A Brief History of Orlando
In 1830, the United States built Fort Gaitlin south of present day Orlando to protect settlers from Indian attacks. By 1840, a small settlement known as Jernigan had grown up around the fort. The name came from early settlers in the area, the Jernigan family. By 1850, Jernigan had a post office and by 1856 the community had expanded north and changed its name to Orlando. Orlando incorporated in 1875 with 85 residents, 22 of whom were qualified voters.
In the early 1900s, there was a massive population explosion in Florida and Orlando increased dramatically in size. Today, Orlando is a city of over 260,000. It is the 24th largest metropolitan area and 73rd largest city in the United States. It is the 4th largest city in Florida. Nicknamed “The City Beautiful” and known as the theme park capital of the world, it is the 4th most desired place to live according to a Pew Research Study. Orlando hosts the 13th busiest airport in the United States and is home to University of Central Florida, the 2nd largest University campus in America. Walt Disney World is the city’s largest employer with over 60,000 employees and Universal Studios is also one of Orlando’s top ten employers.


I’ve talked and written a lot about early literacy over the years, but I’ve avoided one very popular term: The Science of Reading.
I decided to keep my head down and my work research-based and just stay out of the fray of nailing down the specific jargon. But with more and more states and districts requiring “Science of Reading compliant curriculum,” it’s important for early childhood educators to know what that means, what it doesn’t mean, and how it impacts our practice.
If The Science of Reading is not a familiar term to you, no worries, we’re going to walk through it and some of the terms associated with it….and if you ARE familiar with the term, I hope you’ll bring whatever background knowledge you have and be ready to find some new perspectives here.
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Notes from the Show:
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The Reading Wars by P David Pearson
News article from 1998 about the formation of the National Reading Panel. (No government action is without debate.)
National Reading Panel Report (2000) – The full 449 pages.
The National Reading Panel Report: Practical Advice for Teachers (2004) – A more digestible summary by panelist Timothy Shanahan
Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (National Academy of Science/National Research Council, 1998)
Why Aren’t Kids Being Taught to Read? by Emily Hanford
What Constitutes a Science of Reading Instruction? by National Reading Panel Member, Timothy Shanahan
Continue with Episode 57: The Science of Reading in Preschool?
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The task force argued against routine testing for autism.
There’s not enough evidence that it’s beneficial to screen all young children for autism, a task force is arguing in a new report.
David Grossman, the vice chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, said that there wasn’t enough evidence that the benefits would outweigh the harms in screening children between the ages of 18 and 30 months, according to a CNN report.
Instead, individual clinicians need to make the call on a case by case basis, Grossman said. Still, the pronouncement is causing concern that it could result in some autistic children being missed early on.
Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability that impacts a child’s development when it comes to social, communication, and behavioral skills. About one in 45 children were diagnosed back in 2014, way up from one in 150 in 2000.
It’s not that the task force is against screening, it’s that without large, controlled studies, there’s no evidence such screenings would help identify children who otherwise wouldn’t be diagnosed with autism, the task force argued, instead advocating for more research and larger studies.
It’s certainly a controversial stance to take. The American Academy of Pediatrics disagrees, suggesting that testing for autism should be routine for pediatricians.
The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“Although a number of potential risk factors for ASD have been identified, there is insufficient evidence to determine if certain risk factors modify the performance characteristics of ASD screening tests, such as the age at which screening is performed or other characteristics of the child or family,” reads a statement from the task force. “The USPSTF concludes that there is insufficient evidence to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for ASD in children age 18 to 30 months for whom no concerns of ASD have been raised. Evidence is lacking, of poor quality, or conflicting, and the balance of benefits and harms cannot be determined.”
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Owl Trio Standing Guard
These beautiful young Great Horned Owlets would fly the nest three days later. They had gotten big, and every evening when night fell, they became very active, jumping to the edges of the nest and flapping their wings quite furiously! It was very dark when this photo was taken, even though it may look like daylight, so my camera was not able to capture the tiny detail it would have during the day. But I love this image of the three so much, looking so alive and fierce and ready for action!
Great Horned Owls usually nest in trees such as cottonwood, juniper, pine, and others. They usually don’t build their own nests, instead adopting one that was built by another species, or they also use tree cavities, dead snags, building ledges, or cliff ledges. Both parents bring food for young owls; usually the male brings food and the female feeds the babies, but not always. Young owls may leave the nest and climb on nearby branches at 5 weeks, and they can fly at about 9-10 weeks. After that, they continue to be tended and fed by parents for up to several months.
Photo taken in Boulder, Colorado, on April 27th, 2019


Hashtagging Sandy: How are the psychological effects of natural disasters expressed in social media? Open Access
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In the wake of crisis, humans innately succumb to particular set of emotions, allowing psychologists to develop a pattern for their responses to trauma. While subjective, a general cycle of emotions can be broken down into three stages: anticipation, experience, and recovery. This study examines this traditional psychological theory and its application to current events through the October 2012 disaster, Hurricane Sandy, and how it was expressed through social media. Presenting the timeline of trending topics and hashtags as exhibits, the investigation asks: to what extent did social media act as an outlet to express the psychological effects of natural disasters? Using the psychological stages to trauma recovery, as described by Herman (2002), and Quarantelli and Dynes (1977), as methods, this study finds that a similar pattern of human response and cycle of emotions was captured on Twitter during Hurricane Sandy. During this computerized era, this investigation examines relevant information regarding the hybridization of traditional psychology and new technology.
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Volume is the amount of space enclosed by an object. You must have a three-dimensional object in order to find volume.
Your goal is to find out how many cubic units the object can hold inside.
Below you will find several formulas for finding volume.
Since a cube has sides that are all the same size, this is a very easy volume formula to remember. We are going to find the area of the bottom of the cube and multiply by the height.
So, that's length x width x height. Since the length, width and height are all the same dimensions, we can cube the length of the side. Take a look at the example.
A rectangular prism is your basic box, that is not a cube. In order to find the volume, we will multiply the length x width x height. These dimensions may all be different, so there is no shortcut for this one!
To find the volume of a cylinder, we must find the area of the base and multiply that by the height. Remember that the area of a circle (the base is a circle) is Pi times radius squared.
The formulas for the following shapes are pretty clear. (To be honest, I am still looking for graphics to be able to show an example! Word does not offer these 3-dimensional shapes!) Click here if you need more help with these formulas.
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Simple Steps to Good Writing 1
Simple Steps to Good Writing 2
Simple Steps to Good Writing 3
Simple Steps to Good Writing 4
Key to Simple Steps to Good Writing
Simple Steps to Good Writing is a four-book series which focuses on writing skills and takes learners from Beginner to Intermediate level. The series is both stimulating and practical, and covers a wide range of topics as well as introducing students to a variety of writing tasks.
Each unit features:
Simple Steps to Good Writing takes learners step-by-step through this difficult area of language learning, giving them a firm grounding in the writing techniques required for success in the writing tasks of various examinations. There is one Answer Key covering all four books in the series.


Children face various types of problems during their education life. It could be of psychological or technical. Whatever the problem be, the easiest way to solve a problem is “getting occupied” by another problem. Sounds crazy right? In fact, it is not. PAT Luxembourg’s “learning by doing” workshop thinks that the problem means, “the problem we all love it” “the problem more fun to solve” “the problem that is a solution to another problem”.
Third session of “Science behind the wheels” was all about “Self-driving Cars” and “Solar Cars” a bit funny right for Children level? The main objective was to introduce the evolution of Cars, and to indoctrinate them the “history” to script the “future”. During previous weekends, children were building “wind cars” which is propelled by motors in turn energized by the battery. Now with the motors connected, they tend to understand the “sensors”, which detects and drives on a lane. The objectives in the session were how the energy stored is converted into linear motions. Interestingly the linear motion is now controlled, rather “programmed”.
Some group of children already started assembling “solar” cars, and unfortunately, the climate did not allow testing them. Looking forward a sunny weekend and children are eager to see their solar cars are moving. Besides, we will still need to complete the testing of “self-driving” cars. Also going ahead, building our own car parts (for example motors) that would create our own vehicles from the inspiration we drawn from off-the-shelf DYI components.


Around the turn of the 20th century, Svante Arrhenius was the first to suggest that people could, through the burning of coal, increase the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and amplify the natural warming effect, thereby causing the atmosphere to warm more than it would through strictly natural processes.
When humans burn gasoline, coal, natural gas, and other common fuels to make electricity or drive cars, they release a substantial amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. For every gallon (or liter) of gasoline your car burns, 1300 times that volume of CO2 is released (a gallon of gas weighs about 6 pounds or 2.8 kilograms, but the released CO2 would weigh over 19 pounds or 8.75 kilograms).
Greenhouse gases are emitted from power plants and cars, but also from landfills, from farms and cleared forests, and through other subtle processes.
Further more,To see how climate change affects different parts of the Earth, climate scientists break the models down into smaller pieces, calculate how small parts of the Earth’s surface react to the Sun and greenhouse gases, and then connect those small parts together, based on measurements of how the atmosphere and ocean interact.
To ensure the accuracy of the models at projecting future climate trends, the models are often run backwards in time to “retrodict” past climate changes, and then compared with paleoclimate observations. The models through this process have become remarkably accurate and give the climate research community confidence that the future projections are robust.’
An interactive map from the Environmental Protection Agency shows US sources of key greenhouse gases. The World Resources Institute cataloged (PDF) global sources of greenhouse gases in 2005.
In the 1950s, scientists began methodically measuring global increases in carbon dioxide. Since then they’ve been able to confirm that the increase has been caused primarily from the burning of fossil fuels (and through other human activities, such as clearing land, as well). This increase, and changes in the type of CO2 being added to the atmosphere provide the “smoking gun” that shows that humans are responsible for the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.


