Fine Aphorisms, Proverbs & Philosophical Quotes

This is a small collection of proverbs with some philosophical content. I also included here are some of my favorite philosophical quotes. The quotes were collected during many years from my personal reading. I am sure that the reader will identify and enjoy proverbs and some quotes that are new and unique to this publication. A printed copy available at amazon.com. Feedback: [email protected]

IS BASEL II ACCORD TO GUARD AGAINST FINANCIAL SHOCKS?

The world financial market is an extremely complex system that involves many different participants from local banks to the central bank of each nation and the investors. Due to its importance on the global economy and our everyday lives it is vital that it is functioning properly. Internationally, rules are set by the Basel committee, part of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Basel II is the second of the Basel Accords, which are recommendations on banking laws and regulations issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. The objective of Basel II is to modernize the existing capital requirements framework to make it more comprehensive and risk-sensitive, taking account of many modern financial institutions' thorough risk management practices. Basel II is an international business standard that requires financial institutions to maintain enough cash reserves to cover risks incurred by operations.Basel II Accord, Banking System, Financial Crisis.

Ethnic and feminist homecoming in "Eyes of Zapata" by Sandra Cisneros

In her short story published in 1991 collection Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories Chicana writer Sandra Cisneros addresses the issue of reconstructing ethnic counter- history through feminist perspective of the main protagonist and narrator Inés Alfaro. This female character gradually moves from the margins of history into its center when it takes control of the powerful figure of her husband, historical Emiliano Zapata, who in Cisneros's re-writing of history is not a powerful leader of the well-known revolution, but a merciless macho with many lovers and children he pays no attention to. The story is a first-person account of Inés who becomes a powerful witch (la bruja) in order to avenge the injustice of the patriarchal culture. I want to prove that Cisneros wisely complicates the ethnic story of looking for one’s history and identity proving that literary homecoming of Chicanas is far from reaching idealized Aztlán, but it is a feminist quest for the autonomy, not only visible on the level of content, but the form as well, which to some extent is a homage to oral tradition and to famous Mexican woman writers Rosario Castellanos, Elena Garro and Juan Rulfo

The Delude

The amount of data to which a human is exposed has increased over time. The Delude is defined here as an individual that is overwhelmed by various incoherent and false assertions that data contains. This writing is a philosophical study that reflects on the epistemic conditions in which knowledge is accumulated. It is obvious that large amounts of falsehood, when regarded as truth, can induce heavy damage to anyone's intellect. Frequently, a faulty mental state is induced by corrupt knowledge. "The Delude" is an individual predisposed to accept as true large amounts of incoherent and false opinions. Understanding the complex conditions that induce a person to become 'a delude' is important; it is probable that these conditions will trigger a sad, miserable, and even an anti-social life. The following are quotes from the text: • The concept of the “delude” forwards the inference that man is not guaranteed rationality; man is merely capable of being rational. • What typically the deluded fool says is not right or even wrong; it is downright stupid. • At times, facts are in front of us; the blind can't see them, the deaf can't hear them, and the deluded fool can't believe them! • Delude: an individual who regards his own mental fascinations as reality, and is predisposed to strongly dedicate his or her entire life to a single idea which can be useful or destructive to his or her own life. • A generally accepted opinion is not, on that basis, guaranteed valid or a proof of its accuracy; equally, it is not proof of its falsity. The writing was reviewed by KIRKUS REVIEWS and also has a stared review from the ForeWord REVIEWS: • In many instances, Gondor’s descriptions conjure a human image to the reader’s mind—i.e., “Extremism,” Gondor warns, “is a direct consequence of a highly deluded mind,” and particularly in politics and religion, he says, the delude can be a dangerous, unsettling force. – KIRKUS REVIEWS. • According to Gondor, deludes tend to be conservative in their beliefs and convinced that their opinions are irrevocably true, despite evidence to the contrary. – ForeWord REVIEWS. • Gondor believes that this narrow view comes from ingrained prejudices and limited cognitive ability, and he asserts that deluded people lack the capacity to objectively consider opposing or multiple perspectives. Consequently, they cling to the positions they understand with single-minded determination and often become radical advocates of those opinions. For example, an avid environmentalist who argues adamantly for the preservation of old-growth forests but also drives a large gas-guzzling and polluting truck through those same woods would be considered a delude. – ForeWord REVIEWS. Fun reading, loaded with many ideas. You can download a PDF copy from this website, or can get a printed copy on Amazo

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF VIABILITY MEASUREMENT METHODS IN CROP PLANTS

The aim of the present study was to find the best way of measuring the viability of root and leaf samples from various plant species (pea, wheat and maize) exposed to different concentrations of the heavy metal Cd. A comparison was made of three viability tests, namely electrolyte leakage measurements, and TTC and NBT reduction. The results suggested that electrolyte leakage was the most useful method for measuring leaf viability, being simple, fast, reliable and reproducible. The TTC reduction measurement proved the most useful for maize roots, while NBT reduction was the best method for detecting the viability of pea and wheat roots

