Theories of bitterness
When you eat food, you are able to identify it via its smell, texture in your moth, and how it activates taste cells on your tongue. The classic "taste modalities" are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. For sweet, sour, salty, and umami, there is a single taste receptor; the only information you get from those senses is degree of activation. In contrast, there are over twenty five bitter receptors, called T2Rs.
So is bitter taste similar to the other modalities, a single labeled line, or is it more complex? Some people (the Zuker lab chief among them) propose that, like sweet and sour, we can only detect the extent to which something is bitter. That is, there is a single "labeled line" for all bitter tastes. This would reduce our sense of taste to five labeled lines. The ability to discriminate between similar tastes - e.g. between two citrus fruits - would be due to extra information from olfaction.
There is the alternative possibility that bitter is not a single labeled line, but more than one line. Individual bitter taste cells could express a subset of T2Rs, have individualized receptive fields, and discriminate between different bitter compounds. Today I'm going to review the evidence for both theories at the level of the tongue, brain, and behaviour.
Bitter on the tongue
The bitter receptors were discovered circa 2000, and reported in a series of papers. In one of those papers (Adler, et al 2000), the authors performed in situ hybridization against multiple T2Rs on the tongue. The found similar numbers of cells were labeled whether they used probes for 1, 2, 5, or 10 T2Rs (see below, left). Notably, they state that labeling 2+ receptors labeled 20% of taste cells, while labeling with only 1 receptor labeled 15% of taste cells. Here, the difference could be due to simple labeling inefficiency. They alternately verified this by performing double-labeled fluorescent in situs, and found "most" cells coexpressed multiple receptors. From this, they concluded that individual bitter taste cells in the tongue express most T2Rs, and are sensors for bitter, generally.
|Individual taste cells express multiple bitter taste receptors. c. In situ label using 10 probes for T2Rs. The number of cells labeled here is similar to single label probes. d. Fluorescence in situ double-labeling for T2R3 (green) and T2R7 (red). Most cells express both T2Rs.|
From Adler et al 2000.
|Individual taste cells respond to only a subset of bitter tastants. A. Three example taste cells each respond to different tastants (denatonium, quinine, cycloheximide, phenylthiocarbimide, and sucrose octaacetate). B. Response for all responsive cells to bitters. Cell ID on left, tastants on top. From top to bottom, cells respond to more tastants.|
From Caicedo and Roper, 2001.
In 2005, Zuker fired back. Bitter signaling uses a G-protein coupled cascade that signals through PLCβ2; PLCβ2 KO mice lose all bitter taste. Mueller et al took PLCβ2 -/- mice, and then expressed PLCβ2 under a T2R promoter, like mT2R5 (m for mouse). When they did that they were able to fully rescue bitter taste.
|Expression of PLCβ2 under the expression of a single bitter receptor rescues all bitter taste. The "relative response" measures the amount of licking mice did of bitter compounds (inverse). Control mice do not lick bitters. PLC -/- mice cannot taste bitter, and so lick bitters. PLC expressed behind the promoters for mT2R5, mT2R32, and mT2R19 is able to rescue bitter perception.|
From Mueller et al 2005.
However, again, I feel this is not quite conclusive. If bitter taste receptor expression overlaps randomly, while an individual taste cell may not express all T2Rs, the whole population of mT2R5 taste cells could express all the other T2Rs. And hence allow full recovery of bitter sensitivity.
Bitter in the brain
There's a lot more interesting stuff about bitter taste on the tongue - for example, the Meyerhof lab has identified the ligands for many human taste receptors - but let's move to the brainstem (and beyond!).
Few labs have recorded from the taste areas of the brainstem. Chief among them are David V Smith and the Travers of Ohio State. In 2006, Geran and Travers recorded from NST of rats while applying the classic tastants + a set of bitters. And they found that some cells in NST responded differentially to cycloheximide and denatonium. And if the brain can discriminate between different bitters, surely the tongue must as well...
|Individual NST neurons can discriminate denatonium (DEN) from cycloheximide (CHX). Pardon the figure, it's excised from a MUCH larger one. y-axis is response rate, x-axis is neuron ID. On the right are the bitter sensitive neurons (B-best). The first three neurons respond to denatonium, while the rest do not. There also may be quinine neurons.|
From Geran and Travers, 2006.
|Gustatory cortical neurons may be able to discriminate between different bitters. left. Map of responsive cells to three bitter: denatonium, cycloheximide, and quinine. middle. Overlaid map of cells to left, color coded for cells that respond to all 3 bitters (red), 2 bitters (yellow), and 1 bitter (white). right. Bar chart of # of cells that respond to bitters.|
From Chen et al, 2011.
Bitter in the "mind"
So what about, you know, bitter perception itself? This has been rather ill studied. Many people have shown that typical "bitter" stimulants are aversive. Only a couple have tested whether mice can discriminate between them.
The best paper I've found tested whether mice could discriminate between quinine and denatonium (I wonder if scientists choose these chemicals so often because they're much easier to pronounce and remember than sucrose octaacetate). To ensure that the mice were not discriminating between different intensities of bitterness, they measured the aversiveness of each chemical, and used iso-yucky concentrations.
|Thirsty mice were allowed to lick a water bottle for five seconds. The lick rate over the last 3 seconds of the trial determined the "stimulus licks" and were normalized to water licks. Dashed rectangles denote equivalently aversive concentrations.|
From Spector and Kopka, 2002.
|Mice are unable to discriminate between quinine and denatonium. See above for details.|
From Spector and Kopka, 2002.
After all this data, what can you conclude? The evidence for a single bitter labeled line come from the taste input and output, the receptors and the behaviour. In the brain, however, it seems that individual cells can discriminate between bitter tastants. It's certainly possible that taste neurons can discriminate between bitters before discarding the information as useless. I think the main issue here is the old scientific problem of, "just because you can't detect it doesn't mean it's not there." I know reading these papers has suggested a few experiments to my mind.
Adler, E., Hoon, M a, Mueller, K. L., Chandrashekar, J., Ryba, N. J. P., & Zuker, C. S. (2000). A novel family of mammalian taste receptors. Cell, 100(6), 693-702.
Caicedo, A., & Roper, S. D. (2001). Taste Receptor Cells That Discriminate Between Bitter Stimuli. Science, 291(5508), 1557-1560. doi:10.1126/science.1056670
Chen, X., Gabitto, M., Peng, Y., Ryba, N. J. P., & Zuker, C. S. (2011). A Gustotopic Map - Supplement. Science, 333(6047), 1262-1266. doi:10.1126/science.1204076
Geran, L. C., & Travers, S. P. (2006). Single neurons in the nucleus of the solitary tract respond selectively to bitter taste stimuli. Journal of neurophysiology, 96(5), 2513. Am Physiological Soc. doi:10.1152/jn.00607.2006.
Mueller, K. L., Hoon, Mark a, Erlenbach, I., Chandrashekar, J., Zuker, C. S., & Ryba, N. J. P. (2005). The receptors and coding logic for bitter taste. Nature, 434(March), 225-230. doi:10.1038/nature03366.1.
Spector, A. C., & Kopka, S. L. (2002). Rats fail to discriminate quinine from denatonium: implications for the neural coding of bitter-tasting compounds. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 22(5), 1937-41.
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Darling, Andrea <email@example.com> wrote:
> R1. Introduction
> Objects form categories because they share a number of
> features and differ on other features from contrasting
> categories. One essential function of a feature is therefore
> to subserve the categorization and representation of objects.
This is a simplified view of featuring in object
> The target article questioned the origin of features. Either
> people come equipped with a complete, fixed feature
> repertoire that accounts for all present and future
ad> (THIS IS UNLIKELY AS BABIES ARE NOT NECESSARILY AS
ad> ACCURATE AS ADULTS IN CATAGORISATION, EG. THEY OFTEN CALL
ad> ANYTHING WITH FOUR LEGS ^ÑA DOG^Ò.)
Yes, and in addition, it seems non-sensical that the brain
is so advanced in terms of development from birth, that it
could contain such a complete, fixed feature repertoire.
Also, this view seems to ignore the fact that every
individual's experience is uniquely different, and for the
fixed feature repertoire to be able to account for all
future categorisations, it could only this on the basis of
past experience, and natural selection: which cannot take
into account future categorizations that have not yet
> or they sometimes create flexible features to subserve
> new categorizations.
ad> IT IS PROBABLY BOTH: SIMPLE, INNATE REPERTOIRES (EG. HOW
ad> TO TELL APART DIFFERENT COLOURS) MAY LATER BE
ad> SUPPLEMENTED BY THE ABILITY TO CREATE NEW ONES; AS SEEN
ad> IN THE ^ÑMARTIAN BLOBS EXPERIMENT^Ò. IT MAY BE INTERESTING
ad> TO SEE IF A SIMPLER VERSION OF THIS TECHNIQUE COULD BE
ad> PRODUCED FOR USE WITH INFANTS EG. BY LOOKING AT THEIR
ad> GAZE, DUMMY-SUCKING RATES ETC (TO SEE IF THIS TOO IS
ad> INNATE OR LEARNED VERY EARLY). HOWEVER THIS WOULD BE
ad> VERY DIFFICULT AS THE TASK IS COMPLEX AND BABIES CAN^ÒT
ad> TELL US HOW THEY CATAGORISE THINGS, WE CAN ONLY ASSUME.
This latter view seems much more likely, and is supported
by Schyns et al, who also discuss the implications of this
>> The target article examined the implications of the
>> latter view that flexible features are not necessarily
>> derivable from a fixed set of primitives, can augment
>> the representational power of the feature repertoire,
>> and can change how an input is perceived.
These implications mean that the creation of flexible
features hold a great deal more value than fixed feature
repertoires could. The fact that they strengthen the
representational power of the feature repertoire
illustrates the importance of perceptual categorisation.
> R2. Componential and Holistic object representations.
> from the outset, it is important to emphasize that the
> flexible feature stance adheres to the reductionist
> enterprise of cognitive psychology which prescribes that
> complex object representations should be reducible to
> combinations of their building blocks.
ad> YES IT DOES, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE HOLISTIC VIEW (EG. GESTALT).
ad> IN EVERYDAY LIFE WE OBSERVE THAT OBJECTS ARE NOT SIMPLY A
ad> COMBINATION OF FEATURES THAT ARE PROCESSED BOTTOM-UP.
A fundamental example is that of face processing, and the
extent to which features are processed holistically and
configurally, rather than being reducible to the processing
of a combination of the individual components that
comprise the face. Certainly, beyond childhood, research
has shown that the face is processed in a configural
fashion, in terms of the overall arrangement of features in
relation to one another; rather than employing a piecemeal
approach with the processing of individual features.
However, although Schyns et al do not dispute a
reductionist approach, they:
>> do challenge the possibility that all object
>> representations can be reduced to a fixed set of
>> building blocks.
Schyns et al claim to hold the position of being
'Compositionalists'; that is, they assume that features,
once created, become the building blocks of future
encodings and representations.
> The main alternative to the compositional view proposes that
> objects are represented holistically,without a prior
> into their components. For instance, Edelman discusses a
> system which learns the appearance of entire objects and
> uses their memory traces as holistic features. In a
> related vein, Burgund and Marsolek suggest that specific
> brain systems could be dedicated to the extraction of
> holistic features that represent familiar objects.
> Holistic representations have two main advantages over
> componential representations: (1) they preserve
> the input in an unprocessed form and (2) they
> efficiently represent the input by compressing multiple
> sources of information into a single feature. Holistic
> and componential representations can co-exist in the
> flexible feature framework. It is therefore an augmented
ad> THIS VIEW IS VALID AND PROBABLY MORE REALISTIC, BUT MAKES
ad> IT MORE DIFFICULT TO STUDY AND UNDERSTAND CATERGORISATION
ad> AS IT COMPLICATES THINGS ( AS IN EVERY AREA OF PSYCHOLOGY
ad> FROM MENTAL ILLNESS TO COGNITION).
This view has the overall advantage of allowing holistic
and componential represenations to coexist in the flexible
feature framework. This account has the best of both
flexible and fixed feature approaches, since:
>> Compositions of flexible feastures retain all of the
>> strengths of the classical 'mental chemistry' of the
>> fixed feature approach, and many object descriptions can
>> be generated from a set of combination rules.
> As already discussed in section 1 of the target article,
> compositions of flexible features inherit all of the
> strengths of the classical mental chemistry of the fixed
> feature approach: Many object descriptions can be
> generated from a set of elements and a set of combination
> rules; feature combinations allow for structured
> hierarchical representations; similarity relations
> between different objects can be expressed in terms of
> their features and their combination rules.
ad> YES, BUT THIS DOESN^ÒT ALLOW SUCCESSSUL GENERATION OF ALL
ad> CATAGORY MEMBERS AND MAY LEAD TO MISTAKES. SOME CATAGORY
ad> MEMBERS (THE NOTORIOUS TOMATO) ARE MORE SIMILAR TO
ad> MEMBERS OF OTHER CATAGORIES THAN TO THEIR OWN. FOR
ad> EXAMPLE, A TOMATO IS A FRUIT (DUE TO IT^ÒS PIPS, I
ad> THINK!) YET IS OFTEN CONFUSED WITH VEGETABLES AS IT
ad> DOESN^ÒT GROW ON TREES (LIKE MOST FRUIT), IS EATEN WITH
ad> SALAD ETC.
It is important not to forget that this alternative is
still a composition of flexible features; which can
account for category members that are less similar to a
prototypical example, and that move the category closer to
> R3.1 Chunking.
> Chunking and perceptual unitization (see 3.1.) were
> discussed in the target article as processes that could
> synthesize new features from a set of more elementary
> components. Chunking therefore implies that the input is
> segmented into features before being chunked--much in the
> way in which a capital T may be initially be discretized
> into a vertical and a horizontal bar before being chunked
> into a holistic T.
> Phenomenologically, the perception of the chunk does not
> entail the perception of its components. A chunk is
> therefore a new, isolatable and independent information
> packet of psychological processing that has the
> properties of holistic representations: The recognition
> of a chunk will not necessarily prime the recognition of
> its components, and vice versa; response times to the
> chunk will be faster than predicted by response times to
> the components (Goldstone, Steyvers, Spencer-Smith, &
> Kersten, in press); and similiarity
> relationships will not necessarily be perceived between
> the chunk and its parts.
> Good examples of chunking producing new features have
> recently been described in the category expertise
> literature. For example, Tanaka discusses the case of
> faces which are initially analyzed into their consituent
> parts (e.g., nose, mouth, eyes and ears) before being
> chunked into configural, holistic representations with
> the progressive acquisition of expertise in face
ad> THIS APPEARS VALID AS IN EVERYDAY LIFE WE ARE QUICKER TO
ad> RECOGNISE FACES WE KNOW IN THE STREET THE BETTER WE KNOW
ad> THE PERSON. WE APPEAR TO BUILD UP HOLISTIC PROTOTYPES OF
ad> FACES WE KNOW WHICH AIDS PROCESSING. HOWEVER, FEATURE
ad> PROCESSING IS STILL IMPORTANT UNDER SITUATIONS OF
ad> AMBIGUITY (EG. WHEN PERSON IS WEARING SUNGLASSES THEY
ad> DON^ÒT USUALLY WEAR).
This is a good point, and certainly makes sense according
to personal, everyday experiences. Expertise with the
categorization of faces appears to develop to such an
extent that response times to the chunk will be a great
deal faster than predicted by response times to the
components, with an increasing difference depending on the
level of expertise of the individual with the face
> R3.2 Feature creation: Form-from-medium rather than form-from-
> We want to distinguish the form of feature newness involved in
> chunking (which we call form-from-form) from another kind
> (form-from- medium) which directly produces features from
> a medium, not from other features. By analogy, imagine a
> Martian whose visual medium (the output of its
> transducers) is very much like dough. On the first day of
> its existence, the outside world imprints a teddy bear
> into the dough. Of course, this object and its parts are
> unknown to the Martian. He or she cannot compose a new
> representation of the modelled teddy bear from an
> already-existing representation of its component parts.
> Feature creation is a process which can directly imprint
> on the visual medium: It can cut around the teddy-bears
> silhouette and represent the entire object as a new
> holistic feature. Note that this cutting process only
> separates the entire bear from the medium. At this stage
> of conceptual development, our Martian represents the
> bear as a unitary, holistic feature and its
> decomposition into subcomponents is unspecified.
ad> GOOD POINT, BUT THE ANALOGY OF AN ALIEN MAY BE MISLEADING-
ad> WE ARE MOST LIKELY BORN WITH INNATE PRINCIPLES FOR
ad> BREAKING DOWN HOLISTIC OBJECTS, ESPECIALLY HUMAN FACES,
ad> INTO SMALLER COMPONENTS! THIS HAS BEEN SHOWN NUMEROUS
ad> TIMES IN INFANT STUDIES. AN ALIEN WOULD NOT HAVE THIS
ad> ABILITY-OR IF IT DID IT MAY ONLY SUIT IT^ÒS NEEDS ON THE
ad> HOME PLANET.
Yes, but isn't this example simply meant to be an analogy,
to illustrate the overall process of feature creation,
rather than a representation of the specific capacities of
> R3.4 What is it like to be a feature?
> The discussion so far distinguished between chunking,
> imprinting and emergent perceptual properties as
> different forms of feature newness. These distinctions made
> implicit assumptions on what it is like to be
> a feature that we now highlight.
> Features are isolatable information packets. This first
> property stresses that features represent compressed
> information from the input to which the system is
> sensitive. This information can be parts
> (as suggested in Tanaka and Singh and Landau), but it is
> not limited to parts. Colored blobs, textural
> elements, and many other information packets can qualify as
> features as long as the systems psychogical response to
> the packet reveals that it is a discrete, holistic entity
> in psychological processing.
ad> INDEED, A FEATURE CAN BE ANYTHING, FROM A PERSON TO PLANET
ad> EARTH TO THE SOLAR SYSTEM TO THE GALAXY- IT DOESN^ÒT
ad> MATTER AS LONG AS IT MAKES UP SOMETHING ELSE....
Can such a generalised definition of features really be
valid - Scyhns et al give several criteria that must be met
for something to be defined as a feature: (that
features are isolable information packets,a nd are
> Features are independently perceived. Isolatable features
> share the property of being independently perceived.
> As opposed to feature conjunctions for which the perception
> of each component must precede the perception of the
> conjunct, isolatable features are perceived without such
> prior perceptions. Independently perceived features can
> evolve both from a chunking process which produces
> configural features, from an imprinting process which
> creates a new form from the visual medium, or from
> dimensionality reduction itself.
ad> YES, BUT MOST FEATURES ARE NOT PERCIEVED INDIVIDUALLY: THE
ad> FEATURE IN IT^ÒS ENTIRE CONTEXT NEEDS TO BE CONSIDERED;
ad> WHEN ISOLATED, A ^ÑMOUTH^Ò IS ONLY A WONKY LINE, YET WHEN
ad> ADDED UNDER TWO EYES AND A NOSE IT BECOMES OUR WELL KNOWN
I agree strongly with this point..surely contextual factors
play a fundamental role in object categorization on the
basis of features.
> R4.1 Does feature creation require more flexibility?
> Continuous versus discrete feature learning in time. One
> possible interpretation of our proposal is that
> features created to solve a categorization subsequently
> crystallize and become fixed. To this, several
> commentators objected that we should instill more flexibility
> in the feature repertoire (Hahn & Chater; Tanaka;
> Williams, Gauthier & Tarr) because feature creation and
> adaptation is a never ending process. We agree with the
> idea that the feature repertoire should continuously
> evolve in response to the flux of new categorizations
> facing the organism. One extreme view suggests that every
> encounter with the objects of a class could lead to a
> small amount of feature-space reorganization (Williams,
> Gauthier & Tarr; Hahn and Chater). The issue of
> continuous variability raises an important problem that
> was not discussed in the target article: How does the
> system store information about feature variations?
ad> YES, AND HOW DOES IT HAVE THE ROOM!
It seems likely that the feature repertoire should involve
a dynamic process, and thus should instill a significant
amount of flexibility in the feature repertoire. This does
raise the problem as Schyns et al noted, of how does the
system store information about feature variations?
> One possibility is that each time the system sees an
> object, it would replace its old feature representation
> with the representation of the new features.
ad> ECONOMICALLY MORE VALID
> However, such system is liable to catastrophic forgetting.
> Successive exposures to rare instances of a feature could
> lead to a transformation of the feature that would not
> match common instances anymore.
There are clear advantages as well as drawbacks of this
> Another possibility for
> representing variations is to apply the template matching
> approach to features and store each transformation as a
> distinct feature exemplar in memory. However, given all
> the variations in illumination conditions, pose and
> occlusion that features can take, exemplar-based systems
> would rapidly be overwhelmed with the millions of feature
> exemplars it would need to store and organize.
ad> YES, BUT EXEMPLARS DON^ÒT NEED TO BE THAT SPECIFIC. FOR
ad> EXAMPLE, AN EXEMPLAR OF A MINI (EG. ROUNDED BODY, SMALL
ad> MINI LOGO, SMALL ROUND HEADLIGHTS ETC..I M NO EXPERT ON
ad> MINIS!) ALOWS US TO RECOGNISE MOST MINIS (EG. IN MOST
ad> ILLUMINATIONS, SITUATIONS ETC). WE WOULDN'T NECESSARILY
ad> NEED AN EXEMPLAR FOR EVERY DIFFERENT TYPE OF MINI IF THEY
ad> SHARE ENOUGH BROAD FEATURES (WHICH THEY GENERALLY DO).
This example, even though it improves on the first in terms
of removing the risk of catastrophic forgetting, still has
the clear limitation of containing too many feature
exemplars, which would also overwhelm the system.
> Thus we favor an abstract representation (for parts,
> think, eg. of a parametrized elastic template) which
> would very slowly adjust to local feature transformations
> to preserve the a desirable inertia in the continuous
> adaptation to changes.
This compromise position therfore seems the most logical
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Feb 13 2001 - 16:23:21 GMT