One of the jobs horse owners dread is manure and waste management. This type of work increases exponentially depending on how many horses you have. But what if there was a way to make a sustainable energy source from your horse waste? In Finland, this is exactly what is being done. Continue reading for more information on this relatively new form of energy harvesting. Also, if you are looking for a horse property for sale in Colorado, contact Colorado Horse Property today and speak with one of our horse-person realtors.
Manure Makes Sustainable Energy
Current heat recovery technology works well and is gaining momentum in local equine shows and amongst farmers. It is the hope of some organizations that this will be a sustainable energy source that could replace fossil fuels. The idea is simple. Composting horse manure creates fertilizer and generates heat as a by product. This heat energy converts to a more usable power for homes. A rotary drum composting mechanism, equipped with a heat recovery system, generates the energy. The system converts energy until the waste is fully composted within a week. The recovered energy heats nearby rooms and water.
However promising, manure management as an energy source faces some obstacles. At the moment, the technology only works on a small scale. Managing moisture is one of the key challenges. Also, manure is over 80% water. Therefore, it has a very low heating value when moist. One solution is mixing the manure with wood chips to overcome the humidity problem. Today, the Finns are researching more efficient ways to solve this problem and harness the potential energy. It is only a matter of time. Though Finland currently spearheads the movement, the entire world of horse owners are watching.


Descriptive Research Techniques
Descriptive research is a multifaceted research approach. It can include quantitative data such as the use of empirical information, or can depict qualitative sources such as patterns of disease. Descriptive research requires gathering data that will describe an event and presenting the information in an organized, and often visual, manner. Description is used to explain the answer to “what is” and to depict patterns that emerge during a study through a variety of research techniques.
1 Case Studies
Case studies are one of the most flexible means for descriptive research. This technique requires the detailed analysis of a single population or event. Data can be found in various sources such as newspapers, archival material, and journals. This enables the researcher to explain commonalities or what the event represented.
Observations provide an opportunity for researchers to directly study behavior in a natural context. The researcher is able to record a vast amount of data by acting as a silent observer. Data collected from observations can be analyzed through both a qualitative or quantitative lens. Observational descriptive research requires the use of sampling to select the population that will be observed. It will also be limited to a certain number of observations. It is important to be aware of observer bias and account for it during data collection.
A survey can comprise written questionnaires or interviews. It highlights common responses from interviewees and may help to establish a relationship between various factors. For example, if you want to uncover how people use mobile technology, a questionnaire can identify the common patterns of use. If these parameters are not limited, a survey can be a costly descriptive research technique. Therefore, planning is required to ensure the optimization of sample size and questions.
Descriptive research can be applied to evaluate the outcomes of an event. This technique is useful for studying the effectiveness of social programs. It can be employed mid-project as a form of needs assessment that identifies what is working in the program and what can be further developed. The greatest advantage of using evaluation is employing this technique at the end of the project to ensure that the intended goals were realized. For example, evaluation could be used to establish whether a particular immunization program was able to prevent the disease or if it was able to attract the number of participants desired.


Net Neutrality across Europe
The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) has published its Guidelines to National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) on the implementation of the new net neutrality. From the guidelines it becomes clear that net neutrality across the whole of Europe is now in effect. In an earlier stage, The Netherlands already adopted stronger rules to ensure net neutrality.
As well as providing rights to end-users, the Regulation establishes common rules “to safeguard equal and non-discriminatory treatment of traffic”. These new net neutrality rules seek to ensure that the internet ecosystem can continue to flourish as an engine of innovation and freedom of expression. The guidelines clarify vaguely worded provisions that experts say could have been exploited by telecoms to favor certain internet services over others.
The net neutrality rules adopted by the European Parliament last year aimed to strengthen net neutrality by requiring internet service providers (ISPs) to treat all web traffic equally, without favoring some services over others. But the regulations contained several loopholes that raised concerns among net neutrality advocates, including a provision that would have allowed ISPs to create "fast lanes" for "specialized services," and another that would have allowed for zero-rating, under which certain services and apps would be exempt from counting against monthly data limits. A "traffic management" provision would have allowed telecoms to prioritize internet traffic from some services over others.


The University of Juridical Sciences from West Bengal, India, created an elective subject for students of the final year in Law based on the Harry Potter series.
The subject approaches topics like similarities between social and class rights in India with the enslavement of house-elves and marginalization of werewolves, and contracts studies, having the Unbreakable Vow as an example. It will also approach Quidditch and sports law at Hogwarts, study of Unforgivable Curses, Wizengamot judgments, Sirius Black’s innocence and Tom Riddle’s judgment.
For professor Shouvik Kumar Guha, who created the course, it is about an experiment to encourage creative thinking. “In our current system, we simply tell students the black letter of law. Will they be able to apply pre-existing laws to situations that have never come up before?”, he said to BBC.
The professor believes that it will be an opportunity to the students to come out of their comfort zones and learn from fantasy series that most of them grew up reading. “[J.K.] Rowling’s universe talks a lot about how legal institutions are failing in some scenarios”, he exemplified. Due to its popularity, Harry Potter prevailed over other alternatives to the subject, such as Star Trek and Game of Thrones.
The course will carry 45 hours and the 40 available seats were quickly filled, with several requirements for upsizing the course capacity. This is the second university in India to offer a subject focused on Harry Potter. Around the world, universities as Yale, Georgetown, USP, and UNICAMP have already offered cursed based on the series.
Translated into English by Caroline Dorigon
Edited by Aline Michel


The year 2050 is a time that is often thought of as a distant future, but it is closer than we think. In the next 30 years, the world will be drastically different than it is today. By 2050, the world’s population will exceed at least 9 billion, and India’s population will exceed that of China. This will be a major shift in the world’s population dynamics, as India is currently the second most populous country in the world.
In addition to the changing population, the way we live our lives will also be drastically different. By 2050, it is estimated that 75% of the world’s population will be living in cities. This means that the cities of the future will be much more densely populated than they are today. Buildings will be reaching for the sky, and cities will be built from the ground up.
In terms of technology, the advances that will be made by 2050 are mind-boggling. Artificial intelligence will be much more advanced than it is today, and it will be used in a variety of ways. Self-driving cars will be the norm, and the use of robots for everyday tasks will be commonplace. Augmented reality will be used to enhance our everyday lives, and virtual reality will be used for entertainment and educational purposes.
In terms of energy, the world will be much more efficient than it is today. Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and geothermal will be the primary sources of energy, and fossil fuels will be a thing of the past. This will lead to a much cleaner environment, as well as a more sustainable way of life.
The world of 2050 will also be much more connected than it is today. The internet will be faster and more reliable than ever before, and it will be used to connect people from all over the world. Social media will be even more pervasive than it is today, and it will be used to share ideas, collaborate on projects, and even form relationships.
The world of 2050 will be a very different place than it is today. It will be a world of advanced technology, a more connected population, and a much cleaner environment. It will be a world where the population is more balanced, and where people are living in harmony with nature. It will be a world of possibility, and a world that we can all look forward to.


I got an email from a producer for National Geographic a few weeks ago, and they wanted to record me explaining how a citrus battery works. It’s for a new science/comedy show that comes out next year called Duck Quacks Don’t Echo.
You put nails made out of two different metals into some acidic fruit, like an orange. If one is zinc and one is copper, you essentially make a zinc-hydrogen cell. The battery half-reactions are 1) zinc electrodissolution (anode):
Zn → Zn2+ + 2e–
And 2) hydrogen formation (cathode):
2H+ + 2e– → H2
The zinc electrodissolution obviously happens on the surface of the zinc nail, and releases electrons. These electrons are at a low potential and want to flow to someplace at high potential. The hydrogen formation has a higher potential, and occurs when the protons (H+) in the fruit acid meet the electrons at the copper nail to form hydrogen gas (H2).
So if the two nails are connected, electrons will want to flow from the zinc nail to the copper nail. In between these two nails you place something like a cell phone. Flowing electrons are electricity, and so when they flow through the phone charger it’s electricity to charge the phone. This is how batteries work.


Microbes need resources for energy and cellular building material. They also need access to clement conditions with liquid water and a cellular damage rate that is lower than repair. When deprived of resources and clement conditions, microbes often enter some form of dormancy (e.g., by ceasing cell division, slowing metabolic rate, or forming an endospore) until they can grow again (Lennon and Jones, 2011). For example, at night, phototrophs wait for the sun to return. In winter, soil microbes wait for warmer temperatures. Microbes that cause diseases like tuberculosis can stay dormant for years, waiting for the cessation of antibiotic or immune system bombardment (Alnimr, 2015). But what about longer timescales? Unlike multicellular life, microbes survive in an extremely broad range of conditions and can access an amazing variety of resources to maintain cellular functions in the absence of cell division (Finkel and Kolter, 1999). This means that they have the potential to be dormant for much longer than a few months or years. There is no theoretical reason microbes cannot survive on maintenance energy for hundreds or thousands of years, or longer, with little to no cell proliferation (Hoehler and Jørgensen, 2013; Lever et al., 2015). Given this lack of theoretical constraints on the length of microbial dormancy intervals, two questions arise, (i) is there evidence for the existence of organisms experiencing very long dormancies? And (ii) what could be the advantages of such long wait times?


