April 29, 2007 at 1:30 pm (Quote)
Some quotes from Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel:
What experience and history teach is this — that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.
And,
Life has a value only when it has something valuable as its object. -source: Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1832)
More on Hegel.
April 29, 2007 at 11:59 am (Picture)
April 29, 2007 at 3:00 am (OECD, Social, Statistic)
The data on:
In 3 main types of accidents such as (a) accidents between vehicle and pedestrian, (b) single vehicle, and (c) accidents between vehicles, are compiled and analysized. The raw data on these 3 main types accidents and its impact of number of cases, number of persons killed or injured is listed in Table 1 to 3 as below:
Table 1: Number of accidents and its breakdown on different types of accident.
Table 2: Number of persons killed and its breakdown on different types of accident.
Table 3: Number of persons injured and its breakdown on different types of accident.
The graphs below illustrate the percentage disribution of each type of accidents onto parameters like total cases, number of persons killed or injured and comparison among the selected countries.
Overall, the accidents between vehicles is the major contribution to total number of accidents, number of persons killed or injured in accidents. This is followed by single vehicle and lastly vehicle vs. pedestrian. However, the scenario of latter two types of accidents might not neccesarily true for all the countries, as will be pointed out later.
Graph 1: Percentage distribution of different type of accidents in total cases.
Switzerland has the highest % of total accidents cases caused by accidents between vehicles, as high as slightly over 80% while Iceland has roughly48.4% this type of accident. Switzerland, UK and Portugal has slightly higher % of accident cases caused by vehicle vs pedestrian than single vehicle accidents. Overall, the mean % for each type of accidents is 64.5% (between vehicles), 23.3% (single vehicle) and 12.2% (vehicle vs pedestrian).
Graph 2: Percentage distribution of different type of accidents in number of persons killed.
Again, Switzerland has the highest % of number of person killed in accidents caused by accidents between vehicles, as high as 72.9% while Luxembourg, the lowest in this group, has roughly48.4% this type of accident. Switzerland is the only country which has slightly higher % of number of persons killed in accident caused by vehicle vs pedestrian (16.9%) than single vehicle accidents (10.2%). Overall, the mean % for each type of accidents is 52.6% (between vehicles), 32.9% (single vehicle) and 14.5% (vehicle vs pedestrian).
Graph 3: Percentage distribution of different type of accidents in number of persons injured.
And again, Switzerland has the highest % of number of person injured in accidents caused by accidents between vehicles, 83.7% while Iceland and Finland, the lowest 2 in this group, has roughly54.0% and 59.9% of this type of accident. Apparently, Switzerland (again) is the only country which has slightly higher % of number of persons injured in accident caused by vehicle vs pedestrian (8.6%) than single vehicle accidents (7.7%). Overall, the mean % for each type of accidents is 68.7% (between vehicles), 21.8% (single vehicle) and 9.6% (vehicle vs pedestrian).
Source: UNECE, Statistics of Road Traffic Accidents in Europe and North America, 2001-2003
April 29, 2007 at 2:53 am (Food/Agriculture, Gene, Health)
Source: Don’t eat greens? It’s all in the genes, 17-09-2006
In the new study Mari Hakala and Paul Breslin, of Monell Chemical Senses centre in Philadelphia, suggest that a dislike of certain vegetables has evolved in some people because their ancestors lived in areas where eating them was potentially damaging.
Glucosinolates, chemicals in vegetables such as broccoli, turnips and horseradish, can partially block the uptake of iodine into the thyroid gland. The element is vital to growth and sexual development. Among people with low iodine intakes — mainly in areas far from the sea, such as the Andes in South America — vegetables containing glucosinolates would increase the risk of stunted growth and mental retardation.
The findings showed that there were two versions of the gene, one sensitive and one insensitive. People with two sensitive genes found broccoli horribly bitter, while those with two insensitive ones enjoyed it.
The findings will be published this week in the journal Current Biology.
More information from other article:
In the new work, researchers were able to show that different genetic versions of this same receptor, known as hTAS2R38, specifically determine people’s perception of plants that synthesize glucosinolates. In their experiments, the researchers divided a test array of vegetables into those that contain glucosinolates, such as broccoli and turnips, and those that do not contain known glucosinolates. The researchers found that individuals possessing two copies of a “sensitive” version of the hTAS2R38 gene rated the glucosinolate-containing vegetables as 60% more bitter than did subjects possessing two copies of an “insensitive” version of the receptor gene. In comparison, individuals possessing one copy of each version of the gene rated the bitterness of glucosinolate-containing vegetables at an intermediate level.
The researchers found that the differences in bitterness perception by the “sensitive” and “insensitive” hTAS2R38 groups reached statistical significance for six vegetables: watercress, mustard greens, turnip, broccoli, rutabaga, and horseradish.
April 29, 2007 at 2:47 am (Picture)
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