How Velociraptor Was Discovered

How Velociraptor Was Discovered Of all the dinosaurs that have been discovered over the last 200 years, Velociraptor comes closest to the romantic ideal of rugged paleontologists trekking across dangerous, windswept terrain in search of ancient fossils. Ironically, though, this dinosaur was nowhere near as smart and vicious as it has subsequently been depicted in movies, the main culprit being Jurassic Parks pack-hunting, quick-thinking, doorknob-turning Velociraptors (which were actually played by individuals of the closely related raptor genus Deinonychus, and even then not all that accurately). The Velociraptors of the Gobi Desert In the early 1920s, Mongolia (located in central Asia) was one of the most remote places on the face of the earth, inaccessible by train, plane, or pretty much anything else except a well-stocked caravan of well-oiled automobiles and sturdy horses. That is exactly what New Yorks American Museum of Natural History dispatched to outer Mongolia, by way of western China, in a series of fossil-hunting expeditions led by the famous paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews. Although Andrews personally discovered and named many Mongolian dinosaurs in the early 1920s- including Oviraptor and Protoceratops- the honor of unearthing Velociraptor went to one of his associates, Peter Kaisen, who stumbled upon a crushed skull and toe claw at a dig site in the Gobi Desert. Unfortunately for Kaisen, the honor of naming Velociraptor didnt go to him, or even to Andrews, but to Henry Fairfield Osborn, the president of the American Museum of Natural History (who, after all, wrote all the checks). Osborn referred to this dinosaur as Ovoraptor in a popular magazine article; fortunately for generations of schoolkids (can you imagine having to distinguish between Ovoraptor and Oviraptor?) he settled on Velociraptor mongoliensis (speedy thief from Mongolia) for his scientific paper. Velociraptor Behind the Iron Curtain It was difficult enough to send an American expedition to the Gobi Desert in the early 1920s; that became a political impossibility only a few years later, as the Mongolian government was toppled by a Communist revolution and the Soviet Union exerted its hegemony over Mongolian science. (The Peoples Republic of China didnt come into existence until 1949, giving the USSR a crucial head start in a Mongolian nation that, today, is dominated by China rather than Russia.) The upshot was that, for over 50 years, the American Museum of Natural History was excluded from any further Velociraptor-hunting expeditions. After World War II, Mongolian scientists, aided by colleagues from the USSR and Poland, returned repeatedly to the Flaming Cliffs fossil site where the original Velociraptor specimens had been unearthed. The most famous discovery- of a near-complete Velociraptor caught in the act of grappling with an equally well-preserved Protoceratops- was announced in 1971. In the late 1980s, following the crumbling of the Soviet Union and its satellites, western scientists were again able to travel in Mongolia. This was when a joint Chinese and Canadian team discovered Velociraptor specimens in northern China, and a joint Mongolian and American team unearthed additional Velociraptors at the Flaming Cliffs site. (One of the specimens discovered on this latter expedition was informally named Ichabodcraniosaurus, after Nathaniel Hawthornes headless horseman because it was missing its skull.) Later, in 2007, paleontologists discovered a Velociraptor forearm bearing the unmistakable imprint of quills- the first definite proof that (as had long been suspected) Velociraptor sported feathers rather than reptilian scales. The Feathered Theropods of Central Asia As famous as it is, Velociraptor was far from the only feathered, meat-eating dinosaur of late Cretaceous central Asia. The ground was thick with dino-birds closely related to the North American Troodon, including Saurornithoides, Linhevenator, Byronosaurus, and the wonderfully named Zanabazar; feathered dinosaurs closely related to Oviraptor, including Heyuannia, Citipati, Conchoraptor, and the (also) wonderfully named Khaan; and a vast assortment of associated raptors. Most of these dinosaurs were discovered in the late 20th century, under the auspices of a talented generation of Chinese paleontologists. What was it about the windswept Mongolian plains that favored this brand of dinosaur diversity? Clearly, conditions in late Cretaceous central Asia  favored small, skittery animals that could nimbly pursue smaller prey or speedily escape from the clutches of slightly bigger dino-birds. In fact, the profusion of central Asian feathered dinosaurs points to the most likely explanation for the evolution of flight: originally evolved for the purposes of insulation and display, feathers gave dinosaurs a certain amount of lift while they were running, and were thus increasingly favored by natural selection until one lucky reptile achieved actual lift-off!

