E-fuels: Power of the Future
How can greenhouse gases in transport be sustainably reduced? The automotive industry is focusing on e-mobility, but it will take time for e-vehicles to establish themselves on the market. Experts agree that only with a bundle of measures will it be possible to meet the CO2 reduction targets set. Synthetic fuels, produced from renewable electricity, so called e-fuels, play an important role, according to the National Platform Future of Mobility (NPM) in its latest report by the alternative drive systems and fuels for sustainable mobility work group. They can be made available using existing infrastructure, improve the CO2 balance of fleets and could enable CO2-neutral mobility if fossil fuels are substituted.
In light of the European Union’s new climate targets, 2020 is a year of truth – for the first time, the strict 95 gram CO2 guideline value applies. Which OEM meets or violates the emission standard can now be measured in practice. According to experts, the ongoing electrification of fleets and the resulting increase in electricity demand makes it all the more important to accelerate the change in energy policy and switch to renewable energies.
E-fuels offer an important opportunity to reduce CO2 emissions in existing fleets without vehicle conversions while retaining the current infrastructure, thus, making mobility less dependent on fossil fuels in the future. They are currently still in the pilot and development phase, not least because their production using PtX (power-to-x) processes is still very cost and energy-intensive.
To produce e-fuels sustainably, water is broken down into its core components oxygen and hydrogen using regeneratively produced electricity. In a multi-stage process, the latter reacts with CO2 taken from the air to form the basic product from which synthetic, electricity-based fuels can be obtained.
«Synthetic fuels are versatile and can make a valuable contribution towards reducing the CO2 emissions of the existing fleet […]»
— Vehicle drive systems business consulting manager at consulting4drive
E-fuels based on hydrogen
Hydrogen can be refined with CO2 to gaseous methane or liquid methanol or synthetic gasoline and diesel fuels including kerosene (power-to-liquid). During combustion in the engine, the amount of CO2 is emitted that was previously added to the e-fuels. If the greenhouse gas is taken from non-fossil sources such as the air, for example, combustion is climate-neutral.
E-fuels can be distributed via the established network of filling stations and pipelines and, thanks to their high energy density, can be transported inexpensively over long distances. They are suitable not only for passenger cars and public transport, but above all for use in air, sea and heavy goods transport, where electrification is not practicable from today’s perspective.
“Synthetic fuels are versatile and can make a valuable contribution towards reducing the CO2 emissions of the existing fleet, which, due to an average holding period of almost ten years, also plays a significant role in our CO2 emissions in the medium term”, says Dr. Ralf Tröger, vehicle drive systems business consulting manager at consulting4drive, IAV’s management consultancy.
German energy agency sees important role for e-fuels
The EU’s goal of reducing passenger car emissions by 37.5 percent by 2030 (based on the average target of 95 g CO2/km in 2020) already makes it necessary to build up PtX capacities according to the German energy agency (dena).
“We assume that power fuels, including H2, will gradually gain market share and will and must play a major role beyond 2030”, says Stefan Siegemund, Head of Sustainable Mobility and Alternative Energy Sources at dena. “Under the known framework conditions, it is not foreseeable that it will be possible to do without liquid synthetic fuels even with a rapid and successful ramp-up of fully electric mobility.”
However, legislative changes are required to increase the potential of e-fuels. As long as the EU sticks to a tank-to-wheel approach for CO2 fleet emission targets, companies will lack the incentive to invest in infrastructure and production. In vehicle operation, engines running on PtX fuels do indeed emit CO2, even if this was previously extracted from the air. However, if the CO2 absorbed during fuel production were to be taken into account in legislation (well-to-wheel), this could promote investment in the long term.
In principle, e-fuels could be blended with fossil fuels in any quantity with restrictions, as long as the energy source ultimately complies with the relevant European fuel standard (EN 590 for diesel and EN 228 for gasoline). However, industrial production of e-fuels is not taking place, among other reasons because of the relevant but missing EU requirements for the use of green electricity, lack of political support and high production costs.
In its report from June 2020, the NPM calls for the political framework conditions to be set to prepare the production of alternative fuels on a broad scale. In order to enable market launch and ramp-up, the German government should introduce specific use quotas for e-fuels or grant tax incentives, the NPM says.
Production abroad to reduce costs
Due to the increased costs caused by the complicated production process and the lack of support measures, it cannot be assumed that e-fuels will be used in transport in the medium term. In a research report by Prognos AG commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) in March 2020, a sales price of over 4.50 euros per liter of e-fuel is calculated for the year 2030. According to the BMWi, the topic of promotion is still in the testing phase.
However, e-fuels can only be successful if their costs are significantly reduced. Dena estimates that the price per liter would fall to 1–2 euros if e-fuels were produced directly where renewable energy is cheaply generated, e.g. through solar energy in North Africa or wind power in Norway.
This option would be attractive for climate protection. A comprehensive study by IAV colleagues led by Marc Sens, head of advanced powertrain development, on CO2 emissions from the passenger car fleet in Europe based on a life-cycle analysis shows that despite rising new registrations, total emissions fall noticeably if fossil fuels are increasingly mixed with climate-neutral energy sources. See also the info graphics below “Comparison of CO2 emissions over the life cycle”.
“The introduction of CO2-neutral fuels as a substitute for fossil fuels or as a blending in rates of up to a maximum of 30 percent after 2030 shows by far the greatest leverage on the life cycle CO2 equivalent”, says Sens. “Despite the high energy consumption associated with this, this technology should therefore not be abandoned.” In order to implement a blending quota of 30 percent, however, considerably more legislative support is needed than before.
What is clear is that we need solutions that already effectively reduce CO2 emissions, because even by 2050 there will still be market segments and application scenarios in which internal combustion engines are indispensable. However, these must then be operated as cleanly and efficiently as possible – with e-fuels, for example.
The article was published in automotion 02/2020, the automotive engineering magazine of IAV. Here you can order the automotion free of charge.


The Public Health Programs at the Wadsworth Center protect the health of New Yorkers through rapid and accurate identification of genetic diseases, infectious agents and environmental threats. Health is promoted by these programs through the development of new, more sensitive and rapid diagnostic tests.
The Public Health Programs work with many other institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). For example, the Bloodborne Virus Laboratory participates in the STARHS (serologic testing algorithm for recent HIV seroconversion) Program as well as the CDC’s HIV Incidence Surveillance Program. The Inorganic Analytical Chemistry Laboratory performs biomonitoring of chemical threat agents and is a Level 1 Laboratory for the Laboratory Response Network (LRN)-C. The Infectious Disease Laboratories comprise one of ten laboratories in the CDC’s Emerging Infections Program for surveillance and improvement of capacity.
The Public Health Programs serve as a resource in many ways, from educating other laboratorians and students to providing a fungal culture collection repository of several thousand specimens for instance.


We hear the word transparency frequently nowadays.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, one of the definitions of transparency is “characterized by visibility or accessibility of information, especially concerning business practices.”
Expanding on this, financial transparency typically means making information as accessible as possible.
And, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it refers to “timely, meaningful and reliable disclosures about a company’s performance.”
The word transparency is also heard much more often today in the professional cleaning industry, specifically when discussing cleaning chemicals.
For instance, a few years ago, Stephen Ashkin — long known as the “father of green cleaning” in the professional cleaning industry — predicted that we would see “greater transparency about the ingredients used in cleaning chemicals, including green cleaning chemicals, in years to come.”
This prediction is now coming to pass.
Ashkin believes that this is the result of end customers insisting that manufacturers disclose more information about the ingredients in their cleaning products.
Says Ashkin, “End users want to better understand all the environmental, safety and health characteristics of products before they select them.”
Interestingly, this demand for greater transparency is now expanding throughout the industry as purchasers demand accurate information regarding not only cleaning chemicals, but also when it comes to cleaning equipment of all kinds.
Today’s cleaning professionals want to know exactly how effective equipment will be — whether the machinery in question is a vacuum cleaner, carpet extractor or other system — and how it stacks up against comparable systems before they make their purchasing decisions.
This has long been true for vacuum cleaners.
Now cleaning professionals are demanding greater transparency from the manufacturers of carpet extractors as well.
Of all the machines used for professional cleaning, vacuum cleaners have offered the most transparency from manufacturers and retailers.
There are a number of terms used to describe a vacuum cleaner’s effectiveness, all designed to help the end-customer select the machine that will best meet their specific needs.
Some of the most important include:
Airflow. This term refers to the amount of air that moves though a vacuum cleaner when it is operated. It is usually expressed in cubic feet per minute, or CFMs.
This is one of the most important criteria for determining a vacuum cleaner’s performance and is closely associated with another term, suction, which is defined below.
In most situations, the more airflow a machine has, the more efficient it will be.
CFM. As mentioned above, this acronym for cubic feet per minute is a measurement of the rate of airflow in a vacuum cleaner.
Power. This is a very broad term andcan relate to several different metrics, including the amount of electrical voltage required to operate a vacuum, the wattage power of a vacuum’s motor, its suction power and/or the electrical voltage needed to operate a vacuum.
Suction. This is the actual pulling power of a machine. It refers to a vacuum cleaner’s ability to efficiently remove soils lodged in carpet fibers.
Water Lift. When discussing vacuum cleaners, water lift measures the strength produced by a vacuum’s suction motor. Suction gauges are calibrated in terms of inches of water lift. This is equivalent to taking a vertical tube, placing the bottom in a container of water, attaching the vacuum hose at the top and measuring how high above the water surface the water in the tube rises.
Watts. Watts are a measure of the flow of electric current. Like the term amp, watts are often used to indicate the power of a vacuum cleaner’s motor.
Most manufacturers of professional vacuum cleaners now use these and many other terms to describe the efficiency of their products. But this terminology can be confusing.
For instance, CFM, airflow and water lift are often misunderstood or believed to mean about the same thing.
Wattage and suction are also confused.
Wattage, according to most experts, simply tells how much power a motor has at its disposable, not how efficiently it will suck soils and debris from floors.
That’s what suction is all about.
The situation can get even more confusing when terms coined to describe vacuum cleaners are applied to carpet extractors.
For this reason, airwatt technology is a new term that has appeared in the carpet care industry. Essentially, some of the above metrics are grouped together under a single term with the goal of helping purchasers decipher terminology regarding extractor performance.
Carpet extractor manufacturers have mainly focused on two metrics to define their products’ effectiveness: CFM, also known as airflow, and water lift.
In this context, water lift refers to the suction power of the machine when extracting moisture, chemicals and soils from carpet fibers.
Airwatt technology actually combines these two metrics.
The result is that the higher a machine’s rating is, the better the machine’s performance for extracting moisture from carpet.
In the end, manufacturers developing an inclusive term should allow cleaning professionals to better understand the capabilities of their machinery using just a single metric.
The goal is to end the confusion that can be caused by using a variety of terms, to help end-customers make wiser purchasing decisions and to add greater transparency for purchasers evaluating carpet extractors.
Erick Hickman has nearly 30 years of experience in the professional cleaning industry. He is a product manager at Powr-Flite, a leading manufacturer of professional cleaning equipment. He may be reached at his company’s website, www.Powr-Flite.com.


