kudige

Yusuf And Kamran Steal Rajasthan A Thriller

2009-04-24T05:11:00.000-07:00

Yusuf Pathan broke the IPL's first tie and with it Kolkata Knight Riders' hearts through clean hitting in the Super Over, to chase down 16 runs in four deliveries. It was intense drama at Newlands with the match swinging either way - from the moment Rajasthan Royals lost two wickets in the first three overs till Sourav Ganguly's dismissal with two runs required and one ball to go - as the excitement spilled over into the Super Over, the solution to a Twenty20 tie.

It was Yusuf who helped Rajasthan recover from their second bad start in the tournament, at 14 for 2 in 2.2 overs this time. He plundered 42 off 21 balls, hitting six boundaries and two sixes. He then bowled the first over for Rajasthan, with fast, bouncy offbreaks to keep Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum from getting off to a quick start. His first three overs bowled inside the Powerplays, to two of the most destructive batsmen in world cricket went for just 12.

Source: http://content.cricinfo.com/

Needs Of The Indian Men

2009-04-13T03:40:00.000-07:00

Blackberrys the lifestyle brand was born in 1991 with the philosophy of quality first. Identifying a need for branded, structured clothing for the changing needs of the Indian male. Blackberrys established itself as the manufacturer of impeccably designed trousers, suites & jackets.

With a recorded growth rate of 28.6% (which is over and above the industry average), Blackberrys over the years has established itself as a renowned fashion label with a strong brand presence. Their collections have been associated with innovations in fashion and a strong image of 'Sharp Edged Clothing'.

The brand has a high recall value and is perceived as a premium-clothing abode. Documented in various trade surveys as 'the best FIT' and even communicated the 'Young Power Dresser' image to the TA. The tag line 'Sharp smooth and sure' is the irresistible calling for all, further smitten by the sharp cuts, smooth feel and surety of power dressing.

The Blackberrys wardrobe includes Dress Line Trousers, Khakis, and Shirts, Women's Wear, Suits & Jackets and the newly launched B&B collection (Premium shirts & trousers for men). It has a total capacity of making/sourcing 3000 trousers and 400 blazers & jackets daily. A strong sourcing network both domestic and international backs Blackberrys.

Source: http://living.oneindia.in/

George To Contest As Independent

2009-03-26T21:52:00.000-07:00

Veteran JD(U) leader George Fernandes has finally decided to part ways with the party he nurtured and contest as an Independent from home turf Muzaffarpur.

The Mangalorean, who made Bihar his home after he first won the Muzaffarpur seat in 1977, on Thursday said in front of the camera: “Main chunav ladunga (I will contest election)”. Fernandes is expected to file his nomination papers on April 1.

Shocked at the patriarch’s decision, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said: “I have nothing to say. But one thing is clear, that an RJD leader had been by George’s side for last two days at Muzaffarpur”. He was referring to former RJD MLA Dinesh Yadav. Ramjivan Singh, who quit JD(U) on Wednesday, was also seen with Fernandes.

At the socialist leader’s press meet on Thursday, his supporters did most of the talking, often explaining and repeating questions to Fernandes. George was critical of his wife Leila Kabir, who justified the JD(U) decision not to field him. Fernandes asked: “Who is she to decide on my political career?” He did not spare even Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav, calling them “despots”. The JD(U), however, has made it clear that there would be no rethink on ticket distribution.

ForMoreInfo: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/george-to-contest-as-independent/439601/

Mercedes Benz Launched Its M-Class Car In India

2009-03-18T02:42:00.000-07:00

On Monday Mercedes Benz launched its M-Class car in India for approximately for Rs 54 lakh. Mercedes M-Class is top of the order sports utility vehicle from one of the top producers of finest cars in the world.

The new 2006 M-Class has both sturdy and beautiful looks. The car has sweeping front fenders, dramatic shoulder lines and a sharply angled windshield.

Beneath its sleek exterior is an all-new unit body platform as well as a newly-developed suspension, double-wishbone up front and four-link at the rear. New, useful technology includes a standard seven-speed automatic transmission, an even more effective full-time four- wheel-drive system and optional features such as a height-adjustable air suspension.

When the Mercedes-Benz M-Class first arrived around ten years ago, the new sport utility vehicle started a trend that inspired the entire industry to shift toward more car-like SUVs. Virtually the only sport utility at the time with four-wheel independent suspension, the original M-Class was one of the first to be designed from the ground up, rather than being based on an existing truck platform. The first-generation M-Class also won an impressive number of awards, including the prestigious North American Truck of the Year.

While launching the car Mercedes-Benz India's CEO and Managing Director, Wilfried Aulbur said, “The new M-Class offers best of both the worlds—the highest levels of luxury, comfort and on-road refinement combined with excellent off-road capabilities and best-in- class safety standards”.

The Mercedes-Benz M-Class is a mid-size sport utility vehicle (SUV) with light off-road capability, first offered in 1997 as a 1998 model, and built by the German automaker Mercedes-Benz. It marked a shift at Mercedes-Benz in becoming a global player; while it had plants outside Germany before, they merely built German models. Gradually, the M-Class became a sales success in the United States and Mexico. In size, it is slotted below the GL-Class. For a short time, between the years 1999 to 2002, the M class was built by Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria, for the European market, until it moved to part of the U.S. market.

State Scores High On Mental Health Issues

2009-03-12T22:22:00.000-07:00

he road to improvement sometimes begins with a dose of self-awareness, taking responsibility and reading the billboards along the way. And Connecticut's mental health system is stuck in "gridlock."

That admission by state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Commissioner Thomas A. Kirk Jr. garnered Connecticut a "B" Thursday on the National Alliance on Mental Illness' Grading the States 2009 report card.

The NAMI rankings, which rate the states on 65 criteria, come out once every three years. Only five other states -- Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Maryland and Oklahoma earned B's.

NAMI called Connecticut a "state of paradoxes," noting that on one hand "it strives to provide an excellent mental health care system and boasts many good conceptual ideas and interagency collaborations with the criminal justice system." Nevertheless, DMHAS' "uses the word 'gridlock' to describe its own system capacity failures," NAMI states in its report card on Connecticut. "Mental health gridlock leaves people stuck in places they do not need to be, which is expensive and disruptive."

Still, NAMI appears to be impressed with Connecticut's awareness of its systemic problems. It finds that even though Connecticut Valley Hospital had four suicides in four years, DMHAS had fired key staff involved, and introduced improvements in oversight and training that seem likely to lower the risk of future suicides.

NAMI acknowledged that the lawsuit the state faces over failing to provide the least restrictive and appropriate treatment for people with mental illnesses in nursing homes cost the state $7 million in lost "federal payments to nursing homes because many people with serious mental illnesses were being inappropriately warehoused there."

Kirk called NAMI a "tough grader."

The DMHAS commissioner said NAMI gave most states a "D" this year, as it had done in 2006 when it conducted its last review of states' performance. "Their goal in grading states is to achieve a high quality, welcoming mental health system that provides the best care possible for adults with serious mental health conditions and their families," Kirk said. "We share that goal."

The areas where Connecticut scored its highest marks were in the consumer/family empowerment measures.

"We received the highest possible scores in work-force development and our collaboration with the Judicial Branch and the [state] Department of Correction to implement jail diversion and community reintegration services for offenders."

Connecticut was the only state to receive an "A" in the "consumer/family empowerment" subcategory.

"This validates the strengths of the Connecticut mental health system and our commitment to improving the lives of those living with mental illness and their families," Gov. M. Jodi Rell said. "I commend Commissioner Kirk for his strong leadership at the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and for the effective teamwork that goes into delivering quality care and support."

March-Cancer Awareness Month

2009-03-05T22:20:00.000-08:00

It’s a disease many of us are familiar with and is sometimes called the silent killer .
Colon Cancer affects the large intestine, the lower part of your digestive system.
It is the second leading cause of cancer death in America. If detected early, Colon Cancer is 90 percent preventable. While it’s awkward for you to talk about, it is important to think about.
March is national Colorectal Cancer month. Dr. Nicholas Costrini of Georgia Gastroenterology Group says it would be wise for men and women to know the symptoms.
“A change in bowel habits, previously having normal bowel activity and then for no apparent reason developing constipation, or for no apparent reason developing silent seen blood in the stool. Cramping abdominal pain following meals when you never had this before,“ says Dr. Costrini. It’s recommended that you have your first colonoscopy at age 50.

Researchers for HIV work

2009-02-19T04:59:00.001-08:00

Even as Connecticut considers reducing funding for AIDS programs, state public health researchers are winning accolades for their work with those living with HIV.

A program developed at the University of Connecticut's Center for Health, Intervention and Prevention is among a group of eight intervention programs commended recently by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Under the program, known as "Options," clinicians are trained to counsel HIV-positive patients during routine medical appointments to avoid risky behavior, such as unprotected sex and drug use, developing a list of behavioral prescriptions for patients to follow as they live with the virus.

"Most interventions focus on people not infected with HIV and not likely to become infected," said Jeffrey D. Fisher, a social psychology professor at UConn and director of the intervention center. "But we also need to help people who have HIV to practice safer sex and drug use."

Such precautions are necessary not just to protect the health of those living with HIV or AIDS, which make patients substantially more susceptible to infection and disease, but also to ensure that continued risky behavior doesn't spread HIV to those with whom diagnosed people share needles or have sex.

Fisher developed the program in the late 1990s with his brother, Bill Fisher, a professor at the University of Western Ontario, and three other researchers from CHIP and Yale University.

The Options program was developed from current behavioral theory and a process of collaboration with those struggling with HIV diagnosis and problems with substance abuse or risky sex, Fisher said. The intervention plan asks clinical workers to work with patients to develop strategies for reducing risk, and to evaluate each patient's willingness to change.

The program was included this year in "The 2008 Compendium of Evidence-based HIV Prevention Interventions," which is compiled annually by the CDC, and recognizes programs that have proven successful at reducing HIV infection and behavior that can increase the chance of contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

The CDC estimates that 46,000 people were infected with HIV in the U.S. in 2006, the most recent year for which data was available.

Source: theday.com/re.aspx?re=76b88ed9-71a3-4510-a675-6361d367da02

Constructed languages

2009-02-09T01:19:00.001-08:00

Some individuals and groups have constructed their own artificial languages, for practical, experimental, personal, or ideological reasons. International auxiliary languages are generally constructed languages that strive to be easier to learn than natural languages; other constructed languages strive to be more logical ("loglangs") than natural languages; a prominent example of this is Lojban.

Some writers, such as J. R. R. Tolkien, have created fantasy languages, for literary, artistic or personal reasons. The fantasy language of the Klingon race has in recent years been developed by fans of the Star Trek series, including a vocabulary and grammar.

Constructed languages are not necessarily restricted to the properties shared by natural languages.

This part of ISO 639 also includes identifiers that denote constructed (or artificial) languages. In order to qualify for inclusion the language must have a literature and it must be designed for the purpose of human communication. Specifically excluded are reconstructed languages and computer programming languages.

Photo CD

2009-02-02T23:21:00.000-08:00

Photo CD is a system designed by Kodak for digitizing and storing photos on a CD. Launched in 1992, the discs were designed to hold nearly 100 high quality images, scanned prints and slides using special proprietary encoding. Photo CD discs are defined in the Beige Book and conform to the CD-ROM XA and CD-i Bridge specifications as well. They are intended to play on CD-i players, Photo CD players and any computer with the suitable software irrespective of the operating system. The images can also be printed out on photographic paper with a special Kodak machine. This format is not to be confused with Kodak Picture CD, which is a consumer product in CD-ROM format.

