We have copied the abstract below and attached a pdf from recent paper
published in The Canadian Field-Naturalist, which is a peer-reviewed
Citation: Elliott, Kyle H., Paul A. Smith, and Victoria H. Johnston. 2010.
Aerial surveys do not reliably survey boreal-nesting shorebirds. Canadian
Field-Naturalist 124(2): 145-150.
Abstract: Aerial surveys have been used as a method for surveying
boreal-nesting shorebirds, which breed in difficult-to-access terrain;
however, the fraction of breeding birds observed from the air is unknown. We
investigated rates of detection by conducting simultaneous air and ground
surveys for shorebirds at three sites in the boreal forest of the Northwest
Territories, Canada, in 2007. Helicopter surveys included both pond-based
surveys and where the helicopter flew around the perimeter of each wetland
and transect-based surveys where observers recorded birds seen on line
transects. Ground surveys involved intensive observation, territory mapping
and nest searching in 5 square kilometers of plots over a period of 5-6
weeks. Shorebird densities observed from the helicopter were highest near
large bodies of water. No shorebirds were observed over closed forest
despite breeding densities on ground surveys being highest in closed forest.
Detection rates were very low, varied among species and aerial survey types,
and were inconsistent over time. Ground-based observations showed that the
shorebirds often did not flush in response to the helicopter passing
overhead. Owing to poor rates of detection, we conclude that helicopter
surveys are not an appropriate method for surveying breeding shorebirds in
boreal habitats, but may have some utility for monitoring birds' use of
Allow a few seconds for the pdf to load.
Ron Pittaway and Jean Iron
Minden and Toronto, Ontario


We hear a lot about gender equality, and I am by no means discrediting equal opportunities for men and women in school and the workplace. I believe everyone should be given equal opportunities to succeed and prosper. But from an early age our gender does influence how we view and experience the world, and unfortunately, gender can play a role in our susceptibility to mental illness.
According to the World Health Organization, woman are two times more likely than men to develop mental illnesses like depression or eating disorders. Women’s biology plays a role in their susceptibility because women have lower serotonin levels than men and will process the chemical at a slower rate causing a greater fluctuation in mood.
Biology isn’t the only factor working against women though. Society as a whole has objectified women in ads and movies and television making the perceived standard of beauty impossible to reach for most women. Nevertheless, women hold themselves to this standard and often suffer from low self-esteem which can be a contributing factor developing a mental illness like depression.
Women are more likely to talk about their mental illness and seek help for it though giving them a lead on the road to recovery over men who may be downplaying the symptoms or uncomfortable admitting they have a problem because of the pressure of social norms.
According to the World Health Organization, men are more than twice as likely than women to develop mental illnesses that involve substance abuse like alcohol dependence and men are three times as likely to be diagnosed with anti social disorders. But depression and other mental illnesses are still prevalent in men.
And while women are more likely to attempt suicide, men are more often successful in their attempts because they are more likely to use methods that guarantee success.
Understanding how gender differences whether biological or social affect mental health is crucial to diagnosis and treatment, so it shouldn’t be downplayed.
If you want more information, the National Institute of Mental Health is a great resource and has information specific for men (https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/men-and-mental-health/index.shtml) and women (https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/women-and-mental-health/index.shtml).
But regardless of gender, mental illness is a ruthless enemy that can only be defeated if we ban together. You can’t fight it alone and you don’t have to. Seek help. Talk to your doctor and find support in your friends and family.


Public libraries connecting people for development: Findings from the Global Impact Study
Public libraries play a critical role in extending the benefits of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to a diverse range of people worldwide. However, their ability to contribute to development agendas has come into question in recent times. The Global Impact Study was designed to address this debate by generating evidence about the scale, character, and impacts of public access ICTs in multiple countries across different venue types. Using data from Botswana, Chile, and the Philippines, this report summarizes the study’s key findings with a focus on libraries, situating these venues in the context of national development, discussing some disputed issues, and providing recommendations for policymakers, library practitioners, and researchers. The results show that a central impact of public libraries is promoting digital inclusion, information access, and development of ICT skills through technology provision, particularly for marginalized populations and those who face challenges using and benefiting from computers and the internet. The data also suggest a number of library characteristics that are important to users and provide a unique public value, with both users and non-users reporting positive impacts and a willingness to pay to maintain the existence of public libraries.
Sey, A., Coward, C., Rothschild, C., Clark, M., and Koepke, L. (2013). Public libraries connecting people for development: Findings from the Global Impact Study. Seattle: Technology & Social Change Group, University of Washington Information School.


A growing body of research has been undertaken in a variety of contexts worldwide to explore language preference and use as well as the attitudes and beliefs that may impact the maintenance and revitalization of endangered languages. There has also been considerable examination of the motivations that impact second language learning and the choices speakers make regarding second language learning and use. However this research has rarely extended to exploring the motivations influencing language choices in contexts where one of the languages is an endangered mother‐tongue language. Analyzing a portion of the data gathered from a larger study on language attitudes and practices, this study explores the language choices of members of an indigenous community in Costa Rica and the motivations that appear to influence those choices. An analysis is also made of the relationship between the language choice motivations that are present and current indigenous language revitalization efforts in the community.
Blackwood, Janet, "Language Choice Motivations in a Bribri Community in Costa Rica" (2013). Faculty Publications. 2.


The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has decided to call off the statewide bear hunt just 36 hours into it. The hunt began on Saturday when about 3,700 permitted hunters were allowed to begin the first legal bear hunt in Florida since 1994. Hunters greatly exceeded projections from the FWC by killing 293 bears in less than two days. The hunt was originally scheduled to last seven days but the unexpected success rates have pressured officials to shut it down early.
There were four regions in which hunting was allowed and one of those being the Central region. The Central region is made up of Lake, Orange, Seminole, and Volusia counties. The kill limit for this region was set to 100 but hunters in the area had already produced 139 dead bears by mid Sunday. Many officials believe the high success rate of hunters is due to hunter preparation and bear populations exceeding initial estimates. There was originally believed to be about 3,500 bears in the area but many officials now think that number was too low.
Not everyone was happy about the hunt and local activist group Speak Up Wekiva played an influential role in having the hunt called off. Speak Up Wekiva sued the FWC and applied pressure for the hunt to be shut down early. The hunt was originally supposed to be a two day minimum, but pressure from Speak Up Wekiva was influential in the decision for it to be ended ahead of schedule. Some believe that if not for their actions, many more bears could have been lost.
Why have a bear hunt in Florida? Proponents of the hunt are aiming to make certain areas and neighborhoods safer from encroaching bear populations. Incidents involving close encounters with bears have been on the rise in Central Florida and 3 years ago bears were taken off the list of protected species.