The Gospel of Luke (GoLuke) has about 19,400 Greek words. Acts of the Apostles (Acts) has about 18,400 Greek words. That is a grand total of about 37,800 words, one-fourth of the entire New Testament. There are more words in Luke/Acts than in all the letters of Paul combined (about 32,300). Luke/Acts has been called a Greco-Roman romance novel. It is also very, very favorable and sensitive to women. So sensitive that it might have even been written by a woman, but that is speculation. No one actually knows who wrote Luke/Acts. It is anonymously written and was not associated with “Luke the physician” until the middle of the second century CE. Scholars agree that whoever wrote Luke also wrote Acts. They debate whether the two were originally one written document and later separated, or whether they were written individually by the same person, but it is not out of line to call them Luke/Acts.
Now how would one prove that Luke/Acts is historical fiction? It’s actually quite easy; just decide if the author is writing historical accounts of events described or if he/she was not writing historical accounts of the events described. In other words, was he/she remembering or was he/she creating?
One can easily compare GoLuke with the other Gospels of the New Testament and discrepancies can be found from the beginning all the way through to the end. For instance, one can compare the Birth Narratives from GoLuke and GoMatthew, the only two New Testament Gospels to include birth narratives, and plainly see that these are not two versions of the same story at all, but in fact, two completely different stories altogether. It’s easy, just read the two accounts at GoMatthew 1:18-2:23 and GoLuke 2:1-40, write down the events as they happen, then compare the two lists. Simple, I highly recommend doing that if one is interested. A few more examples include:
Ancestry of Jesus: GoMatthew 1:2-16 and GoLuke 3:23-38
Criminals on the Cross: GoMatthew 27:38-40 and GoLuke 23:39-43
Easter Experience: GoMatthew 28:1-15 and GoLuke 24:1-11
Post-Resurrection Experience: GoMatthew 28:16-20 and GoLuke 24:33-54
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the unknown author of GoLuke is creating fiction. GoMatthew might have the information wrong and the information in GoLuke might be true, or they may both be false, but they can not both be true. It is the Principle of Non-Contradiction. Without corroborative evidence, a conclusive decision can not be made. So what we need is some type of evidence, something first-hand that we can use to compare against Luke/Acts. We just happen to have that very thing. The writings of Paul.
It should first be noted that Acts even disagrees with itself at times. For instance, Paul’s fictional conversion experience, never once mentioned by Paul, is mentioned three times in Acts. In one version the bystanders remain standing (9:7) and in another they fell down (26:14). In one version they bystanders hear a voice but see nothing (9:7) and in another they see a light and hear nothing (22:9).
Nearly two-thirds of Acts focuses on or around Paul. Paul is “the hero” of the Acts part of Luke/Acts. Several times Acts and Paul relay the same events. We can use these comparisons to see what Paul says about himself and what Acts says about Paul and clearly see that the author of Acts is writing fiction, not relaying history. It’s simple. If the two stories jibe, then we have corroboration, but if they do not then we must once again apply the Principle of Non-Contradiction. One or the other might be true, or they might both be false, but logically both can not be true. Then we just have to decide if we should believe what a man said about himself in his own words, written during his own lifetime around the middle of the first century CE, or whether we should believe what an unknown author says, writing 30+ years later, who betrays no knowledge of Paul’s letters, and, well, sometimes gets just wacky. For instance, Acts 5:15 tells how people were healed in the street by simply having Peter’s shadow fall on them as he walked past.
So let’s have a look by using a few specific examples with which we can compare Paul on Paul against Acts on Paul. I’ll be quoting from the International Standard Version. It should be fun.
Was Paul known by sight to the churches in Judea?
“They threw him out of the city and began to stone him (Stephen) to death. Meanwhile, the witnesses >laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. <”
“Now Saul heartily approved of putting him to death. That day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all of them, except for the apostles, were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. Devout men buried Stephen as they mourned loudly for him. But >Saul kept trying to destroy the church. Going into one house after another, he began dragging off men and women and throwing them in prison.< “
“I persecuted this Way even to the death and kept tying up both men and women and putting them in prison, as >the high priest and the whole Council of elders can testify< about me.. “
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia but >raised in this city< and >educated at the feet of Gamaliel< in the strict ways of our ancestral law.
What does Paul say?
“But >I was unknown by sight to the churches of Christ in Judea<. The only thing they kept hearing was this: “The man who used to persecute us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy!””
If Paul had been a student of the renowned Gamaliel, had been present at the stoning of Stephen, had gone throughout Judea dragging people out of their homes and throwing them in prison, claims that Paul never makes in his own writings, why would he say that he was unknown by sight in Judea?
Why would Luke/Acts create this fiction? Could it perhaps be to show the continuity between the earlier Jewish believers and the contemporary Pagan believers?
Who was out to get Paul in Damascus?
After several days had gone by, the Jews plotted to murder him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were even watching the gates day and night to murder him, but his disciples took him one night and let him down through the wall by lowering him in a basket.
In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas put guards around the city of Damascus to catch me, but I was let down in a basket through an opening in the wall and escaped from his hands.
2 Corinthians 11:32-33
According to Acts, “the Jews plotted to murder him”, “They were even watching the gates day and night to murder him.” According to Paul, “the governor under King Aretas put guards around the city of Damascus to catch me” but Paul “escaped from his hands.”
How many trips did the converted Paul make to Jerusalem?
“When he arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they all were afraid of him because they wouldn’t believe he was a disciple.”
“When Barnabas and Saul had fulfilled their mission, they returned to Jerusalem, bringing with them John who was also called Mark.”
“When they (now Paul and Barnabas not Barnabas and Saul) arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported everything that God had done through them.”
“When he (Paul) arrived in Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem, greeted the church, and then returned to Antioch.”
“When we arrived in Jerusalem (Paul was part of the group), the brothers welcomed us warmly.”
What does Paul say?
“Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and I stayed with him for fifteen days.”
“Then fourteen years later I again went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus with me.”
“Right now, however, I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints.”
We have no record of Paul ever completing that last journey. He simply seems to disappear from the historical record after The Epistle to the Romans.
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop? Acts has Paul return to Jerusalem regularly to “check in” with the authority. Paul made it clear in his own writings that he WAS the authority, he didn’t need to check in with anyone.
After his conversion, does Paul go directly to Jerusalem?
“For several days he stayed with the disciples in Damascus. He immediately started to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “This is the Son of God.” All who heard him were astonished and said, “This is the man who harassed those who called on his name in Jerusalem, isn’t it? Didn’t he come here to bring them in chains to the high priests?” But Saul grew more and more powerful and continued to confound the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this man was the Christ. After several days had gone by, the Jews plotted to murder him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were even watching the gates day and night to murder him, but his disciples took him one night and let him down through the wall by lowering him in a basket. When he arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they all were afraid of him because they wouldn’t believe he was a disciple. Barnabas, however, took him and presented him to the apostles, telling them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how courageously he had spoken in the name of Jesus in Damascus. So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking courageously in the name of the Lord. He kept talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews, but they were bent on murdering him. When the brothers found out about it, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.”
“But when God, who set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me so that I might proclaim him among the gentiles, I did not confer with another human being at any time, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me. Instead, I went away to Arabia and then came back to Damascus. Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. But I did not see any other apostle except James, the Lord’s brother. (I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.)”
What does Acts say?
For “several days he stayed with the disciples in Damascus”, “he arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples”, “went in and out among them in Jerusalem”, then the church “sent him away to Tarsus”.
What does Paul say?
Not just no, but HELL no. He even swears to it.
“I did not confer with another human being at any time, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me. Instead, I went away to Arabia and then came back to Damascus. Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem”. “I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.”
Luke/Acts is creating fiction, not relaying history. He/she was creating a foundational document for a specific set of believers, just like GoMark did, just like GoMatthew did, just like GoJohn did, just like GoThomas did and just like many other members of many other religious organizations have done, and continue to do trying to portray the significance of their own specific sect of their religion. Today we call it mythology.