Species plans

2009-01-26T22:37:00.000-08:00

A fundamental method of engagement to a BAP is thorough documentation regarding individual species, with emphasis upon the population distribution and conservation status. This task, while fundamental, is highly daunting, since only an estimated ten percent of the world’s species are believed to have been characterized as of 2006, most of these unknowns being plants and lower animals. For many mammal, bird and reptile species, information is often available in published literature; however, for many plant species as well as invertebrate species, such information may require considerable local data collection. It is also useful to compile time trends of population estimates in order to understand the dynamics of population variability and vulnerability. In some parts of the world complete species inventories are not realistic; for example, in the Madagascar dry deciduous forests, many species are completely undocumented and much of the region has never even been systematically explored by scientists.

A species plan component of a country’s BAP should ideally entail a thorough description of the range, habitat, behaviour, breeding and interaction with other species. Once a determination has been made of conservation status (e.g. rare, endangered, threatened, vulnerable), a plan can then be created to conserve and restore the species population to target levels. Examples of programmatic protection elements are: habitat restoration; protection of habitat from urban development; establishment of property ownership; limitations on grazing or other agricultural encroachment into habitat; reduction of slash and burn agricultural practises; outlawing killing or collecting the species; restrictions on pesticide use; and control of other environmental pollution. The plan should also articulate which public and private agencies should implement the protection strategy and indicate budgets available to execute this strategy.

Battle of Lone Pine

2009-01-19T22:54:00.001-08:00

The Battle of Lone Pine, which took place during the Gallipoli campaign from the fourth to the tenth of August, was the only successful Australian attack against the Turkish trenches within the original perimeter of the ANZAC battlefield, and yet it was merely a diversion to draw attention from the main assaults of 6 August against the Sari Bair peaks of Chunuk Bair and Hill 971.

Dracaena draco

2009-01-12T23:21:00.001-08:00

Dracaena draco, the Canary Islands Dragon Tree or Drago is a subtropical Dragon Tree native to the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Madeira, Azores, and locally in western Morocco.

The tree is characterised by a single or multiple trunk growing up to 12 m tall (rarely more), with a dense umbrella-shaped canopy of thick leaves. It grows slowly, requiring about ten years to reach 1 m tall. Young trees remain with only a single stem; branching occurs when the tree flowers, when two side shoots at the base of the flower panicle continue the growth as a fork in the stem. Being monocotyledonous, Dracaena draco does not display annual rings and age can only be estimated by the number of branch forking occurrences (indicating the number of flowering episodes) and measuring the frequency of flowering (less than annual). Some specimens are believed to be up to 650 years old; the oldest is growing at Icod de los Vinos in northwest Tenerife.

The recently discovered wild populations in western Morocco have been described as a separate subspecies, Dracaena draco subsp. ajgal, while those on Gran Canaria are sometimes distinguished as a separate species Dracaena tamaranae.
When the bark or leaves are cut, it secretes a reddish resin known as Dragon's blood, used in ancient Roman and mediaeval magic and alchemy, then believed by the users to be the dried blood of dragons

Jute

2009-01-07T03:13:00.000-08:00

Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, family Tiliaceae.

Jute is one of the cheapest natural fibres and is second only to cotton in amount produced and variety of uses. Jute fibres are composed primarily of the plant materials cellulose (major component of plant fibre) and lignin (major components wood fibre). It is thus a ligno-cellulosic fibre that is partially a textile fibre and partially wood. It falls into the bast fibre category (fibre collected from bast or skin of the plant) along with kenaf, industrial hemp, flax (linen), ramie, etc. The industrial term for jute fibre is raw jute. The fibres are off-white to brown, and 1–4 meters (3–12 feet) long.

Jute fibre is often called hessian; jute fabrics are also called hessian cloth and jute sacks are called gunny bags in some European countries. The fabric made from jute is popularly known as burlap in North America.

Woodleigh crater

2009-01-01T23:42:00.000-08:00

Woodleigh is a large meteorite impact crater (astrobleme) in Western Australia, centered on Woodleigh Station east of Shark Bay. A team of four scientists at the Geological Survey of Western Australia and the Australian National University, led by Arthur J. Mory, announced the discovery in the April 15, 2000 issue of Earth and Planetary Science Letters .

The crater is not exposed at the surface and therefore its size is uncertain. The original discovery team believe it may be up to 120 kilometres in diameter , but others argue it may be much smaller, with one study suggesting a diameter closer to 60 kilometres . The larger estimate, if correct, would make this the fourth largest confirmed impact structure in the world, and imply a bolide (asteroid or comet) about 5–6 kilometres in diameter .

The central uplift, interpreted to be 20 kilometres in diameter, was first intersected by drilling activities in the late 1970s; however its significance as an impact structure was only realised in 1997 during a gravity survey . In 1999 a new core sample was taken. The thin veins of melted glass, breccia, and shocked quartz found would have formed under pressures 100,000 times greater than atmospheric pressure at sea level, or between 10 and 100 times greater than those generated by volcanic or earthquake activity. Only a large impact could have generated such conditions.

The Woodleigh impact event, originally thought to have occurred between the Late Triassic and Late Permian, is now thought to date from 364 ± 8 million years (Late Devonian) . This time corresponds approximately to a minor extinction event when around 40% of species disappeared. There is evidence for other large impact events at around the same time, so if the extinction is related to impact, perhaps more than one crater was involved.

Of the two dozen or more impact craters known in Australia, the three largest are Woodleigh, Acraman, and Tookoonooka .

The vicinity to Shark Bay and its orientation suggest the bay is the incipient part of the hotspot track of the Woodleigh impact.[citation needed] Most of the track, which is cut off at the edge of the continental shelf, would be lost after the break-up of Gondwana.

Subject Verb Object

2008-12-25T23:45:00.000-08:00

In linguistic typology, subject-verb-object (SVO) is a sentence structure where the subject comes first, the verb second, and the object third. Languages may be classified according to the dominant sequence of these elements. Together with the SOV order, SVO is one of the two most common orders, accounting for more than 75% of the world's languages between them. It is also the most common order developed in Creole languages, suggesting that it may be somehow more initially 'obvious' to human psychology.

Arabic, Finnish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Modern Hebrew, Khmer, Luganda, Russian, Bulgarian, Swahili, Hausa, English, Yoruba, Quiche, Guaraní, Javanese, Malay, Latvian, Rotuman and Indonesian are examples of languages that can follow an SVO pattern. The Romance languages also follow SVO construction, except for certain constructions in many of them in which a pronoun functions as the object. All of the Scandinavian languages follow this order also but change to VSO when asking a question. Some of these languages, such as English, can also use an OSV structure in certain literary styles, such as poetry.

Meiosis

2008-12-15T22:41:00.000-08:00

In biology or life science, meiosis (pronounced my-oh-sis) is a process of reductional division in which the number of chromosomes per cell is cut in half. In animals, meiosis always results in the formation of gametes, while in other organisms it can give rise to spores.

Meiosis is essential for sexual reproduction and therefore occurs in all eukaryotes (including single-celled organisms) that reproduce sexually. A few eukaryotes, notably the Bdelloid rotifers, have lost the ability to carry out meiosis and have acquired the ability to reproduce by parthenogenesis. Meiosis does not occur in archaea or bacteria, which reproduce via asexual processes such as binary fission.

During meiosis, the genome of a diploid germ cell, which is composed of long segments of DNA packaged into chromosomes, undergoes DNA replication followed by two rounds of division, resulting in four haploid cells. Each of these cells contain one complete set of chromosomes, or half of the genetic content of the original cell. If meiosis produces gametes, these cells must fuse during fertilization to create a new diploid cell, or zygote before any new growth can occur. Thus, the division mechanism of meiosis is a reciprocal process to the joining of two genomes that occurs at fertilization. Because the chromosomes of each parent undergo genetic recombination during meiosis, each gamete, and thus each zygote, will have a unique genetic blueprint encoded in its DNA. Together, meiosis and fertilization constitute sexuality in the eukaryotes, and generate genetically distinct individuals in populations.

Artificial intelligence

2008-12-03T21:13:00.000-08:00

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science which aims to create it. Major AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents," where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximize its chances of success. John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1956, defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines."

The field was founded on the claim that a central property of human beings, intelligence—the sapience of Homo sapiens—can be so precisely described that it can be simulated by a machine. This raises philosophical issues about the nature of the mind and limits of scientific hubris, issues which have been addressed by myth, fiction and philosophy since antiquity. Artificial intelligence has been the subject of breathtaking optimism, has suffered stunning setbacks and, today, has become an essential part of the technology industry, providing the heavy lifting for the most difficult problems in computer science.

AI research is highly technical and specialized, so much so that some critics decry the "fragmentation" of the field. Subfields of AI are organized around particular problems, the application of particular tools and around long standing theoretical differences of opinion. The central problems of AI include such traits as reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, communication, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects. General intelligence (or "strong AI") is still a long term goal of (some) research.

Camp Lejeune Background

2008-11-28T03:38:00.000-08:00

U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina was established in 1942. In 1982, the Marine Corps discovered specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the drinking water provided by two of the eight water treatment plants on base.

Water from the Tarawa Terrace Treatment Plant was contaminated by PCE (perchloroethylene or tetrachloroethylene). The source of the contamination was the waste disposal practices at ABC One-Hour Cleaners, an off-base dry cleaning firm. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) modeled the contamination and determined that the Tarawa Terrace system had PCE levels that exceeded the current standard of 5 micrograms per liter (μg/L) for 346 months between November 1957 and February 1987. (Note: 1 μg/L of a drinking water contaminant is equivalent to 1 part per billion or ppb) The most contaminated wells were shut down in February 1985.

Water from the Hadnot Point Treatment Plant was contaminated primarily by TC(trichloroethylene). Other contaminants in the drinking water included DCE (t-1,2-dichloroethylene), PCE and benzene. The system was contaminated by multiple sources: leaking underground storage tanks, industrial area spills, and waste disposal sites. ATSDR is currently modeling the Hadnot Point system.

Brain tumor

2008-11-19T04:14:00.000-08:00

A brain tumor (brain tumour in the UK) is any intracranial tumor created by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division, normally either in the brain itself (neurons, glial cells (astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, ependymal cells), lymphatic tissue, blood vessels), in the cranial nerves (myelin-producing Schwann cells), in the brain envelopes (meninges), skull, pituitary and pineal gland, or spread from cancers primarily located in other organs (metastatic tumors). Primary (true) brain tumors are commonly located in the posterior cranial fossa in children and in the anterior two-thirds of the cerebral hemispheres in adults, although they can affect any part of the brain. In the United States in the year 2005, it was estimated that there were 43,800 new cases of brain tumors (Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States, Primary Brain Tumors in the United States, Statistical Report, 2005 - 2006), which accounted for 1.4 percent of all cancers, 2.4 percent of all cancer deaths, and 20–25 percent of pediatric cancers.Ultimately, it is estimated that there are 13,000 deaths per year in the United States alone as a result of brain tumors.

Taste

2008-11-13T01:09:00.000-08:00

Taste or gustation is one of the two main "chemical" senses. There are at least four types of tastes that "buds" (receptors) on the tongue detect, and hence there are anatomists who argue[citation needed] that these constitute five or more different senses, given that each receptor conveys information to a slightly different region of the brain[citation needed]. The inability to taste is called ageusia.

The four well-known receptors detect sweet, salt, sour, and bitter, although the receptors for sweet and bitter have not been conclusively identified. A fifth receptor, for a sensation called umami, was first theorised in 1908 and its existence confirmed in 2000 The umami receptor detects the amino acid glutamate, a flavor commonly found in meat and in artificial flavourings such as monosodium glutamate.

Firearm

2008-11-04T23:09:00.000-08:00

A firearm is a tool that projects either single or multiple projectiles at high velocity through a controlled explosion. The firing is achieved by the gases produced through rapid, confined burning of a propellant. This process of rapid burning is technically known as deflagration. In older firearms, this propellant was typically black powder, but modern firearms use smokeless powder, cordite, or other propellants. Most modern firearms (with the notable exception of smoothbore shotguns) have rifled barrels to impart spin to the projectile for improved flight stability.

