
A commonly depicted scenario is that therizinosaurs would use their scythe-claws as a defence mechanism against any happy-go-lucky predators. However, Lautenschlager actually found little evidence that the claws could be used in this fashion, and perhaps the large body size of these beasties was enough of a deterrent. Instead, what this study highlights is that even with cutting edge techniques, in can be still very difficult to try and figure out exactly how animals behaved in the past, and what their weird adaptations might have been used for.
What it does show, however, is that again dinosaurs were more evolutionary diverse and specialised than previously thought, occupying a range of ecologies much broader than modern mammals. Evolutionary failures still, anyone?
More from Lautenschlager: https://blogs.egu.eu/network/palaeoblog/2013/11/19/three-dimensions-of-palaeontological-awesomeness/
Reference: Lautenschlager, S. (2014) Morphological and functional diversity in therizinosaur claws and the implications for theropod claw evolution, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 281 (link)
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Andrew Davidson, author of the novel The Gargoyle, once wrote, “I am more than my scars.”
The COVID-19 pandemic brought havoc to our world. “Shelter in place,” “flatten the curve,” and “social distancing” will be phrases forever etched in our memories.
While some have a hard time believing life will normalize again, history is filled with reminders that societies have rebounded in miraculous ways despite wars, devastation, pandemics, and instability.
These destinations are a few of the many reminders of what can be overcome and that we’ll once again travel to places where hope springs eternal and all is not lost.
James Michener’s novel Hawaii, published in 1959, is a tragic reminder of how European sailors and Christian missionaries brought devastation and disease to the Hawaiian Islands, killing nearly 80% of the indigenous population by 1819. As a result, the native Hawaiian culture was almost lost.
Today, Oahu’s Polynesian Cultural Center, the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, and Maui’s Lahaina Heritage Museum are places to learn about Hawaii’s rich history, helping visitors and residents alike discover the cultural diversity of these magnificent islands
Pompeii and Herculaneum
On August 24, 79 A.D., in the Bay of Naples, Italy, the earth roared. Mount Vesuvius erupted during one of Europe’s deadliest volcanic events. It spewed molten rock, hot gases, and ash, obliterating several Roman cities, including Pompeii and Herculaneum. Thousands were killed.
Not only do these ancient cities lure fascinated visitors to their historic excavations, but the mesmerizing beauty of the Amalfi Coast is a stone’s throw away. The rich volcanic soils of the region produce some of Italy’s best wines, lemons, and tomatoes.
Blessed with awe-inspiring natural wonders like Victoria Falls, the wild Zambezi River, and mesmerizing wilderness, Zambia was once the former British colony of Northern Rhodesia. All this belies the southern African country’s dark history of ethnic tension and extreme economic instability, fallouts of the collapse of its copper mining industry.
Once the land of big game trophy hunting, poaching, and massive exploitation of its natural resources, the region has made great strides in nature and wildlife protection. Vigilant game wardens include some former poachers who now safeguard precious wildlife. Now tourism reigns supreme and, today, safari hunters are far more apt to shoot game through the lens of a camera.
Countless movies, documentaries, and stories have chronicled the horrors of the Vietnam War.
Millions of combatants and innocent lives were lost in the ill-fated conflict. Hundreds of thousands of children were orphaned and farmlands were ruined. Chemical warfare poisoned thousands and defoliated the country’s jungles and forests.
Present-day Vietnam is now one of Asia’s most popular destinations. Modern cities blend with colonial architecture and sport fascinating ethnic markets. Tranquil temples, pagodas, and verdant valleys dot the countryside. Visitors tout the beaches and glistening waters of the China Sea. And who doesn’t love Vietnam’s amazing cuisine?
Located within the Balkan highlands, this amazing region features nature and multi-cultural architecture in perfect harmony. But this area is also associated with the heartbreaking three-year civil war of the 1990s, scarring both the land and its people.
Today’s visitors, however, will admire the picturesque country for the magnificent mountain landscapes, medieval castle ruins, impressive waterfalls, and the warm people. Historic cobblestone streets are lined with charming cafes and lovely boutiques. Flowers seem to be everywhere.
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By Cathi Taylor, ALA National Headquarters Archivist
My mother and I recently returned from a road trip to California. While flying may be preferable for some, we enjoy seeing the country and visiting new places. And while this trip was no different in that regard, I did learn to see the world from a different perspective.
Traveling through Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska revealed numerous signs for museums and memorials dedicated to the military and veterans, such as the memorial in North Platte, Neb. (you can learn more about it here). Similar to other such projects, it took a community of people to make it happen. And what sets this memorial apart is the homage it pays to the North Platte Canteen, which served 6 million troops during World War II. The online exhibit is hosted by the Lincoln County Historical Museum. You might also want to check out the canteen of World War I webpage, as the society is looking for relatives of the women who worked it.
The mountains along Interstate 15 through Utah and Nevada were astounding, but it was Yosemite National Park that triggered my awakening — the realization of how nature, with all its diversity, works together.
Mountains, formed by the collision of two massive, irregularly shaped slabs of rock, provide fresh water and shelter for flora and fauna. Flora provides food and shelter for the fauna, that, in turn, contributes to pollination, seed dispersal, and nutrient cycling — essential processes for plant growth and reproduction. It’s a cycle that has been in place since the world began. In protected expanses, there’s the human element — those who work to protect the ecosystems, the imperiled species, as well as human access and activities.
But sometimes the best-laid plans go awry, and nature is forced to adjust. It has an answer for that as well.
Stretches of standing black tree trunks, felled trees, and scorched ground remind visitors of the fire that struck the Mariposa Sequoia Grove and other areas in the park just two years ago. But within inches of the damage were signs of recovery: new plants and trees sprouting through the dirt. It was a sign of hope and resilience. It was then that I saw similarities with The American Legion Family.
It was born out of a collision between countries — the war that was to end all wars. American servicemembers amassed in March 1919 to create a veterans organization that would provide service to veterans, servicemembers, their families, and the communities in which they lived. At its first National Convention in November of that same year, American Legion delegates voted to create an auxiliary for the mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives of Legion members, as well as the servicemembers who died.
Over the years, two additional members were added to the Family: the Sons of The American Legion and The American Legion Riders. Whether working together as one or as separate entities, throughout our history, the Legion Family has taken on numerous issues, causes, and concerns: There’s the Red Cross, American Cancer Society, Habitat for Humanity, polio, tuberculosis, disaster relief, donations of food and clothing to the orphans of France, the Wooden Church Crusade, muscular dystrophy, and Wreaths Across America, just to name a few.
And this list doesn’t even include all the projects the departments, districts/counties/councils, and units shoulder.
Our Family at all levels, like nature, falls prey to adversity. Whether caused by outside forces or from within, the workings of the natural world show us that everyone and everything are necessary for recovery, resolution, and moving forward.
So as the American Legion Auxiliary celebrates its 105th birthday Nov. 10, may we all ponder on the role we play in this great organization, how each of us can make it greater, and work together as one. As Mother Teresa once said, “I can do things you cannot; you can do things I cannot. Together, we can do great things.”
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May 15, 2020 Going Beyond Symptomatic Treatment: Adopting One Health in India
Posted at 05:34h
The advent of a mild winter was in the air around Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site nestled in the north-eastern corner of India. The mighty Brahmaputra River was returning to its normal course of flow after a massive episode of annual flooding. The floodwaters in rice fields and villages had receded. The inhabitants of the villages dotting the southern boundary of Kaziranga National Park expected a few months of peace. But it was not to be. My team started receiving numerous calls to attend to livestock that had sustained injuries inflicted by large cats, probably tigers.
It is unusual for a tiger or a leopard to injure domestic animals, even though they would periodically explore some of the villages on the fringe of the park. But in this case, the big cat tended to visit one section of the village more than the rest. We set up 22 camera traps to identify the big cat and determine, if we could, why s/he ventured out of the park so often. Images from the camera trap established that it was a solitary tigress. To our relief, there was only one carnivore – the tigress frequenting the village – out of the nine species of mammals captured by our cameras. We informed the National Park authorities who increased surveillance, and that simple action prevented further livestock deaths and injuries.
As a conservation medicine professional, working at the interface of human-wildlife-livestock interactions, I come across such cases quite often. In a developing country like India, we invest considerable effort in attending to the outward clinical manifestations or symptoms while mostly ignoring the role that traditional human behaviors and practices play in conflicts with wildlife. A snowballing human population, increased competition for resources and a dynamic socio-economic environment have resulted in the rapid alteration of habitats across India. A proportionate rise in the livestock population and the dwindling habitat for wild animals have led to more frequent, more intense and more unpredictable interactions between wild and domestic animals. Every day, infectious diseases affect the health of wild animals, livestock and environment, but addressing such challenges requires a deep and nuanced understanding of human sociology and psychology – something that might be termed landscape epidemiology.
While establishing a cattle immunization protocol for various diseases around the tiger reserves in Kanha and Bandhavagarh in the Central Indian highlands, I had to learn about social customs in rural India. Applying the concepts of landscape epidemiology required a deep understanding of the norms, values and traditions of the rural communities. A relatively simple initiative to immunize cattle must first identify the decision-making processes of the rural community and then engage the appropriate local rural animal health practitioners. Such an interdisciplinary approach, in partnership with the Forest Department employing traditional communication methods, helped my team deliver appropriate immunizations for local livestock.
While we were able to overcome the initial difficulties of village headmen prohibiting immunization administration in the entire village, there were many other areas of concern which needed urgent attention. For example, the traditional weekly cattle market is a major threat to immunization barriers. Large numbers of cattle with unknown immunization status are traded every week. Having mixed with many animals at the market itself, these traded animals are then brought into the villages where we had expended considerable effort to protect local livestock against disease. The arrival of potentially unvaccinated livestock, brought from outside the region to villages adjacent to tiger reserves, could introduce disease in not just domestic animals but also to the wild animals in the reserves.
Hundreds of cattle routinely venture into forests adjoining villages in India. They pick up ticks and tick-borne diseases from the forests. In order to prevent and treat such disease, villagers use vast quantities of drugs like deltamethrin (an insecticide) and ivermectin (an anti-parasitic agent) either in injectable or topical preparations. The cattle treated with these medicines then go back to the forests, where their dung contaminates the soil and streams with drug residues. These residues adversely affect a large number of invertebrates in the forest, especially vital dung beetles. Veterinarians should help address such anthropogenic environmental disturbances and should encourage livestock keepers to stall feed their animals in the villages rather than letting them roam into the reserves. The continued dispensing of acaricides to cattle owners is not a sustainable solution.
After two decades of active engagement with the livestock keepers, park managers and social scientists, I would highlight three issues which require thoughtful deliberations within and outside the veterinary fraternity: The poor understanding of animal suffering in rural India, the inconsistent disease surveillance across states and poor communication between essential stakeholders. All three are risks for ecosystem health.
India has made substantial progress in animal welfare policy in recent decades, but most of the changes are concentrated in urban environments. In rural areas where approximately 65% of Indians live, many social customs, rituals, taboos and old-style farming practices compromise animal welfare. These practices have their roots embedded in rural traditions. In order to increase rural awareness and behavior change, we must develop closer working relations with relevant social groups, social scientists and decision-makers. We will continue treating symptomatic indicators only until we develop a deeper understanding of the reasons for particular social norms and practices.
Poor disease surveillance culture and systems, in both veterinary and human medicine, indicate our lack of focus in getting an in-depth understanding of the underlying causes of such manifestations. An inconsistent effort is seen in different states of India to identify disease in domestic animals; however, the record of disease surveillance in wild animals is even poorer or non-existent. Those of us who are conservation veterinarians need to stand up to the challenges of addressing ecosystem health and reach out to different disciplines for a cross-fertilization of ideas.
A deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of all living things and the environment must be at the core of finding appropriate solutions to protect people, animals and the environment.
Dr. Naveen Pandey currently serves The Corbett Foundation as its Deputy Director and Veterinary Advisor in Kaziranga, northeast India. He is involved in applied Landscape Epidemiology for disease control and human-wildlife conflict mitigation around the tiger reserves in northeast India.
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Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 21 to 25.
Bamboo is an amazing plant. Did you know it is actually a grass? In fact, giant bamboo is the largest member of the grass family. Some types can grow an incredible 90 centimetres in just one day. Some bamboo plants can grow to over 30 metres tall, which is as tall as a gum tree.
You probably know that bamboo is the favourite food of pandas, but chimpanzees, gorillas and elephants eat it too.
Bamboo is also extremely useful to people. It is a very valuable construction material because it is so strong. In fact, whole houses can be built from bamboo. In some parts of the world, bamboo is used as scaffolding (the frame used to support building work).
The range of things that can be made from bamboo is huge. Furniture, cooking utensils, and musical instruments can all be made from bamboo. Bamboo fibres can be used to produce a soft, cotton-like material for T-shirts and underwear. Bamboo fibres are also used to make paper. Bamboo can even be used to make bicycle frames and boats.
21. Bamboo is a type of ________.
A. tree B. wood C. bush D. grass
22. According to the text, one way bamboo is amazing is that ________.
A. it can grow extremely fast B. it grows near gum trees
C. it comes in many sizes D. it grows anywhere
23. Which activity uses bamboo as scaffolding?
A. plumbing B. building C. cooking D. sailing
24. According to the text, which part of a bicycle can be made from bamboo?
A. the frame B. the wheels C. the pedals D. the seat
25. The main purpose of this text is ________.
A. to encourage people to use bamboo more often
B. to list everything that can be made from bamboo
C. to give interesting facts and uses for bamboo
D. to outline where bamboo is mainly grown and used
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The Cantalloc Aqueducts, located in the Nazca region of Peru, are an ancient engineering marvel that date back to over 1,500 years ago. These aqueducts were built by the Nazca civilization to transport water from underground springs to their agricultural fields. The ingenuity and skill used to build the aqueducts have fascinated historians and engineers for centuries, and their principles are still being applied today in modern water management.
The Nazca civilization built these aqueducts using a combination of underground and above ground channels. The underground channels were constructed by digging deep trenches and lining them with stone slabs to prevent water loss due to seepage. The above ground channels, on the other hand, were built on elevated embankments to provide a gravity-based flow of water. These channels were designed to be very narrow to reduce evaporation, which helped in conserving water during the dry season.
One of the most remarkable features of the Cantalloc Aqueducts is the spiral design of the above ground channels. The Nazca engineers built spiral-shaped stone towers at intervals along the channels, which served as access points for maintenance and allowed the water to flow in a circular pattern. This design also helped regulate the flow of water, preventing flooding during the rainy season.
Today, the principles of the Cantalloc Aqueducts are still being applied in modern water management. One of the most significant applications is in the design of irrigation systems. The use of underground channels to prevent water loss due to seepage and the construction of elevated channels to provide gravity-based flow are still widely used in modern irrigation systems. Similarly, the use of narrow channels to reduce evaporation and the regulation of water flow to prevent flooding are also commonly applied. Here at Apu, we considered their gravity flow systems when designing the channels that bring water to our vineyards.
In conclusion, the Cantalloc Aqueducts are a testament to the ingenuity and skill of the Nazca civilization. Their principles are still being applied today in modern water management and engineering projects. The use of underground and elevated channels, narrow channels to reduce evaporation, and regulation of water flow to prevent flooding are all techniques that have stood the test of time. The spiral design of the aqueducts has also inspired modern innovations, such as the spiral water turbine. The Cantalloc Aqueducts are a prime example of how ancient engineering can continue to influence and inspire modern technology.
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Students practice labeling organelles on a simple model (2D) and a more complex model. The idea is for students to gain an appreciation for how cell diagrams are created. They don’t all look alike, and are often artistically created.
Cell organelles tend to follow basic design rules, like the mitochondria will generally look like a peanut with an internal membrane.
I created this worksheet for cell structure practice. The diagrams are simple enough for even beginner biology students to figure out. You can also put the images on an overhead and help students work out where each of the cell structures are located.
For a more challenging activity, ask students to annotate each structure with its function
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(Choose a letter to go directly to that section)
A ~ B ~ C ~ D
~ E ~ F
~ G ~ H ~ I ~ J ~ K
~ L ~ M
N ~ O ~ P ~ Q ~ R ~
S ~ T ~
U ~ V ~ W ~ X ~ Y ~
ACIDICdescribes a compound or solution with an excess of hydrogen ions.
Forms an acid when dissolved in
AIR BLADDERS:the balloon-like pockets of air found on the blades of some
heavier seaweed (algae). These air pockets
allow the blades to float near the water's surface to capture the sunlight needed for
ALGAE:simple 'plants' that have chlorophyll and photosynthesize. They do not have true stems, roots, or leaves. They
range from microscopic, single cells (like diatoms) to large, multi-celled forms (like kelp).
Single-celled algae are not plants but protists
(Kingdom Protista) and many biologists classify all algae in the Protista kingdom.
ANADROMOUSAnimals that spawn in freshwater but live in saltwater, such as salmon.
ANOXIAthe absence of oxygen. Defined as less than 0.5 mg/l dissolved
APPENDAGESA smaller body part attached to the main body, ie. an arm or leg.
AQUACULTURE:The growing of fish, shellfish, and marine plants to
AQUATIC:any organisms that lives in or near the water.
AQUIFER:an underground area of permeable rock, gravel, or sand that is
saturated with water
ARCHAEOLOGY:the study of ancient people and their cultures as revealed by
the items (artifacts) they left
ARTHROPODS:invertebrates of the phylum Arthropoda that have jointed
appendages and a chitinous, segmented
exoskeleton. Arthropods include insects, spiders, crabs, and lobsters.
BACTERIA (IUM):single-celled microorganisms that belong to the kingdom
Monera. Bacteria are among the smallest,
simplest, and oldest types of cells.
BALLAST WATER:Water that is used to stabilize large transporter ships and is
discharged at various points on their routes; the water typically contains a
variety of species which become invasive species when discharged into
BAR-BUILT ESTUARY:Formed when sandbars build up along the coastline and
partially cut off the waters behind them from the sea.
BARNACLE ZONE:one of the life zones on the rocky shore; also called the
white zone for the color of the barnacles
that dominate this part of the shore. This zone is exposed to air for about half of the day.
BASICdescribes a compound or solution with an excess of hydroxide (OH)
ions. Forms a base when dissolved in
BENTHOS:Organisms that lie in and on the bottom of the ocean floor.
BIOAVAILABILITYthe availability of a pollutant to be used by living
BIVALVE:the type of mollusk (Phylum Mollusca) that has two hinged shells
(valves). Bivalves include clams, mussels,
BLADE:the flattened or leaf-like part of the body of an alga.
BLOOM:High concentration of phytoplankton in an area, caused by increased
reproduction; often produces discoloration of the water.
BYSSAL THREADS:the strong fibers that mussels produce to attach themselves
to rocks or hard surfaces.
CAMOUFLAGE:a means of disguise that allows organisms to blend in with their
background so that they are hidden or
CALCAREOUS:having a hard, crust-like covering composed of calcium
CALIBRATEto adjust an instrument.
CAPPING:Contaminated spoils covered with clean sediments to isolate the
contaminated material from the surrounding sea life and water.
CARAPACE:A hard outer covering such as a shell.
CARPOSPOROPHYTE:a stage in the life cycle of red algae, this small rounded
bump remains attached to the female
gametophyte. This structure, when mature, bears carpospores; also called a cystocarp.
CELSIUSa temperature scale in which the fixed points are the temperatures
at standard pressure of ice at 0 degrees
and of steam at 100 degrees. Abbreviated C.
CG-CM:Canadian Global Coupled Model.
CHLOROPHYLLpigment responsible for the green color in plants. The molecules
are primary sites of light absorption in
CNIDARIA:phylum of aquatic invertebrates (formerly called Coelenterata)
that includes Hydra, jellyfish, sea anemones,
and corals. These animals have stinging cells on their tentacles and can occur in different body forms.
They may be free-swimming medusa and/or
attached polyps hydroids).
COASTAL PLAIN ESTUARY:An estuary formed at the end of the last ice age. Ice
melted, water warmed, and sea level rose invading the low-lying coastal river
COENOCYTIC:having many nuclei not separated into individual cells.
COLORIMETRICan analysis of solutions by estimating their color by comparing
them with standard colors of known
CONCENTRATIONthe quantity of a dissolved substance in a
CONCEPTACLE:a small cavity on the surface of an alga that contains
CONDUCTto transfer electricity through matter.
CONDUCTIVITYa measurement of the ability to transfer electricity through
CONTAINER PORT:a port used by large vessels for the import and export of
CRUSTACEANS:a class of mainly aquatic, gill-breathing arthropods such as
crabs, lobsters, shrimp, and barnacles. They
usually have a hard exoskeleton and two pairs of antennae.
CSOs:Combined Sewer Overflows.
CTENOPHORE:another name for comb jellies (Phylum Ctenophora). These marine
animals have a gelatinous body and no
backbone. Even though they look similar to jellyfish (Cnidarians), they do not have stinging cells. They
get their name from the 8 rows of cilia
that look like combs.
DECOMPOSE:to rot or break down in decay.
DEGREEa division on a temperature scale.
DENSITYmass of a substance per unit volume (i.e. pure water has a density
of 1 gram per milliliter).
DEPOSIT FEEDERS:organisms that ingest or sift through the sediment and
consumes organic matter within it.
DETRITUS:Organic or inorganic debris.
DICHOTOMOUS:splitting into two.
DISSOLVED OXYGEN:oxygen molecules (O2) dissolved in water.
DIURNAL TIDE:a tidal cycle where there is one high tide and one low tide in
one lunar day (lunar day = 24 hours, 50
DREDGING:the removal of sediments from an estuary's floor.
ECHINODERMS:a large group of invertebrates that have radial symmetry and no
heads (Phylum Echinodermata). All are
marine and benthonic (live on or in the bottom). They have an internal skeleton and a special network of
water-filled canals that move their tube
feet. Sea stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers are all echinoderms.
ECOSYSTEM:all the living and nonliving things that interact within a certain
area; a web of life.
EDC:Economic Development Council.
EFFLUENT:discharge of waste from a sewer or sewage system.
EIS:Environmental Impact Study.
ELECTRICITYan effect resulting from the existence of stationary or moving
EPIPHYTE:a plant or alga growing on another plant or alga.
