is there no possible way that it has a final digit? he even proved a stronger result, yes, loiville 1882 ( i believe ). not algebraic? it was not proven geometrical. it was proven based on an integration that produces as a result. geometrically, if we were drawing a circle, the ends must touch? ( even at the very small value level? ) here ' s my little conjecture ( since i don ' t know how to prove it and excel says it doesn ' t work, but after 200 terms i don ' t know how accurate excel can be ) this shows that the closer you get to infinity, the more decimal places will be in pi, but what if you reach infinity ( which you obviously can ' t do )? you would get infinite decimal places, and it would equal pi... does this mean that the ends of a circle do not touch at all? ( apart from at infinity ) how can you calculate that in excel?? the best i can get for calculating pi is doing the sum of about 100000 inverse squares! if pi has infinite decimal places then it must never be closed circle as there must be a space somewhere on the circle that is infinitely small and can not be filled. what i ' m thinking is usually hard to understand so think of it like this... pretend your drawing a circle with an incredibly fine pencil and your drawing of the circle is literally perfect. the diameter of the circle is 1cm so the circumference is pi. you start at a point and draw 3cm. the circle is not yet complete as there is 0. 14159.. cm left so you draw 0. 1cm but there ' s still 0. 0415926... cm left to draw! you get closer and closer but since pi has infinite decimal places ( that aren ' t all 0s ) you will never reach the starting point of the circle! i hope thats easy enough to follow! it ' s clear what you mean, but mathematically there ' s no problem and practically, there ' s no difference with other numbers. take a diameter of 1 / pi, then you have to draw the circle with circumference 1. you have your fine pencil and you start drawing, already at 0. 9, then 0. 95, then 0. 9997, then... stopping at exactly 1, isn ' t fysically / practially " easier " than stopping at pi. the circle is closed, because


at 0. 9, then 0. 95, then 0. 9997, then... stopping at exactly 1, isn ' t fysically / practially " easier " than stopping at pi. the circle is closed, because pi is what it is, it ' s not 3. 14 and not 3. 141592653, but pi. my mistake was assuming pi would be drawn from a meaurable point of view when really " it is what it is ". so in theory - no problem. pi has its value and thats the value in the ratio from diameter to circumference. however, on paper it can be a problem as if you draw a perfect closed circle ( ie. no errors in drawing it whatsoever ) there will always be an infinitesimally small gap! why still the gap? the paper doesn ' t know about real numbers, nor about our concept of ' meters '. the only problem which we practically encounter is our inability to draw so perfectly. for us, it ' s not harder / easier to draw a perfect 3 - 4 - 5 ( 5² = 3² + 4² ) right triangle, than to draw a 1, 1, sqrt ( 2 ) ( sqrt ( 2 ) ² = 1² + 2² ) right triangle, although this last one has a side which has an irrational number as length! a number is said to be constructable when we can using euclidean toys ( striaghtedge and compass ) construct. this is an algebra question but the important fact about the set of all constructable numbers is that. meaning the it contains all rational numbers. thus, what you need to show is that you cannot constuct and hence show it is irrational ( note, not transcendental! this does not show this ). the problem with this approach is that these concepts was purposely created to simplify construcability problems but we are going backwards meaning from this approach making more difficult.


news tagged with immune related topics : immune system immunity is a biological term that describes a state of having sufficient biological defenses to avoid infection, disease, or other unwanted biological invasion. immunity involves both specific and non - specific components. the non - specific components act either as barriers or as eliminators of wide range of pathogens irrespective of antigenic specificity. other components of the immune system adapt themselves to each new disease encountered and are able to generate pathogen - specific immunity. adaptive immunity is often sub - divided into two major types depending on how the immunity was introduced. naturally acquired immunity occurs through contact with a disease causing agent, when the contact was not deliberate, whereas artificially acquired immunity develops only through deliberate actions such as vaccination. both naturally and artificially acquired immunity can be further subdivided depending on whether immunity is induced in the host or passively transferred from a immune host. passive immunity is acquired through transfer of antibodies or activated t - cells from an immune host, and is short lived, usually lasts only a few months, whereas active immunity is induced in the host itself by antigen, and lasts much longer, sometimes life - long. the diagram below summarizes these divisions of immunity. this text uses material from wikipedia and is available under the gnu free documentation license. human breastmilk responds quickly to protect the child when there is an infection in mothers or babies, according to new international research led by the university of western australia. immunology 20 hours ago | 5 / 5 ( 1 ) | 0 ( medical xpress ) — scientists at emory vaccine center have shown that an immune regulatory molecule called il - 21 is needed for long - lasting antibody responses in mice against viral infections. immunology 20 hours ago | 5 / 5 ( 1 ) | 0 | more than half of patients diagnosed with non - hodgkin lymphoma ( nhl ) are now surviving the disease thanks to improved diagnosis and treatment, according to a new report1 from cancer research uk. cancer 20 hours ago | 5 / 5 ( 1 ) | 0


in addition to the above types of problems, considerable research is directed to basic questions such as, do we understand how quasars form and evolve? can we connect theories of galaxy and black hole formation with the observations of quasars at high redshift and the incidence of black holes in galaxies at low redshift? here i mention briefly some recent theoretical work that demonstrates progress in our understanding of quasars and ties in with present and future observational work. haiman, madau, and loeb ( 1998 ) point out that the scarcity of quasars at z > 3. 5 in the hubble deep field implies that the formation of quasars in halos with circular velocities less than 50 km / s is suppressed ( on the assumption that black holes form with constant efficiency in cold dark matter halos ). they note that the next generation space telescope should be able to detect the epoch of formation of the earliest quasars. cavaliere and vittorini ( 1998 ) note that the observed form for the evolution of the space density of quasars can be understood at early times when cosmology and the processes of structure formation provide material for accretion onto central black holes as galaxies assemble. quasars then turn off at later times because interaction with companions cause the accretion to diminish. haehnelt, natarajan, and rees ( 1998 ) show that the peak of quasar activity occurs at the same time as the first deep potential wells form. the press - schechter approach provides a way to estimate the space density of dark matter halos. but the space density of z = 3 quasars is less than 1 % that of star - forming galaxies, which implies the quasar lifetime is much less than a hubble time. for an assumed relation between quasar luminosity and timescale and the eddington limit, it is possible to connect the observed quasar luminosity density with dark matter halos and the numbers of black holes in nearby galaxies. the apparently large number of local galaxies with black holes implies that accretion processes for quasars are inefficient in producing blue light.


repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation ( rtms ) is a new tool to study brain function and is being investigated as a treatment modality for depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders. 1, 2 to perform rtms, a powerful electromagnetic coil is placed on the scalp. the coil produces a rapidly changing focal magnetic field that induces an electrical current that depolarizes neurons. because the magnetic field produced by the coil decreases exponentially with distance, 3 only superficial structures are directly stimulated. currently in most rtms applications, rtms is dosed for each individual according to the amount of stimulation required to cause contraction of the contralateral ( right extremity ) abductor pollicis brevis. this is called the motor threshold ( mt ), and it is commonly expressed as a percentage of the total magnetic pulse capable for each machine. surprisingly, despite more than a decade of research now using tms as a tool to investigate the motor system, the relationship between the motor threshold for each individual and the distance from the individual ' s scalp to cortex is not well understood. because the motor threshold is inexpensively determined and appears to relate to seizure risk, 4 most studies using tms over nonmotor regions such as the prefrontal cortex have stimulated with the intensity determined by the motor threshold over motor cortex. an untested assumption is made that the motor cortex variables apply to the prefrontal cortex. initial open studies5 — 7 and later crossover8, 9 and now double - blind parallel studies10 all suggest that rtms has antidepressant properties. not all studies have been positive. 11 for example, psychotically depressed patients appear not to respond to rtms as currently applied. 12 moreover, in all studies, older subjects have not responded as well as younger subjects. 7, 13 imaging studies have shown that the prefrontal cortex atrophies with age in depressed subjects. 14, 15 accordingly, the trend of nonresponse in elderly patients in the tms antidepressant trials prompted us to wonder if the degree of brain atrophy, particularly prefrontal, might play a role in the relative nonresponse in older depressed subjects. we thus carried out the following magnetic resonance imaging ( mri ) study in adult depressed subjects participating in a parallel - design randomized placebo - controlled trial of left prefrontal rtms for the treatment of depression. ( for full details of this clinical trial, see nahas et al. 10 ) thirty - two depressed adults enrolled in


participating in a parallel - design randomized placebo - controlled trial of left prefrontal rtms for the treatment of depression. ( for full details of this clinical trial, see nahas et al. 10 ) thirty - two depressed adults enrolled in a 2 - week double - blind placebo - controlled trial. two subjects who had been randomized to receive active rtms did not tolerate the procedure and dropped out after fewer than three treatments. they were excluded from final analysis. prior to treatment, all subjects had an mri scan of the head. one subject could not tolerate the initial mri scan. included for this mri study, therefore, were 29 patients ( 11 men ) who met dsm - iv criteria for either major depressive disorder ( n = 21 ; 7 men ) or bipolar disorder — most recent episode depressed ( n = 8 ; 4 men ). they were randomized into one of three cells, in each of which the subjects received 10 days of prefrontal stimulation over 2 weeks. the cells and the subject means ( ±sd ) for hamilton depression score ( ham - d ) and years of age were as follows : high frequency ( active, 20 hz, n = 12 ; ham - d = 30±5. 86, age = 42. 6±14 ) ; low frequency ( active, 5 hz, n = 8 ; ham - d = 26. 3±5. 98, age = 42. 4±7 ) ; and placebo ( n = 9 ; ham - d = 23. 8±4. 1, age = 48. 5±8. 8 ). following full explanation of the procedures, all subjects signed a written informed consent document according to the declaration of helsinki and as approved by the medical university of south carolina institutional review board and the u. s. food and drug administration devices section. subjects were free of antidepressant medications for at least 2 weeks prior to study entry. three exceptions were bipolar patients who required ongoing mood stabilizers or benzodiazepines for anxiety. no subjects were currently abusing substances. two subjects, however, had a history of alcohol dependence, and one had a history of heroine and butane abuse. subjects underwent an mri scan of the brain at the beginning and end of the study16 and had three regional cerebral blood flow single - photon emission computed tomography ( spect ) scans : at baseline, during the fifth rtms session, and 3 days after completion of the trial prior to restarting medications. this report discusses the initial mri scans only ;