Characteristics of urban and peri-urban agriculture in West Africa: results of an exploratory survey conducted in Tamale (Ghana) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
The report summarizes key results from surveys carried out on urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) in Tamale (Ghana) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) in 2013. The aim was to provide a broad overview of the state of UPA in the study cities and a basis for future research endeavors. The randomized sampling approach used aerial photography to identify 10 sites in different categories of farm in each city. Farmers provided information on their cropping and livestock-rearing activities. There were similarities between the cities, but the differences in the expression of UPA in Tamale and Ouagadougou were more intriguing, as in farm sizes, crops grown and livestock ownership. Farmers were particularly concerned about diminishing access to land in Tamale, where sales by chiefs to private investors were accelerating. In Ouagadougou, formal reallocation of land to homeowners by the state had similarly decreased available farmland. Water availability was a universal concern, and the quality of water used for irrigation was potentially more questionable in Ouagadougou than in Tamale. The results point to the need for further work on uncontaminated, perennial water sources and soil fertility management, alongside focuses on commercialization of animal production, and the legal, political and institutional context of UPA in different West African cities.


Today, the Grade 6 students met with their Grade One Science Buddies for another outdoor session. The objective of today's field work was to celebrate the biodiversity that exists within our schoolyard. Students started by completing a nature scavenger hunt. They looked for a wide variety of habitats, plants, insects, spiders, birds and mammals on the yard.
After the scavenger hunt was complete, the Grade 6 students each took a field guide and looked up information about a species he or she found on the yard. The Grade 6's then read that information to their Grade 1 buddies.
The final part of our biodiversity celebration involved drawing the species that Grade 1 and 6 buddies had read about in the field guides.
Today’s outdoor session was adapted from Lesson G in The David Suzuki Foundation’s publication, “Connecting with Nature: An educational guide for grades four to six,” which is keyed to the Ontario Science Curriculum. This document can be downloaded for free at: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/connecting-with-nature-education-guide/
Thank you for visiting the class, via our BLOG. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to e-mail me: firstname.lastname@example.org or to add a comment to this page.


The priority level of a running process determines how much precedence or importance the processor gives to the requests from the said process for processor time. By default all applications and processes are assigned the same level of priority, the “normal” level. A process with a priority higher than normal is allocated more CPU cycles than those with lower priority.
Sometimes when all applications are running at the same priority and the number of running applications is high, the system may becomes sluggish because the CPU has to respond to each application equally irrespective of which applications you are currently working on. Mz Cpu Accelerator is a program that solves this issue by automatically increasing the priority of the active window. The result is that the applications you are currently working on gets more CPU “attention” and hence becomes more responsive.
The priority of an applications can also be changed manually using applications such as PowerMenu or assigned rules using Process Lasso. But once you activate Mz Cpu Accelerator, it automatically changes the priority of the active window to high. Minimize the active window or switch to another window and the priority is instantly changed.
The program also has an exclusion list using which you can exclude certain programs from this priority toggling.
Additionally, Mz Cpu Accelerator is capable of assigning processor affinity to any process. As long as Mz Cpu Accelerator is running and the option is activated, the processor affinity for that particular process is permanent.
One drawback of automatically switching priority of applications could be that if the active window somehow freezes, you can have a very hard time unfreezing it.
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Which is your learning style? Are you an in-person or a virtual learner? All individuals have different learning styles. During this pandemic, students must enroll in the virtual learning style because it will help them to keep their families safe. The better you can tackle your learning style, the more you gain from virtual schooling. In this COVID time, students adapt the virtual classroom style for their success.
“Adaptability is the simple secret of survival.” – Jessica Hagedorn
Access to the tools and technology is a challenging factor for virtual learners. QW School assures the best services in hybrid remote learning; this is why it is one of the best in Ontario virtual schools. We have the best experience in online teaching with the OSSD credits and are famous for providing online high schools. To ensure that all virtual learners have access to computers for learning, the government provides the services and facilities through NAITSA.
Yes, it is a fact that there is no easiness in virtual learning between the professors and students! An in-person query is something different that can get sorted quickly; there should be proper communication between peers and professors in the virtual school. This kind of virtual learning style is beneficial in the covid time. Students should be connected and learn from each other. Working and interacting with classmates does not make the students feel isolated in the virtual classroom.
Why cannot you focus on the online classes? Since there is no direct attention, students may feel disturbed in the virtual session. The distraction can lead to missing out on their main topics. So, they should analyze the strategy to increase their concentration by taking necessary breaks. This strategy can increase the productivity of students. Another simple tactic that can help is to avoid the usage of mobiles and other electronic devices in the classes.
A peaceful and positive environment can help students not be distracted during classes. All needs of virtual learners should be in the surroundings and always make sure of it before the session starts. These needs can include notepaper, pens, highlighter, water bottle, etcetera.
Virtual learning is not an easy task, so always motivate and reward yourself for the completed tasks. These are a few things that students can ensure for virtual classes for better performance. If you are looking for one of the best Ontario virtual schools with flexible timings, please feel free to contact QW School Brampton.


Deltacron: The New COVID-19 Variant
The World Health Organization (WHO) identified a new COVID-19 variant, Deltacron, originating from the combination of genes of Delta and Omicron variants. To date, it has been detected in France, Netherlands and Denmark.
WHO had previously forecasted more COVID-19 variants due to the virus previous behavior and the large amount of circulation of both Delta and Omicron. The Deltacron variant has not shown any changes in epidemiology or severity but it is still too early to draw up conclusions given the small number cases, said Maria Van Kerkhove, COVID-19 Technical Lead, WHO.
The WHO Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Composition (TAG-CO-VAC) warned that current vaccines might need to be updated due to the consistent evolution of the virus, as reported by MBN.
Testing and monitoring remain critical parts of the COVID-19 response because health workers need information to save lives, said Van Kerkhove. “We need to keep a good handle on this virus, we need a good system in place to be able to check the changes and understand them,” she said.
Although Deltacron has not arrived in Mexico and Omicron contagions have decreased, the virus continues affecting various industries such as automotive, logistics, tourism, retail and aerospace. “Throughout the pandemic, we had a significant drop in terminal passenger traffic... January was a difficult month due to the emergence of the omicron variant but we believe that the impact will be short-lived,” said Ricardo Dueñas, CEO, Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (OMA) to MBN.
The automotive industry has also been impacted by the Omicron variant. Total production contracted by 1.0 percent annually due to the pandemic and the shortage of semiconductors.


Slender climbing vine growing to 16 ft (5 m). Has heart-shaped leaves, tiny yellow-green flowers, and small spherical fruit.
Habitat & Cultivation
Betel is native to Malaysia and southern India. It is widely cultivated in much of southern Asia, East Africa and Madagascar, and the Caribbean. The leaves are gathered throughout the year and dried for extracts or to use whole.
Leaves, root, fruit.
Betel leaves contain up to 1% volatile oil (including cadinene, chavicol, chavibetol and cineole). As with many volatile oils, the percentages are variable. Malaysian samples have been shown to contain up to 69% chavibetol.
History & Folklore
Betel leaves, wrapped around areca nut (Areca catechu) and lime (Citrus aurantiifolia), are known to have been chewed in India and Southeast Asia for several thousand years. Betel leaves are described in the Mahavasama, the most ancient Sri Lankan text.
Chewing quickly produces a red-stained saliva and does not, despite what is commonly thought, lead to blackened teeth. However, long-term use of betel leaves and areca nut is considered to increase the incidence of cancer of the mouth and tongue. Ironically, the habit of chewing betel leaves is now giving way in many regions to cigarette smoking.
Medicinal Actions & Uses
Betel leaves are chiefly used as a gentle stimulant, since they apparently induce a mild sensation of well-being. They also affect the digestive system, stimulating salivary secretions, relieving flatulence, and preventing worm infestation.
In many Asian traditions, including Ayurvedic medicine, betel leaves are thought to have aphrodisiac and nerve tonic properties. In Chinese herbal medicine, betel root, leaves, and fruit are sometimes used as a mild tonic and stomach-settling herb. The root has been used with black pepper (P. nigrum) or jequirity (Abrus precatorius) to produce sterility in women.
The observed increase in the occurrence of oral cancers in regular users makes it unwise to chew betel.