In many parts of the country twilight still paints the sky at 9:30 and 10:00 o’clock. And yep, the calendar still says “August.” But a new school year is right around the corner, and with it, an early to bed and early to rise routine that summer-minded kids may strenuously resist. Making this big transition in small steps, helps.
Good rest can play a big role in academic performance. Fusion Sleep, an independent medical practice devoted to sleep medicine, last year blogged that “According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a lack of sleep can hinder a student’s ability to stay alert at school, leading to a decline in academic performance and a decrease in grade point averages.” A University of Michigan article noted that it’s true even for traditionally sleep-deprived young adults, saying that “the amount of sleep that a college student gets is one of the strongest predictors of academic success.”
It’s a similar story for the K-12 set. A post titled “Transition Your Kid’s Bedtime for Back to School” at sleep.org says that “Even just 25 minutes of less sleep per night can lead to lower grades, and insufficient rest has also been linked to fatigue and concentration problems in kids.”
But kids who have become used to staying up and sleeping in definitely need transition vs. full immersion into a new routine. The National Sleep Foundation offers “Back to School Sleep Tips,” that include beginning the new/old schedule about two weeks before school starts and not changing it back on the weekends, as well as limiting TV, video games, and “other electronic distractions” before bedtime. The article notes that “The sooner your child readjusts to a school-time sleep-schedule, the better he or she will feel…”
Lisa Meltzer, an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at National Jewish Health and an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado School Of Medicine, has written for sleep.org about summertime sleep patterns and their reversal. She advises moving “both the bedtime and wake time 15 minutes earlier every 2-3 nights until the desired sleep schedule is reach.”
While it’s easy to assume that those kids have gotten extra sleep over the summer, the exact opposite may be the case. Another sleep.org post, “The Summer (Sleep) Slide,” by Heather Turgeon, says, “Rather than spend the summer catching up on sleep, kids can accumulate sleep debt that affects their health, mood, and ability to learn.” She suggests that similar to the summer slide in academic learning, a sleep slide is a real thing. Turgeon notes that “Preschoolers need 11 – 13 hours of sleep and school age kids need 10.5 – 12 hours.”
Besides phasing in new routines, what can help with bringing on sleepy? For younger kids, bedtime stories with mom and dad remain a great way to share quality time, create precious memories, and help kids wind down. The Start to Read! Series offers lots of short, charming options. With little ones bath time is usually right before bedtime and music can de-stress both routines. Find full MP3 albums to download that go along with some of the Start to Read! Books as well as individual songs that help teach and reinforce readiness skills and make learning fun.
Reading quietly can also be a good option for older kids, tweens, and teens. To avoid pre-bedtime exposure to the “blue light” of electronic screens that increasing evidence suggests may interfere with sleep, introduce them to some of the classics such as Pollyanna, Great Expectations, and Beauty and the Beast and the literal idea of a page-turner with actual paper pages!
Good stories, good music, and good rest, combined with a little planning, can contribute to a great new school year.


In June this year, a group of school students in Kashmir were corralled into the sprawling, granite-overlaid lawns of the mausoleum of Shaykh Nur-ud-Din in the central Kashmir district of Budgam. Dressed in uniforms, the students quickly settled on their individual mats as they repositioned into various asanas or postures as part of observing the ‘International Day of Yoga’ organised by the Army. Of course, the event was part of a series of similar gatherings that have proliferated over the past four years, each one lending itself to manufacture a certain political impression about the region.
Nur-ud-Din was a hermit-mystic of 14th-century Kashmir. His rise as the famous Rishi whose poetic utterances and ascetic lifestyle resonated with a society in flux, turned him into a spiritual touchstone for the region’s people at a time when Kashmir was breaking away from its Hindu past and anchoring itself into new religious philosophy.
Nund Rishi, as Nur-ud-Din is also called, was born in 1378 AD to a tribe of shepherds in what is today the Kulgam district of south Kashmir. He travelled to different parts of Kashmir as his Rishi movement, with its emphasis on monism and austerity, gained large adherence and brought more and more people into the fold of Islam.
‘Hagiopolitics of repression’
The decision to hold an event commemorating yoga at Nund Rishi’s shrine in June did not go down well with large segments of the public in Kashmir, where anxieties over the permanence of cultural and religious peculiarities of the region have been simmering over the last few years.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government, which directly governs Kashmir, has faced questions over political crackdown, censorship, lack of democracy and everything else that we know but cannot utter. This has begged a question — can the ideological basis behind such a political programme have (or deserve to have) any overlap with the pacifist philosophy that Nund Rishi espoused? A number of commentators on social media have appeared to suggest that it can.
This is what scholar Dean Accardi has termed as the “hagiopolitics of repression” that relies on harnessing the legacies of medieval cultural and religious icons to rationalise distinctly modern, often undemocratic, political ends. Indeed, one of the responses to the opposition to the yoga event was the argument that Nund Rishi was a ‘yogi’ himself — invoking the Hindu connotation of the term — and would not have objected to such an exercise.
The facts surrounding Nund Rishi’s life and his legacy are deeply contested. For example, while scholars assert that his Rishi movement was instrumental in popularising Islam, they also admit that Nund Rishi’s poetry (as opposed to his hagiographies) did not demonstrate any passion towards evangelism. If affirmation of the creed of Islam reverberates distinctly through his poetry, what also seeps through is the echo of Tantric Shaivism and Mahayana Buddhism.
A new book, Nund Rishi: Poetry and Politics in Medieval Kashmir by Abir Bazaz, thus serves to unknot some of these complexities that define Nur-ud-Din’s oeuvre.
Nund Rishi’s birth is timed with a very crucial moment, when the newly coronated Muslim sultans of Kashmir welcomed an inbound stream of Sufi mystics, many of whom were fleeing the political turmoil occasioned by Timur’s military campaigns against the Ilkhanid Mongol state in Persia. They were looking for newer sources of patronage. Some of them, like Mir Sayyid Ali, brought new ideas and perspectives about Islam to the region that was culturally rooted in Hindu mores.
These interactions became the basis for new conversions and set the stage for a gradual religious reordering in Kashmir. Sayyid Ali was attached to the Kubrawi monastic code that originated in Iran. But there were other Sufi Orders also, like Suhrawardi, Nurbakshi, Qadri and Naqshbandi, that became vehicles for the spread of Islam.
But as Bazaz correctly points out, their activities (barring the Suhrawardi Order) were centred around the royal court in Srinagar, leaving out vast swaths of the Kashmir region for an indigenous new Islamic Order to sweep through. Nund Rishi became the pioneer of this movement, and the principal instrument through which he reached a large audience was not his claim to knowledge of complex Islamic theology, but a mystical form of poetry called shruks.
The synthesis of different cultures
His recourse to these ways, that were more aligned with the pre-Islamic cultural traditions of Kashmir, catalysed tensions (at least initially) between him and the Central Asian Sufis who had a more orthodox approach to Islam.
Yet shruks were exactly what struck a chord with Kashmiris because of their orality and intelligibility with the larger public. They spoke to the anxieties of people in a state of disquiet. The shruks became an arena where the Kashmiri vernacular pivoted away from Sanskrit, and bared itself open to influences from Persian. The shruks is where the Islamic and Sanskritic concepts were fused together to generate a common grammar of religion.
In poems like ‘He Alone is A True Muslim’, the concepts invoked to hash out the attributes of an ideal Muslim are Sanskritic. Nur-ud-Din uses the terms like krodha (anger), moh (attachment) and ahankar (pride) to define vices that a perfect Muslim should stay away from. In ‘My nafs is like a mad elephant’, Nund Rishi likens an Arabic term for self, mostly given to mean ego, to the angry elephant featured in the parables associated with Buddha.
The historic rivalry with Central Asian Sufis
Among the major themes in Rishi poetry is the criticism of mullas, or clergy. But these weren’t necessarily stemming from religious differences. As Bazaz writes, such criticisms “reveal a tension between the settler Sufis and (native) Kashmiri Rishis”.
Rishis’ aversion to theological knowledge was a critique of its capacity to reproduce and reinforce social hierarchies. He also criticises the caste system for the same reasons. And Nund Rishi is hardly an outlier in articulating these apprehensions.
The trope of inauthentic mulla in Islamic mystical poetry predates Nund Rishi, and naturally also outstays him, well into the 20th century. The poetry of Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938), for what it’s worth, is redolent of such themes. Bazaz observes that these criticisms “must be situated in the intellectual history of Sufism itself, which developed with a view of corruption at the heart of Muslim political centers, and the concomitant idea that a reversal could be effected from the periphery”.
To counter the Kubrawis, who often furnished exalted genealogies linking them to Prophet’s family members or his successors, Nund Rishi invoked Uways Kurani, a Yemeni Sufi who had claimed direct initiation at the hands of Prophet Muhammad. In forging a direct spiritual connection with Uways, who hadiths refer to as having accepted Islam without being conversant with its tenets, Nur-ud-Din elevates the idea of inward piety over the ceremonial observance of the religion. Does this mean that Nur-ud-Din was pitting himself against Islamic Shari’ah?
Far from it, his shruks likened Shari’ah with embankments without which a river would lose its direction. He used a different term sahaja “as a way of translating the political universalism of Islam into the Kashmiri vernacular at a time when the Persian Sufis in Kashmir articulated a Sufi metaphysics inaccessible and alien to the local population,” Bazaz writes. By doing so, he did not undermine Islam but increased its translatability to make allowances for forms of asceticism that descended from Buddhism and Hinduism.
“The legend of Uways clearly suggests the possibility of an Islam beyond doctrine and universal in its appeal,” Bazaz writes. “It opens up Islam to the political demands of the subaltern and makes the question of lineage (race, caste, class, or ethnicity) irrelevant to living and experiencing Islam.” It is this experience of religion that Bazaz refers to as ‘Negative theology’.
This philosophy of Nund Rishi is reflected in his poems that are centred around the idea of death. These death-suffused shruks evoke a horrifying picture of human demise which he contrasts with sanguine descriptions of life in the hereafter. It is poems like these that have made death a centrepiece of everyday Kashmiri vocabulary – marun chunne yaadie (don’t you remember dying?)
The role of Suhrawardi Sufis
Coming back to “hagiopolitics of repression” involving Nund Rishi: The reason for his widespread fame wasn’t because he recycled the older yogic traditions by articulating them in Islamic idiom. As scholar Muhammad Ishaq Khan has noted, Nur-ud-Din’s “movement stood in radical contrast to the pre-Islamic concept of a mystics’s role in a society. The Rishis who lived in Kashmir long before the advent of Islam lived in obscurity as ascetics. The yogi philosophers of Kashmir Saivism as Vasugupta, Somananda, and Abhinavagupta did not have an appreciable influence on the masses.”
It is rather a more peculiar combination of various elements that made Nund Rishi a great emblem of Islam in Kashmir with which people could imagine a spiritual connection. His schtick lay in his poems that his followers used varied methods to reach the masses with. One of his poems Gongal-nama is very illustrative in this case. In the poem, Nund Rishi likens the people who toil the land as the “chosen people of God.” The poem draws on the daily lives of peasant classes of Kashmir and elevates practices associated with farming to the status of religious rituals. Small wonder then that the majority of Kashmiris threw their weight behind his Order.
It is for this reason that Nund Rishi’s philosophy fired the imagination of Suhrawardi Sufis who became the influential vectors of his shruks. The small band of disciples of Hamza Raina, a popular 15th-century abbot of the Suhrawardi monastery on Koh-i-Maran hill in Srinagar, were among the first to compose hagiographic accounts praising Rishis.
Baba Dawud Khaki, a prominent disciple of Raina, invoked Persian literature (from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh to Hafez Shirazi’s poetry) to justify Rishi practices such as vegetarianism, celibacy, and non-injury to animals. Others like Baba Nasibuddin Ghazi utilised dancers, bhands and acrobats, dambael maet to disseminate the poetry of Nund Rishi to the wider audience across Kashmir.
We later also find that Suhrawardis became intermediaries connecting Kubrawis, the former rivals, with the Rishi Order. Writing in the 19th century, Sir Walter Lawrence, a British officer in Kashmir mentions a procession taking place between the Kubrawi mosque of Khanqah-e-Moula in Srinagar and Nund Rishi’s shrine in Budgam.
What also shines out in Nur-ud-Din’s hagiographies is the important roles he is said to have given women that stand in sharp relief to the popular narratives about Islam. One account speaks of two Persian speaking sisters who were among the disciples of Nur-ud-Din and would do the talking on his behalf to the visiting dignitaries. In another account, a courtesan — who was sent to entice Nur-ud-Din only to get admonished by the saint into the state of repentance — was initiated into the Order and eventually made a mujawir (caretaker) of a shrine.
It is when stories emphasising on altruism, social concern and equality of human beings reached a variegated audience across the region that Islam gained widespread acceptability in Kashmir. Bazaz’s book may not recount some of these stories but it does a good job of decoding Nund Rishi’s shruks and helps us understand better how his legacy became an enduring mediator between different cultural paradigms in Kashmir.


