work together. we don ' t have much difficulty making simulations on the computer, but we had a very hard time getting the actual mechanism to work based on the simulation data. in 3d - tracking, for instance, subject tracking information and af need to link up and work together, but it didn ' t work at all at the beginning. we thought we had debugged the program and got the calculations perfect, too, but there were so many unknowns in this pioneering technology, it took a long while for us to make it work. we tested various possibilities in this process of trial and error, and once we finally got it to work in the camera, everyone involved in development and engineering felt a sense of achievement. ” you have been involved mainly in the development of metering technologies since you joined nikon, so in the development of the scene recognition system, you had to expand into other fields such as af, didn ' t you. i ' m very interested in how you approached those challenges. “ everyone in the development team came from completely different jobs, but our departments were nearby and we were in an environment where we could talk to each other quite easily. when talk of this development project came up, we had lots of discussions between departments. especially when the idea was first proposed, it came under criticism from people wondering whether there was any sense in even attempting such a high hurdle. once we put our heads together and talked openly about how we felt, i think we created an ideal environment for making something better. ” you knew it would be difficult, but you didn ' t say it was impossible. it is an admirable testimony to the interest and passion all the developers had for this new technology. “ i think it really was thanks to the efforts of so many people that we were able to do this. in the process of turning this new technology into a viable product, there really was a tremendous amount of ambiguity from the original idea to the final specifications we decided on. there were so many things we couldn ' t know just through experiments on the desk. in this area we had some members in the company who were in charge of making test photos and giving us constant advice. they were just like test drivers for new cars. we received lots of ideas from the hands - on experience of these people. real ideas from the field are indeed very different from theoretical ideas, and they were indispensable to our development efforts. ” the harder the road we travel, the greater is our joy at the end. just to hear someone


of these people. real ideas from the field are indeed very different from theoretical ideas, and they were indispensable to our development efforts. ” the harder the road we travel, the greater is our joy at the end. just to hear someone say they were able to take a photo they could never take before. how long did it take your team to develop the scene recognition system? - speaking of his future endeavors, mr. takeuch enthusiastically says : i want to explore applications to various camera models by considering their specifications and target users. “ about three years including time for the original idea. ” the d3 and d300 equipped with the scene recognition system have been released. looking back on the development process, where did you get the energy to overcome all those difficulties? “ it was really our strong desire to succeed in creating this system. the difficulty in developing the system was the scale of the expectations people had for this technology. this provided the support we need to overcome obstacles in the development process. of course, we have considerable satisfaction in having developed the technology, but more than that we look forward to the reaction of users. though we developed these cameras with high - end, professional users in mind, professionals have the ability to make do with cameras with few functions. so if professionals use these cameras and say they are really useful, that would be a mark of success for us. the aim of the scene recognition system really has been to enable people to take photos they could never take before. ” we also look forward to future applications of the scene recognition system, which has a lot of potential. “ as a core technology, we would like to adapt it to future camera models, considering their specifications and target users. we want to start looking into various applications that will meet those needs. ”


| click to see the full size image | about the image since 2003 i ' ve been gathering texts from the web written in indigenous and minority languages. the image above is a " family tree " of the 1000 languages i ' ve found to date, where proximity in the tree is measured by a straightforward statistical comparison of writing systems ( details below ). - when you load the full image it will be too big to fit in a browser window and you may not see anything at first – you ' ll need to use the horizontal and vertical scrollbars to explore different parts of the tree ( most browsers will let you zoom in and out also ). and because it ' s an svg image, you can use your browser ' s search functionality ( probably ctrl + f or - f ) to find different language codes, although the search behavior can be a bit weird / unpredictable. - each language is colored according to its linguistic family ( details here ). for example, all indo - european languages are greenish colors, with different subfamilies ( celtic, germanic, etc. ) being slightly different shades of green. i also tried to use similar colors for languages from the same geographical region even when there is no known genetic relationship among them, and so arawakan, quechuan, tucanoan languages ( all from south america ) are shades of purple, while central and north american languages are shades of blue. - clicking on a language opens a new tab or window with the documentation page for the iso 639 - 3 language identifier where you ' ll find a name for the language in english and a link to its ethnologue page for additional information. - what i ' m calling " languages " are really " writing systems " ; you ' ll see, for example, separate nodes for bo ( tibetan ) and bo - latn ( tibetan written in latin script ). in a small number of cases i track macrolanguages, regional variants ( e. g. en, en - ie, en - za ), and some dialects. in total, there are 919 distinct iso 639 - 3 codes among the 1000 writing systems represented. the gory details everything is based on an analysis of three character sequences ( " 3 - grams " ) in the different languages. it turns out that computing the statistics of 3 - grams in a given language provides a " fingerprint " that can be used for language identification and a number of other applications. specifically, imagine the huge - dimensional vector space v


in the different languages. it turns out that computing the statistics of 3 - grams in a given language provides a " fingerprint " that can be used for language identification and a number of other applications. specifically, imagine the huge - dimensional vector space v whose axes are labelled with all possible 3 - grams of unicode characters ( dim v > 1015 ). given a collection of texts in a language, you can compute the frequencies of all 3 - grams that appear in the collection, defining a ( sparse ) vector in v " representing " the language. we then define the distance between two languages to be the angle between their representative vectors in v. this can be computed by scaling the vectors to unit length and computing their dot product ( which is the cosine of the angle we want ). once we know the distance between each pair of languages, we can reconstruct a phylogenetic tree using any of a number of well - known algorithms. the image above was created using the so - called " neighbor - joining " algorithm ( which basically builds the tree in a greedy, bottom - up way ). a side - effect of the algorithm is that each edge in the tree is assigned a length, but note that the edge lengths in the rendered image have nothing to do with the computed edge lengths ( indeed, it ' s unlikely that the tree can be rendered in a distance - preserving way in two dimensions ). another side - effect of the algorithm is that the tree is connected – by definition, all languages are within a bounded distance of each other – and so near the root of the tree you ' ll see various languages which use completely different scripts joined in a more - or - less random fashion ( khmer, georgian, tamil, cherokee, etc. ). it would be easy enough to tweak the distance function or the algorithm to render languages with different scripts as separate connected components. how many languages are out there? ethnologue lists 6909 living languages in the world, but how many have some presence on the web? the answer depends greatly on what kinds of documents you include. if one takes linguistic studies into account, the number might be as high as 4000 – the open language archives community ( olac ) brings together data from linguistic archives all over the world into a single, searchable interface. the olac coverage page shows, at present, the existence of online resources for 3930 of the 6909 ethnologue languages, with more material coming online every day. the amazing odin project harvests examples of interlinear


##able interface. the olac coverage page shows, at present, the existence of online resources for 3930 of the 6909 ethnologue languages, with more material coming online every day. the amazing odin project harvests examples of interlinear glossed text from linguistic papers, and has over 1250 languages in its database. the 1000 languages found by my web crawler are, for the most part, what you might call " primary texts " : newspapers, blog posts, wikipedia articles, bible translations, etc. my best guess at present is that around 1500 languages have primary texts of this kind on the web. if you know of online resources written in a language that ' s not listed on our status page, please let me know in the comments. here are a couple of closely - related ( but ill - defined ) questions : first, " how many of the 6909 languages have a writing system? " and second, since a great number of the texts we ' ve found are bible translations or other evangelical works, one might ask " how many languages have a writing system that ' s used regularly by members of the speaker community? " i ' ve looked around a bit for answers to these questions but i haven ' t found any careful studies in the literature. mash it up! first, i ' d like to thank the hundreds of people who have contributed to the project over the years by providing training texts in many of the languages, correcting errors in the language identification, editing word lists, and helping separate different dialects / orthographies. you ' ll find many of their names on the project status page. thanks also to michael cysouw who first suggested generating an image of this kind ( you can find his image, created in 2005, on the main project page ). finally, thanks to my colleagues at twitter for several helpful conversations and for their interest in the indigenous tweets project.


research and innovation that is occurring at intermountain medical center on a daily basis, ” says david grauer, ceo / administrator of the hospital. “ we ’ re very proud to be able to support this kind of work that will lead to significant advancements in the way care is delivered to patients. ” currently, there are more than 500 clinical trials underway at intermountain medical center. the smart tray is the latest in a long list of inventions by dr. ehrenkranz, who has developed several drugs and medical devices. one recent example is a simple, inexpensive test for iodine deficiency. the test, featured in the february edition of the journal thyroid, works like a home pregnancy test, eliminating the need for labs and technicians. it ' s being used in developing nations to diagnose newborns with iodine deficiency and begin treatment, preventing major public health problems such as goiter. dr. ehrenkranz is a graduate of stanford school of medicine and has served on the medical staffs of hospitals on the east coast, colorado, and arizona. he is the holder of seven patents and is widely published in the field of endocrinology. he has served in roles with the u. s. food and drug administration and the national institutes of health, as well as several professional organizations. dr. ehrenkranz, md, and a handful of other scientists, were recently honored by the university of utah for their inventions and contributions to advancing science in the state of utah.