Grassland Restoration and Climate Change: Altar Valley, Arizona Case Study

The Altar Valley is an important working landscape that supports biodiversity and vulnerable species in Pima County, Arizona (Huckelberry 2000). This semi-desert grassland, alluvial valley and 713,807-acre watershed composed of 39 subbasins serves as an aquifer to a portion of southwestern Tucson. This region of Southern Arizona has been identified by an Arizona State Climate Summary in the 4th National Assessment as being highly vulnerable due to predicted high variability and decreases of greater than 20% springtime precipitation (Frankson et al. 2017). Other efforts have identified the area with a forecasted climate stress index of high sensitivity including recommendations to promote ecosystem adaptive capacity by enhancing resilience through “maintaining connectivity, using aggressive prevention and control of invasive plant species and grassland restoration of woodland invasion sites” (Comer 2012, page 77). These predicted climate change impacts have the potential to impact the ability of restoration projects to reach desired future conditions goals. In addition, climate variables related to species survival may shift spatially and temporally in the future. Thus, current restoration decisions and species selection become more important in preparation for a potentially shifting future landscape condition as a result of climate change. Restoration efforts may inadvertently promote locally non-climate-adapted species. Recent literature have demonstrated how climate change impacts from variability of precipitation and changes in soil moisture have impacted grass abundance (Bodner and Robles 2017; Gremer et al. 2015). A recent paper by Cang et al. (2016) found that niche rates of grass species may not keep up with the projected rate of climate change (Cang, Wilson, and Wiens 2016). Studies such as these point to the need to slow water and increase soil moisture as much as possible on the landscape. They also suggest a need to understand how grasses and other plant species may respond to climate change, so that restoration efforts can be more successful. Altar Valley Conservation Alliance (AVCA) and Pima County (PC) are prioritizing watershed restoration at the subbasin level based on hydrologic modeling. This research may help prioritize restoration locations focused specifically on restoring native grass species in potentially more climate resilient locations. Eight recent papers will help identify additional environmental variables and approaches (Godfree et al. 2011; Fehmi et al. 2014; Gremer et al. 2015; Cang, Wilson, and Wiens 2016; G. S. Bodner and Robles 2017; Munson and Long 2017; Kane et al. 2017; Hulvey et al. 2017). Evaluating potential climate change impacts to species distributions or habitat suitability using a model such as Maxent is an important tool for conservation of biodiversity (Guisan et al. 2013). Global circulation models (GCM), extreme scenario (RCP 8.5) from the ClimateNA dataset (Wang et al. 2016) were used with Maxent, to model potential habitat suitability for 25 grass species. The suitable habitat probabilities results of the grouped C3 and C4 grass species are somewhat mixed depending on time period and GCM. Results suggest that potential habitat suitability probabilities shift to zero probability in some lower elevation locations of the AV by 2050. The main recommendation is to consider climate change projections to inform species selections for revegetation of restoration locations. Two next steps could be to conduct climate change scenario planning (Caves et al. 2013; Star et al. 2016) and develop a comprehensive seed plan specific to Altar Valley (Buckley et al. 2016) that also highlights grass seed provenances from lower elevations within the Sonoran Desert ecoregion not just the Madrean Archipelago Ecoregion

"God of sausage and pierogis" : Polish themes in the prose of Louise Erdrich

Artykuł dotyczy analizy wybranych stereotypów w powieściach Louise Erdrich w tak zwanej sadze o Pillagerach oraz w The Round House i LaRose. Autorka zestawia dekonstrukcję stereotypów rdzennych Amerykanów z pogłębieniem portretów psychologicznych Amerykanów polskiego pochodzenia, koncentrując się na temacie historii i religii. Najważniejsze wątki to zależność bohaterów od fundamentalistycznie pojmowanego katolicyzmu i szamanizmu Odżibwejów. Artykuł zwraca uwagę na skutki przymusowej chrystianizacji u Odżibwejów i bezrefleksyjnie kontynuowanego katolicyzmu u potomków polskich imigrantów, co prowadzi do rozmycia tożsamości i wewnętrznych konfliktów często uzewnętrznianych przez działania autodestrukcyjne. Autorka zwraca też uwagę na wątki humorystyczne, które pokazują, jak bohaterowie stawiają czoła dylematom wynikającym z konfliktu kultur.This article analyses selected stereotypes present in the novels of Louise Erdrich - in the so-called Love Medicine series, The Round House, and LaRose. The author juxtaposes the deconstruction of stereotypes of Native Americans with the deepening of the psychological portraits of Polish Americans, focusing on the topics of history and religion. The most important motifs are the heroes' dependence on fundamentally understood Catholicism and on Ojibwe shamanism. The article draws attention to the effects of forced Christianization for the Ojibwe people and to the unreflective continuation of Catholicism in the descendants of Polish immigrants, both of which lead to a blurring of identity and to internal conflicts oftentimes externalized through self-destructive actions. The author also draws attention to humorous themes that show how the characters deal with the dilemmas resulting from the conflict of cultures

Impact of UV-B on drought- or cadmium-induced changes in the fatty acid composition of membrane lipid fractions in wheat

UV-B radiation may have either a positive or negative impact under the same conditions in wheat, depending on the type of secondary abiotic stressor: Cd or drought. Supplemental UV-B prevented the wilting and leaf rolling induced by PEG treatment. In contrast, combined UV-B and Cd treatment resulted in pronounced oxidative stress. The opposite effect of UV-B radiation in the case of drought or cadmium stress may be related to the alteration induced in the fatty acid composition. UV-B caused changes in the unsaturation of leaf phosphatidylglycerol fractions, and the accumulation of flavonoid in the leaves may prevent the stress induced by subsequent drought treatment. However it resulted in pronounced injury despite the increased flavonoid content in roots exposed to Cd. This was manifested in a drastic decrease in the unsaturation of the leaf monogalactosyldiacylglycerol and the root phosphatidylglycerol and digalactosyldiacylglycerol fractions. Data on the flavonoid content and fatty acid composition showed that oxidative stress was induced by drought in the leaves, by Cd in the roots, and interestingly, by UV-B radiation in both the leaves and roots. The additive effect of the combined stresses was also detected in the roots. The results presented here suggest a relationship between the capacity of the plant to remodel the fatty acid composition and its resistance to various stress factors