In response to Pakistan’s faltering economy, the World Bank has authorised $200 million to promote agricultural growth in the Punjab province. The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank has recently authorised $200 million in financing to help Pakistan change its agricultural sector by implementing climate-smart technology to raise small farmers’ incomes, increase water usage efficiency, and strengthen resilience to extreme weather events.
According to the press release from World Bank, Punjab’s agricultural sector, which produces 73% of all the food produced in Pakistan, is essential to the nation’s economy and food security.
Through effective and fair access to water for small farms, the Punjab Resilient and Inclusive Agriculture Transformation Project (PRIAT) will raise agricultural production. Further, it will aid farmers in Punjab’s community and household levels in using climate-smart agricultural techniques and technology that would increase crop yields and preserve water resources.
PRIAT will assist farmers in implementing climate-smart technology
In order to help the Punjab government attain economies of scale and modernise the agriculture industry, PRIAT will assist farmers in implementing cutting-edge, climate-smart technology, the release stated.
In addition to this, Najy Benhassine, the World Bank’s Country Director for Pakistan, stated, “In recent years Pakistan’s agriculture sector has suffered from losses in crop yields and livestock, damage to irrigation infrastructure, and food shortages due to climate change, particularly severe droughts in the Punjab province,” as per the release. He further added that this initiative which is in line with the Punjab Agriculture Policy 2018, encourages a significant increase in water conservation measures, improving sustainability and resilience in the face of climate change, and enlisting the aid of the private sector to increase the productivity of the sector.
Furthermore, approximately 190,000 small, family-run farms, as well as 1.4 million acres of irrigated land in rural areas in the province, would benefit from the initiative. Additionally, it will teach small- and medium-sized farm owners, especially women, about water conservation and more environmentally friendly, climate-resilient agricultural methods. In the province, 74% of the women depend on agriculture for their income.
World Bank approved funds for Pakistan’s primary health care
Besides this, in the month of June, $258 million has been allocated by the World Bank to strengthen Pakistan’s primary health care institutions and step up the nation’s efforts to achieve universal health coverage. According to a statement released by the World Bank, “The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved $258 million for the National Health Support Program (NHSP) to strengthen primary health care systems and to accelerate national efforts towards universal health coverage in Pakistan.”
The World Bank further stated in a statement that the initiative complements continuing investments in human capital and focuses on health reforms that aim to enhance quality and equitable access to healthcare services, especially in areas falling behind national and regional-level health outcomes.


Roughly ten months after World War II had started, in the early hours of June 25th, 1940 two armistices came into effect at the same time. The first one and historically more relevant is the one signed on June 22nd in the forest of Compiègne near Paris between Germany and France, at the same location where the Germans had agreed to stop the fighting in 1918. The second involved Italy and France and was finalized on June 24th in Rome.
Previously, Italy and Germany had signed the Pact of Steel on May 22nd, 1939. Known formally as the Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy, it obliged both parties to aid the other country militarily, economically or otherwise in the event of war, and to collaborate in wartime production. But when Germany invaded Poland on September 1st, 1939, the Italians weren’t ready to fulfil their obligations. In spring 1940, little had changed.
Nevertheless, Italian leader Benito Mussolini wanted to benefit from his official partnership with Adolf Hitler as soon as possible, especially after German troops had brought the French down to their knees in less than a month during the Battle of France in May and June 1940. Fearing that the conflict would end before Italy had achieved any of its imperial aims in the Mediterranean, on June 10th it declared war against France and Great Britain.
However, with 32 divisions available at their Alpine frontier with France, the Italians delayed their actual attack until June 21st. Meanwhile, the new French government under aged Word War I hero Marshall Philippe Petain had already sent an armistice request through the Vatican on June 17th. Unable to break through in the north, Italy was a little more successful on the Mediterranean coast. Although despite fierce resistance total losses remained low, the invaders suffered about fifteen times as many casualties as the defenders (640/40). They merely occupied an area of 832 square kilometers with just 28,500 inhabitants. It contained Menton, a seaside town of 21,700 residents.
Italian Foreign Minister Gian Galeazzo Ciano wrote in his diary about the ridiculous demands some of his staff suggested: the entire French fleet, all off its colonies, all locomotives available in France as well as the world-famous Mona Lisa painting from the Louvre Museum in Paris. At the end, relatively little demands were made, also because a large-style occupation would bind too many soldiers and time was too short, as the Germans were already waiting.
The armistice established a modest demilitarized zone 50 kilometers deep on the French side of the common border, from which its troops had to be evacuated in ten days, identical with what the Italians had conquered up to the end of the hostilities. Italy retained the right to interfere in French territory as far as the Rhône, but it did not occupy this area, and the island of Corsica, until after the Allied invasion of North Africa on November 8th, 1942.
In addition, in two weeks’ time demilitarized zones had to established in the French colonies in Africa which bordered the Italian colony of Libya. Equally affected were the naval bases of Toulon on the French Riviera, Ajaccio on the island of Corsica as well as Bizerte in present-day Tunisia and Oran in what is now Algeria in French North Africa.
In addition, Italy was granted the right to use the port of Djibouti in French Somaliland with all its equipment, along with the French railway section between Djibouti and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. All in all, that still seems like a good deal for just three days of war…
P.D.: To oversee strict French compliance, the Italian Commission for Armistice with France (Commissione Italiana d’Armistizio con la Francia, CIAF) was established in Turin.