regional cerebral blood flow single - photon emission computed tomography ( spect ) scans : at baseline, during the fifth rtms session, and 3 days after completion of the trial prior to restarting medications. this report discusses the initial mri scans only ; the spect results have been discussed elsewhere. 17, 18 qualitative and quantitative analysis of mri scans done before and after the 2 weeks of treatment showed that rtms produced no mri changes. 16 transcranial magnetic stimulation a medical doctor ( a. m. s., z. n., or m. s. g. ) trained in the proper use of repetitive rtms used a cadwell magnetic stimulator ( cadwell ; kennewick, wa ) equipped with a figure - 8 - shaped coil and a continuous water cooling system to prevent overheating. subjects were seated upright in a comfortable chair with eyes open during rtms. on the initial treatment visit, motor threshold was determined at rest in the contralateral ( right extremity ) abductor pollicis brevis ( apb ) muscle, as described previously, 13 by using visible twitch. the left prefrontal cortex stimulation site was defined as the location 5 cm rostral and in a parasagittal plane from the site of maximal apb stimulation. subjects were randomly assigned to receive stimulation over 20 minutes each weekday morning for 2 weeks as active ( 5 hz or 20 hz ; see nahas et al. 10 for discussion of the role of stimulation frequency ) or placebo ( coil held tangential off the head ). the left prefrontal cortex was stimulated at 100 % mt, with an equal total number of 16, 000 stimulations across all cells. ratings and response classification before entering the study, subjects were screened and diagnosed by trained clinicians using the schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia. 19 in addition, the ham - d ( 21 items ) 20 was administered at baseline, on the fifth day of treatment ( end of week 1 ), and at the end of the study ( week 2 ). trained psychiatric nurses, blind to treatment arm, performed all ratings. ham - d scores were used to calculate percentage improvement from the beginning to the end of treatment ( 2 weeks ). subjects who showed ≥50 % improvement in the 21 - item ham - d at 2 weeks from baseline were classified as antidepressant treatment responders. one day prior to the beginning of treatment, a t1 - weighted 3d volumetric mri sequence was obtained with a 1. 5 - tesla


21 - item ham - d at 2 weeks from baseline were classified as antidepressant treatment responders. one day prior to the beginning of treatment, a t1 - weighted 3d volumetric mri sequence was obtained with a 1. 5 - tesla picker mri scanner ( picker international ; cleveland, oh ). scans in this study were 142 1 - mm - thick sagittal slices covering the entire brain ( 128×128, fov = 20 cm, te = 4. 4, tr = 13 ; voxel size 1. 2×1. 2×1 mm ). most, but not all, subjects ( 21 of 29 ) had vitamin e capsule fiducials ( approximately 7 mm×12 mm oval ) placed at the site of rtms prefrontal stimulation. mri scan reformatting and distance calculations the t1 - weighted mri scans were reformatted from sagittal to coronal plane by a blinded reader ( f. a. k. or c. d. ) using analyze mayo clinic image processing system version 7. 5. 2 on a sun ultrasparc 20 station. a line was drawn on the midsagittal view to bisect the anterior commissure and posterior commissure. the corresponding transverse image was resliced and corrected for problems in roll or yaw. the roll - correction was done by equalizing the structures of both eyes in the transverse plane and correcting yaw such that the midsagittal sulcus appeared vertical in that slice. the image was reformatted to the coronal plane, with 250 1 - mm - thick slices from the caudal to the rostral aspect of the skull. mri distance measurements were performed by a trained observer ( f. a. k. ) blind to all patient variables, using medx 2. 1 ( sensor systems ; alexandria, va ) on a dec alpha workstation with a 21 - inch high - resolution screen. the coronal mri images were enlarged so that there were three slices per screen ( approximately 7×12 cm image size on the screen ). the software, medx, has a semi - automated function where, when a line is drawn from one point to another, the distance ( in mm ) and a reference angle ( e. g., moving from one point vertically upward to another gives a value of — 90. 00 degrees ) are computed based on image voxel sizes ( see f1 ). prefrontal cortex distance measurement ( d - pfc ) a trained and blinded


g., moving from one point vertically upward to another gives a value of — 90. 00 degrees ) are computed based on image voxel sizes ( see f1 ). prefrontal cortex distance measurement ( d - pfc ) a trained and blinded investigator ( f. a. k. ) assessed the shortest distance from the tms coil to the nearest prefrontal cortex by using three different techniques. after determining the d - pfc with all three methods, we elected to use the standard method for testing our hypotheses because it allowed the inclusion of the 8 subjects where the fiducial was not visible. in addition, there were concerns that the fiducials, even when visible, might have been moved from the true site because of hair, gravity, or displacement by the inflatable head holder used while scanning. motor cortex distance measurement ( d - mc ) fiducials were not placed at the scalp position where the motor cortex threshold was determined. because of the difficulty of determining the motor cortex region for thumb control from a structural mri scan, particularly in the coronal plane, 21 we chose not to identify the motor cortex directly. in the clinical trial, however, we determined the prefrontal stimulation location by empirically finding the area of motor cortex for apb and then moving in a parasagittal plane 5 cm forward. thus, the motor cortex stimulation site would theoretically be 5 cm caudal from the prefrontal stimulation site. we therefore decided to use the prefrontal site as the point of reference from which to determine the motor cortex site, using the following algorithm. in order to measure the distance from the coil to the motor cortex, we first counted 16 slices rostral from the corpus callosum ( which was the first slice measured using the standard method ) and copied the vertical line from lateral left eye socket to the skull that was created by the standard method for measuring the prefrontal cortex. we then moved 50 slices ( 5 cm ) caudally, and the vertical line was copied unchanged onto this slice ( the first presumed motor cortex slice ). this provided a point of intersection between the skull and the line. a measurement was taken from that intersection to the nearest cortex. this was recorded as the distance from the coil to the motor cortex in millimeters ( d - mc ). the line was copied onto the next eight rostral contiguous slices, and distance measurements were taken as above. first, using a paired student ' s t - test, we compared whether d