- Armadillos swallow large quantities of air to inflate themselves into a balloon-like shape and float across water bodies.
- The three-banded armadillo is the only one of its species that can form into a complete ball. Its shell is so hard that even dogs can’t break it.
- When startled, armadillos jump 3-4 feet vertically into the air. This is the biggest cause of fatal accidents between cars and armadillos.
- The nine-banded armadillo becomes mother to 4 genetically-identical quadruplets each time it gives birth. Why? It produces a single egg that divides into 4 equal and completely identical parts.
- Armadillos are the only animals other than humans which can contract leprosy.
Armadillos are a delicacy in the United States. In fact, there’s a special dish called the Hoover Hog which locals in the southern United States make, using roadkill armadillo, fresh veggies and spices.
However, I strongly discourage you to try this dish, as it is one of the causes of leprosy transmission between armadillos and humans.
2 thoughts on “5 Fun Facts About Armadillos”
I like the way this is so informative and fun to read.
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Thank you for the wonderful compliment Jean 😊


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Farmer John is taking Bessie and the cows on a cruise! They are sailing on a network of rivers with N ports (1 <= N <= 1,000) labeled 1..N, and Bessie starts at port 1. Each port has exactly two rivers leading out of it which lead directly to other ports, and rivers can only be sailed one way.
At each port, the tour guides choose either the "left" river or the "right" river to sail down next, but they keep repeating the same choices over and over. More specifically, the tour guides have chosen a short sequence of M directions (1 <= M <= 500), each either "left" or "right", and have repeated it K times (1 <= K <= 1,000,000,000). Bessie thinks she is going in circles -- help her figure out where she ends up!
4 3 3 2 4 3 1 4 2 1 3 L L R
The port numbers are arranged clockwise in a circle, with 'L' being a clockwise rotation and 'R' being a counterclockwise rotation. The sequence taken is LLRLLRLLR.
After the first iteration of the sequence of directions, Bessie is at port 2 (1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 2); after the second, she is at port 3 (2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 3), and at the end she is at port 4 (3 -> 4 -> 1 -> 4).


Australian Bushfires Will Increase the Global TemperatureVijayan Sankar (Author) Published Date : Jan 08, 2020 14:53 IST
Australian fires may affect the world climate, confirm surveys: Australian bush fires are making the effects of Amazon fires less to the world climate. The smokescreen of these fires is not only filling the Australian skies but also that of New Zealand and even up to South America. It is due to the massive production of carbon dioxide, aerosols, soot, fine particles, and others that will increase the dangers of climate change drastically.
The unprecedented Australian bush fires have affected like the fires occurred in 2009. So far, it has claimed more than 25 humans lives. And it has also burnt approximately 15 million acres of land, which is the area equal to the combining of Vermont and New Hampshire. In NSW or New South Wales alone, there is an estimated death of 480 million animals, including 8,000 koalas, as per the findings of the University of Sydney. More than 2,000 Australians have lost their homes.
The smokescreens due to the Australian fires have reached New Zealand, which is 2,000 km away and even South Africa, which is 16,000 km away. That is the effect of the Australian bush fires, which were gone out of proportion due to the record increase in temperatures of more than 50 degrees Celsius.
As per a 2019 study published in Geophysical Research Letters, the far-reaching impact of the smoke screens are related to Pyrocumulonimbus clouds. In the study, it was found that the smoke plumes towering smoke-laden clouds may penetrate the stratosphere and may stay there up to five months to create net warming at the top of the atmosphere.
Other researches have also confirmed that the winds can carry the Australian bush fire smoke up the Alpine regions like Arctic, Alaska, and even Greenland. And these could increase the melting of ice sheets and glaciers to cause climate change. Also the emissions like soot cause air pollution threatening the whole world.
Australian Bushfires Will Increase the Global Temperature


E. coli contamination widespread, affects all ages
A teenager in Altoona, Pennsylvania, is one of the latest to fall ill after consuming romaine lettuce contaminated with e. coli. The outbreak has now affected 60 people in 16 states, approximately half of whom have been hospitalized because of the severity of their symptoms. Pennsylvania has seen the most cases of confirmed illnesses directly related to the consumption of contaminated romaine lettuce.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
has expanded its warning to consumers to cover all types of romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona, growing region. This warning now includes whole heads and hearts of romaine lettuce, in addition to chopped romaine and salads and salad mixes containing romaine. CDC has indicated that the expanded warning is based on information from newly reported illnesses in Alaska. Ill people in Alaska reported eating lettuce from whole heads of romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona, growing region.
Consumers should not buy or eat romaine lettuce at a grocery store or restaurant unless you can confirm it is not from the Yuma, Arizona, growing region. Unfortunately, product labels often do not identify growing regions; so, throw out any romaine lettuce if you’re uncertain about where it was grown. This includes whole heads and hearts of romaine, chopped romaine, and salads and salad mixes containing romaine lettuce. If you do not know if the lettuce is romaine, do not eat it.
E. coli contamination produces symptoms that can include abdominal pain, nausea, fatigue, and more severe symptoms in some cases. E. coli generally appears three to four days after the initial infection, though in some cases, symptoms don’t appear for over a week.
If you have been a victim of the romaine lettuce e. coli outbreak, contact food poisoning lawyers at 1-888-335-4901 to learn more about your legal options. Contact us to discuss whether you should file a
Romaine lettuce e. coli lawsuit


Louisiana Coast Experiences Rare Heat Burst Over the Weekend
The National Weather Service Office in Lake Charles is reporting an extremely rare phenomenon that took place along the coast of southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana during the early morning hours of this past Saturday. It's called a Heat Burst and in the span of 12 minutes, the air temperature over that specific area rose almost 20 degrees Farenheight.
According to the National Weather Service Office, the Heat Burst happened at about 1:30 in the early morning hours of Saturday. At that time a large thunderstorm complex was situated very near Calcasieu Pass. Weather Service instruments recorded wind gusts with the storm at 70 mph. That's just four miles an hour shy of Category 1 Hurricane strength.
The temperature in the area jumped from just under 64 degrees to almost 83 degrees in a little over 10 minutes. The air pressure around the storm system also dropped an impressive 4.9 millibars during that short period of time as well.
Most of us are not familiar with Heat Bursts. They are certainly not a normal occurrence in nature but they do happen. A Heat Burst occurs when downdrafts from strong thunderstorms, such as the one that was occurring south of Calcasieu Pass, bring dry air aloft down to the surface. This giant "whoosh" if you will, leads to strong winds and a sudden increase in temperature.
In some cases, Heat Bursts can raise the temperature even more dramatically than what was experienced in Southwest Louisiana over the weekend. For example, in Lisbon Portugal in 1949 the temperature jumped from 100 degrees to 158 degrees in two minutes as a result of a Heat Burst.
Heat Bursts themselves are not particularly dangerous, however, they usually happen around dangerous weather such as strong thunderstorms. They most often occur during the nighttime hours as well as many thunderstorms are decaying or dying out with the loss of daytime heat energy.
I guess that's just nature being nature and there really isn't much we can do about it. However, we can observe, for example, were you aware that Mother Nature already had solutions to problems you never even thought about before?
Goosebumps and other bodily reactions, explained


Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the breast is an imaging test that uses strong magnets and radio waves to form pictures of the inside of the breast. It also creates images of the tissues that surround the breast. Breast MRI is used to check for problems, such as a leaking breast implant or a suspicious lump or mass. It can also be used to help determine if breast cancer is present and diagnose it. The test takes 30-60 minutes.
Before Your Test
During a breast MRI, you lie face down on a platform that slides into a tubelike machine called a scanner.
- Breast MRI uses strong magnets, so you'll be asked to remove your watch, jewelry, and all other metal objects.
- You may be asked to remove your makeup, which may contain some metal.
The magnet used in breast MRI can cause metal objects in your body to move. You may be asked if you:
- Have had stereotactic breast biopsy or previous surgery.
- Have a pacemaker.
- Have an artificial body part (prosthesis).
- Have metal rods, screws, plates, or splinters in your body.
- Wear a medicated adhesive patch.
- Have tattoos.
Your technologist will also ask you whether:
- You're pregnant or think you may be pregnant.
- You're claustrophobic (afraid of confined spaces).
During Your Test
- You may be asked to wear a hospital gown.
- You may be injected with contrast (a special dye that makes the MRI image sharp).
- You'll lie on a platform that slides into a tubelike machine called a scanner. You'll be on your stomach with your breasts placed through openings in the platform.
- Remain as still as you can while the camera takes the pictures. This will ensure the best images.
After Your Test
- You can get back to normal activities right away.
- If you were given contrast, it will pass naturally through your body within a day.
- Drink lots of water so that the dye passes quickly out of your body.
Getting Your Results
Your doctor will discuss the test results with you during a follow-up appointment or over the phone.


Authors: Hasan Gökcer Tekin, MD and Magnus Balslev Avnstorp, MD
Learn how to use the skin in the glabella region for a transposition flap.
The glabella flap is based on the dorsal nasal artery (lower part), or the supratrochlear artery (upper part). The muscles of the glabella involve m. procerus, m. frontalis and m. corrugator supercillii
Designing the flap
The glabella flap can be used for reconstructing primary defects on the proximal half of the nose with excessive skin from the glabellar region. The secondary defect is closed primarily with excellent aesthetic result. Local flaps from the glabella region can be designed as a variety of different geometric shapes such as transposition flaps (fig. 1), bilobed flaps (fig. 2), or as versatile rhombic (Limberg) flaps (Fig. 3).
Key consideration when performing reconstruction on the nasal dorsum with glabella flaps, are aesthetic subunits of the nose, relaxed skin tension lines (RSTL), location of the defect (proximal or distal, central or off-center), the size of the defect and thickness of the flap.
- The optimal location for reconstructing a defect with a glabella flap is on the proximal half of the nose, as the skin on the proximal half of the nose is more similar to glabellar skin and does not contain sebaceous glands.
- Excess skin and bulk at the basis of the glabella flap is common due to less thinning of subcutaneous tissue and maintaining a stable blood supply. The distal half of the flap can be thinned more aggressively. Secondary debulking can be necessary as a two-step procedure.
- Be cautious when flaps cross RSTL and the borders of different aesthetic subunits (nasal sidewalls, nasal dorsum, medial canthus etc.). Aesthethic units and RSTL represent lines where incision lines can be made and scars should be placed.
Illustrations: Christian Kaare Paaskesen, med.stud and Anne Mosebo, med.stud.


