Conference Presentations Day Two
8:00 – 8:45
Localisation Education — Teaching Aid Toolkit
Dimitra Anastasiou Localisation Research Centre, Centre for Next Generation of Localisation
Naoto Nishio Localisation Research Centre
Enda Quigley Localisation Research Centre, Centre for Next Generation Localisation
Localisation is the adaptation of digital content to a target combination of language and culture, called locale. We present an educational programme which encourages children to appreciate the cultural and linguistic diversity of the world. The Localisation Research Centre at the University of Limerick, the Curriculum Design Unit at Mary Immaculate College and the Centre for Next Generation Localisation develop a Primary School Localisation Toolkit.
Alex Chisholm Learning Games Network
This presentation reflects on Gee’s (2007) learning principles as instantiated by language games developed within an open–source platform (ISLE). Online language learning is enabled through games and activities that are task-based with social interaction, collaboration, and competition. Activities are designed to be stand-alone, self-contained Flash modules nested within a single portal that taps the platform’s resources, makes extensive use of CMC tools, and permits performance reporting and learning path customizations. ESL materials will be showcased with an eye to illustrating the advantages of this gaming platform for the curriculum of other world languages.
An Analysis of the Spelling Errors of L2 English Learners
DJ Hovermale The Ohio State University
Recent studies have shown that commercial spelling correction programs perform rather poorly on learner English (Mitton and Okada, 2008; Hovermale 2008). One explanation for this poor performance is that these spellcheckers exploit patterns in native speaker spelling errors which do not hold for L2 English learners (cf.e.g. Hovermale, 2008). This study examines approximately 1500 English spelling errors made by Japanese learners of English and provides empirical evidence that learner errors do, in fact, differ in predictable ways from those of native speakers. The study provides a detailed analysis of the errors and suggests how ESL spellcheckers could use this knowledge to improve performance.
Developing a LCTL Website for a Multi-Cultural Student Body
Derek Roff University of New Mexico
Less-commonly taught languages face problems of access. Universities lack sufficient students for a viable learning program, while dispersed students lack local classes. The Web is an obvious resource, but many pedagogical, resource, and design decisions must be addressed. When the target learning community spans several cultures and language groups, access must include multiple languages of introduction and instruction. This presentation will explore the development of one successful learning portal, created with significant volunteer collaboration. It offers a wide array of learning materials, accessible via more than ten languages. We are developing student-accessed automatic writing evaluation tools as learning aids.
Pasi Puranen Helsinki School of Economics
Berit Peltonen Helsinki School of Economics
Lis Auvinen University of Helsinki
This panel presentation by a team of language educators representing English, Spanish and Swedish focuses on the use of CALL and the foreign language learning goals and teaching practices in Finnish higher education. Maija Tammelin will exemplify how blended learning and the use of technology are used to meet the institutional, national and European goals in language learning. Pasi Puranen will focus on guidance in an online environment in teaching Spanish to Finnish students. Berit Peltonen and Lis Auvinen will demonstrate how they use videoconferencing tools, language karaoke and student-produced podcasts in their Swedish courses in a Finnish context.
Arabic without Walls: A Platform for Teaching and Learning about Learning
Michael Bush Brigham Young University
The development of online language learning materials is expensive and must rely on unsettled theory. Work is underway at BYU to revise the successful Arabic Without Walls software in order improve instruction as well as inform SLA theory. We are revising the curriculum to achieve better integration between in-class and out-of-class activities and improve feedback to teachers regarding student preparation. Changes target online materials as well as the design of the course syllabus and schedule. The presentation will include demonstrations of architectural modifications to achieve “tool and content malleability” through openness, interoperability, and modularity for designing, developing, delivering, and evaluating courses.
9:00 – 9:45
Longitudinal Development of Language Learners: A Corpus-based Approach
Nina Vyatkina University of Kansas
This longitudinal study investigates the second language (L2) development in college-level learners of German. A written electronic corpus of learner productions elicited at dense time intervals starting from the novice level and continuing over several semesters of study is analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The focal features include selected vocabulary and grammar features. I also track how learners use the available input by modifying it and applying it to their own L2 production. The study responds to numerous calls for more longitudinal L2 research.
Linda R Lemus University of New Mexico
This project focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of the first place-based mobile game for the learning of Spanish pragmatics in traditionally Hispanic neighborhoods in the United States – Mentira. The presentation will describe the development process of the Mentira game, including the theoretical model for learning, programming, graphic design, and piloting. It will then report on a design-based research project aimed at improving intercultural communication and pragmatic abilities in Spanish. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of future implications for pedagogy and research, as well as suggested applications to learner-created mobile games for language learning.
Google Wave Roundtable Discussion
J. Scott Payne Amherst College
While still a preview, Google’s new communication platform, called Wave, shows great promise as a tool for language learning and research. This roundtable discussion will begin with a brief presentation of what Wave is and a demonstration of how it works. This roundtable will serve as an informational session for those who have yet to see Wave in action and as a venue for exploring how Wave could be leveraged to promote language learning and SLA research. Presenters in the roundtable will be drawn from members of the “Using Google Wave in CALL” group with the intent of fostering an open and unstructured discussion.
Jonathan Perkins University of Kansas
It is commonplace to refer to today’s students as “digital natives,” whose familiarity with and reliance on technology has so altered the way that they process information that their “digital immigrant” teachers must adopt new pedagogical approaches to reach them. This presentation will describe the creation and implementation of a web-based curriculum to serve the approximately 700 students enrolled in intermediate-level Spanish at the University of Kansas every semester. Student reaction, measured via a series of online surveys, will be discussed, along with insights on the relative preparedness of both students and graduate teaching assistants to adopt such a curriculum.
Webcam-based Communicative Language Learning Practice
If learners are going to make significant use of the language they are studying, this necessarily has to be done out of the classroom. And if instructors are to monitor such activity, it needs to be recorded and retrievable. The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate how a web-based virtual learning system, WebSwami, can provide language learners with realistic out-of-class communicative language practice anywhere and anytime. This is made possible through the integration of webcam technology, both receptively and productively, into a range of activities, all of which can be recorded to allow instructors to easily monitor student progress, make corrections, and provide feedback to students.
10:00 – 10:20
Gina Mikel Petrie Eastern Washington University
Haiyang Ai The Pennsylvania State University
Lexical complexity, i.e., the range and degree of sophistication of L2 learners’ productive vocabulary, has been recognized as an important construct in L2 teaching and research. We present a user-friendly web-based system for automatic measurement of lexical complexity using 25 different measures of lexical density, lexical sophistication, and lexical variation that have been proposed in the first and second language acquisition literature. The system will be demonstrated with real language data to show how it can be useful to language researchers and practitioners for assessing L2 lexical proficiency and tracking L2 lexical development.
Foreign Language Learning in 3D MUVEs: How Second Life’s User Interface Influences Social Presence and Student Motivation
Jessamine Cooke-Plagwitz Northern Illinois University
This paper examines specific features of the 3D MUVE Second Life and their effect on social presence and student motivation in two university-level courses: one graduate-level hybrid course for foreign language teachers and one elementary-level German class which held five of its regular meetings within Second Life. Students completed surveys at the end of the semester(s), which focused on specific characteristics of the Second Life environment and on students’ perceptions of how these features influenced social presence and motivation. The nature of the courses’ online interactions and the results of the student surveys will be discussed.
Teacher Education and Professional Development: Some Strategies that are Working
Kathryn Murphy-Judy Virginia Commonwealth University
Language teacher education in Virginia faces many of the same hurdles as do other regions, especially where CALL is involved. One of the major problems is that the very teacher educators responsible for training new teachers, themselves lack technology proficiency and, thus, can offer little but cursory glances at various affordances and the social dimensions of their integration into FLE. I will demonstrate three projects that target global media new literacies: the Foreign Language Exchange (FLEX) of Greater Richmond, the Virginia Foreign Language Teacher Education and Development Consortium, and my WRLD 203 service learning project for undergraduates. In all three instances, the vehicles for bringing new media resources to educators are the media themselves such that the medium is the message. We use wikis, nings, blogs, Google Docs, podcasts and more to facilitate the education and professional development of teachers and teacher educators. This presentation explains the projects and the Web 2.0 media that support them.
Development of Intercultural Competence through Internet-Mediated Intercultural Discussion: The Case of American-Korean Telecollaboration
This study explores how Internet-mediated intercultural communication facilitates the intercultural competence in Americans learning Korean by looking at the questioning technique as an index. It also presents the source of communicative tensions, which emerge in written dialogue, and suggests pedagogical considerations in conducting a tightly-structured telecollaborative project.
Principles of Advance Organizer Design for Multiple-Episode Video Programs
Bernd Conrad Northern Arizona University
Using the TV-series “Berlin Berlin”, the presenter will show how to design advance organizers that help sustain students’ curiosity in the development of the plot. Controversial situations in a story told via video that evolve verbally can conclude visually, allowing the conclusion to remain the same kind of surprise for L2 learners that it is for native speakers, an advantage that previews should preserve. Therefore, reducing the complexity of the listening comprehension task is only one of two purposes to be served by scene previews. Examples will have English subtitles to accommodate the non-German speaking audience.
10:30 – 10:50
EFL Collaborative Opportunities in a Wiki Environment
Long V Nguyen Massey University
German Language Class Podcast Project at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Looking for a way to make German language study more relevant and to step out of the conventional classroom setting (Morales and Moses, 2006), I introduced three different types of podcasts (Rosell-Aguilar, 2009, p.13) to my intermediate-level students at the beginning of the 2009 academic year. All three podcasts form part of the overall assessment of the course. In the middle of the year and at the end of the year, the students were given questionaires to gauge their impressions of this approach. Preliminary analysis of the survey results suggests that teaching a modern language using innovative techniques with the help of widely accepted media devices has proved popular with the students. The feedback I received was very positive and the students wish to continue with podcasts next year. Twenty-six out a total of 30 enrolled students participated in the survey. I intend to present the results of my survey in graphical form.
Language Learning Technology – Pedagogical Desiderata
Helene Ossipov School of International Letters and Cultures Arizona State University
Courses in technology are now, or should be, part of the language teacher’s preparation, and in fact, such a course will be part of the MAT program being developed by my institution. The content of such courses is still being developed and adjusted. Do teachers want to learn how to use various applications? Do they want to create quizzes and exercises? Do they want to learn how to use Web 1.0 and Web 2.0? In this session, I will present the results of a survey of language teachers to determine their desires based on their experience in the classroom.
Sychronous Computer-Mediated Writing in the ESL Classroom
This paper describes a study comparing the collaborative writing process and outcome (essay) for a class of advanced IEP learners in two instructional conditions: one with F2F communication and one with computer-mediated communication. We report results and discuss potential issues for implementation of such tools within the ESL classroom.
Ning as a Learning Environment for Self-Directed Learners
Sharon Scinicariello University of Richmond
This presentation reports on the use of a ning to promote both learner autonomy and collaboration among students enrolled in a self-directed language program. The program’s ning allows students to share learning resources and insights about learning strategies while providing a platform for the creation of electronic portfolios to document their work. After outlining why the ning platform was chosen to address the program’s goals, the presenter will show how the ning is used and discuss student reaction. She will conclude with notes on plans to embed more ning-based activities into the program’s syllabi.
1:30 – 2:15
Oral Language Workshops: Pronunciation, Listening Comprehension, and Culture through Authentic Materials
Kara McBride Saint Louis University
The Impact of Open-ended and Closed Tasks in Synchronous and Asynchronous Environments on Learners’ Language Production
This presentation reports on a study that investigated the effect of performing open and closed tasks under time pressure on learners’ quantitative and qualitative language production in online learning environments. Ninety-six beginning German language students participated in this study. Some of the results revealed that students working on the open task produced significantly more language than those working on the closed tasks in synchronous and asynchronous modes. Students working on closed tasks produced significantly fewer errors in the asynchronous mode than those working on the open task. No difference was found on this measure for students working synchronously. The presentation will conclude with an interpretation of the results.
Eye-tracking as a Measure of Noticing in SCMC
Bryan Smith Arizona State University
This study examines whether eye-tracking technology can be effectively used as a measure of learners’ noticing of corrective feedback in a synchronous computer-mediated communicative environment. How the proposed measure of noticing correlates with think aloud protocols, modified output, and post-test measures of noticing will be discussed.
Testing the Effectiveness of Technology: Electronic Culture and Identity Revisited
Catherine Caws University of Victoria
Today, electronic literacy in second language learning environments is tightly related to individual experience. In fact a successful experience with technology at home will likely lead to satisfaction with technology in the classroom. It is therefore essential to query about the sociocultural factors that are truly impacting success with CALL. Our paper will attempt to address this question by discussing a specific intervention in class with a CALL tool that we have developed over the last 3 years.
Network-based communicative activities have given rise to new pedagogical opportunities for teacher training, including telecollaborative peer- and mentor-supported learning environments. This presentation will outline and analyze the different telecollaborative activities undertaken by teachers-in-training in the USA and Spain during a year-long cross-university online collaboration project. Taking advantage of technological advances, this project endeavored to update and enhance time-tested pillars of reflective teaching and case-based learning by setting up communities of practice online (via email, Zoho, Skype, and Second Life) where trainees shared personal teaching experiences related to the immediate (and required) development of their own teaching materials
Project-based Learning: A Promising Pathway to Develop Teachers’ Knowledge of CALL
Julio C Rodriguez Iowa State University
Project-based Learning (PBL) offers unique opportunities for world language teachers to develop the complex types of knowledge they are expected to acquire to be able to effectively integrate CALL into their practice. This presentation will show how PBL was implemented in a preservice teacher course in two complementary ways: a) as a pedagogical process experienced by preservice teachers and b) as part of the content of the course. Preservice teacher products created during the course, a qualitative analysis of their reflections on the technologies used and their perceptions about their learning will be presented and discussed.
Luiz Amaral University of Massachusetts Amherst
Weijia Li Amherst College
Michael Lipschultz University of Pittsburgh
LangBot is an innovative data-driven language learning and research tool freely available on instant messenger that logs learner behavior, self-report data, generates learner models, and tracks development of vocabulary and syntax while serving as an “intelligent” language reference agent in a conversational “wrapper.” In this presentation we will demonstrate LangBot and discuss its architecture. We will also discuss the process of constructing corpora for each language, the development of the machine learning and NLP tools to support the interactivity and feedback capabilities of LangBot, and present data from an initial pilot study.
2:30 – 3:15
Matthew Claflin Kyoto Sangyo University
Sandra Healey Kyoto Sangyo University
Contrasting Research Frames for Investigating CALL and Online Chat
In 2002, Fernández-Garcia and Martínez-Arbelaiz conducted a study examining negotiation of meaning between non-native speakers in synchronous discussions among learners of Spanish. Using a model by Varonis and Gass, they focused primarily on ‘acquisition’. In contrast, Darhower (2002) also examined the interactional features of synchronous CMC chat for Spanish learners. However, he described his work as a sociocultural case study, and focused upon ‘participation’. This presentation compares and contrasts these approaches and considers how they might be further developed to provide a richer understanding of the learning process.
Podcasting Manolito Gafotas: Research of Colloquial Spanish and Culture
This presentation describes the use of podcasts to promote cultural research through the reading of Manolito Gafotas. This character was created by Elvira Lindo as a radio personality and later as the protagonist in novels. The students deconstruct the character, starting by analyzing current society and language in Spain and finishing with podcasting their research. Producing these helps students to investigate the cultural aspects of colloquial Spanish language that the textbooks do not include yet is used by native speakers. These podcasts can then be accessed by anyone outside of the classroom.
Designing Tasks for New Media-literacy Skills Development in Online Language Learning and Teaching
Mirjam Hauck Open University
Here will be presented a model for task design that draws on Halliday’s social semiotic framework further developed by Kress (2000) and others over the last decade to take account of the modes for making meaning that are available in computer-mediated communication. The presentation is informed by insights gained during a four-way telecollaborative pre- and in-service teacher training project where tasks based on this approach were used to gauge existing levels of multimodal awareness and media-literacy skills among participants.
SANSSpace Virtual Language Learning Environment
Chip Howe Chester Technical Services
SANS Inc. has taken the next step in technology for language learning with SANSSpace Version 6 VLE (Virtual Learning Environment.) SANSSpace is a web-based course content management system with tools geared to the needs of language learners/instructors. A built-in digital comparative recorder to develop listening and speaking skills is a key element. A tracking utility provides educators with details on student interaction with any variety of media files enabling instructors to assess student work and time on task. Communication tools enable easy facilitation of course materials with instructor’s directives and feedback. SANSSpace enables blended or a fully virtual language learning scenario.
3:30 – 4:15
A Blogging We Will Go: ESL College Students and Grammatical Errors
Mandy Reinig Penn State Altoona
A Tale of Two Projects – iPods as Study Tools
Carly Born ITS Carleton College
Wendy Freeman Rice University
Based on student experiences with classes from the Rice Center for the Study of Languages and classes in China, France and Mexico, presenters will share their analysis of the videoconferencing implementation process and discuss results of student surveys. Since little research is available yet on the use of oral computer mediated communication, there is a need to collect student videoconferencing audio/video recordings in order to assess the impact that this type of communication may have on language learning. Presenters will provide sample recordings and discuss their plans to conduct a study and integrate, more systematically, videoconferencing to the language curricula. http://lang.rice.edu/bartlett/CALICO2010.pdf
Hou Leijuan Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Ever since its emergence and development, computer-assisted language learning (CALL) has been widely applied to the area of foreign language teaching and testing. Oral testing is an indispensable component of foreign language testing. Validity and reliability are the kernels of a test. Based on an experiment of the author’s own classes, which follow the teaching methodology of communicative language teaching, this article purports to investigate the validity and reliability of a computer-assisted spoken English test within the framework of communicative language testing (CLT) through a series of quantitative and qualitative analyses. It also analyzes the backwash of testing and puts forward corresponding suggestions in terms of oral English teaching.
4:30 – 5:15
Helene Knoerr University of Ottawa
Larry Vandergrift University of Ottawa
Victoria Zander University of Arizona
This presentation reports on a project that investigated the potential for using social networking sites in the L2 classroom. Using a language socialization/community-of-practice framework, the L2-mediated social network practices of 9 intermediate ESL learners were analyzed before, during, and after a pedagogical treatment that introduced social network-based games as a means of affording L2-mediated interaction. The results of the study inform how everyday technology-mediated practices may be bridged and integrated into L2 learning environments while retaining authenticity.
An Examination of Selected Activities in a Virtual World: Practical and Theoretical Perspectives
Regina Kaplan-Rakowski Southern Illinois University
The affordances of the virtual world of Second Life allow for increasingly more creative ways to conduct foreign languages classes. This presentation features several foreign language activities in Second Life that demonstrate some of those unique affordances. Theoretical justifications for the choice of the activities are discussed with a special attention to the issues of situated cognition, color-coding, cultural connections, interactivity, and diminished inhibition. Finally, a brief demonstration of several technological features of Second Life (e.g. communication, logging, basic building) follows.
Julie Sykes University of New Mexico
The use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) for language learning is a central theme within CALL research. As innovations in CMC technologies continue to shape contexts and practices of everyday communication (e.g., social networking, multiplayer gaming), it is increasingly important to continue research in this vein. This panel, sponsored by the CMC SIG, will bring together a panel of three CMC experts to discuss future research paradigms and directions in CMC-based research.
Christine Appel Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
This presentation posits that Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) provides conceptual and methodological tools that enable us to model computer supported collaborative writing practices among L2 learners and to identify factors that promote or hinder successful collaboration. The preliminary results of an activity theoretical study of online collaborative writing carried out among 260 distance learners of English at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) are presented and discussed. Design principles for successful computer mediated collaborative writing in L2 are then proposed.