the motor cortex in millimeters ( d - mc ). the line was copied onto the next eight rostral contiguous slices, and distance measurements were taken as above. first, using a paired student ' s t - test, we compared whether d - mc significantly differed from d - pfc. correlational hypotheses were tested by using statview 4. 5, where bivariate plots were performed and a pearson ' s correlation with a fisher ' s r to z ( p - values ) was calculated to determine if significant relationships existed between our hypothesized variables ( p < 0. 05 ). we analyzed the relationship of distance from coil to motor cortex ( d - mc ) with 1 ) percentage output to reach motor threshold ; 2 ) age ; 3 ) distance from coil to prefrontal cortex ( d - pfc ) ; and 4 ) percentage antidepressant clinical response. next, we analyzed the correlation of d - pfc with 1 ) percentage clinical response ; 2 ) age among responders and nonresponders ; and 3 ) percentage output to reach motor threshold. finally, potential relationships between the nondistance measures were tested ( age, percentage output to reach motor threshold, and percentage antidepressant clinical response ). for a full description of this patient sample, see nahas et al. 10 as noted above, there were 11 men and 18 women ; 20 subjects with mri scans were in the active group and 9 in the placebo group. this antidepressant trial had 7 responders and 22 ( 9 placebo ) nonresponders. motor distance and prefrontal distance d - pfc was significantly greater than d - mc ( d - pfc = 14. 4±2. 7 mm, d - mc = 12. 7 ±2. 6 mm, t = — 3. 6, p < 0. 01 ; mean±sd and student ' s paired t - test ). distance and motor threshold mt significantly increased with increasing d - mc ( p < 0. 01, fisher ' s r to z, 29 subjects ; see f2 ). there was no significant relationship between d - pfc and mt ( p = 0. 0525 ). d - mc and d - pfc significantly cross - correlated ( r = 0. 562, p < 0. 01 ). d - mc ( r = 0. 525, p < 0. 01 ) as well as d - pfc ( r = 0. 611, p < 0


correlated ( r = 0. 562, p < 0. 01 ). d - mc ( r = 0. 525, p < 0. 01 ) as well as d - pfc ( r = 0. 611, p < 0. 001 ) significantly increased with age. interestingly, a trend for d - pfc to increase more with age than d - mc was found in this depressed cohort ( see f3 ). in this small group, there was not a significant correlation ( p = 0. 5746 ) between age and d - mc minus d - pfc. there was not a significant correlation between age and mt ( p = 0. 1340 ) or between age and percentage antidepressant response ( p = 0. 1271 ). correlation with clinical antidepressant response there was no correlation between d - mc or d - pfc and percentage clinical response. ( d - pfc did not correlate with percentage clinical response with any of the three measuring methods : fiducial to cortex ( p = 0. 1216 ), skull under fiducial to cortex ( p = 0. 4885 ), or standard ( p = 0. 2029 ). when we examined d - pfc and age, analyzed separately for responders and nonresponders ( see f4 ), the responders were significantly younger ( t = — 2. 430, p = 0. 0258 ), but response did not significantly correlate with d - pfc. there does seem to be a maximum threshold of age and distance, with the responders being younger than 55 years of age and having a d - pfc of less than 17. 00 mm. there was not a significant correlation between percentage output to reach mt and percentage clinical antidepressant response ( p = 0. 1693 ). this is the first study addressing the complicated area of whether and to what degree the distance from coil to motor or prefrontal cortex interacts with motor threshold. this study also examines the relationships between age, prefrontal cortex distance, and clinical antidepressant response. as the first study exploring these questions, it suffers from several methodological shortcomings outlined below. nevertheless, there were several important findings. the estimated distance from tms coil to prefrontal cortex ( d - pfc ) was greater than the distance from coil to motor cortex ( d - mc ). the motor threshold ( mt ) significantly correlated with d - mc, whereas it did not co


distance from tms coil to prefrontal cortex ( d - pfc ) was greater than the distance from coil to motor cortex ( d - mc ). the motor threshold ( mt ) significantly correlated with d - mc, whereas it did not correlate with d - pfc. both motor and prefrontal cortex distances increased with age in this depressed cohort, with d - pfc showing a trend to increase at a faster rate than d - mc. finally, there was not a linear correlation between d - pfc and clinical antidepressant response. all subjects however, who responded were below a critical threshold of age and prefrontal cortex distance. there are several limitations of this study that bear on proper interpretation. the most important of these was difficulty in determining the tms sites on the mri scans. one method used was to place a fiducial at the site of the rtms. when designing the study, we reasoned that this fiducial would enable a relatively precise localization of the actual site of stimulation. using this method alone, however, would have limited an already small sample size, because only about three - fifths of the subjects studied and scanned had fiducials that could be seen on the mri scan. complicating things further, during scanning several of the fiducials appeared to have moved off of the scalp, resulting in a placement that no longer represented the true site of rtms. because of these confounding factors, we felt that using the actual fiducial to measure the distance to nearest cortex in this study was not an accurate method. while trying to develop a more accurate method, we noticed that the prefrontal fiducial was often directly in line with a vertical ( — 90 degree ) line from the lateral center point of the left eye. we found that the fiducial was commonly 20 slices anterior from the corpus callosum and therefore adopted this as the " virtual " location of the rtms coil to start measuring the eight scans. by performing the measurement 4 mm in front of and behind this chosen intersection, we averaged the scalp to cortex distance over the likely prefrontal spot. thus, even if we did not measure directly under the actual tms spot, we were able to obtain a distance measurement that likely represented the average distance of skull to cortex in this region. further, this averaging system of a virtual spot enabled us to utilize all of the scans available for analysis, and the technique often correlated well with the position of the fidu