Tonicity

2008-10-30T02:07:00.000-07:00

Tonicity is a measure of blood capacity or effective osmolality in cell biology. Osmolality and osmolarity are properties of a particular solution, independent of any membrane. Tonicity is the base measurment for complex compounds with provides immunity to the body, and is equal to the sum of the concentrations of the solutes which have the capacity to exert an osmotic force across that membrane. Tonicity, also, depends on solute permemability (permeant solutes do not affect tonicity; impermeant solutes do affect tonicity). Tonicity is generally classified in three ranges; hypertonicity, hypotonicity and isotonicity. Hypertonic, isotonic and hypotonic solutions are defined in reference to a cell membrane by comparing the tonicity of the solution with the tonicity within the cell.

Lucas cell

2008-10-22T00:06:00.000-07:00

A Lucas cell is a type of scintillation particle detector. It is used to grab a gas sample, filter out the radioactive particulates through a special filter and then count the radioactive decay. It is frequently used to measure radon gas concentrations. The inside of the gas chamber is coated with silver-activated zinc sulfide or ZnS(Ag) that scintillates or shines when struck by alpha particles. A photomultiplier tube at the top of the chamber counts the photons and sends the count to the data logger or counter.

Radon itself is an inert gas. Its danger lies in the fact that it is radioactive and its radioactive daughters accumulate in the dust of enclosed areas. The radon daughters may lodge in the lungs and bombard them with alpha and beta radiation.

Digital Marketing –Push

2008-10-13T22:31:00.000-07:00

Push digital marketing technologies involve both the marketer (creator of the message) as well as the recipients (the user). Email, SMS, RSS are examples of push digital marketing. In each of these examples, the marketer has to send (push) the messages to the users (subscribers) in order for the message to be received.

Pros:

Can be personalized -- messages received can be highly targeted and specific to selected criteria – like a special offer for females, 21 years old or over and living in California.

Detailed tracking and reporting – marketers can see not only how many people saw their message but also specific information about each user such as their name as well as demographic and psychographic data.

Return on Investment (ROI) possible – if executed the right way, push messaging can help drive new revenue as well as brand reinforcement.

Cons:

Compliance issue – each push messaging technology has its own set of regulations, from minor (RSS) to heavily controlled (email and text messaging)

Requires mechanism to deliver content – the marketer has to use an application to send the message, from an email marketing system to RSS feeders.

Delivery can be blocked – if the marketer does not follow the regulations set forth by each push message type, the content can be refused or rejected before getting to the intended recipient.

Light-absorbing dyes (DSSC)

2008-10-02T22:01:00.000-07:00

Typically a ruthenium metalorganic dye (Ru-centered) is used as a monolayer of light-absorbing material. The dye-sensitized solar cell depends on a mesoporous layer of nanoparticulate titanium dioxide to greatly amplify the surface area (200-300 m²/g TiO2, as compared to approximately 10 m²/g of flat single crystal). The photogenerated electrons from the light absorbing dye are passed on to the n-type TiO2, and the holes are passed to an electrolyte on the other side of the dye. The circuit is completed by a redox couple in the electrolyte, which can be liquid or solid. This type of cell allows a more flexible use of materials, and is typically manufactured by screen printing, with the potential for lower processing costs than those used for bulk solar cells. However, the dyes in these cells also suffer from degradation under heat and UV light, and the cell casing is difficult to seal due to the solvents used in assembly. In spite of the above, this is a popular emerging technology with some commercial impact forecast within this decade.

LORAN

2008-09-25T00:04:00.000-07:00

LORAN (LOng Range Aid to Navigation) is a terrestrial radio navigation system using low frequency radio transmitters that uses multiple transmitters (multilateration) to determine location and/or speed of the receiver. The current version of LORAN in common use is LORAN-C, which operates in the low frequency portion of the EM spectrum from 90 to 110 kHz. Many nations are users of the system, including the United States, Japan, and several European countries. Russia uses a nearly identical system in the same frequency range, called CHAYKA. LORAN use is in steep decline, with GPS being the primary replacement. However, there are current attempts to enhance and re-popularize LORAN, mainly because it has proven to be a very reliable and simple system.

Bluetooth 1.2

2008-09-19T00:33:00.000-07:00

Faster Connection and Discovery

Adaptive frequency-hopping spread spectrum (AFH), which improves resistance to radio frequency interference by avoiding the use of crowded frequencies in the hopping sequence.

Higher transmission speeds in practice, up to 721 kbit/s, as in 1.1.

Extended Synchronous Connections (eSCO), which improve voice quality of audio links by allowing retransmissions of corrupted packets, and may optionally increase audio latency to provide better support for concurrent data transfer.

Host Controller Interface (HCI) support for three-wire UART.

Ratified as IEEE Standard 802.15.1-2005.

Demographic profile

2008-09-09T23:16:00.000-07:00

A demographic or demographic profile is a term used in marketing and broadcasting, to describe a demographic grouping or a market segment. This typically involves age bands (as teenagers do not wish to purchase denture fixant), social class bands (as the rich may want different products than middle and lower classes and may be willing to pay more) and gender (partially because different physical attributes require different hygiene and clothing products, and partially because of the male/female mindsets).

A demographic profile can be used to determine when and where advertising should be placed so as to achieve maximum results. In all such cases, it is important that the advertiser get the most results for their money, and so careful research is done to match the demographic profile of the target market to the demographic profile of the advertising medium.

A good way to figure out the intended demographic of a television show, TV channel, or magazine is to study the ads that accompany it. For example, in the United States the television program The Price is Right most frequently airs from 11 a.m. to Noon. The commercials on it (besides the use of product placement in the show itself) are often for things like arthritis pain relievers and diapers. This indicates that the target demographics are senior citizens and parents with young children, both of which would be home at that time of day and see that show. Another example would be MTV, for it has many ads with digital audio players indicating that the channel is targeted to young adults and teenagers and/or fans of music.

Elements of data architecture

2008-09-04T04:06:00.000-07:00

There are certain elements that must be defined as the data architecture schema of an organization is designed. For example, the administrative structure that will be established in order to manage the data resources must be described. Also, the methodologies that will be employed to store the data must be defined. In addition, a description of the database technology to be employed must be generated, as well as a description of the processes that will manipulate the data. It is also important to design interfaces to the data by other systems, as well as a design for the infrastructure that will support common data operations (i.e. emergency procedures, data imports, data backups, external transfers of data).

Without the guidance of a properly implemented data architecture design, common data operations might be implemented in different ways, rendering it difficult to understand and control the flow of data within such systems. This sort of fragmentation is highly undesirable due to the potential increased cost, and the data disconnects involved. These sorts of difficulties may be encountered with rapidly growing enterprises and also enterprises that service different lines of business (e.g. insurance products).

Properly executed, the data architecture phase of information system planning forces an organization to specify and delineate both internal and external information flows. These are patterns that the organization may not have previously taken the time to conceptualize. It is therefore possible at this stage to identify costly information shortfalls, disconnects between departments, and disconnects between organizational systems that may not have been evident before the data architecture analysis.

Ethnography

2008-08-25T23:09:00.000-07:00

Ethnography is a genre of writing that uses fieldwork to provide a descriptive study of human societies. Ethnography presents the results of a holistic research method founded on the idea that a system's properties cannot necessarily be accurately understood independently of each other. The genre has both formal and historical connections to travel writing and colonial office reports. Several academic traditions, in particular the constructivist and relativist paradigms, employ ethnographic research as a crucial research method. Many cultural anthropologists consider ethnography the essence of the discipline.[citation needed]

Cultural anthropology and social anthropology were developed around ethnographic research and their canonical texts which are mostly ethnographies: e.g. Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922) by Bronisław Malinowski, Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) by Margaret Mead, The Nuer (1940) by E. E. Evans-Pritchard, or Naven (1958) by Gregory Bateson. Cultural & social anthropologists today place such a high value on actually doing ethnographic research that ethnology—the comparative synthesis of ethnographic information—is rarely the foundation for a career. Within cultural anthropology, there are several sub-genres of ethnography. Beginning in the late 1950s and early 1960s, anthropologists began writing "bi-confessional" ethnographies that intentionally exposed the nature of ethnographic research. Famous examples include Tristes Tropiques by Claude Lévi-Strauss, The High Valley by Kenneth Read, and The Savage and the Innocent by David Maybury-Lewis, as well as the mildly fictionalized Return to Laughter by Elenore Smith Bowen (Laura Bohannan). Later "reflexive" ethnographies refined the technique to translate cultural differences by representing their effects on the ethnographer. Famous examples include "Deep Play: Notes on a Balinese Cockfight" by Clifford Geertz, Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco by Paul Rabinow, The Headman and I by Jean-Paul Dumont, and Tuhami by Vincent Crapanzano. In the 1980s, the rhetoric of ethnography was subjected to intense scrutiny within the discipline, under the general influence of literary theory and post-colonial/post-structuralist thought. "Experimental" ethnographies that reveal the ferment of the discipline include Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man by Michael Taussig, Debating Muslims by Michael F. J. Fischer and Mehdi Abedi, A Space on the Side of the Road by Kathleen Stewart, and Advocacy after Bhopal by Kim Fortun.

Armour

2008-08-20T02:59:00.000-07:00

Armour (or armor) is protective covering, most commonly manufactured from metals, to prevent damage from being inflicted to an individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact weapons or projectiles, usually during combat.

While early armour tended to be worn as clothing intended to defend its wearer during combat between armed forces, armour has been used throughout recorded history, manufactured from a variety of materials, non-metallic and metallic. For much of military history the manufacture of metal armour in Europe has dominated the technology and employment of armour. Its production has been influential in the evolving industrial revolution, and influenced commercial development of metallurgy and engineering.

Armour production was a cause of the development of many important technologies of the Ancient World, including wood lamination, mining, metal refining, vehicle manufacture (chariot), leather processing, and later decorative metal working.

Armour was commonly used to protect only soldiers, foot and mounted. Starting with the rudimentary leather protection, the personal armour evolved to mail and full plated suit of armour. Armour was the single most influential factor in the development of firearms that revolutionised warfare, and has returned in the shape of armoured fighting vehicles in the attempt to enable ground troops to breach field defences unscathed. Sailors and pilots have also benefited from use of armour, with armoured warships dominating naval warfare until the building of the aircraft carriers.

War animals such as elephants and war horses, have also benefited from armour, the application for the later called barding. Armour has also been produced for hunting dogs that hunt dangerous game, such as boars.

Wi-Fi Protected Access

2008-08-13T02:20:00.000-07:00

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2) is a certification program administered by the Wi-Fi Alliance to indicate compliance with the security protocol created by the Wi-Fi Alliance to secure wireless computer networks. This protocol was created in response to several serious weaknesses researchers had found in the previous system, Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). The protocol implements the majority of the IEEE 802.11i standard, and was intended as an intermediate measure to take the place of WEP while 802.11i was prepared. The protocol is specifically designed to also work with pre-WPA wireless network interface cards that pre-date the protocol (through firmware upgrades), but not necessarily with first generation wireless access points. The WPA2 certification mark indicates compliance with an advanced protocol that implements the full standard. This advanced protocol will not work with some older network cards.

Duel

2008-08-05T02:20:00.000-07:00

As practised from the 11th to 20th centuries in Western societies, a duel is an engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with their combat doctrines. In the modern application the term is applied to air combat between fighter pilots.

The Romanticism depiction of medieval duels was based on either a pretext of defence of honor, usually accompanied by a trusted representative (who might themselves fight), often in contravention of the duelling conventions, or as a matter of challenge of the champion which developed out of the desire of one party (the challenger) to redress a perceived insult to his or his sovereign's honor. The goal of the honourable duel was often not so much to kill the opponent as to gain "satisfaction", that is, to restore one's honor by demonstrating a willingness to risk one's life for it.