A Definition of the Nguni Word Ubuntu

A Definition of the Nguni Word Ubuntu Ubuntu is a complex word from the Nguni language with several definitions, all of them difficult to translate into English. At the heart of each definition, though, is the connectedness that exists or should exist between people. Ubuntu is best known outside of Africa as a humanist philosophy associated with Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Curiosity about the name may also come from it being used for the open source operating system called Ubuntu. Meanings of Ubuntu One meaning of Ubuntu is correct behavior, but correct in this sense is defined by a persons relations with other people. Ubuntu refers to behaving well towards others or acting in ways that benefit the community. Such acts could be as simple as helping a stranger in need, or much more complex ways of relating with others. A person who behaves in these ways has ubuntu. He or she is a full person. For some, Ubuntu is something akin to a soul force - an actual metaphysical connection shared between people and which helps us connect to each other. Ubuntu will push one toward selfless acts. There are related words in many sub-Saharan African cultures and languages, and the word Ubuntu is now widely known and used outside of South Africa. Philosophy of Ubuntu During the era of decolonization, ubuntu was increasingly described as an African, humanist philosophy,  Ubuntu in this sense is a way of thinking about what it means to be human, and how we, as humans, should behave towards others. Archbishop Desmond Tutu famously described ubuntu as meaning My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in what is yours.1 In the 1960s and early 70s, several intellectuals and nationalists referred to ubuntu when they argued that an Africanization of politics and society would mean a greater sense of communalism and socialism. Ubuntu and the End of Apartheid In the 1990s, people began to describe Ubuntu increasingly in terms of the Nguni proverb translated as a person is a person through other persons.2 Christian Gade has speculated that the sense of connectedness appealed to South Africans as they turned away from the separation of Apartheid. Ubuntu also referred to the need for forgiveness and reconciliation rather than vengeance. It was an underlying concept in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the writings of Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu raised awareness of the term outside of Africa. President Barack Obama included mention of Ubuntu in his memorial to Nelson Mandela, saying it was a concept that Mandela embodied and taught to millions. Endnotes 1 Desmond Tutu: A Personal Overview of South Africas Truth and Reconciliation Commission No Future Without Forgiveness,  Ã‚ © 2000.2 Christian B.N. Gade, What is Ubuntu? Different Interpretations among South Africans of African Descent. South African Journal Of Philosophy 31, no. 3 (August 2012), 487. Sources Metz, Thaddeus, and Joseph B. R. Gaie. The African ethic of Ubuntu/Botho: implications for research on morality. Journal Of Moral Education 39, no. 3 (September 2010): 273-290. This article expands upon the definition of Ubuntu published by Alistair Boddy-Evans

