scholarly journals Earthquake in Nepal: A Miserable Environmental Hazard Visited by Nature

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 56-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiva Kant Dube
Keyword(s):  
Active Region ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Environmental Hazards ◽  
Environmental Hazard ◽  
Rescue Operation ◽  
Tectonic Plates ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
World Distribution

Indian and Tibetan tectonic plates and therefore lies in a seismically active region. Historical data evidence the occurrence of destructive great earthquakes in the past. Earthquakes are caused mainly due to disequilibrium in any part of the crust of the earth. If we look at the world distribution of earthquake, it appears that the earthquake belts are closely associated with the weaker zones of the seismotectonics of the region. It is an instrument for seismic surveillance allowing a fast post-earthquake rescue operation. This paper incorporates a case of earthquake occurred in April, 2015 as one of the environmental hazards visited by nature which proved disastrous causing massive loss of lives and properties to the vulnerable regions. It can be taken as a lesson to mitigate massive loss of lives and properties selecting isostatically proper land structure and constructing safe settlements for habitat in Nepalese context.Academic Voices Vol.5 2015:  56-66

Whither democracy? Religion, politics and Islam

2011 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 437-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Dallmayr
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Christian Right ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
Democratic Character

The question raised by the article is: can democracy be religious and, if so, how? Can religious faith be reconciled with modern democratic political institutions? The article takes its departure from the biblical admonition to believers to be ‘the salt of the earth’ — a phrase that militates against both world dominion and world denial. In its long history, Islam (like Christianity) has been sorely tempted by the lure of worldly power and domination. Nor is this temptation entirely a matter of the past (witness the rise of the Christian right and of ‘political Islam’ in our time). Focusing on contemporary Iran, the article makes a constitutional proposal which would strengthen the democratic character of the Iranian Republic without canceling religious faith. If adopted, the proposal would reinvigorate the ‘salt’ of Muslim faith thus enabling believers to live up to the Qur‘anic summons for freedom, justice and service in the world.

scholarly journals Ancestry.com and the Evolving Nature of Historical Information Companies

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-28
Author(s):  
Jerome de Groot
Keyword(s):  
Dna Sequencing ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
The Past ◽  
Corporate Entity ◽  
The World ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
A Company ◽  
Historical Institution ◽  
The Way

This study of the genealogy and biotech company Ancestry analyzes the ways in which the organization has evolved over the past few years. Ancestry is difficult to categorize as a corporate entity. The company trades in servicing both “traditional” types of history (genealogical records) and, more recently, biotech-based investigation through the use of DNA sequencing. Ancestry is highly influential in the way that millions of people around the world access the past. Given this, the company’s shifts in focus are of great interest. Through considering various new elements of the way that Ancestry functions, and illustrating that this complexity is foundational to its purpose, the article suggests the company is redefining what a public historian or public historical institution might be, adding a scientific dimension to historical data and also acting to present a particular model of the past through its advertising campaigns. The article suggests that public history’s models for considering such protean organizations are in need of attention, and the complexity of such a company demonstrates new challenges and opportunities for scholars in the field.

The Common Fossils of The British Rocks

The Geologist ◽  
1858 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-29
Author(s):  
S. J. Mackie
Keyword(s):  
Past History ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common

In a magazine devoted especially to the propagation of Geological knowledge, it seems no infringement of its space, no deterioration of its value, tha t some pains should be taken to aid the student in his early efforts, and to disperse broadcast some useful elementary information, which may prove to the mass at once a source of instruction and of enjoyment, and so, by clearing the road to future and higher studies, may foster a dawning taste, and ultimately prove the means of adding many volunteers, and not unlikely even some brilliant master-minds to the ranks of Geologists, that otherwise, deterred at the outset, might perhaps have turned their attention and talents to some more accessible, if not more congenial study.Who does not feel some interest in the past history of this beautiful world—the scene of our labours and of our loves—of our successes and of our failures—the stage of our existence and the tomb of our dust ? If the animated creations of the past were dumb brute animals, still the earth was green and gay with trees, and plants and flowers—the hu m of insects vibrated on the summer's air, and the snows of winter covered the ancient lands with their hyemal mantle—the tides of ocean rose and fell, and the world went rolling on through time and space, through years and seasons. There were earthquakes the n and blazing volcanos—and winds and storms—great waves and merry dancing ripples on the sea.