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The secret to the mole's impressive foraging ability is the 22 appendages that ring its nose. Nearly blind, the animal uses this sensitive, star-shaped flesh to feel around in its dark, underground environment. This mysterious mole has moves that put the best magician to shame: The energetic burrower can detect small prey animals and gulp them down with a speed that is literally too fast for the human eye to follow.
Scientists have discovered a new species of bat that has large flat adhesive organs, or suckers, attached to its thumbs and hind feet. This is a remarkable find because the new bat belongs to a Family of bats endemic to Madagascar--and one that was previously considered to include only one rare species.
The giant grenadier, Albatrossia pectoralis , is a very large rattail, the only member of the genus Albatrossia, found in the north Pacific from northern Japan to the Okhotsk and Bering seas, east to the Gulf of Alaska, and south to northern Baja California in Mexico, at depths of between 140 and 3,500 m. Its length is up to 2.1 m. The giant grenadier has the usual greatly elongated pointed tail of the rattails.
Raccoon Dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) are native to Japan, southeastern Siberia and Manchuria. Average adult head and body length is about 65 cm (2 ft) and weight ranges from 4 to 10 kg (9 to 22 lb). Average litters consist of 5 pups. Longevity is 3–4 years in the wild and up to 11 years in captivity.
Giant otters may be as long as 2 metres (6 ft.) and weigh up to 30 kilos (70 lbs.)
The creature, dubbed the "yeti crab," is so unusual that a whole new family of animal had to be created to classify it. Its official name is Kiwa hirsuta, and even after a year of study scientists say there's still much about it they don't understand.
One mystery is the purpose of the fine, hairlike filaments that coat the crab's arms and legs. The fibers trap bacteria, which the crab may use as food. But some scientists think the germs may filter out the toxic minerals that spew from the deep-sea vents.
Fangtooths are beryciform fish of the family Anoplogastridae (sometimes spelled "Anoplogasteridae") that live in the deep sea. The name is from Greek anoplo meaning "unarmed" and gaster meaning "stomach". With a circumglobal distribution in tropical and cold-temperate waters, the family contains only two very similar species, in one genus, with no known close relatives: the common fangtooth, Anoplogaster cornuta, found worldwide; and the shorthorned fangtooth, Anoplogaster brachycera, found in the tropical waters of the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean.
The pelican eel or Eurypharynx pelecanoides is a deep-sea fish rarely seen by humans, though the creatures are occasionally snagged in fishermen's nets.The pelican eel's most notable feature is its enormous mouth, much larger than its body. The mouth is loosely-hinged, and can be opened wide enough to swallow a fish much larger than itself.
This strange cartilaginous fish uses its long snout to scan over the sea floor for the electrical impulses of its prey that bury in the muddy sea floor, just like a metal detector. Like other chimaeras (such as ghost and elephant sharks), these animals lay horny egg cases in which their young are left to develop, potentially for up to one year. For defense, most chimaeras have a venomous spine located in front of the dorsal fin.
Long extensions of three of this deep sea fish's fins allow it to stand on the ocean bottom where it waits for small crustaceans to drift towards it. The three elongated fins of the tripod fish may extend to nearly one meter (3 ft 3 in) in length.
The Japanese Giant Salamander (Andrias japonicus) reaches up to 1.44 m (4 ft 9 in), feeds on fish and crustaceans, and can live for up to 80 years. The Chinese Giant Salamander (Andrias davidianus) can reach a length of 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in).
The rarely seen king of herrings is the world's longest bony fish and has been documented to 41 feet in length, with reports to 50 feet, and 600 pounds. Its head and body is silver with blue streaks, with blackish streaks and spots on the body. The Oarfish (as it is also known as) is a relatively obscure fish that is reported to move vertically through the water in a column and is found between 3,300 feet deep and the surface.
Mekong Giant Catfish
Attaining an unconfirmed length of 3m (9+ft), the Mekong giant catfish grows extremely quickly, reaching a mass of 150 to 200kg in only six years. The largest catch recorded in Thailand since record-keeping began in 1981, was a female measuring 2.7 m (roughly 9ft) in length and weighing 293 kg(646 lb). This specimen, caught in 2005, is widely recognized as the largest freshwater fish ever caught.
The bigfin squids are a group of rarely seen cephalopods with a very distinctive morphology.The family is known only from larval, paralarval, and juvenile specimens, but some authorities believe the adult creature has been seen: Several videos have been taken of animals nicknamed the "long-arm squids", which appear to have a similar morphology. Since none of the adult specimens have ever been captured or sampled, it remains uncertain if they are the same genus, or only distant relatives
The Vampire Squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis, lit. "vampire squid from hell") is a small, deep-sea cirrate cephalopod. The Vampire Squid is an extreme example of a deep-sea cephalopod, thought to reside at aphotic (lightless) depths from 600-900 metres (2,000-3,000 feet) or more. Within this region of the world's oceans is a discrete habitat known as the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). In order to cope with life in the suffocating depths, vampire squid have developed several radical adaptations.
Belonging to the Octopus suborder Cirrina, the genus Grimpoteuthis consists of over a dozen rare and poorly-known species, all of which are found in the extreme depths of the ocean. They are small, not getting much bigger than 20 cm (8 in), and their common name comes from the ear-like pair of fins (present in all cirrate octopuses, but generally larger in the Dumbos) which are used to assist locomotion the same way a squid uses its fins. Like other cirrate octopuses, the arms of the Dumbo Octopus are completely webbed, and they also retain an internal shell, something the more common incirrate octopuses (i.e. every other kind of octopus) have lost entirely. Dumbo Octopuses spend their time either sitting on the sea floor, or swimming just above it searching for food.
The Megamouth shark is an extremely rare and unusual species of deepwater shark. Discovered in 1976, only a few have ever been seen and only three recordings of it are on film.