Ruins at Coco Mat Athens B.C. Hotel
When construction began on this hotel, developers were surprised to find the ruins of an ancient civilization.
This entry is a stub
The Koukaki area of Athens was outside the city’s southern walls during ancient times, and was mostly an area of workshops and burial grounds with scattered housing. Various construction projects over the centuries revealed ruins and artifacts in the area. One of these projects was the construction of a hotel by the Coco-Mat company, which revealed layered ruins on the edge of the city’s ancient fortification walls.
Greek Archaeological authorities determined the upper layer of the ruins were part of a Roman villa and was dated back to the 1st-century CE. The lower layer of ruins were determined to be part of a ceramic workshop dated back to the 5th-century BCE.
Greek laws protecting archaeological sites and artifacts are strict, requiring the ruins to be protected and made available for display to the public. A construction plan was developed so the ruins would be on display in the main hotel lobby and were protected with a secure perimeter and partial glass flooring.
Due to these ruins being on display, the owner of the hotel decided to add a “B.C.” to the hotel name, hence the hotel being named the “Coco-Mat B.C.
Know Before You Go
The ruins are on display in the hotel lobby 24-hours a day and are also visible from the sidewalk. Discretion should be used when visiting inside as the ruins are adjacent to a working area.
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Although we live in a world of artificial light and Netflix binges that can keep you up well past sundown, our bodies still respond to an internal circadian clock. Through reacting to cues like light and hormones, the human body can anticipate the recurring rhythms of sleep, metabolism, and other physiological processes.
Now, new research has found that time of day can affect the severity of health issues ranging from allergies to heart attacks.
A review published in Trends in Immunology brought together studies investigating the connection between circadian rhythms and immune responses. Most of these studies involved mice, and some showed that there was an adaptive immune response under circadian control that allowed highly specialized, pathogen-fighting cells to develop.
Results of some studies showed that – in both mice and humans – the numbers of white blood cells change in a circadian manner. One study found that heart attacks, which tend to be more severe in the morning than at night, may be influenced by decreased cardiac protection due to monocytes being elevated in infarcted heart tissue at night. This could result in decreased cardiac protection at that time of day relative to morning.
Another study found that parasite infections are dependent on the time of day. Mice that were infected with Trichuris muris, a gastrointestinal parasite, in the morning were able to kill worms significantly faster than mice infected in the evening.
Not only could parasite infections be time-of-day dependent, but an additional study found that allergies may be as well. The study showed that allergic symptoms were generally worse between midnight and early morning, which may indicate that the molecular clock can physiologically influence immune cell recruitment and outcomes of asthma in humans.
“Investigating circadian rhythms in innate and adaptive immunity is a great tool to generally understand the physiological interplay and time-dependent succession of events in generating immune responses,” says senior author Christoph Scheiermann, an immunologist at the University of Geneva. “The challenge lies in how to channel our growing mechanistic understanding of circadian immunology into time-tailored therapies for human patients.”
By Connor Ertz, Earth.com Staff Writer


A negotiated sale is a sale of securities in which the terms are negotiated between the buyer and the seller, rather than being determined by an exchange or auction. In a negotiated sale, the price and other terms of the sale are agreed upon by the parties involved, rather than being set by the market.
Negotiated sales are often used for large transactions, such as the sale of a new issue of bonds. They can also be used for secondary market transactions, although most secondary market trades are done through broker-dealers who act as intermediaries between buyers and sellers. What are the 2 types of bidding? 1. Straight/Regular Bidding: With this type of bidding, the investor simply states the price they are willing to pay for the security, and if that price is accepted, the trade is executed. This is the most common type of bidding.
2. Dutch Auction Bidding: With this type of bidding, the investor states the price they are willing to pay for the security, as well as the quantity they are willing to buy. The security is then auctioned off to the highest bidder.
What are negotiated terms? Negotiated terms are the specific interest rate, maturity date, and other conditions that are agreed upon by the issuer and the investor when a bond is sold. The issuer is the entity that borrows money by selling the bond, and the investor is the entity that buys the bond. What is negotiated purchase? Negotiated purchase is the act of two parties agreeing to buy or sell a security at a specific price. This is different from an open market purchase, which is when securities are bought or sold at the current market price. What are the 5 types of negotiation? 1. Interest rate negotiation
2. Yield curve negotiation
3. Duration negotiation
4. Credit quality negotiation
5. Call protection negotiation
What is a negotiated business deal or activity?
A negotiated business deal or activity refers to a financial transaction or series of transactions in which the terms are agreed upon by the parties involved prior to the exchange of goods or services. This type of arrangement is typically used in situations where the parties involved have unequal bargaining power, or where the terms of the deal are not standardized.


The house of the Greek Bishop
Pindarou Street leads into what was known to the Jewish community as the ‘Calle Ancha’ (‘Broad Street’)—the heart of the Juderia—renamed today the ‘Square of the Hebrew Martyrs’ in memory of those who died in the Holocaust. The pleasant square, surrounded by balconied buildings, occupies the area of a mediaeval square named after another martyr of persecution—St Sebastian. The north side is dominated by the fine, 16th century ‘house of the Greek Bishop’ (sometimes arbitrarily referred to as the ‘Admiralty’). It is certainly a noble building; but the hypothesis that it was an arch-episcopal residence is based solely on the two inscriptions—one in Latin on the façade, the other in Greek above the stairs inside—which both read ‘Peace be with this house and all who dwell in it’. The importance of the mansion is emphasised by the ornate window-frames and the decisive moulding of the string-course which divides the functional ground floor of vaulted store-rooms from the elegant and perfectly symmetrical piano nobile above. From the fountain in front of the building, Aristotelous Street leads west back to Ippokratous Square—the hub of the commercial life of the walled city.
Rhodes Island is part of the Dodecanese Island Group, Greece.


It holds a mythological significance in the Indian history where it is believed to be the abode of Pandavas during their exile. The Pandav Caves are stated as evidential proof of the belief. Pachmarhi tourist places comprise of numerous caves, waterfalls, hilltops, temples and wildlife reserves which can contribute a wonderful itinerary for exploring this quaint hill station of Madhya Pradesh.
Pachmarhi was always there on the Indian land but was discovered in the year 1857 by Captain James Forsyth. You will even find corroboration of the stone age in the form of paintings and cave drawings depicting the era. The hilltop temples housing natural Shiva Lingam and other epical traces can make a wonderful experience. The wondrous ridges and rifts, clefts and scarps found in the hills of Satpura range are true marvels of nature.
If you are in the Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh or planning to be and seeking for a list of Pachmarhi places to visit, then you must scroll down this assemblage. The climate is mostly temperate and mild that makes Pachmarhi a suitable getaway throughout the year.
Pachmarhi was the summer capital of British in Madhya Pradesh and is now an Army cantonment area. This small town encompasses pristine waterfalls, meandering rivers, densely covered National parks, ancient caves and historic monuments which can make a memorable escapade.


A PHP script always begins with <?php and ends with ?> syntax. A PHP script can be placed anywhere in the document. On servers with shorthand support you can start a PHP script with <? And end with ?> syntax, but for maximum capabilities, we recommend that you use the standard form ( <?php … ?> ) rather than shorthand form ( <? … ?> ).
A PHP file must have a .php extension. A PHP file normally contains HTML tags and some PHP scripting code. Below, we have an example of a simple PHP script that sends the text “Welcome to GetHow” back to the browser.
<html> <body> <?php echo “Welcome to GetHow”; ?> </body> </html>
Note: Each line in the PHP must end with a semicolon. The semicolon is a separator and is used to distinguish one set of instructions from another.
There are two statements to output the text with PHP i.e. echo and print. In the above example we have used echo statement to output the text “Welcome to GetHow”.
Comments in PHP
In PHP, we use // to make a one line comment and for more than one lines we use /* at beginning and */ at end to make a comment block.
<html> <body> <?php //This is a Statement for GetHow Site /* This is a comment block for more than one line */ ?> </body> </html>
The above all are the basic syntax which are always used while writing a PHP script. We need to understand and practice it more so that, it gets stable on our fingers.