ESTUARY:a semi-enclosed body of water where freshwater meets and mixes with
saltwater. Narragansett and Chesapeake
Bays are both examples of estuaries.
EUTROPHICATION:the process of polluting a body of water with excessive
nutrients, such as sewage or fertilizers. The
nutrients cause an excessive growth of algae that leads to oxygen being depleted from the water (result
of the decomposition of the
EVAPORATEto form a gas (vapor) from a liquid.
EVAPORITE DEPOSITSdeposit formed from minerals left behind by evaporating
water, especially salt.
EXOSKELETON:external skeleton; the hard skeleton that forms the external
surface of some animals. The exoskeleton
protects, supports, and provides a place for muscles to attach. Some mollusks, tortoises, and arthropods
(such as crabs, lobsters, barnacles, and
shrimp) have exoskeletons.
FAHRENHEITa temperature scale in which boiling of water takes place at 212
degrees and freezing of water occurs at 32
degrees. Abbreviated F
FASCICLE: a bundle of branches that arise from a common point .
FAUNA:the animals that live in a specific environment or
FECAL MATERIAL:solid wastes produced by animals.
FILTER FEEDERS:Organisms which take water in and filter out food; during this
process, sediments and pollutants are also filtered out thus cleaning the water.
FJORD:alleys that have been cut deeper by moving glaciers and then invaded
by the sea. Fjord estuaries have a deep elongated basin that is U-shaped and a
ledge or barrier that separates the basin form the sea.
FLORA:the plants that live in a specific place or environment.
FLUORESCEthe emission of light by a substance.
FLUOROMETERan instrument that measures the emission of light from a
FOLIOSE:having a leafy appearance.
FOSSIL:the remains or traces of organisms.
FOSSIL FUEL:the hydrocarbon remains of plants or animals that have been
changed by natural processes; oil, coal and natural gas.
FRY:recently hatched fish; very young fish.
FUCOID:alga relating to or resembling the rockweeds.
GASTROPODS:one-shelled mollusks (Phylum Mollusca, Class Gastropoda). These
univalve invertebrates have a coiled
shell, a flattened foot, and a well developed head with tentacles. Snails, limpets, conchs, whelks, and
slugs are all gastropods.
GAMETE:a mature male or female germ cell.
GAMETOPHYTE:the phase of the life history that produces gametes.
GCMs:general circulation models.
GEOLOGY:the study of the origin, structure, and composition of the
GIS:this abbreviation stands for Geographic Information System. GIS is a
combination of computer software and
hardware tools used for creating maps and analyzing spatial data. GIS links the map and database
information so that questions can be asked and
answers given in map or visual form.
GLACIER: A large, permanent mass of ice .
GLOBAL WARMING: An increase in Earth's average temperature caused by the
GREENHOUSE EFFECT:The trapping of heat in the atmosphere; caused by gases
such as carbon dioxide and methane.
GREENHOUSE GASES:the gases responsible for the greenhouse effect such as
carbon dioxide and methane.
GROUNDWATERwater beneath the ground that has seeped into the soil and rock
HABITAT:the place or environment where a plant or animal
HEAVY METALS:metallic elements such as cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel,
arsenic, and selenium, and their compounds.
HOLDFAST:the root-like part of a seaweed. The holdfast attaches the seaweed
to a hard surface.
HEATthe process of energy transfer from one body or system to another as a
result of difference in
HEAT CAPACITYthe quantity of heat required to produce a 1 degree Celsius
change of temperature in one gram of
HYPOXIAa deficiency in oxygen. Defined as less than 3.0 mg/l dissolved
HYPOXICdeficient in oxygen.
INTERTIDAL:area of the shore between the highest and lowest
INVASIVE SPECIES:A species that does not naturally occur in a specific area
and whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental
harm or harm to human health.
INVERTEBRATES:animals without a backbone. At least 97% of all animal
species are invertebrates; with the exception of
insects, most invertebrates are marine species.
IONpositively or negatively charged atom or group of atoms.
IPCC:International Panel on Climate Change.
IRISH MOSS ZONE:one of the life zones of the rocky shore. This lower
intertidal area is submerged most of the time
and is exposed to the air only during very low tides. This zone is dominated by the red algae, Irish
KELP ZONE:the lowest or most seaward life zone of rocky shore. This zone is
always submerged and extends seaward as
far as light can penetrate. The kelp zone is identified by the large, leathery, brown kelp that grows
KELVINa temperature scale used by scientists where 0 Kelvin is -273 degrees C.
LAGOON:a shallow, sheltered body of water that is separated from the sea by
a barrier island, sand bar, or coral
MANTLE (in zoology):the fold of skin covering the top of a mollusk body. The outer surface of the mantle secretes the shell.
MEDULLA:the inner layers of cells; colorless and may function in storage.
MIDRIB:a strip or thickening that runs up the center of a blade.
MIGRATE:the periodic or regular movement of animals from one place to
another. Often animals migrate to feed or
MINNOW TRAP:a specialized trap or enclosure to capture small fish, such as
minnows, by attracting them to the bait in
MOLLUSKS:invertebrates in the Mollusca phylum; these animals have a soft,
unsegmented body and are bilaterally
symmetrical. Most have a muscular foot, calcareous shell, and gills. This phyla includes terrestrial as
well as fresh and salt water forms. Common
examples are clams, snails, slugs, and octopuses.
MOLT:to periodically shed hair, feathers, outer skin, or horns with the
cast off parts being replaced by newly grown
MUDFLAT:a muddy flat intertidal area that is covered by water at high tide
and exposed to the air at low tide. Mud
flats form at the edge of salt marshes or at the mouths of estuaries.
NEAP TIDE:tides occurring near the first and last quarter moons of each
month when the range of the tide is the
NEKTON:free swimming organisms that are capable of moving through the water
NON POINT SOURCE POLLUTION:occurs when a pollutant is from a source that is
not so easily identifiable such as water runoff. Example:
run-off during a rainstorm may cause
contamination from fertilizers onto the surface of the bay.
NUCLEI:the control centers of cells .
NUTRIENTS:organic or inorganic compound that is used by plants in primary
production. Examples: nitrogen and
OMNIVORE:Eating both plants and animals.
OPERCULUM:A lid or flap of skin covering an opening. Examples are the flap of skin covering the gills of some fish and the hard calcite cover of the snail shell opening when the snail is drawn up inside the shell.
ORGANIC MATTER:Compounds that are or were once part of a living organism or
produced by a living organism.
ORGANISM:any living individual, whether it is a protist, plant, or
PARENCHYMATOUS:a description of a organism that has developed in three
dimensions, caused by cell divisions.
PARTIALLY MIXED ESTUARY: An estuary where the salt water is mixed upward and
fresh water is mixed downward.
PART PER THOUSANDa unit of salinity where 35 parts per thousand is equal to
35 grams of salt in 1000g of seawater.
PATHOGENS:any microscopic organism that can cause a disease.
PELAGIC:organisms that swim or drift in the water, these organisms are
distinct from those living on the
PERICARP:this structure encloses the carposporophyte and is formed by a layer
of cells from the female gametophyte.
PERIWINKLE ZONE:the second highest (from land) life zone found on the rocky
shore. Periwinkles are abundant in this
part of the rocky intertidal shore but since they are mobile, this zone is often indistinct. For this
reason, some biologists don't include this as
one of the life zones on the rocky shore.
pHthe measure of concentration of hydrogen ions in solution. This
concentration determines the acidity of the
PHOTOSYNTHESIS:A process where plants use the sun's energy to combine carbon
dioxide and water into simple foods.
PIGMENTa compound that gives color to a tissue and has a variety of
PLANKTON:pelagic organisms that drift or float passively in the water and
are carried wherever currents and tides
take them. Plankton are often microscopic and are an important food source for other aquatic community.
There are two types of plankton-
phytoplankton (plants and autotrophs) and zooplankton (animals).
PLATE TECTONICS:theory and study of Earth's lithospheric plates, their
formation, movement, interaction, and destruction; the attempts to explain
Earth's crustal changes in terms of plate movements.
POINT SOURCE POLLUTION:occurs when a pollutant is discharged at a specific
source, the source can be easily
identified. Example: Leaking pipe, the cause of pollution can be observed.
POLYCHAETE:annelid or segmented worms that have flat extensions with stiff,
sometimes sharp, bristles sticking
outward from each body segment (Phylum Annelida, Class Polychaeta). Most marine worms are
PORTS:Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System.
PRECIPITATEa suspension of small solid particles produced in a liquid by a
PREDATORAn animal that preys upon others.
PREYAn animal hunted or caught for food.
QPP:Quonset Port Partners.
RECEPTACLE:the swollen or inflated portion of a branch or branch tip found on
Fucoids. These inflated branches may have conceptacles on them.
RED TIDE: red coloration, usually of coastal waters, caused by large
quantities of phytoplankton; some red tides are caused by polluted waters,
other are not.
REFRACTIONchange in direction, or bending of a wave.
REFRACTOMETERany of various instruments used to measure the refraction of a
substance or medium.
REFUGE:shelter or protection from danger.
RESISTANCEa measure of opposition to the flow of electrical
RESTORATION:the act of bringing something back to its original
RIFW:Rhode Island Fish and Wildlife.
ROCKWEED ZONE:a life zone at the intertidal area of a rocky shore. This
life zone is submerged at every high tide and
is dominated by brown seaweed, such as knotted wrack and rockweed. For this reason this zone is often
called the brown zone.
RUN-OFF:water from rain, melted snow or agricultural or landscape
irrigation that flows over the land surface and
discharges to surface waters.
SALINITY:the total amount of salt dissolved in seawater; the units most
often used are parts per thousand (ppt) but
practical salinity unit (psu) is now the accepted standard in oceanography. An average salinity value for
seawater is 35 ppt (psu) or 35 parts of
salt in 1000 parts of water.
SALTcrystaline ionic compounds such as NaCl.
SALT POND:New Englander's term for a coastal lagoon; a body of salt or
brackish water that is located behind a
barrier beach or island and is connected to the sea by a natural (temporary) or man-made (permanent)
opening called a breachway.
SALT WEDGE ESTUARY:Occurs when the mouth of a river flows directly into salt
SATURATEDcontaining the maximum amount of a dissolved substance at a given
SCAVENGER:An animal that feeds on dead or decaying matter.
SEA-LEVEL:level of the sea surface; used as a reference for measuring height
on land or depth in the ocean.
SEAWEED:any of the larger (multicellular) forms of algae that live in the
SEDIMENT:particulate organic and inorganic matter that accumulates in loose,
SEINE:rectangular net used to collect fishes or other animals from shallow
water; also called a beach seine. One of
the long sides of the net is weighted and the other long side has floats. The net is pulled through the
water by the short sides so that the side
with floats rides on the surface and the weighted side moves along the bottom.
SEMIDIURNAL TIDEa tidal cycle where there are two high tides and two low
tides in one lunar day (lunar day = 24
hours, 50 minutes).
SEPTIC SYSTEM:an underground system that breaks down sewage from homes.
Septic systems are used where homes are not
hooked up to a city (municipal) sewer system. The system includes a septic tank where solid sewage is
broken down by bacteria and a leach field
into which water flows from the tank.
SESSILE:an animal that lives permanently attached to the bottom or to a
SIPHON:a tube like structure used by organisms for drawing in or forcing out water.
SMOG:An atmospheric condition in which visibility is reduced due to air
pollution that contains high levels of particulates or photochemical oxidants.
SOLUBILITYthe amount of solute that dissolves in a solvent to form a
solution usually depends on
SPECIES:a group of similar individuals that can breed among themselves. A
biological category used to classify
SPRING TIDES:tides of greater than average tidal range that occur twice a
month at the new and full
SPOROPHYTE:the phase of the life history that produces spores.
STIPE:The "stem" of the organism. May be cylindrical or flattened. Function
not specialized for transport as in plant stems.
SUBTIDAL:the area of the shore bottom that is always covered by water and
is never exposed at low tide.
SUPERSATURATIONthe state of a solution where the concentration of the
dissolved substance exceeds the equilibrium
concentration at that temperature.
TECTONIC ESTUARY:formed when the sea fills in the "hole" or basin that was
formed by the sinking of land due to folding and faulting in the Earth's crust.
TEMPERATUREthe property of a region or body which determines whether or not
there will be a flow of heat into or out
of the body.
TERRESTRIAL:organisms living or found on land.
TETRASPORE:a reproductive spore produced by some red algae.
THALLUS (thalli, pl.):a simple plant body, such as multicellular algae, that is not
differentiated into stem and
THERMISTORa device that measures temperature by measuring the resistance to
electric flow in a metal as the
THERMOMETERan instrument used to measure the temperature of a
TIDE:the daily rising and falling of the ocean's surface. This change in
the water's height is caused by the combined
gravitational pull of the moon and sun on the Earth's surface.
TIDE CHART:a list showing the times each day when the tide will be high or
TIDE POOL:a low spot in the rocks or sand that holds seawater when the tide
TITRATIONa method of volumetric analysis in which an amount of one agent is
added to a known amount of another slowly
from a burette in order to reach a point of equal acidity. Used to calculate an unknown volume from a
known volume of liquid.
TRAWLING:A process where nets are towed through the water by boats to collect
TUNICATE:marine invertebrates that are also chordates (Phylum Chordata).
They have a sac-like body and don't move
because they attach to the bottom or a surface (like boats and docks). They're commonly called sea
UNEP:United Nations Environment Programme.
UNIVALVE:a one shelled mollusk; gastropod.
VECTOR BORNE DISEASE:a disease that is spread by non-human organism such as a
tick, to a human being.
VERTEBRATE:animals with backbones (vertebral columns) and whose brain is
encased in a skull; Vertebrata is in the
largest subphylum of Chordata.
VIRUS:A very small particle made up of nucleic acid with a protein covering,
or protein coat; not cells but can reproduce in the cells of living organisms.
VOCs:Volatile Organic Compounds.
WAMPUM:beads made from two types of shells. The white beads were made from
Northern whelk shells and the purple beads
were made from quahog (clam) shells.
WATER POLLUTION:The change to water that is harmful to organisms.
WATERSHED:a region or area drained by a particular body of
WEATHERING:the processes that decay or break up rocks by a combination of
physically fracturing or chemically
WELL-MIXED ESTUARY:An estuary with strong tidal mixing and low river flow
that mix the sea water throughout the shallow estuary. Salinity is the same
top to bottom and decreases from ocean to river.
WETLANDS:areas that are covered by water at least part of the year. These
areas have a specific type of soil, can be
covered by either fresh or salt water, and are heavily vegetated.
WMO:World Meterorological Organization.
ZONATION:series of life zones that indicate the presence of organisms
within a particular range of time or
ZONE:a geographic area where only certain organisms live.
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‘Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.’
This blog was contributed by John Claughton, Co-Founder of WoLLoW: The World of Languages and Languages of the World and Honorary Research Fellow in Classics Ancient History and Egyptology within the School of Arts Languages and cultures at the University of Manchester.
It’s not telling tales out of school to admit that the teaching of languages is in peril. The annual survey of language teaching by the British Council seems to get darker year by year, expressing concerns about Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5, and the lack of connection between each of those stages. HEPI’s very own Megan Bowler produced a paper with similarly sorrowful stories.
So, it can hardly be a surprise that universities are short of customers. And yet the strange and wondrous truth is that our schools have never had more linguists and more accomplished linguists than they do today. The only problem is that they are described as EAL, English as an Additional Language, as if this were a deficiency. According to the EAL Academy, the 2021 school census tells us that there are 316 different languages spoken in schools in this country, with Urdu, Polish and Punjabi leading the way. In a city like Birmingham, small primary schools can have 30+ different languages, or be 99 per cent EAL or have 48 new pupils since September – not in September – of whom none speak English. So, there’s no shortage of languages or language teaching going on. The sad part is that the National Curriculum requires all primary children to be taught a language, so that these kids usually end up studying French or Spanish – and then do something similar, or identical, in secondary school.
Let’s imagine that you – or I – have the chance to teach a language lesson to a Year 5 or Year 6 class. One alternative is to teach the boys and girls the days of the week in French, or Spanish, an obvious, simple and, perhaps, not naturally interesting task. Another is to teach them, not the days of the week, but about the days of the week, in English, French or any language you like, or they know. If you were to do the latter, the following questions and answers and ideas and opportunities might emerge:
- Who on earth – or in heaven – are Tues-day and Wednes-day and Thurs-day and Fri-day named after?
- Who are these guys – and gals
- Why in the English days of the week are there four names from the Northmen, two from the pagan world of Sun and Moon and one, lonely Roman god, Saturn?
- Why is not even one day of the week which comes from Christianity? After all, it’s been going here for 1.5 millennia.
- Why – and how – are French days of the week different, but sometimes similar?
- Why are two, Samedi and Lundi, the same as in English?
- What does Dimanche mean and what’s it doing on a Sunday?
- Is it coincidence that French days and the planets share names?
- Is it a coincidence that Thursday (Thor) and Jeudi (Jove) are both thunderbolters?
- And what about the German, Donnerstag?
- Why are there seven days in a week, after all?
- Did the Romans have days of the week? If not, why not?
- What about French or Spanish or Italian or German? Are they similar or different from English or each other?
And, at this point, it may just be that a pupil from Russia or the Punjab or Afghanistan volunteers his days of the week, and off we jolly well go into next week.
Such a lesson generates thought and curiosity, encompasses history and geography, empire and religion, and, perhaps best of all, allows the pupils to join in, to use their knowledge, their family and cultural history, to fill the gaps in our ignorance. ‘What larks!’, as someone once said.
And that’s what a ‘WoLLoW’ [World of Languages and Languages of the World], lesson is meant to be like. In recent times, a number of us from Birmingham, Norwich School, Cheadle Hulme School and elsewhere, including the University of Manchester, have been constructing this programme. It is designed to encourage not just learning but understanding and enjoyment of languages for children in primary schools and the early years of secondary school. We think that this is particularly valuable when the pupils in front of us are increasingly bilingual, if not multilingual. We also think it matters that these children are encouraged to be proud of what they already have and to be able to share that with their peers. And then, they might arrive at secondary school with some enthusiasm, even passion, for languages and be readier to learn. And perhaps they might also have the confidence to study their own family languages and not lose them and their links with older generations and their history.
This is a country in which the diversity of our pupils will continue to grow. When I was a boy at school in Birmingham, there were three non-white boys out of 700 and the only non-English speakers were from families which had fled from Central Europe. Now, at that same school, over 50 per cent of the boys speak more than one language at home. If our society is to welcome and understand migrants, to enable them to belong and feel they belong, the teaching of languages is bound to be of central importance. So, perhaps we need to believe that there is an elsewhere, a different way to teach languages to the young so that one day universities will thrive on this wondrously diverse young population.
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Once, I was lucky enough to deal with operation of main gas pipelines in Ukraine, where my colleagues and I quite successfully used mobile compressor stations, which enhanced our functionality and made it possible not to vent large volumes of blue fuel into the atmosphere during pipeline repair, but to pump it into another operational gas pipeline.
This technology is a foreign development, and the principle of mobility is quite widely used in global practice during the repair of all infrastructure facilities in the energy industry. Mobile facilities include transformer substations for distribution grids, which can step the voltage down from 110 to 33 kV. Such facilities, but not only them, have been attacked by Russian terrorist forces for almost three months now.
One option of rapid restoration of domestic power distribution grids is to use mobile transformer substations on wheeled chassis, made up of three compact mobile units. For example, the first module — a 110 kV high-voltage unit — is mounted on 8.5 meters long chassis and weighs approximately 13 tons. The second module is the medium or low voltage side designed as a separate module with a length of 9 meters and weight of 15 tons. The third module is a chassis with a 33 kV power transformer, its length is 14.5 meters, weight — 57 tons.
One interesting fact testifies to the reality of such a project: in 2015, the crown jewel of the national aircraft industry, An-124 successfully transported such equipment from Portugal to Argentina, where mobile transformer substations were used to ensure stable electricity supply to areas with unstable network load. The problem was especially acute during the Christmas and New Year holidays, and carnivals throughout the year.
In general, mobile transformer substations are used if it is necessary to quickly recover large consumers. Mobile substations are also used to restore power supply during outages caused by storm or other disaster. This is especially relevant for the USA and Canada, where at least forty large-scale system accidents occurred in the last sixty years, with subsequent disconnection of millions of users.
Various designs of mobile transformer substations are produced. In some of them, the transformer is placed on a platform that rotates 360 degrees to place the input under the existing power line with minimal effort. In most cases, it is set up within 4 hours.
However, there are two significant disadvantages when using mobile transformer substations. The first one is undoubtedly high electricity losses, but they are much smaller than at the obsolete equipment of the Ukrainian energy system. The second one — noticeable magnetostriction noise, which occurs due to the low weight of the transformer housing. However, this drawback can be eliminated by installing noise-absorbing panels.
Despite shortcomings in the means of restoring energy distribution grids, any option will suit us to restore the capabilities of the Ukrainian energy system as soon as possible.
We shall win!
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by Steven Quistad
One hundred million years ago the earth’s climate was much warmer than today and vast inland seas stretched across entire continents. The land was dominated by charismatic megafauna that would one day serve as inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel The Lost World. This period is commonly referred to as the age of reptiles as our placental ancestors were barely visible. Yet it was during this period that something significant happened to them, something that would become a major part of who we are today. One hundred million years agoretroviruses infected our ancestors’ germline and hitched a ride through evolution into the present day where their DNA still exists in all of our genomes. In fact, such retrovirus infections occurred ~31 separate times in our evolution and these endogenous retroviruses (ERV’s) expanded and now make up an astounding 8% of our entire genome. This means that we owe ~240,000,000 bp of our DNA to these retroviruses!
Retroviruses usually infect somatic cells; therefore, when the infected cell stops dividing all progeny will vanish with the last cell of the clone. However, a retrovirus occasionally infects a cell belonging to the germline. Any offspring that develop from this infected germline cell will maintain the provirus and will pass on to their descendants. The establishment of an ERV lineage begins with an exogenous “founder provirus.” In humans each of the 31 families of ERV’s represents 31 separate integration events that occurred during our evolution. These ERV families are able to expand through reinfection, retrotransposition, and piggy-backing off co-infecting viruses; rarely they also double through duplication of the chromosomal segment where they reside. The total numbers of copies or loci can range from just a few to thousands in different families. If the function of a particular viral protein is subject to little selective pressure, random modifications will eventually result in a total loss of expression and replication ability. Most of our ERV’s are at least 30 million years old, so it is not surprising that many human ERV’s have lost the ability to replicate and reinfect neighboring cells due to the accumulation of substitutions, deletions, and insertions. Thus our genome has become a graveyard of formerly active ERV’s.