boston, ma ( ivanhoe newswire ) - - new research aims to give doctors a unique view inside the human body using a remote - controlled capsule which could find a problem and treat it. a miniaturized doctor and his team swim through a human body to save a life in the sci - fi classic fantastic voyage. decades later, a new swimming pill could give doctors a new way to save lives. noby hata, co - inventor of the swimming endoscopic capsule, told ivanhoe, " this capsule can stop or move or aim at the disease lesions so you can actually try to cure the lesion. " the capsule is designed to be swallowed like a pill. doctors will be able to control the camera magnetically from outside using an mri machine ’ s magnetic signals. there is a coil to induce the current remotely. hata says the mri works much like a gps. " you will see the cross section of the body and also the little capsule in the middle and you can navigate this capsule using this map as guidance. " so far, he ’ s successfully tested a prototype of the capsule in a fish tank inside an mri machine. the goal is to one day be able to deliver drugs or laser treatments directly to tumors or injuries in the digestive track. dr. kunal jajoo, associate physician in the department of medicine at brigham and women ’ s hospital believes this could change the way colonoscopies are performed. " it ’ s an amazing advance to be able to steer something that small within the body and really direct it to areas that might need therapy or biopsy or the like. "


the bone marrow is the principal source of the many different types of cells that circulate in your blood stream. the term “ myelodysplasia “ describes certain abnormalities in the production of these blood cells. “ myelodysplastic syndrome ” ( mds ) refer to at least five different entities, all of which interfere with the growth of blood cells in the bone marrow. the differences among them are found in the appearance of the cells under the microscope and are helpful primarily in determining prognosis. mds frequently progresses to a form of acute leukemia. leukemia is a cancer of the blood cells. but in the case of leukemia, there is an overproduction of immature cells ( blasts ) circulating in the blood and an underproduction of healthy cells. in mds, there is usually, but not always, only an underproduction of healthy cells. the progression to acute leukemia is so common that mds used to be known as “ preleukemia. ” the bone marrow contains stem cells, which have the capacity to become any of the cell types that circulate in the blood stream. these stem cells normally undergo a maturation process that results in mature cells with fixed functions : - red blood cells carry oxygen. - three types of granulocytes ( a type of white blood cell ) carry out immune functions. - two types of lymphocytes ( a type of white blood cell ) carry out immune functions. - macrophages and monocytes help us fight infection. - platelets provide a defense against bleeding and bruising. once cells have matured in the bone marrow, they are released into the blood circulation. mds interrupts the normal maturation process of blood cells. who is affected? roughly 3, 000 new cases of mds occur yearly in the united states. a similar rate of 1 to 10 per 100, 000 people occurs in the rest of the developed nations. cases without a known cause are most frequently found in older males, usually between 70 and 80 years of age ; among this group, the rate rises to 25 per 100, 000 people. the incidence of mds among younger populations is rising. this is partially due to the success of chemotherapy and radiation in treating and eradicating other forms of cancer since these therapies increase the risk of developing mds. causes and complications the exact cause of mds is unclear, but certain factors are believed to increase risk. these include radiation for the treatment of cancer, certain drugs and chemicals, genetic factors, and some birth


if your child is diagnosed with cancer, it may feel as though you went to bed one night and woke up in an alternate universe. suddenly there are all these new words — oncology, chemotherapy, radiation — not to mention a slew of new fears and emotions. now the doctor is saying your child ' s immune system isn ' t strong enough for him or her to go to school or even visit family. if that ' s the case, chances are it ' s because your child has developed a condition called neutropenia. neutropenia is when the body has abnormally low levels of certain white blood cells ( called neutrophils ), the body ' s main defense against infection. other problems with the immune system caused by the cancer and its treatment vary among patients, but they also can be important reasons to avoid crowds of people that may expose your child to viruses. a weakened immune system when a germ enters the body, a healthy immune system springs into action, sending an army of neutrophils to the area to attack. the next time those same germs enter the body, the immune system will " remember " them and try to head them off before they can cause any serious trouble. someone with cancer, though, commonly has fewer neutrophils patrolling the body. in some cases, that ' s because the cancer itself damages the bone marrow, the spongy material inside the bones where all new blood cells — including neutrophils — are made. ( this is especially common with cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. ) other times it may be the cancer treatments themselves that are doing the damage. both chemotherapy ( powerful cancer - fighting drugs ) and radiation ( high - energy x - rays ) work by killing the fastest - growing cells in the body — both bad and good. that means that along with cancer cells, healthy blood cells, like neutrophils, often get destroyed too. with fewer neutrophils, a person is more prone to infection. even things the body would normally be able to fight off without much trouble, like skin infections or ear infections, become much more serious and long - lasting when a person is in a neutropenic state. that ' s why it ' s important to call the doctor right away if your child has a fever, shaking or chills, or any mouth or skin sores, which may be signs of infection. fortunately, doctors can use a blood test called an absolute neut


" kissine offers a new theory of speech acts which is philosophically sophisticated and builds on work in cognitive science, formal semantics, and linguistic typology. this highly readable, brilliant essay is a major contribution to the field. " date : mon, 23 feb 2004 12 : 02 : 10 + 0100 from : cornelia tschichold < cornelia. tschichold @ unine. ch > subject : world englishes authors : melchers, gunnel ; shaw, philip title : world englishes series : the english language series publisher : arnold year : 2003 cornelia tschichold, institute of english, university of neuchatel, switzerland introduction this book is a recent addition to the growing number of textbooks on varieties of english around the world. in the preface, the two authors, both from stockholm university, describe the intended audience of the book as readers familiar with the basics of linguistics and phonetics, thus typically undergraduate students after their first year at a department of english, with english either as their native or a second or foreign language. the book has an accompanying cd, which is sold separately and therefore does not figure in this review. synopsis chapter 1 is a very short chapter on the history of english from 450 to the beginnings of modern english. the development of the language is illustrated mainly through the most accessible aspect, its loanwords. chapter 2 covers the more recent history of english, when the language spread around the globe, first to the so - called ' inner circle ' countries, later to the ' outer circle ' and finally to the ' expanding circle '. this three - circle model by kachru is adopted as the organizing principle for the book. the chapter also introduces the distinction often made between english as a second and english as a foreign language, while drawing attention to the problems of terminology and those of differing political viewpoints involved. chapter 3 discusses basic terms in language variation and provides the framework for the classification and description of the many varieties discussed in chapters 4 to 6. the authors divide variation into the areas of spelling, phonology, grammar and lexicon, and give a brief overview of the main types of variation in each area. for the description of phonology, wells ' standard lexical sets are introduced. the section on rhythm and intonation explains the concept of stress - times vs. syllable - timed rhythm and mentions high - rising terminals as the most striking phenomena in the area of intonation. the sections on lexis and on the historical origin of varieties introduce a large


, and the authors should be praised for trying to combine most of the relevant sociolinguistic aspects with a large number of linguistic descriptions of individual varieties in a relatively small book. apart from the style, most of my criticism therefore relates to details of content. a number of sections in the book seem to be the result of compromises of various kinds : one might argue, for example, about the usefulness of a very short chapter on the roots of english, or whether such a a book is the best place for contemplating the influence of english on other languages via borrowing. possibly these pages might have been put to better use. one of my quibbles concerns the notoriously difficult problem of the translations or glosses, which have not received the necessary attention to detail. dialectal variation is illustrated with a geordie poem ( " a hev gorra bairn / an a hev gorra wife / an a cannit see me bairn or wife / workin in the night " ), where the word ' gorra ' is claimed to stand for the local pronunciation of ' got to ' ( p. 13 ). generally, the maps in the book are often not very useful as they do not show all areas mentioned in the text and do not distinguish between cities and provinces. to give just one example, among the dialects of england discussed in the text are those of leeds, derby, west wirral and norwich, but only leeds can be found on one of the maps. one might also wonder about the necessity of listing statistics on area, population and capital for the countries discussed, given that such data can easily be found elsewhere and is of questionable relevance in this context. within the descriptions of the individual varieties, spelling, a very accessible aspect, is not systematically commented on, e. g. south asian english is said to be " spelt in the british style ", but british english does not have a section on spelling. in the more extensive section on phonology most of the comparisons of the lexical sets are clearly useful and could have been extended, e. g. it would have been interesting to see the australian vowels compared not just to rp, but also to american english vowels. in addition to the concept of lexical sets, much of the data used by the authors comes from wells as well, which often seems a needless repetition, especially where even the examples are taken straight from wells ( 1982 ), a study in three volumes based on data which is now more than a generation old. on


cheshire ( 1991 ) and allerton et al ( 2002 ) finally are edited collections of papers that provide accessible further reading on a range of subtopics on world englishes. writing a relatively short textbook of such a scope is a very big bite to chew, and while i would like to congratulate the authors on their choice of content, i wish they had chosen a different style for the book and spent more time on revision and ensuring internal consistency. references allerton, d. j., skandera, p. and tschichold, c., eds. ( 2002 ). perspectives on english as a world language. basel : schwabe. bauer, l. ( 2002 ). an introduction to international varieties of english. edinburgh university press. brutt - griffler, j. ( 2002 ). world english : a study of its development. multilingual matters. cheshire, j., ed. ( 1991 ). english around the world : sociolinguistic perspectives. cambridge up. crystal, d. ( 1995 ). the cambridge encyclopedia of the english language. cambridge up. crystal, d. ( 1997 ). english as a global language. cambridge university press. jenkins, j. ( 2003 ). world englishes : a resource book for students. routledge. trudgill, p. & j. hannah ( 1994, 3rd ed. ). international english : a guide to the varieties of standard english. arnold. wells, j. c. ( 1982 ). accents of english, vols i - iii. cambridge university press. about the reviewer : about the reviewer cornelia tschichold teaches english linguistics at neuchatel university. while her research interests focus on english phraseology, computational lexicography and computer - assisted language learning, she teaches a wide range of courses in english linguistics, including courses on sociolinguistics, the history of english, and varieties of english around the world.