Elizabeth has spent her career studying cereal crops and their wild relatives in the grass family, plants on which all of civilization depends. Her unique contribution has been to forge connections between scientists in the front lines of biodiversity research and those breaking new ground in genetic and genomic studies.
The Kellogg lab's work identifies deep similarities among plants as apparently disparate as rice, wheat, maize, and the other cereals. Because similarity and difference are two sides of the same coin, in the process they have also discovered genes that contribute to the diversity of the great cereals of the world.
Grant-supported projects in the Kellogg lab: NSF-IOS 1557633 Collaborative Research: Genetic Comparisons of Abscission Zones in Grasses A collaboration with Andrew Doust and Julie Angle, Oklahoma State University
At the dawn of agriculture, our ancestors harvested wild grains and began replanting them year after year. This process rapidly led to selection for grains that stayed on the plant, instead of falling on the ground. Now, 10,000 years later, this capacity to stay on the plant until harvest has obvious economic importance. The change from wild grains that fall and cultivated ones that do not is caused by naturally occurring mutations in a normal (that is wild) process. However, the process of shedding seeds occurs differently in different grains. For example, the details of dropping seeds in wild rice are different from those in wild sorghum or wild millet. This project will discover what natural mutations led to the cultivated grains, and whether the natural process of shedding seeds in rice, sorghum, and millet is genetically similar. Because retaining seeds on the plant is the very basis of agriculture, it is an obvious aspect of plants that can engage students at all education levels. Master teachers and undergraduate education majors at Oklahoma State University will participate actively in the observations and data collection required for the project. US Golf Association Developing phenotypic and genomic tools to study salt tolerance in seashore paspalum A collaboration with Ken Olsen, Washington University, and Ivan Baxter, DDPSC
Plants have a hard time growing in salty soil because the salt interferes with the uptake and movement of water. This project investigates a highly salt tolerant grass, Seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum), which is a turfgrass used for golf courses on salty sites such as coastal dunes. This project aims to determine the genetic basis of salt tolerance in seashore paspalum, using 1) new methods to measure the amount of salt in the plant (“ionomics”), 2) whole-genome sequencing (“genomics”) and 3) wild population samples, which may be even more salt tolerant. Improving turfgrass to handle salt affected soils is a goal of the golf industry, and is also directly relevant to agriculture. The new methods used in this project will make salt tolerance measurements more precise, and this added precision will increase the efficiency of turfgrass breeding and research. Our use of whole genome data will provide genetic tools not commonly seen in breeding programs outside of the world’s staple food crops. The development of more robust turfgrass cultivars that require less fresh water and fewer chemical treatments is a critical step in increasing the environmental sustainability of the golf industry. NSF-DEB 1457748 Evolution of dispersal and pollination in ecologically dominant grasses A collaboration with Christine McAllister, Principia College, and Rémy Pasquet, IRD, France
The tallgrass prairie of North America is an iconic landscape, central to America history. The grasses from which the prairie takes its name are close relatives of those that make up the vast grasslands of eastern Africa. The grasses provide food for livestock and wild animals, and habitat for birds; they also pull carbon from the atmosphere and bury it deep in the ground where it supports beneficial microbes that make the rich soil on which American agriculture depends. This project is a collaboration between research scientists at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri, undergraduates at Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, and colleagues in eastern Africa, and is aimed at unraveling the ways the grasses spread their pollen, how they provide their seeds with carbon, and how the seeds are dispersed across the landscape. This information will tell us how the grasslands will respond in the face of current disturbance such as fire, urbanization, and conversion to farmland, and future disturbances caused by a changing climate. NSF- IOS 1413824 Collaborative Research: The Role of Suppressor of Sessile Spikelet1 (sos1) in Meristem Maintenance and Determinacy A collaboration with Paula McSteen, University of Missouri
The seeds of grasses produce most of the calories that feed the world. Grass seeds are formed in specialized structures (spikelets) that can be produced singly or in pairs. Therefore making spikelets in pairs can double the number of kernels from one plant. Understanding the genes that control paired spikelet formation is therefore of great practical significance as this information could be used to double yield in cereals that produce single spikelets. The identification of the suppressor of sessile spikelet (sos) loci in maize provides a breakthrough into the understanding of the formation of the paired spikelet. Molecular, cellular and developmental approaches will be used to dissect the function of Sos1. Additional molecular and developmental studies of Sos2 and Sos3 will enable the identification of additional genes regulating paired spikelet formation. The Sos loci will enable the dissection of fundamental developmental processes, as well as providing insight into the evolution of grass inflorescence architecture. NSF-IOS 1546882 Research-PGR: Dissecting the genetic networks underlying Kranz anatomy in C4 grasses
Declining yields, increasing population growth and shifting climates are converging to create a perfect storm for agriculture. The looming threats to food security demand transformative innovations in agriculture that will drive the second green revolution. Maize is the most economically important crop in the U.S providing food, feed and bioenergy to the global economy, and is also one of the most photosynthetically productive plants on the planet. This productivity is driven by a process known as C4 photosynthesis, a pathway also used by grasses such as sorghum, sugarcane and Miscanthus. Under hot, dry conditions C4 systems are significantly more productive than C3 crops such as rice and wheat. This project aims to identify the foundational genetic and regulatory networks that control the differentiation of cell types in maize leaves. A major conceptual breakthrough in understanding the development of C4 photosynthesis was the discovery that a cell fate module from the root was co-opted to drive a leaf specific cellular differentiation program. Importantly, this model predicts that only a handful genetic changes could lead to a major reprogramming of leaf cell fates. This project will test this prediction and expand on our understanding of the gene regulatory networks that drive both biochemical and anatomical innovations associated with C4 photosynthesis. The results of these studies will not only provide candidate genes for engineering C4 traits into C3 crops, but also provide novel targets for improvement of existing C4 crops such as maize, sugarcane and sorghum.


3 Classification of Yoga Postures. Classification of Yoga Postures has always been a discussion in yogic culture. Some yoga schools classify yoga postures as STANDING, SITTING, LYING ON BACK & LYING ON STOMACH. While some yoga school will classify as: FORWAD BENDING, BACKWARD BENDING, TWISTING, INVERSIONS, EXTENSIONS & BALANCING.
Here I would like to put the traditional view on classification of Yoga Postures, where there are only 3 categories as below:
- Cultural Postures
- Postures for Relaxation
- Meditative Postures.
CULTURAL POSTURESAll yoga postures that help to stretch the body from various directions/angles are known as cultural postures. By activating specific muscles, ligament, tendons and nerves, the purpose of cultural postures is to release tension from each and every part of our body.
The effects of cultural postures are not limited to the muscles and joints, but they also stimulate our internal organs and helps us regulated the functions of our internal organs. As a result we don't only gain suppleness and strength in our body, but also get enhanced physical wellbeing and a great sense of control.
POSTURES FOR RELAXATIONThe purpose of these postures is to provide rest to the body in between or/and after the practice of cultural postures. Traditionally there are only 2 postures for relaxation: SHAVASANA (The Corpse Pose) & MAKARASANA (Crocodile Posture).
Usually a typical Hatha Yoga session ends with Shavasana, as it provides a complete rest to the body and the yoga practitioner feels more refreshed and energized after the rather feeling tired. In yogic tradition, there is great importance of SHAVASANA as the practice of YOGA NIDRA (physic sleep) is done in SHAVASANA. SHAVASANA is also very therapeutic and it is highly recommended for those who suffer with high blood pressure, insomnia etc.
MAKRASANA (Crocodile Posture) is greatly beneficial for strengthening diaphragm in order to activate diaphragmatic breathing. Proper breathing literally means, living joyfully and live more carefully. Especially in the modern world, where we don't breathe well, there is great importance of MAKARASANA for those who often breathe through chest. We should not forget that (chest breathing produce anxiety and tension within the body). Diaphragmatic breathing is also a great foundation of PRANAYAMA and MEDITATION.
MEDITATIVE POSTURESThe purpose of CULTURAL POSTURES and POSTURES FOR RELAXATION is to prepare the body for meditative posture. Meditative postures provide good stability and comfort to the body in order to sit longer without any physical distractions during meditation. We must not forget that physical stability and comfort, both are complementary to each other.
Stability in the meditative postures brings great comfort and vice versa. Meditative postures helps to keep the back straight by maintaining the natural bends of spine. By keeping the back straight, we allow our diaphragm to move freely and thus there is no blockage in the energy flow during meditation.
One can choose a comfortable meditative posture for meditation, which allows proper blood flow towards lower half body. There are total of 4 MEDITATIVE POSTURES as per tradition are: SUKHASANA, PADMASANA, SIDDHASANA & SWASTIKASANA.
Note: Some traditions do recommend VAJRASANA (thunderbolt pose) as a meditative posture. But, traditionally it is not a meditative posture.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9608049


Everything you need to know about compliance for wireless charging devices
Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) is the technology behind Wireless Charging Bases and Wireless Charging Devices and is changing the way we think about smart products.
Designers everywhere are exploring innovative new applications for the technology, from cell phones to electric vehicles. In the U.S. alone, the WPT market is expected to reach $9.4 billion by 2020, with much of the demand coming from industrial and healthcare related products. Across the globe, the consumer market will continue to drive demand for wireless charging.
Wireless Power Transfer uses magnetic resonance to provide a safe, flexible, and convenient option to electrically charge products.
Product safety considerations are necessary as the basic function of these devices is the wireless transmission of energy between a wireless power source and a receiver, Because the devices are used in close contact to humans, they must adhere to FCC guidelines for RF exposure. Furthermore, since energy is transmitted, EMC compliance for wireless charging devices is crucial.
FCC guidelines for RF exposure
In the US any device intended for wireless power transfer requires FCC guidance for radio frequency exposure review. Low power devices may be exempt; however all equipment, including medical devices, implants, and electric automobiles must be considered on a case-by-case basis.
How to proceed with FCC approvals
In the U.S., product manufacturers must seek guidance from the FCC by submitting a wireless charging application inquiry.
RF Exposure Guidelines in Canada
Canada has a different approach to RF exposure for WPT devices, dividing products and sub-components into three categories, Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3.
- Type 1: Does not transmit any intelligence and does not require certification
- Type 2: Category II Radio - includes modulation on WPT frequency but is certification exempt
- Type 3: Category I Radio - Requires certification
WPT devices must also comply with the Health Canada’s Safety Code 6 for RF exposure. When assessing compliance all transmitters, including those not used for power transfer, must be at maximum power.
If you have questions about RF exposure or EMC compliance for your WPT devices, contact us today.
More from Element
Wireless (Radio) services
We can help with EMC and safety testing and assist manufacturers who want to take their radio and wireless product to the global market.
Commercial EMC Testing
Within our EMC labs, we test thousands of products every year, having one of the largest capacities for electromagnetic testing of commercial and industrial electronic devices.
Product Compliance Services
Element provides one of the widest range of test and support services in the world aimed at getting your product to market and complying with the V&V requirements.
Discover perspectives, resources and advice from our world-leading Engaged Experts.