Laura Dean Bennett
The Old Farmer’s Almanac tells us that Dog Days are the 40 days beginning on July 3 and ending on August 11.
The term “Dog Days” comes to us from the Greeks and the ancient Romans.
The dog to which the term refers is Sirius – the “Dog Star.”
In ancient times, during the several week period during the hottest part of the summer around the Aegean and Mediterranean, Sirius rose just before or at the same time as sunrise.
This is no longer true, owing to precession of the equinoxes.
The precession of the equinoxes is a process whereby the position of the stars and constellations gradually move in relation to the seasons.
Since ancient times, when Sirius was the first star to rise at dawn in the summer, the precession of the equinoxes has shifted the positions of the twelve main constellations, which used to generally align with the twelve astrology signs for which they are named.
The ancients sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of punishing, hot weather.
These days, we make an offering to the sun of our white “farmer tan” arms and legs – slathered in sunscreen – and hope we don’t get a third degree burn.
As we have survived another season of “Dog Days,” I presume we have all been availing ourselves of every opportunity to immerse ourselves in cool water on hot days.
Yes, this time of year, swimming comes to mind, just as it must have throughout the ages.
My guess is that as soon as there was water and there were humans, there was swimming.
A hunch which cave drawings confirm.
Perhaps the earliest pictures we have of swimming can be found in Stone Age drawings from 10,000 years ago.
Pictures of swimmers were found on the walls of a now-famous cave known as “The Cave of Swimmers” near Wadi Sura in southwestern Egypt.
They depict swimmers frolicking in the water.
Written references to swimming date from 2000 B.C., having been included in Gilgamesh, the Iliad and the Odyssey.
The Bible refers to swimming in Ezekiel 47:5, Acts 27:42 and Isaiah 25:11.
In the Book of Isaiah, speaking of the downfall of Moab, it says:
“And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.”
The account of St. Paul’s shipwreck near Malta describes men swimming ashore while others cling to planks from the ship and other debris in the hope of saving themselves.
It is featured prominently in Beowulf, and other classic literature.
For some reason, the Greeks did not include swimming in the ancient Olympic Games, but they certainly practiced the sport, often building swimming pools as part of their baths.
A common insult in Greece was to say someone could neither run nor swim.
The Etruscans at Tarquinia (in Italy) made beautiful pictures of swimmers in 600 B.C., and tombs in Greece depict swimming scenes drawn in 500 B.C.
A famous tale about the Greek hero Scyllis tells that when he was taken prisoner on a ship belonging to the fleet of Persian King Xerxes I in 480 B.C., swimming saved the day for the Greeks.
As their prisoner, Scyllis heard the Persians talking about having the Greek navy tied up in the harbor.
He stole a knife and jumped overboard.
During the night he swam back to the Greek flotilla.
He cleverly used a snorkel he’d fashioned from a reed, to swim among his countrymen’s captive ships and cut them loose.
Later, their ability to swim again saved the Greeks at the Battle of Salamis, even as the Persians all drowned when their ships were destroyed.
Romans were also well-schooled in swimming for recreation and for use in war.
Julius Caesar was known to be an excellent swimmer.
Swimming was often mentioned in Roman literature. It was thought of as an essentially Roman sport and battle tactic.
Its history was traced back to the legendary Roman hero Horatius Cocles, who swam the Tiber River to defend a bridge against the Etruscans.
A series of Roman reliefs dating from 850 B.C. show swimmers, mostly in a military context, some using swimming aids, possibly to indicate long-distance swim training.
Germanic folklore describes swimming as a stealth tactic used successfully in war against the Romans.
Swimming was originally one of the seven “agilities” of knights during the Middle Ages.
And the knights were expected to be able to swim while wearing armor.
However, as swimming was usually done without armor, or even much clothing, it was seriously being discouraged by the church by the end of the Middle Ages.
In the 16th century, a German court prohibited naked public swimming by children.
But, of course, swimming could never be eradicated.
Leonardo da Vinci made early sketches of lifebelts and men wearing lifebelts.
In 1538 Nicolas Wynman, a German professor of languages, wrote the first book about swimming, called, “Colymbetes.” His primary aim was not to encourage exercise or recreation, but to reduce the likelihood of drowning.
Nevertheless, the book contained sound instructions as to how to learn to swim.
It also explained how to use swimming aids like air-filled cow bladders, reed bundles or cork belts.
Around the same time as the Germans were learning the breast stroke from Wynman’s book, an English author named Everard Digby wrote a book called De Arte Natandi.
It was published in 1587, and is considered the first English treatise on the sport although some of Digby’s theories were somewhat fantastical. He claimed that, properly trained, humans had the ability to swim better than fish.
Shakespeare wrote about swimming in several of his plays.
When Stephano, in The Tempest, asks Trinculo how he escaped the sinking ship, Trinculo says, “Swum ashore, man, like a duck; I can swim like a duck, I’ll be sworn.”
In 1696, the French author, Thevenot, wrote The Art of Swimming, featuring a breaststroke very similar to the modern breaststroke.
This book was translated into English and became the go-to text on swimming for years to come.
In the British classic, Gulliver’s Travels, published in 1726 by Irish writer and clergyman, Jonathan Swift, the hero considers himself a good swimmer and recites several occasions when he found it “convenient” to swim.
Francis Place’s autobiography says that during English summers, boys often swam in the River Thames.
He remembered that when he was about eleven, “I saw boys not older than myself swim across the Thames at Millbank at about half tide.”
By the early 1700s, recreational swimming was popular enough that London had its own public pool.
The Peerless Pool was described as “an elegant pleasure bath.” It measured 170′ by 100′ and had a smooth gravel bottom, and was accessed by several flights of stairs.
Swimming in the colonies was often out of necessity rather than pleasure.
Nicholas Cresswell, for example, said that during a trip on the Ohio River in 1775, one of the canoes drifted across the river and “one of the Company swam across the River and brought her over.”
The year before, when he was in Barbados, Cresswell wrote, “Early this morning Bathed in the Sea, which is very refreshing in this hot Climate.”
Benjamin Franklin must have been particularly keen about swimming at a young age.
At the age of 10, in 1716, he invented of a pair of swim fins.
Franklin believed strongly that every youth should learn to swim.
In an undated letter written before 1769, Franklin said this about swimming:
“… they would on many occurrences, be the safer for having that skill, and on many more the happier, as freer from painful apprehensions of danger, to say nothing of the enjoyment in so delightful and wholesome an exercise. Soldiers particularly should, methinks, all be taught to swim; it might be of frequent use either in surprising an enemy, or saving themselves. And if I had now boys to educate, I should prefer those schools (other things being equal) where an opportunity was afforded for acquiring so advantageous an art, which once learnt is never forgotten.”
The number of coroner’s inquests conducted in colonial Virginia on the bodies of boys and young men who drowned while swimming suggests that more swimming education was definitely needed.
In 1875, Matthew Webb caught the interest of people around the world when he became the first person to swim across the English Channel.
Using only the breaststroke, it took him more than 21 hours to cross the Channel.
It would be 31 years before anyone else attempted that swim.
Today, swimming is the third most popular sport in the summer Olympic Games.
Whether in a swimmin’ hole on Knapps Creek or in the solar heated pool at Watoga, Pocahontas Countians know that swimming is one of the best ways to beat heat of the last “Dog Days” of summer.
Enjoy them while you can – we’ll soon be exchanging dog days for dog sleds.


Access to information plays an important role in development. Communities benefit when people can learn about health, jobs, education, leisure activities, or whatever inspires them. In many countries, public libraries deliver this core service. With 230,000 public libraries located in the developing world, opportunities for collaboration between libraries and development agencies are significant. Yet, public libraries are often overlooked as partners for development.
Seeking to understand why libraries are overlooked in development initiatives, the study, Beyond Access: Perceptions of Libraries as Development Partners, examined the question: What do key decision makers around the world think about public libraries and their potential to play a more prominent role in development initiatives? Researchers interviewed 51 participants—including development leaders (government officials, international non-governmental organizations) and library leaders (government officials, library administrators)—in 13 countries to uncover their perceptions regarding libraries in development.
Coinciding with the first Beyond Access event, Local Alternatives for Global Development: Rediscovering Libraries, on October 3, 2012, TASCHA has released the results of its study, Beyond Access: Perceptions of Libraries as Development Partners, in the forms of a brief and full report.
The study was commissioned by a broader initiative, Beyond Access, which believes that libraries power development. The study was conducted by Chris Coward, Michelle Fellows, and Rebecca Sears of TASCHA, with support from IREX and Beyond Access. Beyond Access is an initiative of IREX, EIFL, IFLA, Makaia, Civic Regeneration, TASCHA, the Riecken Foundation, and READ Global, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. For more information, visit the Beyond Access website.