daughter may be exchanged for a girl who can be exchanged in turn for a wife for any member of the family ) : under the same system, one is obliged to provide a male with a female to exchange for a wife ; and permitting an unmarried father custody of his male children would probably depend rather on the existing ratio of unmarried males to unmarried females in the mother ' s compound, or on the desire of senior males to take additional wives, perhaps. hdg / as the conclusion to be drawn from all this it is suggested that the dual form of marriage, while so long - standing in the northern villages as to be fundamental to the social system, was not a primeval and unchangeable custom, but only a compromise evolved - as the result of a fight against the unsatisfactory features of exchange marriage - from an earlier system in which no other form of marriage existed. pp539 - 40. exchange marriage : certain practices were noted among the southern villages which dr meek does not actually mention : ( a ) a woman who is a proved child - bearer is ( or was ) sometimes exchanged for another woman plus money, or rather plus hoes, which were formerly the only currency ; ( b ) a woman may be exchanged for the refusal of a girl, or, on the principle of the bird in the hand, of two girls ; ( c ) re - exchange is regular during the negotiations for a marriage, and a long chain of exchanges of brides and prospective brides may be set up, but once marriage is consummated the wife is not again exchanged. bride - price : the majority of men state that their wives were obtained by purchase, not exchange, and it looks as though a system of bride - price of the common ( moslem ) type ( i. e. where the father, not the mother, has custody of the children ) is coming into existence. for instance, it was said at gembu that exchange had been rare for over 30 years, yet al the families were undoubtedly patrilocal. possibly the patrilocal bride - price system is an extension of the marriage with a purchased slave which dr meek mentions. it was evidently common in the past and is probably so now, for a girl married by bride - price, if she had borne no children within a year or two, to be reclaimed by the parents and given in exchange elsewhere. custody of children : enquiries went to show that the vast majority of children now reside in the father ' s house, despite the


( ara ) - traditionally, the term “ war zone ” elicits images of tanks, gunfire and military personnel. however, as technology evolves, so do the weapons associated with the art of warfare. most recently, the battleground has moved online, with the introduction of a new computer malware threat known as “ flame. ” flame steals information from e - operations of certain nation states – making it a vital threat to both governments and military units. based on the way flame works, it can be classified as a “ cyber weapon, ” according to kaspersky lab, a russian anti - virus firm. web attacks cost businesses $ 114 billion each year, according to a 2011 study conducted by symantec. and as more business, government and military institutions store classified information online, the probability of an attempted attack by these new forms of cyber - weaponry increases. given the likelihood for future security breaches, the need for professionals with the skills required to protect those at risk for such forms of online espionage is amplifying. the u. s. bureau of labor statistics occupational outlook handbook reports that by the year 2020, demand for cyber security experts will increase by 28 percent. much like the way the military and police serve and protect our country and its citizens, cyber security experts play a crucial role in protecting an institution ’ s network and information from attacks. these professionals, known as computer forensics experts, also analyze the electronic evidence, and in some cases identify and serve as expert witnesses to help prosecute the criminals responsible. bachelor ’ s degree programs such as computer information systems ( cis ) help prepare students for this role. many programs allow students to concentrate their studies in a variety of cyber security specialties. for example, students focusing on computer forensics will learn the skills necessary to handle the electronic evidence of criminal cases and how to identify and prosecute criminals. at devry university, students enrolled in the computer information systems bachelor ’ s degree program can pursue a cyber security specialization in computer forensics that allows them to gain understanding of the diversity of computer crime, and the laws and principals concerned with computer forensics and electronic evidence. they also learn how to discover data that resides in a computer system, and how to recover deleted, encrypted or damaged file information. “ technical knowledge is only one piece of the skillset puzzle for cyber security practitioners, ” says dr. ahmed naumaan, national dean for the college of engineering & information sciences at devry university. “ creativity and the ability to think outside the box play a


what do we really know about creativity? very little. we know that creative genius is not the same thing as intelligence. in fact, beyond a certain minimum iq threshold – about one standard deviation above average, or an iq of 115 – there is no correlation at all between intelligence and creativity. we know that creativity is empirically correlated with mood - swing disorders. a couple of decades ago, harvard researchers found that people showing ‘ exceptional creativity ’ – which they put at fewer than 1 per cent of the population – were more likely to suffer from manic - depression or to be near relatives of manic - depressives. as for the psychological mechanisms behind creative genius, those remain pretty much a mystery. about the only point generally agreed on is that, as pinker put it, ‘ geniuses are wonks. ’ they work hard ; they immerse themselves in their genre. could this immersion have something to do with stocking the memory? as an instructive case of creative genius, consider the french mathematician henri poincare, who died in 1912. poincare ’ s genius was distinctive in that it embraced nearly the whole of mathematics, from pure ( number theory ) to applied ( celestial mechanics ). along with his german coeval david hilbert, poincare was the last of the universalists. his powers of intuition enabled him to see deep connections between seemingly remote branches of mathematics. he virtually created the modern field of topology, framing the ‘ poincare conjecture ’ for future generations to grapple with, and he beat einstein to the mathematics of special relativity. unlike many geniuses, poincare was a man of great practical prowess ; as a young engineer he conducted on - the - spot diagnoses of mining disasters. he was also a lovely prose stylist who wrote bestselling works on the philosophy of science ; he is the only mathematician ever inducted into the literary section of the institut de france. what makes poincare such a compelling case is that his breakthroughs tended to come in moments of sudden illumination. one of the most remarkable of these was described in his essay ‘ mathematical creation ’. poincare had been struggling for some weeks with a deep issue in pure mathematics when he was obliged, in his capacity as mine inspector, to make a geological excursion. ‘ the changes of travel made me forget my mathematical work, ’ he recounted. having reached coutances, we entered an omnibus to go some place or other. at the moment i put my foot on the step the idea came


geological excursion. ‘ the changes of travel made me forget my mathematical work, ’ he recounted. having reached coutances, we entered an omnibus to go some place or other. at the moment i put my foot on the step the idea came to me, without anything in my former thoughts seeming to have paved the way for it, that the transformations i had used to define the fuchsian functions were identical with those of non - euclidean geometry. i did not verify the idea ; i should not have had time, as, upon taking my seat in the omnibus, i went on with a conversation already commenced, but i felt a perfect certainty. on my return to caen, for conscience ’ s sake, i verified the result at my leisure. how to account for the full - blown epiphany that struck poincare in the instant that his foot touched the step of the bus? his own conjecture was that it had arisen from unconscious activity in his memory. ‘ the role of this unconscious work in mathematical invention appears to me incontestable, ’ he wrote. ‘ these sudden inspirations … never happen except after some days of voluntary effort which has appeared absolutely fruitless. ’ the seemingly fruitless effort fills the memory banks with mathematical ideas – ideas that then become ‘ mobilised atoms ’ in the unconscious, arranging and rearranging themselves in endless combinations, until finally the ‘ most beautiful ’ of them makes it through a ‘ delicate sieve ’ into full consciousness, where it will then be refined and proved. poincare was a modest man, not least about his memory, which he called ‘ not bad ’ in the essay. in fact, it was prodigious. ‘ in retention and recall he exceeded even the fabulous euler, ’ one biographer declared. ( euler, the most prolific mathematician of all – the constant e takes his initial – was reputedly able to recite the aeneid from memory. ) poincare read with incredible speed, and his spatial memory was such that he could remember the exact page and line of a book where any particular statement had been made. his auditory memory was just as well developed, perhaps owing to his poor eyesight. in school, he was able to sit back and absorb lectures without taking notes despite being unable to see the blackboard. it is the connection between memory and creativity, perhaps, which should make us most wary of the web. ‘ as our use of the web makes it harder for us to lock information into our biological memory,


this function unlocks a region in an open file. unlocking a region enables other processes to access the region. bool unlockfileex ( handle hfile, dword dwreserved, dword nnumberofbytestolocklow, dword nnumberofbytestolockhigh, lpoverlapped lpoverlapped ) ; [ in ] handle to a file that contains a region locked by the lockfileex function. the file handle must have been created with the generic _ read or generic _ write access right. reserved. set to zero. [ in ] low - order portion of the length of the byte range to unlock. [ in ] high - order portion of the length of the byte range to unlock. [ in ] pointer to an overlapped structure that is used with the unlock request. this structure contains the file offset of the beginning of the unlock range. nonzero indicates success. zero indicates failure. for extended error information, call getlasterror. unlocking a region of a file releases a previously acquired lock on the file. the region to unlock must correspond exactly to an existing locked region. two adjacent regions of a file cannot be locked separately and then unlocked using a single region that spans both locked regions. if a process terminates with a portion of a file locked or closes a file that has outstanding locks, the locks are unlocked by the os. however, the time it takes for the os to unlock these locks depends upon available system resources. therefore, explicitly unlock all locked files when a process ends. otherwise, access to these files can be denied if the os has not yet unlocked them.