Duels may be distinguished from trials by combat, in that duels were not used to determine guilt or innocence, nor were they official procedures. Indeed, from early 19th century duels were often illegal in Europe, though in most societies where duelling was socially accepted, participants in a fair duel were not prosecuted, or if they were, were not convicted. Only gentlemen were considered to have honor, and therefore only they were qualified to duel. If a gentleman was insulted by a person of lower class, he would not duel him, but would beat him with a cane, riding crop, a whip or have his servants do so.[citation needed] Duelling is now illegal in all but a few countries around the world.[citation needed]

Flutter

2008-07-29T06:36:00.000-07:00

Flutter is a self-starting and potentially destructive vibration where aerodynamic forces on an object couple with a structure's natural mode of vibration to produce rapid periodic motion. Flutter can occur in any object within a strong fluid flow, under the conditions that a positive feedback occurs between the structure's natural vibration and the aerodynamic forces. That is, that the vibrational movement of the object increases an aerodynamic load which in turn drives the object to move further. If the energy during the period of aerodynamic excitation is larger than the natural damping of the system, the level of vibration will increase. The vibration levels can thus build up and are only limited when the aerodynamic or mechanical damping of the object match the energy input, this often results in large amplitudes and can lead to rapid failure. Because of this, structures exposed to aerodynamic forces - including wings, aerofoils, but also chimneys and bridges - are designed carefully within known parameters to avoid flutter. It is however not always a destructive force; recent progress has been made in small scale (table top) wind generators, for the third world designed specifically to take advantage of this effect .

In complex structures where both the aerodynamics and the mechanical properties of the structure are not fully understood flutter can only be discounted through detailed testing. Even changing the mass distribution of an aircraft or the stiffness of one component can induce flutter in an apparently unrelated aerodynamic component. At its mildest this can appear as a "buzz" in the aircraft structure, but at its most violent it can develop uncontrollably with great speed and cause serious damage to or the destruction of the aircraft. The following link shows a visual demonstration of flutter which destroys an RC aircraft.

Acid dye

2008-07-21T22:53:00.000-07:00

Acid dye is a member of a class of dye that is applied from an acidic solution. In the home or art studio, the acid used in the dyebath is often vinegar (acetic acid) or citric acid. The uptake rate of the dye is controlled with the use of sodium chloride.

In textiles, acid dyes are effective on protein fibers, i.e. animal hair fibers like wool, alpaca and mohair. They are also effective on silk. They are effective in dyeing the synthetic fiber nylon but of minimal interest in dyeing any other synthetic fibers.

Acid dyes are generally divided into three classes which depend on fastness requirements, level dyeing properties and economy. The classes overlap and generally depend on type of fiber to be coloured and also the process used.

Acid dyes are thought to fix to fibers by hydrogen bonding, Van der Waals forces and ionic bonding. They are normally sold as the Sodium salt therefore they are in solution anionic. Animal protein fibers and synthetic Nylon fibers contain many cationic sites therefore there is an attraction of anionic dye molecule to a cationic site on the fiber. The strength (fastness) of this bond is related to the desire/ chemistry of the dye to remain dissolved in water over fixation to the fiber.

Venus

2008-07-15T23:26:00.000-07:00

Venus shows no evidence of active plate tectonics. There is debatable evidence of active tectonics in the planet's distant past; however, events taking place since then (such as the plausible and generally accepted hypothesis that the Venusian lithosphere has thickened greatly over the course of several hundred million years) has made constraining the course of its geologic record difficult. However, the numerous well-preserved impact craters have been utilized as a dating method to approximately date the Venusian surface (since there are thus far no known samples of Venusian rock to be dated by more reliable methods). Dates derived are the dominantly in the range ~500 to 750 Ma, although ages of up to ~1.2 Ga have been calculated. This research has led to the fairly well accepted hypothesis that Venus has undergone an essentially complete volcanic resurfacing at least once in its distant past, with the last event taking place approximately within the range of estimated surface ages. While the mechanism of such an impressionable thermal event remains a debated issue in Venusian geosciences, some scientists are advocates of processes involving plate motion to some extent.

One explanation for Venus' lack of plate tectonics is that on Venus temperatures are too high for significant water to be present. The Earth's crust is soaked with water, and water plays an important role in the development of shear zones. Plate tectonics requires weak surfaces in the crust along which crustal slices can move, and it may well be that such weakening never took place on Venus because of the absence of water. However, some researchers remain convinced that plate tectonics is or was once active on this planet.

Antibody

2008-07-07T23:26:00.000-07:00

Antibodies (also known as immunoglobulins) are gamma globulin proteins that are found in blood or other bodily fluids of vertebrates, and are used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects, such as bacteria and viruses. They are typically made of basic structural units - each with two large heavy chains and two small light chains - to form, for example, monomers with one unit, dimers with two units or pentamers with five units. Antibodies are produced by a kind of white blood cell called a B cell. There are several different types of antibody heavy chains, and several different kinds of antibodies, which are grouped into different isotypes based on which heavy chain they possess. Five different antibody isotypes are known in mammals, which perform different roles, and help direct the appropriate immune response for each different type of foreign object they encounter.

Although the general structure of all antibodies is very similar, a small region at the tip of the protein is extremely variable, allowing millions of antibodies with slightly different tip structures to exist. This region is known as the hypervariable region. Each of these variants can bind to a different target, known as an antigen. This huge diversity of antibodies allows the immune system to recognize an equally wide diversity of antigens. The unique part of the antigen recognized by an antibody is called an epitope. These epitopes bind with their antibody in a highly specific interaction, called induced fit, that allows antibodies to identify and bind only their unique antigen in the midst of the millions of different molecules that make up an organism. Recognition of an antigen by an antibody tags it for attack by other parts of the immune system. Antibodies can also neutralize targets directly by, for example, binding to a part of a pathogen that it needs to cause an infection.

The large and diverse population of antibodies is generated by random combinations of a set of gene segments that encode different antigen binding sites (or paratopes), followed by random mutations in this area of the antibody gene, which create further diversity. Antibody genes also re-organize in a process called class switching that changes the base of the heavy chain to another, creating a different isotype of the antibody that retains the antigen specific variable region. This allows a single antibody to be used by several different parts of the immune system. Production of antibodies is the main function of the humoral immune system.

Genetics

2008-07-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

Genetics, a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding. However, the modern science of genetics, which seeks to understand the process of inheritance, only began with the work of Gregor Mendel in the mid-nineteenth century. Although he did not know the physical basis for heredity, Mendel observed that organisms inherit traits in a discrete manner—these basic units of inheritance are now called genes.

Genetics is that branch of biology which deals with heredity,genetic variation and selective breeding through the study of genes,basic units of inheritance. Genes correspond to regions within DNA, a molecule composed of a chain of four different types of nucleotides—the sequence of these nucleotides is the genetic information organisms inherit. DNA naturally occurs in a double stranded form, with nucleotides on each strand complementary to each other. Each strand can act as a template for creating a new partner strand—this is the physical method for making copies of genes that can be inherited.

The sequence of nucleotides in a gene is translated by cells to produce a chain of amino acids, creating proteins—the order of amino acids in a protein corresponds to the order of nucleotides in the gene. This is known as the genetic code. The amino acids in a protein determine how it folds into a three-dimensional shape; this structure is, in turn, responsible for the protein's function. Proteins carry out almost all the functions needed for cells to live. A change to the DNA in a gene can change a protein's amino acids, changing its shape and function: this can have a dramatic effect in the cell and on the organism as a whole.

Although genetics plays a large role in the appearance and behavior of organisms, it is the combination of genetics with what an organism experiences that determines the ultimate outcome. For example, while genes play a role in determining a person's height, the nutrition and health that person experiences in childhood also have a large effect.

Bluegrass music

2008-06-23T22:57:00.000-07:00

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and it is a sub-genre of country music. It has its own roots in Irish, Scottish and English traditional music. Bluegrass was inspired by the music of immigrants from the United Kingdom and Ireland (particularly the Scots-Irish immigrants in Appalachia), as well as jazz and blues. In bluegrass, as in jazz, each instrument takes a turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others revert to backing; this is in contrast to old-time music, in which all instruments play the melody together or one instrument carries the lead throughout while the others provide accompaniment. Traditional bluegrass is typically based around acoustic stringed instruments, such as acoustic guitar, banjo, fiddle, and upright bass, with or without vocals.

3PAR Inc

2008-06-16T23:42:00.000-07:00

3PAR Inc. (NYSE: PAR) is an American manufacturer of systems and software for data storage and information management. It is headquartered in Fremont, California, USA. 3PAR produces a range of enterprise storage products, including hardware disk arrays and storage management software. Its company slogan is "Resilient Infrastructure Agility For Less.

3PAR led the development of a new category of disk arrays called Utility Storage that is designed to be the storage foundation for utility computing architectures. Virtualized utility computing architectures provide the platform on which service providers can deliver enterprise IT as a utility service. The emergence of Software as a Service (SaaS), Hardware as a Service (HaaS) and social networking business models deployed via the internet and cloud computing is one example of this trend. Enterprises and government organizations that are turning their IT organizations into internal service bureaus by building shared virtualized infrastructures for flexible workload consolidation are another.

3PAR’s flagship product, the InServ storage server, is the foundation of storage networks in many next generation data centers. It includes the models S400 and S800 which compete with high end monolithic storage arrays like the EMC DMX and HDS USPV, and the model E200 which competes with modular storage arrays like the EMC CX and HP EVA. The same InForm Operating system software suite runs across both the E- and S-class platforms.

Elements of data architecture

2008-06-11T04:33:00.000-07:00

Trafic Causes

2008-06-03T03:38:00.000-07:00

Traffic congestion occurs when a volume of traffic or modal split generates demand for space greater than the available road capacity. There are a number of specific circumstances which cause or aggravate congestion; most of them reduce the capacity of a road at a given point or over a certain length, or increase the number of vehicles required for a given throughput of people or goods. A 2005 American study stated that there are seven root causes of congestion, and gives the following summary of their contributions: bottlenecks 40%, traffic incidents 25%, bad weather 15%, work zones 10%, poor signal timing 5%, and special events/other 5%. Other causes include conditions where the mode share between high and low occupancy vehicles primarily consists of low occupancy vehicles or of types of vehicle that take up a large quantum of network space per person. Speed and flow can also affect network capacity though the relationship is complex.

Traffic research still cannot fully predict under which conditions a "traffic jam" (as opposed to heavy, but smoothly flowing traffic) may suddenly occur. It has been found that individual incidents (such as accidents or even a single car braking heavily in a previously smooth flow) may cause ripple effects which then spread out and create a sustained traffic jam when, otherwise, normal flow might have continued for some time longer.

Cascading neural networks

2008-05-28T23:46:00.000-07:00

Cascade-Correlation is an architecture and supervised
learning algorithm developed by Scott Fahlman and
Christian Lebiere. Instead of just adjusting the weights
in a network of fixed topology, Cascade-Correlation
begins with a minimal network, then automatically trains
and adds new hidden units one by one, creating a
multi-layer structure. Once a new hidden unit has been
added to the network, its input-side weights are frozen.
This unit then becomes a permanent feature-detector in
the network, available for producing outputs or for
creating other, more complex feature detectors. The
Cascade-Correlation architecture has several advantages
over existing algorithms: it learns very quickly, the
network determines its own size and topology, it retains
the structures it has built even if the training set
changes, and it requires no back-propagation of error
signals through the connections of the network. See:
Cascade correlation algorithm.

Publishing on the school website

2008-05-27T07:41:00.001-07:00

Schools are contributing to this rich vein of online information by publishing information on the web about their activities. These websites are available to Internet users across the world.