(additional papers by Davis Foulger)
We teach the same models of communication today that we taught forty years ago. This can and should be regarded as a mark of the enduring value of these models in highlighting key elements of that process for students who are taking the process apart for the first time. It remains, however, that the field of communication has evolved considerably since the 1960's, and it may be appropriate to update our models to account for that evolution. This paper presents the classic communication models that are taught in introducing students to interpersonal communication and mass communication, including Shannon's information theory model (the active model), a cybernetic model that includes feedback (the interactive model, an intermediary model (sometimes referred to as a gatekeeper model of the two-step flow), and the transactive model. It then introduces a new ecological model of communication that, it is hoped, more closely maps to the the range of materials we teach and research in the field of communication today. This model attempts to capture the fundamental interaction of language, medium, and message that enables communication, the socially constructed aspects of each element, and the relationship of creators and consumers of messages both to these elements and each other.
While the field of communication has changed considerably over the last thirty years, the models used in the introductory chapters of communication textbooks (see Adler, 1991; Adler, Rosenfeld, and Towne, 1996; Barker and Barker, 1993; Becker and Roberts, 1992; Bittner, 1996; Burgoon, Hunsaker, and Dawson, 1994; DeFleur, Kearney, and Plax, 1993; DeVito, 1994; Gibson and Hanna, 1992; Wood, 2002) are the same models that were used forty years ago. This is, in some sense, a testament to their enduring value. Shannon's (1948) model of the communication process (Figure 1) provides, in its breakdown of the flow of a message from source to destination, an excellent breakdown of the elements of the communication process that can be very helpful to students who are thinking about how they communicate with others. It remains, however, that these texts generally treat these models as little more than a baseline. They rapidly segue into other subjects that seem more directly relevant to our everyday experience of communication. In interpersonal communication texts these subjects typically include the social construction of the self, perception of self and other, language, nonverbal communication, listening, conflict management, intercultural communication, relational communication, and various communication contexts, including work and family. In mass communication texts these subjects typically include media literacy, media and culture, new media, media industries, media audiences, advertising, public relations, media effects, regulation, and media ethics.
There was a time when our communication models provided a useful graphical outline of a semesters material. This is no longer the case. This paper presents the classic models that we use in teaching communication, including Shannon's information theory model (the active model), a cybernetic model that includes feedback (the interactive model, an intermediary model (sometimes referred to as a gatekeeper model of the two-step flow), and the transactive model. Few textbooks cover all of these models together. Mass Communication texts typically segue from Shannon's model to a two-step flow or gatekeeper model. Interpersonal texts typically present Shannon's model as the "active" model of the communication process and then elaborate it with interactive (cybernetic) and transactive models. Here we will argue the value of update these models to better account for the way we teach these diverse subject matters, and present a unifying model of the communication process that will be described as an ecological model of the communication process. This model seeks to better represent the structure and key constituents of the communication process as we teach it today.
Shannon's (1948) model of the communication process is, in important ways, the beginning of the modern field. It provided, for the first time, a general model of the communication process that could be treated as the common ground of such diverse disciplines as journalism, rhetoric, linguistics, and speech and hearing sciences. Part of its success is due to its structuralist reduction of communication to a set of basic constituents that not only explain how communication happens, but why communication sometimes fails. Good timing played a role as well. The world was barely thirty years into the age of mass radio, had arguably fought a world war in its wake, and an even more powerful, television, was about to assert itself. It was time to create the field of communication as a unified discipline, and Shannon's model was as good an excuse as any. The model's enduring value is readily evident in introductory textbooks. It remains one of the first things most students learn about communication when they take an introductory communication class. Indeed, it is one of only a handful of theoretical statements about the communication process that can be found in introductory textbooks in both mass communication and interpersonal communication.
Figure 1: Shannon's (1948) Model of the communication process.
Shannon's model, as shown in Figure 1, breaks the process of communication down into eight discrete components:
Like all models, this is a minimalist abstraction of the reality it attempts to reproduce. The reality of most communication systems is more complex. Most information sources (and destinations) act as both sources and destinations. Transmitters, receivers, channels, signals, and even messages are often layered both serially and in parallel such that there are multiple signals transmitted and received, even when they are converged into a common signal stream and a common channel. Many other elaborations can be readily described.. It remains, however, that Shannon's model is a useful abstraction that identifies the most important components of communication and their general relationship to one another. That value is evident in its similarity to real world pictures of the designs of new communication systems, including Bell's original sketches of the telephone, as seen in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Bell's drawing of the workings of a telephone, from his original sketches (source: Bell Family Papers; Library of Congress; http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mcc/004/0001.jpg)
Bell's sketch visibly contains an information source and destination, transmitters and receivers, a channel, a signal, and an implied message (the information source is talking). What is new, in Shannon's model (aside from the concept of noise, which is only partially reproduced by Bell's batteries), is a formal vocabulary that is now generally used in describing such designs, a vocabulary that sets up both Shannon's mathematical theory of information and a large amount of subsequent communication theory. This correspondence between Bell's sketch and Shannon's model is rarely remarked (see Hopper, 1992 for one instance).
Shannon's model isn't really a model of communication, however. It is, instead, a model of the flow of information through a medium, and an incomplete and biased model that is far more applicable to the system it maps, a telephone or telegraph, than it is to most other media. It suggests, for instance, a "push" model in which sources of information can inflict it on destinations. In the real world of media, destinations are more typically self-selecting "consumers" of information who have the ability to select the messages they are most interested in, turn off messages that don't interest them, focus on one message in preference to other in message rich environments, and can choose to simply not pay attention. Shannon's model depicts transmission from a transmitter to a receiver as the primary activity of a medium. In the real world of media, messages are frequently stored for elongated periods of time and/or modified in some way before they are accessed by the "destination". The model suggests that communication within a medium is frequently direct and unidirectional, but in the real world of media, communication is almost never unidirectional and is often indirect.
One of these shortcomings is addressed in Figure 2's intermediary model of communication (sometimes referred to as the gatekeeper model or two-step flow (Katz, 1957)). This model, which is frequently depicted in introductory texts in mass communication, focuses on the important role that intermediaries often play in the communication process. Mass communication texts frequently specifically associate editors, who decide what stories will fit in a newspaper or news broadcast, with this intermediary or gatekeeper role. There are, however, many intermediary roles (Foulger, 2002a) associated with communication. Many of these intermediaries have the ability to decide what messages others see, the context in which they are seen, and when they see them. They often have the ability, moreover, to change messages or to prevent them from reaching an audience (destination). In extreme variations we refer to such gatekeepers as censors. Under the more normal conditions of mass media, in which publications choose some content in preference to other potential content based on an editorial policy, we refer to them as editors (most mass media), moderators (Internet discussion groups), reviewers (peer-reviewed publications), or aggregators (clipping services), among other titles . Delivery workers (a postal delivery worker, for instance) also act as intermediaries, and have the ability to act as gatekeepers, but are generally restricted from doing so as a matter of ethics and/or law.
Variations of Figure 3's gatekeeper model are also used in teaching organizational communication, where gatekeepers, in the form of bridges and liaisons, have some ability to shape the organization through their selective sharing of information. These variations are generally more complex in depiction and often take the form of social network diagrams that depict the interaction relationships of dozens of people. They network diagrams often presume, or at least allow, bi-directional arrows such that they are more consistent with the notion that communication is most often bidirectional.
The bidirectionality of communication is commonly addressed in interpersonal communication text with two elaborations of Shannon's model (which is often labeled as the action model of communication): the interactive model and the transactive model. The interactive model, a variant of which is shown in Figure 4, elaborates Shannon's model with the cybernetic concept of feedback (Weiner, 1948, 1986), often (as is the case in Figure 4) without changing any other element of Shannon's model. The key concept associated with this elaboration is that destinations provide feedback on the messages they receive such that the information sources can adapt their messages, in real time. This is an important elaboration, and as generally depicted, a radically oversimplified one. Feedback is a message (or a set of messages). The source of feedback is an information source. The consumer of feedback is a destination. Feedback is transmitted, received, and potentially disruptable via noise sources. None of this is visible in the typical depiction of the interactive model. This doesn't diminish the importance of feedback or the usefulness of elaborating Shannon's model to include it. People really do adapt their messages based on the feedback they receive. It is useful, however, to notice that the interactive model depicts feedback at a much higher level of abstraction than it does messages.
Figure 4: An Interactive Model:
This difference in the level of abstraction is addressed in the transactional model of communication, a variant of which is shown in Figure 5. This model acknowledges neither creators nor consumers of messages, preferring to label the people associated with the model as communicators who both create and consume messages. The model presumes additional symmetries as well, with each participant creating messages that are received by the other communicator. This is, in many ways, an excellent model of the face-to-face interactive process which extends readily to any interactive medium that provides users with symmetrical interfaces for creation and consumption of messages, including notes, letters, C.B. Radio, electronic mail, and the radio. It is, however, a distinctly interpersonal model that implies an equality between communicators that often doesn't exist, even in interpersonal contexts. The caller in most telephone conversations has the initial upper hand in setting the direction and tone of a a telephone callr than the receiver of the call (Hopper, 1992).In face-to-face head-complement interactions, the boss (head) has considerably more freedom (in terms of message choice, media choice, ability to frame meaning, ability to set the rules of interaction) and power to allocate message bandwidth than does the employee (complement). The model certainly does not apply in mass media contexts.
Figure 5: A Transactional Model:
The "masspersonal" (xxxxx, 199x) media of the Internet through this implied symmetry into even greater relief. Most Internet media grant everyone symmetrical creation and consumption interfaces. Anyone with Internet access can create a web site and participate as an equal partner in e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms, computer conferences, collaborative composition sites, blogs, interactive games, MUDs, MOOs, and other media. It remains, however, that users have very different preferences in their message consumption and creation. Some people are very comfortable creating messages for others online. Others prefer to "lurk"; to freely browse the messages of others without adding anything of their own. Adding comments to a computer conference is rarely more difficult than sending an e-mail, but most Internet discussion groups have many more lurkers (consumers of messages that never post) than they have contributors (people who both create and consume messages). Oddly, the lurkers sometimes feel more integrated with the community than the contributors do (Baym, 2000).
Existing models of the communication process don't provide a reasonable basis for understanding such effects. Indeed, there are many things that we routinely teach undergraduates in introductory communication courses that are missing from, or outright inconsistent with, these models. Consider that:
The ecological model of communication, shown in Figure 6, attempts to provide a platform on which these issues can be explored. It asserts that communication occurs in the intersection of four fundamental constructs: communication between people (creators and consumers) is mediated by messages which are created using language within media; consumed from media and interpreted using language.This model is, in many ways, a more detailed elaboration of Lasswell's (1948) classic outline of the study of communication: "Who ... says what ... in which channel ... to whom ... with what effect". In the ecological model , the "who" are the creators of messages, the "says what" are the messages, the "in which channel" is elaborated into languages (which are the content of channels) and media (which channels are a component of), the "to whom" are the consumers of messages, and the effects are found in various relationships between the primitives, including relationships, perspectives, attributions, interpretations, and the continuing evolution of languages and media.
|Figure 6: A Ecological Model of the Communication Process|
A number of relationships are described in this model:
A medium of communication is, in short, the product of a set of complex interactions between its primary consituents: messages, people (acting as creators of messages, consumers of messages, and in other roles), languages, and media. Three of these consituents are themselves complex systems and the subject of entire fields of study, including psychology, sociology, anthropology (all three of which study people), linguistics (language), media ecology (media), and communication (messages, language, and media). Even messages can be regarded as complex entities, but its complexities can be described entirely within the scope of languages, media, and the people who use them. This ecological model of communication is, in its most fundamental reading, a compact theory of messages and the systems that enable them. Messages are the central feature of the model and the most fundamental product of the interaction of people, language, and media. But there are other products of the model that build up from that base of messages, including (in a rough ordering to increased complexity) observation, learning, interpretation, socialization, attribution, perspectives, and relationships.
It is in this layering of interdependent social construction that this model picks up its name. Our communication is not produced within any single system, but in the intersection of several interrelated systems, each of which is self-standing necessarily described by dedicated theories, but each of which is both the product of the others and, in its own limited way, an instance of the other. The medium is, as McLuhan famously observed, a message that is inherent to every message that is created in or consumed from a medium. The medium is, to the extent that we can select among media, also a language such that the message of the medium is not only inherent to a message, but often an element of its composition. In what may be the most extreme view enabled by the processing of messages within media, the medium may also be a person and consumes messages, recreates them, and makes the modified messages available for further consumption. A medium is really none of these things. It is fundamentally a system that enables the construction of messages using a set of languages such that they can be consumed. But a medium is also both all of these things and the product of their interaction. People learn, create, and evolve media as a vehicle for enabling the creation and consumption of messages.
The same might be said of each of the constituents of this model. People can be, and often are, the medium (insofar as they act as messengers), the language (insofar as different people can be selected as messengers), or the message (one's choice of messenger can be profoundly meaningful). Fundamentally a person is none of these things, but they can be used as any of these things and are the product of their experience of all of these things. Our experience of messages, languages, media, and through them, other people, is fundamental in shaping who we become and how we think of ourselves and others. We invent ourselves, and others work diligently to shape that invention, through our consumption of messages, the languages we master, and the media we use.
Language can be, and often are, the message (that is inherent to every message constructed with it), the medium (but only trivially), the person (both at the level of the "language instinct" that is inherent to people (following Pinker, xxxxx) and a socialized semiotic overlay on personal experience), and even "the language" (insofar as we have a choice of what language we use in constructing a given message). Fundamentally a language is none of these things, but it can be used as any of these things and is the product of our use of media to construct messages. We use language, within media, to construct messages, such as definitions and dictionaries) that construct language. We invent and evolve language as a product of our communication.
As for messages, they reiterate all of these constituents. Every message is a partial and incomplete precis of the language that it is constructed with, the medium it is created in and consumed from, and the person who created it. Every message we consume allows us to learn a little more about the language that we interpret with, the medium we create and consume messages in, and the person who created the message. Every message we create is an opportunity to change and extend the language we use, evolve the media we use, and influence the perspective that consumers of our messages have of us. Yet fundamentally, a message is simply a message, an attempt to communicate something we imagine such that another person can correctly intepret the message and thus imagine the same thing.
This welter of intersecting McLuhanesque/Burkean metaphors and interdependencies provides a second source of the models name. This model seeks, more than anything, to position language and media as the intermediate building blocks on which communication is built. The position of language as a building block of messages and and communication is well understood. Over a century of study in semantics, semiotics, and linguistics have produced systematic theories of message and language production which are well understood and generally accepted. The study of language is routinely incorporated into virtually all programs in the field of communication, including journalism, rhetoric and speech, film, theater, broadcast media, language arts, speech and hearing sciences telecommunications, and other variants, including departments of "language and social interaction". The positioning of the study of media within the field of communication is considerably more tenuous. Many departments, including most of those named in this paragraph, focus almost entirely on only one or two media, effectively assuming the medium such that the focus of study can be constrained to the art of message production and interpretation, with a heavy focus on the languages of the medium and little real introspection about what it means to use that medium in preference to another or the generalized ways in which all media are invented, learned, evolved, socialized, selected or used meaningfully.
Such is, however, the primary subject matter of the newly emerging discipline of media ecology, and this model can be seen as an attempt to position media ecology relative to language and messages as a building block of our communication. This model was created specifically to support theories of media and position them relative to the process of communication. It is hoped that the reader finds value in that positioning.
Models are a fundamental building block of theory. They are also a fundamental tool of instruction. Shannon's information theory model, Weiner's Cybernetic model, and Katz' two step flow each allowed allowed scholars decompose the process of communication into discrete structural elements. Each provides the basis for considerable bodies of communication theory and research. Each model also provides teachers with a powerful pedagogical tool for teaching students to understand that communication is a complex process in which many things can, and frequently do, go wrong; for teaching students the ways in which they can perfect different skills at different points in the communication process to become more effective communicators. But while Shannon's model has proved effective across the primary divides in the field of communication, the other models Katz' and Weiner's models have not. Indeed, they in many ways exemplify that divide and the differences in what is taught in courses oriented to interpersonal communication and mass communication.
Weiner's cybernetic model accentuates the interactive structure of communication. Katz' model accentuates its production structure. Students of interpersonal communication are taught, through the use of the interactive/cybernetic and transactive models that attending to the feedback of their audience is an important part of being an effective communicator. Students of mass communication are taught, through the intermediary/gatekeeper/two-step flow model, that controlled production processes are an important part of being an effective communicator. The difference is a small one and there is no denying that both attention to feedback and attention to detail are critical skills of effective communicators, but mass media programs focus heavily on the minutiae of production, interpersonal programs focus heavily on the munitiae of attention to feedback. Despite the fact that both teach both message production the languages used in message production, and the details of the small range of media that each typically covers, they discuss different media, to some extent different languages, and different approaches to message production. These differences, far more than more obvious differences like audience size or technology, are the divides that seperate the study of interpersonal communication from mass communication.
The ecological model of communication presented here cannot, by itself, remediate such differences, but it does reconsitute and extend these models in ways that make it useful, both pedogogically and theoretically, across the normal disciplinary boundaries of the field of communication. The author has made good use of the model in teaching a variety of courses within several communication disciplines, including on interpersonal communication, mass media criticism, organizational communication, communication ethics, communication in relationships and communities, and new communication technologies. In introductory Interpersonal Communication classes the model has shown considerable value in outlining and tying together such diverse topics as the social construction of the self, verbal and non-verbal languages, listening, relationship formation and development, miscommunication, perception, attribution, and the ways in which communication changes in different interpersonal media. In an Organizational Communication class the model has proved value in tying comtemporary Organizational models, including network analysis models, satisficing, and Weick's model to key organizational skills like effective presentation, listening, and matching the medium to the goal and the stakeholder. In a communication ethics class it has proved valuable in elaborating the range of participants in media who have ethical responsibilities and the scope of their responsibilities. In a mass media criticism class it has proved useful in showing how different critical methods relate to the process of communication and to each other. In each course the model has proved valuable, not only in giving students tools with which they can decompose communication, but which they can organize the course materials into a cohesive whole.
While the model was originally composed for pedagogical purposes, the primary value for the author has been theoretical. The field of communication encompasses a wide range of very different and often unintegrated theories and methods. Context-based gaps in the field like the one between mass media and interpersonal communication have been equated to those of "two sovereign nations," with "different purposes, different boundaries", "different methods", and "different theoretical orientations" (Berger and Chaffee, 1988), causing at least some to doubt that the field can ever be united by a common theory of communication (Craig, 1999). xxxxx The author repeatedly finds these gaps and boundaries problematic
It may be be that complex model of the communication process that bridges the theoretical orientations of interpersonal, organizational, and mass media perspectives can help to bridge this gap and provide something more than the kind of metamodel that Craig calls for. Defining media directly into the process of communication may help to provide the kind of substrate that would satisfy Cappella's (1991) suggestion we can "remake the field by altering the organizational format", replacing contexts with processes that operate within the scope of media. This perspective does exactly that. The result does not integrate all of communication theory, but it may provide a useful starting point on which a more integrated communication theory can be built. The construction of such theory is the author's primary objective in forwarding this model for your comment and, hopefully, your response.
Reference list in progress.
*an earlier version of this paper was written, published on the web, and used in teaching classes in Interpersonal Communication, while the author was a visiting professor at Oswego State University/SUNY Oswego. It has subsequently evolved into one of the most viewed papers on my web sites, and is routinely viewed many hundreds of times a month.