both devices rely on injectable solutions of radiopharmaceuticals, which are drugs that are labeled with radioactive isotopes. as the solution circulates throughout the body, it tends to accumulate in malignant cells. the congregated radiopharmaceuticals emit gamma - rays, which are sensed as light by the devices and then converted into electronic signals that can be rendered as a visible image. " what we will be looking to do is develop minimally invasive instrumentation, " keppel says. " we want to be able to locate and diagnose cancers more effectively. everything coming out of the center, at least in the immediate future, will be focused on finding better ways to locate or image those radiopharmaceuticals. " eastern virginia medical school ( evms ) in norfolk will be joining with cami to establish a graduate program in medical physics. it will be the first such program in virginia, and the first in the country at an historically black college. any devices resulting from the collaboration will be evaluated both nationally and in clinical programs conducted at tidewater - area hospitals. keppel is in the process of writing proposals that would fund center personnel in medical physics, engineering and applied technology. in addition to five students and two part - time administrative assistants, keppel expects up to 10 individuals from hampton university, the lab, and evms to staff cami. " we pool expertise in one place and we get the word out, " she says. " the idea is to become an international resource for medical physics and to invite physicians, companies and patient advocacy groups to partner with us. " groundbreaking for a new cami research facility on campus at hampton university is scheduled for later this spring. when complete in 2003, the center will enclose 12, 000 square feet in two stories, housing primarily research labs contact : linda ware doe / thomas jefferson national accelerator facility


using voting records, the researchers found out political party affiliation for 35 of the men and 47 of the women in that study. political parties aren ' t a perfect match with ideology, but they come very close, the researchers wrote feb. 13 in the journal plos one. most democrats hold liberal values, while most republicans hold conservative values. comparing the democrat and republican participants turned up differences in two brain regions : the right amygdala and the left posterior insula. republicans showed more activity than democrats in the right amygdala when making a risky decision. this brain region is important for processing fear, risk and reward. meanwhile, democrats showed more activity in the left posterior insula, a portion of the brain responsible for processing emotions, particularly visceral emotional cues from the body. the particular region of the insula that showed the heightened activity has also been linked with " theory of mind, " or the ability to understand what others might be thinking. while their brain activity differed, the two groups ' behaviors were identical, the study found. schreiber and his colleagues can ' t say whether the functional brain differences nudge people toward a particular ideology or not. the brain changes based on how it is used, so it is possible that acting in a partisan way prompts the differences. the functional differences did mesh well with political beliefs, however. the researchers were able to predict a person ' s political party by looking at their brain function 82. 9 percent of the time. in comparison, knowing the structure of these regions predicts party correctly 71 percent of the time, and knowing someone ' s parents ' political affiliation can tell you theirs 69. 5 percent of the time, the researchers wrote. this article originally appeared on livescience. com. more from livescience. com :


body, ” pfaff found that the nervous system protein gnrh promotes reproductive behavior as well as directing the pituitary to stimulate the ovaries and testes. this action of gnrh renders instinctive behaviors congruent with the physiology of reproductive organs elsewhere in the body pfaff ’ s lab subsequently discovered that gnrh - producing neurons are not actually born in the brain as other neurons are. instead, during embryonic development, they are born in the olfactory epithelium. once born, they migrate up the nose and into the forebrain. in humans, interruption of that migration, especially in men, causes a state in which the body does not produce adequate amounts of the sex hormone testosterone. this hypogonadal state is associated with a loss of libido. in 2003, pfaff received an nih merit award for the study of generalized arousal, responsible for activating all behavioral responses.. his team formulated the first operational definition of nervous system arousal, enabling scientists to measure arousal quantitatively in laboratory animals, as well as in human beings. in humans, deficits in arousal contribute to such cognitive problems as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism and alzheimer ' s disease. erosion of arousal also may account for some of the mental difficulties that people face as they age. understanding generalized arousal may help scientists develop pharmacological methods to enhance alertness during the day and sleep at night. analyzing the mechanisms of arousal may also lead to a more precise anesthesiology. pfaff has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of how the administration of sex hormones can affect health. pfaff ’ s lab recently showed that giving hormone doses in pulses, rather than as a steady exposure, may maximize the benefits and limit the side effects now associated with hormone therapies. by giving estrogen replacement to the rats, the scientists studied the actions of the hormone at the level of the brain cell ' s protective outer membrane, and inside the nucleus where the cell ' s dna is housed. they found that both the membrane and the dna pathways are crucial, with one facilitating the other, in triggering hormone - dependent gene expression and female mating behavior. by limiting the estrogen exposure of to short pulses, the total dose can be kept much smaller than with steady delivery, and therefore some of the negative effects will be reduced. born in rochester, n. y., on december 9, 1939, he received the a. b. degree magna cum laude from harvard college in


be kept much smaller than with steady delivery, and therefore some of the negative effects will be reduced. born in rochester, n. y., on december 9, 1939, he received the a. b. degree magna cum laude from harvard college in 1961 and a ph. d. from the massachusetts institute of technology in 1965. he held a national merit scholarship, harvard national scholarship, woodrow wilson fellowship, mit president ' s award fellowship, national institutes of health predoctoral fellowship and national science foundation postdoctoral fellowship. pfaff joined the rockefeller university in 1966 as a postdoctoral fellow. he was named assistant professor in 1969, associate professor in 1971, granted tenure in 1973 and promoted to full professor in 1978. he is a member of the u. s. national academy of sciences and a fellow of the american academy of arts and sciences. he also is a member of several scientific organizations related to studies of the central nervous system. he is the author of estrogens and brain function ( springer, 1980 ), drive : neurobiological and molecular mechanisms of sexual motivation ( mit press, 1999 ), brain arousal and information theory ( harvard university press, 2005 ) and the neuroscience of fair play : why we ( usually ) follow the golden rule ( dana press, 2007 ). he has edited the physiological bases of motivation ( 1982 ), ethical questions in brain and behavior ( 1984 ), genetic influences on the nervous system ( crc press, 1999 ) and hormones, brain and behavior ( 5 volumes, academic press, 2002 ). he also is on the editorial boards of several scientific journals. pfaff and his first wife, the poet stephanie strickland, have three children : robin ( palo alto, calif. ), alexander ( new york, n. y. ) and douglas ( new york, n. y. ).


invasion of privacy the right of privacy is a common - law ( court - made ) cause of action that is a fairly new legal development. the u. s. constitution contains no direct references to the right of privacy. there are few statutes that affect privacy and most invasion of privacy lawsuits that publishers may face are of the common - law type. an action for invasion of privacy is actually comprised of four distinct torts ( legal wrongs ). these are : intrusion upon seclusion ; appropriation of name or likeness ; publicity given to private life ; and publicity placing the person in a false light. each separate cause of action is addressed below. note : to sue successfully for invasion of privacy, a plaintiff only has to prove one of the four torts, not all of the four torts. the right of privacy competes with the freedom of the press as well as the interest of the public in the free dissemination of news and information, and these permanent public interests must be considered when placing the necessary limitations upon the right of privacy. pennsylvania courts have held that an action based on such right must not become a vehicle for establishment of a judicial censorship of the press. back to top. intrusion upon seclusion one who intentionally intrudes, physically or otherwise, upon the solitude or seclusion of another or his private affairs or concerns, is subject to liability to the other for invasion of his privacy, if the intrusion would be highly offensive to a reasonable person. to be liable for intrusion upon seclusion, the plaintiff must prove the following elements : 1. invasion of a secluded place or privacy : the defendant ( the offender ) must invade the plaintiff ' s ( the person suing ) personal or private space. the definition of this invasion is very broad. invasion may be : by physical intrusion into a place where the plaintiff has secluded himself. by use of the defendant ' s senses to oversee or overhear the plaintiff ' s private affairs ( such as eavesdropping or spying with a telescope ), or some other form of investigation or examination into plaintiff ' s private concerns ( such as illegally obtaining someone ' s credit report ). 2. objectionable intrusion : the intrusion must be of a type that would be highly offensive to the ordinary reasonable person. 3. invasion of private affairs or matters : the interference with the plaintiff ' s privacy must be substantial ( however, if the event reported occurs in public, there is no expectation of privacy ). examples of intrusion upon privacy include placing microphones or cameras in someone ' s bedroom or hacking into their computer.