What Was the Holy Roman Empire?
The Holy Roman Empire existed from 962 to 1806. Otto the Great reunited most of the lands of Charlemagne’s empire, which had been divided and given to Charlemagne’s sons. Otto’s being crowned emperor marked the beginning of a succession of emperors that would continue unbroken for over eight centuries. Otto involved the church in his government, but he tried to limit its power. The church leaders slowly acquired power until they had almost full control over the everyday activities of most citizens. Corruption of the church leaders due to this gain of power, led to the practice of simony, the buying and selling of important positions. One of Otto’s legacies was the rivalry between the church and the state.
The Middle Ages – The Holy Roman Empire
Hi, and welcome to this video on the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages. In this video, we’ll discuss the political and economic influence of the church upon European society and examine the church’s role in education at the time.
First, let’s consider a very brief overview of the rise of the Catholic Church. Initially persecuted by the Roman Empire, Christianity was legalized and eventuality adopted as the Empire’s religion in the fourth century CE. To cut a very long story short, by 600 CE Christianity had spread across Western Europe and parts of North Africa to become the dominant religion. By the 11th century the divisions between the west and east, which had originated in the 395 split of the Roman Empire, grew into a formal break between the churches of Rome and Constantinople. The Great Schism of 1054 saw mutual excommunication between the Pope in Rome and the Patriarch in Constantinople.
The Pope was a fairly peripheral figure in European politics until the 11th century. Much of the early spread of Christianity came from monasteries established across the Roman world. They acted as important, and typically the only, centers of education and literacy in the medieval world. Monasteries would act as propaganda centers, and their favor could give a sense of legitimacy to local rulers. This became a source of conflict between the church and the crown – were church officials loyal to their king or their pope?
Pope Gregory VII wanted to retain the church’s power to appoint officials and maintain independence from secular rulers. This brought Gregory into conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV.
Because much of Henry’s military power came from church-owned lands, the threat by Gregory to excommunicate church officials who supported Henry forced the Emperor to seek terms with the Pope. In the winter of 1077 a tense meeting took place between Gregory and Henry in northern Italy. This became known as the Investiture Controversy, the results of which led to nearly 50 years of German civil war.
Henry’s grip over the German states was greatly weakened and the possibility of a true German empire was postponed until the 19th century. German churches were no longer the intellectual center of Christendom because of the great conflict. The papacy grew enormously in influence but also caused a great deal of tension between other rulers and Rome. Urban II, one of Gregory’s successors, sought to restore unity by calling Christian states together in common cause.
The First Crusade of 1095 was the first of several holy wars sanctioned by the church. The campaign ended with the successful capture of Jerusalem in 1099. Several more crusades would be called over the next few centuries with varying degrees of success and outright failures. The fact that the church could compel leading monarchs of the time to commit vast resources to distant lands demonstrated just how influential the church had become.
That influence reached its peak by the 13th century, dominating many aspects of medieval society. The poorest not only had to give up 10% of their meager income through tithes but were also expected to provide free labor to the church. Further streams of income to the church came from fees for baptism, which was thought to be required for entry into heaven, and fees for performing marriages. Richer members of society could purchase absolution not just for sins committed but for future indulgences as well. On top of that, the churches were not obligated to pay taxes and frequently benefited from land donations from wealthy owners. In fact, as much as a third of the land of medieval Europe was church-owned.
The power and influence of the papacy owed a great deal to the individual diplomatic skill of the pope. Just as the prestige of the papacy could be raised by the ability of one pope, it could be reversed by the poor decisions of another. The decision to call a crusade against the Kingdom of Aragon in 1284, for political rather than religious reasons, led to a disastrous defeat and damaged relations with the Kingdom of France, the venture’s main backers. Pope Boniface VIII inherited a tricky situation upon his election in 1295 which he made worse with some ill-judged moves.
When war broke out between France and England over the province of Gascony in 1294, both kingdoms looked to fund their respective war efforts by any means necessary. Boniface issued a proclamation expressly forbidding the taxation of the church in 1296. The incendiary language drew an unexpectedly strong reaction from the French crown and forced Boniface to back down. When Boniface attempted to reassert papal authority in 1302, he drew an even fiercer reaction from the court of King Philip IV. A series of wild accusations were leveled against the pope and with news of the pope’s intention to excommunicate Philip, agents loyal to the French king kidnapped Boniface. Though the pope was soon released, he died on the way back to Rome.
In 1309 the Papacy moved from Rome to Avignon in Southern France where it would remain until 1376. The popes who followed Boniface were a great deal more compliant towards the Kingdom of France. The election of Urban VI ended the Avignon Papacy but brought about yet another great split in the Church. The Western Schism of 1378 saw some cardinals withdraw back to Avignon to declare another pope. Different kingdoms lined up to support one or the other and the situation became even more farcical with a third “true pope” emerging in 1410. The matter was largely resolved by 1414, but not without doing a great deal of damage to the image of the church and laying the foundations for the Reformation of the sixteenth century.
To review, in this video we provided an overview of the influence of the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages. We looked at how the Church rose in influence following a split with the East in the 11th century and how it dominated the lives of almost everyone in Western Europe.
Let’s look at a couple of review questions:
How did peasants support the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages?
- Free labor
- Paying for religious ceremonies
- All of these
The answer is D). These were all ways that the Roman Church was supported in the Middle Ages by peasants.
The Investiture Controversy was a struggle between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor over which issue?
- Support for the crusades
- Appointment of church officials
- None of these
The answer is C).
Thanks for watching, and happy studying!


Beginning. Or "in the beginning" or "as God was beginning." The beginning of creation. The beginning of our tradition. The beginning of our story. The beginning of our ancestry. How the world came to be what it is.
Names. The names of our ancestors. Their histories and stories. The name of the narrow place where we were held constricted, and the names of those who led us free. Names have meaning. Names tell us who we are.
God Called. God called to us. God calls to us still. Though we've replaced the service of the altar with the service of the heart, God is still speaking. God calls us to ethical behavior. God calls us to love one another.
In the Wilderness. The wilderness is the place where we open ourselves to transformation. The place where we most clearly see God's work in the world. The place where we hear the Voice calling us to covenant.
The Words. These are the words; these are the memories; these are the stories we tell about the journey we've been taking. These are the words of our teachers, spoken in the last moments before their deployment in this incarnation comes to an end.
Beginning. Names. God Called. In the Wilderness. The Words. To me these names evoke an entirely different set of associations than Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
The names we most often use in English come to us via a few levels of translation. A few millennia ago, these books of Torah had colloquial Hebrew names: Ma'aseh B'reshit ("The work of creation"), Yetziat Mitzrayim ("The going-forth from Egypt"), Torat Kohanim ("The laws of the priests"), Pekudim ("Countings / census"), and Mishneh Torah ("The repetition of the Torah"). Those names got translated into Greek, probably when the Torah was translated into Koine Greek in what eventually came to be called by the Latin name Septuagint. (That translation happened sometime around 300 B.C.E.) And then from Greek, the names were translated again into English.
Our English names for these Biblical books, therefore, have echoes of Greek. For instance, the name "Deuteronomy" comes from Deuteronomion, "the second law," which is a translation of mishneh Torah, "the repetition of the Torah," because that book of Torah contains a recapitulation of some of what has been said before. But I don't speak Greek, so deuteronomion doesn't have much meaning for me. I have to pause and translate the English Deuteronomy into the Greek deuteronomion and then translate again from that word to the concept "second law." That name is always at a remove.
And yet those are the names which English-speaking Jews most often use. They're considered to be the standard English names, and we speak English, so it makes sense, right? But in using these names, I think we reinscribe a certain kind of foreignness in our minds and hearts. The fact that many of us know these names better than we know the books' Hebrew names shows the distance between us and the words of our tradition. Our minds have been colonized. The words we use for our tradition are not our own.
For those of us who understand at least some Hebrew, the Hebrew names of the five books are far more resonant than the Greek-inflected English ones. B'reishit / בראשית , Shmot / שמות, Vayikra / ויקרא, Bamidbar / במדבר , Dvarim / דברים -- each of these Hebrew words evokes other related words, cousins to those words, descended from the same word-roots. As Rabbi Marcia Prager has written in The Path of Blessing:
Like leaves and branches growing from a tree trunk, most Hebrew words derive from what is called a root. Just as each leaf must be understood as a part, fed by the roots of the whole tree, individual Hebrew words cannot be fully understood without reference to their whole tree. The root stores all the meanings flowing into each one of the leaves.
(For more on this, check out my review of Rabbi Prager's book -- and consider picking up a copy of her book, which is tremendous.) The word "Deuteronomy" is foreign, but דברים / D'varim -- "The Words" -- now that speaks to me. As a writer, as a poet, as a Jew, I know that words matter. If I think of that last book of Torah as "The Words," something opens up in me. I want to know: which words? Why these words, and not others? What story do the words join forces to tell?
In an ideal world, every Jew would speak enough Hebrew to be able to name the books of the Torah using our tradition's own names, and would understand what those names mean and feel the ripples of the other related words and ideas which those names evoke. But we don't yet live in that ideal world. It's fine to argue that we should be using our own tradition's native names for these books, but for those who don't yet speak much Hebrew, the Hebrew names may feel as foreign as the Greek ones do.
I wonder how the books of the Torah might feel different to English-speakers if we called them by English names which evoke the meaning of their Hebrew names, instead of by English names which evoke Greek words which most of us don't intuitively know.