Sustainable interior design is all about creating the best and healthiest space for your family, and the environment. Living a greener and more sustainable lifestyle begins at home, and the right space can have an effect on your mood, and your health. There are plenty of sustainable living tips for things like your water consumption, and your landscaping, but sustainable interior design is about more than just energy-saving appliances. If you’re looking to live a greener lifestyle, these tips can help you create a more eco-friendly home, and put sustainability first in your home design.
Use Plants As Decoration
A stalk of bamboo can suck up more CO2 than a full-grown tree. Using real plants in your decor will keep your air fresh and healthy. And, even better, it will have a huge impact on your carbon footprint, and help you live a more sustainable lifestyle. Growing a small herb garden indoors can also help save you money and time at the grocery store, as well as offering a healthy, organic alternative to big box stores.
Get Lots of Sunlight
Low-energy LED bulbs are significantly greener and safer than traditional bulbs. But they can only mimic real sunlight. Especially in the summer months, you’ll want to take advantage of the best hours of daylight, with lots of windows, and lighter curtains. Using natural daylight can cut down on the overall energy consumption in your home. It can also help you save hundreds on your electric bill!
Use Energy-Efficient Windows And Doors
While we’re on the subject of windows, make sure your windows are properly covered and insulated. There are products on the market that can ensure that your windows will reflect heat and insulate effectively. That means you use less heating and air conditioning throughout the year, saving money, and energy.
An estimated 80% of heat loss from your home is caused by improper insulation. Make sure to check your windows if you’re renovating or moving in, especially if the home is older.
Choose Natural Materials
Furniture and textiles made from organic material may seem more expensive, but they’re a great investment. Natural materials, like mango wood and teak can last for years, and choosing furniture made from wood that has been reclaimed is a great way to cut down on your carbon footprint even further.
When choosing natural textiles, stay away from dyes and chemicals. Stick to cottons for your blankets and throw pillows, and natural fibers like wool. You can use second hand furniture shops and online stores stores to find cheap rugs and other small decor items, to leave room to cover the cost of more expensive furniture.
Avoid VOC Content
Volatile Organic Compounds are chemicals that evaporate at room temperature. They’re found almost everywhere, but are twice as prevalent inside your home as they are outside. Bad news for you. They are found in everything from paints, adhesives, cleaning products, furniture, and even carpets. Good news, you can find a greener version of most of the products that have VOC.
Stick to natural fibers, and use Green-Seal certified paints and wallpaper adhesives. That should minimize the VOC concentrations in your home. That means cleaner, fresher air, even when you’re inside.
Choose Low-Energy Options. If you’ve done any research into sustainability, chances are you know there are many options for low-energy fixtures in your home. Choose LED light fixtures in every room, and low-flow taps and toilets in the kitchen and bathroom. There are plenty of options to create a stylish, modern, and greener home!
When you’re dedicated to living a more sustainable lifestyle, there’s a lot to think about. Installing low energy bulbs and fixtures in your home can help reduce your carbon footprint. But there are also ways to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle throughout your interior design. With these tips, you can have a stylish and beautiful home, that is also healthier for you, your family, and the environment.