with the plaintiff ' s privacy must be substantial ( however, if the event reported occurs in public, there is no expectation of privacy ). examples of intrusion upon privacy include placing microphones or cameras in someone ' s bedroom or hacking into their computer. however, where the information that is reported pertains to the public interest as well as a party ' s private interest, that individual ' s right of privacy will be weighed against the public interest. if the event being reported is in the public interest ( a newsworthy event ), it will, in all likelihood, be immune to an invasion of privacy lawsuit. an example of this would be a car accident. although it involves the personal affairs of a few people ( or even only one person ), the accident is reportable because it is a newsworthy event. therefore, a person cannot sue a newspaper for invasion of privacy over a story about a car accident that includes the driver ' s name. photographs taken in public are also not violative of one ' s privacy. back to top. appropriation of name or likeness appropriation of name or likeness occurs when someone appropriates the name or likeness of another for their own use or benefit. action for misappropriation of right of publicity protects against commercial loss caused by appropriation of an individual ' s personality for commercial exploitation. it gives the individual exclusive right to control the commercial value of his or her name and likeness to prevent others from exploiting that value without permission. it is similar to a trademark action with the person ' s likeness, rather than the trademark, being the subject of the protection. courts have denied plaintiffs lawsuits unless there is a finding that the defendant obtains an economic benefit from using the plaintiff ' s name. additionally, the courts are unlikely to find that there has been an appropriation of the plaintiff ' s likeness unless the unauthorized use was part of an advertisement or a promotion. if such an appropriation is for a newsworthy event, the person ' s right to privacy is not violated. an example of this is if a photograph of someone patronizing a new restaurant is published as part of a story publicizing the opening of the restaurant. the patron cannot sue the newspaper for appropriation of name or likeness because the photograph is being used for a newsworthy event. however, if a store is using someone ' s picture to advertise a new line of clothes, and they have not received permission from that person to use the picture, that person ' s likeness has been wrongly appropriated. back to top. publicity given to


an ordinary person. because of this lessened expectancy of privacy, a newspaper can publish a biography of a public figure without fear of being sued for invasion of privacy. no permission is needed to do such a story. additionally, the newspaper can include some facts that would otherwise be an invasion of privacy for a person who is not a public figure. care must be taken that these otherwise private facts are within the scope of the story. examples of these facts would be a public figure ' s familial background, associates, or specific events in their life that shape them into the person that they are, or that shed light as to their guilt or innocence. public figures ( those persons who, by their accomplishments or place in life, give the public a legitimate interest in their affairs, such as politicians, professional athletes, and even personal injury claimants ) face a somewhat lessened right to privacy because more of their actions are of legitimate public concern than they would be if the public figure were an ordinary person. because of this lessened expectancy of privacy, a newspaper can publish a biography of a public figure without fear of being sued for invasion of privacy. no permission is needed to do such a story. additionally, the newspaper can include some facts that would otherwise be an invasion of privacy for a person who is not a public figure. care must be taken that these otherwise private facts are within the scope of the story. examples of these facts would be a public figure ' s familial background, associates, or specific events in their life that shape them into the person that they are, or that shed light as to their guilt or innocence. back to top. publicity placing the person in a false light one who gives publicity to a matter concerning another that places the other before the public in a false light is subject to liability to the other for invasion of his privacy if the false light in which the other was placed would be highly offensive to a reasonable person. examples include a newspaper publishing an innocent person ' s picture as part of a story about convicted felons or including reporting that someone was involved in a domestic dispute when, in fact, there was no such dispute. publicly placing a person in a false light also includes falsely stating someone ' s views, such as saying that someone is a member of the ku klux klan. an important exception is when the published matter is in the public interest ( newsworthy ), such as an item dealing with an accident or the background of a candidate for public office. when the published matter is in


this site is used for testing new functionality and bug fixes. things may not always work the way you expect. for the production site, please go to http : / / www. pdb. org looking at structures : dealing with coordinates the primary information stored in the pdb archive consists of coordinate files for biological molecules. these files list the atoms in each protein, and their 3d location in space. these files are available in several formats ( pdb, mmcif, xml ). a typical pdb formatted file includes a large " header " section of text that summarizes the protein, citation information, and the details of the structure solution, followed by the sequence and a long list of the atoms and their coordinates. the archive also contains the experimental observations that are used to determine these atomic coordinates. when you start exploring the structures in the pdb archive, you will need to know a few things about coordinate files. major topics are included here. atoms and hetatms a typical pdb format file will contain atomic coordinates for a diverse collection of proteins, small molecules, ions and water. each atom is entered as a line of information that starts with a keyword : either atom or hetatm. by tradition, the atom keyword is used to identify proteins or nucleic acid atoms, and keyword hetatm is used to identify atoms in small molecules. following this keyword, there is a list of information about the atom, including its name, its number in the file, the name and number of the residue it belongs to, one letter to specify the chain ( in oligomeric proteins ), its x, y, and z coordinates, and an occupancy and temperature factor ( described in more detail below ). this information gives you a lot of control when exploring the structure. for instance, most molecular graphics programs enable you to color identified portions of the molecule selectively - - for example, to pick out all of the carbon atoms and color them green, or to pick one particular amino acid and highlight it. the left image shows myoglobin ( pdb entry 1mbo ) using the default representation in mbt protein workshop. it shows a ribbon diagram for the protein, and ball - and - stick for the small molecules. in the right image, we have changed the representation to show all atoms, using the information in each atom record to color the molecules differently. this clearly shows the heme group in bright red, and a bound oxygen molecule in turquoise. tip : by default,


right image, we have changed the representation to show all atoms, using the information in each atom record to color the molecules differently. this clearly shows the heme group in bright red, and a bound oxygen molecule in turquoise. tip : by default, many molecular graphics programs do not display the water positions in a pdb file, even though they are often important to the function and interaction of biological molecules. most of these programs have a way to display them, if you use their methods for atom selection. chains and models biological molecules are hierarchical, building from atoms to residues to chains to assemblies. coordinate files contain ways to organize and specify molecules at all of these levels. as described above, the atom names and residue information are included in each atom record. the higher - order information is identified by keywords that separate blocks of atom records, such as ter and model. protein and nucleic acid chains are specified by the ter keyword, as well as a one - letter designation in the coordinate records. the chains are included one after another in the file, separated by a ter record to indicate that the chains are not physically connected to each other. most molecular graphics programs look for this ter record so that they don ' t draw a bond to connect different chains. pdb format files use the model keyword to indicate multiple molecules in a single file. this was initially created to archive coordinate sets that include several different models of the same structure, like the structural ensembles obtained in nmr analysis. when you view these files, you will see dozens of similar molecules all superimposed. the model keyword is now also used in biological assembly files to separate the many symmetrical copies of the molecule that are generated from the asymmetric unit ( for more information, see the tutorial on biological assemblies ). two useful coloring schemes allow you to explore the different chains in any given pdb file. first, you may color each chain differently to show the packing of different chains in the molecule as shown in the bottom image. then, you can color each chain using a rainbow of colors from one end of the chain to the other to highlight its folding characteristics as shown at the top. both of these methods are available in most molecular graphics programs. the molecule shown here is hemolysin from pdb entry 7ahl. if we were able to hold an atom rigidly fixed in one place, we could observe its distribution of electrons in an ideal situation. the image would be dense towards the center with the density falling off further from the nucleus. when you look


by the temperature factors. high values, indicating lots of motion, are in red and yellow, and low values are in blue. notice that the interior of the protein has low b - values and the amino acids on the surface have higher values. you can click on the picture for an interactive jmol view. tip : temperature factors are a measure of our confidence in the location of each atom. if you find an atom on the surface of a protein with a high temperature factor, keep in mind that this atom is probably moving a lot, and that the coordinates specified in the pdb file are only one possible snapshot of its location. occupancy and multiple conformations macromolecular crystals are composed of many individual molecules packed into a symmetrical arrangement. in some crystals, there are slight differences between each of these molecules. for instance, a sidechain on the surface may wag back and forth between several conformations, or a substrate may bind in two orientations in an active site, or a metal ion may be bound to only a few of the molecules. when researchers build the atomic model of these portions, they can use the occupancy to estimate the amount of each conformation that is observed in the crystal. for most atoms, the occupancy is given a value of 1, indicating that the atom is found in all of the molecules in the same place in the crystal. however, if a metal ion binds to only half of the molecules in the crystal, the researcher will see a weak image of the ion in the electron density map, and can assign an occupancy of 0. 5 in the pdb structure file for this atom. occupancies are also commonly used to identify sidechains or ligands that are observed in multiple conformations. the occupancy value is used to indicate the fraction of molecules that have each of the conformations. two ( or more ) atom records are included for each atom, with occupancies like 0. 5 and 0. 5, or 0. 4 and 0. 6, or other fractional occupancies that sum to a total of 1. the two images shown are taken from the high - resolution structure of myoglobin in entry 1a6m : glutamine 8 is on the left, and tyrosine 151 on the right. in both cases, the depositors interpreted the experimental data as showing two conformations of the amino acid, with occupancies of


thinking and reasoning 2 ( 1 ) : 33 – 49 ( 1996 ) | abstract | | we postulate the testing principle : that individuals ' ' act like statisticians ' ' when they face uncertainty in a decision problem, ranking alternatives to the extent that available evidence allows. the testing principle implies that completeness of preferences, rather than the sure - thing principle, is violated in the ellsberg paradox. in the experiment, subjects chose between risky and uncertain acts in modified ellsberg - type urn problems, with sample information about the uncertain urn. our results show, consistent with the testing principle, that the uncertain urn is chosen more often when the sample size is larger, holding constant a measure of ambiguity ( proportion of balls of unknown colour in the urn ). the testing principle rationalises the ellsberg paradox. behaviour consistent with the principle leads to a reduction in ellsberg - type violations as the statistical quality of sample information is improved, holding ambiguity constant. the testing principle also provides a normative rationale for the ellsberg paradox that is consistent with procedural rationality. | | keywords | | no keywords specified ( fix it ) | | through your library | | configure | similar books and articles edward e. schlee ( 1997 ). the sure thing principle and the value of information. theory and decision 42 ( 1 ) : 21 - 36. ronald n. giere ( 1970 ). an orthodox statistical resolution of the paradox of confirmation. philosophy of science 37 ( 3 ) : 354 - 362. patrick maher ( 1999 ). inductive logic and the ravens paradox. philosophy of science 66 ( 1 ) : 50 - 70. horacio arlo - costa & jeffrey helzner, iterated random selection as intermediate between risk and uncertainty. jeffrey helzner ( 2009 ). on the application of multiattribute utility theory to models of choice. theory and decision 66 ( 4 ) : 301 - 315. katie steele ( 2007 ). distinguishing indeterminate belief from “ risk - averse ” preferences. synthese 158 ( 2 ) : 189 - 205. horacio arlo - costa & jeffrey helzner ( 2010 ). ambiguity aversion : the explanatory power of indeterminate probabilities. synthese 172 ( 1 ). jurgen eichberger & david kelsey ( 1999 ). e - capacities and the ellsberg paradox. theory and decision 46 ( 2 ) : 107 - 138. pr