All retroviruses encode envelope proteins (the products of the env gene), which are required for infectivity. Recent work by Magiorkinis et al. revealed that when ERV’s lose their env gene, their proliferation within a genome is boosted by a factor of ~30. Using an in silico approach the authors recovered ERV loci from 38 mammalian genomes. They found that expansion of an ERV within a genome is negatively correlated with env integrity but not with the integrity of other ERV genes. This suggests that loss of env integrity provides the virus with some type of selective advantage. Interestingly, the distribution of ERV megafamilies within the 38 genomes closely followed the 20/80 rule, also known as the Pareto principle. This is an expansion of power-law distributions that, when applied to infectious diseases for example, states that a small percentage of individuals within a population are responsible for most of the transmission events. In this study, 22% of the megafamilies accounted for 80% of all the ERV’s. The 20/80 rule has been demonstrated in HIV, SARS, and now ERV proliferation.
So why would the loss of the env gene increase the proliferation of an ERV? After all it seems counterintuitive that the loss of a functional viral receptor would increase its copy number. From the host’s perspective, active ERV replication, which is occurring most often in somatic cells, risks insertional mutagenesis. The transmembrane domain of the Env protein is also known to have immunosuppressive properties; bothof these factors would reduce host fitness. From the viruses perspective, replication through the formation of complete virions requires evading the host innate immune system. Therefore, loss of the env gene would select for ERV’s that replicate solely at the genomic level avoiding the host immune defenses.
More generally the significant evolutionary success of endogenous retroviruses raises many future questions. How was evolution of the host shaped by ERV’s? How do ERV’s affect host gene expression? Are ERV’s ubiquitous in other organisms beyond mammals? The high prevalence of ERV’s within our own genome provides yet another example that we live in world that has been intimately shaped by the most abundant biological entities on the planet, the viruses.
Magiorkinis G, Gifford RJ, Katzourakis A, De Ranter J, Belshaw R (2012). Env-less endogenous retroviruses are genomic superspreaders. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 109 (19), 7385-7390. PMID 22529376
Steven is a student in the University of California at San Diego/San Diego State University Integrative Microbiology graduate course.
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Many think of Digital Twins focusing on their gaming and business applications, but one of the most relevant is certainly medicine.
The Japanese state TV NHK published a video report (you will need to click through and watch it on YouTube as embedding is disabled) focusing on the efforts to create digital twins of the human heart capable of simulating its functioning to facilitate the mapping of surgeries, mostly to address congenital heart defects in children.
About 1% of children in Japan are born with such defects, but they are very complex to treat because of the huge variation in abnormalities that can occur at a congenital level. This includes holes between the four chambers included in the organ, or at times, no separation at all.
There are over 40 major categories, with multiple issues often appearing at the same time. Due to this, determining the optimal surgical course of action is a significant challenge.
Isao Shiraishi, the head of the team developing a “heart simulator” at the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center in Osaka, Japan explains that the creation of an artificial blood vessels can result in significant difference in the burden on the heart even with small variance in diameter.
Determining these parameters carries real risks when not done with the help of a simulated digital twin. It may result in heart failure and threaten the patient’s life as a 0.5 mm difference in diameter involves a significant difference in blood flow.
A Japanese manufacturer collaborating with Shiraishi-sensei and the University of Tokyo is creating the simulator starting with a CT scan of the heart, which is then rendered with over 400,000 polygons. These are animated by a program developed by inputting data from previous tests.
This enables simulating the functioning of the specific heart in intricate detail including blood pressure and flow, oxygen level, and more. At this point, surgeons can apply the changes they intend to make and determine what effect they would have on the patient with the help of a computer, predicting which surgical procedure would result on the least burden on the heart.
That being said, challenges still exist. While certain hearts are difficult to replicate, it’s also not possible to apply this method to emergency surgery, as the bespoke analysis required takes time.
For now, the heart simulator Shiraishi-sensei and his team are working on has been used in 12 clinical trials, and the hope is that it’ll be approved for widespread use within 3 years.
Another challenge is the cost, so the team is working to secure insurance coverage for the procedure in order to lessen the financial burden on future patients.
This is not an isolated case as similar initiatives have been proliferating in several fields of medicine across the world.
If you’d like to read about a much more “playful” application of digital twins, you can enjoy our hands-on preview of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, which applies the concept to flight simulation everywhere on Earth.
You can also watch our interview with Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neumann and Asobo CEO Sebastian Wloch, another with Asobo CCO David Dedeine, and one featuring Chris Burnett of Working Title and Brandon Yaeger of Got Friends about their work on Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
Last, but not least, you can take a look at our A-10 flight through the Grand Canyon, our first look at the extensive pilot customization, another at the first mission of the Career Mode, a video featuring the new walk-around move showing off a Boeing 737 MAX up close and personal, and a challenge with the A-10 over the Blue Ridge Mountains.
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Hello, Friends. In this post, we are going to discuss the most important questions that asked in the interview.
Q.1 Which motor is used in the Indian train?
Ans: Both AC and DC are used in different variants of trains. Earlier, the only DC motor was used, But now AC induction motor is used in Indian railways.
Q.2 Overload and Overcurrent difference?
Ans: Overload– all electrical appliances are designed to handle a limited amount of load; when we connect more Load than this, it becomes an overload condition.
Overcurrent– a situation in which the current flow in a device is more than its current capacity. That is called over current.
Q.3 What is Solar Panel?
Ans: Solar Panel- When many small solar cells are combined to form one big panel, then that panel is called a solar panel.
Q.4 What is solar cell?
Ans: A solar cell is such a device that if sunlight falls on it. Then this solar cell takes the energy from sunlight and converts that energy into electrical energy.
Q.4 What is a Buchholz relay?
Ans: Buchholz relay is a safety device, it works to provide safety to the transformer.
Big transformers in which oil is used for cooling are called oil-cooled transformers. In them, we find a cylindrical thing between the pipes connecting the conservator to the main tank, this cylindrical object is called the Buchholz relay.
Q.5 Which relay is inside the Buchholz relay?
Ans: There are two relays inside Buchholz relay. First relay give signal to circuit breaker at the time of fault. Second relay gives information of fault with an alarm circuit.
We hope that you understand all the important interview question answer. if still any doubt or questions remain then feel free to ask in comment section or you can also ask on Instagram (Click Here).
If you like to see practical videos of electrical engineering then you can subscribe to our YouTube channel “Electrical Dost” (click Here).
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CURE participates in a number of financial aid programs, administered in accordance with prevailing federal and state laws and the school's institutional policies. These programs assist students with paying educational expenses (such as tuition, books and housing). Students must meet the eligibility requirements of these programs in order to participate. Students are responsible for providing all requested documentation in a timely manner. Failure to provide the proper documentation may jeopardize financial aid eligibility. In order to remain eligible for financial aid, students must maintain satisfactory academic progress as defined in the CURE catalog. Financial aid must be approved and all necessary documentation completed before the aid can be applied toward tuition and fees.
Eligibility for federal financial aid is based on a number of factors; but regardless of your current income level or financial need, you may still qualify for student financial aid programs that can help offset the cost of your education. Please contact your financial aid representative and/or refer to the catalog for information on additional programs and details.
You may also access the Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid page for more detailed information on student aid programs.
Like a carpenter who is learning to hammer a nail...
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF HEART ULTRASOUNDS?
Updated: Oct 10, 2023
A heart ultrasound, also known as a cardiac ultrasound, or an echocardiogram, is an important imaging tool that doctors use to perform routine check-ups on patients.
It is also used in critical, emergency situations to help save lives! High frequency sound waves, also known as ultrasound, are transmitted into the body by a small transducer, reflected back, and then processed in the ultrasound machine to create diagnostic pictures and videos of the heart. Cardiac ultrasounds are performed by diagnostic cardiac sonographers, or cardiovascular technologists. These tests are performed independently by the technologist and then reviewed by a doctor, specifically a cardiologist.
Due to the dynamic nature of the beating heart, cardiac ultrasound is used in a myriad of ways to assess cardiac disease. At the most basic level, two-dimensional images are created and used to assess heart structure. These images are made through a continuous wave of ultrasound being transmitted and reflected. With these images, technologists will measure the size of the heart chambers, the heart muscle, and the great vessels. Two-dimensional videos, also known as cine loops, are then used to assess heart function. With these videos, cardiologists can determine how well the heart muscle is squeezing and if it’s pumping enough blood to the rest of the body.
Doppler, much like the weather Doppler we see on the news, allows technologists and doctors to assess blood flow through the heart. With Doppler, it is possible to visualize the direction that blood is moving and calculate how much blood is flowing at any given time. There are different types of Doppler that exist in order to achieve certain images and originate certain types of information.
For example, continuous wave Doppler will continuously send and receive pulses of ultrasound to a certain region of the anatomy. This allows the sonographer to assess blood that is moving at a high velocity. On the other hand, pulsed wave Doppler is used to assess a very specific section of blood flow, and does so by sending and receiving signals, one at a time, from an exact location. Pulsed wave Doppler is used to calculate volumes of blood flow and create a visual representation of blood flow that is mapped and represented by specific colors, typically red and blue.
2. 3D DIMENSIONAL ECHOCARDIOGRAM
As technology grows and advances, three-dimensional cardiac ultrasound has developed and allows technologists and physicians to see more accurate visual representations of the heart. With 3D ultrasound, volume measurements can easily be made and more detail regarding heart valve structure and function can be derived. 3D images are particularly helpful for cardiothoracic surgeons who are performing valve replacements, or repairs.
3. TRANSESOPHAGEAL ECHOCARDIOGRAM (TEE)
Cardiac ultrasound is commonly used by means of imaging through the patient’s chest, also known as a transthoracic echocardiogram; however, it can even be used in a patient’s throat! This test is called a transesophageal echocardiogram, where a thin tubed with an ultrasound transducer on the end is inserted into a patient’s throat. This test is used when a transthoracic echocardiogram falls short. During this test, the ultrasound transducer is extremely close to the heart, which makes the image resolution superior.
4. STRESS TESTING ECHOCARDIOGRAM
Last, but not least, cardiac ultrasound is also used in stress testing. Stress testing allows doctors to assess the heart function and blood flow at higher heart rates. Patients are asked to run on a treadmill at specific speeds and elevations. Cardiovascular technologists, or cardiac sonographers, will take images of the heart before and after exercise. For patients who cannot exercise due to physical ailments or lung disease, medications can be injected that simulate the exercise response and cardiac ultrasound images are taken simultaneously.
GLOBAL LONGITUDINAL STRAIN
One of the most exciting advancements in cardiac ultrasound is the use of global longitudinal strain. This function allows for assessment of the longitudinal function of the heart muscle. Before strain, it was only possible to evaluate the lateral motion of the heart muscle. Due to the fact that the heart muscle contracts in three different directions, this meant that there was significant heart activity that wasn’t able to be evaluated. This longitudinal assessment is important because it allows us to predict heart failure before it even happens! This is very important for patients with breast cancer that are undergoing chemotherapy, as it allows us to ensure that the heart muscle is not being negatively affected by the chemotherapy medications. Global longitudinal strain is a form of pulsed-wave Doppler and is now being used in a wide array of diagnostic assessments.
In conclusion, cardiac ultrasound is an invaluable tool that allows doctors to diagnose and assess a wide variety of cardiac and systemic disease. With cardiac ultrasound it is possible to assess structure, function, and make accurate measurements down to a millimeter! Although cardiac ultrasound has advanced exponentially in the last fifty years, it is expected to continue to develop and provide new life saving technologies for patients.
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Understand the differences between prescriptive design
and performance-based design and how they address building fire safety.
Understand the basics of specifying structural fire
protection in order to provide adequate building fire safety.
Understand the basis of structural fire resistance
ratings and why it is important to the safety embodied in code requirements.
Understand how to derive the structural fire protection
requirements of buildings and how those requirements increase the safety of the
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This five part series will help prepare you and boost your confidence in the AQA Biology Paper 1. In this class, students will go through the AQA Paper 1 Higher Tier Biology paper from 2018, detailing exam technique and answering questions, with clear workings. The content covered in paper 1 includes bacteria and pathogens, communicable diseases, respiration, components of the blood, blood vessels, the heart, plant diseases and digestive enzymes.
Safeguarding reminder:The safety of your child is of the utmost importance. All of our classes are pre-recorded to remove any concerns around live participation. For reruns of our past live classes, students' webcams and microphones were disabled and only the chat history, if participation was requested, is visible.
This class is suitable for students in Years 10 and 11.
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Repurposing the Inverse Electron Demand Diels Alder chemistry to create robust DNA-based devices that operate effectively within living cells.
Scientists create a variety of chemical compounds and a new leaf test to investigate how the A. alternata fungi infects only the Asian pear.
Researchers at the University of Montpellier develop a diagnostic test for Parkinson’s disease with a glass pipette and electric current that’s quick, accurate and inexpensive.
A active material for redox flow batteries was synthesized from fungi to create a renewable feedstock.
One of the most abundant South Asian and Sub-Saharan African legumes is the hardy, nutritional grass pea. However, the vegetable naturally produces a paralyzing neurotoxin, and the exact mechanism has long eluded scientists – until now.
With the continued prevalence of Covid-19, development of new and improved detection methods of the virus is an important step forward in simplifying diagnosis and treatment. This article explores the use of DNA aptamers as a viral detection tool.
Development of a new, non-invasive and topical sampling method uses low molecular weight, skin cancer biomarkers for better detection for early stages of skin cancer diagnostics.
Development of novel fluorogenic probes provide valuable insights regarding the polarity of cancer cell membranes.
How can we use compounds produced by cannabis as tools against COVID-19? This article discusses the identification of three cannabinoids which decrease the infection rate of SARS-CoV-2.
As the global COVID-19 pandemic rolls into its third year many of us wear masks almost all day at work or in the community. Read how these researchers have developed a sensor that can be embedded into your mask, which collects your exhaled breath to act as a COVID-19 test for the end of the day.
Raman spectroscopy can identify the extent of meniscus damages in knees before serious injury occurs.
Maybe chemistry can save us—in this case, synthetic chemists have developed a family of lanthanide-oxo molecules and investigate their capabilities as radical species scavengers, with a possible future in the clinic to mitigate various diseases onset by oxidative stress (get antioxidants into your diet, people!).
How can using computational and biochemical techniques help us understand the different flavors of cannabis? This paper explores identifying terpenes that make each cannabis strain unique.
Protein crystallisation is an important technique in drug discovery, and storage of proteins in the biopharmaceutical industry but can sometimes be regarded as a dark-art. Read how researchers use air-bubbles to improve protein crystal growth.
Calcium is important in bones and in brains. But which brain regions have a lot of calcium? Do disease states affect calcium levels? A new tool is being developed to find out.
Scientists showed that by modulating cathepsin B’s cleavage activity with pH-selective peptides, they can irreversibly and selectively stop its cancerous activity.
Avocado peels and uprooted invasive plants can become a source for anti-inflammatories. I’ll toast to that!
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Mathematics: Math is seen as another language. We could call the subject “numeracy” in keeping with “literacy”, which may more accurately reflect our understanding of the subject. Children need practice in mathematics in order to build confidence, and they often do best when the approach to the subject allows them to grow their sense of number over time. A “spiral curriculum”, one that keeps returning to certain basic concepts while at the same time pushing outward, meets the needs of most children. We work with math standards established by the National Council of Mathematics and draw our resources from the Miquon Math Program, Bridges Mathematics Curriculum, Math Their Way and Marilyn Burns material.
Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower, But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee. For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life, And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love, And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.
-Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
During the first week of school, children throughout the school were asked, "What is a bee?". Considering their own unique knowledge about these small insects, the children created bee collages, clay sculptures and easel paintings. After sharing their bee knowledge and experiences with peers and teachers they shared their wonderings; thoughtful questions that guided our exploration of bees and wasps for the month of September.
"Why do bugs have six legs?" -Ken
Sitting next to an aquarium full of crickets, a small group of children silently listened to their chirping. "Why do they make that sound?" one child asked. "To communicate with each other." said another. As they listened, they drew the creatures they saw, careful to notice how many legs, antennae, eyes and body parts each cricket had.
Turning over leaves and digging in the soil at Triangle Park, children searched for live insects. Catching them in clear containers, they observed their movements and shared their observations with one another. "What makes an insect an insect?" we wondered.
"Why are there so many different types of bees?" -Rose
In the following days, we collected deceased bees and wasps and compared their bodies to other insects we had collected. We learned how to identify attributes of different insects. Older children learned how to classify bees into different phyla classes, orders, families, genera and species. We learned that bees evolved from wasps millions of years ago and as they shifted from prey-seeking species to nectar-seeking species, soft fur covered their bodies to help them collect pollen.
As our discoveries grew, enormous paintings of ants, ladybugs, bees, wasps and butterflies emerged at the large easels. Insects were grouped into categories in sorting boards. Stories were told through drawings and collages. Dramatic stories were acted out using fabric wings. Plays were performed using the big blocks as a bee hive. Honey from around the state was sampled on apples. Beeswax was sculpted and formed into candles.
Some classes read a chapter book. The Bee Bookby Jakob Streit, about the relationship between a grandfather and his grandson and their mutual interest in beekeeping. We all read and loved Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Beesby A.A. Milne. Some children acted out the endearing scene of Winnie-the-Pooh floating up to a bee hive in a tree with the help of a blue balloon.
"...the only reason for making a buzzing-noise that I know of is because you’re a bee. And the only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey. And the only reason for making honey is so as I can eat it." - Winnie-the-Pooh
"Why do bees make so many hexagons?" -Finn
The entire school studied the hexagon as we marveled at the creation of such perfectly shaped hexagons in each bee hive. During math lessons, we focused on geometry with the use of pattern blocks. How could we use triangles, trapezoids and square to create large hexagons?
Read more about why bees choose perfect hexagons to create there hives here.
"Why do female bees have to do more work than males?" -Gavin
As we read about the matriarchal social structure of the hive, we grew increasingly curious about the inner-workings of a hive. What exactly did the bees do inside the hive? We were fortunate to connect with several beekeepers in our community and were so thankful for their willingness to share their practice with us. Renee Lenti, Ardin's mom, visited the school with her observational hive one morning. This experience provided us with the unique opportunity to watch the inner workings of a hive and observe the the queen, workers and drones working as one unit.
Students also visited a beekeeper from the Puget Sound Beekeeper's Association one afternoon. There, the children learned about the responsibilities involved in beekeeping. While the beekeeper wore her protective bee suit for part of the visit, the students were surprised to see her remove her suit and interact with the bees to show how docile the creatures can be.
During our time in Madison Park, we all had a chance to visit Bill McQueen's home and watch him extract honey from his hive. While he used a centrifuge to extract his honey he also showed us how others use a filtration system. Enjoying a sample of his peppermint-flavored honey, we learned that different hives produce honey with slightly different tastes depending on which flowers they pollinate.
"Do bees take nectar from the same flower for their whole life?" - Ruby
Bees and other pollinating insects play an essential role in ecosystems. A third of all our food depends on their pollination. A world without pollinators would be devastating for food production.
Considering their vital role in the production of our food, we traveled in small groups to our garden at Coleman P-patch to closely study how bees pollinate the flowers of our fruits and vegetables. Using our science journals, we carefully recorded the different pollinators that entered different zones of our garden and took note of what flowers they took pollen from.
We were surprised to learn that different pollinators are attracted to different flowers after reading a wonderful book, The Flowers are Calling by Rita Gray. Bees are attracted to yellow, blue and purple flowers that smell sweet. Moths are attracted to white flowers. Flies are attracted to orange and red flowers that have a mild scent. Butterflies are drawn to flowers that have strong petals on which they can land. Hummingbirds hover as they collect nectar and approach flowers with bell-shaped heads.
Students from the Primary Classroom trekked around the neighborhood one day and took inventory in their science journals of the different colored, flowering shrubs and vines to make guesses about which pollinators might be most prevalent around our school.
"How are bee brains different than ours?" - Leah
As children studied the bee's relationships with flowers and how they both benefit from and depend on one another for survival, they learned about how species relate to one another through mutual symbiotic relationships, they studied the following poem:
A FAIR bell-flowerSprang tip from the ground;And early its fragranceIt shed all around;A bee came thitherAnd sipp'd from its bell;That they for each otherWere made, we see well.
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
We wondered about which came first, the bee or the flower? To explore this wondering, children read The Reason for a Flowerby Ruth Keller.
"Why are the bees dying?" - Gus S.
“Bees are reaching their tipping point because they are expected to perform in an increasingly inhospitable world.” – The Xerces Society
Towards the end of our study, we watched a wonderful documentary, The Vanishing of the Bees, which helped us understand the reasons for the global decline in honey bee populations. The main reasons for the global disappearance of bees are: Industrial agriculture, parasites/pathogens and climate change. The loss of biodiversity, destruction of habitat and lack of forage due to monocultures and bee killing pesticides are particular threats for honeybees and wild pollinators. While the bees can cope with some of the demands of climate change, it is becoming increasingly evident that some insecticides used our current chemical-intensive agriculture system exert clear, negative effects on the health of pollinators.
"The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that out of some 100 crop species which provide 90% of food worldwide, 71 of these are bee-pollinated. In Europe alone, 84% of the 264 crop species are animal pollinated and 4 000 vegetable varieties exist thanks to pollination by bees.” – UNEP, 2010
Learning about the declining bee populations and the significant role pesticide companies, such as Bayer, play in their disappearance made us upset and left us inspired to do whatever we could to help create awareness for the bees in our own communities. The children made signs to post around the neighborhood. Some wrote articles, comics and poems to be included in a bee-focused newspaper that will be distributed around Mt. Baker neighborhood this month.