Henrys Law Constant Of Glyoxal Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Henrys Law Constant Of Glyoxal - Research Paper Example The enhancement of KH was linked to the sulfate: carbonyl molar ratio rather than the absolute concentration of sulfate ions in bulk solution. The profound sulfate effect was only observed in glyoxal and formaldehyde, but not methylglyoxal. Chemical analysis suggested that this sulfate mediated reaction was reversible. Meanwhile, Time of Flight-MS (TOF-MS), NMR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) suggested the unknown product was sulfate containing product. For ionic strength effect, KH of formaldehyde, methylglyoxal and glyoxal were investigated in NaCl solution with concentrations ranging from 25mM to 4M. Our observation suggested that the formation of hydrogen bonding between chloride ions and diol groups of the hydrated carbonyls lead to "salting-in" effects in concentrated NaCl solution. The partitioning process of these small, reactive carbonyls was not sensitive to the ionic strength of wet aerosols and the profound effects of sulfate on glyoxal KH supported the hypothesi s that sulfate play an important role in glyoxal gas/aqueous phase partitioning. The Henry law constant KH is a key parameter that aids in the... 2.2 Experimentation Methods 6 3.0 Results and Discussion 7 3.1 Formaldehyde 7 Product Identification 9 3.2 Glyoxal 10 3.3 Methylglyoxal 13 4.0 Conclusion 14 Work cited 16 Appendix 25 1.0 Introduction The Henry law constant KH is a key parameter that aids in the determination of the magnitude, rate and flux direction between the aqueous and the gas solution. Due to the insufficient thermodynamic data and poor understanding in gas/particle partitioning behaviors of glyoxal and other oxidation products from both anthropogenic and biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs), discrepancies between field measurements and SOA models were large (Volkamer et al., 2006). In particular, the partitioning process of C2, C3-bifunctional species, formed in significant yields from the photo-oxidation of aromatic hydrocarbons, isoprene, terepene, alkenes as well as alkynes, remain unclear [Yu et al., 1995; Yu et al., 1997; Yu et al., 1998; Yu et al., 1999; Warneck, 2003]. Field measurements have revealed that these low molecular weight, bi-functional species are important precursors for SOA in cloud-processing [Blando and Turpin, 2000; Warneck, 2003]. Laboratory evidence suggests that, the rate-limiting step in SOA formation of isoprene photo-oxidation was the oxidation of first-generation reaction products which leads to the formation of up to four functional groups of the carbon skeleton. Therefore, the partitioning of chemical species containing multifunction groups could be more likely a critical step for formation of SOA in other systems as well (Kroll et al, 2006). Recently, glyoxal was used as an activity indicator for photo-oxidation attributed to its high abundance after onset of sunlight and short lifetime, while formaldehyde worked

Prevention of mother to child Hiv transmission Essay

Prevention of mother to child Hiv transmission - Essay Example Quantitative research is the methodical scientific assessment of observable phenomena through computational, mathematical, or statistical methods. For example, the observable phenomena in health and social care may include HIV prevalence in expectant mothers, rate of mother to child HIV transmission, and infant deaths resulting from mother to child HIV transmission. Quantitative uses a systematic approach through actual data collection and analysis rather than making assumptions on describable phenomena. The purpose of the quantitative approach is to develop hypothesis about the observable phenomena. The research technique goes a long way in testing the hypotheses or theories so developed in order to ascertain their veracity or otherwise. In social and nursing care, scholars may use quantitative research to develop hypotheses around mother to child HIV transmission. The testing and proof of such hypothesis can bring significant benefit to the nursing fraternity (Daly, Speedy, & Jacks on 2009, pp. 135-140). Health and social care demands evidence-based practice, which quantitative research provides in hard data. In essence, evidence-based practice (EBP) or Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the point at which the patient values & preferences, best research evidence, and clinical expertise converge. Evidence-based practice (EBP) involves the prudent utilization of the most reliable contemporary evidence in making critical decisions about the health of patients.

The Interference Of The Supernatural In Macbeth :: essays research papers

In Macbeth, there were many interesting sections which concentrate on the suspense and the involvement of the supernatural. The use of the supernatural in the witches, the visions or the hallucinations, the ghost, and the apparitions are all key elements in making the concept of the play work also making the play rather interesting to the audience. In each act of the play you will notice that the supernatural is actaully a major factor on the play style. The use of the supernatural occurs at the beginning of the play, with three witches predicting the fate of Macbeth. This gives the audience a clue to what the future holds for Macbeth. "When the battles lost and won"(Act I, Scene I,) was said by the second witch. It says that every battle is lost by one side and won by another. This may be interrperated that Macbeths fate is that he will win the battle, but will lose mant things along the way possibly even including his soul and true personality. After the prophecies of the witches' revealed the fate of Macbeth, the plan in which to gain power of the throne is brought up. According to Lady macbeth and Macbeth the only way to gain power of the throne was for macbeth to murder King Duncan. was an easier plan. Lady Macbeth also relied on the supernatural by her soliloquy of calling upon the evil spirits to give her the power to plot the murder of Duncan without any remorse or conscience(Act I, Scene V, lines 42-57). Lady Macbeth has convinced her husband Macbeth to murder King Duncan. On the night they planned to kill Duncan, Macbeth is waiting for Lady Macbeth to ring the signal bell to go up the stairs to Duncan's chamber. He sees the vision of the floating dagger. The interest of the dagger is that it leads Macbeth towards the chamber by the presence of evil of the dagger being covered with blood. This part may come as a conffusion to the reader bceause one may not be entirely sure wether the murder has already taken place or if it is yet to come. Then the bell rings and Macbeth stealthily proceeds up the staircase to Duncan's chamber. Once the murder has been committed, some time later Banquo has his suspicions about Macbeth killing Duncan to have power of the throne.