The value

A school website encourages communication with a wider audience including schools in other countries, parents, past pupils, business and the community, and provides up to date information about the school's activities.

The development of such a site by pupils and staff is truly cross-curricular.

The potential risks

Personal Safety

* Feeling uncomfortable

If a website includes a pupil's picture, then this could be downloaded from the web, and edited in an unpleasant or embarrassing way. This new image could be circulated via newsgroups or on another webpage.

Parents have concerns that information about their children may be made available worldwide by schools, and that their children can be identified and traced.

Schools could find themselves the centre of unwarranted media attention if the content of a school's website is not carefully overseen. For example, search engines deal with words individually rather than in context, and deliver sites to the browser based upon those individual words. A website that included the phrase "Ourtown school is a single sex education establishment", could be proffered to a web user who was looking for occurrences of "sex".

* Child protection

A pupil could be traced if their name and picture appear on the school's website. It would be possible for them to be contacted by someone wishing them harm.

The recommendations

* Education Authorities should be approached for guidelines concerning parental permission for publishing pupils' pictures on the web.

* Schools may wish to consider whether pupils are put at risk when pictures of them appear on the school website.

* References to specific pupils should only be made if they do not conflict with the school's Personal Safety Programmed and Child Protection Guidelines.

* School website developers should take special care that pupils' safety and justifies are not compromised.

* The methods that search engines use to index the contents of websites should be borne in mind when producing text for a school website.

Preparing for Safe Internet Use

2008-05-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

Although a new experience for many, the Internet is no more than another medium with associated risks, and general risk avoidance strategies are applicable. It remains true that good advice online has its roots in good advice offline.

Every aspect of life brings its own risk and schools cope by: -

* identifying the risks

* understanding the context

* assessing the level of risk

* introducing strategies to maximize the gain, whilst limiting the risk

* integrating new concepts into the curriculum

* sharing best practice

WHAT COULD HAPPEN IF YOU HAD A BIKE CRASH AND WEREN'T WEARING A HELMET?

2008-05-07T04:57:00.001-07:00

* "You could be paralyzed, killed, or you could suffer damage."

* "You could bust your head open on the sidewalk or a rock."

* "You could go into a coma."

* "You could break your neck or crack your head.

* "You could have serious brain damage and you might have to learn all you know over again."

Bicycle Fact Sheet

2008-04-28T06:04:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that over 600,000 persons suffered bicycle-related injuries serious enough to require hospital emergency room treatment in 1994. Here are some typical cases:

"Karen applied her hand brakes and lost control of her bicycle. She went down an embankment into a creek, and fractured her shoulder."

"As Jimmy was riding his bicycle downhill, the front wheel of his bicycle suddenly became loose and twisted. Jimmy lost control, fracturing his knee."

"Bob was riding a bike without a chain guard when his foot caught between the pedal and chain. He fell, suffering a concussion and skull fracture."

"Michele was riding her bike alongside a friend's. As her friend moved his bike to the right, the two front wheels collided, causing Michele to fall. She suffered a concussion and fractured a wrist."

These case histories illustrate some major accident patterns associated with bicycles. They are:

* Collision with a car or another bicycle.

* Loss of Control -- This occurs because of a number of factors, including: difficulty in braking; riding too large a bike; riding too fast; riding double; stunting; striking a rut, bump, or obstacle; and riding on slippery surfaces.

* Mechanical and Structural Problems -- These include brake failure; wobbling or disengagement of the wheel or steering mechanism; difficulty in shifting gears; chain slippage; pedals falling off, or spoke breakage.

* Entanglement of a person's feet, hands, or clothing in the bicycle.

* Foot slippage from pedal.

To make bicycles safer, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission developed a mandatory safety standard for bicycles to help eliminate injuries due to mechanical and structural failures.

The CPSC regulations establish strict performance and construction standards for the brakes, wheels, steering system and frame. They require reflectors on the front, back, sides and pedals to make bicycles visible at night; require elimination of uncovered sharp edges and jutting parts; and require brakes on bicycles with seat height of 22 inches or more. New bicycles are required to meet the standards.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission offers the following safety tips when shopping for a new bike or taking care of an old one:

Selecting the Bicycle

* If you're buying a bicycle for a child, choose one to fit the child's size today, not one he or she will "grow into" later.

* A bicycle should suit the rider's ability and kind of riding.

* Check hand and foot brakes for fast, easy stops without instability or jamming.

* Avoid slippery plastic pedals. Look instead for rubber-treated pedals, or metal pedals with serrated rattrap edges or with firmly attached toe clips.

Using the Bicycle

* Always wear a helmet to help prevent head injuries. CPSC is setting a new mandatory standard for bike helmets.

* Observe all traffic laws and signals, just as automobiles must do. Graphic of a bicycle with safety features pointed out

* Don't ride double or attempt stunts.

* Ride near the curb in the same direction as traffic.

* Find alternate routes, rather than ride through busy intersections and heavy or high-speed traffic.

* Walk -- don't ride -- your bicycle across busy intersections and left turn corners.

* Avoid riding in wet weather. When wet, handbrakes may require a long distance to stop.

* Avoid riding in the dark. If you do, be sure the bike is equipped with a headlight, a taillight and reflectors. Apply retro-reflective trim to clothing, or wear reflective vests and jackets.

* Avoid loose clothing or long coats that can catch in pedals or wheels. Leg clips or bands keep pants legs from tangling in the chain.

* Avoid crossing raised sewer grates.

Net Pegs (Anchor Types)

2008-04-21T06:36:00.001-07:00

These tapered, metal stakes should be used to secure only the NET to the ground. Net pegs should NOT be used to anchor the movable soccer goal 6. Guidelines for Goal Storage or Securing When Goal is Not in Use The majority of the incidents investigated by CPSC did not occur during a soccer match. Most of the incidents occurred when the goals were unattended. Therefore, it is imperative that all goals are stored properly when not being used. When goals are not being used always:
a) Remove the net,
b) Take appropriate steps to secure goals such as:
1) Place the goal frames face to face and secures them at each goalpost with a lock and chain,
2) Lock and chain to a suitable fixed structure such as a permanent fence (see Figure 4.2),
3) Lock unused goals in a secure storage room after each use,
4) If applicable, fully disassemble the goals for seasonal storage, or
5) If applicable, fold the face of the goal down and lock it to its base.

Semi permanent (Anchor Types)

2008-04-14T05:10:00.001-07:00

This anchor type is usually comprised of two or more functional components. The main support requires a permanently secured base that is buried underground. One type (3.2a) of semi permanent anchor connects the underground base to the soccer goal by means of 2 tethers. Another design (3.2b) utilizes a buried anchor tube with a threaded opening at ground level. The goal is positioned over the buried tube and the bolt is passed through the goal ground shoes (bar) and rear ground shoe (bar) and screwed into the threaded hole of the buried tube.

Rules of Soccer

2008-04-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

From the Federation of International De Football Associations (FIFA) Laws of the Game, Guide for Referees, July 1993.
"Goal-posts and cross-bars must be made of wood, metal, or other approved material as decided from time to time by the International Football Association Board. They may be square, rectangular, round half round or elliptical in shape."
"Goal-posts and cross-bars made of other materials and in other shapes are not permitted. The goal-posts must be white in color."
"The width and depth of the cross-bar shall not exceed 5 inches (12 cm)."
From the National Federation of State High School Associations' (NFSHSA) 1994-95 National Federation Edition-Soccer Rules Book.
"They shall consist of 2 upright (posts) 4 inches but not more than 5 inches (0.10m by 0.12m)...the tops of the posts shall be joined by a 4 inches but not more than 5 inches (0.10m by 0.12m) horizontal crossbar..."
From the National Collegiate Athletic Associations (NCAA) Rules for Soccer.
"...and shall consist of two wooden or metal posts, ...the width or diameter of the goal-posts and crossbar shall not be less than 4 inches (10.16 cm) nor more than 5 inches (12.7 cm)."

Parade marks start of Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games

2008-03-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

The Paralympic flame passed by B.C.-Canada Place on via Accademia Albertina today, marking the start of the Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games. More than 100 people gathered on the sidewalk outside the house, waving Canadian flags and a large Vancouver 2010 sign to cheer on the athletes and the parade. The crowd was even able to enjoy the turn-over of the torch to the next runner.

Movable Soccer Goals Can Fall Over On Children

2008-03-24T06:07:00.001-07:00

Movable soccer goals can fall over and kill or injure children who climb on them or hang from the crossbar. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has reports of at least 28 deaths since 1979 resulting from soccer goals falling over. Both homemade and professionally manufactured soccer goals are involved in these incidents. To help prevent deaths and injuries associated with soccer goals, follow these safety suggestions.
* Securely anchor or counter-weight movable soccer goals at all times (see illustration).
* Never climb on the soccer net or goal framework.
* Always instruct soccer players on the safe handling of and potential dangers associated with movable soccer goals.
* Use movable soccer goals only on level (flat) fields.
* Check all connecting hardware before every use. Replace damaged or missing fasteners immediately.
* Ensure safety labels are clearly visible.
* Remove nets when goals are not in use.
* Anchor or chain goals to nearby fence posts, dugouts, or similar sturdy fixtures when not in use.
* Fully disassemble goals for seasonal storage.

Safe snowmobiling rules for recreational snowmobiling:

2008-03-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

1. Never drive your snowmobile alone or on unfamiliar ground have someone ride along with you, so you can help each other in case of breakdown or accident.

2. Drive only on established and marked trails or in specified use areas.

3. Avoid waterways Frozen lakes and rivers can be fatal. It is almost impossible to judge adequate ice coverage or depth.

4. Avoid driving in bad weather. Check warnings for snow, ice, and wind chill conditions before starting

. 5. Watch the path ahead to avoid rocks, trees, fences (particularly barbed wire), ditches, and other obstacles.

6. Slow down at the top of a hill a cliff, snow bank, or other unforeseen hazard could be on the other side.

7. Don't hurdle snow banks you have control only when your skis are on the ground.

8. Learn the snowmobile traffic laws and regulations for the area. Many states prohibit using snowmobiles on public roads some states have mini-mum age requirements for drivers.

9. be sensible about stopping at roads or railroad tracks. Signal your turns to other drivers avoid tailgating Control speed according to conditions.

10. Use extra caution if driving at night, because un-seen obstacles could be fatal do not drive faster than your headlights will allow you to see Do not open new trails after dark.

11. Never drink while driving your snowmobile. Drinking and driving can prove fatal.

12. be sure the snowmobile is properly maintained in good operating condition. Some cases report that the throttle sticks, leading to loss of control Snowmobiles manufactured before 1983 may not have a "throttle interruption device" designed to shut off the snowmobile in the event the throttle sticks.

MS-DOS

2008-03-10T04:27:00.001-07:00

MS-DOS (MicroSoft Disk Operating System) is an operating system commercialized by Microsoft. It was the commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems and was the dominant operating system for the PC compatible platform during the 1980s. It has gradually been replaced on consumer desktop computers by a variety of generations of the Windows operating system.

MS-DOS was initially released in 1981 and had eight major versions released before Microsoft stopped development in 2000. It was the key product in Microsoft's growth from a programming languages company to varied software development firm, providing the company with essential revenue and marketing resources.

Clidastes

2008-02-22T21:18:00.000-08:00

Clidastes is an extinct genus of mosasaur lizard from marine environments of the Late Cretaceous.

Clidastes was the smallest of the mosasaurs, averaging 2-4 meters (7-12 feet) in length, with the largest specimens reaching 6.2 meters (20 feet) long.

Clidastes was an agile and fast swimmer that cruised the surface or shallow waters hunting for fish, flying reptiles and anything that got too close. It possessed a delicate and slim form with an expansion of the neural spines and chevrons near the tip of the tail and this enabled it to chase down the fastest of prey.