Beyond agriculture, pollinators are keystone species in most land-based ecosystems. Conservation of pollinating insects is critically important to preserving both wider biodiversity and healthy agricultural systems. With the knowledge and love we've gained for bees, we hope to continue to monitor the health of bees and do what we can to help them. To learn more about what you can do at home to help the bees, follow the following links:
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The modern world is getting better with the technology day by day. With the development of the technology people have become able to innovate new ideas and they have found new ways which ease the living. LED is one such term which came to the world decades ago. With the use of that technology a group of people introduced the LED CFL lights which caused to reduction of the electricity bill of people. The technology behind the LED lights has the power to use less electricity to give the light. Because of this reason people began to use LED lights instead of ordinary filament lights. Taking these factors into consideration many electrical companies from various countries started to manufacture LED lights which are the most energy-efficient lights in the world today. India is one such country which is the home for many LED light manufacturing companies. Although there are so many companies who have involved in the manufacturing of LED lights, do they all manufacture these lights according to the relevant standards? Well, that is a major factor which should get the attention.
Each and every product should be manufactured according to the perfect standards. When it comes to the LED light manufacturing in India, BEE is the institute which is responsible for implementing the standards which should be followed when manufacturing LED lights. BEE refers to Bureau of Energy Efficiency. This was introduced by the government of India under the provisions of Energy Conversation act in 2001. BEE sets standards for all the electrical appliances and companies have to pass the tests conducted by BEE in order to get the relevant certificates which lift the quality of the products.
Let’s look into the factors which BEE considers in the test for the LED light manufacturing in India. Every LED light brand in India should get through this test to get the quality certificates. Continue reading BEE Star Rating in LED Lights: All You Need to Know About
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This website offers free access to 75% of the official exam questions.
Want to prepare even better and access all the available questions? Download our mobile app now and get the complete database to maximize your chances of passing the exam!
Don’t miss the chance to have all the material always at your fingertips, wherever you are, even offline and without any kind of advertising!
Low pressure in the eye ball leads to decreased blood flow to the retina which can cause visual loss. |
Glaucoma causes red / green colour blindness. |
Is a condition detected by pressure testing the eye ball. |
Visual field loss due to glaucoma can be significantly improved by giving oxygen. |
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Contributed by Scott Mims, Virginia Beach, VA
- (Activity) Give each person some Play-Doh or similar material and have them create a sculpture or a symbol that represents or relates to their faith. After a few minutes, have everyone share their creation and what it symbolizes. Take note of how many people incorporate a cross in their sculpture.
- Do you think it is easy or hard to be a Christian today? Why?
- If you had to create a single text message that shares the gospel with someone, what would it say?
Take Up Your Cross
Should a person be fired for wearing a cross, especially when co-workers of other faiths are allowed to wear items symbolic of their beliefs? Is it appropriate for Christians to refuse to provide services to homosexual couples if doing so conflicts with their personal religious convictions? These are the issues underlying what some are calling “a watershed moment” in Great Britain.
Four Christians in England, who each claim to have lost their jobs because of discrimination against their Christian beliefs, have recently been granted a hearing by the European Court of Human Rights. Their case has further fueled debate in England over how to appropriately balance the rights of people to practice their faith with the protection of the rights of others in society. In recent times British courts have ruled overwhelmingly against Christians, occasionally comparing their beliefs unfavorably with secular principles.
- What do you think it means to be a Christian?
- Do you think that being a Christian is more a matter of what you believe or how you act?
- Do you feel comfortable wearing jewelry or clothing that identifies you as a Christian? If not, why not? If so, are there places or situations where you would feel uncomfortable or that doing so would be inappropriate?
- Do you agree or disagree: our overall culture is becoming increasingly indifferent, if not openly hostile, to Christianity? Why?
- What limits, if any, should there be on religious expression? For example some religions have mandates regarding facial hair or head covering. Should employers be able to require a shave or a bare head?
Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, September 16, 2012 (16th Sunday after Pentecost)
(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year C at Lectionary Readings.)
For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.
This particular passage is often called the fulcrum or “hinge” of Mark’s gospel account. Not only is it the midpoint of the book, it also marks several important turning points in the story. Geographically, Jesus has been working mostly in the region of Galilee, but now his ministry will lead him steadily onward to Jerusalem and the cross. Theologically several shifts also occur. Up to this point, Mark has focused on who Jesus is as shown by his words and his works of power. The conclusion he hopes that we, the readers of the gospel, will reach is the same one that Peter voices – Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. So, from here on out the gospel will focus much more on what it means that Jesus is the Christ, and subsequently, what it means to those who call themselves Christians. That is to say, there is a shift at this point from the invitation to follow Jesus to what discipleship – following Jesus – truly looks like.
So, what does discipleship look like? Another important feature of this passage is that it contains the first of three instances, three “passion predictions,” in which Jesus foretells what lies at the end of his journey to Jerusalem (verse 31). Here, as in the other two instances (Mk. 9:30, 10:32-34), those closest to Jesus fail to understand what he is talking about. Peter rather famously pulls Jesus aside, as if Jesus is the candidate and Peter the campaign manager, and begins to rebuke Jesus for saying such things. Jesus just as famously puts Peter in his place. “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” And here is the essence of the matter, it is not the disciple’s place to define what “Messiah” or “Christ” mean, for it is Jesus alone who gets to define these things. The disciple’s place is simply to get behind Jesus, to take up her or his cross, and to follow.
But what does it mean to take up one’s cross? Is it simply to deal with the problems or troubles that come your way with as much patience, determination, and faith as possible? We often hear of “bearing our cross” in terms of such things. Yet Jesus has something else, something deeper in mind than getting through life as best as we can. After all, the cross that awaits Jesus in Jerusalem is not an accidental event or circumstance for him to “get through,” it is a direct result of his own work to confront the powers of sin, evil, and death. Jesus defined Messiah in terms of his identification with the outcasts, the forgotten, and the oppressed, bringing to them in word and deed the promise of God’s coming kingdom. This has important implications for all who would follow Jesus. “Taking up the cross means being at work where God is at work in the world to relieve suffering and injustice, to rescue the weak, and to bring peace and justice to bear in the human community.” (R. Alan Culpepper, Mark) Because God has gifted each of us with a unique set of gifts, talents, abilities, and experiences, each of us has a unique opportunity to take up our cross and participate in God’s redemptive work in the world.
- One often hears that all you need to do in order to be a Christian is to “believe in Jesus” or to “accept him as your personal Lord and Savior.” How do such statements compare with what Jesus calls us to in this passage? Can a person follow Jesus apart from believing in him? Can a person believe in him without following?
- If you were either to paint a picture or to make a list of what it means to take up your cross and follow Jesus, what are some of the things that you would include?
- How far would you be willing to go in order to be a disciple? What things in your life right now would you be willing to give up, change, or take on in order to follow Jesus?
- Even after listening to him teach and witnessing the things that he did, Jesus’ disciples still had a hard time fully understanding what he was up to. Are there ways in which Christians today misunderstand Jesus?
- Baptismal Connections Examine together the Affirmation of Baptism service, and especially the description of our baptismal covenant (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, pg. 236; Lutheran Book of Worship, pg. 201). How is this a description of what it means to be a disciple? Brainstorm together some practical, every day ways you can live out these promises. For example, what does it look like to live among God’s faithful people? How does one proclaim the good news of God in word and deed in real, actionable terms, or strive for justice and peace in all the earth?
- Gifted to Serve Use a spiritual gifts inventory, or other such instrument, to help participants identify and claim some of the ways in which God has gifted them. Challenge them to consider how they might use their specific gifts and abilities to participate in God’s redemptive work in the world. How can using their gifts become a way of taking up their cross and following Jesus? One such inventory can be found on the ELCA website:
Gracious and loving God, in the waters of baptism you name us and claim us and make us your own. Thank you for the gift of new life and for the invitation to experience that life in the community of your church. Fill us with your Spirit, call deeply to our hearts, and lead us to more fully and faithfully follow Jesus. Guide our thoughts, our words, and our actions, that we may be your hands and voice in a world so hungry to experience good news. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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ai Reading Passages Worksheets
About Our ai Reading Passages Worksheets
Our ai Reading Passages Worksheets are specifically designed to enhance students' understanding of vowel teams, focusing on the "ai" vowel combination found in common words like "rain," "train," and "paint." Each worksheet set includes a thoughtfully written reading passage, accompanied by a vibrant and engaging image to captivate young learners' attention. The reading passages are followed by multiple-choice questions that test students' reading comprehension and their grasp of the "ai" vowel team within the context of the passage.
To make things easier for educators and parents, each worksheet set includes a downloadable answer key. This feature allows for quick and efficient grading or self-assessment, streamlining the learning process. Every worksheet is provided in PDF format, ensuring a hassle-free experience for users. PDFs are easy to view, download, and print, allowing for seamless integration into various learning environments, whether in the classroom or at home.
Vowel Team Examples and Their Relevance
The focus of these worksheets is to help students recognize and understand vowel teams, particularly the "ai" vowel pair. For example, in the word "rain," the "ai" vowel team produces a long "a" sound. Similarly, words like "wait" and "sail" also feature this vowel combination, reinforcing the phonetic pattern. By engaging with these worksheets, students are repeatedly exposed to this vowel team, making it easier for them to identify the sound it represents in different words.
Each worksheet contains reading passages that incorporate multiple examples of "ai" vowel team words in various contexts. This repeated exposure helps reinforce students' familiarity with the vowel team, allowing them to understand how it fits into the broader rules of phonics. As a result, students develop the ability to recognize and decode words with "ai" more easily, promoting greater reading fluency.
Benefits of AI Vowel Team Worksheets for Students
The AI Vowel Team Reading Passages Worksheets offer numerous benefits to students, especially those in the early stages of reading development, ESL learners, or those who struggle with vowel sound patterns. By providing a structured, focused approach to mastering the "ai" vowel team, these worksheets build essential reading and word recognition skills that are critical for long-term success.
- Improved Phonics Understanding: Students are able to concentrate on mastering the "ai" vowel team, allowing them to better understand how this vowel combination functions in the English language.
- Enhanced Reading Comprehension: The reading passages provided in each worksheet help students apply their phonics skills in context, improving their overall reading comprehension and ability to extract meaning from text.
- Expanded Vocabulary: Through exposure to a wide range of "ai" words in different contexts, students build a broader vocabulary while reinforcing their phonics knowledge.
- Boosted Confidence: By mastering the "ai" vowel team and successfully completing the accompanying comprehension questions, students gain confidence in their reading abilities, which can motivate them to tackle more challenging material.
These worksheets cater to different learning styles and can be used in various settings to support students' individual needs, making them a versatile tool for educators and parents alike.
How Educators Can Incorporate These Worksheets into Lesson Plans
Educators can easily integrate these AI Vowel Team Reading Passages Worksheets into their daily phonics, reading comprehension, and spelling lessons. Whether used as a primary instructional tool or as a supplemental resource, these worksheets align well with curriculum goals and can be adapted for a variety of learning activities.
- Phonics Lessons: The worksheets provide a structured way to introduce or reinforce the "ai" vowel team during phonics instruction. Educators can use the reading passages to demonstrate how vowel teams function within words and engage students in discussions about the patterns they observe.
- Reading Comprehension Activities: By using the reading passages as part of a comprehension-focused lesson, educators can encourage students to apply their phonics skills in a meaningful context. The multiple-choice questions prompt students to think critically about the text and assess their understanding of the material.
- Spelling Practice: The "ai" vowel team is a common feature in many English words, making these worksheets a valuable resource for spelling lessons. Educators can use the passages to highlight "ai" words, allowing students to practice spelling these words in context.
- Group Work and Independent Learning: The worksheets are flexible enough to be used in small groups or independent work. For group activities, students can collaborate on reading the passage aloud, discuss the questions, and share their reasoning for each answer. For independent learners, the worksheets offer a self-paced activity with built-in assessment through the answer key.
- Homework Assignments: These printable PDFs make it easy to assign worksheets as homework, providing students with additional practice outside of class. The answer keys allow parents or students to check their work, reinforcing the learning process at home.
By incorporating these worksheets into lesson plans, educators can ensure that students are consistently practicing and mastering the "ai" vowel team, setting them up for future phonics and reading success.
How Parents Can Use These Worksheets at Home
Parents can play a vital role in supporting their child’s reading development, and our AI Vowel Team Reading Passages Worksheets are an excellent tool for reinforcing phonics skills at home. These worksheets are not only simple to download and print, but they are also designed to be parent-friendly, making it easy to assist children with their learning.
- Reinforce Phonics Learning: Parents can use these worksheets to help their children practice the "ai" vowel team in a focused and structured way. By working through the reading passages together, parents can encourage their children to identify "ai" words and discuss their meaning within the context of the passage.
- Increase Familiarity with Vowel Patterns: Regular practice with the worksheets will help children become more familiar with vowel patterns like "ai," improving their ability to recognize and decode words in other reading materials.
- Support Reading Development: The multiple-choice questions provided with each worksheet allow parents to gauge their child’s reading comprehension and phonics skills. By reviewing the answers together, parents can provide immediate feedback and encouragement, helping their child develop stronger reading abilities.
- Promote Independent Practice: For children who are ready to work independently, these worksheets offer a great opportunity for self-guided learning. The answer key provides an easy way for parents or children to check answers, promoting responsibility and self-assessment.
Whether used as part of a regular homework routine or as extra practice during school breaks, these worksheets are a valuable resource for parents looking to support their child’s literacy development.
Supporting Early Readers, ESL Learners, and Struggling Students
The ai Reading Passages Worksheets are especially beneficial for early readers, English as a Second Language (ESL) learners, and students who struggle with vowel sound patterns. The clear, structured format of the worksheets makes it easier for these learners to focus on one specific phonics rule at a time, reducing the overwhelm that can come from trying to learn multiple rules simultaneously.
- Early Readers: The simple, relatable reading passages paired with vibrant images are designed to engage early readers and keep their interest. As they work through the passages, they gain practice in decoding words with the "ai" vowel team, building foundational skills for more advanced reading.
- ESL Learners: For students who are learning English as a second language, the focused practice on vowel teams like "ai" helps demystify the complexities of English phonics. By repeatedly encountering "ai" in different words and contexts, ESL learners can gain a stronger grasp of how vowel teams function.
- Struggling Students: For students who find it difficult to recognize vowel patterns, these worksheets provide a targeted approach that allows them to focus on the "ai" vowel team without being distracted by other phonics rules. This focused practice can lead to significant improvements in their reading and word recognition skills.
These worksheets provide essential support for learners at various stages of development, helping them gain confidence and competence in their reading abilities.
Our ai Reading Passages Worksheets offer an effective and engaging way to help students master the "ai" vowel team. With reading passages that feature common "ai" words like "rain" and "train," colorful images, and multiple-choice questions designed to test comprehension, these worksheets provide a comprehensive resource for teaching phonics, reading, and spelling.
Educators can easily integrate them into lesson plans, while parents can use them at home for additional practice. Whether for early readers, ESL learners, or struggling students, these worksheets are designed to build essential reading and word recognition skills, setting students up for lifelong success in literacy.
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SOME OF THE MOST COMMON USES OF ARGON
Argon is perhaps best known for its use as a shielding gas in MIG (metal inert gas) and TIG (tungsten inert gas) welding. Argon prevents contamination of the welding surfaces by displacing air and moisture. It also plays a role in stabilizing and shaping the penetration profile of the arc, which helps to ensure the integrity of the weld, and encourages first-time quality.
Stainless steel requires a carbon content of 1.2% or less. To achieve this, manufacturers employ a process called argon-oxygen decarburization. A mixture of argon and oxygen is injected into liquid steel, and the oxygen removes the carbon by forming carbon monoxide. In contrast, argon gas protects steel from the corrosive effects of oxygen and regulates chromium loss. Chromium makes stainless steel more rigid and more resistant to corrosion.
Inert gas chambers are spaces where atmospheric air is replaced with an inert gas to provide a protective environment. 3D printers often employ inert build chambers and lasers that sinter polymer powder, fine metal dust, or other materials to create inexpensive components. 3D printing, a form of additive manufacturing, consumes fewer resources than traditional manufacturing methods. Once again, argon is the gas of choice when working with metals. It protects the metal powder from moisture and oxygen, whereas other gases could cause the formation of nitrides or other impurities.
Argon can be a blanket gas for growing silicon and germanium crystals. Silicon crystals are commonly found in solar panels and electronics, and germanium crystals are used in fiber optics and light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
When administered in ventilation, argon has cardioprotective and neuroprotective qualities. It can help treat arrhythmias and even protect the brain after experiencing oxygen deprivation.
Argon lasers are extremely precise. They can remove tumors and other abnormal growths, provide retinal phototherapy, and even repair damaged arteries. They can also be used to treat retinal detachment and retinal phototherapy for those who are diabetic.
Argon is used to fill fluorescent and incandescent bulbs to protect the filament, prolonging bulb life. Additionally, the inclusion of argon allows light to be generated at much lower voltages.
The noble gases are used to produce varying colors in decorative lighting. While they are all colloquially referred to as “neon lights,” neon produces a red-orange color, helium glows yellow or orange, and argon glows with a blue or violet light.
Fully transparent, moisture resistant, and with low thermal conductivity, argon increases the efficiency of double-paned windows. This is very common in Europe, where central air conditioning is less common than in the United States. Windows filled with argon will have two holes along the spacer material. One hole is for pumping argon in, while the other is to allow the displaced air to exit.
Argon can be used as an insulator in scuba drysuits, protecting the wearer from body heat loss. Since argon withstands compression better than atmospheric air, a drysuit utilizing argon can be used at greater depths where more pressure is exerted on the diver.
This is just a handful of some of the most popular uses for argon, whose properties make it so effective that far too many applications employ it to name.
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Welcome back, everyone, to the deep dive. You know, today we're looking at injection molding precision.
Oh, very cool.
And, you know, it's amazing how much we rely on these injection molded parts every single day.
It really is.
Without even, you know, stopping to think about how much complexity goes into making them.
It's a. You sent over some fascinating material on this topic. Oh, good. And I'm excited to dig into it.
Yeah, I'm happy to dig into it with you.
Yeah. And especially, you know, think about the fact that some of these tolerances are, like, thinner than a human hair.
Yeah. It's really remarkable the level of precision that can be achieved with injection molding. And I think that's really what makes it such a powerful manufacturing process. You know, it's that ability to create these incredibly intricate parts with such tight tolerances.
Yeah. It enables everything from, you know, those little tiny parts and medical devices to, you know, the sleek smartphones we all carry around.
Okay, so let's. Let's break it down a bit when we talk about injection molding precision.
What exactly are we talking about?
So, so when we talk about injection molding precision, we're really talking about the allowable deviation from the intended dimensions of a part.
So you can think of it like a bullseye. You know, the closer our. Our shot is to the center of the bullseye, the higher the precision.
So it's all about minimizing those deviations to make sure the part's foot and function exactly exact.
Those deviations are measured in tolerances. Okay. And those tolerances can be incredibly tight, sometimes down to, you know, a fraction of a millimeter.
Like you're saying, thinner than a human hair.
Thinner than a human hair in some cases.
Wow. So, I mean, imagine you're trying to assemble a complex piece of electronics, Right. And the parts are just slightly off.
It's not going to work.
It's not going to work.
It's not going to work.
And. Or even, you know, a medical implant.
I mean, you need that precision not just for functionality, but for safety.
Absolutely. And you know, and even beyond those examples, just think about something as simple as a phone case.
You know, you wouldn't want a case that's too loose or too tight. It needs to fit just right to protect the phone.
Yeah. That makes perfect sense.
I mean, that example that you sent over about the phone case is a great illustration of that.
Exactly. And you know what's interesting is that seemingly simple fit that. That perfect fit for the phone case.
Relies on a complex interplay of factors. And it all starts with the mold itself.
You see, the mold is really the foundation of precision in injection molding. It's like a high tech cookie cutter for plastic, and its accuracy determines the accuracy of the final product.
And so, you know, when we're talking about mold making, that's a pretty high tech process itself, right?
It is. It is a very high tech process.
Because you were mentioning things like CNC machining.
Right. We're not talking about simple drills here. You know, some molds are made using five axis machining centers, which can move in almost any direction, allowing them to carve incredibly intricate shapes with, you know, micron level precision.
It's really like watching a sculptor at work, except the sculptor is a robot.
A super precise robot.
A super precise robot with incredible dexterity.
Okay. So we've got this incredibly precise mold.
But I'm guessing it's not as simple as just, you know, having the perfect mold.
You're absolutely right.
There's got to be other factors at play.
There are many other factors at play.
Like the materials themselves.
The materials themselves are a huge factor.
Different plastics behave very differently during the injection molding process.
You can't just pick, you know, plastic A or plastic B and expect it to behave the same.
Exactly. Some plastics shrink more than others as they cool. Some flow more easily. Some are more prone to warping.
So there's all these quirks you have to consider.
Exactly. You have to factor in all those quirks and compensate for them in the mold design.
Otherwise you end up with.
Otherwise you end up with a part that doesn't meet the requirements.
A part that doesn't work.
That doesn't work.
So for instance, nylon, which is a very common material used in. In many applications, has a relatively high shrinkage rate.
So imagine you're designing that phone case we talked about earlier. If you don't account for the nylon shrinkage, you could end up with a case that's too small for the phone.
Yeah. You'd have a very unhappy customer.
Exactly. So mold designers have to actually make the mold slightly larger.
Oh, that's interesting.
To accommodate that shrinkage.
So you're kind of. You're designing for the shrinkage.
We're designing for the shrinkage. It's kind of a fascinating puzzle to solve.
So you need to know, you know, almost like, how much is this going to shrink?
And then work backwards.
Wow, that's really cool.
It is. It's a very intricate process.
Okay. So we've got the perfect mold. We've got the right material.
But I imagine during the actual injection molding process itself.
There's still room for error.
There's always room for error.
It's not a perfect science. So what kind of factors come into play there?
So think of it this way. Even the most skilled archer can be affected by things like wind and the weight of the arrow.
Similarly, in injection molding, factors like temperature, pressure, and even the speed at which the plastic is injected.
Can influence the final dimensions and quality of the part.
So you've got all these variables.
You've got a lot of variables that can come in, and it's almost like.
I mess things up.
It's almost like trying to hit a bullseye on a moving target.
You need to be constantly adjusting and compensating for these variables.
Okay. So that brings us to process parameters.
That brings us to process parameters, which.
I definitely want to dig into.
But before we get to that.
I am curious about something else you mentioned.
Yes, Shape accuracy.