Death of a salesman explication Essay

This passage allows us to make several assumptions about the main character, Willy, in a psychiatric way. Obviously irony is a major component of how Arthur Miller hints to these mental characteristics, but he also alludes to other concepts in the details of the stage directions and the seemingly unimportant lines of supporting characters. Upon examining the passage on pages 38 and 39 in the book, (25 and 26 in the pdf) it has become clear that most of WIlly’s problems can be traced back not to how he raised his own children, but back to his own childhood. The three key points of Willy’s youth are subtly given to us in this passage and  highlighted with Miller’s use of irony. This may just be an opinion, but Willy is pretty weak, and not just physically. In this passage he is seemingly dependant on people’s praise and of seeming important. The irony is that he is thriving off the praise of both his wife and mistress, although the two women could not be be more different in their temperament. His wife Linda assures Willy of his handsomeness and his excellent parenting, in her eyes, and The Woman, although her compliments are far less sincere, assures Willy of how she picked him of all the possible  salesmen This is key because one of the main points of the entire play is Willy’s struggle with the fact that he is indeed not important anymore. This is ironic because it leads us to believe Willy to be this successful salesman, and we soon find that not to be true in the present day of the play. Willy’s need for reassurance of his importance is foreshadowing his lack of necessity in his future, and his lack of deserving praise in his future. The Woman, being more manipulative, sees Willy’s weakness for compliments and used them to keep him addicted in a way to their affair. In the start of the passage Willy complains of being alone on the road, so what better way to subdue that loneliness than to acquire someone to fawn over him and make him feel good about himself. This leads us to assume Willy has some self esteem issues. This concept also supports Willy’s affair because cheating often springs from people with poor self images because of the craving for the assurance of the cheating people’s greatness. This self hate can come from many places but most often comes from something deep rooted like, well, the person’s roots. Mother’s are important, something about the presence or absence of a mother can  make or break those of weaker spirits. Willy being one of those weak ones was emotionally stunted by his lack of mother. Or even lack of any family to establish healthy social skills. But commonly in psych cases, a lack of a mother or mother figure results in a perpetual longing for physical connections. In the stage directions Miller illustrates throughout this passage how purely physical Willy and The Woman’s relationship is. The passage begins with Willy discussing his longing for physical contact when he is on the road. Like Willy’s addiction to praise, he needs the physical contact because he just isn’t capable of making deeper  relationship connections from his early social handicap. The beginning confession for physical relations is ironic because he describes how he wants it to be with Linda, but it ends up happening with a mistress. This lack of ability to connect is part of the reason for Willy’s struggle with Biff. Willy cannot figure out how to communicate with Biff simply because he is socially inept. This in turn comes to stunt Biff as well as Willy makes the same mistakes with Biff that Willy’s own father did with Willy. Willy is haunted by his childhood, his decisions and his family. Miller never specifically writes how important this is, but he hints at it in one intense way in the stage directions. Willy hearing the flute music of his father. This flute music narrates the entire play in it’s own way. Like most people, Willy is terrified of ending up like his father. Everyone is told they end up like their parents and everyone vows that they will be different. But the thick irony is that Willy ends up just like his father, making the same vital mistakes. Just as Willy’s father abandoned Willy as a child and added another psychiatric problem to Willy’s list of mental  issues, Willy abandons his own family in what he thinks is a seemingly innocent act. A clear example of this is when The Woman thanks Willy for the stockings, and then it cuts to Linda repairing her stockings (which she is constantly doing throughout the play). This irony is that instead of taking care of his actual family by doing things like spending money on his wife to replace her old, ripped stockings, he turns his back on them to buy a gift for his mistress. Just like his father he put off the needs of his family for his own needs. This may seem harmless but in doing this Willy demonstrates who he is putting first n his priorities. These issues all lead to some serious mental issues that result in an endless cycle. Willy is unhappy with himself and longs to make connections and receive praise, but his only way to make connections is physically, which leads to poor choices, which leads to making his longed for connections worse which makes him even more unhappy with himself. Some people just don’t know how to stop the cycle and just work on their communication skills. Miller lays the irony on so thickly throughout this book to show how despite all Willy’s struggles he continues to do the exact things he is trying to prevent. Truly a tragedy.