Instant messaging

2008-02-18T23:35:00.000-08:00

Instant messaging (often abbreviated simply to IM) offers real-time communication and allows easy collaboration, which might be considered more akin to genuine conversation than email's "letter" format. In contrast to e-mail, the parties know whether the peer is available. Most systems allow the user to set an online status or away message so peers are notified when the user is available, busy, or away from the computer. On the other hand, people are not forced to reply immediately to incoming messages. For this reason, some people consider communication via instant messaging to be less intrusive than communication via phone. However, some systems allow the sending of messages to people not currently logged on (offline messages), thus removing much of the difference between Instant Messaging and email.

Instant Messaging allows instantaneous communication between a number of parties simultaneously, by transmitting information quickly and efficiently, featuring immediate receipt of acknowledgement or reply. In certain cases Instant Messaging involves additional features, which make it even more popular, i.e. to see the other party, e.g. by using web-cams, or to talk directly for free over the Internet.

The real facts about Jupiter

2007-11-14T23:34:00.000-08:00

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and by distant the largest. Jupiter is above twice as huge as all the additional planets combined. Jupiter is about 90% hydrogen and 10% helium (by numbers of atoms, 75/25% by mass) with traces of methane, water, ammonia and "rock". This is very near to the composition of the primordial Solar Nebula from which the full solar system was formed. Saturn has a related composition, but Uranus and Neptune have much fewer hydrogen and helium.

Jupiter is the fourth shinning object in the sky (after the Sun, the Moon and Venus). It has been recognized since prehistoric times as a bright "wandering star". However in 1610 when Galileo first pointed a telescope at the sky he revealed Jupiter’s four large moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto (currently known as the Galilean moons) and recorded their motions back and forth just about Jupiter. This was the first finding of a center of motion not it seems that centered on the Earth. It was a most important point in favor of Copernicus's heliocentric theory of the motions of the planets (along with other new facts from his telescope: the phases of Venus and the mountains on the Moon). Galileo's outspoken support of the Copernican theory got him in mess with the Inquisition. Today anyone can replicate Galileo's observations (without fear of retribution :-) using binoculars or a cheap telescope.

Jupiter and the added gas planets have high velocity winds which are confined in broad bands of latitude. The winds blow in reverse directions in adjacent bands. Slight chemical and temperature differences between these bands are in charge for the colored bands that govern the planet's appearance. The brightness colored bands are called zones; the dark ones belts. The bands have been identified for some time on Jupiter, but the complex vortices in the boundary regions between the bands were first seen by Voyager. The data from the Galileo probe specify that the winds are even faster than expected (more than 400 mph) and make bigger down into as far as the probe was able to view; they may extend down thousands of kilometers into the center. Jupiter's atmosphere was also found to be pretty turbulent. This indicates that Jupiter's winds are determined in large part by its internal heat fairly than from solar input as on Earth.

Mango

2007-10-28T22:19:00.000-07:00

The mango is a tropical fruit of the mango tree. Mangoes belong to the genus Mangifera which consists of about 30 species of tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The exact origins of the mango are unknown, but most believe that it is native to Southern and Southeast Asia including the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh owing to the wide range of genetic diversity in the region and fossil records dating back 25 to 30 million years.
Mangos retain a special significance in the culture of South Asia where they have been cultured for millennia. It has been the national symbol of the Philippines. Reference to mangoes as the "food of the gods" can be found in the Hindu Vedas and the leaves are ritually used for floral decorations at Hindu marriages and religious ceremonies.

The Etymology and usage of God

2007-10-16T22:07:00.000-07:00

The initial written form of the Germanic word "god" appears from the 6th century Christian Codex Argenteus. The English word itself descends from the Proto-Germanic *ǥuđan. The most linguists concur that the modernized Proto-Indo-European appearance was based on the root which destined either "To call" or to "call upon or invoke".

The capitalized form "God" was first used in Ulfilas' Gothic conversion of the New Testament, to signify the Greek Theos.

In the English language the capitalization continues to symbolize a distinction between monotheistic "God" and the "gods" of polytheism. The given name "God" now characteristically refers to the Abrahamic God of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and the Bahá'í Faith. Though there are considerable cultural divergences that are implied by these different names, "God" remains the common English change for all.

The name may mean any associated or similar monotheistic deities, for example the early monotheism of Akhenaten and Zoroastrianism.

In the context of relative religion, "God" is also often related to concepts of universal holy being in Dharmic religions, despite the historical distinctions which divide monotheism from polytheism — a difference which some, such as Max Müller and Joseph Campbell, have characterised as a bias inside Western culture and theology.

Grape

2007-10-09T00:10:00.000-07:00

A grape is the non-climacteric fruit that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the folks Vitaceae. Grapes grow up in clusters of 6 to 300, and can be black, blue, golden, green, purple, red, pink, brown, peach or white. They can be eaten raw or used for producting jam, grape juice, jelly, wine and grape seed oil. Cultivation of grapevines occurs in vineyards, and is called viticulture. One who studies and practises growing grapes for wine is called a viticulturist.The leaves of the grape vine itself are considered safe to eat and are used in the production of dolmades.

China wall

2007-09-25T00:24:00.000-07:00

The Great Wall is the world's longest human-made arrangement, stretching over about 6,400 km (4,000 miles) from Shanhai Pass in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. It is also the biggest human-made structure ever built in terms of surface area and mass. A number of walls, referred to as the Great Wall of China, were built since the 5th century BC, the most famous being the one built between 220 BC and 200 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. That wall was much farther north than the current wall, built through the Ming Dynasty, and little of it remains.

Personal computer

2007-09-13T23:16:00.000-07:00

A personal computer or PC is usually a microcomputer intended to be used by one person at a time, and suitable for general principle tasks such as word processing, programming, sending messages or digital documents to other computers on the network, multimedia editing or game play, usually used to run software not written by the user. Unlike minicomputers, a personal computer is often owned by the person using it, representing a low cost of purchase and simplicity of operation. The user of a modern personal computer may have trivial knowledge of the operating environment and application programs, but is not unavoidably interested in programming or even able to write programs for the computer.

In modern usage PC nearly always refers to an IBM compatible and the term may even be used for machines that are in no way personal computers but still use the basic architecture of the IBM pc. The first generation of microcomputers were called just that, and only sold in small numbers to those able to operate them: engineers and accomplished. The second generation micros were known as home computers, and are discussed in that section.

Apple Computer

2007-09-06T00:47:00.001-07:00

Apple Computer, Inc. NASDAQ: AAPL is a Silicon Valley company based in Cupertino, California, whose nucleus business is computer technologies. Apple helped originate the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II microcomputer and has since further shaped it with the Macintosh. Apple is known for its original, well-designed hardware, such as the iPod and iMac, as well as software offerings exemplified through iTunes as part of the iLife suite and Mac OS X, its flagship operating system.

Traffic light

2007-08-22T00:48:00.000-07:00

A traffic light or traffic signal is a signalling device positioned at a road junction or pedestrian crossing to indicate when it is safe to drive, ride or walk, using a universal color code.Traffic lights for usual vehicles or pedestrians always have two main lights, a red one that means stop and a green one that means go. Generally, the red light contains some orange in its hue, and the green light contains some blue, to provide some support for people with red-green color blindness. In most countries there is also a yellow (or amber) light, which when on and not flashing means stop if able to do so securely. In some systems, a flashing amber means that a motorist may go in advance with care if the road is clear, giving way to pedestrians and to other road vehicles that may have precedence. A flashing red effectively means the same as a regular stop sign. There may be additional lights (usually a green arrow or "filter") to allow turns (called a lead light in the U.S., because it is usually leading the main green light).

Salad

2007-08-13T21:26:00.001-07:00

Salad is a light meal — or, as part of a larger meal, much more of an taster — consisting of mixed vegetables (usually including at least one leaf vegetable) or fruit, frequently with a dressing or sauce, occasionally nuts and sometimes with the addition of meat, fish or cheese. It is generally seen as a healthy dish, although not always low in calories, salt, sugar, or fat because of the dressing that is often added.The word "salad" comes from the French salade of the same meaning, which in twist is from the Latin salata, "salty", from sal, "salt".

Mainframes

2007-07-30T01:54:00.001-07:00

Mainframes (often colloquially referred to as big iron) are huge and expensive computers used mainly by government institutions and large companies for mission critical applications, usually bulk data processing such as censuses, industry/consumer statistics, ERP, and financial transaction processing.
The term originated during the early 1970s with the introduction of smaller, fewer complex computers such as the DEC PDP-8 and PDP-11 series, which became known as minicomputers or just minis. The industry/users then coined the term "mainframe" to describe bigger, earlier types (previously known simply as "computers").

Tumor

2007-07-23T00:16:00.000-07:00

Tumor or tumour is an irregular growth or mass of tissue. A tumor can be either malignant or benign. Almost all tumors are examples of neoplasia, although certain developmental malformations or inflammatory masses may occasionally be referred to as tumors.

Neoplastic tumors are caused by mutations in DNA of cells, which interfere with a cell's capability to regulate and limit cell division. An accumulation of mutations is needed for a tumor to emerge. Mutations that activate oncogenes or repress tumor suppressor genes can eventually lead to tumors. Cells have mechanisms that repair DNA and other mechanisms that cause the cell to destroy itself by apoptosis if DNA damage gets too severe. Mutations that repress the genes for these mechanisms can also ultimately guide to cancer. A mutation in one oncogene or one tumor repressor gene is usually not enough for a tumor to occur. A combination of a number of mutations is essential.

Cookie

2007-07-16T02:02:00.000-07:00

In the United States and Canada, a cookie is a tiny, round, flat cake. In most English-speaking countries outer North America, the most common word for this is biscuit; in many regions both terms are used, while in others the two words have diverse meanings—a cookie is a bun in Scotland, while in the United States a biscuit is a kind of quick bread not unlike a scone.

Cookies can be baked until crisp or just long enough that they stay soft. Depending on the kind of cookie, some cookies are not cooked at all. Cookies are made in a broad variety of styles, using an array of ingredients including sugars, spices, chocolate, butter, peanut butter, nuts or dried fruits. The smoothness of the cookie may depend on how long it is baked.

Marketing

2007-07-09T22:13:00.001-07:00

Marketing is one of the most significant functions in business. It is the regulation required to understand customers' needs and the benefits they seek. Academia does not have one commonly agreed upon description. Even after a better part of a century the dispute continues. In a nutshell it consists of the social and managerial processes by which goods or services and value are exchanged in order to fulfill the needs and wants of individuals or groups. Although many people appear to think that "marketing" and "advertising" are synonymous, they are not. Advertising is simply one of the lots of processes that together constitute marketing.

CPU Socket

2007-07-05T22:47:00.000-07:00

The term CPU socket (or CPU slot) is commonly used to describe the connector linking the motherboard to the CPU in certain types of desktop and server computers, particularly those compatible with the Intel x86 architecture.

Most CPU sockets and processors in use today are built around the pin grid array (PGA) architecture, in which the pins on the base of the processor are inserted into the socket. To aid installation, zero insertion force (ZIF) sockets are usually used, allowing the processor to be inserted without any confrontation, while gripping the pins firmly once the processor is in place to ensure a reliable contact. In contrast to CPU sockets, slot-based processors and CPUs use a single-edged connection rather than a socket, and slot into the motherboard on their side. Slot architectures are not often used today

Swan

2007-07-01T22:35:00.001-07:00

Swans are large water birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the intimately related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae.

Swans typically mate for life, though "divorce" does sometimes occur, mainly following nesting failure. The number of eggs in each clutch is between 3–8.
The word is derived from Old English swan, akin to German Schwan, in turn derived from Indo-European root *swen (to sound, to sing), whence Latin derives sonus (sound). Young swans are known as cygnets, from the Latin word for swan, cygnus. An adult male is a cob, from Middle English cobbe; an adult female is a pen .