an important discovery has been made with respect to the mystery of “ handedness ” in biomolecules. researchers led by sandra pizzarello, a research professor at arizona state university, found that some of the possible abiotic precursors to the origin of life on earth have been shown to carry “ handedness ” in a larger number than previously thought. the work is being published in this week ’ s early edition of the proceedings of the national academy of sciences. the paper is titled, “ molecular asymmetry in extraterrestrial chemistry : insights from a pristine meteorite, ” and is co - authored by pizzarello and yongsong huang and marcelo alexandre, of brown university. pizzarello, in asu ’ s department of chemistry and biochemistry, worked with huang and alexandre in studying the organic materials of a special group of meteorites that contain among a variety of compounds, amino acids that have identical counterparts in terrestrial biomolecules. these meteorites are fragments of asteroids that are about the same age as the solar system ( roughly 4. 5 billion years. ) scientists have long known that most compounds in living things exist in mirror - image forms. the two forms are like hands ; one is a mirror reflection of the other. they are different, cannot be superimposed, yet identical in their parts. when scientists synthesize these molecules in the laboratory, half of a sample turns out to be “ left - handed ” and the other half “ right - handed. ” but amino acids, which are the building blocks of terrestrial proteins, are all “ left - handed, ” while the sugars of dna and rna are “ right - handed. ” the mystery as to why this is the case, “ parallels in many of its queries those that surround the origin of life, ” said pizzarello. years ago pizzarello and asu professor emeritus john cronin analyzed amino acids from the murchison meteorite ( which landed in australia in 1969 ) that were unknown on earth, hence solving the problem of any contamination. they discovered a preponderance of “ left - handed ” amino acids over their “ right - handed ” form. “ the findings of cronin and pizzarello are probably the first demonstration that there may be natural processes in the cosmos that generate a preferred amino acid handedness, ” jeffrey bada of the scripps institution of oceanography, la jolla, calif., said at the time. the new pnas work was made


may be natural processes in the cosmos that generate a preferred amino acid handedness, ” jeffrey bada of the scripps institution of oceanography, la jolla, calif., said at the time. the new pnas work was made possible by the finding in antarctica of an exceptionally pristine meteorite. antarctic ices are good “ curators ” of meteorites. after a meteorite falls - - and meteorites have been falling throughout the history of earth - - it is quickly covered by snow and buried in the ice. because these ices are in constant motion, when they come to a mountain, they will flow over the hill and bring meteorites to the surface. “ thanks to the pristine nature of this meteorite, we were able to demonstrate that other extraterrestrial amino acids carry the left - handed excesses in meteorites and, above all, that these excesses appear to signify that their precursor molecules, the aldehydes, also carried such excesses, ” pizzarello said. “ in other words, a molecular trait that defines life seems to have broader distribution as well as a long cosmic lineage. ” “ this study may provide an important clue to the origin of molecular asymmetry, ” added brown associate professor and co - author huang. source : arizona state university explore further : university of illinois biophysicists measure mechanism that determines fate of living cells


industrial pipe systems are inaccessible and narrow. the pipes can be vertical and have junctions. just as challenging, leakage points in the water system must be located, the condition of oil and gas pipelines must be checked and ventilation systems need to be cleaned. in the main, today ’ s robots are not that clever. they cannot climb or navigate in vertical pipes – and very few have active joints. cybernetics and optical measurement scientists at sintef are working on a solution. navigation by light and image with experience and knowledge acquired with snake robots anna konda and aiko as a starting point, a team is now developing an intelligent pipe inspection robot on wheels that will be able to climb, navigate intersections and at any given time know its location in the pipe system. the inspection robot will be able to move in pipes of various diameters, right down to 20 cm. cybernetics scientists are developing the propulsion system while a team of optics scientists is working on the new robot ’ s visual system. “ we are currently developing the vision system than will enable the robot to navigate, ” says jens thielemann at sintef ict. “ in the meantime, we are using the lego robot mindstormer to collect the data to train the vision system. this lego robot has a camera attached and moves around the pipe following a pre - programmed map. the next step will be to utilise the vision system as input to control the actual snake robot we are going to develop. ” the camera that will provide the new robot ’ s vision is an off the shelf time - of - flight camera that provides a bathymetric chart of the pipe system using inflected light. “ combined with our algorithms, the robot will be able to navigate and move forward on its own, ” says thielemann. “ the robot knows when a left or right turn is approaching and also contains a built - in path description detailing what tasks it should carry out in different situations. functions as a train “ given our previous work on snake robots, we have become good at controlling mechanisms that are linked, ” says sintef cybernetics scientist erik kyrkjebø. “ we now want to develop a robot with 10 - 11 joint modules, each with an identical pair of wheels cast in plastic. the weight must be well distributed between the joints. for example, can we put the camera and accelerator motor in two different joint modules? the robot will function as a train when operating horizontally. such robots already exist, but we want to develop a


. the weight must be well distributed between the joints. for example, can we put the camera and accelerator motor in two different joint modules? the robot will function as a train when operating horizontally. such robots already exist, but we want to develop a robot that can climb too. ” the scientists have designed several versions of the pipe inspection robot and have tested different solutions in order to make the new robot both mobile and compact. they have now come up with a design they have faith in. when the robot enters a vertical pipe, it lifts its head in the pipe and meets the pipe wall. it can then either move sideways with its abdomen against the pipe and twist itself upwards or it can topple backwards, attach itself to the pipe wall, in the same way as we would put our feet against a shaft wall to hold on, and then roll upwards. the scientists emphasise that the project is at the design stage. in june, two of the 11 joint modules will be tested to verify the concept and they hope to demonstrate a prototype model by the end of the year. this comprises just phase one of an industrial development, but the enthusiastic scientists are confident of succeeding in the foreseeable future. the final version of the robot will be constructed of aluminium and is planned to be 1. 5 m long. source : aase dragland explore further : nasa : austin, calling austin. 3 - d pizzas to go


scientific investigations report 2005 - 5232 the carbonate - rock aquifer of the great basin is named for the thick sequence of paleozoic limestone and dolomite with lesser amounts of shale, sandstone, and quartzite. it lies primarily in the eastern half of the great basin and includes areas of eastern nevada and western utah as well as the death valley area of california and small parts of arizona and idaho. the carbonate - rock aquifer is contained within the basin and range principal aquifer, one of 16 principal aquifers selected for study by the u. s. geological survey ’ s national water - quality assessment program. water samples from 30 ground - water sites ( 20 in nevada and 10 in utah ) were collected in the summer of 2003 and analyzed for major anions and cations, nutrients, trace elements, dissolved organic carbon, volatile organic compounds ( vocs ), pesticides, radon, and microbiology. water samples from selected sites also were analyzed for the isotopes oxygen - 18, deuterium, and tritium to determine recharge sources and the occurrence of water recharged since the early 1950s. primary drinking - water standards were exceeded for several inorganic constituents in 30 water samples from the carbonate - rock aquifer. the maximum contaminant level was exceeded for concentrations of dissolved antimony ( 6 μg / l ) in one sample, arsenic ( 10 μg / l ) in eleven samples, and thallium ( 2 μg / l ) in one sample. secondary drinking - water regulations were exceeded for several inorganic constituents in water samples : chloride ( 250 mg / l ) in five samples, fluoride ( 2 mg / l ) in two samples, iron ( 0. 3 mg / l ) in four samples, manganese ( 0. 05 mg / l ) in one sample, sulfate ( 250 mg / l ) in three samples, and total dissolved solids ( 500 mg / l ) in seven samples. six different pesticides or metabolites were detected at very low concentrations in the 30 water samples. the lack of voc detections in water sampled from most of the sites is evidence thatvocs are not common in the carbonate - rock aquifer. arsenic values for water range from 0. 7 to 45. 7 μg / l, with a median value of 9. 6 μg / l. factors affecting arsenic concentration in the carbonate - rock aquifer in addition to geothermal heating are its natural occurrence in the aquifer material and time