Digital technologies have made data, ranging from authoritative surveys to user-generated information, more available to the general public. However, data themselves are not neutral representations of societies. Significant inequity remains in terms of who is represented within and by data, how data are created, who has access to and control of data, and who has the competencies and skills to meaningfully use data. We examine how these data biases translate into uneven opportunities for different individuals and communities, and thereby perpetuate existing inequalities and produce new forms of marginalization. This work includes the development of participatory data collection methods; the creation of tools and curricula to intervene in data inequities and improve data cultures; and the co-production of datasets that better reflect the social realities of diverse communities.
- What data inequities exist, and what are their implications for community and global development?
- What approaches are effective for building data culture in different social, economic, and political contexts?
- What methods and technological infrastructures can be effectively designed to ensure that data better reflect local realities and contribute to democratic knowledge production?
- What roles do public, private, and nonprofit actors play in shaping data, and how can new digital methods enhance their abilities to support data equity?
People & Organizations
- Research Team
- TASCHA Hiring Winter 2019 Research Assistant
- TASCHA & IFLA report explores how access to information contributes to development
- Mind the (information) gap: Making the case for action by governments
- Data for Democracy project supports Myanmar’s emerging data environment
- TASCHA project will highlight the role of libraries and access to information in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals
- New report: TASCHA study on MOOCs in developing countries reveals half of users receive certification
- Data for Democracy: New TASCHA project