distance measurement that likely represented the average distance of skull to cortex in this region. further, this averaging system of a virtual spot enabled us to utilize all of the scans available for analysis, and the technique often correlated well with the position of the fiducial. the limitation was that we could not be sure how close to the actual coil stimulation the measurements were performed. despite these difficulties, the standardized method of measuring eight scans and averaging the result does appear to give a rough approximation of the distance to the nearest cortex in the area stimulated. this corresponds to either the left medial frontal gyrus or the left superior frontal gyrus ( talairach coordinates : x plane from — 25 to — 40, y from 50 to 58, z from 20 to 40 ). future studies with more precise fiducial placement, or even mri phase maps of the actual magnetic field3 in all subjects, would improve on the current study. similarly, there was no fiducial over the motor cortex apb area where mt was actually determined. thus, we were forced to empirically determine this spot as well by measuring backward from the prefrontal site. we again measured the motor cortex distance over a relatively large area ( 8 mm ) in order to compensate for the imprecision of our location. because we measured motor cortex distance on 8 slices, the number used as a dependent variable is thus more likely a rough measure of motor cortex atrophy, rather than the exact distance from coil to motor cortex. despite all these factors, the robust correlation of motor threshold with distance to motor cortex is surprising, especially given these limitations in spatial location. future studies with fiducials directly over the true site of optimum apb stimulation are needed. the motor threshold was determined in this study by using visible movement, which is not standard practice but which our group has shown on a different machine to correspond to mt determined by motor evoked potentials. 13 future studies exploring these issues might use electrophysiologically determined mt. similarly, our choice of the percentage change in ham - d as the dependent variable for clinical response is relatively imprecise, but a standard practice. future studies using other behavioral, neuroendocrine, or even brain metabolism measures might better address the correlation between distance and clinical response. finally, the small sample size could have reduced the power of the study such that the relationship between distance to the cortex and percentage response was not statistically significant. our sample was especially small at the extremes of age ( 5 subjects > 55 years old


. finally, the small sample size could have reduced the power of the study such that the relationship between distance to the cortex and percentage response was not statistically significant. our sample was especially small at the extremes of age ( 5 subjects > 55 years old ) and distance to the prefrontal cortex ( 3 subjects > 17 mm ). on a more theoretical note, the magnetic field declines logarithmically with distance, and we tested for correlations that assumed linear relationships. future studies with larger samples might explore whether nonlinear relationships exist between the distance variables and the other factors examined in this study. despite these important limitations, these data provide intriguing results that will require further investigation combining rtms and imaging. motor cortex distance and motor threshold : the distance to motor cortex correlated strongly with the motor threshold, while the prefrontal distance did not ( although there was a nonsignificant trend ). this would imply that the distance from the coil to the nearest cortex is critical in determining the amount of energy required to depolarize the pyramidal tract neurons in the motor cortex. another interpretation, however, is that brain atrophy by neuronal degeneration of cortical neurons may disproportionately alter the excitatory and inhibitory balance, requiring a higher mt. in this interpretation, the increased distance is not the most important variable and instead reflects another process that also alters the motor threshold. the current study cannot distinguish which of these, or even other, explanations lies behind the observed relationship between motor cortex distance and motor threshold. regardless of mechanism, a greater distance to cortex would indicate a higher motor threshold. further studies will be needed to address this question of mechanism. in this study, the skull to motor cortex distance alone accounts for 49. 7 % ( r - correlation value ) of the variance in mt across individuals. presumably other factors such as gyral orientation and intrinsic neuronal excitation ( particularly inhibition ) account for the rest of the variance across individuals. this finding of the importance of distance in determining mt, if confirmed, would imply that the distance is an important variable that might be measured and used as a covariate in studies where the motor threshold is used to examine pharmacology or other questions. 22 lack of direct correlation between prefrontal distance and antidepressant response : the antidepressant mechanisms of action of rtms are unknown. positive clinical effects have been found over both left and right prefrontal cortex, at intensities from 80


direct correlation between prefrontal distance and antidepressant response : the antidepressant mechanisms of action of rtms are unknown. positive clinical effects have been found over both left and right prefrontal cortex, at intensities from 80 % to 110 % mt, and at frequencies from 0. 5 to 20 hz. some have suggested that the studies to date have a trend toward larger antidepressant effects with greater intensity, although this has not been directly examined. 1 an assumption is made, but not formally tested, that stimulation with an intensity sufficient to cause neuronal depolarization is necessary and that low - intensity stimulation would not cause cortical cell depolarization with trans - synaptic effects. in light of these working assumptions in this new field of tms and depression, we hypothesized that increasing skull - to - cortex distance might correlate with clinical antidepressant response. although we failed to find a direct linear relationship, the many limitations of the current study preclude any large interpretation of this negative result. future clinical trials in conjunction with imaging are needed to directly test the assumptions above about the antidepressant effects of tms, intensity, and distance to prefrontal cortex. increase in distance with age : although the motor and prefrontal measurements both increase with age and do correspond to each other, the distance to prefrontal cortex appears to increase faster with age ( though not significantly ) than the distance to motor cortex. this finding of greater prefrontal atrophy with age in a depressed cohort is similar to findings in other studies that have examined depressed subjects compared with age - matched healthy control subjects. 14, 15 although in this study mt also increased with age ( though not significantly ), it may be the case that there is a greater d - pfc in older depressed subjects that is not accounted for by the more modest increase in mt with age. our finding that no individuals older than 55 years or with a prefrontal distance greater than 17 mm responded to rtms is consistent with this idea, although larger studies in elderly depressed subjects are needed to directly test it. some have suggested that older depressed patients do not respond as well to medication therapy. an age - related variable, therefore, such as prefrontal atrophy, itself may confer a resistance to antidepressant response independent of d - pfc. further study is indicated to understand the relationships between distance, age, and antidepressant action. we