Mumbai, the sprawling metropolis on India’s west coast and the country’s financial capital, is home to over 20 million people—and dozens of leopards.
These elusive big cats live in and around the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, a 100-odd square kilometre reserve at the northern end of Mumbai. Surrounded by one of India’s largest cities, and living in close proximity to some 250,000 people who also call the national park home, these leopards sometimes come in conflict with humans, with deadly consequence. Still, they are surviving—and according to the latest census, perhaps thriving.
On Nov. 19, National Geographic published on Instagram an amazing photograph of two leopard cubs roaming a hilltop, with Mumbai’s sparkling cityscape in the background:
Shot by photojournalist Steve Winter, the image is part of a series of photographs accompanying American non-fiction writer Richard Conniff’s National Geographic Magazine story on the evolving relationship—and contest—between humans and leopards.
“India may be the real test of survival in a crowded world—and perhaps a model for it—because leopards live there in large numbers, outside protected areas,” Conniff writes, “and in astonishing proximity to people.”


New artificial intelligence (AI) technology developed in the UK can diagnose scans for heart disease and lung cancer.Hospitals in the NHS are expected to start using the heart disease system this summer.
Developed at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital, the system is able to pick up details in the scans that doctors can’t see. It then flags when it believes the patient is at risk of having a heart attack.
According to BBC News, the Ultromics system was trained to identify potential problems by being given the scans of 1,000 patients who had been treated over the past seven years, along with information about whether they went on to have heart problems.
Professor Paul Leeson, a cardiologist who developed the system, said that clinical trials in six cardiology units indicate that it greatly outperforms heart specialists.
“As cardiologists, we accept that we don’t always get it right at the moment,” he said. “But now there is a possibility that may be able to do better.”
The trial results suggest that the AI system could save the NHS more than £300m a year.
Meanwhile, another AI system has been developed to look for signs of lung cancer.
Clinical trials of this system have shown that it can diagnose lung cancer much earlier, and can also rule out the harmless cases which are unlikely to go on to become cancerous.
As a result, as well as saving the NHS money, it could save patients several months of anxiety and give those who are diagnosed a greater chance of survival.
Tags: AI, NHS, heart disease, lung cancer, virtual health, AI technology


Maths Zoom Lesson – please bring your whiteboard, number line and your pen Your follow up worksheets have been printed with the suggested activities for each day. The home learning video is available if you need any extra support.
Phonics Each day there will be a new video from Letters and Sounds to introduce an alternative pronunciation of a sound that you have learnt. ‘aw claw’ Please find follow up activity in your home learning pack.
Literacy lesson - See attached document and complete your work in your green exercise book. Please send a picture of this writing to me as soon as you have completed it today - I am looking forward to seeing what you have done!
Science Lesson Follow the link to find a science lesson from the Oak National Academy. It follows on from yesterday's lesson.
Unfortunately not the ones with chocolate chips.
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Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex issues are taboo subjects in Lesotho, and the advent of Matrix in the community has bridged some of the gaps for LGBTI+ expression and rights. MATRIX is necessary in Lesotho to provide support to LGBTIQ+ members in Lesotho and to raise awareness on the incidences of violence, social exclusion, hate crimes and discrimination faced of this marginalised population within the communities.
The recent study on the mental health and wellbeing of LGBTI in Lesotho amongst at least 173 people and 500 from MSM and WSW health and human rights study indicated that there is existence of LGBTI community amongst the Lesotho communities. Because of the conservative culture of the Basotho people, most LGBTIQ+ people are not able to live openly within their communities.
Therefore, this MATRIX’s advocacy supports and strengths a coordinated voice for LGBTI persons as well as encourages integration of these people within the communities in Lesotho.
The overall objective of MATRIX’s activities and programmes is to advocacy for equality and fair treatment of human rights among the communities living in the country, regardless of sex, sexuality and gender identity. This is because the LGBTIQ+ individuals in Lesotho are still marginalized and stigmatized from society at large due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. They face issues such they cannot have access to adequate treatment, care and support related to their health and HIV and AIDS or they find themselves unemployed because of the prejudice related to LGBTIQ+.
Due to these issues, there is more and more LGBTIQ+ whose rights are evaluated and are being infected by HIV and AIDS or other Sexual transmitted diseases because they cannot have access to information to prevent them from being infected or even access legal systems.


October 27th is National American Beer Day!
Todays five food facts about beer:
The bittering agent in beer, Hops, is closely related to marijuana.
Brown bottles are designed to keep beer fresh.
The average American consumes nearly 23 gallons of beer annually.
According to broadcasting regulations, American beer commercials are not allowed to show anyone consuming alcohol.
Obama is the first American President to brew his own beer.
Today’s Food History
1728 Captain James Cook was born. British explorer who charted and named many Pacific Islands, including the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii).
1806 Alphonse Pyrame de Candolle was born. A Swiss botanist, author of ‘Origin of Cultivated Plants.’
1872 Emily Post was born. (or on October 3, 1873). Etiquette expert, newspaper columnist, author of ‘Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home’ (1922); ‘The Emily Post Cook Book’(1949); ‘Motor Manners’ (1950).
1873 Joseph F. Glidden applied for a patent for barbed wire.
1904 The first subway (underground) rail system in New York City began operating. The Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) line was 21 miles long.
1930 ‘Gorgonzola’ was recorded by Jack Hylton & His Orchestra with Leslie Sarony
1975 Rex Stout, American crime writer died. More than 70 of his novels and stories feature the fictional gourmand/gourmet detective, Nero Wolfe. Archie Goodwin, the detective’s assistant, described him as weighing “one seventh of a ton” (about 286 pounds). Shad Roe and Duck were two of Wolfe’s favorites, and he also consumed copious amounts of beer. Stout also published ‘The Nero Wolfe Cookbook’ in 1973.
Check out my book!
Tagged: National American beer day
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I can’t believe we’ve already been in school for 100 days! Where does time go? To celebrate this momentous occasion, my class participated in several 100 Day activities. Here are a few highlights from our special day:
1. If I Had $100 Writing Activity: I purchased this $100 bill pad from Really Good Stuff and printed pictures of students’ faces in black and white. I trimmed the pictures and glued each one onto a $100.
Students brainstormed what they would do with $100 and then they recorded their responses on the writing page. Their answers were so funny! My favorites this year were, “Buy a hot tub,” “Buy a mansion,” and “Give Mrs. Murphy a raise.” (Love that one!)
2. Make a 100th Day Trail Mix: I sent home this parent letter along with a Ziploc snack bag and had students bring in 100 pieces of a snack.
On the 100th Day, each student came up to the front of the room and showed his/her snack bag. The class decided the category (i.e., cereal, candy, etc.), the student poured the bag into the bowl and we colored the graph together.
While the students were at recess, I scooped a cupful of 100th Day Trail Mix into their original Ziploc snack bags to take home along with our other 100th Day projects.
3. 100th Day Centers: I also incorporated 100th Day activities into our normal center rotations. During our writing center, students wrote 100 words on special celebratory paper. I allowed them to use clipboards and write their favorite words in the room which they loved!
During our computation center, students had to write a variety of number sentences that equaled 100. Afterwards, they shared and compared with partners. I was so impressed with some of their diverse thinking!
4. 100th Day cards: At the end of the day, I passed out these adorable cards to students (with a special note to each on the back). These could also be used as an exit ticket, recounting or summarizing the special activities of the day.
Love these engaging, no-prep ideas? Download our Happy 100th Day of School file for all of these activities and more!
Do you have a creative 100th Day activity? Please share below!


The tsunami threat that followed the earthquake in Haiti was removed, the US Tsunami Warning System said on Saturday. “There is no tsunami threat although small sea level changes may occur”, the statement said.
A powerful earthquake has struck off the coast of Haiti, the US Geological Survey said. The epicentre of the 7.2-magnitude tremor is located 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) northeast of Saint-Louis du Sud, or about 160 kilometres (100 miles) from the capital city of Port-au-Prince, according to the agency.
As a result at least 29 people were killed and enormous damage was reported by local authorities.
“As of now, unfortunately, there are 29 dead,” a representative of the civil defense agency of the Caribbean nation said on air of the RTNH broadcaster.
President Joe Biden has approved “an immediate US response, and named USAID Administrator Samantha Power… to coordinate this effort” to the nation hit by the natural disaster, a senior White House official said.
Following the quake, multiple videos emerged online, appearing to depict collapsed buildings and clouds of dust in the country.
In 2010, the island nation was devastated by an earthquake that destroyed much of Port-au-Prince and other cities, claiming 200,000 lives and leaving 300,000 more injured.


A recent article in Wired Magazine highlighted how the genome revolution has been skipping most people in the world: 96% of participants in recent genomic studies trace most of their ancestry to Europe.
Statistical analysis is simpler in groups tracing ancestry to just one continental region so fewer individuals are needed to make discoveries. Although African Americans typically trace about 20% of their ancestry to Europe, studies to verify previous findings in this population have not been done for many diseases. Our understanding of how DNA influences disease risk in people with mostly non-European ancestry has a lot of catching up to do.
23andMe hopes to bridge this growing divide through Roots into the Future, a research initiative addressing the needs of the African American community.
Our partners in the research initiative include Dr. Henry Louis Gates and the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard, as well as advisors from academia, industry and the 23andMe community. Our goal is to enroll 10,000 participants who self-identify as African American, Black, or African in order to rapidly accelerate genetic research in the African American community.
Roots into the Future will help determine how genetic factors contribute to the development of disease in this population. Which genetic associations identified in Europeans also apply to African Americans? Can we discover new genetic markers linked to conditions of particular relevance to the African American community, such as diabetes, prostate cancer, and heart disease?
The initiative aligns with 23andMe’s broader mission of empowering individuals to understand their own genetic data. And 23andMe’s unique web-based research platform can accelerate critical research in this community.
Project participants will receive free access to their personal genetic data used for the research, as well as health and ancestry interpretations of the data. As the project progresses, participants can expect to see additional relevant reports and features.
Roots into the Future will launch at the end of July at the annual conference of the National Urban League in Boston.
To learn more about the project, or to sign up to be notified when registration becomes more broadly available, go to www.23andme.com/roots.