Asbestos is a natural mineral made of fibers that are resistant to corrosion, electricity, and heat. It is because of its qualities that the mineral was widely used in the 20th century. However, even though asbestos boasts of these useful qualities, asbestos is highly toxic. When an individual inhales the asbestos fibers, the fibers can cause mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive type of cancer.
Today, asbestos is no longer being used in most new products and buildings. However, many old buildings, homes, and products still contain this toxic substance. Even after it was discovered that the substance is harmful, most asbestos-containing buildings were not banned. Additionally, many asbestos-containing materials and products were not forcibly removed from circulation, either. As a result, asbestos still poses a threat to homeowners, workers, and many other people.
Many people would want to know what asbestos looks like. Homeowners and renovators, most especially, would want to know how to identify this toxic substance before beginning home construction or renovation. Many schools, homes, and other buildings built before the 1980s contain asbestos, and during construction or renovation, people interact with asbestos-containing materials without even realizing it. Unfortunately, identifying asbestos is not that simple.


If it’s your first year in the classroom and you are all out of ideas for how to incorporate Pi into your lessons, this resource brings you a collection of reviewed resources and materials from teachers all over the world celebrating Pi Day.
You’ll find related projects, games, songs, discussion topics all with video, audio, and lesson plan options. Bring a true meaning to Pi with these activities for all grade levels and all types of learners!
Have a Great Pi Day Activity You Use in the Classroom?
We’d love to hear about it! Share your Pi Day activities in the comments section below!


Definition of Pteridophyta in English:
A division of flowerless green plants that comprises the ferns and their relatives.
- Division Pteridophyta: classes Filicopsida (ferns), Sphenopsida (horsetails), and Lycopsida (clubmosses)
- Consider the ‘Pteridophyta’ (vascular plants that reproduce by spores) are they a monophyletic group or a grade?
- Polyploidy occurs in the heterosporous and homosporous Pteridophyta, but with a much higher frequency in the latter.
- The database includes the data on the spread of the autochthonous and majority of the alochthonous species of pteridophyta and anthophyta in Slovenia.
Modern Latin (plural), from Greek pteris, pterid- 'fern' + phuton 'plant'.
Definition of Pteridophyta in:
- US English dictionary
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
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Speaking of one`s own context, it is very difficult to identify when self-interest and essential requirements cross the thin line that separates them from selfishness. It would shock you to know, even though you may not be aware, you could be acting selfishly, and consistently. What you could do therefore is to become aware of even the unobvious ways in which we express our self-centeredness. Next is of course, to confront it and deal with it sincerely. Without being judgmental of people, this article presents simple insights to our way of being, how to identify them and modify them positively. Have you: `managed to get your work done by another, no matter what is going on with him` `been very busy over extended periods of time` `made a convenient interpretation of others` `noticed people to be a little reluctant to work with you closely` One may not be aware, that while he is going about doing just common things, yet in reality, it could be possible that your actions are selfish. People`s reaction to you, in form of non-cooperation, reluctance, and disinterest about you is because they sense that you are selfish in your actions. If you were to receive such a feedback, that there is a degree of selfishness in your behaviour, you would call it an undeserved criticism. This is not because you are being defensive, but because, from your perspective your actions are only normal and necessary for you. This is more about a certain conditioning of the mind than about values, morals or behaviour. Early in life, we may have learnt a harsh lesson that unless we learn to protect our needs and interests they may either be overlooked or sidelined. As we grow from there, the attitude to have one`s own interest served slowly engulfs. It is a topic that merits discussion and calls for honest introspection because it is going to define the relationships we have, with the spouse, with friends and colleagues and even with our children. In order to pursue the dedicated path of self interest, there are a whole lot of supporting behaviours that germinate too. Naturally, to have our interest served, we need to manipulate our words and actions. Sometimes when that alone does not yield results, we begin to manipulate people. Scheming and plotting follow. It becomes an unconscious activity actually, because the person hardly realizes what means he is adopting, as his focus is on the `end` ` that is, himself. They develop an ability to express their own desire as though it would benefit others! Sadly, one cannot expect them to invest in people in return for the favour as they are already and always busy. Another typical way of being that develops over time is, inability to share. Whether in the context of ideas, resources, things, and even one`s time, when a person is focused on his own interest, he would be completely unwilling to share. Selfish people gradually become `islands`, and their attitude impacts their relationships negatively. It does not need anyone else to help us see this, you can actually reflect on your own. Here are some every day reactions which arise out of our selfish habits. You can catch yourself when: ` You ask someone to do something which has no value for him, but only for you ` You decline help and support to another because you are busy ` You are about to present craftily how helping you can be a worthy cause for others when it is not so in reality ` You are upset when your need has not been immediately met ` You refuse to give or share something giving an excuse, just because you are not used to giving As a matter of habit, try to cultivate within you the following: ` Offer something you have, and see the joy it brings ` Manage some time for others, just to be with people ` Train yourself to accept delays, let others too get a chance ` Review your thoughts and actions when you get upset over your need not being addressed ` If there is something only for you, try to do it by yourself. There is no harm in being prompt about ones needs. Over time, if you do nothing to add to it, then it shows as a negative attribute and a limiting behaviour, which not only distances you from others, but also reduces your own joy in life. Hence while you are already able to look after yourself, extend that to others and experience the difference. It is worth the effort!