Using AAC: Remembering the Importance of Communicating Offline
Many thanks to Joan Murphy, our Talking Mats Founder, for this great blog sharing Jeppe Forchhammer’s thoughts about the importance of social communication – communicating ‘offline’ – for AAC users:
I met Jeppe Forchhammer at the 2019 ISAAC Conference in Denmark. We had an interesting conversation about the importance of social communication for AAC users and he kindly sent me this presentation and gave me permission to write a blog about his views.
Here are a few quotes from Jeppe but it is well worth reading his whole presentation
We have reached a time where communication systems become more and more electronic. I have noticed that children who need AAC ie augmented and alternative communication are starting more and more early. This I would like to question! In this lecture I will try to explain, why I think it is better to teach the children to use their body first. In order first to get direct communication relation to another person.
I think it is most important for an AAC user first to learn to interact with another person face to face. This is of course important for all infants in particular if they don’t have a spoken language. I think the eyes begins naturally to take over and the baby begin to communicate. At least I began to observe what happened around me using my eyes by watching things around me. In this way I began early to take contact with people around me.
I am afraid that AAC users in the future will lose some of their abilities to communicate with their body or facial expression. Especially if one starts too early. I think there is a risk that the child get blinkers and we have the risk that the child will be introvert. This might give the child some social problems if it doesn´t learn to use and read the body.
We must remember that a good relation is created face to face and not through a Speech Generating Device.
If they only communicate through their speech generating computer they may miss the face to face communication.
Many thanks to Jeppe for his thoughtful and stimulating comments.
If you would like to contact him, please email email@example.com
The importance of social and non-verbal communication is highlighted in our Talking Mats training courses. If you are interested in accessing this training take a look at our options here – https://www.talkingmats.com/training/


CPR basics for children are important and can be potentially life saving.
I am one of those people that schedules out the meals for the week on Sundays, writes down any appointments on the family calendar, and likes to plan out the day mentally in my mind when I wake up; I guess you could say I like to be prepared. But emergencies are not always something we are prepared for. Would you be able to do CPR if you had to? Would your child be able to?
CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is one first aid protocol that everyone should be acquainted with. This technique for reviving someone who has lost consciousness or the ability to breath is done through chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth breaths. The process is something you never want to think about doing – especially as a parent – but it’s a technique that you should be familiar with. But, do your children need to know it? The practice is being taught more often in schools, and for good reason. There’s no harm in preparing your child for any situation they may face, especially when it comes to saving a life.
Teaching CPR in schools
Beginning in 2016, new laws were passed in several states across the county requiring schools to train students in CPR before high school graduation. The knowledge and training related to first aid and CPR can be a valuable experience for children of all ages in understanding how they can prepare for emergency situations. By teaching CPR in schools, local governments are hoping that cardiac survival rates within communities will get a much-needed boost.
The appropriate age to train your children
While there’s no specific age limit for training your child on CPR, you’re not going to train your toddler! For a frame of reference, I would recommend asking yourself if your child is capable and physically able to give compressions on an adult chest effectively. If your child is capable enough to dial 911, he or she is likely ready to begin the necessary training and understanding of the situation.
When CPR can come in handy
It’s a scary realization that only about 46 percent of people who experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest get the immediate help that they need before professional help arrives. While a mother wants to think they, or a responsible adult, is always around their child; it is more likely that your child is always around another child. It stands to reason that children know the proper protocol to take in a time of need.
Additionally, children between the ages of 10 to 12 typically begin taking jobs as babysitters. Teaching babysitters about child and infant CPR will help give them the tools they need to be confident with their new responsibilities. Although children are nowhere near as strong as adults in performing CPR in an effective manner, it’s important to keep them informed of the process if there is ever a time for them to utilize these skills.
What you should know about teaching your children
Only you as a parent can know what your child is capable of understanding. If you think they might be ready, your first steps can be teaching them the basics of CPR, along with the functioning of respiratory systems. This will better help them understand the benefit and purpose of CPR.
Of course, children don’t have the same attention span as adults so you might not want to fill them with too much information at once. Try working on it for at least 10 minutes and then refreshing it with them the next day to see if they understood. You can even try to make a game out of it!
And speaking of safety, there’s nothing safer (and more fun) than a Jump Sport trampoline. Discover how your children can have fun, with safety that will last a lifetime!


The bona fide group theory, originally developed by Linda Putnam and Cynthia Stohl, identifies a set of theoretical concepts that enable researchers to move away from studying small groups as if they were isolated, decontextualized, and without history and study groups in context. This perspective was first articulated in a special 1990 issue of the journal ommunication Studies, in which several well-known communication scholars called for the discipline to pay greater attention to groups within their natural environments. These scholars argued that groups form the foundation of our social lives, our work endeavors, and our cultural and political experiences. Group communication facilitates or hinders a society’s ability to thrive. After decades of studying small groups as if they were completely distinct from contexts, it was time for communication researchers to move beyond “container models” of group communication. Collectively, they agreed there was a need to have theories and constructs that enable an understanding of the multilevel, embedded, interpretive, emotional, and rational processes of groups.
Since the early 1990s, several theoretical perspectives have emerged that provide richer, deeper, and more nuanced understandings of groups in context. Going beyond functional approaches, researchers have incorporated structurational, interpretive, feminist, critical, and bona fide theories into smallgroup studies. Bona fide theory has been used to explore communication processes in contexts such as juries, surgical and health teams, environmental collaborations, management boards, community theater, fund-raising, online support, and adolescent peer groups. Research methodologies have also become more diverse. Discourse analyses, ethnographic studies, quasi-experimental designs, surveys, and laboratory experiments all have been used to study groups from a bona fide perspective.
Bona fide group theory posits that all groups manifest permeable boundaries and interdependence with context. The theory provides a set of concepts and relationships to explore these essential characteristics regardless of whether groupsare experimentally created and manipulated, occurnaturally in face-to-face environments, or are computer mediated. The bona fide group theory is a nascent theory insofar as a standard set of postulates and theorems have yet to be developed. However, over the past 18 years, numerous theoretical papers and empirical studies have illustrated the ways in which it is a useful and vibrant framework for the study of group processes as they emerge and are embedded in larger contexts.
Littlejohn, Stephen W and Karen A.Floss. (2009). Encyclopedia of Communication Theory.USA:SAGE.178-179
Penanggungjawab naskah :
Edwina Ayu Kustiawan
Published at :


Talking Mats is an evidence-based framework that enables health care staff and patients to communicate effectively together. The research that underpins Talking Mats has involved people with a wide range of communication difficulties, for example,
- Learning disability
- Children with Additional Support Needs
Talking Mats was designed by Speech and Language Therapists but is also used by a wide range of people e.g nurses, psychologists, therapists, advocates, dental staff etc
Ways to use Talking Mats in health-related communication difficulties
- Getting to know someone – their likes or dislikes or what they are managing or not managing
- Ensuring the individual’s views about what matters most to them are at the centre of the planning process
- Discharge planning and management, ensuring that the client is involved and that staff and listen to their views
- Comparing people’s views over time. This can be particularly useful at the beginning and end of therapy input
- Finding out a patient’s priorities about goals they want to work on
Talking Mats Resources for Health and Wellbeing
We have developed specific resources based on the WHO-ICF (World Health Organisation- International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health).This is a really good starting point for helping people with communication difficulties to explore issues around health and wellbeing.
There are 3 Talking Mats health-related resources
- Health and Wellbeing (predominantly for adults) This resource includes 13 topics and enables people to understand, think about and then express their views about these different components of their Health and Wellbeing. It supports them to become more involved in making decisions about interventions and support required.
- Consulting Children and Young People. This has age-appropriate communication symbols for pre-school, primary and secondary aged children.
- Talking Mats and Eating and Drinking. This allows people to consider their mealtimes, the process of eating and drinking, the impact on their health and strategies that might help. It supports them to think through and express their views in this potentially complex area.
To read more about how Talking Mats can be used to explore health issues the following blogs will be helpful
- Read about a project to find out the views of families at transition to adult health services
- This demonstrates the use of the digital app with someone with aphasia
- Sophie Mitchell, speech and language therapist, describes how she uses the digital Talking Mats to help a young person with learning disability be involved in his education, health and care plan
- This tells the story of using Talking Mats with someone with dementia who has dental problems
- Find out how the eating and drinking resource helped Ellie to manage her difficulties
- This story illustrates how the Mats helped Jill explore cognitive issues which were part of her multiple sclerosis
What our customers are saying…
“I understood this patient more from one session using Talking Mats than I did in the last 18 months working with them.” Occupational Therapist
“Talking Mats is so enabling to help people to voice their feelings (not ours!!) – so amazed at how much info you can find out from someone who is ‘non-verbal’.” Clinical Psychologist
“Talking Mats is a great tool to use with many types of patients to help identify meaningful goals and problem areas. It helps structure their thinking as well as our own.” Speech and Language Therapist
“I felt valued.” Man with stroke
“I can overcome my communication hurdles.” Woman with cerebral palsy
“It helps me turn thoughts into actions.” Young man with head injury
Talking Mats is a powerful communication framework using engaging communication symbols for helping people organise their thoughts when discussing a particular topic, and helps people to express their views on relevant issues. It provides a visual record for reflection and clinical notes.We have developed one of the best apps for communication disability. Health practitioners will get most benefit from the Talking Mats framework if they have attended a recognised Talking Mats training course.