A “treasure trove” of dinosaur footprints — from at least seven different species, including a species of stegosaur — that date back about 100 million years have been uncovered by storm surge in the United Kingdom, researchers from the University of Cambridge revealed on Monday.
More than 85 “well-preserved” dinosaur prints from the Cretaceous period were recovered in East Sussex, along cliffs near Hastings, from 2014 through 2018, the researchers said. Their impressive findings were recently published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.
“Many of the footprints — which range in size from less than 2 cm to over 60 cm across — are so well-preserved that fine detail of skin, scales and claws is easily visible,” the researchers wrote.
NEW HORNED DINOSAUR SPECIES DISCOVERED IN ARIZONA WOWS PALEONTOLOGISTS
Dr. Neil Davies, who co-authored the study, said the detailed prints were found during the past four winters as strong storms hit the area. Davies was impressed by the diversity of the prints, which have “incredible detail” due to the damp environment.
“You can clearly see the texture of the skin and scales, as well as four-toed claw marks, which are extremely rare,” he explained in an online statement.
Anthony Shillito, a student in Cambridge’s department of earth sciences and fellow co-author, said the whole body of fossils that were retrieved will help shed light on which dinosaurs co-existed and how they impacted the land they once roamed.
GIANT ATLANTIC BLUEFIN TUNA WASHES UP IN SCOTLAND, SHOCKS BEACHGOERS: IT WAS AN ‘IMPRESSIVE BEAST’
“You can get some idea about which dinosaurs made them from the shape of the footprints – comparing them with what we know about dinosaur feet from other fossils lets you identify the important similarities. When you also look at footprints from other locations you can start to piece together which species were the key players,” Davies agreed.
Specifically, Shillito plans to focus on how the large ancient creatures impacted river flows.
“We do see some smaller-scale evidence of their impact; in some of the deeper footprints you can see thickets of plants that were growing. We also found evidence of footprints along the banks of river channels, so it’s possible that dinosaurs played a role in creating those channels,” he explained.
The area the dinosaur prints were found is apparently one of the top digging sites in England, and researchers hope to find even more evidence in the coming years.