What is the Panama Canal?
ISBN: 9780448478999Precio habitual $9.990
|Janet B. Pascal
|1 x 14 x 20
|8 a 14 años
Before 1914, traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast meant going by land across the entire United States. To go by sea involved a long journey around South America and north along the Pacific Coast. But then, in a dangerous and amazing feat of engineering, a 48-mile-long channel was dug through Panama, creating the world’s most famous shortcut: the Panama Canal!


THE ENVIRONMENT AS YOUR MAIN BUYING CRITERIA11 December 2017
Environmentally friendly homes are now part of the landscape. During the design and construction of these homes, all aspects aimed at minimizing their impact on the environment are taken into account, including energy consumption, materials used, sorting of waste and recycling, etc. – solutions that allow you to live in a healthier, more pleasant home while saving money.
An environmentally friendly home must be well insulated and built with healthy materials in order to provide all the comfort and well-being necessary. An eco-friendly home should also enable you to reduce your heating bill. For several years now, builders have been taking into account the new standards that are in place and their buildings are consuming less energy than ever before.
AN INVESTMENT THAT PAYS OFF
When we think of an eco-friendly home, we automatically assume that it will be more expensive than a traditional home. While it may be more expensive to build, the expense quickly turns profitable. If you buy a new home, chances are it already meets environmental standards. If you buy an older home, you can make the necessary changes to consume less energy, live more comfortably and respect the environment.
A passive house is the benchmark for environmentally friendly homes. It is almost completely energy self-sufficient, meaning it requires no heating or very little heating. Thanks to its superinsulation, ventilation, advanced windows, thermal bridge-free construction and airtightness, a passive house maintains a pleasant temperature almost year-round. Today, the Passivhaus standard provides energy savings of up to 90%. To learn more about this concept, the best solution is to consult a professional and visit the passivehouse.ca website.
A bioclimatic house takes into account all aspects of the environment to create a home that is more economical for its owners. At its initial design, builders verify the location of the house in relation to the sun and the surrounding vegetation. Then, it is well-insulated with natural materials. All of the home’s systems are also designed to save water, electricity or heating, while its external fittings are designed as a reservoir that allows for the collection of rainwater.
Now more than ever, we’re taking the environment into consideration when it comes to our homes and we’re exploring a variety of energy-saving possibilities.


Chiang’s ‘New Life Movement’ was introduced on 19 February 1934, during the Nationalist decade. This campaign aimed to ‘create a citizenry that was self-aware, politically conscious, and committed to the nation’, attempting to instil social decency, right conduct and self-respect. Soong Meiling described it as ‘a direct attempt to complete with the Chinese platform of economic and social reform, substituting a retreat to Confucius for an advance to Marx.’ 96 rules that were to govern all conduct were introduced, based on Confucian values such as filial piety. Many of these were seen as arbitrary and beside the point in a time of national crisis, such as the ban on women walking male dogs in the streets or stipulation on the length of skirts. Resentment towards the Movement was deepened by the fact that many of the KMT’s officials glaringly ignored it, enjoying wine, women and gambling, and even Chiang’s wife smoking a pipe despite one of the rules prohibiting the act. This sentiment was echoed in the North China Daily News, which observed that ‘the New Life Movement would have its best chance of success if it could begin at home’.
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Public finance experts have said for years that tax incentives generally don't work, and tax incentives aimed at getting companies to invest in particular places rarely work. Businesses make investment decisions based on several criteria. Taxes play a role, but they are hardly the most important factor. The two key determinants of business investment are access to markets and labor costs. The former entails the ability to acquire materials and supplies and to get products to customers in a cost-efficient manner. Examples of this need are legion. For the latter, a business simply wants to hire the right kind of employee at the lowest possible cost. Other factors play a role, of course, such as where executives live and the cachet of being in a particular locale. Taxes matter, but not nearly as much as politicians think they do. In the long run, low taxes and a business-friendly regulatory climate will attract business investment, but taxes matter much less for discrete business investment decisions.
Start-Up New York is a prime example of a tax incentive program that did not and will not work. The state recently disclosed that the much-heralded incentive program spent $53 million in its first two years of operation. The program is said to have attracted 159 companies and created 408 jobs, but how many jobs were actually created remains unclear. It's possible that some or all of those jobs would have been created without the ridiculously generous tax breaks. But even if we assume a causal relationship, Start-Up New York spent nearly $130,000 per job. Actually, the people of New York spent $130,000 per job. Under what definition can this be considered a success?
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration and Empire State Development Corp., the agency that administers the program, were embarrassed by the results. The report was released late July 1, just before the long holiday weekend. You don't have to work for a public relations firm on Madison Avenue to know that the administration was trying to bury the news.
And let's be clear. The $53 million is only the amount the state spent on advertising and marketing Start-Up New York; it does not include the dollar figures for the tax incentives. New York has been buying television ads across the country, encouraging businesses to invest in the state and take advantage of the generous tax breaks. Those tax breaks include complete income, sales, and property tax exemptions for the business, as well as income tax exemptions for most employees. The exemptions last up to 10 years. From a budget standpoint, it's good that more companies with more employees haven't signed up. As Greg LeRoy of Good Jobs First noted in our coverage: "The program will always fail to create many jobs but continue to cost a lot of money." Basically, the state is giving money to companies to do what they would have done anyway -- and it will keep giving them money for the next decade.
Start-Up New York has not and will not attract the kind of investment envisioned by Cuomo and his supporters. I believe that all tax incentives are unsound, but at least states like Alabama can point to Mercedes-Benz and argue that the development policies directly and indirectly created tens of thousands of jobs. I have criticized Tesla Motors Inc.'s Nevada tax incentive deal as unnecessary -- because it was -- but Tesla will have a significant effect on the state's economy. The Cuomo administration has little to show for Start-Up New York.
From the beginning, Start-Up New York was a bad idea. It was the epitome of government messing with the markets. Your business had to be "approved" by politically appointed officials before you could get the tax benefits. Some industries and businesses are in; some are out. It takes a certain level of arrogance to make that determination in the face of what markets may want. And you have to invest in one of the zones created by the Cuomo administration. If you're in the zone, you get the tax benefits. If you're outside the zone -- even if only by a few feet -- you don't. What makes sense from an economic perspective doesn't really matter. Of course, like all incentives, Start-Up New York has an equity problem. What does the state tell businesses that invested in the zones before the program? "You should have waited"? Indeed, what does it tell the thousands of businesses now operating throughout the state? They, and their employees, are all paying the full freight. The zones are all near state universities. The people who cut the grass and clean the restrooms at the universities will pay tax on their income. The executives in the handful of companies enjoying the tax breaks won't. There is no justice or fairness in that outcome.
People often say that government should not be picking winners and losers in the marketplace. It's true. New York politicians should take that advice. It just might save the state some money.