The Jaunt - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 673 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/09/14 Category Advertising Essay Did you like this example? Psychology Essay #1 – Senses The average human being lives through each and every day using the five sources of sensation, whether or not it’s done consciously or unconsciously. These sources, known as the five senses- sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell- help in the process of taking in information about our environment. These senses, all very important, give us valuable data- what is out there in the environment, how much there is, and what it’s doing. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Jaunt" essay for you Create order To give up or lose one of these senses would be awful, as each of the senses gives us different input, but I would say the two I find the most important are touch and sight. The sense of touch plays â€Å"an important role in keeping us standing upright, moving straight ahead and literally out of hot water† (Benjamin B. Lahey, 2009). Reading â€Å"Are We Led by the Nose? † by Terence Monmaney, I came to understand the dangers of being unable to smell, which I never really thought about, such as being unable to smell the smoke from the fire that was in David Griffin’s apartment, not being able to â€Å"detect leaking gas† or being â€Å"poisoned by spoiled food† (Terrence Monmaney, 1987). The dangers from being unable to touch/feel can be just as or even more perilous than other dangers from losses of other senses. Being able to touch and feel allows us to feel pain, which is perceived through pain receptors. These pain receptors send signals to our brains that we must discontinue the actions that are hurting our bodies. Along with allowing us to depict pain, the sense of touch also allows us to feel something very important to me as a human: the warmth and comfort of others. The sense of touch can also overcome disadvantages of losing other senses. The use of Braille allows the blind to see, the use of sign language allows the deaf to listen, and the use of putting fingers to another’s lips to understand what he/she was saying (what Helen Keller did after treatment) allows the blind deaf to communicate. Losing the other senses would be horrible (except taste, for â€Å"at least three quarters of the flavors in food and drink are not tastes but aromas† (Terence Monmaney, 1987)), but I believe that you would lose the most from being unable to feel. Considering that the sense of touch is the most valued among the five to me, I would say that touch would also be the most important. Another sense that I am appreciative of is sight. Much of our sensory information comes through our eyes; therefore I would be most shocked due to the huge loss of information. Being an athlete, the use of my eyes is absolutely crucial and necessary. The majority of my hobbies, sports, would be ruined for me personally, as I would never be able to play basketball, soccer, or football ever again. I also wouldn’t be able to succeed or excel in my academics for some time. Our eyes also give us capabilities that we barely think about. A male college student, I take a priority in dressing nice, which has to do with a lot of matching colors. â€Å"Color is the experience that results from the processing of light energy by the eye and nervous system† (Benjamin B. Lahey, 2009). Without the use of cones in our eyes, I wouldn’t be able to tell colors apart, therefore wearing all kinds of horrible outfits. I would believe that losing the sense of sight would be the most tragic because of the advantages we get for having sight. The five senses all give us so much information that we need in everyday life; we should be grateful of having the abilities to sense. According to me, among the most important of these five would be the sense of touch and sight, but one must remember that the other senses are just as important- opinions on which are more valued just depend on the situations and what is appreciated more.