, such as prefrontal atrophy, itself may confer a resistance to antidepressant response independent of d - pfc. further study is indicated to understand the relationships between distance, age, and antidepressant action. we have found that the motor threshold measurement used in tms studies is highly dependent on the distance from cortex to skull under the tms coil. further, this distance increases with age, and in a depressed cohort there is prefrontal cortical atrophy that may outpace the motor cortex declines. these distances do not directly correlate with antidepressant clinical response, although tms did not work in older subjects with large prefrontal distances. further work combining tms with imaging will likely expand knowledge of tms brain effects. the authors thank drs. james c. ballenger, jeremy young, george arana, eric wassermann, sarah lisanby, and ulf ziemann for helpful reviews and comments. andrew m. speer assisted in the scanning and rtms for the study. the national alliance for research on schizophrenia and depression and the ted and vada stanley foundation provided grants to dr. george. an abstract of this work was presented at the new research session of the 152nd annual meeting of the american psychiatric association, washington, dc, may 1999. 23


the research team includes first author bradley bernstein, recipient of a howard hughes medical institute ( hhmi ) physician postdoctoral fellowship who works in the harvard university laboratory of hhmi investigator stuart l. schreiber. other co - authors are from the broad institute of mit and harvard, and affymetrix. their findings are published in the january 28, 2005 issue of cell. " now that the human genome has been sequenced, it is vital to learn how the genome is translated to make living cells and organisms, and how we can use that information to improve human health, " said bernstein, who is an instructor of pathology at brigham & women ' s hospital and harvard medical school. " every one of our cells has the same genome, yet is completely different. muscle cells are different from neurons. they are different because different genes are on. " many scientists believe changes in the regulatory scaffolding surrounding the genome may be as important as changes in the genome itself in causing diseases such as cancer. this regulatory structure, called chromatin, is a key regulator of gene expression in healthy and diseased cells, bernstein said. chromatin is composed of dna spooled around bundles of histone proteins, and resembles a chain of beads which is then compressed into a working chromosome. chemical tags placed on the histones alter the way chromatin is organized, thus allowing the right combination of genes to be turned on. in their study, the researchers analyzed the chromatin structure of the two shortest human chromosomes, numbers 21 and 22, containing about two percent of the human genome. they also sampled additional regions in both the human and mouse gen contact : jennifer donovan howard hughes medical institute


skip to content by leigh macmillan | posted on thursday, jan. 31, 2013 — 9 : 29 am in a wide - ranging lecture that moved from plants to nematode worms to human leukemia, nobel laureate andrew fire, ph. d., outlined his vision for a genomics - based understanding of how organisms respond to novel information. biological responses to foreign information involve an “ immune response ” — mediated in some organisms by rna and in others by proteins and cells, said fire, professor of pathology and genetics at stanford university school of medicine. fire and craig mello, ph. d., were awarded the 2006 nobel prize in physiology or medicine for their discovery of rna interference — an rna - based immune response that allows cells to selectively silence certain genes, for example those of a pathogenic virus. immune responses like rna interference can be “ positive ” and directed against a pathogen, or they can be “ negative ” and directed against the organism itself ( generating autoimmune disorders in humans ). “ we live at this interface between having the immunity good enough to target as many viruses as possible coming from outside, and having it not so effective that it starts to target our own natural products and turn off processes that are very important, ” fire said. in the course of their studies of rna interference, fire and his colleagues began to use high - throughput dna sequencing as a tool to probe all of the rnas produced in response to foreign information. they wondered if dna sequencing might also be applied to the human immune response, in particular to the production of antibodies and t cell receptors. dna sequencing revealed “ lots of sequences ” in a healthy individual – a rich diversity and repertoire of antibodies and receptors. in individuals with leukemia or lymphoma, the sequencing detected the amplification of single clonal receptors. the findings may be useful clinically, fire said, to track the recurrence of such clonal cells and improve monitoring of residual disease after treatment. fire also described using the approach to follow responses to the flu vaccine and to dengue virus infection. “ as we get more sophisticated about this, we should be able to classify antibodies by similarity to each other and … build a way to track diseases, ” fire said. “ i think it ’ s an opportunity to develop sequence - based diagnostics. ” fire was the department of cell and developmental biology distinguished faculty speaker. for a complete schedule of the flexner discovery lecture series and archived video of previous lectures, go to www. mc. vanderbilt. edu / discoveryser


the samurai dominated japanese society for 700 years, and the vision of this class permeates japanese culture. ever present is the samurai ' s sword — as a tool, a companion, and a symbol. the samurai sword is both a technical marvel and a significant cultural object. as a technology, it involves a large system of craftsmen, distinct stages of and for the materials, and a long apprenticeship to develop the necessary skills. culturally, the sword is surrounded by a history of legend, prescribed behaviors, and complex status relationships. like a many - faceted diamond, a close examination of this one tool can give us a wide perspective on japanese culture. to study the relationship between the samurai and his sword, we will study the whole of samurai history. the role the sword has played has changed over time, but so have the times brought out different aspects of that many - layered relationship. the sword makes the samurai, makes him its wielder as much as he makes it his weapon. how was the technology of the sword appropriate to the samurai, and what roles did it play? we will spend considerable time exploring the psyche of the samurai, particularly with respect to zen anti - ideology. how is zen reflected in the samurai and in his sword? we will also follow japanese history as it revolves around samurai. by what fire is the samurai ' s identity forged, and what of today ' s society can its gleaming edge cut apart? | ses # | | topics | | readings | | questions | | 1 | | introduction to japan | | | storry, richard. fig. 1 - 2 and " the silent warrior. " the way of the samurai. london, england : orbis books, 1978, pp. 7 - 17. isbn : 9780856134043. suzuki, daisetz. " zen and swordsmanship i. " chapter v in zen and japanese culture. princeton, nj : princeton university press, 1970, pp. 89 - 93. isbn : 9780691017709. | 2 | | the katana | | kapp, leon, hiroko kapp, and yoshindo yoshihara. " a craft reborn, " and " the sword. " the craft of the japanese sword. new york, ny : kodansha international, 1987, pp. 17 - 27, 53 - 55 and 61 - 94. isbn : 9780870117985. | | ( pdf ) | | 3 | | the samurai ' s cultural origins | |