A Discussion on the evolution of the Precambrian crust - Introductory remarks

1973 ◽  
Vol 273 (1235) ◽  
pp. 316-316 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Early History ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Precambrian Rocks ◽  
The Past ◽  
Geological Processes ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

The realization that the behaviour of the Earth has changed radically during geological time has come about largely in the last decade. This development, which constitutes one of the major advances in geological thinking, results from the study of Precambrian phenomena in many parts of the world and in particular from the work of a small number of geochronologists. In the last ten years as large numbers of unfossiliferous Precambrian rocks have been dated, it has become clear that the nature of geological processes has varied throughout geological time and that one of the cardinal doctrines of geology - the concept that the present is the key to the past — could not be applied to the study of the early history of the Earth.

scholarly journals EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (9SE) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Basanti Jain
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Short Wave ◽  
Average Temperature ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Long Wave ◽  
The World ◽  
Abnormal Increase ◽  
Ionizing Radiations ◽  
Long Wave Infrared

The abnormal increase in the concentration of the greenhouse gases is resulting in higher temperatures. We call this effect is global warming. The average temperature around the world has increased about 1'c over 140 years, 75% of this has risen just over the past 30 years. The solar radiation, as it reaches the earth, produces "greenhouse effect" in the atmosphere. The thick atmospheric layers over the earth behaves as a glass surface, as it permits short wave radiations from coming in, but checks the outgoing long wave ones. As a result, gradually the atmosphere gets heated up during the day as well as night. If such an effect were not there in the atmosphere the ultraviolet, infrared and other ionizing radiations would have also entered our atmosphere and the very existence of life would have been endangered. The ozone layer shields the earth from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiations. The warm earth emits long wave (infrared)   radiations, which is partly absorbed by the green house gaseous blanket. This atmospheric blanket raises the earth’s temperature.

scholarly journals Plots and Motives about the Creation of the Earth and Man in the Mythology of the Altaians

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-62
Author(s):  
N. R. Oinotkinova
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Folk Tradition ◽  
The Devil ◽  
Close Contacts

The paper analyzes the plots and motives of Altai myths about the creation of the earth and man with the use of comparative material from the folklore of peoples with which the Altai people had close contacts in the past, in particular from Russian and Buryat-Mongolian folklore. The motives characteristic of these versions are considered: diving behind the earth; creation of the earth; the creation of man; the dog protects the human body; desecration of the human body; spilled elixir of immortality; lost heaven; the overthrow of the devil from heaven; competition of deities for primacy in the rule of the world. In the Altai folk tradition, two versions of the myth of the creation of the world and man are distinguished: the first is dualistic (pagan) and the second is “Buddhist”. In the dualistic version of the myth, the main characters are two deities – Ulgen and Erlik. In the plot of the “Buddhist” version of the myth, unlike the dualistic one, 4 deity brothers participate in the act of creation: Yuch-Kurbustan (Three Kurbustan) and Erlik. This story is joined by a Buddhist legend about how bodhisattvas competed in order for the victor to become the ruler of the world.

scholarly journals What a Suave Man he Was! […] The Earth Trembled as he Perished Two Polish Suicides: Wołodyjowski – Wokulski

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorota Samborska-Kukuć
Keyword(s):  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
European Partner

There is more to the literary polemic between the author of The Doll and the creator of The Trilogy than merely Prus’ contradictory review of Sienkiewicz’s With Fire and Sword. It also includes The Doll’s multifarious allusiveness to Fire in the Steppe, manifested in particular in the meaningful, symbolic ending, whereby both protagonists blow themselves up, literally and metaphorically cornered in old buildings. Prus converses with Sienkiewicz in a discreet manner, though the careful reader will spot contentious issues. These include the struggle for a different type of protagonist – not a hero, but an individual entangled in romantic myths, paralysing their life forces; a different perception of the past, rational and fair rather than glorified and martyrological; finally, a different outlook on the present and the future, promoting entrepreneurship and economy as tools for the development of Poland as a European partner, rather than the idealistic focus on the utopian, foregone concepts of military achievements. The text highlights the similarities in the characters of Wokulski and Wołodyjowski, with special emphasis on the final scenes and the demise of the world after the protagonists’ respective disappearance. The two famous literary suicides, patterning after the deed of Ordon as depicted in Mickiewicz’s poem, have been parodied (e.g. by Mrożek) and adopted, thus becoming literary weapons in the struggle with the Polish mythopoeia, xenophobia, and exaggerated patriotism.