Mathematics is an analytical subject. It is a compulsory subject in school up to class 10 in India. According to Merriam Webster dictionary, mathematics is the science of numbers and their operations, interrelations, combinations, generalizations, and abstractions and of space configurations and their structure, measurement, transformations, and generalizations. Whereas Cambridge dictionary defines mathematics as the study of numbers, shapes, and space using reason and usually a special system of symbols and rules for organizing them. However, Mathematical components such as subtraction, addition, multiplication and division divide the student into two extremes; they either enjoy it or detest it.
Having maths in the elementary and higher classes in schools make the students mentally more agile and also prepare them to tackle the various challenges of life. Every technical discipline has math as a mandatory subject in their syllabus. Not only this, every entrance examination for higher education has some form of mathematical question in their papers. Students tend to bypass math due to lack of adequate study material and lack of clear concepts right from the elementary levels. With the advent of Internet the offline classroom education has received a facelift. The shift to the online mode has been steady and rapid.
Finding online study material is very simple and hassle free as these can be accessed from anywhere and anytime. It makes the student smarter and technologically sound. Online study material are pocket friendly and are in sync with the exam pattern of the school. Examinations that have always been a area of great stress, can now be easily addressed with the availability of the right study material for the exam.
The poor understanding, misplaced focus, lack of time and clear concepts are other common issues faced by the students; and all this results in poor grades or failure.
Keep your worries at bay and take a slice out of your busy schedule, to taste the flavour of stress- free exam time. The magic wand of study material for class 11 CBSE is here to help you sail through the exam.
Having Maths as a subject makes sense for the following reasons:
Geometry: The square, triangle, rectangle, circle that we study in this section are things that we see around us all the time. The formulae used is also very useful in practical world.
Trigonometry: It studies relationships involving lengths and angles of triangles. Trigonometry is more simply associated with planar right-angle triangles, each of which is a two-dimensional triangle with one angle equal to 90 degrees.
Arithmetic: It is the study of quantity. Students are very familiar with the method BODMAS, to tackle subtraction, addition, multiplication and division riddle.
Algebra: The elementary algebra records numbers, integers and arithmetical operations.


Exclusion means preventing a rightful heir from having any share of the deceased’s estate due to the PRESENCE of another heir. The principle behind who excludes who is the degree of closeness to the deceased. The closer relatives will exclude those who are not so close. For example, son will exclude grandson. A grandson can only inherit in the absence of a son since the latter is closer to the deceased than the former. Note that there is a difference between exclusion and impediments to inheritance. In exclusion, a “stronger” heir eliminates a “weaker” heir while impediment has to do with preventing an heir from inheriting due to circumstances like murder, difference of religion, slavery, etc.
There are two types of exclusion: total and partial. The definition above refers to total exclusion. Partial exclusion means reducing the share of the estate an heir should have gotten due to the existence of another heir. For instance, a husband inherits half (½) of his wife’s estate if she has no child, but supposing she has a child even if from a previous husband, he gets one-quarter (¼) of her estate. This reduction from ½ to ¼ is called partial exclusion. Meanwhile, we intend to concentrate on total exclusion. So, unless otherwise specified, whenever we say “exclusion,” we mean “total exclusion.”
Now, among the heirs (male and female), there are those I call “basic heirs,” because they cannot be excluded irrespective of who is present. They are: son, daughter, father, mother, husband and wife. The worst that can happen to them is to be partially excluded. Exclusion is quite a complex concept. Thus, we will try to simplify it using analogies. Do not mind any repetitions. They are for easier and clearer understanding.
Let’s say that an individual ‘X’ (who may either be a male or female) has two sons ‘A’ and ‘B’. ‘A’ has 2 sons and a daughter while ‘B’ has a son and 3 daughters. This means that ‘X’ has 7 grandchildren (3 sons, 4 daughters).
a) If ‘A’ and ‘B’ are absent (i.e. have died), when ‘X’ eventually passes on, the 7 grandchildren will replace or represent their fathers and inherit from his estate.
b) Supposing ‘A’ and ‘B’ are both present at the time ‘X’ dies, they will exclude their children from having any share of ‘X’s’ inheritance.
c) If at the time ‘X’ passes on, only ‘A’ is present, (i.e. ‘B’ has died before ‘X’), the 4 children of ‘B’ cannot take the place of their father to inherit from ‘X’ due to the presence of ‘A’. This means that ‘A’ will exclude both his children and the children of his brother ‘B’. But this rule applies exclusively when ‘A’ is a SON and not a daughter. Therefore,
Rule 1: A son excludes ALL grandchildren.
Modifying the analogy a bit, if ‘A’ were to be a daughter and ‘B’ a son, what happens?
a) Assuming ‘A’ and ‘B’ are both absent when ‘X’ dies, only the 4 children of ‘B’ will inherit from him. The children of daughter ‘A’ are non-heirs.
b) If ‘A’ and ‘B’ are present at the time ‘X’ passes on, they will exclude the children of ‘B’.
c) On the other hand, if ‘B’ died before ‘X’, and ‘A’ is the only surviving child, she will NOT exclude the children of ‘B’. However, this does not mean that ‘B’s’ children will take the place of their father or will be entitled to their father’s share of the estate. A new sharing formula is to be created for them [We shall see the details of this sharing formula with numeric examples Insha Allah. Here we are just interested in discussing who excludes who and in what circumstance(s)]. This brings us to the next rule of exclusion.
Rule 2: A daughter does not exclude grandchildren [i.e. children of her late brother(s)].
- Male heirs
- Female heirs
- Non heirs
- Impediments to inheritance
- YOU ARE HERE: Exclusion
- Exclusion – Part 2
- Exclusion – Part 3
- Note on difference of opinion
- Inheritance of children
- Inheritance of spouses
- Inheritance of parents
- Inheritance of grandparents
- Inheritance of siblings
- Residuaries (‘Asabah)
- Partial exclusion
- Inheritance arithmetic (“inherithmetic”)
- Procedure of solving inheritance problems
- Levels of inheritance problems (Level one)
- Level one – continued
- Lowest Common Multiple (LCM)
- Highest Common Factor (HCF)
- Prime numbers
- Increment of base number (‘Awl)
- Level two – Part 1
- Level two – Part 2
- Level two – Part 3
- Level two – Part 4
- Level three
- Inheritance of grandfather along with siblings
- Inheritance of grandfather along with siblings in the presence of other heirs
- Special cases
- Summary of rules
- Further reading
- Solutions to exercises
Your Questions, Our Answers
We have received a number of emails from those who visited this website or downloaded and read INHERITANCE IN ISLAM. Almost all of them were questions on either aspects of inheritance not covered in the book or clarifications needed regarding specific cases. Hence, we thought it wise to reproduce the emails so that others may benefit as well. As always, we welcome suggestions, criticisms and of course, more questions!


CHARACTER & SERVICE
Character education is a fundamental component of the Sullins Academy experience. It is essential to develop these ethical principles, as prosperity in life is not solely reliant upon academic success. The code of conduct for a Sullins Academy student is established through a set of monthly character traits and a manner of the week. There is a direct link between the development of good character, a solid work ethic, and academic success. A preeminent learning environment is created when mutual respect is shared between teachers, students, and peers. A school wide approach to character education allows students to be exposed to these fundamental values year after year. Character lessons are woven into academics, physical education and athletics, art, music, and, of course, service learning. Monthly acts of kindness allow students to transform a character trait into an act of service.
Community service is an important component of character education at Sullins and demonstrates to students that how they lead their lives really does matter. Children in all grades take part in all-school projects as well as grade-level projects.
The community service program seeks to establish within the Sullins school community a sense of civic responsibility rooted in the habit of service. The program provides a wide variety of opportunities for children to reach out to the broader community with a giving heart and a willingness to serve. Understanding the need, and that they can make a difference, benefits our students and the community for years to come.