||Some Terms used in the
refers to the thistles of the flower heads of the safflower plant, which grows wild all overthe U.S. and Mexico. The red-orange thistles produce a slight yellow dye but no saffron flavor or aroma in cooking or baking. Those unfamiliar with saffron's real qualities sometimes mistake these thistles, sold very inexpensively in packages sometimes labeled "saffron", for saffron stigmas.
refers to the dye (color) intensity of commercial saffron when immersed in liquid utilizing test method standards set up by the ISO (see ISO). It is expressed as degrees of color i.e. 190 degrees of coloring strength. This is the standard by which all commercial saffron is placed in quality categories, i.e. Category I (best), II, II or IV. The reason color is the standard, is that the coloring strength of true saffron has a direct correlation to its aroma and flavor. The higher the degree of color in saffron, the stronger its aroma and flavor.
the most common variety of fall blooming crocus which produces saffron. The bulb reproduces itself and most commonly is left in the ground of saffron cultivating countries for four years at a stretch before it is lifted out and replanted in new earth. These bulbs are widely available through nurseries in the U.S. which import them from Holland. Countries which export commercial saffron do not allow saffron bulbs to be exported.
refers to the date you see on saffron packaging which indicates the date of the harvest from which the saffron originated. The date is usually expressed as two years, i.e. 1997/98, indicating the saffron was harvested in 1997 and then exported in 1998. Since saffron stigmas are harvested late in the year and must be cured (dried) and packaged properly to preserve their chemical properties, it is impossible for them to be collected and shipped in the same year.
when these terms are used with saffron, this refers to the process by which the aroma, flavor and yellow dye are successfully removed from saffron threads in order to add those properties to cooking and baking. Saffron threads need to be immersed in hot, acidic or alcoholic liquids for a period of time longer than a few minutes in order to release enough of their chemical properties so that you are not wasting your money (see What is Saffron? section of this website).
False Saffron -
another name for safflower (see American Saffron) or any substitute for saffron. Note that true saffron may be mixed with such filler substances such as dyed grass blades or straw to add weight and therefore commercial value.
as defined by the ISO, refers to the "yellow filaments that are unattached and separated, pollens, stamens, parts of ovaries and other parts of the flower of Crocus sativus Linnaeus". In other words, floral waste consists of the parts of the saffron flower which contain none of saffron's aromatic, flavoring or coloring properties and should not be present in commercial saffron in anything but minute quantities. In a photospectometry report, floral waste is measured, along with coloring strength and other indicators in order to classify commercial saffron by quality category.
short name for the International Organization for Standardization based in Switzerland, a body of professionals who set worldwide commercial quality and labeling standards for various foodstuffs, including spices and condiments (see Coloring Strength and Photospectometry Report).
common brand name for Spanish saffron grown in the five provinces of the La Mancha region of southeastern Spain. This name should not be taken as a direct reference to the quality of the saffron as coloring strength is the only way to measure saffron quality scientifically (see Coloring Strength, ISO, Photospectometry Report).
Maximum Coloring Strength
is defined by the ISO Standard 3632 governing saffron. All I can tell you is that my Golden Gate Brand saffron measures 256 in the laboratory and I have not found any other commercial saffron which measures higher.
See American Saffron.
Minimum Coloring Strength
expressed as 190 degrees of color in saffron (threads or powder) in a laboratory analysis as part of the ISO definition of Category I saffron (see ISO, Coloring Strength, Photospectometry Report).
is a laboratory report which analyzes the chemical make-up of a substance. This laboratory analysis is used to determine the quantity of crocin (yellow dye), picrocrocin (flavor expressed as bitterness) and safranal (aroma) present in commercial saffron. Depending on the results of this analysis, commercial saffron is then branded as Category I (the best), Category II and so forth, as defined by the ISO (see ISO and Coloring Strength).
refers to the slotting of commercial saffron into one of four categories (excellent to poor) as last revised in 1993 by the International Organization for Standardization in Switzerland (see ISO). There are four ISO saffron categories, each defined by the coloring strength and other indicators, as measured in a laboratory, (see Coloring Strength and Photospectometry Report).
another term for saffron threads (as opposed to saffron powder).
an annual event which takes place over three to four weeks in October and November in the Northern Hemisphere (Iran, France, Greece, Kashmir, Moroco, Spain, Wales) and in April in the Southern Hemisphere (New Zealand). During this time, the Crocus Sativus plants bloom continuosly, necessitating long work days for farmers and their families, who generally cannot afford to hire harvesters and must do all the work themselves.
male part of the saffron plant with no culinary value and not part of true saffron. They are bright yellow and in Grece are sometimes harvested, powdered and sold as a coloring agent for paint.
the female reproductive organ of the saffron plant which, when properly dried (cured), become commercial saffron. They are bright red and look like thin red threads when dried.
refers to pure saffron as opposed to saffron mixed with non-saffron substances to add bulk and weight. Everyone needs to be concerned about saffron adulteration (see False Saffron) .


Practicing good oral hygiene is a lifelong skill for a healthy mouth. Starting while a child is young will help instill this practice as habit and avoid problems down the line. This may seem like a daunting task for many parents, but there are ways to make practicing oral hygiene fun.
Doing it together
The daily oral hygiene routine can easily become a fun tradition. Your child will try to mimic what you do and the best way to teach them proper oral care is to demonstrate it yourself on a daily basis. For this reason, it’s also important for the adult to show that brushing and flossing can be fun and exciting. If that’s just not how you feel…time to dust off those acting hats!
Using fun toothbrushes and toothpastes
How many children would turn down a teeth brushing party with Spongebob or Elsa? Not many. Buying a cool toothbrush and toothpaste can feel like picking out a present and can make children excited to clean their teeth, at least while the novelty lasts.
Using a musical timer
On average, it is recommended that everyone brushes twice a day for two minutes each time. Using a fun song that lasts around two minutes will help the time to go by quickly and add fun to the routine.
One of the biggest threats to a healthy mouth is sugary and starchy foods. Unfortunately, sugary and starchy foods are just what children crave and are reminded to crave. It is possible and important for parents to instill a love of certain foods in children- the healthy kind of food that doesn’t cause cavities. A great way to do this is by cooking together with healthy ingredients.
Giving rewards for dentist visits
Going to the dentist is not always fun for a child. In fact, it can be quite the ordeal for some. However, the trip can always be made better with a stop at the playground or a favourite treat after.
Help a child to start from the beginning with good oral hygiene habits will save them from problems later on that may be painful or costly. It is a worthy investment of a parent’s time and energy, and can become fun times that turn into sweet memories.