Introduction: The Instability of Scientific Truth

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Oreskes
Keyword(s):  
Underground Water ◽  
Factual Knowledge ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Success Of Science ◽  
Scientific Truth

Scientists are interested in truth. They want to know how the world really is, and they want to use that knowledge to do things in the world. In the earth sciences, this has meant developing methods of observation to determine the shape, structure, and history of the earth and designing instruments to measure, record, predict, and interpret the earth’s physical and chemical processes and properties. The resulting knowledge may be used to find mineral deposits, energy resources, or underground water; to delineate areas of earthquake and volcanic hazard; to isolate radioactive and toxic wastes; or to make inferences and predictions about the earth’s past and future climate. The past century has produced a prodigious amount of factual knowledge about the earth, and prodigious demands are now being placed on that knowledge. The history of science demonstrates, however, that the scientific truths of yesterday are often viewed as misconceptions, and, conversely, that ideas rejected in the past may now be considered true. History is littered with the discarded beliefs of yesteryear, and the present is populated by epistemic resurrections. This realization leads to the central problem of the history and philosophy of science: How are we to evaluate contemporary science’s claims to truth given the perishability of past scientific knowledge? This question is of considerable philosophic interest and of practical import as well. If the truths of today are the falsehoods of tomorrow, what does this say about the nature of scientific truth? And if our knowledge is perishable and incomplete, how can we warrant its use in sensitive social and political decision-making? For many, the success of science is its own best defense. From jet flight to the smallpox vaccine, from CD players to desktop scanners, contemporary life is permeated by technology enabled by scientific insight. We benefit daily from the liberating effects of petroleum found with the aid of geological knowledge, microchips manufactured with the aid of physical knowledge, materials synthesized with the aid of chemical knowledge. Our view of life — and death — is conditioned by the results of scientific research and the capabilities of technological control.

Twentieth-Century Rumblings

Impact! ◽  
1996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerrit L. Verschuur
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Close Encounter ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Infinite Space ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Full Circle ◽  
The World ◽  
Near Earth Asteroids

During the first century B.C., Lucretius wrote, “Legend tells of one occasion when fire got the upper hand. The victory of fire when the earth felt its withering blast, occurred when the galloping steeds that draw the chariot of the sun swept Phaeton from the true course right out of the zone of the ether and far over all lands.” He knew about comets, which is why he said, “There is no lack of external bodies to rally out of infinite space and blast [the world] with a turbulent tornado or inflict some other mortal disaster.” This awareness made him think that the world was newly made, and perhaps in some sense it is. The wheel has come full circle. We now appreciate that the threat of comets and asteroids is real, although the distinction between comets and asteroids has grown blurred. What is no longer in doubt is that catastrophic impacts have occurred in the past, and that they will happen again. At the same time, the hypothesis that impacts and flood legends are related is beginning to experience a revival. A chink in the dam of prejudice against the idea actually began to appear in the 1940’s when two astronomers, Fletcher Watson and Ralph Baldwin, in separate books considered the implications of the discovery of near-earth asteroids (NEAs) and concluded that impacts were likely every million years or so. They were all but ignored. In 1942 H. H. Nininger, the famous meteorite researcher, gave a talk to the Society for Research on Meteorites entitled “Cataclysm and Evolution.” Because of his highly specialized forum, his remarks also went unheard in the wider astronomical community. He considered the danger following the close encounter with Hermes, the NEA discovered in October 1937 that passed within 670,000 kilometers of our planet, which can be compared with the moon’s distance of 384,000 kilometers. (Oddly, Hermes has never been found again. Its rediscovery is one of the prizes that asteroid hunters strive for.) If, instead, it had “smacked the earth in a single lump,” the consequences would “constitute a catastrophe of a magnitude never yet witnessed by man,” said Nininger.

William Webb Ellis and the Origins of Rugby Football: The Life and Death of a Victorian Myth

1981 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Four Corners ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
Foreign Competitors

In the sense that myth is a reordering of various random elements into an intelligible, useful pattern, a structuring of the past in terms of present priorities, nineteenth-century Englishmen were inveterate myth-makers. As liberal and scientific thought shook the foundations of belief, the Victorians erected gothic spires as monuments to a medieval order of supposedly simple, strong faith. While their industrial masses languished, they extolled the virtues of self-made men. Confronted with foreign competitors and rebellious colonials, they instinctively asserted the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race. In classic myth-making style, the Victorians set about “reorganizing traditional components in the face of new circumstances or, correlatively, in reorganizing new, imported components in the light of tradition.”Myth not only serves self-validating ends; it also provides a cohesive rationale, a fulcrum propelling people towards great achievements. If the Victorians were confident and self-congratulatory, they had cause to be: their material, intellectual, and political accomplishments were many. Not the least of their successes was in the sphere of sports and games, a subject often ignored by historians. Especially in the development of ball games—Association and Rugby football, cricket, lawn tennis, and golf—the Victorians modernized old games, created new ones, and exported them all to the four corners of the earth. Stereotyped as overly-serious folk, they in fact “taught the world to play.”Since sport, more than most forms of human activity, lends itself to myth-making, it is not surprising to find a myth emerging among the late-Victorians having to do with the origins of Rugby football. Like baseball's Doubleday myth, the tale of William Webb Ellis inspiring the distinctive game of rugby is a period piece, reflecting more of the era which gave it birth than of the event to which it referred.

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