Listed in: History, as HIST-258
Colleen P. Woods (Section 01)
[USc] Until recently, American histories of the Vietnam War have focused on the reasons, roles, and results of the American intervention in Vietnam or, as one historian described it, “what Americans did in Vietnam (or even at home in the United States) and what was done to them.” In Vietnam, on the other hand, histories of the war were, until the 1990s, largely collapsed into a linear and nationalist narrative of state development. Transnational methodologies used by scholars in recent years have brought to the forefront new understandings of the conflict including: the complexities of colonialism, nationalism, and communist/socialist internationalism, the diversity of Vietnamese experiences, and the influence of culture on diplomatic policy-making. Drawing from this body of new scholarship, the course will engage multiple approaches to the study of the Vietnam War from accounts of French and U.S. colonialism in Asia, to investigations of the policy-making role of state officials in both Vietnam and the U.S., to micro-histories of village networks in South Vietnam. This course will also consider how “collective memory-making,” i.e., how people with shared experiences remember or retell the past, intersects with the contested histories of the war. Through considerations of film, memoir, and memorial sites, the course not only considers how the Vietnam War unfolded but also how its place in public memory was created and mobilized in its aftermath. Two class meeting per week.
Limited to 25 students. Fall semester. Visiting Professor Woods.


Exercise: It builds up the body and protects the brain
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University Published June 12, 2021
As with many other physicians, recommending physical activity to patients was just a doctor chore for me—until a few years ago. That was because I was not very active. Over the years, picking up boxing and becoming more active, allowed firsthand experience of positive impacts on the mind. Researching the effects of dance and movement therapies on trauma and anxiety in refugee children, I learned a lot about the neurobiology of exercise.
Being a psychiatrist and neuroscientist researching the neurobiology of anxiety and how our interventions change the brain. I have begun to think of prescribing exercise as telling patients to take their “exercise pills.” Now knowing the importance of exercising, almost all of my patients commit to some level of exercise, with benefits to several areas of their life and livelihood.
It is well documented that exercise improves musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, metabolic, and other aspects of health. What you may not know is how this happens within the brain.
Brain biology and growth
Working out regularly really does change the brain biology, and it is not just “go walk and you will just feel better.” Regular exercise, especially cardio, does change the brain. Contrary to what some may think, the brain is a very plastic organ. Not only are new neuronal connections formed every day, but also new cells are generated in important areas of the brain. One key area is the hippocampus, which is involved in learning and memory and regulating negative emotions.
A molecule called brain-derived neurotrophic factor helps the brain produce neurons, or brain cells. A variety of aerobic and high-intensity interval training exercises significantly increase BDNF levels. There is evidence from animal research that these changes are at epigenetic level, which means these behaviors affect how genes are expressed, leading to changes in the neuronal connections and function.
Moderate exercise also seems to have anti-inflammatory effects, regulating the immune system and excessive inflammation. This is important, given the new insight neuroscience is gaining into the potential role of inflammation in anxiety and depression.
Finally, there is evidence for the positive effects of exercise on the neurotransmitters—brain chemicals that send signals between neurons—dopamine and endorphins. Both of these are involved in positive mood and motivation.


There is no point sending healthy animals out into the world if they’re just going to catch a deadly disease.
Pacific tree frogs that can survive a normally lethal fungus infection are spreading it to species that cannot. Such “reservoir” species could threaten frogs released from captive breeding programmes.
Between 2003 and 2010, the deadly chytrid fungus slashed the populations of two frog species in the Sierra Nevada, while populations of a third species – the Pacific tree frog (Pseudacris regilla) – held steady.
That isn’t because the Pacific tree frogs avoided infection: two-thirds of the Sierra Nevada population carry the fungus, Vance Vredenburg of San Francisco State University has now found. That suggests they can tolerate infection and so could spread the pathogen to new areas.
Conservationists are breeding threatened amphibians in captivity in the hope of eventually re-establishing them in the wild. But reintroductions will fail if there is a reservoir species nearby, Vredenburg warns.
The solution may be to breed from frog populations already decimated by the chytrid fungus, says Matthew Fisher of Imperial College London. There is evidence that some frogs are evolving tolerance, and survivors from an affected population are more likely to have the vital genes. These frogs could be cross-bred with susceptible individuals, accelerating the spread of tolerance – although Fisher admits the approach will be expensive.
Journal reference: PLoS One, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0033567


The coordination of life in multicellular organisms is precisely controlled by cells via various internal and external signals. Cells depend on different types of signals to regulate their growth, division, metabolism as well as death. Signals are growth factors or hormones produced and secreted by other cells. Some signals such as nutrients are in the form of molecules from the environment. Signaling molecules are sensed by direct binding to specific receptor molecules. Depending on the biochemical properties and ways of molecules changes, we can group various signaling events in defined pathways. Throughout specific signal transduction pathways, a signal can modulate cellular activities and gene expression, thereby leading to changes in cell growth, metabolism, differentiation, or many other cellular functions. When genetic mutations or biochemical changes occur in key proteins of certain cellular signaling pathways, cellular homeostasis can be disrupted, thus triggering tissue malfunctions, itiation or spread of cancer, or developmental anomalies. Dissecting biochemical principles of these cell signaling pathways is essential for us to better understand mechanisms of both normal cells and pathological conditions, therefore our knowledge on signal transduction will provide valuable information to develop effective therapeutic agents to fight against diseases..
This 6 week-course will give you a solid introduction to the basic fundamentals of cell signaling. I will first define the concept of cell signaling and introduces major types of cellular signaling events. Throughout 6 weeks, we will study biochemical basis of electrical signaling, chemical signaling as well as gap junction-mediated signaling pathways. We will also learn about key principles underlying signal transduction pathways by studying significance of protein-protein interactions and signaling second messengers. In the end of each week, dysregulated cell signaling in pathological conditions such as cancer and diabetes will be presented and discussed. Everyone knows that cell signaling is essential for sustaining life. How can you explain insulin actions in lowering glucose in biochemical details? What can be the fundamental mode of oxygen sensing in our body? Have you ever thought about ways of how we can specifically remove or kill certain types of rapidly-growing cancer cells? Cell signaling accompanies various biochemical strategies to sense and transmit signals inside our cells. Without fine control of those signaling processes, cells, tissues, and organisms cannot maintain life.
What you will learn
Module 1 : Introduction of Cell Signaling & Electrical Signaling
Module 2: Receptor tyrosine kinase signaling
Module 3: Receptor serine/threonine kinase signaling
Module 4: G protein coupled receptor signaling


The Burren region is located along Ireland’s mid-western coast and stretches across roughly 560 km2 of north Clare and south Galway. It ranges in height from sea level to just over 300m and contains a wealth of natural heritage.
The landscape of the Burren has been formed by millions of years of glacial, tectonic, solutional and, just as importantly, human processes.
Formed some 340 million years ago at the bottom of a warm, shallow sea, the often visibly fossil-rich layers of limestone characterise the Burren.
When it comes to ecological wealth and diversity, the Burren has few parallels elsewhere in Ireland. In terms of flora the Burren is especially rich containing many rare and sought after species.
The fauna of the Burren is a frequently overlooked aspect of the area’s natural heritage but many different species can be found here, some rare and threatened.
Little do many visitors realise it, but the fascinating cultural and natural heritage that attracts them to the Burren is essentially a legacy of this agricultural tradition. Furthermore, the future security of this wonderful legacy very much depends upon the continuation of these traditions.