Quantum Mechanics and Your Vibrational Frequency
Every thought and emotion has its own vibrational frequency or wave frequency. Quantum mechanics has demonstrated how a wave frequency can be altered. The shape of a wave has peaks and valleys. Energy waves are encoders and carriers of information with an infinite capacity for storage. When you overlay an opposite shaped wave on to an original wave, the original wave is straightened. Essentially you cancel out the characteristics of the original wave by overlaying a new exact opposite set of peaks and valleys on top of it. You change the vibrational frequency.
Thoughts are Like Sound Waves
This has been demonstrated with sound waves where researchers are attempting to create a quiet environment. You can use sound to literally cancel and silence unwanted noises. This technology is used for corporate offices adjacent to noisy businesses or in doctors and counseling offices where voices can be heard between treatment rooms or in the car industry to make engines quieter.
Mechanics of Changing Thoughts
Let’s extend this now to understanding the mechanics of changing thoughts or emotional patterns. Comprehending this is taking into consideration the subatomic causal level of thinking and feeling. If you identify an exact opposite positive thought to counter a negative thought you are using this principle. Take a moment and think about the word stress. Now take a moment and think about the word relax. Think about the word fear and now the word safe. It sounds simple and it is. The trick is you have over 60, 000 thoughts per day to work with. In any case, this is the basic idea and where the positive thinking movement has made a powerful impact in changing lives.
To change your thinking, you must adopt the belief that your perception of the world is what determines your reality. When you discover how to effectively choose your perceptions, you change your ability to cultivate happiness. Because you have far more control over your internal world than your external world, this is the best place to decrease stress and raise your happiness. We are specifically referring to your response to situations via your thoughts, emotions, and actions. When you change your response, you change your experience of the situation. This single factor has the potential to dramatically alter the course of your life journey.
2 Levels of Internal Control
- Your Perception
- Your Response
Perception: How you perceive an event impacts the amount of stress you experience. You can choose to view a situation in such a way that validates your reasons for feeling stressed, or you can view it so that you feel motivated and up for the challenge to deal with it. Because every action is preceded by a thought and an emotion, it’s a good idea to start with your perception if you plan to rewire your experience of stress.
Response: You may not be able to control what happens, but you can control how you respond to what happens. Your response includes not only your actions but also the degree of tension you allow in your mind and body. It’s your response that will either stop your experience of stress or perpetuate and fuel the stress cycle.
The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it can’t be changed without changing our thinking. — Albert Einstein
Perceptions Are Your Interpretations – Your real mind power
It has been said that we are meaning-make machines overlaying our subjective interpretation onto everything we experience. Why do we do this? This is how we learn and integrate new information in an efficient and economical way. We associate our present experience with our past and make up what it means based on the culmination of our experiences to date on that subject. This allows us to move through our day without relearning how to make breakfast, get dressed, or find our way home. It also enables us to assess our environment and make quick decisions so that we can move through our day with ease and flow. This can be highly useful in these types of basic life situations. However, this can get us into trouble if we aren’t conscious of our interpretations. We tend to have the “know-it-all syndrome” where we attempt to figure it all out before allowing ourselves to experience it. This is similar to walking into a library and picking a book that was written in the early 1900s and then assuming that the entire library is filled with old books. Being a know-it-all results in holding ourselves and others to the past.
You have never been where you are in this moment, now, yet your mind finds a way to make it familiar so that you think it’s the same.
“It’s the end of the world,” said the caterpillar.
“It’s just the beginning,” said the butterfly.
Exploring your interpretations is powerful work. It brings you to the empowered place of self-responsibility and gives you real mind power. The key is to realize you are the common denominator in your life. Your perception drives your behavior. You can start with owning your interpretations and navigating your way through other ways of looking at the situation. In doing so, you increase your control over your internal world and raise your happiness potential.
You may think you know or you’re certain about your perception. But how can you really be 100% certain? You have the ability to choose your perceptions. As long as you’re making it all up, you may as well choose something that moves you in the direction of happiness, well-being, and self-esteem.
Facts Versus Interpretations
One way to help loosen the hold of your interpretations is to consider the facts within a situation. Ask yourself this question:
‘What are the facts in this situation, outside of your interpretations about it?’
As you separate the raw, objective facts from the interpretations, you give yourself more power to choose a different interpretation.
Empowering Questions Tool
Another tool for stepping outside of your interpretations and choosing a more empowered growth mindset is to explore the questions you ask yourself. The types of questions you ask matter tremendously in whether you feel empowered or powerless in your life.
- Why is this important to me?
- What positive outcome will this bring?
- What is working in this situation?
- Why is this happening to me?
- Who is to blame?
- What went wrong?
How do you feel when reading each of these questions? You will likely notice a difference with each one.
Empowered Mindset is a Growth Mindset
Empowering questions take into account what is positive or of value in the current situation. They empower your mind to seek out the solutions or what is working instead of the problems and what is not working. They allow you to develop a growth mindset to experience more internal control in your life.
The Role of Emotions
A thought without intense emotion and feeling has no meaning, no value, and no real power to effectively engage your neural pathways. Intensity of emotion and feeling is required to take an experience and make it a solidified habit. The more emotion you engage, the more neurons you activate to form well-worn pathways. Emotions and feelings act as the glue that binds you to experiences. They are the juice, or energy, behind your thoughts that give power to your memories, goals, hopes, and dreams.
Emotional Vibrational Frequencies
The Latin root word for emotion, emotere, literally means “energy in motion.” In and of itself, emotion is neutral. It’s neither positive nor negative. What you think of as emotion is actually the experience of energy moving through your physical body. We experience emotion as energy frequencies and their correlating physical sensations in the body such as expansion or contraction. Feelings are the interpretation and labels we apply to the experience of emotion, such as sad, mad, or glad.
David Hawkins, researcher and author of Power vs. Force, demonstrates emotions as energy. He devised a scale that rates the energy level of basic human emotions, with a range of 1 to 1,000. Anything below 200 is considered unhealthy for the individual and society (shame 20, guilt 30, apathy 50, grief 75, fear 100, desire 125, anger 150, pride 175). Anything above 200 represents constructive expressions of power (courage 200, neutrality 250, willingness 310, acceptance 350, reason 400, love 500, joy 540, peace 600, enlightenment 700 -1000).
What happens in your brain when you feel happy instead of neutral is entirely different. Emotion has executive power and an overriding influence in your brain’s terrain.
What this means for you: This single shift in consciousness regarding the difference between emotions and feelings will save you time and energy by minimizing repetitive stress and unhappiness. It is another key to real mind power. Based on this understanding, the strategy for happiness includes:
Recognize your emotion as energy frequencies in your body.
Choose to identify and release the body sensations correlating with that emotion.
Engage your thoughts with empowering questions about what you want to experience.
In doing so, you step out of the vicious cycle of stress and step into your power in the present moment.
You can apply this awareness of the Quantum Mechanics of thoughts and Energy of Emotions to your health. The body has 60 trillion cells. Each cell has its own energetic signature or wave frequency that is highly sensitive to your thoughts and emotions.
Goals and Dreams
You can apply this to creating your goals and dreams. Like energy attracts like energy. Focus on what you want and get what you want. Begin to live from the place of already having what it is that you desire and notice how events, circumstances and people begin to show up in your life to help you create exactly what you want.
Coaching and Counseling
Hilary Stokes Ph.D. and Kim Ward Ph.D. have been a team for 20 years, specializing in mind, body, spirit psychology. They are the authors of the bestselling books The Happy Map: Your roadmap to the habit of happiness and Manifesting Mindset: The 6-step formula for attracting your goals and dreams and founders of Authenticity Associates Coaching and Counseling. They are passionate about combining the best of holistic and traditional approaches to health and happiness. If you are interested in learning the answers to the most frequently asked questions on how to decrease stress and increase happiness sign up for their free video series.


Information collected at first hand by the researchers. The material from an interview or questionnaire you conduct yourself is primary data.
Secondary Data is data that has already been collected by someone else.
When an identical twin is diagnosed with schizophrenia, then the other twin is studied to measure the concordance rate with which both of the twins get schizophrenia. This is compared with the incidence of both of a pair of non-identical twins getting schizophrenia. This is because while twins reared together will share the same environment only identical twins share the same genes. Twins are genetically tested to ensure they are identical. Researchers will use hospital records to identify the first individual of the pair to be diagnosed.
Structured - The Structured Interview is a data-gathering methodology that involves a standard set of questions asked in the same manner and order.
Detailed information can be obtained, also avoids oversimplifying the complex issues.
The participants point of view is taken into account more, because that is the main thing which the experimenter is looking for.
Unstructured interviews may encourage some people to be more relaxed when answering, and also more truthful, as the situation is not as scary as first seemed.
Hard to analyse if the data is mainly qualitative, as drawing up conclusions with other data would not be easy without figures.
The time-consuming factor is key, because this is what puts many people off taking part in an interview, and also, after time they will start to say anything, just to make it go faster.
Fairly expensive (Gathering participants in one place to do the interviews).
Demand characteristics, which is when the participant may give answers which they think the experimenter wants to see.
The DSM was developed in the USA and is widely used in many other cultures. This is valid if mental disorders are clearly defined with specific symptoms and features. However, there are three issues that affect the validity of diagnosis across cultures:
Every society sets standards according to which it expects its members to behave.
These standards are called social norms. There are:
Anyone who goes against these rules of is seen as abnormal. The behaviour cannot be considered abnormal as long as society accepts it.
This definition is not always useful because breaking social norms can be worthwhile. Societies can use this definition to gain social control; anybody who does not agree with the government can be diagnosed as abnormal.
Another problem is that norms change over time and that if one type of behaviour is deemed to be normal in one culture, it may be abnormal in another culture.
It enables individuals in need to acquire help. The appropriate help can be found for the individual who displays such behaviour. This may be vital, as some people with a mental disorder are unable to motivate themselves to seek assistance.
Social Approach: Social Causation (Schizophrenia)
Biological Approach: The Dopamine Hypothesis (Schizophrenia)
Phobias are classified as anxiety disorders and are the most common of all anxiety disorders.
Three categories of phobia:


'Aesthetic dentistry,' better known as cosmetic dentistry, is an appearance improvement method that most people have now turned to. Dentistry is no longer just about uprooting and filling teeth. With the available treatments, you can now; straighten, whiten, reshape and repair damaged teeth. Many people are seeking a way to improve their oral health and appearance. Here are some procedures performed at dental clinics to brighten people's smiles:
Teeth are bound to get discolored over time, due to a number of reasons that may include; smoking, some kinds of medication and drugs, or the intake of drinks such as tea and coffee. The dentist comes up with a mouthpiece that ensures only the right amount of whitening solution is exposed to your teeth. Whitening at home can take about two to four weeks; conversely, at the dentist's office, its takes about 45 minutes to one hour.
Bonding is a tooth-colored material that's used to fill in gaps or change the teeth color. When teeth are chipped, marginally decayed, broken or cracked, bonding is the procedure your dentist might recommend. Sometimes it's used to cover the entire surface of a tooth, thereby changing its shape and color.
Better known as 'caps' are used to cover entirely a tooth to restore it to its normal shape and appearance. They are generally used as a fallback where other procedures might not be useful. The crowns are carved out of metal, resin, ceramic material, or porcelain fused to metal.
Veneers are custom shells that are made of thin layers of porcelain. They are used to correct teeth that have uneven surfaces, are chipped, unusually shaped, discolored, or crooked. Before insertion, the dentist first takes the tooth impression, then polishes the tooth. The veneer is the cemented in place; a beam of light is used to harden the cement that holds the veneer in place.
Bridges are used to replace absent teeth with false teeth. Dentists place the bridge by anchoring them onto adjacent teeth after prepping them for crowns. The artificial tooth is then joined to the crowns, and the bridge is cemented. There is a variety of bridges ranging from gold to porcelain. However, it's good to note that oral hygiene is crucial if you wear a bridge.
Many other procedures can help you better your smile. If you have; a jagged gum line, teeth of unequal length, exposed roots, or dents on your gums, you should ask your dentist about the best corrective measures you can use.Share