RISC (reduced instruction set computer)

2007-06-27T22:20:00.001-07:00

In the mid-1980s to early-1990s, a crop of new high-performance RISC microprocessors appeared, which were initially used in special purpose machines and UNIX workstations, but have since become almost universal in all roles except the Intel-standard desktop.

The first commercial design was released by MIPS Technologies, the 32-bit R2000. The R3000 made the design truly practical, and the R4000 introduced the world's first 64-bit design. Opposing projects would result in the IBM POWER and Sun SPARC systems, respectively. Soon every major vendor was releasing a RISC design, including the AT&T CRISP, AMD 29000, Intel i860 and Intel i960, Motorola 88000, DEC Alpha and the HP-PA.

Market forces have "weeded out" many of these designs, leaving the PowerPC as the main desktop RISC processor, with the SPARC being used in Sun designs only. MIPS continue to supply some SGI systems, but are first and foremost used as an embedded design, notably in Cisco routers. The rest of the original crop of designs have either disappeared, or are about to. Other companies have attacked niches in the market, notably ARM, originally intended for home computer use but since focused at the embedded processor market. Today RISC designs based on the MIPS, ARM or PowerPC core are the vast majority of computing devices.

Deadheading

2007-06-24T22:19:00.001-07:00

Deadheading is the act of removing spent flowers or flowerheads for aesthetics, to prolong bloom for up to several weeks or endorse rebloom, or to put off seeding.
Deadheading is beneficial to most herbaceous ornamental plants. It can get better overall look of a plant, give a fresh new look to an otherwise finished or even distracting item, and can promote vegetative and root increase rather than seed production and help retain the plant's healthy appearance.

Tide

2007-06-19T22:33:00.000-07:00

Tides are the cyclic rising and falling of Earth's ocean surface caused by the tidal forces of the Moon and the sun acting on the oceans. Tides cause changes in the depth of the marine and estuarine water bodies and produce oscillating currents known as tidal streams, making prediction of tides important for coastal navigation. The strip of seashore that is submerged at high tide and exposed at low tide, the intertidal zone, is an important ecological product of ocean tides
The changing tide produced at a given location is the result of the changing positions of the Moon and Sun relative to the Earth coupled with the effects of Earth rotation and the local bathymetry.Sea level measured by coastal tide gauges may also be strongly affected by wind. More generally, tidal phenomena can occur in other systems besides the ocean, whenever a gravitational field that varies in time and space is present

Canoe

2007-06-15T22:48:00.000-07:00

A canoe is a small narrow boat, classically human-powered, but also commonly sailed. Canoes usually are pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be covered.In its human-powered form, the canoe is propelled by the use of paddles, with the number of paddlers depending on the size of the canoe. Paddlers face in the direction of travel, either seated on supports in the hull, or kneeling directly upon the hull. In this way paddling a canoe can be contrasted with rowing, where the rowers face away from the direction of travel. Paddles may be single-bladed or double-bladed.Sailing canoes are propelled by means of a variety of sailing rigs. Common classes of modern sailing canoes include the 5m² and the International 10m² Sailing canoes. The latter is otherwise known as the International Canoe, and is one of the fastest and oldest competitively sailed boat classes in the western world. The log canoe of the Chesapeake Bay is in the modern sense not a canoe at all, though it evolved through the enlargement of dugout canoes.

Whale

2007-06-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

The term whale is ambiguous: it can refer to all cetaceans, to just the larger ones, or only to members of particular families within the order Cetacea. The last definition is the one followed here. Whales are those cetaceans which are neither dolphins nor porpoises. This can lead to some confusion because Orcas ("Killer Whales") and Pilot whales have "whale" in their name, but they are dolphins for the purpose of classification.

Deadheading

2007-06-07T22:53:00.000-07:00

Bean

2007-06-01T23:42:00.000-07:00

Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of Fabaceae used for food or feed. They are also known as legumes.
The term Bean at first referred to the seed of the broad bean, but was later broadened to include members of the genus Phaseolus such as the common bean or haricot and the runner bean and the related genus Vigna. The term is now applied in a general way to many other related plants such as soybeans, peas, lentils, kidney beans, vetches and lupins.

Bean can be used as a near synonym of pulse, an edible legume, though the term "pulses" is usually reserved for leguminous crops harvested for their dry grain. Pulses frequently exclude crops mainly used for oil extraction (like soybean and peanut) or those used exclusively for sowing purposes (clover and alfalfa). Leguminous crops harvested green for food, such as snap beans, green peas etc, are classified as vegetable crops.

In English usage 'beans' sometimes also refer to seeds or other organs of non leguminosae which bear a resemblance to the vegetable, for example coffee beans, castor beans and cocoa beans ,and vanilla beans .

Abstract art

2007-05-28T23:36:00.001-07:00

Abstract art is now usually understood to mean art that does not depict objects in the natural world, but instead uses colour and form in a non-representational way.In the very early 20th century, the term was more often used to describe art, such as Cubist and Futurist art, that depicts real forms in a simplified or rather reduced way—keeping only an allusion of the original natural subject. Such paintings were often claimed to capture amazing of the depicted objects' immutable intrinsic qualities rather than its external appearance. The more precise terms, "non-figurative art," "non-objective art," and "non-representational art" avoid any possible ambiguity.

Nutrition

2007-05-24T22:37:00.001-07:00

Nutrition is a science which studies the relationship between diet and states of health and disease. Dietitians are Health professionals who are particular in this area of expertise. They are also the only extremely trained health professionals able to provide safe, evidence-based and accurate dietary advice and interventions.

Between extremes of optimal health and death from starvation or malnutrition, there is an array of disease states that can be caused or alleviated by changes in diet. Deficiencies, excesses and imbalances in diet can produce negative impacts on health, which may lead to diseases such as scurvy, obesity or osteoporosis, as well as mental and behavioral problems. Moreover, excessive ingestion of elements that have no apparent role in health, (e.g. lead, mercury, PCBs, dioxins), may incur toxic and potentially lethal belongings, depending on the dose. The science of nutrition attempts to understand how and why exact dietary aspects influence health.

Organization in sociology

2007-05-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

In sociology "organization" is tacit as planned, synchronized and decided action of human beings to construct or compile a common tangible or intangible product. This action is usually framed by official membership and form. Sociology distinguishes the term organization into planned formal and unplanned informal organizations. Sociology analyses organizations in the first line from an institutional viewpoint. In this sense, organization is a permanent agreement of elements. These elements and their actions are resolute by rules so that a certain task can be fulfilled through a system of coordinated the division of labour.

An organization is defined by the rudiments that are part of it, its communication, its independence and its rules of action compared to outside events. By coordinated and planned cooperation of the elements, the organization is able to solve tasks that lie beyond the abilities of the single elements. The price paid by the elements is the restriction of the degrees of freedom of the elements. Advantages of organizations are enhancement, addition, and extension. Disadvantages are inertness and loss of interaction.

RISC (reduced instruction set computer)

2007-05-15T22:44:00.001-07:00

Paint

2007-05-11T23:25:00.000-07:00

Paint is any liquid, liquifiable, or mastic composition which after application to a substrate in a thin layer is transformed to an opaque solid film.
Paint is used to protect, decorate (such as adding color), or add functionality to an object or outside by covering it with a pigmented coating. An example of protection is to retard corrosion of metal. An example of decoration is to add festive trim to a room interior. An example of added functionality is to alter light reflection or heat radiation of a surface.
As a verb, painting is the application of paint. Someone who paints creatively is usually called a painter, while someone who paints commercially is often referred to as a painter and decorator, or house painter.
Paint can be applied to almost any kind of object. It is used, among many other uses, in the production of art, in industrial coating, as a driving aid, or as a barrier to prevent corrosion or water damage. Paint is a semifinished product, as the final product is the painted article itself.

Belt (clothing)

2007-05-07T23:31:00.000-07:00

A belt is a flexible band, characteristically made of leather or heavy cloth, and worn around the waist.belt supports trousers or other articles of clothing, and it serves for style and decoration.Historically, a belt was also used by educators for spanking children, and by masters for spanking servants. This use has frequently declined in the Western world, as it is viewed as too barbaric and uncontrollable a form of corporal punishment.At one end of the belt is a belt buckle that is shaped onto the other end of the belt. The other end of the belt contains several holes, into which a prong (which is part of the buckle) is inserted into it for the purpose of securing the belt. Sometimes, there is a clamp system so that no holes are wanted. In Western civilizations, men usually insert the belt through the pant loops in a counter-clockwise manner, while women tend to insert the belt through the pant loops in a clockwise direction.Since belts must be drawn firmly around the waist in order to hold up the pants, they may be less comfortable than suspenders, which allow trousers to hang loosely about the body.

Speed limit

2007-05-02T22:30:00.001-07:00

A speed limit is the highest speed allowed by law for vehicles on a road.

Design speed
Speed limits are only peripherally interrelated to the design speed of the road.
In the United States, the design speed is "a selected speed used to establish the various geometric design features of the roadway" according to the 2001 AASHTO Green Book, the highway design manual. It has been changed from previous versions which considered it the "highest safe speed that can be maintained over a specific section of highway when conditions are so positive that the design facial appearance of the highway governs."

The design speed has largely been discredited as a sole basis for establishing a speed limit. Current U.S. standards for design speed derive from outdated, less-capable automotive technology. Also, the design speed of a given roadway is the theoretical maximum safe speed of the roadway's worst feature .The design speed usually underestimates the highest safe speed for a roadway and is therefore considered only a very conservative "first guess" at a limit.

85th percentile rule
An automobile dashboard viewing the speedometer with primary markings in miles per hour.Since the 1950s, United States traffic engineers have been taught the 85th Percentile Rule. The idea is that the speed limit should be set to the speed below which 85% of vehicles are traveling. The 85th percentile closely corresponds to one normal deviation above the mean of a normal distribution.
Every state in the United States statutorily or administratively picks a particular speed for a speed limit cap, meaning that no speed limit in that state may be set higher than the cap. A practical effect of this cap is that nearly every rural roadway in the U.S. has a speed limit that is well below the 85th percentile speed.

Lighting rod

2007-04-29T21:47:00.001-07:00

A lightning rod is a metal narrow piece or rod, typically of copper or similar conductive material, used as part of lightning security to guard tall or isolated structures from lightning damage. Its formal name is lightning finial. Sometimes, the system is informally referred to as:

A lightning conductor,
A lightning arrester, or
A lightning discharger.
However, these terms really refer to lightning guard systems in general or specific mechanism within them.

Lightning rod dissipaters make a structure less nice-looking by which charges can flow to the air around it. This then reduces the voltage between the point and the storm cloud, making a strike less likely. The most common charge dissipaters appear as slightly-blunted metal spikes sticking out in all information from a metal ball. These are mounted on short metal arms at the very top of a radio antenna or tower, the area by far most likely to be struck. These devices diminish, but do not eradicate, the risk of lightning strikes.

American Robin

2007-04-23T22:39:00.001-07:00

The American Robin is a migratory songbird of the thrush family.
The American Robin is 25-28 cm (10-11 in) long. It has gray upperparts and head, and orange underparts, typically brighter in the male; the similarity between this coloring and that of the smaller and unrelated European Robin led to its common name. There are seven races, but only T . m. confinus in the southwest is mainly distinctive, with pale gray-brown underparts
During the breeding season, the adult males grow distinctive black feathers on their heads; after the breeding season they lose this eye-catching plumage.
This bird breeds all through Canada and the United States. While Robins infrequently overwinter in the northern part of the United States and southern Canada, most winter in the southern parts of the breeding range and beyond, from the southern USA to Guatemala. Most depart south by the end of August and begin to return north in March. This species is a very rare vagrant to western Europe. In autumn 2003, migration was displaced eastwards leading to massive movements through the eastern USA. most probably this is what led to no less than three American Robins being found in Great Britain, with two attempting to overwinter in 2003-4, one eventually being taken by a Sparrowhawk

Auto racing

2007-04-18T22:16:00.001-07:00

Auto racing (also known as automobile racing, autosport or motorsport) is a sport involving racing automobiles. Motor racing or motorsport may also mean motorcycle racing, and can comprise motorboat racing and air racing. It is one of the world's most popular spectator sports and perhaps the most thoroughly commercialized.Auto racing began almost immediately after the construction of the first successful petrol-fuelled autos. In 1894, the first contest was organized by Paris magazine Le Petit Journal, a consistency test to determine best performance.A year later the first real race was staged in France, from Paris to Bordeaux. First over the line was Émile Levassor but he was ineligible because his car was not a necessary four-seater.