So how does injection molding handle all those, you know, intricate details and complex geometries?
So injection molding is surprisingly adept at replicating even the most intricate designs. So, you know, think about the buttons on your phone.
The vents in your car's dashboard, the complex curves of a medical implant.
All of these are achieved through carefully designed molds and precise process control.
So those smooth curves and sharp edges we see in everyday products.
That's all thanks to that precision.
That's all thanks to the precision of the mold and the careful control of the process.
Okay. And then you also mentioned positional accuracy.
Right. Positional accuracy is equally important.
Which is what, exactly?
So positional accuracy refers to the precise placement of features like holes, slots, and bosses. So, for example, imagine you're making a housing for an electronic device.
The holes for the screws need to be in exactly the right spot, of course, otherwise the device won't assemble properly.
It's not just about the overall shape. It's about making sure it's not just about the overall shape, that everything's in the right place.
It's about ensuring that all the individual features are exactly where they need to be.
Yeah. And I'm guessing that can be.
And that can be very demanding.
Sometimes requiring tolerances of just a few tenths of a millimeter.
Oh, okay. So.
But it's this attention to detail, this relentless pursuit of precision that enables the creation of these incredible products. We Rely on every day.
It really is incredible when you think about it.
You start to look at your phone or any of the devices around you.
And you realize just how much.
And you take it for granted.
Yeah. You just take it for granted.
You just expect it to work.
Okay, so we've talked a lot about, you know, precision in the abstract.
But I'm really curious to kind of shift gears and talk about why this all matters to the listener.
You know, how does injection molding precision.
Affect their everyday experience?
So just think about all the products you interact with on a daily basis. Right. Your car, your computer, your kitchen appliances, your toothbrush.
They all likely contain injection molded parts. And the precision of those parts directly impacts their functionality, their reliability, and even their safety.
I mean, I remember reading about a recall a while back because a tiny little plastic clip in a car engine wasn't molded correctly.
And it's like you don't think about these tiny little pieces until something goes wrong.
Until something goes wrong.
And then it's a huge deal.
And then it can be a major issue.
Right. And it's not just about those malfunctions, you know, or safety hazards.
It's also about the overall quality of a tactics.
It affects the aesthetics of a product.
Of a product. You know, I mean, think about those sleek, seamless designs we see in modern electronics.
You know, those smooth surfaces, those tight tolerances. That level of refinement is only possible through incredibly precise molding.
So we're kind of taking it for granted.
We do. We really do take it for granted.
Yeah. We expect things to work.
We expect things to work flawlessly, perfectly. We expect our appliances to last for years, our cars to be safe and reliable.
Right. And it's all thanks to this invisible hand of injection molding precision.
It's the unsung hero of modern manufacturing.
But I'm guessing there's a downside to all this precision.
There is a downside.
I mean, it can't be cheap. It's not cheap to achieve this level of accuracy.
You're right. Precision comes at a cost. Right. The more precise the mold, the more sophisticated the machining required. The tighter the process control, the higher the manufacturing expenses. Okay, but here's the interesting part.
So is there a trade off then?
There is a trade off, but it's not as straightforward as you might think. Okay. While precision can initially increase costs, it can ultimately lead to greater savings.
Interesting. How does that work?
So think about it this way. If you have a high quality mold that Produces parts with consistent accuracy. You reduce the risk of defects, rework, and waste.
So you're saving money in the long run.
So it's kind of like an investment.
It is an investment.
By focusing on precision up front, upfront.
Investment in precision leads to long term saving.
You actually end up saving money.
Exactly. And that's why understanding the factors that influence injection molding precision is so important.
Not just for engineers and designers, but for anyone involved in the manufacturing process from start to. From material selection to quality control.
All right, so we've covered a lot of ground here.
I've talked about what injection molding precision is.
Why it matters.
And the key factors that influence it.
And I am really eager to dig into those process parameters.
Yes. Those are. Those are the heart of the process.
Control you mentioned earlier.
Yes. And they're fascinating.
Yeah. You compared it to taming a wild beast.
I did. Because they represent a constant tug of war between speed, pressure, and temperature. So it's a bit of a balancing act.
Let's take a moment to gather our thoughts, and then we'll come back and we'll dive into those process parameters.
After a quick break.
All right, so let's. Let's wrangle this wild beast you were talking about.
These process parameters.
Yeah, the process parameters.
Where do we even begin?
Well, a good place to start is with injection speed.
Sounds pretty straightforward, right?
Yeah. I mean, you're injecting plastic into a mold, but it's.
It's actually a very critical parameter.
Because it influences how the molten plastic flows into the mold.
So, I mean, is it kind of like if you're, you know, filling a cake pan with batter?
I like that analogy.
If you go too fast, you're gonna make a mess.
You go too slow, it might not fill evenly.
That's a great analogy. And just like with cake batter, the ideal injection speed for plastic depends on the specific part we're creating.
Okay, so a complex part with lots of detail.
Right. A complex part might need a slower, more controlled injection.
While a simple shape could handle a faster fill.
So what happens if you get the injection speed wrong?
Well, that's when the trouble starts.
Let's say we're molding that phone case again, and we inject the plastic too quickly. We might end up with something called short shots.
Short shots? What is that?
That's where the mold doesn't fill completely because the plastic cools and solidifies before it reaches all the nooks. And crannies.
Oh, so you end up with, like, a half formed.
Yeah, you'd end up with a case that's missing parts. Definitely not going to protect your phone.
Yeah, that's not good.
Not good at all.
What about going too slow? Is that bad?
Too slow can also lead to problems.
You can get uneven cooling, which can cause warping or sink marks on the surface.
So the case might be complete.
Right. It might be technically complete, but it's.
Going to be warped.
But it will be warped and it won't fit properly.
It's all about finding that Goldilocks zone.
Exactly. It's all about finding that sweet spot.
And not too fast. Not too slow.
Not too fast, not too slow.
Okay, so injection speed is all about getting that plastic into the mold.
Yeah. Getting it in there at the right speed.
At the right speed. What's next?
So next up, we have holding time.
This is the period after the mold is filled where we maintain pressure to make sure every little nook and cranny is packed with plastic.
And allow for proper cooling and solidification.
So if injection speed is like pouring the batter.
Holding time is like letting it settle.
Exactly. Like letting it settle into the pan nicely.
Making sure there are no air bubbles.
And what happens if you don't hold it long enough?
If you don't hold it long enough.
Revealed it too long.
Well, too short a holding time, and you might end up with voids or sink marks as the plastic cools. And too long, and you're just wasting time and energy.
That's a balance.
It's all about balance.
Efficiency versus quality.
Right. Because time is money.
Time is money. Especially in manufacturing.
Especially in manufacturing.
You don't want to be wasting time.
Okay, so we've got injection speed, We've got holding time. Now what about cooling time?
Cooling time is the final act in this intricate ballet.
Okay. The grand finale.
The grand finale. It dictates how the plastic solidifies.
And ultimately determines the final dimensions and properties of the part.
So if you cool it too quickly or too slowly.
Exactly. You can run into problems.
What kind of problems?
Cooling too quickly can make the plastic brittle.
Increasing the risk of cracks.
And too slowly.
Too slowly, you might get warping or those dreaded sink marks again.
So just like with the other parameters.
It'S all about finding the sweet spot.
Finding that sweet spot.
The Goldilocks zone.
Okay, Now, Yeah. This is a lot of science, Is.
A lot of science. So think about material science, polymer science.
For something that seems so simple.
Like making a plastic part.
It's deceptively simple.
Yeah. So, I mean.
You're not just, you know, throwing plastic in a mold?
No, no, no. We've come a long way from the early days of injection molding and hoping for the best. Right.
It's gotten a lot more sophisticated.
It has. Modern injection molding machines are equipped with incredibly sophisticated sensors and control systems.
That monitor these parameters in real time, making adjustments on the fly.
This is like having a little robot.
It's like having a little robot chef who's constantly monitoring the oven temperature and adjusting the cooking time to sure the cake comes out perfect.
I like that analogy.
Right. These systems can detect even slight deviations from the ideal parameters and make micro adjustments to keep everything running smoothly.
So the machines are kind of taking over.
Well, they're. They're helping us a lot.
But don't count humans out just yet.
While these control systems are incredibly powerful, they still need to be programmed, calibrated, and monitored by skilled professionals.
So you still need that human expertise.
Absolutely. It's not just about setting the parameters. It's about understanding the nuances of the materials.
Anticipating potential problems and making those critical judgment calls based on experience and intuition.
So it's kind of like having a self driving car.
Like a self driving car, but you.
Still want a driver behind a wheel.
Exactly. Just in case.
Just in case.
Okay. So the human element is still very important.
It's essential. The expertise of those working in injection molding, from the mold designers to the process engineers, is invaluable.
They're the ones who translate the desired design into a tangible product, ensuring that every detail, every curve, every hole is precisely as it should be.
And it all goes back to that precision.
It all goes back to precision which.
We were talking about earlier.
It's the foundation.
Yeah. And you were saying that, you know.
While it can be expensive up front, it can be. It can actually save money in the long run.
Absolutely. Long term savings.
So can you give me an example of that?
Sure. Imagine a scenario where you're mass producing a component for a car engine.
And the tolerances aren't quite right.
Some parts might be slightly too big, some slightly too small.
This inconsistency can lead to a cascade of problems.
Oh, I see. Because then things don't fit together.
Parts might not fit together properly, leading to assembly issues, malfunctions, or even safety hazards down the line.
So then you end up having to redo things.
You end up with a lot of wasted materials, rework, and potentially costly recalls.
So you're spending more money in the long run.
Exactly. Now contrast that with a scenario where you've invested in high precision molding, ensuring consistent accuracy from part to part.
Okay. So you're reducing the risk of those defects.
You reduce the risk of defects, you minimize waste, and you streamline the assembly process.
In the long run, this translates to lower production costs, fewer warranty claims, and a stronger reputation for quality and reliability.
So it's kind of like that old.
Saying, measure twice, cut once, measure twice, cut once, precisely. By investing in precision upfront, you avoid costly mistakes and headaches down the road.
And that applies to more than just injection molding.
It applies to any manufacturing process where precision is paramount.
Yeah. It's really about.
It's a testament to the fact that quality and efficiency often go hand in hand.
Doing things right the first time.
Doing things right the first time.
It's been really interesting talking about this.
It has been a fascinating discussion.
I mean, I used to think about precision as just, you know, how accurate something is.
But now I see it as so much more than that.
It's much more than just accuracy.
It's really a key driver of innovation. It drives innovation, efficiency, and even sustainability.
Absolutely. It's a holistic concept.
Yeah. It's not just about making things perfect.
It's about making things better.
It's about making things better in every.
Sense of the word.
That's a great way to put it.
And, you know, this conversation has really just scratched the surface.
We've just scratched the surface of this whole world.
There's so much more to explore of injection molding precision.
Yeah. The depth of this topic is. Is really quite remarkable.
And there's still so much more to uncover.
So much more to uncover.
It's funny, as we've been talking about this whole world of injection molding precision, I've been thinking about how it kind of relates to other areas of life.
You know, like, how you do anything is how you do everything.
I see what you mean. That attention to detail, that striving for perfection. It does resonate beyond the factory floor.
And speaking of details.
I keep thinking back to that idea of material shrinkage.
It's just so fascinating to me that you have to, like, outsmart the plastic you do by making the mold bigger than the final product.
Right. Because you have to anticipate how that material is going to behave as it cools and shrinks and then compensate for that shrinkage in the mold design.
Yeah. Otherwise you end up with a part.
That'S like the wrong size or shape, a useless part.
So I'm curious, how do they even figure out the shrinkage rate?
Ah, that's a good question.
Of a particular plastic.
So it's not as simple as just looking it up in a book.
Although there are material data sheets that provide some general guidelines, but the actual shrinkage rate can vary depending on a whole host of factors.
Yeah. The specific grade of the plastic.
The processing conditions, even the geometry of the part itself.
Wow. So it's not a perfect science.
It's not an exact science. There's definitely a bit of art and intuition involved.
I see. So there's a lot of experience.
A lot of experience comes into play.
And goes into this.
Yeah. Experienced mold designers and process engineers, they use a combination of empirical data simulation software.
And good old fashioned know how to predict and compensate for prefer that shrinkage.
That's pretty cool.
Yeah, it's. It's a delicate balance of science and art.
You know, I'm sensing a theme here.
Oh yeah? What's that?
This constant interplay between precision and adaptability.
Yes. You have to have both because you.
Have these incredibly precise tools.
Right. The tools are getting more and more precise and processes. And then you also have to be flexible.
You have to be able to adapt to the material.
Yeah. You have to adapt to the material, to the specific design.
Yeah. It's a dance.
It is a dance. You have to be in tune with your partner, anticipating their movements and responding accordingly.
That's a great way to put it.
And you know, it's easy to get caught up.
In all the technical details.
Yeah. We can geek out on the details.
But sometimes you have to step back.
Sometimes you have to zoom out and.
Look at the big mixture, look at the big picture. I mean, the fact that we can create these incredibly complex is remarkable. And precise objects.
It's a testament to human ingenuity.
Absolutely. It makes you wonder what's next.
Yeah. What is next?
What are the future frontiers of injection molding precision?
Well, the material you sent.
Hinted at some pretty exciting developments.
Oh yeah. There's a lot happening in the field.
3D printed molds.
Right. 3D printing is changing the game.
Bio based plastics.
Yeah. Sustainability is becoming increasingly important.
And even like micro molding.
Micro molding. Incredible tiny parts.
These tiny little parts.
Yeah. The possibilities are pretty much endless.
Yeah. It's really inspiring to think about.
But you know, even beyond those specific technologies.
I think the principles we've been talking.
About, the principles are key.
The importance of precision.
This interplay between control and flexibility.
This constant pursuit of improvement, always striving to do better. These are lessons that go beyond just manufacturing.
Absolutely. They apply to any field, to any endeavor.
It's really about that mindset of excellence.
It is a mindset.
Yeah. That dedication to getting the details right.
That attention to detail that ultimately drives progress in any field.
Well said. All right.
I think it's time for us to wrap up this deep dive. Deep Dive, it was into injection molding, precision.
We've covered a lot of ground.
From the basics to the future.
Yeah. From the fundamentals to the cutting edge.
And hopefully our listeners out there are walking away with a newfound appreciation for this amazing technology.
You know, it's amazing. It's all around us and often unseen.
So to our listeners out there, thank you for joining us on this deep Dive.
Thanks for listening, everyone.
And until next time, keep exploring, keep learning. And remember, those little details matter.
Absolutely. The details make all the
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Although often attributed to Sir John Crapper, it was Alexander Cumming who perfected the design of the flush toilet in 1775, forever changing the way that humans dispose of their personal waste. No longer was waste deposited in the chamber pot or privy. Health and sanitation improved markedly, but an entirely new problem faced society: what to do with liquid waste or sewage waters. In the developed world, most human waste is now sent to a sewage treatment plant or through a local septic system to cleanse and renew the waters that carry it.
Sewage treatment plants and septic systems are designed to take organic wastes and convert them to CO2, NO3 and PO4. We depend on fungi and bacteria to degrade the waste. In some levels of treatment, bacteria are used to convert NO3 to N2, which is returned to the atmosphere. Some chemicals, such as sorbitol, sodium fluoride in toothpastes and sodium hypochlorite in bleach, are not unknown in the natural environment and pass through sewage treatment with little notice. In contrast, many of the synthetic chemicals in our daily lives are xenobiotic—that is, not known in the natural world. Paraben is such a synthetic compound that is added to cosmetics as an antibacterial agent. Silver and copper nanoparticles are added to athletic fabrics to retard the odor of human perspiration.
For the past 100 years, we have embraced the concept of “better living through chemistry.” Chemical manufacturers churn out nearly 80,000 chemicals that keep our farmlands free of weeds and bugs; personal care products that color, straighten, or curl our hair, repel biting insects, retard fires, and cleanse our dishes and laundry; and more than 10,000 drugs that are available to regulate our metabolism and mood, sooth aches and pains and regulate hormonal urges. Visit any local garden store and you will breathe the smell of a plethora of chemicals designed to give each of us the Green Thumb of victory over nature.
I looked at the label of a few products around our house, finding C10-16 Alkyldimethylamine oxide (Dawn); N, N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide (Off); Aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex (Arid Deoderant), tripropylene glycol n-butyl ether (toilet cleaner), and pyrithione zinc (Head and Shoulders). A chemical plant dumping these compounds into local waterways would be subject to prosecution. Question is: what happens to all this exotic stuff when we flush it into the environment? It is a lot to ask the microbial population in a septic system to break down chemicals that they have never experienced in nature, let alone those designed to inhibit their activities.
Many of these chemicals, especially drugs, are designed to be long-lasting, so they can do their job well. Thus, they persist in the environment. The U.S. Geological Survey has recently reported that at least 47 pharmaceuticals were detected in the drinking water at 25 locations across the U.S., apparently unscathed as they pass through our bodies or by microbial degradation in sewage treatment plants. Often, the fishes and other organisms downstream are bathed in a solution of antidepressants, estrogen, and lithium.
We think of water pollution as derived from the blatant release of chemicals from the corporate world into local waterways, but the same compounds are found in sewage waters that also end up downstream and in groundwater. What’s in your water?
Bernhardt, E.S., et al. 2017. Synthetic chemicals as agents of global change. Frontiers in Ecology Environment doi: 10.1002/fee.1450
Furlong, E.T., and 6 others. 2017. Nationwide reconnaissance of contaminants of emerging concern in source and treated drinking waters of the United States: Pharmaceuticals. Science of the Total Environment 579: 1629-1642.
Rosi-Marshall, E.J., D. Snow, S.L. Bartelt-Hunt, A. Paspalol and J.L. Tank. 2015. A review of the ecological effects and environmental fate of illicit drugs in aquatic ecosystems. Journal of Hazardous Materials 282: 18-26.
Yang, Y.Y., G.S. Toor, P.C. Wilson and C.F. Williams. 2017. Micropollutants in groundwater from septic systems: Transformations, transport mechanisms and human health risk assessment. Water Research 123: 258-267.
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As environmental consciousness continues to grow, more people are looking to incorporate environmentally friendly practices and products into their lives. One area the Eco toys are made using environmentally friendly materials and production methods that has seen significant growth in recent years is environmentally friendly toys reduce their impact on the environment. These toys are ideal for parents who want to teach their children about sustainability while encouraging creativity and imaginative play.
Eco toys are made from a variety of materials including wood, bamboo, recycled plastic and organic cotton. These materials are renewable, non-toxic and biodegradable, making them a more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional ones made from plastic and other non-renewable materials. Many eco-friendly toys are also designed to be durable, which means they can withstand rough and falling play from children and also last longer than non-eco ones.
One of the most popular materials used in eco toys is wood. Wooden toys have been around for centuries and continue to be a popular choice among parents due to their durability and timeless appeal. They are often made from sustainably sourced wood, meaning the trees are replanted after harvest to ensure a continuous supply. In addition, wooden toys can be recycled or composted after they are no longer used, which reduces the amount of waste ending up in landfills.
Another popular eco-toy material is organic cotton. Organic cotton is grown without the use of harmful pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, making it a safer and more sustainable option than conventionally grown cotton. Organic cotton toys are soft and cuddly, making them ideal for babies and toddlers. They are also machine washable, which means they can be easily cleaned and reused.
Bamboo is another sustainable material used in eco-friendly toys. Bamboo is a fast growing plant requiring less water and fertilizer than traditional crops. It is also renewable, which means it can be harvested without damaging the environment. Bamboo toys are strong and durable and come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
Recycled plastic is also used in eco-friendly toys. These plastics are made from recycled materials, which reduces the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. While still plastic, the use of recycled materials reduces their environmental impact. These toys come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can be a good way to teach kids about recycling.
Eco-friendly toys not only benefit the environment but also promote child development. Many eco-toys encourage imaginative play and creativity, which are essential for children’s cognitive and social-emotional development. The lack of batteries or electronic components in them also promotes sensory and motor skills development in young children. Additionally, they often have simple designs that allow children to explore and discover their features and functions, fostering curiosity and problem-solving skills.
Furthermore, by choosing eco-friendly toys, parents can reduce their carbon footprint and set an example for their children to follow. By making environmentally conscious choices, parents can instill in their children a sense of responsibility towards the environment and help them develop sustainable habits from a young age. Children who grow up surrounded by eco-toys and eco-conscious practices are more likely to carry these values into adulthood and become environmentally responsible citizens.
In conclusion, eco-friendly toys are a great way to teach children the principles of sustainability, as well as provide them with durable and fun toy. These toys are made from sustainable materials and manufacturing methods and are designed to last. By using environmental toys, parents can encourage their children to lead a more sustainable lifestyle and make a positive impact on the environment.
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This course is designed to help students explore a variety of careers to consider and begin planning a career path.
This course is great whether you already know what you want to do, or if you are undecided.
This course is designed to students become proficient in core areas to ensure success after high school.
These skills include:
(1) Solving Problems And Thinking Skillfully
(2) Communicating Effectively, Applying Technology
(3) Working Responsibly
(4) Planning And Managing A Career
(5) Managing Resources
This elective credit course provides the student with a review of the fundamental computational operations. At the same time, students will work with applications of mathematics in everyday life. Topics to be studied include: personal finance, housing, transportation, taxes, insurance, investments, purchasing and budgeting. Calculators will be used extensively.
This course consists of 18 weeks of class work designed to teach the rules of the road and safe driving techniques. Driver simulators – an educational program for the development of proper perceptual and judgmental proficiencies – are used. Upon completion of the bookwork, a student will be eligible to take the “behind-the-wheel” training.
The purpose of this course is to enable students to develop knowledge and skills in the use of computer applications. The content includes, but not limited to, the following: -Input and output devices -principles, concepts, and processes of computer applications -ethical use of computers -telecommunications concepts and use of the Internet.
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Tweens & TeensProgram Description
Who will rule England?
While the Danes and Saxons have been pummeling each other in the north, William, the Duke of Normandy, has just landed at Pevensey, to begin his bid for the conquest of England. After marching north to fight the Danes, King Harold Godwinson now has to march 190 miles back down south to face William. King Harold’s force consisted mainly of infantry, while the Normans fielded a combined force of infantry, cavalry, and archers. The battle lasted all day and would decide who would control all of England.