See correct NECO Physics Questions and Answers 2021/2022 | Essay and Objective.
Today’s NECO Physical Education OBJ Answers: (2021 Answers)
NECO Physical Education Essay Answers 2021(Expo)
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Physical fitness is a state of health and well-being and, more specifically, the ability to perform aspects of sports, occupations and daily activities.
-In tabular form-
(i) It means that the activities which are performed within the walls or within the campus of an institutions are called
(ii)These activities are organised only for the students of a school or an institution.
(iii)No student of other school can participate in these activities.
(iv)There is mass participation
(i)It means that the activities which are performed outside the walls of an institution or school.
(ii)It means that the activities which are organised by an institution/school and the students of two or more schools can participate in them.
(iii)In extramural competition, the students of other schools can also participate in sports related activities. It is also called inter-school
(iv)There is no mass participation
(i)Warming up helps the body to deliver oxygen to the exercising muscle groups.
(ii)Warming up increases body temperature, which reduces the chance for muscle and tendon injuries.
(iii)It helps to increases blood flow to the exercising muscles.
(iv)Warming up increases the suppleness of the muscle, thereby enhancing the mechanical
efficiency and power of the exercising muscles.
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US Geological Survey
Date of this Version
Land Use Policy 29 (2012) 710– 723
Land use and land cover changes have complex linkages to climate variability and change, biophysical resources, and socioeconomic driving forces. To assess these land change dynamics and their causes in the Great Plains, we compare and contrast contemporary changes across 16 ecoregions using Landsat satellite data and statistical analysis. Large-area change analysis of agricultural regions is often hampered by change detection error and the tendency for land conversions to occur at the local-scale. To facilitate a regional-scale analysis, a statistical sampling design of randomly selected 10 km × 10 km blocks is used to efficiently identify the types and rates of land conversions for four time intervals between 1973 and 2000, stratified by relatively homogenous ecoregions. Nearly 8% of the overall Great Plains region underwent land-use and land-cover change during the study period, with a substantial amount of ecoregion variability that ranged from less than 2% to greater than 13%. Agricultural land cover declined by more than 2% overall, with variability contingent on the differential characteristics of regional human–environment systems. A large part of the Great Plains is in relatively stable land cover. However, other land systems with significant biophysical and climate limitations for agriculture have high rates of land change when pushed by economic, policy, technology, or climate forcing factors. The results indicate the regionally based potential for land cover to persist or fluctuate as land uses are adapted to spatially and temporally variable forcing factors.
Geology Commons, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons, Other Earth Sciences Commons, Other Environmental Sciences Commons
US government work


AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS)—The ancestry of modern-day Japanese populations can be traced back to 3 ancient cultures, rather than 2, according to an analysis of 12 newly sequenced ancient Japanese genomes spanning 8,000 years and 5 previously published genomes. The findings* support that the early hunter-gatherer Jomon population were the archipelago’s sole inhabitants until about 3,000 years ago, when Yayoi migrants from mainland China and Korea moved to the south of Japan, bringing wet-rice agriculture. Later, Kofun migrants, which may have had predominately Han Chinese ancestry, arrived in Japan, marking a period of affinity with Korea and China demonstrated by imports including mirrors, coins, and raw materials for iron production. While previous ancient DNA research has suggested modern Japanese populations have dual Jomon and Yayoi origins, the demographic origins and impact of the archipelago’s agricultural transition have remained largely unknown. To investigate, Niall P. Cooke and colleagues sequenced 12 ancient Japanese genomes from both pre- and post-farming periods and analyzed 5 previously published prehistoric Japanese genomes, finding that all of the Jomon individuals belonged to mitochondrial haplogroups (a group of alleles inherited together from one parent) that are rare outside Japan today, while the Kofun individuals belonged to mitochondrial haplogroups common throughout present-day East Asia. While the spread of agriculture in other regions has often involved one population replacing another, Cooke et al. found genetic evidence of almost equal genetic contributions from indigenous Jomon individuals and new immigrants during the Yayoi period, suggesting Japan’s agricultural transition involved assimilation instead. Furthermore, the researchers found that Kofun period individuals and modern Japanese people are almost genetically indistinguishable, suggesting that the genetic makeup of Japanese populations has remained relatively stable over the past 1,400 years.
Article Source: AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS) news release.
*Ancient genomics reveals tripartite origins of Japanese populations, Science Advances, 17-Sep-2021. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abh2419
Summary author: Shannon Kelleher


The original conceptualization of a stress response revolves around the concept of “fight or flight,” but work led by Shelley Taylor illuminated a unique response to danger called “tend and befriend.” Taylor’s theory posits that some people, especially women, exhibit behaviors related to the protection of offspring (“tending”) the seeking out of social support and affiliation for the purpose of mutual protection and comfort (“befriending”). While this theory has been applied primarily to life-threatening dangers, it can also be applied to sexual situations, including hook-ups, which have the potential to turn violent or forceful, triggering a stress response. Through this lens, differences in the nature of responses to stressful hook-up situations were analyzed to evaluate their relationship with the content of one’s worries related to hook-ups. A large sample of young adults completed a survey on hookup behavior that included questions about how worried they were during hookups and questions about the nature of stress responses. Results indicated that there is a range of responses that includes fight or flight responses, tend and befriend responses and freezing responses. Results are discussed in relation to Taylor’s theory and gender roles.
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Herkel, Abbegail; Riestra, Juan; Riestra, Diana; Noor, Anta; and Schildwater, Julia, "Be Still My Racing Heart: An Analysis of Worry Content and Stress Responses in Hookups" (2021). Research Days Posters 2021. 2.


Social Security Disability benefits pay only to people who have a disability under the Social Security Administration’s definition.
The SSA defines disability as something that prevents you from working and will last for at least a year. Under this definition, it may seem that alcoholism would qualify, but it is not that straightforward.
The SSA will not give you benefits just because you have alcoholism. You must have some other type of disability first to qualify. Then, the SSA will assess your alcoholism as a contributing factor.
A contributing factor is something that aggravates your disability or causing the disability to continue. However, the SSA will look into whether the main disability would still be present even if your alcoholism were not. If the disability is solely due to the alcoholism, then alcoholism is a contributing factor under the SSA definition.
You can then get benefits even though your alcoholism is causing the disability or causing it to be worse.
You must show medical evidence that you have alcoholism. You also must present medical evidence that your alcoholism contributes to your disability. In addition, you have to provide medical evidence about the foundation disability that qualifies you for benefits.
Alcoholism with disability
If you have alcoholism but no other disability, then you do not qualify for SSDI benefits. Alcoholism by itself is not a disability under the SSA definition. The requirement to have a qualifying disability is the backbone of these benefits, and since alcoholism alone is not a disability, you will need to prove another qualifying disability to secure benefits.


One of the debates in the HIV field is whether antibodies play in role in HIV transmission. Are antibody-neutralization resistant viruses more transmittable or are there other fitness characteristics that make a virus transmit and establish infection? To investigate this, scientists from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center studied mother-to child transmission. They found no correlation between maternal neutralization-resistant viruses and infant HIV acquisition risk.
The role of neutralizing antibodies in protection against HIV is not fully understood. Studying mother-to-child transmission is a good setting to study if antibodies do play a role in transmission. Without effective medical care to HIV-infected mothers , approximately 30-45% of infants will become infected with the virus. This relatively low percentage suggests that there must be some protective immune component protecting most of these infants.
The researchers, led by Julie Overbaugh, investigated whether mothers with antibody neutralization-resistant viruses transmit HIV to their infants easier than mothers with neutralization-sensitive HIV strains.
The researchers recruited 10 transmitting and 10 nontransmitting mother-child pairs. The mothers all had high viral loads and therefore had greater chances of transmitting the virus to their infants. The transmitting and nontransmitting mothers had the same range of CD4 counts and duration of breastfeeding. The HIV-positive infants were HIV negative when they were born and their first HIV-positive tests were either at 6 or 14 weeks of age.
The researchers sequenced through 5 viruses from the mothers in the cohort and made pseudoviruses. The pseudoviruses were made to test how well the maternal viruses were able to be neutralized by maternal autologous antibodies.
There was no association between transmission risk and neutralization by autologous antibodies. Interestingly, the data showed that nontransmitting mothers had similar or more neutralization-resistant viruses (depending on the cutoff used) as compared to transmitting mothers.
This is the largest study to look at autologous antibody responses to maternal HIV strains in mothers who either transmit or not. This study reveals that antibody neutralization resistance may not play a role in transmission. Other factors other than antibody escape mutants are playing a role in HIV transmission.
Journal article: Milligan et al., 2016. Maternal Neutralization-Resistant Virus Variants Do Not Predict Infant HIV Infection Risk. mBio
Article by Thandeka Moyo


Quality of life can be improved through a strong economy that revitalizes communities, encourages business investment, and provides employment opportunities for a competitive workforce at all skill levels.
North Dakota has been enjoying a robust economy, characterized by a flourishing energy development sector, in addition to strong agriculture, real estate, and government sectors. Communities rely on the strength of their economies to generate financial resources to provide employment at all skill levels and services for their residents. Maintaining a high-quality standard of living in all aspects of life – from housing, to health, to education – is influenced by a strong economy. Likewise, the vitality of our economy hinges on the continued success of all aspects of life as well.
Investment in early childhood and later in education helps to ensure a skilled workforce enabling participation in our diverse economy. Providing access to high quality education will also expand economic opportunity for residents. Research suggests that individuals with higher levels of education are better able to compete for high quality jobs and more likely to obtain jobs with better working conditions, benefits, and opportunities for advancement. Education is an investment in the future of the state, because workers with higher incomes contribute more through taxes over the course of their lifetimes. Higher incomes are also associated with better educational outcomes for children, improved health outcomes for all residents, in addition to many other advantages.
Educational attainment is also strongly related to U.S. unemployment rates. The more education a group has, the lower the unemployment rate. Those without a job, especially residents without assets or a second worker in the household, may experience hardships such as high debt, health consequences, hunger, foreclosure, and even homelessness.
Multiple studies have shown that people living in poverty also tend to have more hardships, such as poorer health, dying younger, and poorer economic, social, and physical conditions. Furthermore, poverty is associated with an increased risk of homelessness, crime, and illiteracy. Poverty rates are associated with the general condition of the economy. As the economy grows, so do opportunities for employment and income growth.