Lampropeltis getula holbrooki - Speckled Kingsnake
It is found in the central to southern United States from southern Iowa to the Gulf of Mexico. Its range overlaps that of the desert kingsnake, Lampropeltis getula splendida, and it is known to intergrade with that subspecies.
They prefer wetter habitats than other kingsnakes, like swamps and rivers, but they do commonly venture to dry areas like woodlands and grassy feilds.
Close-up head of an adult near Natchez, Mississippi
Speckled kingsnakes grow up to 48 inches (120 cm). Their common name is derived from their pattern, which is black, with small yellow-white specks on almost every scale. They are also known as the 'salt and pepper' snake.
Their diet consists of mammals, birds, rodents, frogs, lizards and other snakes. They kill by constriction.
When threatened, the speckled kingsnake will shake its tail like a rattlesnake to deter predators. They frequently musk and defecate or bite when threatened.
They are usually docile and will often strike just one or two times after capture and are frequently kept as pets. They are commonly captive bred.
The speckled kingsnake is listed as a threatened species in the state of Iowa.
This snake was first described by Holbrook in 1842. At that time he called it Coronella sayi under the mistaken impression that it was the species previously described by Schlegel as Coluber sayi. In 1902 Stejneger pointed out that because Coluber sayi is a different snake (Pituophis catenifer sayi), the name sayi could not be applied to this snake. Therefore, he proposed the name Lampropeltis holbrooki, honoring Holbrook. It is currently considered a subspecies of L. getula.


Let’s talk child safety.
Every child deserves to feel safe and protected at all times. Unfortunately, not every child has that security. If you have been witness to child harm or have reason to suspect that a child is being subjected to harm, it is important to know what you can do to help ensure that child’s safety. Whether you’re a concerned family member, teacher, doctor or friend, your voice is an important one in preventing harm to a child.
What is harm?
The Child Protection Act 1999 provides authority for the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services to intervene where a child has been or is at risk of being harmed. Harm is considered as any detrimental effect of a significant nature on the child’s physical, psychological or emotional wellbeing. Harm can be caused by physical, psychological or emotional abuse or neglect or through sexual abuse or exploitation.
Is the child in need of protection?
A child may have already suffered significant harm, be currently suffering significant harm, or be at an unacceptable risk of suffering significant harm. In any of these situations, where the child does not have a parent able and willing to protect the child from harm, under the Child Protection Act 1999, that child is considered to be in need of protection.
So, what do you need to do next?
If you reasonably believe that a child may be in need of protection, you may contact the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services. There are also certain people who are mandated to notify the Department, such as doctors, teachers and registered nurses, where during the course of their engagement they form a reasonable suspicion concerning significant harm having been suffered or being suffered, by a child or there being an unacceptable risk of the child suffering significant harm, caused by physical or sexual abuse and that the child may not have a parent able and willing to protect the child from the harm.
When informing the Department of an alleged child abuse issue, it is important to provide a detailed, clear, and comprehensive report. The Department will use that information to determine whether or not to investigate allegations of harm and to carry out an assessment to determine if a child is in need of protection.
Providing this information in a timely manner to the Department, can seriously improve the child’s chances of being protected against any further harm. For more information on child safety, visit the government website, or contact the LGM Family Law team today.


“Fine Motor Skills in Children with Down Syndrome”-a guide for parents and professionals
By: Maryanne Bruni, BScOT (C)
Written for parents, health professionals, and teachers, this is a practical and accessible guide to understanding and developing fine motor skills in children with Down syndrome. The aurther draws on her expertise as a seasoned occupational therapist and parent to show readers how to help children develop the hand skills required for such tasks as holding a pencil, cutting with scissors, or using a computer. Especially valuable is the book's sensitivity to the medical, physical, and psychological characteristics of children with Down syndrome and how these can affect motor development.
Dozens of activities are provided, complete with photographs and step-by-step instructions, which are appropriate for children in infancy to early adolescence. In addition to hand skills, some cover basic gross motor skills, which help lay the foundations for fine motor development. Readers can choose among different categories of skills--self-help, school activities, leisure and recreation-- and easily incorporate most activities into daily home or school routines.


Sonnys blues essays
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Sonnys blues essays
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Both the narrator in sonnys blues by james baldwin and huck in the adventures of huckleberry finn by mark twain feel the urge to escape from their reality as.