Please pre-register. Games are facilitated by experts from HMGS Next Gen, Inc. who have great experience in running games that are fun and challenging for players. Presented by the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society, Next Gen.
Accessibility and Accommodations
We strive to facilitate access to information and Library services for all patrons. If you have questions about accessibility or a request for accommodation, please phone 203-594-5002, email the librarian in charge of this program (see contact info above), or email [email protected] with as much lead time as possible.
Youth Participation Guidelines
If your child is under 12 years old, an adult caregiver must remain in the Children’s Room for the duration of the program. If your child finishes a program early, or if a child becomes ill, distressed, or behaves in a manner that interferes with other participants’ enjoyment of the program, they may be released into the Children’s Room before the program’s end time. Please ensure that your child knows exactly where to find you at all times.
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It used to be that monkeys/chimpanzees were smartest after humans, but now it may be dogs. def: learning refers to an enduring change in the way an organism s based on its experience (exempt: drug effects this is how we respond to this stimulant, fatigue, or illness) behaviourists said that we are tabula rasa (blank slate) when we are born. we are all born with predispositions (i. e. to be creative, develop cancer, personality, science is based on empirical data, so it must be verifiable and quantitative. 3 assumptions: responses are learned rather than innate. just about everybody knows how to throw their arms back when falling as a toddler. everyone has a suck reflex, those that don"t will not survive: learning is adaptive. learning helps us solve problems, create, explore: our experiments can uncover the laws of learning. this is true, discovered through experiments with animals (no.
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Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are world saviors. Their stories, much like the story of Gilgamesh, Dionysus, and other deities, were created when the world was in a time of turmoil.
“Every time civilization falls into disarray, a new superhero rises – every time, without fail,” said Preston Metcalf, chief curator at the Triton Museum of Art during the first of his “At the Edge of Art History” lecture series, “All in Color for a Dime.” “Whenever civilization goes into a time of trouble, you can bank on it – somehow, in some art form, be it literature, fine art, comic books, movies, a hero will rise and that hero will tell the exact same story without any variation, every single time… It’s human nature. We want something bigger than ourselves and when the world crushes us down, we seek out psychology something that can lift us back up.”
In 1938, Superman burst onto the scene. Soon after, Batman hit the newsstands. As the World War II progressed and women became involved, they, too, got their own superhero – Wonder Woman.
Then, just as in all art forms, comic books went too far and bordered the grotesque. Comic books were censored. But then, the world changed again.
“World War II ended with two atomic bombs,” said Metcalf. “All of a sudden we can kill entire cities with the push of a button…Our world is more fragile than ever and people are frightened. Our old heroes have been put on a shelf. They have been called vile names. They have been degraded. Worse, they’ve been sanitized. So what happens? What always happens when this happens to a civilization – a new hero is born. A man by the name of Stan Lee, working with a succession of artists, introduces new super heroes, The Fantastic Four. And guess what? Even though the circumstances of their powers are different, the story slowly fills in. They get the same traits and the same qualities as any other super hero.”
“Comics are back,” continued Metcalf. “They’re popular and now we have an interesting development. All this time, comics have been influenced by so-called fine art, high art. We got the format from ancient Mesopotamia. We got the story from ancient Sumerian literature and religious practices. We got the actual style of the art from classical drawing, Renaissance art. Now the tables have turned. Fine art is floundering and along comes Andy Warhol…And he, in turn, influences Roy Lichtenstein who makes his entire career out of celebrating comics as high art, creating wonderful paintings. So we’ve now come full circle. High art influenced and created the comics and now comics have created high art. All the while we have been telling the same stories that have been told for four thousand years.”
Comics are art. There’s nothing child-like about them. “Don’t let anybody ever tell you comics are for kids,” said Metcalf. “They never were…They were created for us. They were created by us as a people.”
“At the Edge of Art History” continues Thursday, February 21 at 7 p.m. with “When Art Becomes Me: Tattooing and Body Art from Ancient Times to the Present.” Drop in fee is $20. Additional information can be found at http://tritonmuseum.org/education_adults_arthistory.php.
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- Data Visualisation: Complex data can be made into interactive charts and graphs using libraries like D3.js and Chart.js, which is very helpful for business analytics
Also Read – 5 Best Web Development Languages to Learn |
A vast global community provides a wealth of tools, frameworks, and resources. | Poorly optimised or heavy scripts can slow down websites. |
npm, or Node Package Manager, offers access to thousands of libraries to extend functionality. | Dynamic typing can lead to unpredictable errors that are difficult to debug. |
Also Read – A Beginner’s Guide on How to Set Up Your Website Through Web Hosting |
Purpose | Browser-native, excels in web interactivity | Versatile, used for back-end development, data analysis, machine learning, etc. |
Syntax | Less concise and more flexible | Concise, highly readable, and beginner-friendly |
Execution Environment | Primarily used in the browser | Requires an interpreter to run |
Purpose | Lightweight scripting language for web development | A compiled, object-oriented language for enterprise applications |
Execution | Interpreted by a browser | Requires a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) |
Type System | Dynamically typed, flexible but may cause runtime errors | Statically typed, more structured but less flexible |
Application | Primarily used for web-based applications | Mainly for desktop applications, enterprise software, and games |
Syntax and Paradigm | Multi-paradigm: procedural, functional, and object-oriented | Strongly typed, object-oriented paradigm |
Development Environment | Can be coded using a simple text editor | Developed using an IDE like Visual Studio |
Here are some of the key trends expected to shape the future of the language:
- Better Async Programming: Smart concurrency, tools for better task priorities, and cancellation. It includes native reactive streams for better architecture supporting real-time architectures.
- Meta-Programming Expansion: Macros and compile-time code expansion are added to the specification. This means improved reflection APIs and other dynamic code manipulation or introspection.
- Optimised Just-In-Time Compilation: Adaptive JIT strategies are used to achieve better performance across various execution contexts. Another feature is the smarter garbage collection to make memory management efficient and support long-running applications.
- Advanced Data Structures: Introduction of immutable data structures, supporting predictable and maintainable code. It includes native support for complex data types such as trees and graphs.
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I cannot tell you how often the aroma of freshly baked bread, or the smell of rice cooking, or the scent of wet grass transports me to my childhood, almost as immediately as I close my eyes and take a deep breath of those “sensations sweet.” When I listen to certain songs I am reminded of special people in my life. The taste of certain foods also triggers memories of family gatherings and other occasions like one of my favorites: lemon popsicles at the beach. I also carry with me a “picture-gallery” of lovely images I have collected from my youth, paintings from the time I spent at my grandparent’s house in the countryside or at the beach during summer vacations.
Little did I know how important these sensations sweet are for the education of a child, until I came across chapters 17 and 18 from Parents and Children. Mason presents us with a puzzling idea, derived not only from common sense but with scientific evidence, that we parents must endeavor to educate our children’s senses. And this is why:
Most people suppose that the sensations, feelings, and emotions of a child are matters that take care of themselves. Indeed, we are apt to use the three terms indiscriminately, without attaching very clear ideas to them. But they cover, collectively, a very important educational field; and though common-sense, that is to say, judgments formed upon inherited knowledge, often helps us to act wisely without knowing why, we shall probably act more wisely if we act reasonably. (pp. 178-179)
Now, the senses are the Five Gateways of Knowledge, to quote the title of a little book which many of us have used in early days; and an intelligent person should be aware of, and capable of forming judgments upon, the sensations he receives. (p. 179)
My parents didn’t know of Charlotte Mason when they were raising me during the 1980s in Brazil. However, through common sense, they provided plenty of opportunities for my siblings and I to explore the environment around us through our five senses and the result of this is that we all treasure memories triggered by certain smells, images, or sounds.
As a busy mom of two rambunctious boys, I knew I wanted to provide as many opportunities as possible for the development of their senses. I also knew that a systematic way of doing this would not be the right approach since I can’t force feed them with images, sounds or smells of memories I want them to retain for their adulthood. But I can take Miss Mason’s advice to work “by the way” the education of the senses in the atmosphere of my home, the training of certain habits, and the presentation of engaging ideas.
So how can a parent implement all the genius ideas presented by Miss Mason about the education of the senses? And why should we spend time pursuing it?
Before I share how I have done that in my home, I would like to consider some thoughts for guidance and encouragement. If you haven’t met the “pages of the body” introduced by Mason in Book I of Ourselves, I highly recommend you start with that chapter. It’s a delightful description of how the five senses can help us as good servants or hinder us when they become our masters. Next, let’s take a look into how the five senses operate in our bodies:
The sensations have their origin in impressions received by the several organs of sense—eye, tongue, nostrils, ear, and the surface of the external skin—and are conveyed by the sensory nerves, some to the spinal cord and some to the lower region of the brain. Many sensations we know nothing about; when we become aware of our sensations, it is because communications are sent by nerve fibres, acting as telegraph wires, from the sensorium to the thinking brain; and this happens when we give our attention to any one of the multitudinous messages carried by the sensory nerves. (p. 179)
In Parents and Children, Mason uses a poem by Wordsworth that exemplifies how the information (impression) taken in by our senses in a given time of our lives can trigger sweet memories at a later time. You can find the poem here and her explanation is this:
… we may have, so to speak, reflected sensations, as well as those that are immediate; because a conscious sensation depends upon the recognition of an impression in the sensory centres, and this recognition may be evoked, not only by an immediate sensation, but by an association which recalls the image once permanently impressed by the original sensation. Wordsworth is exquisitely right when he speaks of the repeated enjoyment of sensations sweet. ‘In lonely rooms and ’mid the din of towns and cities,’ some sudden touch of the chords of association has brought to him the soothing joy of a picture—‘Forms’ with every grace of symmetry, harmony, venerable antiquity, in the ever fresh and gracious setting of a beautiful landscape. The eye of his mind is infinitely gladdened; the ear of his mind, no longer conscious of the din of cities, hears the chord struck by the Wye in its flow, and the notes of the birds and the lowing of the cattle and the acuter notes of the insect world. Again he perceives the odour of the meadowsweet, he touches the coolness of the grass; and all these are as absolutely sensations as when they were for the first time conveyed to his consciousness by the sensory organs. (p. 192)
Another great outcome of the education of the senses is the physical well-being and mental restoration it can provide. Many days when I face a challenge that takes me to a grumpy or gloomy mood, I can retrieve from my private “picture-gallery” sweet images from my childhood to offer a change of thought. When I cook rice, the smell of it brings memories from my grandma’s home. When I go to the seashore, I can almost taste those lemon popsicles I enjoyed in my childhood. All that fills me with joy and it restores my weary mind. Still referring to Wordsworth’s poem mentioned above, Mason goes on to say:
… the poet goes on to tell us that these sensations sweet are ‘felt in the blood and felt along the heart,’ a statement curiously true to fact; for a pleasurable sensation causes the relaxation of the infinitesimal nerve fibres netted around the capillaries; the blood flows freely, the heart beats quicker, the sense of well-being is increased; gaiety, gladness, supervene; and the gloom of the dull day, and the din of the busy city, exist for us no more; that is to say, memories of delight are, as it were, an elixir of life, capable, when they present themselves, of restoring us at any moment to a condition of physical well-being.
But even this is not the whole. Wordsworth speaks of these memories as ‘passing into my purer mind with tranquil restoration’—purer, because less corporeal, less affected by physical conditions, but all the same so intimately related to the physical brain, that the condition of the one must rule the other. Mind and brain, perhaps, have been alike fagged by the insistent recurrence of some one line of thought; when, suddenly, there flashes into the ‘purer mind’ the cognition of images of delight, presented in consequence of a touch to some spring of association: the current of thought is diverted into new and delightful channels; and weariness and brain fag give place to ‘tranquil restoration.’
If mere sensations are capable of doing so much for our happiness, our mental refreshment, and our physical well-being, both at the time of their reception and for an indefinite number of times afterwards, it follows that it is no small part of our work as educators to preserve the acuteness of the children’s perceptions, and to store their memories with images of delight. (pp. 193-194)
As I have pondered on those ideas, I was able to better grasp practical ways to “preserve the acuteness” of my sons’ perceptions and to cultivate “memories with images of delight.”
I’ve also learned the value of these practices in helping my children to discern odors that can be harmful or sounds such as cars that we can’t see but hear coming down the road.
But how can we put all these great ideas into work?
Our constant care must be to secure that they do look, and listen, touch, and smell; and the way to this is by sympathetic action on our part: what we look at they will look at; the odours we perceive, they, too, will get. (pp. 192-193)
It requires intentionality on my part. A little effort in remembering to put into action an object lesson when we go on a nature walk or to remember to use games as bird stalking and picture-painting as Mason describes in the chapters of “Out-of-Door Life for the Children” in Home Education. Mason has much to say on how we can train the senses in her volumes, especially in Volumes 1, 2 and 4, and I would like to share some practical ways I have incorporated them in my home:
- The children are welcome to cook with my husband and I and we play games such as “smell the ingredients.” When they were toddlers, they liked to take the little jars of condiments and spices to learn their smells. Oregano and cinnamon are amongst their favorites.
- When we go on a nature walk, I encourage them to take a deep breath and try to discern the smells of that place.
- We all enjoy the scent of the wet grass and earth when it rains.
- Since they were little, we smelled the flowers in our garden.
- In our family we encourage each other to try new foods even if we think we might not like it.
- With their eyes closed, my sons have to describe a food by its taste. This is a fun game to play with friends.
- My husband and I try to make favorite meals as part of our family tradition like Saturday morning pancakes, beans from our Brazilian heritage and pasta from our Italian heritage.
- Since babyhood, I’ve exposed them to different textures, letting them touch natural objects such as grass, leaves, pebbles, etc.
- A game to play occasionally during meals is to discern texture of the food or to compare how heavy a slice of bread is to a slice of cheese, for example.
- I knew I wanted my kids to enjoy getting their hands dirty so they got used to working on dirt and water as we prepare our vegetable garden. They also enjoy getting their hands (and most of their bodies) dirty making mud pies and sandcastles.
- My husband is a singer by hobby so singing to our babies was something that happened naturally in our home. We enjoy the delight of music as a family and now that my sons are in their tween years, they sing, play, and enjoy music.
- When we go to a nature walk, we play games such as bird stalking and carefully listen to our surroundings, counting how many different sounds we can discern.
- We enjoy doing “sight-seeing” and “picture-painting” as Mason described in Home Education.
- Object lessons are very helpful in bringing a child’s attention to really see something specific like the colors of a bird or the body parts of an ant.
There are many more things to add to this list and I encourage you to pick one to start and before you know it you’ll be doing more and more for the education of your own senses. After a math lesson where the child has learned about measurements, you can ask her to judge distances, height and how heavy common objects around the house are. My sons really enjoy these types of games, and you can find more ideas in Parents and Children, Chapter 17.
My last thought is a reminder that we parents are inspirers of ideas, as we point our children’s eyes to a beautiful scene in nature, their ears to a lovely tune, their nostrils to perceive the aroma of the flowers, their hands to hold a shell for closer examination, we are bringing their attention to a beautiful thought of God and storing the eye of their minds with infinite gladness.
Mariana Mastracchio is married to Giovanni and mother to Eric and Luca, two adventurous boys full of living ideas. She’s originally from Southern Brazil and has adopted suburban NY as her home. On her homeschooling journey, Mariana found a great friend in Charlotte Mason. This friendship has yielded precious fruit not only in her homeschool, but in the atmosphere of her home and life.
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“Pumps, pumps…” So goes one of the best-known songs by a Spanish artist from the early and mid-90s Spanish music scene. Although too much has happened since then, we can relate the theme to the current energy crisis we are suffering, caused by the war between Ukraine and Russia.
We are talking about heat pumps.
The concept of how heat pumps works is very simple, in fact, we all have a very similar, refrigeration machine at home, the refrigerator. Heat pumps, like the fridge, base their operation on compressing a refrigerant liquid contained in a closed circuit. This liquid is capable of collecting heat from the environment (in the case of the fridges, it collects heat from inside the fridge, cooling it) and thanks to the compression it undergoes, its temperature increases. This heat is then dissipated in the grille at the back.
The same applies to heat pumps, which are able to collect heat from the outside (even if the temperature is low) and thanks to the compression of the refrgierant, increases its temperature, thus making indoor heating possible.
Because heat pumps are highly efficient equipment, they don´t help to reduce the energy bill of our homes.
Im sure you have heard oft aero-thermal heating, right? Well, if you have any doubts about what it consists of, it is based on the operation of a heat pump that collects heat from the air in the outside environment (hence its name).
It is well known and proven that more than 40% of the energy consumed in Europe is used to air-condition homes. In this sense, heat pumps are the perfect ally as they offer us an efficiency of around 400%, that is to say, for every unit of energy they use, which is usually electrical energy, they are capable of producing 4 units of thermal energy (both heating and cooling), thus offering us high savings rates. In addition, new technologies nowadays allow us to reach higher and higehr heating temperatures due to the use of new coolants and new technologies, such as heat pumps based on acoustic waves that replace the electrical energy source with ultrasound to excite the coolant and thus increase its temperature, but…
Is all that glitters gold? Let´s take a look at it; actually when talking about savings from the use of heat pumps, we have to talk about energy savings and then..we look at the money. Calculating the economic savings provided by theseenergy savings is extremely complicated in the times in which we live, let me explain; currently the price of electricity (the most common energy source for heat pumps) is on a constant roller coaster, where you can see every day how the price changes considerably between the valley-flat-peak periods, in addition to the difference in the intra-daily price (nobody really knows why, there could be many explanations that would take several entries in this blog).
In addition to the price, the different energy sources have to be taken into account, as it is not the same thing to replace a gas or oil boiler, electric heaters or any other heating source with a heat pump. This makes it more difficult to talk about economic savings because the different energy sources also come into play
A third derivative in the economic sense, and something that heat pumps manufacturers do not usually take into account, is that in the case of installation in a home, this is not normally prepared to cover the new electricity consumption that is going to be produced by the installation of the pump, and I will explain this with an example:
Let´s imagine we have a 37kW gas boiler of supplying heat to a house and we want to replace this boiler with a heat pump. We have already mentioned that this equipment offers a ratio of 4 to 1 in terms of heat production and electricity consumption, therefore, to cover 37kW of heat, we have to consume 37/4 =9.25kW of electrical power which we will probably not have contracted and contracting them will increase the bill we are going to pay every month in terms of the fixed term, whether we use the heat pump or not.
So we are saving or not? The ideal way to estimate the savings from installing or replacing an old boiler with a heat pump should be done implementing a reliable measurement and verification protocol, as has been done in the REUSEHEAT project in which CARTIF has participated in the implementation of the IPMVP. To this end, monitored data from the heat generation systems of several demonstratos have been used, connected to the internet via different IoT protocols, send this data to a common platform where the energy savings are calculated.
This savings are calculated on the basis of a mathematical model made with the data from the time period before the installation of the heat pump. Once the actual consumption after the installation of the heat pump is known, the conditions under which this consumption was achieved (weather, indoor comfort,etc.) are taken into the model and the energy that would have been consumed under the conditions prior to the installation of the heat pump is calculated.
At this point, knowing the energy that has been saved, the moneysaved by using heat pumps could be estimated economically, on the basis of an average price, a more detailed estimate of the price, or as you think best.
The REUSEHEAT project shows very satisfactory results for the use of this type of technology and the energy saving produced. In addition, heat pumps are considered a renewable energy source (when in addition to using aero-thermal energy they meet certain conditions) and clean and avoid a large percentage of CO2 emissions. There is talk that they could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70%.
CARTIF believes that we ,ust continue to support this type of technology and the innovations that help us to improve them, not only for heat pumps based on aero-thermal energy, but also geo-thermal energy, hydro-thermal energy,etc.
- Is all that glitters gold? (When talking about heat pumps) - 17 February 2023
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Written by Gage Huey
Zooarchaeology, or the study of animal remains in archaeological contexts has addressed the utilitarian aspects of human-animal interaction through decades of research on nutrition, seasonality, domestication, and the various techniques of carcass procurement and processing used by hunting cultures across the globe. As a result, traditional zooarchaeological interpretations rarely address the non-utilitarian meaningfulness of animals to the peoples whose material cultures we study. The way that archaeologists tend to think about human and animal relationships in the past typically reflects the structures and assumptions from our own worldview. These assumptions situate animals as an Other to humans, they serve our needs and can be used by humans but are fundamentally a different Thing. Over the centuries, these constructed differences between human beings and nature became more naturalized, fitting seamlessly into the colonial worldview that characterizes our “modern world”. Because scientific paradigms like anthropology were constructed within this worldview and the structures it produces. The interpretations we make as scientists reflect these as well. I believe this has led to misinterpretation of animal bones present at precontact sites through a largely Western perspective.
Indigenous peoples across the world (and specifically here on Turtle Island) see and saw the natural world in ways that would be incompatible with traditional zooarchaeological interpretation. So, my thesis research engages with an assemblage of animal remains through a perspective that acknowledges that prior to the arrival of Europeans (and continuing until today), Native peoples engaged with the environment not in terms of utilization, but in terms of relationships. The assemblage I’ve analyzed is from the 13th century (c.700 BP) Fort Ancient village,
Philo II (33MU76) located in Gaysport, Ohio. This village was constructed alongside an especially nice stretch of the Muskingum River known as the Philo Bottoms. This floodplain was home to Indigenous Ohioans for centuries, evidenced by the mound complex on the ridge overlooking
Philo II. These folks would’ve made pottery out of clay and mussel shells collected from the river, shared their pit-houses with dogs and stored maize, and hunted a variety of animals. The bones of these animals frequently ended up in subterranean “storage pits”, and vary in their number, species, and bone type (element) from feature to feature. Within the 55 features I analyzed, 27% of the bones were so fragmented they could only be reliably identified as indeterminate vertebrate. The remainder of the bones were identified to species when possible, but were broadly 63% mammal, 3% bird, 2% reptile, and 5% fish. The Philo Peoples would have had stories, songs, and all manner of cultural practices that engaged with these creatures not as animals in the Western sense, but as non-human persons that participated in society just as the humans did.