"Wireless" factories and vacuum tubes

2007-04-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

Marconi opened the world's first "wireless" factory in Hall Street, Chelmsford, England in 1898, employing around 50 people. Around 1900, Tesla opened the Wardenclyffe Tower facility and advertised services. By 1903, the tower structure neared completion. Various theories exist on how Tesla planned to achieve the goals of this wireless system. Tesla claimed that Wardenclyffe, as part of a World System of transmitters, would have permitted secure multichannel transceiving of information, universal navigation, time synchronization, and a global location system.
The next great invention was the vacuum tube detector, invented by a team of Westinghouse engineers. On Christmas Eve, 1906, Reginald Fessenden ransmitted the first radio audio broadcast in history from Brant Rock, Massachusetts. Ships at sea heard a broadcast that included Fessenden playing O Holy Night on the violin and reading a passage from the Bible. The world's first radio news program was broadcast August 31, 1920 by station 8MK in Detroit, Michigan. The world's first regular wireless broadcasts for entertainment commenced in 1922 from the Marconi Research Centre at Writtle near Chelmsford, England.

Space missions

2007-04-05T22:58:00.001-07:00

Unmanned space missions are those using remote-controlled spacecraft.
The first such mission was the Sputnik I mission, launched October 4, 1957. Some missions are more appropriate for unmanned missions rather than manned space missions, due to lower cost and lower risk factors.
Since the early 1970s, most unmanned space missions have been based on space probes with built-in mission computers, and as such may be classified as embedded systems.
Most American unmanned missions have been synchronized by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and European missions by the European Space Operations Centre, part of ESA (the European Space Agency).
ESA has conducted comparatively few space exploration missions. ESA has, however, launched a variety of spacecraft to carry out astronomy, and is a collaborator with NASA on the Hubble Space Telescope.
There has been a large number of very successful Russian space missions. There were also a few Japanese and Chinese missions.

Sand Hill Road

2007-04-01T22:16:00.001-07:00

Sand Hill Road is a road in Menlo Park, California, prominent for the concentration of venture capital companies there. Its significance as a symbol of private equity in the United States may be compared to that of Wall Street in the stock market. Connecting El Camino Real and Interstate 280, the road provides easy access to Stanford University and Silicon Valley. For several years during the Dotcom boom of the late 1990s, commercial real-estate on Sand Hill Road was more expensive than anywhere else in the U.S. (even Manhattan).Some of the areas Sand Hill Road venture capitalists invest in:Sand Hill Road also serves as home to the Stanford Linear Accelerator.

Sunglasses

2007-03-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

Sunglasses are a kind of visual correction aid, variously termed spectacles or glasses, which feature lenses that are coloured or darkened to screen out strong light from the eyes.
Many people find direct sunlight too bright to be comfortable, particularly when reading from paper on which the sun directly shines. In outdoor activities like skiing and flying, the eye can receive more light than usual. It has been recommended to wear these kind of glasses on sunny days to protect the eyes from ultraviolet radiation, which can lead to the development of a cataract. Sunglasses have also been linked with celebrities and film actors mainly due to the desire to mask identity, but in part due to the lighting involved in production being typically stronger than natural light and uncomfortable to the naked eye.
Augusto Pinochet sits with sunglasses in the front of the Chilean JuntaContents

Aircraft carrier

2007-03-22T22:08:00.001-07:00

An aircraft carrier is a warship whose main role is to deploy and recover aircraft—in effect acting as a sea-going airbase. Aircraft carriers thuo depend on local bases for land-based aircraft. Modern navies, who work such ships, treat aircraft carriers as the centerpiece of the fleet, a role before played by the battleship. The change, part of the growth of air power as a significant part of warfare, took place during World War II. Unescorted carriers are careful vulnerable to attack by other ships, aircraft, submarines or missiles and so travel as part of a carrier battle group.
Flight deck configuration
Aircraft carriers have a flat-top deck, the flight deck that serves as a take-off and landing area for aircraft. Aircraft take off to the front, into the wind, and land from the rear. The carrier steams at up to 35 knots (65 km/h) straight into the wind throughout take-off in order to increase the apparent wind speed, thereby reducing the necessary speed of the aircraft relative to the ship. A steam-powered catapult is used to propel the aircraft forward assisting the power of its engines and allowing it to take off in a shorter distance than would otherwise be necessary, even with the headwind effect of the ship's course. on the other hand, when landing on a carrier, aircraft rely upon a tailhook that catches on arrestor wires stretched across the deck to bring them to a stop in a shorter distance than normal. Since the end of WWII it has been ordinary to direct the landing recovery area off to port at an angle to the line of the ship. This allows launching of aircraft at the same time as others land.
The above deck areas of the warship are intense to the starboard side of the deck in a comparatively small area called an "island". Only a very few carriers have ever been intended or built without an island and such a configuration has not been seen in a fleet sized carrier.
A more recent configuration, used by the Royal Navy, has a 'ski-jump' ramp at the front end of the flat deck. This was developed to help launch VTOL (or STOVL) aircraft (aircraft that are able to take off and land with little or no forward movement) such as the Sea Harrier. Though the aircraft are capable of flying vertically off the deck, using the ramp is more fuel efficient. As catapults and arrestor cables are unnecessary, carriers with this arrangement reduce weight, complexity, and space wanted for equipment.

Gliders

2007-03-16T22:36:00.000-07:00

Gliders are aircraft with no internal powerplant. Model gliders are generally hand-launched or catapult-launched (using an elastic bungee.) The newer "discus" style of wingtip handlaunching has mostly supplanted the earlier "javelin" type of launch. Other launch methods include ground based power winches, hand-towing, and towing aloft using a second powered aircraft. As gliders are unpowered, flight must be sustained throughout exploitation of the natural wind in the environment. A hill or slope will often produce updrafts of air which will sustain the flight of a glider. This is called slope soaring, and when piloted skillfully, R/C gliders can stay airborne for as long as the updraft prevails. Another means of attaining height in a glider is exploitation of thermals, which are bubbles or columns of warm rising air created by hot spots on the ground. As with a powered aircraft, lift is obtained by the action of the wings as the aircraft moves through the air, but in a glider, height can only be gained by flying through air that is rising faster than the aircraft is sinking relative to the airflow.
Sailplanes are flown using available thermal lift. As thermals can only be indirectly experiential through the reaction of the aircraft to the invisible rising air currents, pilots find sailplane flying challenging yet rewarding.

Igloo

2007-03-12T21:56:00.001-07:00

An igloo ,translated sometimes as snowhouse, is a shelter constructed from blocks of snow, normally in the form of a dome. Although igloos are regularly associated with all Inuit, they were mostly constructed by people of Canada's Central Arctic and Greenlands Thule area. Other Inuit people tended to use snow to insulate their houses which consisted of whalebone and hides. The use of snow is due to the fact that snow is an insulator (due to its low density). On the outside, temperatures may be as low as -45 °C (-49 °F), but on the inside the temperature may range from -7 °C (19 °F) to 16 °C (61 °F) when warmed by body heat alone

Cheese

2007-03-07T21:43:00.000-08:00

Cheese is a solid food prepared from the milk of cows, goats, sheep, and other mammals. Cheese is made by curdling milk using a mixture of rennet (or rennet substitutes) and acidification. Bacteria acidify the milk and play a role in essential the texture and flavor of most cheeses. Some cheeses also feature molds, either on the outer rind or all through.
There are hundreds of types of cheese produced all over the world. Different styles and flavors of cheese are the result of using milk from various mammals or with different butterfat contents, employing particular species of bacteria and molds, and varying the length of aging and other dealing out treatments. Other factors contain animal diet and the addition of flavoring agents such as herbs, spices, or wood smoke. Whether the milk is pasteurized may also affect the flavor. The yellow to red coloring of many cheeses is a result of adding annatto. Cheeses are eaten both on their own and cooked as part of a variety of dishes; most cheeses melt when heated.
For a few cheeses, the milk is curdled by adding together acids such as vinegar or lemon juice. Most cheeses, however, are acidified to a lesser degree by bacteria, which turn milk sugars into lactic acid, followed by the addition of rennet to complete the curdling. Rennet is an enzyme mixture conventionally obtained from the stomach lining of young cattle, but now also laboratory created. Vegetarian alternatives to rennet are available; most are formed by fermentation of the fungus Mucor miehei, but others have been extracted from a variety of species of the Cynara thistle family.

Random access memory

2007-03-02T21:46:00.000-08:00

Random access memory (usually known by its acronym, RAM) is a kind of data storage used in computers. It takes the figure of integrated circuits that allow the stored data to be accessed in any order — that is, at random and without the physical group of the storage medium or a physical reading head.
The word "random" refers to the fact that any piece of data can be returned rapidly, and in a constant time, inspite of its physical location and whether or not it is linked to the previous piece of data. This contrasts with storage mechanisms such as tapes, magnetic disks and optical disks, which rely on the physical movement of the recording medium or a analysis head. In these devices, the movement takes longer than the data transfer, and the retrieval time varies depending on the physical location of the next item.

Concrete

2007-02-26T21:06:00.000-08:00

In construction, concrete is a composite building material made from the mixture of total and a cement binder.The most general form of concrete consists of Portland cement, mineral aggregates and water.
Concrete does not solidify from drying after mixing and placement, the water reacts with the cement in a chemical process known as hydration. This water is absorbed by cement, which hardens, gluing the other components together and ultimately creating a stone-like material. When used in the generic sense, this is the material referred to by the word concrete.
Concrete is used more than any other man-made material on the planet. It is used to create pavements, building structures, foundations, and motorways/roads, overpasses, parking structures, brick/block walls and bases for gates, fences and poles.

Crystal

2007-02-21T21:20:00.001-08:00

The word crystals originates from the Greek word "Krystallos" meaning clear ice, and once referred mainly to quartz, rock crystal.
In general, crystals form when they undergo a process of solidification. Under ideal conditions, the result may be a single crystal, where all of the atoms in the solid fit into the equal crystal structure. However, normally, many crystals form simultaneously during solidification, foremost to a polycrystalline solid. For example, most metals encountered in everyday life are polycrystals. Crystals are often symmetrically intergrown to figure crystal twins.
Which crystal structure the fluid will form depends on the chemistry of the fluid, the conditions in which it is being solidified, and also on the ambient pressure. The process of forming a crystalline formation is often referred to as crystallization.

Chickens as food

2007-02-15T22:00:00.000-08:00

The meat of the chicken, also called "chicken," is a type of poultry. Because of its somewhat low cost among meats, chicken is one of the most used meats in the world. Almost all parts of the bird can be used for food, and the meat is fit to be eaten in many different ways around the world. Popular chicken dishes consist of fried chicken, chicken soup, marinated chicken wings, tandoori chicken, butter chicken, and chicken rice. Chicken is also a pin of fast food restaurants such as KFC (most products), McDonald's (chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets) and Burger King. Chicken has a quite neutral flavour and texture, and is used as a reference point for describing other foods; many are said to 'taste like chicken' if they are indistinctive.