Designing your PCB
On this webpage you will learn how to create the finished PCB design in KiCad. For this tutorial you will need the netlist file generated in the last tutorial. The netlist file contains the schematics and the footprints belonging to the components. You can just sit back and see your PCB components added onto your design. If you are a visual type there is even a 3D view for you.
Step 1: Open 'Pcbnew' editor
Now that the netlist is ready if you would like you can close the electronic schematic editor and please open the Printed circuit board editor by clicking on the Pcbnew icon (Figure 1) on the KiCad main window. This editor is used for designing the PCB board by placing component footprints on it and connecting the pads of the components with wires.
Step 2: Set basic settings and load netlist
Before starting designing you need to set the basic properties of the design. In the next tutorial you will print the design and this is why this is so important so please open PCB properties (Figure 2 - 1.). After filling out the form you will see some of the properties on the bottom of the page (Figure 2 - 2.). Now you need to select the grid that you would like to use for your design by choosing the appropriate option with the right mouse button pop-up menu.
Now it is time to load the netlist (Figure 3 - 1.) and start designing for real. The netlist contains the components, the footprints and the schematics. After loading the netlist you will see all the footprints added onto the design (Figure 3 - 2.).
Step 3: Set position of component footprints and draw connections
On the right side of the designing window you will see a column containing layers. Select the 'Edge.Cuts' layer and draw the frame of your board. The bunch of footprints added to your design does not look good so you need to position them in the frame and leave more air between them. (Tip: Press 'r' to rotate component.)
Now you need to set the design rules and with the rules set you need to draw the connections between the footprint pads. These connections will be the copper wires left on your PCB board these wires will carry electricity. With KiCad you are able to design 2 sided boards. The 2 layer sides for the wires are 'F.Cu' (front copper) and 'B.Cu' (back copper). You can find these layers in the right column (Figure 4).
Step 4: Place NPTH drill holes
If you would not like to screw your board onto a surface you can leave out this step. Otherwise you will need NPTH drill holes for the screws. Add the holes by clicking on the correct icon (Figure 5) and clicking on the black surface. Click 'Select by browser' from the pop-up window and choose 'Connect/1Pin' by double clicking on it. You will see a hole placed on your design. By right clicking on the middle of the hole and selecting 'Pad on.../Edit pad', you can set the parameters of the hole. You need to set it to NPTH, add 'B.SilkS' to the technical layers, set the diameter dimensions and clearances.
Step 5: Set copper zone, duplicate zone to back layer and start DRC
Now you need to select the outline of the copper zone starting with clicking on the green icon as seen on the right side of Figure 6. Select one of the corners of the frame and choose the type of copper zone you would like to create and select the border of the zone. In our example the zone border is equal to the border of the board. You need to duplicate the zone to the front layer too (right click 'Zones/ Duplicate Zone Onto Layer'). When the zone borders are ready you will see 45° lines crossing each other. The green lines represent the back border while red lines represent the front border.
To fill out the copper zone you need to perform a DRC (Design Rules Check). Figure 6 shows how to start it. The design rules check is capable to do multiple tasks like filling and testing zones or discover unconnected pads but if you try it out you will see the number of numerous tasks it can do.
If you would like to see your PCB board in 3D like it is shown on Figure 7, you can find the '3D viewer' in the 'View' menu which is one of the top menus. You can watch the 3D view anytime during the PCB design. But if you would like to see your board in the real world, jump to our next tutorial where you will learn how to physically make the board.


[…] works of authorship should be free, and by freedom we mean:
- the freedom to use the work and enjoy the benefits of using it
- the freedom to study the work and to apply knowledge acquired from it
- the freedom to make and redistribute copies, in whole or in part, of the information or expression
- the freedom to make changes and improvements, and to distribute derivative works
Doing exactly this same exercise, I wrote back in October 2003 what I thought were The four kinds of freedom of free knowledge, namely:
- The freedom to use the knowledge, for any purpose (freedom 0).
- The freedom to study how the knowledge applies, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source information is a precondition for this.
- The freedom to redistribute knowledge so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
- The freedom to improve the knowledge, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source information is a precondition for this.
Same thing with only a different approach: Benjamin Mako Hill and Erik MÃ¶ller focus on content, and I do in knowledge :)
If you need to cite this article in a formal way (i.e. for bibliographical purposes) I dare suggest:
Peña-López, I. (2007) “Definition of Free Cultural Works” In ICTlogy,
#41, February 2007. Barcelona: ICTlogy.
Retrieved month dd, yyyy from http://ictlogy.net/review/?p=506


National weather forecasting agencies rely heavily on radar and satellite observations to follow large-scale patterns, including location of clouds associated with severe weather such as hail, thunderstorms, hurricane-force winds and flooding. This data on its own is in some cases not sufficient to determine what is happening on the ground, under the radar, in small localised areas. When radar detects cloud and storm formations which may cause tornadoes, hail or other severe weather locally, volunteer observers on the ground are asked to report observed conditions such as:
- Hail: anything greater than 1cm (0.4")
- Wind: anything stronger than 80-90 km/h (50-55 mph)
- Heavy Rain: 25 to 50mm/hr (1-2"/hr) or more
- Poor visibility, flash flooding, storm damage, snow accumulations greater than 2.5cm/hr (1"/hr), freezing rain
- Tornado, Twister: ALL sightings. Location, general direction of movement, size, where it started, and where it lifted
- Wall Clouds: ALL sightings. Indicate if there is rotation, general direction
Volunteers are normally provided with a half-day of training to allow them to readily identify specific key cloud and storm formations, from wall clouds (typically seen before tornadoes) to roll clouds (spotted when a burst of precipitation is imminent). Membership in any existing radio amateur group (such as a local amateur radio club or ARES group) is not prerequisite and all amateurs are normally invited to volunteer, but training is used to minimise the risk of false alarms or misidentification of potential severe weather conditions.
Radio amateurs are often trained as volunteer observers as they have both existing local organisation (ARES emergency / disaster service groups) and ability to operate via VHF/UHF repeaters when power or landline links are down. When weather office radar spots severe weather, on-air directed nets are used to request local on-the-ground observations which are then relayed to weather forecasters for use in predicting local conditions. Observers are advised not to engage in "storm chasing" or other activity by which they may place themselves at risk.
As the names of individual volunteer observer programmes are trademarks of national weather agencies, they vary from one country to another; for instance, Skywarn in the US would provide the same functions as Canwarn (Canadian Weather Amateur Radio Network) in Canada.
- Canwarn (Environment Canada)
- Skywarn (US National Weather Service)
- Index of US Skywarn-related websites
- County emergency agency adds weather spotting cap, MEGHAN V. MALLOY, Kennebec Journal 06/08/2009
|Operation||Callsigns and ITU prefixes * Codes and Alphabets * Modes * Morse code * Nets * UK licensing * Terminology|
|DX and Contesting||Awards and Certificates * DXCC * DX cluster * Field day * Gridsquares * Logging * QSL and QSL Bureaus * Records - Distance|
|Emergencies||Emergency Frequencies * ARES * IRESC * SATERN * Weather spotting|
|Utilities||Beacons (/B) and Time Beacons|


This is a follow-up post from last Summer’s proclamation that Halloween and Independence Day should be swapped.
In that post, I made some compelling, dare I say brilliant, reasonings why these holidays should be flipped. Rather than repeat myself here, I will just offer you all a happy Independence Day. Unfortuantely, I forgot to buy/save fireworks even though they are safer now.
October was a very important month in 1776:
12th – British Brigade begins guarding Throgg Necks Road in Bronx
18th – Battle of Pelham: Col John Glover & Marblehead regiment meet British Forces in Bronx
26th – Benjamin Franklin departed from America for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution.
28th – Battle of White Plains; Washington retreats to NJ
Not to mention:
The Battle of Valcour Island 11 October 1776
Why then is it such an important battle? Because to deal with the threat posed by this rag-tag American fleet, the British expended precious time to assemble their own naval force, costing them the opportunity to invade the United States along the route of the Hudson River during the campaign of 1776. After their victory, they retreated to Canada, regrouped, and waited until the next spring to begin driving southward. By then the Americans were better prepared and the invaders were unsupported because the main British army in America had left New York. As a result, the Americans forced the surrender of the invading force at Saratoga, New York. This victory, in turn, convinced France to ally itself with the United States, broadening the American Revolution into an international conflict and stretching British resources to the breaking point. Thus a little-remembered naval battle changed the course of the war and led directly to American victory.
In 1789 (the year the Consititution was ratified) it was Oct 2nd that George Washington transmitted the proposed Constitutional amendments (The United States Bill of Rights) to the States for ratification. He also declared the first national Thanksgiving to take place in November 1789.
So October is a fine month to celebrate Independence day.


What You Need to Know About : Interaction Adaptation Theory
Interaction adaptation theory (IAT) was developed by Judee Burgoon, Lesa Stern, and Leesa Dillman. Interested in the ways in which people adapt to one another in dyads, the research team, led by Burgoon, realized that many of the theories in this area did not attend to a broad array of communication behaviors and functions, and the theories often undervalued the effect of one person’s behavior on another person during everyday encounters. To address these concerns, Burgoon, Stern, and Dillman developed IAT and formally introduced their theory in 1995. IAT built on previous theoretical work on interpersonal adaptation and dyadic interaction processes, particularly expanding Burgoon’s expectancy violations theory, and provided a more comprehensive explanation of interpersonal adaptation by incorporating a stronger emphasis on biological and sociological influences. IAT is predicated on nine guiding principles and five fundamental concepts.
Littlejohn, Stephen W and Karen A.Floss. (2009). Encyclopedia of Communication Theory.USA:SAGE.654
Penanggungjawab naskah :
Edwina Ayu Kustiawan


Straits of Florida
This cruise will focus on the discovery of new cold-water ecosystems and improved understanding of underwater geological hazards and processes. The Straits of Florida is a trough that separates the Florida Peninsula from Cuba and the Great Bahamas Bank. Due to the differences in geological, oceanographic, and chemical processes within this region, the deep water contains some of the greatest species richness in the Atlantic Ocean. The expedition will also study underwater landslide deposits and slump scars for evidence of methane escape, as a cause of slope failure and potential tsunamigenesis. Methane venting would likely support rare chemosynthetic communities. Large vertical displacements of the seafloor will be examined to better understand local plate tectonic activity and potential for slope failure, earthquake, and tsunami hazards.


In the past 200 years the big trend in education has been expansion in the number of people being educated and in the amount of education. While timing varied somewhat throughout the industrializing world, in the US primary education became universal during the 1800's, public high schools became widespread between 1900 and 1950, and college enrollment greatly increased in the 1960's and 70's. In contrast, the Methods of Education and content of education didn't change all that much, other than increasing adoption of industrial-scale techniques, such as the replacement of single-room schools by large buildings with age-segregated classrooms.
While this expansion was clearly influenced by the needs and opportunities of the industrial revolution, national ideology and international comparisons also played a big role. The universal primary education and the research university model adopted by the US during the 1800's was largely based on German practices. See History of Education in the United States.
It is very important to keep in mind this rapid expansion of the educational system. Two major consequences:
21st century skills
Family income has become more correlated over time with parental education levels, parents’ own cognitive skills, family structure, and neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics.