These relationships likely were not thought of in
an allegorical or metaphorical sense, they were a historical, lived reality. Imagine that a great ceremony was to be held in the plaza of Philo II, and the ceremony required music. The turtles whose shells were harvested to make instruments for the ceremony were taking part in the ceremony itself. In one sense, they were there (i.e., the turtles were plentiful) because they wanted to be there. And because the turtles had graciously attended the feast, there were particular cultural practices to ensure that they were honored and would continue to engage with the people in this way.
Through my research, I am arguing that the pit features at Philo II are physical manifestations of the intersocial relationships between humans and non-human animal persons. The construction of these features would have disposed of animal bone and provided a means of constructing and naturalizing the relationships present between the Philo Peoples and the animals in which they shared an environment. They may also have connections to cultural practices of memory-making, linking them to their Late Woodland ancestors who moved great amounts of earth to combine bones, sediments, and artifacts into highly meaningful spaces. If zooarchaeologists acknowledge and engage with Indigenous scholars and the perspectives they bring to the field, it would provide an opportunity for old collections to be re-interpreted and analyzed in a new light that more accurately reflects the cultural context of the peoples whose cultures we study.
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Only when the attitude of a nation is truly centered on believing in the dreams of children, can the greatest strides towards educating refugees be made.
The summer before I entered the fifth grade, I went to India to spend some time with my extended family. After well over twenty hours of travel, my parents and I were exhausted. We decided to enjoy a traditional Indian meal at my mother’s favorite restaurant before embarking on our post-flight hibernation. As we were seated, a ten-year-old kid, by the name of Ram, approached the table. I smiled with the vicarious expectation that Ram would become my new best friend. I was appalled to find out that the Ram was actually our waiter. After we ordered, Ram promptly darted to the kitchen. He came back a few minutes later with the wrong order. When my parents politely informed him that there must have been some mistake, he immediately apologized and went back to the kitchen. The next time he returned to our table, he did have the food we ordered, but his eyes were red with tears. When my parents asked him what had happened, he mumbled that the restaurant manager had punished him for his lack of concentration.
I began to feel extremely uncomfortable, and although I was very hungry, I was unable to eat. After we paid, I naively asked Ram why he was waiting tables and not in school where he belonged. He told me that his parents were refugees from Kashmir and that going to school was not feasible. Throughout my life, my teachers have always described education as, „the gift that can’t be taken away.“ Unfortunately, children of refugees, such as Ram, never have the opportunity to receive this very essential gift.
What it means to be a Child Refugee?
Before I could even attempt to understand the many problems refugees faced, I had to first understand what a refugee was. From an online search, I found that the 1951 United Nations Convention defined a refugee as an individual who, „owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable or „” unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.“ Under this definition, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees have estimated that there are currently 60 million refugees. The majority of which are traveling to the European Union from the nations of Syria and Libya due to sectarian conflict.
Children of Refugees Do Not Attend School
Just this past Sunday, after the Macedonian police re-opened the border with Greece, 7000 men, women and children crossed into southern Serbia en route to the EU. It is expected that a total of 5 million refugees will pass through Serbia. It is no surprise that countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey that house the majority of the refugees are struggling to provide the travelers with housing and food. However, the inability to provide education to hundreds of thousands of children refugees is a systemic problem that will ultimately have an adverse impact to the economy and well-being of all of these nations. Children of refugees don’t attend school for many reasons. With gaps in their education due to life in a conflict zone, they have often fallen far behind their peers. If they are motivated to catch up, remedial classes in their language are not available. The few programs that are well suited for them are far too expensive.
This has resulted in rampant child labor where kids under the age of 12 are directed by their parents to work 16 hour days in low skill jobs. When they become teenagers, they do not have the tools that education provides to advance in their careers but are instead burdened with more familial responsibilities. Ultimately these families fall much deeper into poverty. Furthermore, as conflicts in Syria and Libya continue to be unresolved, these nations risk producing a generation of illiterate citizens.
A three-point strategy to improve education among refugees
The UN Refugee Agency (UNRA) has understood the importance of education and has outlined a three-point strategy to improve education among refugees:
- Improve access and learning achievement among refugee children by focusing on the learning environment, teaching quality, early childhood development, and accelerated learning programs
- Increase access to post-primary education and training
- Expand tertiary education opportunities for refugees through scholarships to colleges in host countries and through distance learning
Many NGOs and charitable organizations, including the Novak Djokovic Foundation, are spearheading initiatives so that the goals of the UNRA may come to fruition. However, before these goals can be met, it is critical for both world leaders and refugees to understand that education is a necessity – not a luxury. Education is the difference between Ram living in poverty for the rest of his life or having the ability to progress in his career. As a child, Ram did not understand this and many policymakers still remain apathetic. Only when the attitude of a nation is truly centered on believing in the dreams of children, can the greatest strides towards educating refugees be made.
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Soil compactors stabilize soil by compressing, kneading, or vibrating it to remove air pockets and increase density. Different compactors are used depending on the type of soil. Due to weight, frequency, and force of movement, soil compactors can cause serious or fatal injuries if used improperly.
Rammers drive a metal foot into the soil with a high impact force. Vibratory plates use low force, but a high frequency movement to settle the soil. Rollers knead and compress soil with their weight and movement. Manual walk-behind rollers have smooth or padded drums. Ride-on rollers can vibrate or use heavy metal or rubber tires to compact soil. They can be small for patch jobs or large for big jobs like asphalt finishing work.
Read operating instructions and get hands-on training for each soil compactor you use. Know how to use all of the controls before you operate one. Choose the correct soil compactor for the soil type (cohesive, granular, or mix). Use machines only on stable ground. Work up or down a slope, not across it. Get training in trenching and excavation and keep away from the edges of building pits and excavations. Face toward the soil compactor’s direction of travel.
Follow manufacturer’s maintenance schedules and inspect equipment before each use. Lockout and tagout equipment before you perform maintenance. Allow machines to cool before fueling or performing work. Combustion engines emit carbon monoxide and other pollutants, so don’t operate them indoors or in a confined space.
To prevent caught/crush injuries, maintain guards on moving parts and at pinch points. Choose machines with safety bars or switches that stop the machine if the operator lets go. Use backup alarms to warn pedestrians of ride-on compactor movements. Rollover Protective Structures (ROPS) and seatbelts keep you safe. Don’t operate a soil compactor if you are a minor or under the influence of medication, drugs, or alcohol.
Extended use of a vibrating soil compactor can lead to vibration syndrome, an ergonomic injury causing damage to finger circulation and nerves. Symptoms include numbness, pain, and blanching. Soil compactor instructions include vibration level ratings and maximum usage times. Most equipment has vibration isolation technology on handles and seats. Excessive vibration may indicate poor maintenance or disrepair. Wear anti-vibration gloves if needed.
To avoid strains and sprains, maintain proper posture and a straight back when using/driving a soil compactor. Adjust steering handles/wheels to fit your height and arm length without hunching over or reaching up. Keep equipment controls close to your body with your arms at about waist height. Compactors are heavy. Don’t lift, wiggle, or force their movement. Use loading ramps, integrated wheels, or get help when loading and unloading machines.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) like sturdy work boots protect your feet from puncture and crush injuries. Consider additional toe protection for walk-behind compactors. Work gloves protect your hands from blisters, cuts, and punctures. Safety glasses and face shields protect against flying debris and dust. Ear muffs or plugs restrict hearing loss due to loud compaction equipment. A hard hat and comfortable work clothes are always needed on construction sites. Consider a dust mask or respirator depending on the worksite and substrate being compacted.
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In the heart of the vast ocean, there exists a captivating saga of black-and-white marvels – the orcas. These majestic beings, also known as killer whales, navigate the open seas in close-knit family units called pods.
Picture it as a grand family reunion beneath the waves, where orcas converse in a language unique to their tight community. It’s a bond that withstands the ebb and flow of the tides, creating a saga of unity and companionship.
As these oceanic families traverse the deep, they showcase an incredible culinary prowess. Orcas, it seems, are the gourmet chefs of the sea, relishing a diverse menu that spans from fish to seals, and even larger whales. Their menu evolves with the changing landscapes, turning each meal into an epicurean journey across the vast ocean expanse.
What adds to the allure of these marine wonders is their timeless wisdom. Some orcas live for up to 90 years, accumulating a wealth of experiences and passing down the tales of the ocean through generations. They emerge as the wise elders of the sea, each one a guardian of the living history beneath the waves.
Yet, like any epic tale, challenges emerge on the horizon. Pollution and overfishing threaten the serene world of our orca friends. In the face of adversity, dedicated individuals rise to protect their homes, ensuring the orcas continue to thrive in a healthy and vibrant environment.
And so, the orcas persist, not merely as sea creatures but as cultural icons, revered in the folklore of communities worldwide. Their distinctive markings symbolize strength, wisdom, and an enduring connection to the vast, mysterious sea.
In this tale of orcas, we find not just a narrative of oceanic wonders but a reminder of our shared responsibility to preserve the grandeur of the seas for future generations.
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An important factor in fighting cancer is the speed at which the disease can be identified, diagnosed and treated.
The current standard involves a patient feeling ill or a physician seeing signs of a tumor. These indicators lead to more precise diagnoses via blood tests, x-rays or MRI imaging. But once the disease is far enough along to be noticeable, the cancer has often spread.
In the future, though, it may be possible to diagnose cancer much earlier using more sensitive body scans, new types of biomarker tests, and even nano-sensors working in the bloodstream.
MIT labs, experts in Multi-Vendor component level repair of: MRI Coils, RF amplifiers, Gradient Amplifiers Contrast Media Injectors. System repairs, sub-assembly repairs, component level repairs, refurbish/calibrate. [email protected]/+1 (305) 470-8013
Experimenting with these techniques in cancer patients or healthy individuals is difficult and potentially unethical. But scientists can test these technologies virtually using supercomputers to simulate the dynamics of cells and tissues.
BUILDING A BETTER BREAST CANCER EARLY DETECTION SYSTEM
Manual breast exams and mammograms are currently the most effective and widely used techniques for early detection of breast cancer. Unfortunately, manual breast exams are limited in their ability to detect tumors since they only produce local information about the site where the force is applied.
Mammograms (breast x-rays), on the other hand, are more accurate, but expose patients to radiation. Importantly, they do not quantify tissue stiffness, an identifying characteristic of breast tumors. They also produce many false positives, resulting in painful biopsies.
Lorraine Olson, a professor of mechanical engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, is collaborating with colleagues Robert Throne of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Adam Nolte of Chemical Engineering to develop an electro-mechanical device that gently indents breast tissue in various locations and records the tissue surface deflections. This data is then converted into detailed 3-D maps of breast tissue stiffness, which can then be used to identify suspicious (stiffer) sites for further testing.
"The research takes an approach to early detection of breast cancer that utilizes a fundamental mechanical difference between cancerous and noncancerous tissue," Olson said. "Although this stiffness difference is the basis of manual breast exams, it has not been systematically investigated from an engineering point of view."
Olson and her team's approach to determining the relationship between stiffness and interior mapping involves a combination of finite element methods -- a numerical method for solving problems in engineering and mathematical physics -- and genetic algorithms -- a method for solving optimization problems based on natural selection.
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The talking trees in Lord of the Rings or The Wizard of Oz may be coming soon to a forest near you. A group of computer science, electronic engineering, and physics professors is developing a system of tiny programmable semiconductor specks that can work together to sense, compute, and network wirelessly.
The 1 cubic millimeter specks would be scattered or sprayed on things like walls or clothes (or trees). Each little speck would have built-in computing ability and be able to communicate wirelessly over several centimeters to link with the others to form a powerful computational network called a “specknet.” So if, for instance, you walked through a room that had been “speckled,” the computer could not only detect exactly where you are, but actually communicate with you.
The research consortium, based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and three years into what is expected to be a twelve-to-fifteen-year project, believes that specknets will someday make computing truly ubiquitous. They envision applications such as spraying specks on the clothes of medical patients to monitor their health, sprinkling specks in the forest to provide early notice of forest fires, spraying them in disaster zones to provide communications infrastructure, and sprinkling them in military areas to detect intruders.
While they have not yet reached the goal of specks as tiny as a grain of rice, projects at the 5 millimeter size (about the size of a match-stick head) are well underway. Each speck is programmable and has about 2Kb of memory. That may not sound like a lot, but if you have thousands interacting with each other, the potential computational ability is significant. And, the researchers note, it takes less power to transmit information over short distances than to relay it all to a central gathering point.
One prototype, called Prospeckz, used specks on a combination of a coffee table, a throw blanket on a couch, and a “radio table.” The coffee table was designed so that if a user picked a book up from it, the lights would automatically turn on. The “smart throw” could turn on an electronic device such as a television when the users sits on it, and the radio table could automatically adjust its volume to make it louder as the user moves away from it.
Another prototype demonstrated a “mood cloud.” In that experiment, a computer keyboard with speck-type sensors in it was able to monitor the typist’s heart rate and change the lighting conditions above the user from bright when he or she was calm, to increasingly dark and ultimately to flashing as the user’s frustration level mounted.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
I have just read the article “Analyze This: A Task Analysis Primer for Web Design” in UX magazine [Vol. 5, Issue 1, 2006] about the value of task analysis (TA) in web design and found it very interesting. It is refreshing to read about practitioners encouraging the use of task analysis in a profession where it seems to have gone out of fashion.
I, too, am surprised at the lack of use of task analysis by usability specialists and the way many actually look down their noses at it. I agree with your reasons as to why task analysis is not done but I believe there are a few others that are important.
- The applications and uses of a task analysis are not effectively communicated: many people believe task analysis is the start and end of the analysis. In itself, the results of task analysis are effective in understanding the tasks that a user performs, but this only has value to the usability practitioners themselves. Managers, engineers, and customers don’t care that one task is performed after another or that it involves a set of subtasks. From my experience, the real value of task analysis, beyond understand-ing the task context, is the results from the secondary studies that can be performed using the task-analysis data such as human error analysis, workload assessment, task complexity assessments, heuristic interface evaluation, and training needs analysis, or for UI design guidance.
- There are people who develop overly complex and time-consuming methods for task analysis. This acts as a barrier to performing the analysis, firstly because it is difficult and time-consuming to do in relation to the benefits obtained from it; and, secondly because it is difficult to communicate the outcomes to engineers, managers, and customers.
- Task analysis is taught using examples such as “how to make acup of tea.” The reason for this is because it is a well-known task. However, it does not illustrate the benefits of doing the task analysis in the first place and does not illustrate the applications of the analysis once it has been done. It also belittles the value of task analysis when attempting to sell the approach to engineers.
I am sorry about the rant but it is a long time since an article has been written about the benefits of TA especially in the area of web design. Thank you for writing it!
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While it is well-known that aircraft facilitated the more rapid spread of the virus around the globe, aircraft will also play an essential role in delivering the cure. Over 10 billion doses have been pre-ordered to vaccinate a global population of 7.8 billion. The weight of all the doses equates to 65,000 metric tons. IATA has estimated that approximately one-million doses will fit on a B-777F. This would translate to at least 10,000 flights to just deliver the vaccine -assuming that all vaccines will be transported by air, which will not be the case. In reality, this will still equate to thousands of flights since many of the aircraft used will be smaller and additional flights will be needed to provide medical supplies to support the vaccination effort (i.e. syringes, gauze, alcohol swabs, etc.).
There are various forms of the vaccine made by many different companies (AstraZeneca, BioNTech, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Moderna, Novavax, Pfizer, and Sanofi, to name a few) and each has different requirements. Some, such as Moderna and BioNTech, require specialized cold storage. All vaccines will be a security concern since they are so valuable, requiring air cargo carriers to increase their vigilance. In places with increased air cargo demand like the U.S., this adds additional pressure to carriers requiring them to increase their capacity where possible but to more importantly manage demand.
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This family comprises 15 genera and 140 species. It has a wide distribution in the forests of the Southern and Northern hemispheres. It can grow up to 20 meters tall and grows rapidly. The foliage consists of matte dark green scale-like leaves arranged alternately on the shoots. It is resistant to pruning and air pollution. It grows in a pyramid shape and is the most commonly used hedge plant. It is used as a windbreak in parks and gardens. Sensitive to temperatures below 0 degrees Celsius. It has taproots. Can be grown in sunny areas.
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When scientists understand why some feminine monkeys repeat the cycle of child abuse with their own infants and those of others, they will be better prepared to give you assessments of prevention methods that could be relevant to folks, he says. Child abuse is when a caregiver either fails to offer applicable care (neglect), purposefully inflicts hurt, or harms a baby while disciplining him or her. Bodily abuse might create cuts, bruising or swelling, fracture of a bone, inner accidents of the physique, organs, or head (subdural hematoma), burns, or the loss of life of the child. Youngster abuse is any damage that’s deliberately inflicted on a toddler by a caregiver or during self-discipline. Emotional abuse can even occur when adults responsible for taking care of youngsters are unaware of and unable (for a variety of causes) to satisfy their youngsters’s emotional and developmental needs. A baby who has been abused or otherwise severely mistreated may turn out to be depressed or develop suicidal, withdrawn, or violent behavior. Some might be directly focused and will experience physical or sexual abuse as well as neglect.
Docs can also testify in court docket to acquire legal protection for the kid or to … Read More
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Ask any medical professional, and they will tell you that if you work with the human body long enough, you will figure out that there are all kinds of ways for something to go wrong with it. There are a whole host of ways for cell growth to go on uninhibited, causing various cancers to exist within the body. Blood clots can occur, which can cause severe pain in mild cases and death in severe cases, such as blood clots in the brain. Moreover, there are all kinds of infections that can occur within the body that if left unchecked can totally poison the whole entire system. That’s the bad news. However, there is good news. The best way to sum this up is that there are a number of “microscopic heroes” that keep us healthy and strong and prevent disease. Consider just three of these examples:
Killer T-cells are extremely important for the immunity of an individual’s body. First of all, they are useful because they can help activate B-cells, equipping antibodies and macrophages to help vanquish ingested microbes that could possibly sicken the body. However, they also can empower a number of other T-Cells in order to kill infected cells that would spread throughout the body unchecked without their assistance. Perhaps one of the main reasons why T-cells are a bit of an unsung hero would be because of the fact that they are only useful if they themselves are activated to become what is called an effector cell.
Source: T-Cell Modulation Group
Redox Signaling Molecules
Redox molecules support the vital activity of cellular communication, enhance immune function, and boost the efficacy of antioxidants. Redox signaling molecules are also produced in abundance in our bodies until about the age of seven. This is one of the main reasons why cuts can heal so fast in a child. However, when you consider that cuts take a much longer time to heal in elderly adults, realize that it is because the body produces less and less redox signaling molecules as we get older.
Yes, in certain cases, bacteria can also be the good guys in your body as well. For example, the bacteria in your stomach and intestines work intently to break down all of the foods you eat and harvest the best nutrients from them. Moreover, these bacteria also can play a role in a person’s health and metabolism.
Source: Humm Kombucha
This is just a small sampling of the diverse options we have for treating the human body. There are microorganisms that are the “good guys” and we are just barely starting to harness all of their potential.
Here are a couple articles we think you’ll like!
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Some children are forced, for health reasons, to communicate with doctors more than they would like. And some of them dream, when they grow up, to become if doctors, then doctors. Yes, children! Not all adults know that a nurse is a profession and a vocation.
By definition, a nurse is a physician's assistant. Nobody will argue here. However, an experienced qualified nurse is a much more capacious concept than just an assistant. This is the second pair of arms, legs, eyes, ears of the doctor.
In the world that surrounds us, there is an incredible amount of harmful bacteria and microorganisms.
Their vital activity can greatly harm the human body. Especially often, by the nature of their activities, medical workers and citizens who are being treated in hospitals and clinics are at risk. Therefore, the conditions of sterility in all medical institutions must be strictly observed. Sterilization is the complete destruction of all types of microorganisms and bacteria that can be both on the surface and inside the object being sterilized.
Read more "
Since childhood, everyone knows the expression "cleanliness is the key to health, and order, above all."
But how to check how well the disinfection of the premises is carried out? Quality control of cleaning and disinfection in any premises can be carried out by three methods:
Read more »
Any profession is associated with the risk of disease.
The reasons may be different: faulty equipment, violation of safety standards, the development of hidden diseases, non-compliance with hygiene, etc. The probability of falling into the risk zone is quite high for nurses, since by the nature of their work they work directly with sick people, blood, acute items. Read more "
Sterilization is a complex of complex measures aimed at eliminating pathogenic microflora.
It can be produced by physical or chemical action on materials. In medicine, all instruments, devices and devices that come into contact with blood, mucous membranes or wound surfaces are subjected to mandatory sterilization treatment. Read more "
Relevant and meaningful.
A problem that everyone faces sooner or later. Disinfectants, especially in medical institutions and medical institutions, where sterility and cleanliness should come first. Disinfect from all kinds of infections, viruses and fungi. For this, medical equipment, tools, as well as hands are processed and quartzization of rooms is carried out. Substance classes:
Read more »
Patients admitted to the infectious diseases department need special care, especially those who have been diagnosed with a severe form of a particular infection.
Much here depends on the nurses, whose professional skills help to properly organize the treatment process prescribed by the doctors. Read more "
Easy to use and in composition, an enema is placed, including at home. It consists of a solution of magnesium sulfate 20%, it can be 30%, the temperature of the solution should be 38 ºС. The second option is to use a 10% sodium chloride solution, the people use ordinary edible salt. Be sure to pay attention to contraindications, if arterial or intracranial pressure is elevated, and if edema is observed, it is not recommended to use a water-based enema.
The very procedure for using an enema is the introduction of a prepared solution into the rectum. Penetrating inside, the solution helps to thin the feces, to facilitate its removal from the intestines. The enema acts instantly, improving the condition of a person.
An enema is prescribed for people with problematic fecal discharge. With the introduction of an enema, the patient's blood circulation volume decreases, pressure decreases.
A coma is an unconscious state of a person in which the functions of almost all sensory organs are impaired. In a coma, inhibition of the higher nervous activity of a person is clearly expressed. The causes of this condition are circulatory disorders of the brain, diabetic or renal coma, liver dysfunction, severe thyroid disease, mushroom or gas poisoning, and so on.
Read more "
Seizures, causes and their manifestations
Seizures is a non-specific reaction of the body to the manifestation of external and internal stimuli, which lead to sudden attacks of muscle contraction uncontrolled by the patient, lasting for various periods of time.