. 7 μg / l, with a median value of 9. 6 μg / l. factors affecting arsenic concentration in the carbonate - rock aquifer in addition to geothermal heating are its natural occurrence in the aquifer material and time of travel along the flow path. most of the chemical analyses, especially for vocs and nutrients, indicate little, if any, effect of overlying land - use patterns on ground - water quality. the water quality in recharge areas for the aquifer where human activities are more intense may be affected by urban and / or agricultural land uses as evidenced by pesticide detections. the proximity of the carbonate - rock aquifer at these sites to the land surface and the potential for local recharge to occur through the fractured rock likely results in the occurrence of these and other land - surface related contaminants in the ground water. water from sites sampled near outcrops of carbonate - rock aquifer likely has a much shorter residence time resulting in a potential for detection of anthropogenic or land - surface related compounds. sites located in discharge areas of the flow systems or wells that are completed at a great depth below the land surface generally show no effects of land - use activities on water quality. flow times within the carbonate - rock aquifer, away from recharge areas, are on the order of thousands of years, so any contaminants introduced at the land surface that will not degrade along the flow path have not reached the sampled sites in these areas. first posted february, 2006 part or all of this report is presented in portable document format ( pdf ) ; the latest version of adobe reader or similar software is required to view it. download the latest version of adobe reader, free of charge. schaefer, d. h., thiros, s. a., and rosen, m. r., 2005, ground - water quality in the carbonate - rock aquifer of the great basin, nevada and utah, 2003 : u. s. geological survey scientific investigations report 2005 - 5232, 41 p. description of study area study design and methods appendix 1. water - quality constituents analyzed in ground - water samples from wells and springs in the carbonate - rock aquifer, nevada and utah


the stated mission of sage is to be viable free open source alternative to magma, maple, mathematica, and matlab. sage ’ s predecessors, known as hecke and manin, came about because william stein needed to write them as part of his research in number theory. started by william in 2005 during his time at harvard university, sage combines best - of - breed free open source mathematics software, packaging and unifying them through a common interface. many researchers in number theory, including william himself, use this common interface to build upon and extend the functionalities of underlying packages for number theory research. such software packages include givaro, mpir, ntl, pari / gp, and many others too numerous to list here. students, teachers, professors, researchers throughout the world use sage because they require a comprehensive free open source mathematics package that offers symbolic and numerical computation. most of the time, people are happy with what sage has to offer. as is common throughout the free open source software ( foss ) world, many people often identify cases where sage lacks certain mathematics functionalities that they require. and so they delve into the underlying source code that comprises sage in order to extend it for their purposes, or expose functionalities of underlying packages shipped with sage in order to use their favourite mathematics software packages from within sage. the sage - combinat team is comprised of researchers in algebraic combinatorics. the team ’ s stated mission is to improve sage as an extensible toolbox for computer exploration in algebraic combinatorics, and foster code sharing between researchers in this area. for detailed information about why sage exists, see william ’ s personal mathematics software biography. in the first few years of sage ’ s existence, the project was called “ sage ”. this acronym stood for “ software for algebra and geometry experimentation ”. starting around 2007 and early 2008, the name “ sage ” was widely adopted. think of “ sage ” as a name for a free open source mathematics software project, just as “ python ” is a name for a free open source general purpose programming language. whenever possible, please use the name “ sage ” instead of “ sage ” to avoid confusing the sage project with a computer project called sage. you pronounce “ sage ” similar to how you would pronounce “ sage ” which refers to a wise person, or “ sage ” which refers to a plant. some people pronounce “ sage ” as “ sarge ”, similar to how you would pronounce debian sarge


would pronounce “ sage ” which refers to a wise person, or “ sage ” which refers to a plant. some people pronounce “ sage ” as “ sarge ”, similar to how you would pronounce debian sarge. however you pronounce “ sage ”, please do not confuse the sage project with an accounting software by the same name. sage is a volunteer based project. its success is due to the voluntary effort of a large international team of students, teachers, professors, researchers, software engineers, and people working in diverse areas of mathematics, science, engineering, software development, and all levels of education. the development of sage has benefited from the financial support of numerous institutions, and the previous and ongoing work of many authors of included components. a list of direct contributors can be found on the sage development map and the history of changes can be found in the high - level changelog. refer to the acknowledgment page of the sage website for an up - to - date list of financial and infrastructure supporters, mirror network hosting providers, and indirect contributors. a standard rule in the mathematics community is that everything is laid open for inspection. the sage project believes that not doing the same for mathematics software is at best a gesture of impoliteness and rudeness, and at worst a violation against standard scientific practices. an underlying philosophical principle of sage is to apply the system of open exchange and peer review that characterizes scientific communication to the development of mathematics software. neither the sage project nor the sage development team make any claims to being the original proponents of this principle. the development model of sage is largely inspired by the free software movement as spearheaded by the free software foundation, and by the open source movement. one source of inspiration from within the mathematics community is joachim neubuser as expressed in the paper and in particular the following quotation from his paper : you can read sylow ' s theorem and its proof in huppert ' s book in the library without even buying the book and then you can use sylow ' s theorem for the rest of your life free of charge, but... for many computer algebra systems license fees have to be paid regularly for the total time of their use. in order to protect what you pay for, you do not get the source, but only an executable, i. e. a black box. you can press buttons and you get answers in the same way as you get the bright pictures from your television set but you cannot control how they


you do not get the source, but only an executable, i. e. a black box. you can press buttons and you get answers in the same way as you get the bright pictures from your television set but you cannot control how they were made in either case. with this situation two of the most basic rules of conduct in mathematics are violated : in mathematics information is passed on free of charge and everything is laid open for checking. not applying these rules to computer algebra systems that are made for mathematical research... means moving in a most undesirable direction. most important : can we expect somebody to believe a result of a program that he is not allowed to see? moreover : do we really want to charge colleagues in moldava several years of their salary for a computer algebra system? similar sentiments were also expressed by andrei okounkov as can be found in in particular the following quotation : computers are no more a threat to mathematicians than food processors are a threat to cooks. as mathematics gets more and more complex while the pace of our lives accelerates, we must delegate as much as we can to machines. and i mean both numeric and symbolic work. some people can manage without dishwashers, but i think proofs come out a lot cleaner when routine work is automated. this brings up many issues. i am not an expert, but i think we need a symbolic standard to make computer manipulations easier to document and verify. and with all due respect to the free market, perhaps we should not be dependent on commercial software here. an open - source project could, perhaps, find better answers to the obvious problems such as availability, bugs, backward compatibility, platform independence, standard libraries, etc. one can learn from the success of tex and more specialized software like macaulay2. i do hope that funding agencies are looking into this. sage was not written from scratch. most of its underlying mathematics functionalities are made possible through foss projects such as an up - to - date list can be found on the page for the standard packages repository. the principle programming languages of sage are python and cython. python is the primary programming and interfacing language, while cython is the primary language for optimizing critical functionalities and interfacing with c libraries and c extensions for python. sage integrates over 90 foss packages into a common interface. on top of these packages is the sage library, which consists of over 700, 000 lines of new python and cython code. see oh


our cells generate most of the energy they need in tiny structures inside them called mitochondria, which can be thought of as the cells ' powerhouses. mitochondria have their own dna, independent of the cell ' s nuclear genome, which is compelling similar to the dna of bacterial genomes. what this suggests is that many thousands of years ago, mitochondria were not just components of our cells, but were in fact unicellular organisms in their own right. according to this hypothesis – the endosymbiotic theory – mitochondria ( and possibly some other organelles ) originated as free - living bacteria which later became incorporated inside other cells in a symbiotic relationship. like man - made powerhouses, mitochondria produce hazardous by - products as well as useful energy. they are the main source of free radicals in the body – hugely reactive particles which cause damage to all cellular components through oxidative stress. they attack the first thing they come across, which is usually the mitochondrion itself. this hazardous environment has put the genes located in the mitochondrion at risk of mutational damage, and over many years of evolutionary pressure the mitochondrial dna has gradually moved into the cell ' s nucleus, where it is comparatively well - protected from the deleterious effects of free - radicals alongside all of the cell ' s other dna. this is called allotopic expression, and it has moved all but thirteen of the mitochondrion ' s full complement of at least one thousand genetic instructions for proteins into the ' bomb - shelter ' of the nucleus. however, the remaining thirteen genes in the mitochondrion itself are subject to the ravages of free - radicals, and are likely to mutate. mutated mitochondria, as aubrey de grey has identified, may indirectly accelerate many aspects of ageing, not least when their mutation causes them to no longer produce the required energy for the cell, in turn impairing the cell ' s functionality. in order to combat the down - stream ageing damage as a consequence of mitochondrial mutation, de grey believes that the mitochondrial dna damage itself needs to be repaired or rendered harmless. his characteristically bold solution to this problem is to put the mutations themselves beyond use by creating backup copies of the remaining mitochondrial genetic material and storing them in the safety of the cell ' s nucleus. allotopically expressed here, like the rest of the mitochondrial dna, any deletions in the mitochondrial dna can be safely overwritten