The innate immune system, that part of the immune system that responds to non-specific signs of pathogen infection, faces a quandary when mounting a response against a pathogen. On one hand, it must limit the replication of the pathogen to prevent spread throughout the body. On the other, it must facilitate the development of a specific adaptive immune response, which can clear the pathogen from the body and lead to immunologic memory. It might seem like both of these are reasonable tasks, but the quandary lies in the fact that the adaptive immune system must be activated by a certain amount of antigen (proteins derived from the pathogen that can be effectively targeted by the immune system) in order to elicit an effective response. Low levels of antigen lead to weak responses, whereas high amounts of antigen induce strong responses. Thus, if the innate immune system does the first part of its job too well and largely prevents virus replication, there will not be enough viral antigen present to stimulate a robust adaptive response. So how does the immune system get around this predicament? A new paper in Nature Immunology by Nadine Honke and her colleagues sheds some light on this question (1).
The major weapons in the innate immune system’s arsenal are small, secreted proteins called interferons. When cells in the body detect a pathogen, they produce interferons, which alert the surrounding cells to the impending danger. These “warning flags” bind to interferon receptors found on the surface of all cells, and induce the expression of a large number of genes, termed interferon stimulated genes (ISGs), which can combat the pathogen through various means. Interferons also initiate mechanisms that facilitate the adaptive immune response, by increasing the presentation of specific antigens to the T cells and B cells that comprise the adaptive immune system. To effectively stimulate T cells, however, requires a sufficient dose of antigen: prior studies have indicated that over 20,000 copies of the antigen are required for an antigen-presenting cell to induce a robust T cell response (2). So, how can the innate immune system effectively prevent the spread of a pathogen while still providing enough “grist” to be presented to naïve T cells? Honke et al began to answer this by examining a particular subset of innate immune cells, metallophilic macrophages.
Macrophages are phagocytic cells, which means that they engulf and digest pathogens and cellular debris that they come into contact with. They play a role in both innate immune processes, through their non-specific destruction of pathogens, and adaptive immune processes, through their ability to activate T cells and B cells. Metallophilic macrophages, a subset of these cells also known as CD169+ macrophages, reside in the lymph nodes and spleen, and filter the blood for antigens. This makes them a good candidate for facilitating adaptive immune activation. Indeed, when the authors depleted these macrophages from mice and then challenged them with vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), the virus remained in the blood stream for longer periods than observed in normal mice, suggesting that these cells efficiently filter the virus from the blood. The macrophage-depleted animals also succumbed to the infection, unlike normal mice, indicating an important role for macrophages in protecting the mice from lethal infection. The authors examined virus replication in wild-type mice and mice that genetically lacked the interferon receptor, and found that, as expected, in the absence of interferon signaling, the virus replicated to high levels throughout the body. In the wild-type mice, however, virus replication was only observed in the spleen, the location of the CD169+ macrophages. When the authors looked for the location of the virus antigen in the spleen, they found replicating virus only in the CD169+ population (see figure). These results suggest that this population of cells fosters virus replication, even in the presence of effective interferon-mediated inhibition of infection in neighboring cells and tissues.
So how can CD169+ macrophages allow virus replication, despite the antiviral effects of interferon? The answer lies in the cellular protein Usp18. This protein is known to suppress interferon signaling (3), and Honke et al showed that it was expressed at high levels in the CD169+ macrophages, but not in other macrophage subsets. Mice that lacked Usp18 exhibited no VSV antigen in the CD169+ population, and much lower titers of VSV in the spleen. Thus, the metallophilic macrophages inure themselves to the antiviral effects of interferon by expressing Usp18, in order to allow robust virus replication!
The next step was to link this phenomenon to the development of the adaptive immune response. Honke et al found that the production of neutralizing antibodies by B cells was significantly diminished following depletion of CD169+ macrophages, and both T cell and B cell responses were attenuated in mice lacking Usp18. No differences were observed between wild-type and Usp18-deficient mice when challenged with inactivated VSV, indicating that replication-competent virus was necessary for this effect. These defects in adaptive immune responses had consequences on the outcome of the infection, as VSV was able to spread and cause a lethal central nervous system infection in the Usp18-deficient animals.
To summarize, interferons function to limit virus replication in most cells in the body. CD169+ macrophages express Usp18 to suppress this response, allowing for compartmentalized virus replication as a means of facilitating a large enough antigen load to adequately prime the adaptive immune response. It certainly seems counterintuitive to allow a virus to replicate at all when the means of suppressing replication are readily available. Nevertheless, this trade-off facilitates an even more effective adaptive immune response, and the subsequent generation of immunologic memory. One outstanding question is whether this subversion of the interferon response is complete, or just targeted toward a handful of ISGs. Many ISGs are not directly anti-viral, but function to increase antigen presentation, and so might not be beneficial to inhibit even in the CD169+ macrophages. The subset of ISGs inhibited by Usp18 expression in these cells remains to be elucidated.
Overall, this manuscript has wide-ranging implications, especially for the development of vaccines. It suggests that “live-attenuated” vaccines, which feature replication-competent pathogens that have been neutered of their disease-causing features, may be a far more efficient means of eliciting a protective immune response than “inactivated” vaccines, which are replication-incompetent. While this is certainly not a novel idea, this paper reveals part of the mechanism behind this phenomenon and perhaps might allow researchers to more efficiently target vaccines to the cell types, such as CD169+ macrophages, that can elicit the most robust immune response.
(1) Honke, N., et al. Enforced viral replication activates adaptive immunity and is essential for the control of a cytopathic virus. Nat. Immunol. 13, 51-57 (2012).
(2) Henrickson, S.E. et al. T cell sensing of antigen dose governs interactive behavior with dendritic cells and sets a threshold for T cell activation. Nat. Immunol. 9, 282–291 (2008).
(3) Ritchie, K.J. et al. Role of ISG15 protease UBP43 (USP18) in innate immunity to viral infection. Nat. Med. 10, 1374–1378 (2004).


A new discovery has revealed that the Vikings may have travelled hundreds of miles further into North America than previously thought.
It's well known that they reached the tip of the continent more than 1,000 years ago, but the full extent of their exploration has remained a mystery, writes historian Dan Snow.
After a long hike across boggy ground and through thick pine forests, clutching pepper spray to protect against bear attacks, Sarah Parcak and her small team of archaeologists stood on an exposed, wind-blasted headland in North America.Stay Connected With Us
Exhausted but happy, they had been led to Point Rosee in Newfoundland by the most high-tech weaponry in the modern archaeological arsenal - satellite data captured 383 miles (600km) above the Earth. But once here they were back to using trowels and brushes. I joined them to see how this powerful combination of new and old allowed them to make what could be a seismic discovery.
We were here on the trail of one of the greatest maritime cultures of all time. We were here inspired by ancient chronicles which many have written off as fairy stories. We were here looking for Vikings.
In about 800AD Britain felt the fury of these men from the north. Portmahomack was one of Scotland's most prosperous and important communities. On a protected bay in Easter Ross, on the edge of the Highlands, it was well placed as a waypoint for merchants, travellers and pilgrims moving along the east coast.
Recent excavations have given us a picture of a wealthy monastery at its heart. Scriptures were copied on to carefully prepared animal skin parchment by monks, skilled craftsmen created beautiful, jewel-encrusted religious ornaments, sculptors carved intricate Celtic crosses. Trade was the source of these riches, the sea brought wealth, but the sea also brought destruction.
Archaeologists have revealed that Portmahomack was suddenly and utterly destroyed. They found smashed fragments of sculptures mingled with the ashes of torched buildings. The settlement was wiped out. It is impossible to be certain but historians now think the most likely explanation is that it was attacked and looted. When I visited, a couple of months before the trip to Point Rosee, I held a piece of skull in my hand, presumably from a monk.
It had been shattered by a mighty blow, the sword's blade left a deep gouge that makes the cause of death clear. Who were these men who slaughtered God's servants and annihilated one of the oldest Christian sites in Britain? Almost certainly they were men who cared nothing for the Christian God, men who came in ships from the north and west, men who sought gold: Vikings.
The attack on Portmahomack is the only Viking raid in Britain for which we have archaeological evidence. Others, such as the attack on Lindisfarne at about the same time, echo only through the reports recorded in chronicles. Together these two violent raids mark the start of an era of attacks from across the North Sea. The Vikings or Norse exploded out of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, using hugely sophisticated navigational skills and shipbuilding technology as they pushed ever further into the wider world.
Vikings conquered Normandy in France - the land of the Northmen - even parts of Italy and the Levant. They also founded Dublin, made deep inroads into England and island-hopped across the North Atlantic. Orkney, Shetland, Fair Isle and Iceland.
They even crossed to Greenland, where I visited stunning Viking sites on the coast, dodging icebergs to get ashore. But perhaps their greatest achievement is the one shrouded in the most mystery. Did they get to North America? If so, was it a fleeting visit or did they colonise that distant coast too, centuries before Christopher Columbus?
The descendants of the Vikings left sagas - beautiful works of literature in which fact and fiction are often poetically intermixed. They clearly state that the intrepid Leif Erikson led an expedition to the east coast of North America. They describe good harbours, and an abundance of natural resources. One of the most fascinating mysteries in history is whether these can be believed.