The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert because of concerns that 278 illnesses caused by Salmonella Heidelberg are associated with raw chicken products produced by Foster Farms at three facilities in California. FSIS can’t link the illnesses to a specific product and production period.
Raw products from the facilities in question have one of these establishment numbers, either inside a USDA mark of inspection or elsewhere on the package: “P6137”, “P6137A” or “P7632”. The products were mainly distributed to retail outlets in California, Oregon, and Washington State.
The 278 ill persons live in 18 states; most live in California. The outbreak is continuing. Illnesses were linked to Foster Farms brand chicken through epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback investigations conducted by local, state, and federal authorities.
The USDA reminds consumers that package cooking instructions and special handling are necessary for raw meat and poultry. The product must reach a temperature of 165 degrees F, verified by a food thermometer. Do not rely on cooking time; always use a thermometer. Cross-contamination is another concern with raw poultry. Always wash hands before and after handling raw meat, and wash counters, the sink, and utensils after they have been in contact with uncooked meat.
The symptoms of a Salmonella infection include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever within eight to 72 hours of exposure. Additional symptoms may be chills, headache, nausea, and vomiting. Symptoms can last up to a week. Salmonella infections can be life-threatening, especially to those in high risk groups such as small children, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems.


Historians once assumed that the Revolution was just another chapter in the unfolding story of human liberty. This idea was popular during the 19th century.
By the end of that century, a new idea came forth. Historians now began to look at the American Revolution not as an advancement of the idea of liberty, but as a constitutional conflict within the British empire.
Yet another idea was raised in the early 20th century. Historians in the 1920s began to argue that the Revolution resulted mainly from issues of economics and social class.
In your second 2-3 page paper, I want you to tell me what you think caused the colonies to revolt from the control of the British empire. Was the Revolution caused by growing ideas of liberty and freedom, or was it more just an economic and social dispute?
Your papers are due on Tuesday, June 15.


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This primer describes the primary characteristics of a note or sound. It is not exhaustive. Partly, because life is not long enough. Partly, because there are always exceptions, for example, the Gamelin has very special audio characteristics which are not covered even if we knew what they were - which we don't. Partly, because you (we) would get lost in a mass of detail without getting the overall picture (nifty excuse). Partly, because, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, we don't know what we don't know. Kinda.
When we play a single note, say C4 (middle C on a piano), it has a pitch a.k.a. its fundamental frequency. In the case of C4 this is 262Hz which means it sends out sound waves at this frequency. From observation we know that the same note, say, C4 on a piano and a saxophone sound very different (well, to most of us). We need an explanation.
Turns out the explanation is not trivial. When an instrument is played: we hit something, saw something or blow into something, the physical design characteristics give it all manner of sound properties (this is true of the human voice as well). The sound characteristics of each instrument (or each noise producing device) create what is usually called the intrument's timbre - a sort of catch-all term which encompasses all the individual bits (highly technical term) or elements that collectively make up the instrument's unique sound.
The act of creating the sound creates multiple harmonics and overtones (covered in the next section) and what is called the Amplitude Envelope or in super-tech terms the ADSR (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release) envelope. Such an ADSR envelope for a single note would look something like that shown below:
Each instrument (again, the human voice is an instrument) has a different ADSR Envelope - sustain times may be longer, attack times shorter, etc. - and some instruments, such as the piano, can vary the envelope (by using the sustain pedal) from note to note. Violinists seem to be especially clever at changing the ADSR envelope by doing strange things with their fingers while moving the bow. The important point to note (OK, OK) is that the frequency of the note is constant within the envelope it is the amplitude (kinda related to loudness) that changes. Within this ADSR envelope we seem to be especially sensitive to the attack part (which by the way, in the interests of sanity, is greatly simplified in the above diagram). Finally, it gets worse - much, much worse - each harmonic and overtone also has an ADSR envelope and they do not have the same characteristics even for the same instrument. Oh, stop the pain.
Harmonics: When we play a single note, say, C4 (middle C on a piano) it has a pitch (a.k.a fundamental frequency). In the case of C4 this is 262Hz. But the instrument also generates harmonics or secondary waves (sometimes erroneously - IOHO - called overtones) which have frequencies at integer multiples, 2 times, 3 times etc. of the fundamental frequency. Thus, the note C4, from any instrument, will generate a fundamental frequency of 262 Hz (also called - confusingly - the first harmonic) and additional harmonics at 524 Hz (2 x 262 - the second harmonic), 786 Hz (3 x 262 - the third harmonic), 1048 Hz (4 x 262 - the 4th harmonic) etc. essentially forever but each - generally, but not universally - getting weaker. Each harmonic also has a ADSR (Amplitude) envelope. The physical design characteristics of the instrument (including the human's vocal chords) control the number and amplitude of the harmonics. (Further, instruments can generate strong and weak harmonics unrelated to their order, thus in a particular instrument the 3rd harmonic may be weak but the 4th strong.) To illustrate harmonic production with specific examples, the clarinet due to its physical design suppresses even-numbered harmonics, whereas a saxophone does not, even though both are reed based instruments. Harmonics are always at or higher than the Fundamental Frequency.
Overtones: Overtones are additional sound waves created by the design of the instrument and are defined generically as any (including non-integer) multiples of the fundamental frequency thus, for example, they could be at 1.3 or 7.4 times the fundamental frequency. For string instruments (piano, guitar, violin etc.) and long thin instruments the first few harmonic and overtones do coincide and then start to diverge at higher values. Bells are the most notorious since apparently the harmonics and overtones never coincide. Each overtone also has a ADSR (Amplitude) envelope. Harmonics have an integer relationship with the fundamental and are always pleasing (or harmonious) to the ear whereas overtones because they may have a non-integer relationship (though can coincide with the harmonics as noted) may have an unpleasant, or dissonant, effect. Harmonics are almost always good, overtones are not always good. Overtones are always higher than the Fundamental Frequency.
Some documentation uses the term overtone as if it were synonymous with harmonic. We find this confusing since a harmonic has a integer raltionship with the Fundamental Frequency whereas an overtone may, or may not, have an integer relationship. In cases where the term overtone is used to include integer relationships it is differentiated by using the composite, and in our view clumsy, term Harmonic Overtone.
Undertone: A note below the Fundamental Frequency, having a numeric (integer or non-integer) relationship. Special playing techniques typically have to used to generate undertones. They do not occur naturally on most instruments. (The pipe organ is one of the exceptions).
Partials: The term Partial is applied to everything - fundamental tone, harmonics, overtones - everything - since individually they are only a part of the complete musical note. Thus, one could say that a musical note is composed of all its partials.
Counting: When we count harmonics the fundamental frequency = 1st harmonic, then at twicee the fundamental frequency we have the 2nd harmonic etc., etc.. When counting overtones we do not count the fundamental frequency thus, where and overtone and a harmonic coincide the 2nd harmonic = 1st overtone, the 3rd harmonic = 2nd overtone etc. The first partial is the fundamental, the second partial is the 2nd harmonic (which may also be the 1st overtone) etc. All very simple really.
Timbre: We know from observation that, say, C4 from a soprano and a piano sound significantly different - they each have a different timbre (feel). In general, the timbre (or difference in tone quality) comes from the presence and loudness (amplitude) of harmonics and overtones and the ADSR envelope. The vibrational characteristics of each sound producer (instrument, voice etc.) are different and not all will generate harmonics (or overtones) at the same amplitude or with the same ADSR (Amplitude) envelope.
Sound Reproduction: When an instrument plays a note its physical characteristics will determine the number and amplitude of the harmonics and overtones. When that note is recorded all reference to the original properties of the instrument are lost. We do not record a saxophone playing C4, we record the sounds that a saxophone makes playing C4. A subtle but possibly important difference. Thus, when the sound is played back the harmonics and overtones captured by the recording become essentially fundamentals which may generate new harmonics and overtones with the characteristics, not of the original sound producer (instrument), but of the playback system.
Health Warning: The terms harmonic, overtone and partial are used with wildly varying degrees of precision in digital audio and general audio literature. For instance, you will frequently see harmonics described as overtones, including by otherwise very knowledgeable authors, which, IOHO, is at best confusing and almost always incorrect since as we have seen only for certain instrument types do they coincide and then typically only at lower harmonics. Finally, you will see the term partial applied to a harmonic which is strictly correct but usually imprecise and normally not terribly edifying. But it probably and regrettably achieves its subliminal goal of confusion for the poor reader and underlines the deity-like knowledge of the writer.
Sound is normally measured in decibels (dB). This is widely used but relatively meaningless as a term since the dB is simply the ratio of two values and as such is, of itself, dimension-less. It needs qualification to mean something. In acoustics what is written as dB normally means dB(SPL) where SPL is the Sound Pressure Level. Simply put SPL means the pressure that is measured at the listener's ears. In the real world this is a positive number so a dB(SPL) of 50-55 would be the typical ambient noise level in a normal office (which does not include ours which frequently appears to approach jet take-off noise levels). In the digital world db(SPL) would normally be a negative value with 0dB being the point at which distortion would typically occur after it has been put through a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) and then amplified for output on a loudspeaker system.
So dB (or more correctly dB(SPL)) is the measure of loudness, right?
Not exactly. First, loudness is a subjective measure. If you spent your adolescent years in noisy discos or clubs you may find the sound of a jet fighter taking off under full-power 10 meters away to be a vague rumble, whereas someone who grew up in the arctic circle may find the sound of a New Yorker's normal speech level to be approaching the pain threshold. Second, it turns out that we humans are jolly clever and have evolved a hearing system that is more sensitive to sounds in certain frequencies than in others. In general, we are more sensitive to sound in the range 400Hz to 5KHz with particular sensitivity in the range 2 - 4KHz. This variable sensitivity could be, speculatively, attributed to the sound of danger or other potentially unpleasant circumstances. It would be reasonable to speculate over the long span of history we would have become especially sensitive to, say, the sound of a bear crashing though the woods towards us. While we are in the realm of pure speculation it may also we worth observing that most men seem relatively insensitive to the sound of a baby crying at 4am (frequencies unknown) whereas most women are not. Although this phenomenon may be more related to a higher order function than simple hearing.
The human sensitivity to frequencies - and their perceived level of loudness - are described by a series of Fletcher-Munson curves (after the guys who developed them) and is measured in phons as shown below:
The graph shows that for a given level of loudness, say 40 phons, then at a frequency of around 3KHz the sound would only have to be around 32-33 dB(SPL) whereas to appear equally loud at a frequency of 20Hz it would have to be over 90 dB(SPL). A variety of equalization algorithms have been developed to process recorded material taking this perception phenomenon (generically known as physcoacoustics) into account - A-Weighting, B-Weighting and C-Weighting being the most common. Indeed if such an algorithm has been applied to compensate (or equalize) you will sometimes see the dB values written as dB(A) or dB(B) or dB(C) depending an the applied algorithm.
We have have made various comments throughout this and other pages that allude to hearing range such as "unless you spend time in noisy clubs". These comments are not entirely frivolous. Exposure to noise can cause damage to hearing. Various health and safety jurisdictions have regulations concerning timed exposure to noise levels in order to reduce the risk of hearing impairment. In general, the table below shows the maximum time that humans can be exposed to certain sound levels before running the risk of hearing damage.
|Max. Exposure Time
|Typical club is ~96dB(A)
|Extreme club is ~104dB(A)
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Which Joe gave his name to ‘sloppy joes’? We look at five interesting sandwiches and their lexical origins.
A family of eminent Kenyan archaeologists and anthropologists. Louis (Seymour Bazett) (1903–72) pioneered the investigation of human origins in East Africa. He began excavations at Olduvai Gorge and together with Mary discovered the remains of early hominids and their implements, including "Australopithecus or Zinjanthropus boisei" in 1959. His British-born wife Mary (Douglas) (1913–96) discovered "Homo habilis" and "Homo erectus" at Olduvai in 1960. Their son Richard (Erskine) (born 1944) was director of the Kenya Wildlife Service 1989–94.
We take a look at several popular, though confusing, punctuation marks.
From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, discover surprising and intriguing language facts from around the globe.
The definitions of ‘buddy’ and ‘bro’ in the OED have recently been revised. We explore their history and increase in popularity.


Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) is a process used to extract oil and gas by high-pressure fracturing of rock or shale. Exposure to respirable crystalline silica is a major hazard in this industry. Massive amounts of sand are used in the process, and silica exposure is a constant issue.
NIOSH has identified silica exposure as the single biggest health issue in hydraulic fracturing. Their research also demonstrated that silica levels on these sites are so high that standard respirators are not sufficient for protection. With a 2018 deadline for hydraulic fracturing sites to comply with new OSHA limits for silica exposure, new tactics for silica dust control are needed.
SILICA IN THE HYDRAULIC FRACTURING PROCESS
The hydraulic fracking industry uses huge amounts of sand (silica). Most grains are 2 mm or smaller in size. By some estimates, the average site requires somewhere between 1 and 7 million pounds of sand over its lifetime.
After high-pressure water and chemicals are pumped into the rocks to create fractures, the spaces must be filled with sand to keep them open and allow oil and gas to flow. So much sand is used in this industry that mining and production of “frac sand” has become a major industry of its own.
AREAS OF HIGH SILICA EXPOSURE
Massive amounts of silica move around a hydraulic fracturing site. NIOSH has identified several points in the silica moving process that create the largest amount of silica dust. These areas are:
- Open hatches on sand movers
- Through side ports on sand movers during refilling
- Depositing sand onto transfer belts
- Sand moving on transfer belts between movers, hoppers, and blenders
- Blender hoppers that mix sand
- Accumulated dust stirred up by vehicles driving around the site
NIOSH strongly recommends that engineering controls be put in place to control silica exposure at these points. They emphasize that the silica exposure at these points in the process is so heavy that respirators do not provide enough protection.
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING SILICA EXPOSURE; CONTROLLING DUST ON SITE
In some situations, newer equipment has been designed to minimize silica dust release. In other situations, older equipment can be modified or rebuilt to these designs.
For many companies, especially with the industry still recovering from the severe drop in oil prices several years ago, these expensive modifications aren’t reasonable.
Another option is to install dust collectors directly on the equipment. A collector specially designed for hydraulic fracturing equipment can be fitted on sand movers, transfer belts, and blenders. With these systems installed, the amount of silica dust released is much lower.
Controlling silica release at these points of capture can decrease silica exposure all over the site. With less silica dust escaping, the overall amount of fugitive silica dust around the site is more manageable. This helps with the amount of dust raised by vehicles or wind all over the site.


STARTALK: Distance and Blended Learning
Description: The development of effective systems of Distance and Blended Learning is essential to make longer sequences of critical languages widely available to US students, government and military personnel. Although the STARTALK programs, initiated through the National Security Language Initiative, offer summer programs to many K-12 students, there are no opportunities for these students to continue their language studies throughout the school year. This research project is developing a “Best of Breed” Blended learning course in Chinese. This course will serve as a model for other STARTALK Program Directors for how high-quality, effective, blended learning programs should be developed and implemented to allow students to maintain or increase their language skills during the school year.
- Characteristics of an Effective DL/BL Language Learning Program
- Concept Proposal for “Best of Breed” first-year DL/BL course in Chinese
- Implementation of “Best of Breed” concept proposal for first-year DL/BL course in Chinese
- Test Plan for “Best of Breed” first-year DL/BL course in Chinese


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Date of Graduation
Master of Science (MS)
Department of Integrated Science and Technology
Agricultural/Forestal Districts (AFDs) are rural conservation zones reserved for the production of agricultural products and function to protect agricultural and forestal lands as important natural resources. These districts are formed voluntarily by Virginia landowners and provide a number of important benefits to the landowners and surrounding communities. From a stewardship and administration standpoint, it would benefit both landowners and administrators to determine areas needing improvement within the AFD program. Also, it would be beneficial to these same parties to determine optimal methods for promoting the program to landowners who are not currently AFD members. The evaluation and understanding of these two topics could lead to an increased number of protected agricultural acres in the future as a result of implemented program improvements and improved program promotion. Gaining landowner perspective is the key to making these needed program adjustments. To capture and analyze this perspective, a mailed survey approved by the James Madison University Institutional Review Board was distributed as part of this study. The landowner feedback was used to address the two topics of interest previously mentioned. The survey responses were analyzed and summarized using a descriptive statistics approach. Due to low response rate, no statistical conclusions were drawn from the survey feedback. According to the survey responses received, AFD landowners see the conservation aspect as being the number one program benefit and most did not see the program as having any drawbacks. Word of mouth and scheduled meetings were the top two suggestions for raising program awareness. This study found that the AFD program lacks sufficient incentive to encourage landowner participation. Also, AFDs pale in comparison to the benefits perpetual conservation easements offer landowners who are financially driven. Subjective conclusions and recommendations originated from both quantitative survey response findings and qualitative data gathered from both human and text based resources. The program needs to improve its incentives before it can really focus on promotion. AFDs seem to appeal to landowners who are interested in formal land conservation, but do not want the permanent restrictions of conservation easements.
Driver, Martin, "Agricultural/forestal districts: Surveying AFD landowners in Augusta County and the city of Staunton to determine areas for program improvement and program promotion strategies" (2013). Masters Theses, 2010-2019. 191.