. rutland, vt : c. e. tuttle, 1986, pp. 22 - 27, 65 - 76, 108, 117 - 19, 129 and 143. isbn : 9780804831796. - storry, richard. " zen and the sword. " the way of the samurai. london, england : orbis books, 1978, pp. 43 - 61. isbn : 9780856134043. - suzuki, daisetz. " what is zen? " and " zen and the samurai. " chapters i, iv in zen and japanese culture. princeton, nj : princeton university press, 1970, pp. 7 - 15 and 70 - 85. isbn : 9780691017709. | 6 | | civil war and unification | | | yoshikawa, eiji. taiko. new york, ny : kodansha international, 1992, pp. 653 - 663. isbn : 9784770015709. please read one of : - beaseley, w. g. " the unifiers. " chapter 7 in the japanese experience : a short history of japan. berkeley, ca : university of california press, 2000, pp. 116 - 127. isbn : 9780520225602. - berry, mary elizabeth. " the sword hunt. " and " freezing the social order. " chapter 5 in hideyoshi. cambridge, ma : council on east asian studies at harvard university, 1989, pp. 102 - 111. isbn : 9780674390263. | 7 | | giving up the gun | | perrin, noel. chapters 1 - 4 in giving up the gun : japan ' s reversion to the sword. boston, ma : d. r. gordine, 1988. isbn : 9780879237738. | | ( pdf ) | | 8 | | the tokugawa state | | | storry, richard. " the armed mandarins. " the way of the samurai. london, england : orbis books, 1978, pp. 63 - 77. isbn : 9780856134043. sadler, a. l. " the legacy of ieyasu. " in the maker of modern japan : the life of shogun tokugawa. rutland, vt : c. e. tuttle, 1978, pp. 387 - 398. isbn : 9780804812979. the lab for this module is to


add to my links, based on koch et al. 2002 ( pmid 12124289 ). as shown in this picture, dna fragments with a complementary 3 ' ( three prime ) overhang can be ligated to the unzipping construct. if dna is attached to a surface ( e. g. a coverglass ) at one end and to another surface ( e. g. a microsphere ) in the middle, the dna can be unzipped if there is a nick between the two attachments. this was first shown by bockelmann, essevaz - roulet, and heslot in the mid - 1990s ( pmid 9342340 ). we describe here a versatile adaptation first described in koch et al. 2002 ( pmid 12124289 ). compared to dna constructs for end - to - end dna stretching ( see, e. g. labeling dna by pcr unzipping constructs are more challenging to produce. the method we describe here has a significant stretch of double - stranded dna ( dsdna ) between the first and second attachment labels ( dig and biotin ). a simpler construct can be made by directly hybridizing two end - labeled dna oligos, producing a fork construct. ( see, e. g. koch _ lab : protocols / fork unzipping constructs. ) however, this produces shorter tethered particles, which was disadvantageous for the optical tweezers systems we were using. the key to this method is that unzipping of a variety of downstream dna molecules can be carried out with very little modification to the protocol. this versatility was leveraged by jiang et al. 2004 ( pmid 16337600 ), shundrovsky et al. 2006 ( pmid 16732285 ), and johnson et al. 2007 ( pmid 17604719 ). - the anchoring segment ( typically about 1 kilobase pairs ( kb ) in length ) is convenient for producing long initial tethers. however, the structural stability of this dsdna anchoring segment sets an upper limit of below 60 pn ( to assure that the dsdna anchoring segment does not undergo force - induced melting or " overstretching " ). - as shown in figure above, the complementary overhang is provided by the biotin - labeled strand of the " insert duplex " ( or " adapter duplex " ). this is for a 3 ' overhang. for a 5 ' overhang, the bottom strand will be


non - psalmodic chants, including the ordinary of the mass, sequences, and hymns, were originally intended for congregational singing. the structure of their texts largely defines their musical style. in sequences, the same melodic phrase is repeated in each couplet. the strophic texts of hymns use the same syllabic melody for each stanza. template : main early plainchant, like much of western music, is believed to have been distinguished by the use of the diatonic scale. modal theory, which postdates the composition of the core chant repertory, arises from a synthesis of two very different traditions : the speculative tradition of numerical ratios and species inherited from ancient greece and a second tradition rooted in the practical art of cantus. the earliest writings that deal with both theory and practice include the enchiriadis group of treatises, which circulated in the late ninth century and possibly have their roots in an earlier, oral tradition. in contrast to the ancient greek system of tetrachords ( a collection of four continuous notes ) that descend by two tones and a semitone, the enchiriadis writings base their tone - system on a tetrachord that corresponds to the four finals of chant, d, e, f, and g. the disjunct tetrachords in the enchiriadis system have been the subject of much speculation, because they do not correspond to the diatonic framework that became the standard medieval scale ( for example, there is a high f #, a note not recognized by later medieval writers ). a diatonic scale with a chromatically alterable b / b - flat was first described by hucbald, who adopted the tetrachord of the finals ( d, e, f, g ) and constructed the rest of the system following the model of the greek greater and lesser perfect systems. these were the first steps in forging a theoretical tradition that corresponded to chant. around 1025, guido d ' arezzo revolutionized western music with the development of the gamut, in which pitches in the singing range were organized into overlapping hexachords. hexachords could be built on c ( the natural hexachord, c - d - e ^ f - g - a ), f ( the soft hexachord, using a b - flat, f - g - a ^ bb - c - d ), or g ( the hard hexachord, using a b - natural, g - a - b ^ c - d