The Genesis of the Austrian Navy.
Venice was founded on the 25th. of April 421 AD on St Marks day. In 726, Orso Ipato the first Doge there began his rule.
814: Found the first coins minted, and work started on the first Doge's Palace.
828: The body of San Marco is stolen from Alexandria by Venetian merchants.
1171: The first 6 districts of Venice are established.
1173: The first Rialto bridge is built.
1204: Venice takes part in the conquest and sacking of Constantinople, and the 4 bronze horses on display in front of S.Marco are plundered from Turkey.
1380: Venice defeats Genoa to gain supremacy at sea in the Adriatic and the Mediterranean.
In the 14th. 15th. and even into the 16th. century Venice held sway over much of Europe, her conquests on the mainland at their peak by 1454.
1576: The plague struck, killing 50,000, and in 1630, a second wave of this disease accounted for yet another 46,000 Venetians.
1683: The Turks had advanced into the heart of Europe, and were threatening Vienna, and by
1718 the Peace of Passarowitz between Austria and Turkey, put an end to the fighting between Turkey and Venice, and it marked the end of the political domination of Venice in European affairs.
Venice was now on the slippery slope of decline.
1748: The Peace of Aix-le-Chapelle now placed Austria in a dominant position of all the territories surrounding Venice.
Over 1796/1797 Napoleon is on the march against Italy, and with the Treaty of Campoformido in October 1797, Venice is given to Austria by Napoleon.
The Hapsburgs rule this city only until 1805 when it again changes hands and is returned once again to Napoleon, and the French rule for 10 years.
But by 1815, Austria takes charge of Venice until 1848, when the people rebel, and proclaim a new Republic under Daniele Manin.
But it is freedom for Venetians for but a short time, by August of 1849, Austria is again in control.
1866: The fate of Venice is finally decided by the outcome of the Third War of Independence, Venice goes to Napoleon 111 of France, and he in turn gives it to Italy, confirmed by a plebiscite of the populace of Venice themselves.
Sinking of Italian Red'Italia after being rammed
The place of the Danube in the defence of Austria.
The age of steam burst onto the world in 1830, and two British engineers, John Andrews and Joseph Pritchard started a shipyard in the Vienna suburb of Floridsdorf, launching the first Danube steamship, Franz 1.
Frigate Novara world voyage over 1857/1859.
In addition to the Danube defence ships, Austria built up a blue water navy, based in Venice or at Pola, dependent upon who held sway over the city of Venice sitting at the top of the Adriatic.
Italy had instituted a navy in 1861, and it came in conflict with the Austrians at the Battle of Lissa ( an island between land locked Austria and Italy, located in the Adriatic ) on the 20th. of July 1866, the Italians lost, their battleships Re d'Italia and Palestro, both being sunk.
This painting by Eduard Nezbeden in 1911 depicts the
Austria's first two screw Danube Monitors.
The Whitehead - Luppis 14 inch torpedo.
von Trapp was a handsome Naval officer, who had commanded a submarine in the Austrian Navy, and it so happened that Robert Whitehead's great grand daughter Agathe Whitehead had been invited to launch a new submarine for the Navy. The pair met at the ceremony, fell in love, married, had 7 children. In 1922 Agathe died from scarlet fever. von Trapp married the children's governess Maria, and the musical "Sound of Music" came to be born. Today, one cannot visit Salzburg without being inundated with the romantic story of Maria, and her marriage to Georg von Trapp, let us not forget, he was a very intrepid and successful Submarine commander for the Austrian Navy in WW1.
The politics of Central Europe prior to WW1.
To counter act this alliance, the Triple Entente came into being, Britain, France and Russia.
Planting the seeds of WW1 .
France and Russia mobilized, Germany declared war on Russia and France, and when Germany marched into Belgium, then Britain joined the fray declaring war. At this early stage, Italy sat on the side lines remaining neutral, but Turkey, in October came in on the side of Germany, thinking they had picked the final winner. Finally, six months after the outbreak of WW1, Italy declared war on Austria/Hungary.
Austro-Hungary Navy Flag 1915-1918
Significant Austro-Hungarian Navy at start of WW1.
In all, over the 1914/1918 war, some 17 of the above ships were sunk. The submarines of this fleet had a good deal of success, damaging the French Dreadnought Jean Bart, they sank a French and Italian Armoured cruiser, a British Destroyer, and 2 French and 2 Italian Destroyers, plus a French and Italian Submarine.
At War end, the Austro/Hungarian ships were divided up between the victorious Allies.
When the 1914/1918 war came to an end, the remaining ships of the Austro-Hungary Navy were divided up between the Allied Nations,to the old tried and true adage "To the victors the spoils!"
The time of Austria-Hungary being a Maritime nation, had at last, come to an end.


Basis fashions have taken the Synthetic Intelligence group by storm. Their latest impression has helped contribute to a variety of industries comparable to healthcare, finance, schooling, leisure, and many others. The favored massive language fashions comparable to GPT-3, DALLE 2, and BERT are those which can be generally known as basis fashions and are performing extraordinary duties and easing lives. GPT-3 can write a wonderful essay and generate content material given only a quick pure language immediate. DALLE 2 can create photos in response to a easy textual description. These fashions are the one motive as a consequence of which Synthetic Intelligence and Machine Studying are quickly transferring by a paradigm shift.
In a latest analysis paper, a group of researchers explored the scope of basis fashions in decision-making. The group has proposed some conceptual instruments and technical background for going in-depth into the issue area and inspecting the brand new analysis instructions. A basis mannequin is mainly a mannequin which is educated in a method that it may be used for downstream duties, i.e., it may be used for duties for which it has not beforehand been educated. The much less common phrases, comparable to self-supervised and pre-trained fashions, are interchangeably used for basis fashions solely. These reusable AI fashions will be utilized to any area or business activity.
The analysis paper evaluations and addresses the newest strategies that assist basis fashions in sensible decision-making. These fashions are utilized in numerous functions in a number of methods, like prompting, conditional generative modeling, planning, optimum management, and reinforcement studying. The paper mentions related background and notations of sequential decision-making. It introduces a couple of instance eventualities the place basis fashions and decision-making are higher thought-about collectively, comparable to utilizing human suggestions for dialogue duties, utilizing the web as an atmosphere for decision-making, and contemplating the duty of video era as a common coverage.
Basis fashions will be offered as generative fashions of conduct and the atmosphere. The paper discusses how ability discovery will be an instance of conduct. Then again, basis fashions will be generative fashions of the atmosphere for conducting model-based rollouts. These fashions may even describe totally different elements of decision-making, comparable to states (S), behaviors (A), dynamics (T), and activity specifiers (R), by generative modeling or illustration studying with examples of plug-and-play vision-language fashions, model-based illustration studying and so forth.
The paper, in the long run, discusses widespread challenges and points whereas making use of basis fashions to decision-making. One is the dataset hole, as the large datasets used for imaginative and prescient and language duties can have totally different constructions and manners than interactive datasets. For instance, movies in a broad dataset principally do not need express motion labels, whereas actions and rewards are important elements of interactive datasets. To beat the problem, broad video, and textual content knowledge will be made extra task-specific by post-processing the information, utilizing methods like hindsight relabeling actions and rewards. In distinction, the decision-making datasets will be made so by mixing quite a lot of task-specific datasets. Thus, this newest analysis paper explains how the advancing basis fashions will be utilized for various decision-making alternatives by overcoming challenges.
Try the Paper. All Credit score For This Analysis Goes To the Researchers on This Mission. Additionally, don’t overlook to hitch our 15k+ ML SubReddit, Discord Channel, and Electronic mail Publication, the place we share the newest AI analysis information, cool AI tasks, and extra.
Tanya Malhotra is a remaining yr undergrad from the College of Petroleum & Power Research, Dehradun, pursuing BTech in Laptop Science Engineering with a specialization in Synthetic Intelligence and Machine Studying.
She is a Information Science fanatic with good analytical and significant pondering, together with an ardent curiosity in buying new abilities, main teams, and managing work in an organized method.


Leopard sharks are a special species of shark found only along the West coast of North America, their territory spanning from Washington to Baja California. A distinctive characteristic of these creatures is their mild temperament. Unlike most sharks, which will bite anything that might be food, leopard sharks are timid and have such small mouths that they pose essentially no danger to humans. In fact, a leopard shark bite on a human has never been recorded by the International Shark Attack File.
Every Summer La Jolla Shores is the gathering site of hundreds of leopard sharks. A common misconception of this behavior is that these sharks convene here to mate or give birth, but in fact scientists are not quite certain what they do at this annual conference.
Watch “Local Legends: The Leopard Sharks of La Jolla Shores” to see what Nosal has determined about why these sharks flock to La Jolla Shores and what they do there.
Check out more programs about sharks.
See what other programs are available in the Perspectives on Ocean Science series!