With cars in short supply, trading the villages was no small task. Often ethnic Azerbaijani villagers would drive to Kerkenj in the same borrowed car that had brought the Kerkenj villagers to Armenia, some villagers say.
In the case of Sonia Vardanyan’s family, a young man from Kerkenj who already had moved to Armenia drove back into Azerbaijan, “and, at 2 am, we left the village,” she says.
The time was chosen for security reasons. Similarly, rather than crossing Azerbaijan’s administrative border with Armenia, the migrants traveled north to Georgia from the western Azerbaijani region of Qazakh and then south to their new village.
“We were the last ones to leave that village [Kerkenj] and things were a lot worse already,” Vardanyan says. “We could hardly find a car and our luggage was already here.”
When the villagers moved to Qizil Shafaq, they had wanted to rename the village after their village in Azerbaijan. The reasons why Dzyunashogh was chosen are unclear.
Opinions were divided about the move. The climate in the mountains of northern Armenia were much colder than in Kerkenj, and cattle, potatoes and grain, rather than the vineyards that the villagers had lovingly cultivated in Azerbaijan, were the source of income.
Sonia Vardanyan remembers that the village already had fields planted with potatoes, barley and wheat when the Kerkenj villagers arrived from Azerbaijan.
“People would work here, and whoever could milk a cow, would do that. I would work in the barns in winter and in summer I would herd the cattle up into the mountains.”
Today, the 27 families who still live here mostly sell milk to earn money. Only eight of these families are natives of Kerkenj.


A Brief Introduction of About Gujarat
Gujarat is situated in western India. The state was formed on 1st May 1960. The state has given birth to two legends, Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. Gandhinagar is the capital of Gujarat. The largest city in the state is Ahmedabad. The world's first seaport is Lothal. The state has 33 districts. The state is the 5th largest state in the nation. The state has banned the supply of liquor.
The Gujarat name was derived from the Gurjara tribe, who ruled for the 5th-6th centuries.
In 1960, Maharashtra and Gujarat separated from the former Bombay state on linguistic lines.
Fairs and festivals
The festivals and fairs of the state have uniqueness and specialty. Although, every day is a festival for the people of Gujarat. The popular festivals and fairs are Navratri, Rann Utsav, Modhera Dance Festival, Bhadra Purnima Fair, Bhavnath Mahadev Fair, Vautha Mela Fair, Kite Festival, Makar Sankranti, Ravechi Fair, much more.
The state covers an area of 196,030 km² of the Western Coast. The state becomes dry and mild in the winter season, and in the summer season, the state becomes hot and dry. The state shares its boundary with – Madhya Pradesh on the east side), The Arabian Sea and Pakistani Sindh (on the northwest side), Maharashtra (on the southeast side), Rajasthan (on the northeast side), and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (in the south).
Gujarat has a 60,439,62 population, including 28,948,432 females and 31,491,260 males as per the 2011 census. Gujarat consisted of different groups of communities. The state has 89% of the Hinduism religion.
Gujarat is a blend of different religions like Jainism, Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism. The most famous women's attire is Chaniya-Choli. The handicraft products of the state such as furniture, jewelry, baked clay articles, embroidered garments, metalwork, mirror work, and leatherwork are well known all over the world.
The legitimate language of the state is Gujarati. 86% of the population speaks Gujarati. Hindi is the additional language of the state.
Gujarat houses some prestigious educational institutions IIM in Ahmedabad and NLU in Gandhinagar. The literacy rate of Gujarat is 78.03%, while 69.6% female literacy rate and 85.75% male literacy rate.
The state is rich in historical culture, heritage, and tradition. The places to visit in Gujarat are Somnath, Junagadh, Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park, Rani ka Vav, Bhuj, Dwarkadhish Temple of Lord Krishna, Gir National Park, and so on.
Dances and music
The dances and music of the state are the main attraction to the tourists such as Garba, Garbi, Dandiya Raas, and Padhar are the most popular dance forms and Sugam Sangeet is the folk music of Gujarat.
The Gujarati cuisine is vegetarian and its Gujarat thali consists of dal, khichdi, Bhakhari, and Thepla. The taste of Gujarati food is sweet, salty, and spicy. Chhash ( buttermilk) is a must for Gujarati.
All District of Gujarat
Although the state of Ahmednagar was created in 1818, the mod..
Although the state of Ahmednagar was created from 1818, the m..
Amreli District is named after the town of Amreli, which is a..


To use materials effectively, their composition, degree of perfection, physical and mechanical characteristics, and microstructure must be accurately determined. This concise encyclopledia covers the wide range of characterization techniques necessary to achieve this.
Articles included are not only concerned with the characterization techniques of specific materials such as polymers, metals, ceramics and semiconductors but also techniques which can be applied to materials in general.
The techniques described cover bulk methods, and also a number of specific methods to study the topography and composition of surface and near-surface regions. These techniques range from the well-established and traditional to the very latest including: atomic force microscopy; confocal optical microscopy; gamma ray diffractometry; thermal wave imaging; x-ray diffraction and time-resolved techniques.
This unique concise encyclopedia comprises 116 articles by leading experts in the field from around the world to create the ideal guide for materials scientists, chemists and engineers involved with any aspect of materials characterization. With over 540 illustrations, extensive cross-referencing, approximately 900 references, and a detailed index, this concise encyclopedia will be a valuable asset to any materials science collection.
To view this DRM protected ebook on your desktop or laptop you will need to have Adobe Digital Editions installed. It is a free software. We also strongly recommend that you sign up for an AdobeID at the Adobe website. For more details please see FAQ 1&2. To view this ebook on an iPhone, iPad or Android mobile device you will need the Adobe Digital Editions app, or BlueFire Reader or Txtr app. These are free, too. For more details see this article.
|Size: ||238.7 MB|
|Date published: || 2013|
|ISBN: ||9781483287515 (DRM-PDF)|
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Nurturing the Seed
Many people play a role in supporting Indigenous infants, children and families in their life journeys. This resource is intended help nurturing guides to use Indigenous ways of knowing and doing to respectfully engage with and support Indigenous families by creating respectful and effective Developmental Support Plans. Nurturing the Seed is a resource that can help practitioners to recognize and honor differing worldviews and create a platform to share valuable knowledge specifically relating to promoting infant mental health.
The Hand in Hand Developmental Support Planning Model (DSP) provides individualized plans which are developed by helping professionals for families to monitor and support the growth of a child in key areas of child development, namely: communication, problem-solving, personal-social, gross motor and fine motor, based on western theories of child development.
As the Hand in Hand model began to be used in communities, Infant Mental Health Promotion (IMHP) became more actively engaged with Indigenous stakeholders and families. We learned that while the purpose and intent of Hand in Hand align with the beliefs and needs of Indigenous stakeholders and families, if we really wanted to in order to respectfully engage them and support their children in culturally safe ways, we needed more culturally relevant information and tools.
During many discussions with Indigenous advisors and community members, we began to explore, redefine and then create a bridge between Indigenous practices and Western practices within this resource. While no “manual” could fully capture the spirit and traditions of all indigenous peoples, we hope to offer some insight and honour some common traditional practice.
Two integral guiding principles to support the overall process of creating Developmental Support Plans with Indigenous families are:
- to build strong and respectful relationships; and
- to support development using an Indigenous lens (see pg. 28).
Our hope is that the knowledge, guidance and strategies offered in this manual will help to ensure the process of working with Indigenous infants, children and families is carried out in ways that respect the realities, teachings and rights of Indigenous people.