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Home / Browse / Striped Bark Scorpions
The striped bark scorpion, Centruroides vittatus, is the only scorpion species recorded from Arkansas, where it is most abundant in the western part of the state. It is the most widely distributed scorpion species in the United States, having been recorded from Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana west to eastern Colorado and New Mexico and south to northeastern Mexico.
The front body region, which bears the yellowish-brown pedipalps (pincers) and legs below, has a somewhat triangular median dark spot on top pointing backward and extending beyond the eyes. The wide body region that follows has a distinctive pair of broad, dark, longitudinal bands on top. The slender tail-like postabdomen is uniformly yellowish brown, except for the tip of the stinger, which is dark brown or black. A distinctive small tooth is present at the base of the slender, curved stinger. Adults grow to about 2½" long.
Striped bark scorpions live in a wide variety of microhabitats in deciduous and pine forests, grasslands, and deserts. They rest under loose bark, rocks, or logs, as well as in wood piles, crumbling foundations, and similar sheltered places during the day. Because they do not burrow, they are exposed to freezing temperatures during winter, but many, if not most, recover after having been frozen. Scorpions emerge from their shelters after sunset, frequently climbing trees, shrubs, and even walls of houses at night. Arkansas scorpions tend to roam considerably during April, May, and early June, and they commonly enter houses, where they are often found in attics.
Striped bark scorpions prey primarily on spiders and insects. They capture prey with their pedipalps and subdue it with venom from their stingers. Cannibalism is common, at least in food-stressed populations. An elaborate mating ritual occurs in fall, spring, and early summer. A litter of some thirty live young appears in about eight months, clinging to their mother’s back until they molt for the first time, in about five to fifteen days. They mature in three to four years.
Scorpion stings often occur when people turn over wood or rocks with bare hands. The venom of the striped bark scorpion is of low toxicity to humans, and most stings are of minor medical importance, although reactions vary with the sensitivity of the person stung. The usual symptoms are immediate sharp pain and local swelling. The pain soon subsides, but it may be followed by numbness or tingling caused by nerve irritation. Nausea, dizziness, vomiting, and tightness of the chest may occur. Severe allergic reactions and death are not likely outcomes of striped bark scorpion stings.
For additional information: Baerg, William J. Scorpions: Biology and Effect of their Venom. University of Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 649. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas, 1961.
Dorris, Peggy Rae. “Phosphorescent Animal Forms of Arkansas.” Proceedings of the Arkansas Academy of Science 25 (1971): 69.
Polis, Gary A., ed. The Biology of Scorpions. Stanford, CA: Stanford University of Press, 1990.
Shelly, Rowland M., and W. David Sissom. “Distributions of the Scorpions Centruroides vittatus (Say) and Centruroides hentzi (Banks) in the United States and Mexico (Scorpiones, Buthidae).” Journal of Arachnology 23 (1995): 100–110.
Yamashita, Tsunemi. “Surface Activity, Biomass, and Phenology of the Striped Scorpion, Centruroides vittatus (Buthidae) in Arkansas, USA.” Euscorpius 17 (2004): 25–33.
Jeffrey K. BarnesUniversity of Arkansas Arthropod Museum
Last Updated 7/26/2011
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Caffeine is an alkaloid which occurs naturally in about sixty different plant species.  The most common of these include cocoa beans, kola nuts, some tea leaves and coffee beans.  Also, coffee, certain sodas, energy drinks, soft drinks and tea contain caffeine which may be obtained from the raw materials used in their preparation or otherwise.
Caffeine is reported to be the most commonly consumed psychoactive drug in the world. Its consumption has become very popular among children and adolescents, with statistics showing a 70% increase in the last 30 years.[2, 3] From the 1980s to the year 2005, the average amount of caffeine consumed by children and teenagers (ages 5 to 18) has increased from 38 mg per day to 69.5 mg per day. The December 2010 issue of the Journal of Pediatrics shows an increase to about 109 mg of caffeine consumed in a day for children in a similar age range. These constantly increasing values show the need for individuals to check the amount of caffeine taken daily and how this could affect their health positively or negatively.
Several studies have been carried out to determine the optimum amount of caffeine required by a healthy individual. It is recommended that the daily intake of caffeine for developing teens should not exceed 100 mg ( this is equivalent to 3 cans of coke, 1.25 cans of red bull energy drink, 0.6 of a 16 fl. oz. can of Monster Energy Drink, and 0.2 of a Starbucks Venti brewed coffee). For most healthy adults, the recommended daily allowance is 400 mg. It is advised that a maximum of 2.5 mg of caffeine per kg of body weight should be consumed by children. It must be noted that variations in population, as well as changes in the health condition of individuals over time, play a major role in the amount of caffeine required by an individual irrespective of his or her age group.
The intake of caffeine through major sources such as cola beverages (55%), tea (30%), and chocolate (14%) may have positive and negative implications on the consumer depending on the health status of the consumer as well as the amount of caffeine being consumed.
Research by the US Food and Drugs Administration, amongst others, has shown that moderate caffeine intake can play an important role in enhancing a variety of health benefits.
Firstly, consuming 3-4 cups of coffee a day may reduce the risk of developing some cancers such as cancer of the liver, mouth and throat in the average individual.  Secondly, some studies suggest that adults who consume between 2-4 cups of coffee daily are less likely to commit suicide.  The biochemistry of this finding is suspected to involve the inhibition of the brain chemical adenosine (a depressant) and stimulation of dopamine (a stimulant), which makes one feel good.
Another benefit of caffeine intake is that it improves metabolism (about 3-11%) and the rate of fat breakdown (about 10% and 29% in obese and slim persons respectively).  Some observational studies indicate that individuals who regularly take in an ideal amount of caffeine may also reduce their risk of developing brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Although caffeine can have the above-mentioned health benefits, it can also have adverse effects on the body, especially when taken in excess. These negative effects can be categorized under psychological effects including disorders, dependence and withdrawal, and certain adverse effects.
The psychological effects of caffeine overdose include disorders such as anxiety disorders, sleep disorders and eating disorders.  Excessive intake of caffeine and anxiety are known to share similar symptoms, and both conditions are suspected to be the underlying factors for increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system.  Some studies suggest that caffeine overdose may trigger and reinforce the symptoms of anxiety by increasing the level of lactate in the brain. [12, 13]
The quantity and quality of sleep can be altered by caffeine overdose.  Insomnia is the most common symptom observed in most individuals. This effect may be very disadvantageous for older people and children. Sleeplessness may cause headaches, lack of concentration and irregular daytime sleeping among children.
Caffeine overdose can worsen the condition of individuals suffering from eating disorders such as bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. Patients with anorexia and bulimia sometimes consume excess caffeine with the hope of boosting metabolism and suppressing appetite. However, the stimulant effect of caffeine can increase the risk of cardiac arrhythmias and osteoporosis, especially among anorexia patients
Caffeine, like other psychoactive substances, results in certain desirable stimulant effects and undesirable withdrawal symptoms. The difference is that the effects of caffeine are less dangerous as compared to those of other psychoactive substances such as cocaine.  The common withdrawal symptoms associated with caffeine overdose include insomnia, nausea, confusion and anxiety.  These symptoms normally disappear after ingestion of caffeine.
Large doses of caffeine intake have adverse diuretic and gastrointestinal effects. In the gastrointestinal tract, it causes the esophageal sphincter to relax and thus leads to gastro-esophageal reflux disease. [19, 20]
Lastly, caffeine overdose increases the risk of developing sinus tachycardia, migraine, and miscarriage or low birth weight in pregnancy. [21 – 23] Pregnant women are advised to consume less than 300 mg per day of caffeine.
Conclusively, caffeine could be beneficial when taken in the right amount but excess intake can be very harmful to one’s health.
- Coffee and Health. Guidelines on caffeine intake – Coffee and Health [Internet]. [cited 2016 Sep 6]. Available from: http://coffeeandhealth.org/topic-overview/guidelines-on-caffeine-intake/
- National Council on Strength & Fitness. Caffeine Consumption Among Children and Adolescents – Online Articles: National Council on Strength and Fitness Trainer’s Tools [Internet]. [cited 2016 Sep 6]. Available from: https://www.ncsf.org/enew/articles/articles-caffeineconsumptionchildrenadolescents.aspx
- Temple, J. L. (2009). Caffeine Use in Children: What we know, what we have left to learn, and why we should worry. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 33(6), 793–806. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.01.001
- Caffeine Informer. Caffeine Safe Limits: Determine Your Safe Daily Dose [Internet]. [cited 2016 Sep 6]. Available from: http://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-safe-limits
- Caffeine Consumption in Children and Teens [Internet]. myVMC. 2010 [cited 2016 Sep 6]. Available from: http://www.myvmc.com/lifestyles/caffeine-consumption-in-children-and-teens/
- Whiteman H. Caffeine: how does it affect our health? [Internet]. Medical News Today. [cited 2016 Sep 6]. Available from: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/271707.php
- Dwyer M. Coffee drinking tied to lower risk of suicide [Internet]. Harvard Gazette. [cited 2016 Sep 6]. Available from: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/07/drinking-coffee-may-reduce-risk-of-suicide-by-50/
- Gunnars K, | Bs. 13 Proven Health Benefits of Coffee [Internet]. Authority Nutrition. 2013 [cited 2016 Sep 6]. Available from: https://authoritynutrition.com/top-13-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coffee/
- Maia, L., & De Mendonça, A. (2002). Does caffeine intake protect from Alzheimer’s disease? European Journal of Neurology, 9(4), 377–382. http://doi.org/10.1046/j.1468-1331.2002.00421.x
- Winston, A. P., Hardwick, E., & Jaberi, N. (2005). Neuropsychiatric effects of caffeine. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 11(6), 432–439. http://doi.org/10.1192/apt.11.6.432
- Greden J.F. (1974). Anxiety or caffeinism: A diagnostic dilemma, American Journal Of Psychiatry 131:1089-1092.
- Kruger, A. (1996). Chronic psychiatric patients’ use of caffeine: pharmacological effects and mechanisms, Psychological Reports 78:915–923.
- Tancer M. E., Stein M. B. & Uhde T. W. (1994). Lactic acid response to caffeine in panic disorder: comparison with social phobics and normal controls, Anxiety 1:138–140.
- Nicholson, A. N. & Stone, B. M. (1980). Heterocyclic amphetamine derivatives and caffeine on sleep in man, British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 9:195–203.
- Pollak, C. P. & Bright, D. (2003). Caffeine consumption and weekly sleep patterns in US seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-graders, Pediatrics 111:42–46.
- Deal L. (1997). Osteoporosis: Prevention, Diagnosis and Management, The American Journal of Medicine 102(1):35S-39S
- Daly J. & Fredholm B. (1998). Drug and Alcohol Dependence 51(1-2):199-206.
- Finnegan D. (2003). The Health Effects of Stimulant Drinks, Nutrition Bulletin 28(2):147-155.
- Boekema P. J., Samson M., van Berge Henegouwen G. P. et al (1999). Coffee and gastrointestinal function: facts and fiction. A review, Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology Supplementum 230:35–39.
- Maughan, R. J. & Griffin, J. (2003). Caffeine ingestion and fluid balance: a review, Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics 16:411–420.
- Katan, M. B. & Schouten, E. (2005). Caffeine and arrhythmia, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 81:539–540.
- Goadsby P.J. (2003). Migraine: Diagnosis and Management, Internal Medicine Journal 33(9-10): 436-442.
- Parazzini F., Chiaffarino F., Chatenoud, L. et al (2005). Maternal coffee drinking in pregnancy and risk of small for gestational age birth, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 59:299–301.
By: Millicenta Ampiah, final year Biochemistry student of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana.
©2016 Scientect e-mag | Volume 1 (1): A11
Categories: 2016 Issue, News
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Japanese Imperial Policy
Policy Adopted at Imperial Conference, 2 July 1941
An Outline of the Policy of the Imperial Government in View of Present Developments(Decision reached at the Conference held in the Imperial Presence on July 2)
- The Imperial Government is determined to follow a policy which will result in the establishment of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and world peace, no matter what international developments take place.
- The Imperial Government will continue its effort to effect a settlement of the China Incident and seek to establish a sold basis for the security and preservation of the nation. This will involve an advance into the Southern Regions and, depending on future developments, a settlement of the Soviet Question as well.
- The Imperial Government will carry out the above program no matter what obstacles may be encountered.
- Steps will be taken to bring pressure on the Chiang Regime from the Southern approaches in order to bring about its surrender. Whenever demanded by future developments the rights of a belligerent will be resorted to against Chungking and hostile concessions taken over.
- In order to guarantee national security and preservation, the Imperial Government will continue all necessary diplomatic negotiations with reference to the southern regions and also carry out various other plans as may be necessary. In case the diplomatic negotiations break down, preparations for a war with England and America will also be carried forward. First of all, the plans which have been laid with reference to French Indo-China and Thai will be prosecuted, with a view to consolidating our position in the southern territories.
In carrying out the plans outlined in the foregoing article, we will not be deterred by the possibility of being involved in a war with England and America.
- Our attitude with reference to the German-Soviet War will be based on the spirit of the Tri-Partite Pact. However, we will not enter the conflict for some time but will steadily proceed with military preparations against the Soviet and decide our final attitude independently. At the same time, we will continue carefully correlated activities in the diplomatic field.
... In case the German-Soviet War should develop to our advantage, we will make use of our military strength, settle the Soviet question and guarantee the safety of our northern borders...
- In carrying out the preceding article all plans, especially the use of armed forces, will be carried out in such a way as to place no serious obstacles in the path of our basic military preparations for a war with England and America.
- In case all diplomatic means fail to prevent the entrance of America into the European War, we will proceed in harmony with our obligations under the Tri-Partite Pact. However, with reference to the time and method of employing our armed forces we will take independent action.
- We will immediately turn our attention to placing the nation on a war basis and will take special measure to strengthen the defenses of the nation.
- Concrete plans covering this program will be drawn up separately.
Transcribed and formatted for HTML by Patrick Clancey, HyperWar Foundation