creating backup copies of the remaining mitochondrial genetic material and storing them in the safety of the cell ' s nucleus. allotopically expressed here, like the rest of the mitochondrial dna, any deletions in the mitochondrial dna can be safely overwritten by the backup master copy, which is much less likely to mutate hidden away from the constant bombardment of free radicals. there are several difficulties to this solution, not least the fact that the remaining proteins are extremely hydrophobic and so don ' t ' want ' to be moved at all, and additionally the code disparity between the language of the mitochondrial dna and the nuclear dna which makes a simple transplantation without translation impossible. even if this engineered solution to the problem proves impracticable, at the very least the theory is sound. if we can devise a way systematically defend our mitochondria from their own waste products, we will drastically reduce the number of harmful free radicals exported throughout our bodies, thereby reducing preventing a lot of the damage that distinguishes the young from the old, extending and improving the quality of our lives as a result. dr aubrey de grey, a gerontologist from cambridge, believes that ageing is a disease that can be cured. like man - made machines, de grey sees the human body as a system which ages as the result of the accumulation of various types of damage. and like machines, de grey argues that this damage can be periodically repaired, potentially leading to an indefinite extension of the system ' s functional life. de grey believes that just as a mechanic doesn ' t need to understand precisely how the corrosive processes of iron oxidation degrades an exhaust manifold beyond utility in order to successfully repair the damage, so we can design therapies that combat human ageing without understanding the processes that interact to contribute to our ageing. all we have to do is understand the damage itself. de grey is confident that he has identified future technologies that can comprehensively remove the molecular and cellular lesions that degrade our health over time, technologies which will one day overcome ageing once and for all. in order to pursue the active development and systematic testing of these technologies, de grey has made it part of his mission to break the ' pro - ageing trance ' that he sees as a widespread barrier to raising the funding and stimulating the research necessary to successfully combat ageing. de grey defines this trance as a psychological strategy that people use to cope with ageing, fuelled from the incorrect belief that ageing is forever unavoidable. this


to raising the funding and stimulating the research necessary to successfully combat ageing. de grey defines this trance as a psychological strategy that people use to cope with ageing, fuelled from the incorrect belief that ageing is forever unavoidable. this trance is coupled with the general wisdom that anti - ageing therapies can only stretch out the years of debilitation and disease which accompany the end of most lifetimes. de grey contends that by repairing the pathologies of ageing we will in fact be able to eliminate this period completely, postponing it with new treatments for indefinitely longer time periods so that no - one ever catches up with the damage caused by their ageing. to get over our collective ' trance ' it is worth realising that this meme has made perfect psychological sense until very recently. given the traditional assumption that ageing cannot be countered, delayed or reversed, it has paid to make peace with such a seemingly immutable fact, rather than wasting one ' s life preoccupied with worrying about it. if we follow de grey ' s rationale that the body is a machine that can be repaired and restored, we have to accept that there are potential technologies that can effectively combat ageing, and thus the trance can no longer be rationally maintained. telomeres are repetitive dna sequences which cap the ends of chromosomes, protecting them from damage and potentially cancerous breakages and fusings. they act as disposable buffers, much as the plastic aglets at the end of shoelaces prevent fraying. each time a cell divides, the telomores get shorter as dna sequences are lost from the end. when telomeres reach a certain critical length, the cell is unable to make new copies of itself, and so organs and tissues that depend on continued cell replication begin to senesce. the shortening of telomeres plays a large part in ageing ( although not necessarily a causal one ), and so advocates of life extension are exploring the possibility of lengthening telomeres in certain cells by searching for ways to selectively activate the enzyme telomerase, which maintains telemore length by the adding newly synthesized dna code to their ends. if we could induce certain parts of our bodies to express more telomerase, the theory goes, we will be able to live longer, healthier lives, slowing down the decline of ageing. every moment we ' re fighting a losing battle against our telomeric shortening ; at conception our telomeres consist of roughly


the theory goes, we will be able to live longer, healthier lives, slowing down the decline of ageing. every moment we ' re fighting a losing battle against our telomeric shortening ; at conception our telomeres consist of roughly 15, 000 dna base pairs, shrinking to 10, 000 at birth when the telomerase gene becomes largely deactivated. without the maintenance work of the enzyme our telomeres reduce in length at a rate of about 50 base pairs a year. when some telomeres drop below 5, 000 base pairs, their cells lose the ability to divide, becoming unable to perform the work they were designed to carry out, and in some cases also releasing chemicals that are harmful to neighbouring cells. some particularly prominent cell - types that are affected by the replicative shortening of telomeres include the endothelial cells lining blood vessels leading to the heart, and the cells that make the myelin sheath that protects our brain ' s neurons. both brain health and heart health are bound to some degree to the fate of cells with a telomeric fuse. the correlation between telomere length and biological ageing has motivated a hope that one day we will be able to prevent and perhaps reverse the effects of replicative senescence by optimally controlling the action of telomerase. the complexity of synthesizing proteins for specific purposes is so great that predicting the amino acid sequences necessary to generate desired behaviour is a huge challenge. mutations far away from the protein ’ s active site can influence its function, and the smallest of changes in the structure of an enzyme can have a large impact on its catalytic efficacy – a key concern for engineers creating proteins for industrial applications. even for a small protein of only 100 amino acids long there are more possible sequences than there are atoms in the universe. what this means is that an exhaustive search through the space of all possible proteins for the fittest protein for a particular purpose is essentially unachievable, just as a complete search through all possible chess games to decide the absolutely optimal next move is computationally impractical. this is true both for scientists and for nature. this means that even though evolution has been searching the space of all possible proteins for billions of years for solutions to survival, it has in fact explored only a minute corner of all possible variations. all evolved solutions are likely to be ' good enough ' rather than the absolute optimum – it just so happens that the ones already ' discovered ' are sufficient to create and maintain the diversity and richness of


only a minute corner of all possible variations. all evolved solutions are likely to be ' good enough ' rather than the absolute optimum – it just so happens that the ones already ' discovered ' are sufficient to create and maintain the diversity and richness of life on planet earth. new ways of efficiently searching this vast space of possible sequences will reveal proteins with properties that have never before existed in the natural world, and which will hopefully provide answers to many of our most pressing problems. directed evolution not only provides a faster way of searching this space than many other methods, but it also leaves a complete ' fossil record ' of the evolutionary changes that went into evolving a specific protein, providing data on the intermediate stages which will offer insight after detailed study into the relationship between protein sequence and function. unlike natural evolution, directed evolution can also explore sequences which aren ' t directly biologically relevant to a single organism ' s survival, providing a library of industrially relevant proteins, and perhaps one day creating bacteria capable of answering worldwide problems caused by pollution and fossil fuel shortage. neo - evolution is factorially faster than normal evolutionary processes. our genetically engineered organisms have already neo - evolved – shortcutting traditional evolution to produce desirable results without the costly time - delay of selection over hundreds or thousands of generations. higher - yielding and insecticide - resistant crops have been engineered through the painstaking modification of individual genes, achieving better results than years of selective breeding in a fraction of the time. genetic engineering of humans, both embryonic and those already alive, will perhaps one day bring the benefits of this new type of evolution to our bodies. at the moment, we simply do not understand how dna sequences encode useful functions, and so genetic engineering remains a tremendously costly and laborious process. it cost $ 25 million and took 150 person - years to engineer just a dozen genes in yeast to cause it to produce an antimalarial drug, and commercial production has yet to begin. the amount of time and money required to effect a beneficial result through genetic engineering – even if it involves relatively simple changes to only a dozen genes – is so costly that the transformative idea of neo - evolved humans has been kept at a safe distance. but there are other ways to neo - evolve that might make the possibility of too - good - to - miss genetic enhancements in humans a reality before long. earlier this year, for instance, the national academy of engineering awarded its draper prize to francis arnold and willem stemmer for their independent work towards ' directed evolution ', a technique which harness


to - miss genetic enhancements in humans a reality before long. earlier this year, for instance, the national academy of engineering awarded its draper prize to francis arnold and willem stemmer for their independent work towards ' directed evolution ', a technique which harnesses the power of traditional evolution in a highly optimized environment to accelerate the evolution of desirable proteins with properties not found in nature. rather than attempt to manually code the strings of individual dna letters necessary to effect a particular trait, directed evolution and its associated ' evolution machines ' take a prototype ' parent ' gene, create a library of genetic variants from it and apply selection pressures to screen for the strains that produce the desired trait, iterating this process with the best of each batch until the strongest remain. this was first evidenced in 2009, when geneticist harris wang used directed evolution to create new proteins in e. coli bacteria that would produce more of the pigment that makes tomatoes red than was previously possible. to achieve this genetic modification without manually fine - tuning each gene, wang synthesized 50, 000 dna strands which contained modified sequences of genes that produce the pigment, and multiplied them in his evolution machine. after repeating the process 35 times with the results of each cycle fed into the next, he produced some 15 billion new strains, each with a different combination of mutations in the target pigment - producing genes. of these new strains, some produced up to five times as much pigment as the original strain, more than the entire biosynthesis industry had ever achieved. the process took days rather than years. there are three distinct possibilities for how technological and medical advancement will impact future human evolution. the first contingency is that the human species will undergo no further natural selection, because we may have already advanced to a position of evolutionary equipoise, where our technologies have artificially preserved genes that would otherwise have been removed by natural selection ; evolution no longer has a chance to select. as a species we already control our environment to such an extent that traditional evolutionary pressures have been functionally alleviated – we adapt the environment to us rather than the other way around. indeed, local mobility and international migration allow populations to genetically integrate to such a degree that the isolation necessary for evolution to take place may in fact already no longer possible. the second possibility is that we will continue to evolve in the traditional way, through inexorable selection pressures exerted by the natural environment. the isolation necessary to allow the impact of any environmental changes to be selected for in the population will now be on the planetary scale,