Author: Gavin Thomas
Farm: Chipping Moss, Leagram Estate, Forest of Bowland, Lancashire
The primary aim was to restore upland in-bye wet grassland for breeding lapwings, redshanks, oystercatchers, snipe and curlews. By managing rush cover and water levels it was also hoped that the quality of pasture available to grazing livestock would also be greatly improved.
The site is tenant farmed with a sheep and beef system. Livestock numbers are reduced in spring to reduce disturbance to ground-nesting birds but at other times of the year sheep (mules) and cattle (mainly Herefords) are essential for creating the sward structure required for the birds and keeping soft rush cover in check.
Regular advice and guidance was provided by the RSPB’s Bowland Wader Project. This included help with securing funding and suitable contractors.
The 44ha of meadows and particularly grazing pasture on site had been under-grazed in the past leading to dominance of soft rush. In 2003, a programme of annual topping, weed wiping of the soft rush, and aftermath cattle grazing was introduced. Stocking densities were increased outside the bird breeding season in particular with hardy, native Hereford beef cattle to help with aftermath grazing and control of rush re-growth.
Drainage ditches were formerly steep sided, choked with vegetation and drained much of the site. These were opened up and re-profiled to provide shallow muddy edges for wading birds to feed on. Construction of earth dams and sluices now allow high water levels to be maintained on parts of the site at certain times of the year to provide shallow flood habitat for wading birds and also wildfowl. ‘Wader scrapes’ – small, shallow-edged features that gradually dry out towards the summer were also created to providing invertebrate-rich, muddy feeding areas for wading bird chicks.
Raising of water levels has allowed areas of mown rush to be flooded and killed off. Clearing ditches, re-profiling their edges and maintaining high ditch water levels has reduced the risk of losing sheep in the ditches. The ditches also provide a source of drinking water for livestock. The ditch management was undertaken by a local contractor and also by an RSPB contractor using the ‘spoil spreader’, a machine that is very quick, efficient and cost-effective. It also removes the necessity to deal with large amounts of spoil as this is spread thinly across the site by the machine.
Public access to the site has been improved by banking up parts of the footpath running across the site. Crossing points for farm machinery and stock have been created across the ditches for the tenant farmer to help with livestock management across wet areas. All work has been undertaken by local contractors and farmers and funded by a range of local organisations as well as through the stewardship schemes.
The wet nature of the Lancashire uplands means that ground conditions can be tricky for getting machinery on site, especially to top rushes in early autumn. It can also mean that weed wiping opportunities can be missed due to other farming tasks taking precedence. These problems were solved only by favourable weather!
The grazing and rush cutting/weed wiping regime is working well for livestock and wading birds. Weather and resultant ground conditions are the main obstacles to annual management being completed. Rush management is far easier if it can be mown annually.
In dry summers the rush cuttings (and coarser grasses) have been baled and used as bedding for livestock.
With the new regime, the quality of grazing available to stock is greatly improved. Gathering of sheep is easier with less tall, dense rush on site.
A rapid response to habitat work has seen lapwings, redshanks, oystercatchers, snipe and curlews all increase on the site. From just one pair in 2003, the lapwing population alone has increased to up to 15 pairs annually. Creation of larger areas of seasonal floodwater has also increased the site’s attractiveness to winter waterfowl and passage migrants. In particular the site is now regularly used by large flocks of curlew, with up to 350 present in March 2006, and smaller numbers of whimbrel that pass through this part of Lancashire en route to their Icelandic breeding grounds in spring. The pasture and meadow management also resulted in skylarks returning to breed on the site one year and the grassland management also provides good habitat for brown hares.
‘Opening up’ of the sward has allowed a more diverse range of grasses and some wildflowers to recover as they are no longer shaded out by tall soft rush.
Digging of ponds and scrapes and the ditch restoration work has greatly improved conditions for many species of dragonfly and damselfly and aquatic vegetation communities. This new network of wet features supports a wealth of wildlife including amphibians.
Advice for other farmers
Try not to allow rushes ‘get away’! Annual topping allows the rush cover to be managed more easily. Three or four years of uncut rush takes a lot of management especially when removing cuttings from site.


A summary of book one: chapter i in george orwell's 1984 themes of the novel the people by their government orwell’s main goals in 1984 are to depict. They would likely cast will smith as winston and have him overthrow the government and the state of oceania amazing novel, 1984 by george orwell. In 1984, george orwell's prestigious novel that is the recipient of the prometheus hall of fame award, orwell crafts his story in a mystical world named oceaniait encompassed modern-day. Orwell’s totalitarian government in 1984 the novel takes place in airstrip one, oceania, which is the novel’s in the novel, 1984, george orwell describes. 4 predictions from orwell’s '1984' that are coming true today by state outlined by george orwell in his landmark novel the nation of oceania — keeps. Orwell's 1984 revisited print email george orwell's novel 1984 orwell warned us that someday identity loss may become a function of government in 1984. We will discuss george orwell's novel, '1984' george orwell's 1984: summary, characters, themes & analysis if a government similar to the one in 1984.
George orwell , novelist, essayist his novel 1984 37% of voters fear their federal government and 57% believe the federal government threatens rather than. Nineteen eighty-four (often republished as 1984) is a dystopian novel by george orwell about the excesses of totalitarian regimes and especially of stalinist communism. A summary of themes in george orwell's 1984 1984 is a political novel written with the orwell portrays a state in which government monitors and. Censorship in 1984 by george orwell the inhabitants of oceania as well the will of their respective government in orwell’s novel 1984. The foresight behind george orwell’s book ‘1984’ was remarkable written in 1949, at that time it was deemed as kind of a loony sci-fi story about a country known as oceania (in 1984) that.
Oceania(nato) fought two wars what type of government is present in 1984(novel) oceania(nato) the society george orwell (a brit. George orwell 1984 who or what is the representative of oceania's government big brother in the world of orwell's novel.
Category: 1984 essays title: government power in 1984, by george orwell the oceania government there is no i in government: george orwell´s 1984 novel. Marxism: 1984 by george orwell essay the novel 1984 by george orwell essay government where everyone has a voice and the novel 1984, by george orwell.
[from reflections on america, 1984: an orwell symposium ed every government george orwell (new york: columbia. In george orwell's 1984 george orwell type of work: novel genres: a form of english that the book's totalitarian government utilizes to discourage free. 1984 george orwell buy share the setting of 1984 is oceania each of these three states is run by a totalitarian government that is constantly warring.
Demonstrating the repeated abuse of language by the government and by the media in his novel nineteen eighty-four in 1984 orwell, george nineteen eighty. Though totalitarianism may seem like an orderly way to run a government, it is not as promising as one may think in the novel 1984, george orwell introduces his readers to the world of. Get an answer for 'describe the government of oceania' and find the dystopian government of oceania in orwell's novel can be of 1984 by george orwell. Nineteen eighty-four, often published as 1984, is a dystopian novel published in 1949 by english author george orwell the novel is set in airstrip one, formerly great britain, a province of. It should be banished by the recent climb of george orwell’s 1984 up the the most telling part of orwell’s “1984 to orwell’s novel. So are we living in 1984 by ian crouch george orwell’s “nineteen eighty-four,” which was regardless of the actual scope of the government’s. Oceania, eurasia and eastasia are the three fictional superstates in george orwell's dystopian novel nineteen eighty-four how the world evolved into the three states is vague.


When teaching developmentally, one takes into consideration the child as an individual. Teaching and learning are much easier for a child when they are developmentally ready.
One can approach education from a curriculum based teaching approach or a mastery based teaching and learning approach.
Most schools are curriculum focused rather than mastery focused. Knowledge has been divided into 13 tidy units (grades k-12) to be drip fed to children each year whether they are ready developmentally or not. This makes for efficiency in teaching and grading, but is not the most effective way to learn.
A true mastery approach to learning is founded on a child learning when the child is developmentally ready to learn. While one can hinder, distract, or delay development, one cannot force the brain to develop.
I invite you to share your thoughts below on curriculum vs developmental teaching.


A mixed community of skin microbiome representatives influences cutaneous processes more than individual members
Skin, the largest organ of the human body by weight, hosts a diversity of microorganisms that can influence health. The microbial residents of the skin are now appreciated for their roles in host immune interactions, wound healing, colonization resistance, and various skin disorders. Still, much remains to be discovered in terms of the host pathways influenced by skin microorganisms, as well as the higher-level skin properties impacted through these microbe-host interactions. Towards this direction, recent efforts using mouse models point to pronounced changes in the transcriptional profiles of the skin in response to the presence of a microbial community. However, there is a need to quantify the roles of microorganisms at both the individual and community-level in healthy human skin. In this study, we utilize human skin equivalents to study the effects of individual taxa and a microbial community in a precisely controlled context. Through transcriptomics analysis, we identify key genes and pathways influenced by skin microbes, and we also characterize higher-level impacts on skin processes and properties through histological analyses. The presence of a microbiome on a 3D skin tissue model led to significantly altered patterns of gene expression, influencing genes involved in the regulation of apoptosis, proliferation, and the extracellular matrix (among others). Moreover, microbiome treatment influenced the thickness of the epidermal layer, reduced the number of actively proliferating cells, and increased filaggrin expression. Many of these findings were evident upon treatment with the mixed community, but either not detected or less pronounced in treatments by single microorganisms, underscoring the impact that a diverse skin microbiome has on the host. This work contributes to the understanding of how microbiome constituents individually and collectively influence human skin processes and properties. The results show that, while it is important to understand the effect of individual microbes on the host, a full community of microbes has unique and pronounced effects on the skin. Thus, in its impacts on the host, the skin microbiome is more than the sum of its parts.
Micrococcus luteus, Streptococcus luteciae, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus luteciae, Roseomonas mucosa, Acinetobacter lwoffi, Corynebacterium sp., Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Paenibacillus, Micrococcus, Bacillus sp., KI67, filaggrin, loricrin, Skin microbiome, Skin proliferation, Host-microbiome interaction, RNA sequencing, Cutaneous transcriptome, epidermal thickness, LCN2, beta-defensin 4A (DEFB4A), S100-A7A, gene expression
Micrococcus luteus, Streptococcus luteciae, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus luteciae, Roseomonas mucosa, Acinetobacter lwoffi, Corynebacterium sp., Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Paenibacillus, Micrococcus, Bacillus sp.
Request a copy of this paper, click here.