Impact Is Slight for Early States Using ‘Growth’
"Growth models” are being held out as a better way to hold schools accountable than the method the No Child Left Behind Act uses now. But in an experiment with such models, they don’t appear to be making a big difference in the proportion of schools meeting annual goals under the federal law, an analysis by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center concludes.
Six of the nine states participating in the U.S. Department of Education’s growth-model pilot project provided information to the EPE Research Center detailing the number of schools making adequate yearly progress, or AYP, under the growth model. Under a growth model, states measure individual students’ progress instead of comparing test scores of a cohort of students against those of students in the same grade during the previous year.
In most cases in the pilot states, only a small percentage of schools made AYP using the growth model alone. Most schools that made AYP under the growth model also hit the law’s achievement targets under the standard accountability model used in most of those states.
Accountability experts and state education officials attribute the relatively small impact of growth models in part to the stringent structure that the Education Department has established for states participating in the pilot project.
“The department has pretty tough rules on what qualifies for growth models … to make sure that this wasn’t just a free ride for schools,” said Eric A. Hanushek, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, based at Stanford University, who has advised the department on the issue.
The growth models in the pilot program must follow a set of “bright line” principles under the pilot project. For instance, the accountability plans must adhere to the NCLB law’s target that all students be achieving at the proficient level on state tests by the end of the 2013-14 school year. Like standard state accountability plans approved under the law, also referred to as “status models,” acceptable growth models must hold schools accountable for the performance of subgroups of students, such as racial and ethnic minorities or students with disabilities.
State officials and accountability experts point out that many states use statistical techniques in their status models to ensure that schools aren’t improperly labeled as not making AYP. Such techniques are generally barred under growth models. That distinction may help explain why some schools made AYP under the status model, but not under a growth model, and why the use of growth models benefited so few schools in some of the pilot states.
Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, and North Carolina all submitted information for the EPE Research Center’s analysis. Arkansas and Tennessee are also participating in the pilot project, but did not provide data to the research center in time for the analysis. Ohio has also been selected for the pilot project, but it must tweak its accountability plan before it can employ the growth model.
Statistical techniques used in status models include what are called confidence intervals, which permit a school, or a subgroup, to make AYP even if it misses its target, as long as its performance falls within a band set around that target, similar to the margin of error in polling data. States also employ “safe harbor” provisions, which were included in the law; those provisions allow schools credit for making adequate progress as long as more students maintained or moved up to proficiency in the current school year than in the previous one.
The Education Department does not permit states to use those techniques with their growth models, so many schools are still labeled as not making adequate progress.
“The rules are limiting the potential benefits of growth models, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction,” said Pete Goldschmidt, an assistant professor of education at California State University- Northridge.
For instance, Alaska applied its growth model both to schools that made AYP under the traditional status model and to those that did not. No school in the state made AYP under the growth model that did not qualify under the status model.
In fact, 150 schools made AYP under the original status model, but would not have under the growth model alone.
Les Morse, the director of assessments and accountability for the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, attributed those results in part to the state’s use of confidence intervals and the safe-harbor provision. He said the state at first sought to include those techniques in its growth model, but the federal Education Department rejected the proposal.
Even though growth models haven’t changed the label of many schools, officials in participating states say they are learning from taking part in the pilot.
Growth models provide “instructionally valuable” information for schools to “really get them to think about where [an individual] kid should be next year,” Mr. Morse said.“We didn’t have that kind of information until this growth model moved us to produce it.”
Growth models also enable states to recognize teachers and schools that deal effectively with students at various levels of proficiency, said Thomas E. Deeter, a lead accountability consultant for the Iowa Department of Education.
The analysis by the EPE Research Center, which is affiliated with Education Week, shows that growth models made a more dramatic difference in some states than in others. North Carolina applied a growth model only to schools that did not make adequate yearly progress under the status model. Just 12 schools made AYP under the growth model that would not have made it under the status model, or about 1 percent of all 1,052 schools in the state that made AYP.
By contrast, about 14 percent of the schools that made AYP in Florida made it under the growth model but not the status model. Like North Carolina, Florida applied the growth model only to schools that did not initially make AYP under the status model.
Mr. Hanushek of the Hoover Institution suggested that the use of a growth model might have made more of a difference in Florida than in North Carolina because more students are already at the proficient level under North Carolina’s standards. Florida’s standards, he said, are generally more closely aligned with the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the federal program known as “the nation’s report card,” and so are more rigorous.
“That has an influence,” Mr. Hanushek said.
Florida officials said they hadn’t studied North Carolina’s accountability plan or standards closely enough to say whether they agree with that conclusion. They pointed out that growth in achievement was already a factor in Florida’s accountability system, so schools were paying close attention to individual students’ progress even before the growthmodel pilot.
“We were actually quite pleased with the impact we saw with [the growth model],”said Juan Copa, the bureau chief for evaluation and reporting at the Florida Department of Education.
Vol. 27, Issue 16, Pages 24-25
- School Principal
- BLSYW, Baltimore, MD
- Director, Professional Development Curriculum Design & Development
- Northwest Evaluation Association, Portland, OR
- Online Career Fair - Clark County School District
- Clark County School District, Las Vegas, NV
- Middle School Teachers - $125K Salary
- The Equity Project (TEP) Charter School, New York, NY
- Alphonsus Academy & Center for the Arts, Chicago, IL


There’s new evidence that excessive screen time early in life can change the circuits in a growing brain.
Scientists disagree, though, about whether those changes are helpful, or just cause problems. Both views emerged during the Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego this week.
More screen time wires a brain to deal with overstimulation better. When that happens, will the schools be able to adapt? There is anecdotal evidence now that teachers are having problems providing enough stimulation in the classroom to keep the students involved, and now these teachers have some evidence to back up why it is happening. The article reminds me of another article, Why You Need Boredom, Distraction, and Procrastination in Your Life. Can children raised with a lot of screen time deal with boredom effectively?


Between 2007 and 2009 Ze'ev served as a senior policy adviser at the U.S. Department of Education.
Paul Gross has done a fabulous job for Fordham distilling the essence of the recently published NRC Science Framework. His review deals with the Framework’s content and rigor, as well as with its clarity and specificity.
Gross generally likes what he sees of the former, and wisely observes that any good science program is an artful compromise between what is included and what is not. The Framework also uses another device to clearly limit its expectations--the Boundary Statements that “make explicit what is not expected of students at a given level.” Gross recognizes that such limitations amount to a matter of choice and illustrates it with the statement from the end of the 6-8 band:
Boundary Statement. In this grade band, the forces and structures within atoms and their role in the forces between atoms are not introduced—nor are the periodic table and the variety of types of chemical bonds.
Gross spends some time discussing the implication of such limits** and, ultimately, concludes “that is a matter of professional (scientific and educational) opinion, and choices must be made.” Choices, indeed, must be made, yet this particular example of the Boundary Statement, one of only three examples in the Framework, raises quite a different issue. Expectations for the 6-8 band include students knowing that
“[a]ll substances are made from some 100 different types of atoms, which combine with one another in various ways. Atoms form molecules that range in size from two to thousands of atoms. … [S]tudents should be able to distinguish between an atom and a molecule and the roles they play in the various states of matter. … Using evidence collected and analyzed from their own investigations, evidence from outside sources,… students confirm a model that matter consists of atoms in motion … Students can connect this particle model of matter to observations and present arguments based on it to defend the following claims: all substances are made from approximately 100 different types of atoms [etc.]”
It seems that the Framework’s authors want students to know a whole lot about atoms, elements, and molecules; yet they decided to deprive them of the most powerful mental organizing tool invented—the periodic table of elements.
Perhaps excluding forces and structures within atoms makes sense, yet excluding the periodic table is akin to expecting students to memorize multiplication facts without teaching them about the decimal place-value system or about the multiplication table. This is not a simple matter of choice; it’s a matter the Framework authors did not think clearly through. Gross nicely states that a “good framework proposes reasonable limitations and undertakes to justify them” and he finds the Framework quite good on science content and rigor. However, the Framework is deficient in its expectations of doing quantitative science, and for using analytical mathematics in support of science learning, as I have addressed elsewhere.
Beyond content in traditional domains of science, Gross finds much of the rest of the Framework less convincing. He questions the Framework’s treatment of engaging in scientific inquiry as distinct from studying science facts. As he dryly notes, the evidence for being able to separate the two “is thin to nonexistent in modern cognitive psychology.” He pointedly questions the wisdom of the Framework citing discredited post-modernist literature when discussing how science works, and he finally turns to perhaps the most significant change in this Framework, the addition of engineering.
Being an engineer myself, I found his critique scathing and on target. He observes that with the limited hours available for science, the addition of engineering seems counterproductive. He wonders whether it is driven by political motivations and finds the enthusiasm for it irrational. Perhaps his most telling question is “Why not medicine then?” In my experience students, with few exceptions, are ill prepared to tackle engineering topics in K-12. Their mathematical knowledge is too limited, and this Framework’s conspicuous math avoidance just makes it less probable that students will learn much beyond engineering appreciation. Teaching engineering in K-12 seems no more than fashionable nonsense. As with all other work-related skills that our schools sometimes attempt to teach, the employers’ pleas are quite clear: Teach students how to read and write well, and how to understand basics of math and science; we will do the job training itself, thank you. (I am discussing engineering in general education here, not dedicated vocational and technical programs.)
But perhaps it is worthwhile to cite here the overarching goal of the new Framework:
The overarching goal of our framework for K-12 science education is to ensure that by the end of 12th grade, all students have some appreciation of the beauty and wonder of science; possess sufficient knowledge of science and engineering to engage in public discussions on related issues; are careful consumers of scientific and technological information related to their everyday lives; are able to continue to learn about science outside school; and have the skills to enter careers of their choice, including (but not limited to) careers in science, engineering, and technology.
Is this, really, an overarching goal of a nation that wants to be a technological leader of the world? To have students “appreciate the beauty and wonder” of science, and to be “careful consumers” of science and technology? Where is the actual knowledge of science and of its mathematical tools in this picture?
(This post was also published on the Thomas B. Fordham Institute blog Flypaper)
** The question of appropriateness of such boundary statements is not a trivial matter, or just a matter of making pedagogical choices. This is the first time I have seen a framework that explicitly and consistently tells teachers to put a ceiling on what they ought to teach their students. Until now, frameworks and standards were about what the average student is expected to know or, sometimes, what are the minimum expectations of them. Putting explicit ceiling on learning in the classroom, independent of how strong the class is, seems wrong-headed and deserves a much broader philosophical debate.


The Understanding the Anatomy of the Cardiovascular System learning program is designed as an introduction to the main structural features of the elaborate system that delivers oxygen and nutrients to the body’s tissues.
This program begins with a description of the heart, including its chambers, muscles, valves, and blood vessels. It then explores the structure of the different types of blood vessels that transport blood throughout the body, including arteries, veins, and capillaries. Finally, the program systematically reviews the major arteries and veins that service each main section of the human body.
Upon completion of this learning program, you will be able to::
Summarize the roles of the components of the cardiovascular system.