Often during convulsions, patients are prone to loss of consciousness. Sources of seizures (in other words, convulsive syndrome) can vary from congenital defects, hereditary diseases and pathologies, to tumors and other acquired causes.
Such a syndrome can even be caused by a banal strong emotional overstrain and a sharp increase in the patient's body temperature (mainly when the patient is a child). Read more "
Epistaxis is the outflow of blood from the nasal cavity.
First aid for nosebleeds.
Reasons for appearance.
In healthy adults, bleeding can cause heat stroke or sunstroke (overheating of the body), as well as bruises, falls or bumps.
With a disease of the nasal cavity and sinuses or an increase in arterial or intracranial pressure. A decrease in the level of platelets in the human body (anemia, leukemia) can also provoke the appearance of bloody discharge from the nose. Among patients who visit an ENT doctor, 6-11% are people complaining of spontaneous bleeding from the nose, and 21% are hospitalized for emergency reasons, usually after an injury. Read more "
In the summer season, in hot weather, cases of overheating of the body are not uncommon.
People spend a lot of time outdoors, because summer is the time for holidays, which means that we eat garden plots, the sea and spend a lot of time under the scorching sun. Of course, everyone and everyone needs to know how to behave when symptoms of heat stroke appear, and what actions need to be taken. Heat stroke is the result of overheating of the body.
Read more "
Indications for the transfusion of blood and its components
There are two categories of indications for the procedure of blood transfusion: absolute and relative .
Examples of absolute indications are profuse blood loss, terminal state, shock. Relative indications include cases in which blood transfusion is only one of the components of treatment. In such situations, it is necessary to carefully consider the patient's contraindications for surgery in order to prevent complications. In acute anemia and leukemia, only erythrocyte mass is transfused. In some cases, transfusion of blood plasma is performed.
These include DIC, profuse blood loss of more than a third of the total circulating blood volume, coagulopathy, an overdose of anticoagulant drugs, a decrease in blood clotting factors (for example, with hepatitis) and some other abnormalities. Read more "
Zoliclones are monoclinal antibodies that are obtained from the blood of laboratory mice.
Everything is done through genetic engineering. The blood group, in our time, the ABO system, is established precisely with the help of these antibodies. Extremely large and high activity and avidity are demonstrated by coliclones, which suggests the time of arrival and the severity of the agglutination (gluing) reaction.
This technique is used only in a full-fledged laboratory.
Moreover, inside the cabinet, the temperature must be within the range starting from +15.0 and up to + 25.0 degrees Celsius. And the process of establishing a blood group can only occur with excellent lighting. Read more "
The determination of blood groups is based on the agglutination reaction, that is, sticking together.
Lumps form when both agglutinogen A and agglutinin alfa, or agglutinogen B and agglutinin beta, or both are present in the sample. Agglutinogens are found in red blood cells, and agglutinins are components of blood plasma. Read more "
On the eve of the day of the medical worker, we offer readers of our site a comic article in the form of a recommendation for nurses . What should be the form of clothing, as well as behavior patterns - Alexander Kostyushin talks about all this with sparkling humor.
So, advice to nurses.
Every year doctors celebrate their holiday on the third Sunday of June. Thematic events are held in each medical institution. Medical Worker Day 2015 falls on June 21st.
As a rule, very pleasant ceremonies and procedures coincide with our professional holiday. This includes rewarding employees with certificates of honor and gratitude for services in the field of healthcare, and bonus payments, and organized banquets and picnics.
When diagnosing pathological processes in the kidneys, an Addis-Kakovsky urinalysis is performed, which makes it possible to determine the quantitative content of formed elements in the urine (erythrocytes, leukocytes, cylinders). This research method is currently used quite rarely, however, the nurse must know the purpose of the analysis and the algorithm for the collection procedure.
Otherwise, this analysis is called a urine test using the Kakovsky-Addis method, because. it was first proposed by our compatriot, doctor, scientist and teacher Anton Fomich Kakovsky in 1910. The urine collected from the patient for 8 hours during a night's sleep was studied. In 1925, the American scientist and physician Thomas Addis recommended that the Kakovsky method be improved. At the same time, urine was collected by patients per day.
An important skill for a nurse is the correct technique for taking an ECG (electrocardiogram). Recall that electrocardiography is a technique for recording the electrical fields of the heart that arise in the course of its activity, as well as obtaining their graphic image on paper or a display. Electrocardiography is an informative and non-invasive method for studying the work of the heart - convenient and valuable for the patient and the attending physician.
Many polyclinics, as well as some medical units, operate on a territorial-district basis. At the same time, such a specialty as a district nurse in a polyclinic or a medical unit is very relevant. Especially in light of the fact that currently priority is given to primary care.
The main goal of the district nurse's activity is to help a doctor working in the same assigned area. The work consists of two main sectors:
As part of health education work, every nurse is faced with the need to issue a health bulletin. During the off-season, when there is a surge in the incidence of viral infections, the sanitary bulletin on the topic “Influenza” will be relevant.
When creating such a carrier of information, it must be remembered that we are doing this work for patients - people who are most often not associated with medicine. Therefore, the language of presentation should be accessible, understandable, without an abundance of specific terms.
To exclude or minimize contacts of healthy children with patients during an outpatient visit to a pediatrician, there is a filter for a children's clinic as a separate structural unit. The position of the filter worker is assigned to a middle-level medical worker with sufficient experience in pediatrics - a paramedic or a nurse.
The work of a nurse in the children's department of a hospital is interesting and in demand, although difficult and hyper-responsible.
It is the high qualification and organization of the pediatric nurse that determines the rhythm of the department's work schedule. Patients under the age of 18 with various diseases and acute pathologies are hospitalized in children's departments. Newborns and young children may be hospitalized with relatives or guardians, more often with mothers. Read more "
The narcological hospital or narcological department is a regime, as well as psychiatric hospitals or departments. This means that there is a certain regime - the entrance doors are locked, there is no free entry and exit, the windows are barred, patients are under strict supervision or under the supervision of staff on duty. Each nurse of the narcological department must undergo training in the specialty "nursing in narcology" with subsequent certification and re-certification once every 5 years.
The role of a nurse in the prevention of diseases of a very different nature in a wide variety of branches of medicine is great and significant. The nurse is near the patient most of her working time and much longer than the doctor. And it has the right and obligation to convey knowledge about the prevention of diseases of various organs and systems, as well as infectious diseases.
An objective assessment of the work of various organs and systems of the body can be made by methods of functional diagnostics - the study of functions with the help of technical instruments and apparatus. Functional diagnostics helps to establish the degree of disruption in the functioning of organs and systems. Functional abilities are examined in both adults and children.
Modern medicine cannot be imagined without this section. To work in the departments and cabinets of functional diagnostics, paramedical workers who have passed the relevant specialization and have successfully completed all the examination requirements are allowed.
There are many methods by which the physiological parameters of the human body are assessed. Let's consider the most common.
In nursing, one of the important skills is the safe transportation of the patient to the department upon admission to the hospital, as well as to auxiliary rooms as prescribed by the doctor. The purpose of this manipulation is to create maximum rest for the patient when moving.
Depending on the severity of the patient's condition, the doctor determines the type of transportation:
- on foot;
- in a wheelchair
- on a wheelchair;
- on a stretcher;
- on hands.
Patients in the hospital change underwear and bed linen is made in a planned manner 1 time in 7-10 days and on an emergency basis as it gets dirty. The nurse must be proficient in changing linen to ensure compliance with the patient's personal hygiene requirements.
- A set of clean underwear and bed linen.
- Bag for collecting dirty linen.
- Disinfectant container.
To study the excretory and concentration ability of the kidneys, a Zimnitsky test is performed. Such a diagnostic procedure is prescribed for patients with kidney pathology, as well as for diseases of the cardiovascular system (IHD, hypertension) and the endocrine system (diabetes mellitus). Proper collection of urine according to Zimnitsky ensures the reliability of the result of the study. The main task of the nurse is to educate the patient in the preparation and conduct of urine collection for analysis.
If it is necessary to quantify erythrocytes, leukocytes, cylinders (shaped elements) in the urine, a urine test according to Nechiporenko is performed. It is prescribed by a doctor when an increased number of leukocytes is detected in the general blood test , in the general analysis of urine - cylinders, and in other cases.
To obtain a reliable analysis result, the patient should be taught the preparation and direct collection of urine. The equipment for this procedure is a clean, dry jar or a plastic container with a hermetically sealed lid and a referral for research filled out in the prescribed form.
X-ray methods of examination of the body help to diagnose many diseases of internal organs and systems. A nurse, depending on the position and field of work, one way or another is faced with x-ray diagnostics.
The tasks of the nurse may be to ensure the preparation of the patient for x-ray examinations, help the doctor during the procedure, or directly conduct it (X-ray laboratory assistant).
Achieving the most important goals in the work of nursing leaders ensures a clear planning of activities. The head nurse is guided by several types of plans: basic, regulated and additional. The most important of the main ones is the work plan of the chief nurse for the year, which is drawn up after certain preparatory work.
First of all, it is necessary to analyze the implementation of the work plan of the previous year with an emphasis on the reasons for the non-fulfillment of individual items. At the same time, you should decide for what period of the next year you can plan their transfer.
In daily activities, according to official duties, the professional ethics of a nurse comes to the forefront of skill. It is in the observance of ethical principles in any situation that the nurse demonstrates her high professionalism.
In 1996, the Association of Nurses of Russia developed and adopted, and in 1997 approved by the Problem Commission on Nursing of the Office of Educational Institutions of the Ministry of Health, the Code of Ethics for Russian Nurses .
The moral side of human activity in medicine is studied by medical bioethics (or biomedical ethics). The concept of "ethics" means the doctrine of morality and ethics, their meaning and purpose.
The term "bioethics" (ethics of life) was introduced into everyday life in 1969 by the American biochemist and oncologist V.R. Potter. An outstanding doctor and scientist designated by this term the ethical problems of mankind associated with the existing and probable danger to its survival in the modern Potter world. And the connection between ethics and medicine has existed for thousands of years.
Since 2007, September 26 has been celebrated World Contraception Day as a global action to raise public awareness about family planning. The initiators of this event were ten international organizations whose activities are related to problems in the pressing issue of family health.
The goal of World Contraception Day is to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and, as a result, the number of abortions. Around the world on September 26, educational campaigns are held to improve contraceptive literacy, as well as charitable public events, and thematic portals are opened.
The TB vaccine is given with the BCG vaccine and is the very first vaccine that a newborn receives in the maternity hospital in the first days of his life. The BCG staging technique is not particularly difficult, but it requires the utmost care, composure and responsibility from the nurse. Only specially trained paramedical personnel are allowed to administer vaccinations.
The decoding of the abbreviation BCG in Russian sounds like “Bacillus Calmette-Guerin”, however, BCG is the “tracing paper” of the Latin abbreviation BCG, which means “bacillus Calmette-Guerin”.
Tuberculin diagnostics, or Mantoux test, is carried out in order to select a contingent of patients for vaccination and revaccination of BCG, as well as to detect tuberculosis and infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Indications for Mantoux test
Appointment of a doctor in accordance with the vaccination schedule:
- from 1 to 7 years - 2 times a year (the interval between the Mantoux test is 6 months);
- from 7 years and older - 1 time per year (interval - 12 months).
- Read more "
The most convenient and painless can be called enteral administration of drugs - through the digestive tract - sublingually (under the tongue), orally (through the mouth) and rectally (through the rectum).
A significant drawback of the use of drugs per os is the possibility of destruction of active substances under the influence of the digestive juices of the gastrointestinal tract. Another disadvantage is the adverse effect on the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines. With oral administration of drugs, its relationship with the time of eating is important. There are drugs, the use of which is justified only before meals (0.5 - 1 hour) - in order to avoid their destruction and to increase absorption.
Most often in medical practice, a clinical blood test for diagnostic purposes. A general clinical blood test includes a qualitative and quantitative study of blood cells, which include:
- amount of hemoglobin;
- erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR).
Changes in the cellular composition indicate the presence of pathological processes in the human body.
Many colleagues do not need to be explained that a nurse on duty is a nanny, a waiter, a sister, a mother, and “your mother…”. Our today's post is not the usual description of a manipulation or a list of documents. This is a fictional story from real life.
Fervent and optimistic timing of his own working time spent in the department on daily duty called "Daily routine of a ward nurse."
Author: © Anna Martynova
The use of rectal suppositories (suppositories) is indicated for diseases of the lower intestines, gynecological pathology, and also when it is impossible to administer the medicinal substance in another way.
The purpose of this procedure may be:
- the effect of the drug on the rectal mucosa;
- the introduction of the drug into the body enterally;
- rapid bowel movement.
Contraindications to the use of rectal suppositories
- Intestinal bleeding.
- Individual intolerance to the drug.
Hypothermia is a pathological condition of the body, in which the body temperature drops below the norm necessary to maintain the smooth functioning of metabolic processes. With hypothermia, the body cools down, the body temperature drops to 35ºC and below. Emergency care for hypothermia should be provided by a medical professional in a timely and qualified manner.
Hypothermia, or general hypothermia, is accompanied by inhibition of the basic vital functions of the body. The reason may be a long stay in the cold or in cold water.
How urine is collected for general analysis and other studies, the nurse must know perfectly. Urine for general analysis is sent to study the functioning of the kidneys and other internal organs.
The analysis itself includes an assessment of the physicochemical characteristics of the studied biological fluid (urine), as well as a microscopic examination of the sediment.
The purpose of collecting urine for research is diagnostic, it consists in obtaining reliable results:
Emergency care for pulmonary bleeding should be provided immediately upon detection of this pathological condition. Pulmonary bleeding can occur if the patient has various non-specific processes in the lungs or bronchi - tuberculosis, malignant neoplasms, lung abscess, foreign bodies of the bronchi, chest injuries and others.
In itself, pulmonary bleeding is defined as the release of pure blood from the respiratory tract or an admixture of blood to sputum during coughing (hemoptysis) .
Hyperthermia is an increase in a person's body temperature above 37.5ºC as a result of illness or overheating. Such a pathological condition occurs when the thermal balance is disturbed, when heat production prevails over heat transfer.
Emergency care for hyperthermia is necessary to avoid the occurrence of irreversible processes. When body temperature rises above 41ºC, heat stroke can develop.
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While it seems we're often given bad news from public health officials, some encouraging information has come to light:
A recent study has revealed some encouraging news regarding public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data from nearly 600,000 respondents showed that those on plant-based diets are 73 percent less likely to have moderate to severe COVID, while those on low-carb/high-protein diets are at an increased risk.
Here's what that means for boosting your immunity with plant-based foods and our easy tips for getting started.
On this page:
As soon as cases of COVID-19 started to decline in the summer of 2021, the Delta variant has brought a new wave of disappointment, fear and discouragement to many. And this is completely understandable.
We are all so tired, drained, scared, and confused about what’s been happening the last year and a half (and then some) with COVID-19. With endless sources of information, constant updates, and misinformation, it’s difficult to stay informed and make decisions about your health! There is one thing that we know for sure: those who are healthier seem to tolerate the virus better, and have lower risk of hospitalization.
Recently, CDC studies have concluded that even if you were able to get the vaccine, you may still be able to get and spread the Delta variant of COVID. In fact, 74 percent of those in the recent MA outbreak were fully vaccinated. But don’t be discouraged! The vaccine can still protect you from experiencing extreme symptoms, including hospitalization and death. In addition, boosters will likely be available to protect against the Delta variant, soon.
THERE IS HOPE! While it’s important to follow CDC guidelines, it’s also important to take health into your own hands. Now is an excellent time to take a good hard look at your personal health. Some people react severely to COVID, while others remain asymptomatic. This isn’t random. It’s time to check out at what puts a person at an increased risk for being hospitalized with COVID-19. Let’s look at the stats and do everything in our power to lower our personal risk so we can enjoy a healthy upcoming fall.
Those who are categorized as “overweight” also have an increased chance of hospitalization, due to weakened immunity and increased inflammation. Unfortunately, due to isolation during quarantine, many Americans have actually put on additional weight putting them at a higher risk for severe COVID, while a small percentage used their time in isolation to regain their health. This is of course a bad time for obesity rates to increase in America as they are, while new variants come into play that may adversely affect the higher BMI community.
The good news: Obesity is 100 percent reversible! Keep reading to find out how.
“Having either type 1 or type 2 diabetes can make you more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19.” -CDC
The good news: Type 2 diabetes is reversible, and manageable. Type 1 diabetes can be manageable when following a low-fat, plant-based diet. This means you can eat fruit and potatoes again! Don’t believe me? Check out Mastering Diabetes to learn more and keep reading to find out how specifically you can manage diabetes with diet.
3. Heart conditions:
“Having heart conditions such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathies, and possibly high blood pressure (hypertension) can make you more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19.” - CDC
The good news: Luckily, many heart conditions like congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, and hypertension are reversible! Keep reading to find out how.
“Being a current or former cigarette smoker can make you more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19. If you currently smoke, quit. If you used to smoke, don’t start again. If you’ve never smoked, don’t start.” - CDC
The good news: You can quit! Although being a former smoker puts you at risk, each day that you are clear of smoke your body is healing. Check out these top CDC tips to quit smoking.
Many conditions that put people at risk for severe COVID-19 (like being 80+ years old, incurable health conditions, and pregnancy) are not reversible, so it’s important to keep your friends, family, and neighbors safe by following the CDC guidelines, taking charge of your own health, and boosting your immunity.
If you have a rare condition, check out this video to see if a lifestyle change can help you:
For those of you with obesity, diabetes, heart conditions, and other inflammation-related non-communicable diseases, the cure is the same across the board: eat an anti-inflammatory diet that is low in fat, and high in fiber and antioxidants. AKA a whole-food, plant-based diet.
This style of eating is PROVEN to reverse heart conditions, obesity, diabetes, certain cancers, reduce the symptoms of autoimmune diseases like lupus, psoriasis and MS, the list just goes on and on. Nutrition expert Dr. Greger shows us the science behind a plant-based diet and disease prevention and reversal in the video below:
Recent research, looking at nearly 600,000 respondents, show that you are 9 percent less likely to get COVID on a plant-based diet, and 73 percent less likely to get severe COVID if you’re vegan or pescatarian.
On the flip side, low carb diets like KETO increased chances of severe COVID-19 and hospitalization.
Whether you suffer from underlying conditions or not, or have had the vaccine or not, it’s important to take action to lower your risk of getting the virus, and the severity to which it effects you by boosting your immunity.
First, what is immunity?
Our immunity is our body's ability to fight off a foreign organism, like an infection or a virus. When your body senses a foreign substance, our immune response is to produce antibodies. Antibodies fight the germs, which we call antigens. When your immunity is at its strongest, you produce more antibodies, which means you have more good guys fighting on your side.
So if your “it’s just allergies” coworker takes a sip of your coffee accidentally, or that guy on the subway wasn’t covering his mouth while coughing, you have a lesser chance of their antigens taking over your body and getting you sick.
Immune System Boosters for Adults
As you age, your immune response decreases. This is why it's especially important for the elderly to improve their immunity through diet and lifestyle changes because they are more susceptible to lasting damage and even fatality through common illnesses like colds and the flu. But don't worry – this article's chock full of immunity boosters for adults and kids, alike.
How to Boost Your Immune System with a Plant-Based Diet
Ok, so if a strong immune system is the goal, how can you get there? Well, look to your plate!
You can boost your immunity naturally by adding more fruits and veggies to your diet. Diets that promote 5-6 servings of fruits and veggies a day are proven to boost your immune response and antibody production.
While both fruits and veggies lessen your chances of getting sick, the best "antiviral diet" is when they're eaten in combination.
And when it comes to quantity, the more the better! The consumption of more than 6 servings of fruits and veggies was associated with an even higher immunity response (go figure)!
A whole food plant-based diet (healthy vegan diet) consistently contains the most servings of fruits and veggies of any diet and therefore is the best diet for immunity boosting.
1. Eat Foods High in Antioxidants (AKA Fruits and Veggies!)
Let’s take tomatoes for instance.
This nightshade is an absolute superfood. Not only are tomatoes delicious, they also contain compounds that prevent sun damage, have been associated with a lower chance of cancer, and can reduce the risk of heart disease.
Tomatoes also have incredible immunity-boosting compounds making them a great addition to any antiviral diet. In one study, subjects stopped including fruits and veggies from their diet. No surprise: their immune response plummeted. But by adding just 1 ½ cups of tomato juice a day to their nutrient-deficient diet, they were able to stabilize their immunity to where they were before they took fruits and veggies out altogether.
But let’s not stop at tomatoes. Did you know red peppers contain 100 percent of your RDA of vitamin C? Did you know pumpkin seeds contain zinc which is immunity boosting? Did you know that mushrooms, our favorite edible fungi, increase our antibody production?! Stick to mainly plant foods to see real immunity boosting results.
2. Drink Lots of Water
Drinking water will keep your body hydrated and help you to flush out toxins from your kidneys and body. Try to drink eight glasses a day, minimum. Not a fan of drinking water? Try herbal teas, lemon water, or add a small splash of cherry, cranberry or grape juice to your water to flavor it slightly.
3. Get Your Blood Pumping (Outside!)
Exercise can actually help prevent communicable diseases and sickness. Studies shows us that by exercising, you can actually prevent sickness, including from COVID-19. Try to get your heart rate up for a minimum of 15 minutes a day. Exercising outside in the sunlight can give you a vitamin D boost, which is essentially for a boosted immune system. Outdoor exercise is also associated with increased mood and can work stronger than depression medication.
4. Avoid Refined Sugar and Animal Products
Refined sugar and animal products both cause inflammation. Antioxidants found in plant-based foods prevent inflammation. Your body works hard to fight inflammation, and inflammation can reduce your immunity response.
Nobody likes to be told to "relax." Still, stress can cause inflammation and reduce your immunity response. Try meditating for even just 5 minutes at a time. Follow an online guided yoga flow, or even take a walk outside. If you aren’t able to get out for a walk, try 3 deep breaths when you’re starting to get stressed out.
Need help kickstarting your plant-based diet?
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- In addition to following the CDC's guidelines, working on your own personal health can help prevent illness and/or reduce severity.
- The healthier you are, the less likely your chances of hospitalization from COVID-19.
- Eat a mostly or fully plant-based diet, drink plenty of water, relax, and exercise to boost your immune system naturally.
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