Copernicus Climate Change Service, 20 June 2023
The sixth annual European State of the Climate (ESOTC) Report for 2022 was released June 20 by the European Commission, providing a detailed analysis of the climate this past year and the latest observations on major cryosphere dynamics, with a special focus on the Arctic. The first section of the report offered a snapshot of global glaciers, sea ice, ice sheets and sea level rise; the following section summarized the past year of temperature, precipitation, drought, wildfire and cryosphere trends across Europe; and the final section concluded with the Arctic, highlighting the recent heatwaves in Greenland.
Global: 2022 was the warmest year on record for several regions of the world, including much of western Europe, parts of northwestern Africa, the Horn of Africa, central Asia and China, and much of the south Pacific. Sea surface temperatures rose the fastest in regions such as the Arctic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Black Sea and the tropical Pacific. On land, a large reduction in glacier ice was observed across the globe. Significant glacier retreat was observed in Alaska, the Andes, High Mountain Asia and New Zealand.
Europe: Much of Europe experienced up to three weeks less snow than average during Winter 2021-22, which contributed to widespread drought conditions and increased glacier melt the following summer. Diminished snow cover exposes the vulnerable surface of glaciers to the sun, which accelerated melting in the European Alps during the summer when temperatures reached exceptional highs, setting a record amount of ice lost in a single year, 7% of ice mass (equivalent to more than 3.5 meters of thinning).
Arctic: In 2022, Greenland saw its highest temperatures on record for the month of September, reaching up to 8°C above average. The extreme heat, combined with rainfall during a time of year when precipitation would normally fall as snow, led to record ice sheet melt, with around a quarter of the ice sheet’s surface experiencing melt during the first few days of September. These records were mirrored in other Arctic regions such as Svalbard, which experienced its warmest summer on record in 2022 and reached 2.5°C above average in some areas.


General rule: one can raise higher taxes, in proportion to the liberty of the subjects; and one is forced to moderate them to the degree that servitude increases. This has always been, and will always remain so. It is a rule drawn from nature, which does not vary at all; one finds it in all countries, in England, in Holland, and in all states in which liberty becomes degraded, right down to Turkey.
The Seven Years War (1756-1763) was a bunch of major powers (Austria, France, Russia) ganging up to cut Prussia down to size. The English joined in on the Prussian side, on the theory that an enemy of France was a friend of theirs. The war was also a world war, long before World War One, involving fighting as far afield as North America and India. On the international side, it was a win for England, and a loss for France, with the French losing Quebec and India.
The war brought home an important advantage of a constitutional state over an absolutist one. England was able to raise higher taxes on its subjects because they were voting for the taxes themselves, through Parliament. And England was able to borrow money for the war on easier terms than France, because English lenders were more confident that Parliament wouldn’t default on its debts: many of those who bought English war bonds either stood in Parliament, or voted for those who did. In spite of the “absolutist” label, French kings had a harder time squeezing money out of their subjects, and resorted to a lot of dubious expedients. For example, the government raised money by selling life annuities to investors: pay a lump sum for the annuity, and the government would pay back a fixed amount for every year the beneficiary was alive (sort of reverse life insurance). This led, among other things, to a syndicate of investors buying annuities on behalf of groups of young girls (such as The Thirty Geneva Maidens), judged the best bet, actuarially, for long life expectancies.
Generally they had to have reached the age of seven so as to be beyond the risk of smallpox. These maidens received the finest medical care, and Geneva’s wealthy bourgeoisie followed their health in the newspapers – not surprising given the huge investments that rested on their shoulders.
But the government was in such financial straits that it eventually started paying only a fraction of the promised annuities. The military weakness of the French state, stemming from its fiscal weakness, was the major cause of the French Revolution.
It would be nice to follow Montesquieu, and draw an improving moral lesson from this: constitutional liberty beats absolutism. But things played out differently in Eastern Europe, where there was less of a commercial sector to tap, and governments depended more on coercion – serfs serving their lords, lords serving the state – to keep up as great powers. There, the great constitutional state – the elective monarchy of Poland – was reduced to a second rank power, and eventually eliminated entirely. The most impressive military power, relative to its size, was Prussia, “not a country with an army, but an army with a country.” This was not the last time that military exigencies would push social evolution in very different directions in Western and Eastern Europe.


The brain is situated in a rigid box (the skull) that cannot expand, so normal swelling from injury cannot occur. When brain swelling does occur, pressure inside the skull rises. This makes it harder for the heart to pump the oxygen-rich blood into the brain needed for recovery. If treating physicians cannot control swelling, the lack of blood supply to the swollen brain can cause further brain damage. Efforts to avoid this damage can include regular monitoring of the pressure inside the skull (intracranial). There are different ways to monitor pressure. One commonly used method is to insert a small probe into the skull. But whenever something is put into the skull, there is a chance it may cause bleeding or an infection.
The evidence in this review was up to date as of May 2015.
The one randomised controlled trial (RCT) identified included 324 participants, all of whom had sustained severe traumatic brain injury and were receiving care in intensive care units in South America. People in one group had a pressure monitoring device inserted into their skull. People in the control group did not receive the device. All participants had regular monitoring of pressure in the skull through observation by the treating doctors and nurses, and X-rays.
We did not identify any (statistically significant) differences between the two groups at six months in relation to death or survival with severe disability. There were no important complications of ICP monitoring.
More research is needed into how routine monitoring of intracranial pressure can inform clinical care.
The data from the single RCT studying the role of routine ICP monitoring in acute traumatic coma fails to provide evidence to support the intervention.
Research in this area is complicated by the fact that RCTs necessarily assess the combined impact of measurement of ICP with the clinical management decisions made in light of this data. Future studies will need to assess the added value of ICP data alongside other information from the multimodal monitoring typically performed in intensive care unit settings. Additionally, even within traumatically acquired brain injury (TBI), there is great heterogeneity in mechanisms, distribution, location and magnitude of injury, and studies within more homogeneous subgroups are likely to be more informative.
We know that the brain damage resulting from traumatic and other insults is not due solely to the direct consequences of the primary injury. A significant and potentially preventable contribution to the overall morbidity arises from secondary hypoxic-ischaemic damage. Brain swelling accompanied by raised intracranial pressure (ICP) prevents adequate cerebral perfusion with well-oxygenated blood.
Detection of raised ICP could be useful in alerting clinicians to the need to improve cerebral perfusion, with consequent reductions in brain injury.
To determine whether routine ICP monitoring in severe coma of any cause reduces the risk of all-cause mortality or severe disability at final follow-up.
We searched the Cochrane Injuries Group Specialised Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE (OvidSP), EMBASE (OvidSP), CINAHL Plus, ISI Web of Science (SCI-EXPANDED & CPCI-S), clinical trials registries and reference lists. We ran the most recent search on 22 May 2015.
All randomised controlled studies of real-time ICP monitoring by invasive or semi-invasive means in acute coma (traumatic or non-traumatic aetiology) versus clinical care without ICP monitoring (that is, guided only by clinical or radiological inference of the presence of raised ICP).
Two authors (ET and RF) worked independently to identify the one study that met inclusion criteria. JR and RF independently extracted data and assessed risk of bias. We contacted study authors for additional information, including details of methods and outcome data.
One randomized controlled trial (RCT) meeting the selection criteria has been identified to date.
The included study had 324 participants. We judged risk of bias to be low for all categories except blinding of participants and personnel, which is not feasible for this intervention. There were few missing data, and we analysed all on an intention-to-treat basis.
Participants could be 13 years of age or older (mean age of sample 29; range 22 to 44), and all had severe traumatic brain injury, mostly due to traffic incidents. All were receiving care within intensive care units (ICUs) at one of six hospitals in either Bolivia or Ecuador. Investigators followed up 92% of participants for six months or until death. The trial excluded patients with a Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) equal to three and fixed dilated pupils on admission on the basis that they had sustained brain injury of an unsalvageable severity.
The study compared people managed using either an intracranial monitor or non-invasive monitoring (imaging and clinical examination) to identify potentially harmful raised intracranial pressure. Both study groups used imaging and clinical examination measures.
Mortality at six months was 56/144 (39%) in the ICP-monitored group and 67/153 (44%) in the non-invasive group.
Unfavourable outcome (defined as death or moderate to severe disability at six months) as assessed by the extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS-E) was 80/144 (56%) in the ICP-monitored group and 93/153 (61%) in the non-invasive group.
Six percent of participants in the ICP monitoring group had complications related to the monitoring, none of which met criteria for being a serious adverse event. There were no complications relating to the non-invasive group.
Other complications and adverse events were comparable between treatment groups, 70/157 (45%) in the ICP-monitored group and 76/167 (46%) in the non-invasive group.
Late mortality in both the monitored and non-invasive groups was high, with 35% of deaths occurring > 14 days after injury. The authors comment that this high late mortality may reflect inadequacies in post-ICU services for disabled survivors requiring specialist rehabilitation care.