soft hexachord, using a b - flat, f - g - a ^ bb - c - d ), or g ( the hard hexachord, using a b - natural, g - a - b ^ c - d - e ). the b - flat was an integral part of the system of hexachords rather than an accidental. the use of notes outside of this collection was described as musica ficta. gregorian chant was categorized into eight modes, influenced by the eightfold division of byzantine chants called the oktoechos. each mode is distinguished by its final, dominant, and ambitus. the final is the ending note, which is usually an important note in the overall structure of the melody. the dominant is a secondary pitch that usually serves as a reciting tone in the melody. ambitus refers to the range of pitches used in the melody. melodies whose final is in the middle of the ambitus, or which have only a limited ambitus, are categorized as plagal, while melodies whose final is in the lower end of the ambitus and have a range of over five or six notes are categorized as authentic. although corresponding plagal and authentic modes have the same final, they have different dominants. the existent pseudo - greek names of the modes, rarely used in medieval times, derive from a misunderstanding of the ancient greek modes ; the prefix " hypo - " ( under, gr. ) indicates a plagal mode, where the melody moves below the final. in contemporary latin manuscripts the modes are simply called protus authentus / plagalis, deuterus, tritus and tetrardus : the 1st mode, authentic or plagal, the 2nd mode etc. in the roman chantbooks the modes are indicated by roman numerals. - modes 1 and 2 are the authentic and plagal modes ending on d, sometimes called dorian and hypodorian. - modes 3 and 4 are the authentic and plagal modes ending on e, sometimes called phrygian and hypophrygian. - modes 5 and 6 are the authentic and plagal modes ending on f, sometimes called lydian and hypolydian. - modes 7 and 8 are the authentic and plagal modes ending on g, sometimes called mixolydian and hypomixolydian. although the modes with melodies ending on a, b, and c are sometimes referred


mounted arc tube | mounted arc tube. | in some ways, gases are a pain from a sample point of view. with the exception of chlorine and bromine they all look exactly the same : like nothing at all. my beautiful set of noble gas flasks is beautiful because of the flasks, not what ' s in them, which is indistinguishable from plain air or vacuum. ( so much so that i got them for a bargain price because the seller thought the were empty. ) but set up an electric current through almost any gas, and things are completely different. the current ionizes the gas, and when the electrons fall back into their orbits, they emit light of very specific frequencies. these spectral lines can easily be seen with even a very cheap pocket spectroscope, and they give the glowing tubes very unusual colors. so unusual in fact that they are basically impossible to photograph. the pictures here simply don ' t look at all like the real colors of these tubes, which cannot be represented by the limited red, green, and blue mixtures available in computer or printed photographs. david franco helped arrange these tubes, which were made by a guy who specializes in noble gas tubes and geissler tubes ( click the source link ). i have tubes installed in each of the five stable noble gas spots in the table, hooked up underneath to a high voltage transformer. they are really quite beautiful. on my noble rack page i have all the pictures collected, along with pictures of arcs i made in my other collection of noble gas flasks. source : special effects neon contributor : theodore gray acquired : 22 november, 2002


mind and language 20 ( 2 ) : 241 - 57 ( 2005 ) | abstract | | anosognosia is literally ‘ unawareness of or failure to acknowledge one ’ s hemi - plegia or other disability ’ ( oed ). etymology would suggest the meaning ‘ lack of knowledge of disease ’ so that anosognosia would include any denial of impairment, such as denial of blindness ( anton ’ s syndrome ). but babinski, who introduced the term in 1914, applied it only to patients with hemiplegia who fail to acknowledge their paralysis. most commonly, this is failure to acknowledge paralysis of the left side of the body following damage to the right hemisphere of the brain. in this paper, we shall mainly be concerned with anosognosia for hemiplegia. but we shall also use the term ‘ anosognosia ’ in an inclusive way to encompass lack of knowledge or acknowledgement of any impairment. indeed, in the construction ‘ anosognosia for x ’, x might even be anosognosia for some y. | | keywords | | amnesia belief delusion epistemology impairment | | through your library | | configure | similar books and articles elizabeth leritz, chris loftis, greg crucian, william j. friedman & dawn bowers ( 2004 ). self - awareness of deficits in parkinson disease. clinical neuropsychologist 18 ( 3 ) : 352 - 361. oliver h. turnbull, karen jones & judith reed - screen ( 2002 ). implicit awareness of deficit in anosognosia? an emotion - based account of denial of deficit. comment. neuro - psychoanalysis 4 ( 1 ) : 69 - 86. vilayanur s. ramachandran ( 1995 ). anosognosia in parietal lobe syndrome. consciousness and cognition 4 ( 1 ) : 22 - 51. drakon nikolinakos ( 2004 ). anosognosia and the unity of consciousness. philosophical studies 119 ( 3 ) : 315 - 342. lisa bortolotti, rochelle cox & amanda barnier ( 2011 ). can we recreate delusions in the laboratory? philosophical psychology 25 ( 1 ) : 109 - 131. paul m. jenkinson, nicola m. j. edelstyn, justine l. drakeford & simon j. ellis ( 2009 ). reality monitoring in anosognosia for hemiplegia. consciousness and cognition 18 ( 2 ) : 458 - 470. martin


( phys. org ) - - this image, taken by the nasa / esa hubble space telescope, shows a detailed view of the spiral arms on one side of the galaxy messier 99. messier 99 is a so - called grand design spiral, with long, large and clearly defined spiral arms giving it a structure somewhat similar to the milky way. lying around 50 million light - years away, messier 99 is one of over a thousand galaxies that make up the virgo cluster, the closest cluster of galaxies to us. messier 99 itself is relatively bright and large, meaning it was one of the first galaxies to be discovered, way back in the 18th century. this earned it a place in charles messiers famous catalog of astronomical objects. in recent years, a number of unexplained phenomena in messier 99 have been studied by astronomers. among these is the nature of one of the brighter stars visible in this image. cataloged as ptf 10fqs, and visible as a yellow - orange star in the top - left corner of this image, it was first spotted by the palomar transient facility, which scans the skies for sudden changes in brightness ( or transient phenomena, to use astronomers jargon ). these can be caused by different kinds of event, including variable stars and supernova explosions. what is unusual about ptf 10fqs is that it has so far defied classification : it is brighter than a nova ( a bright eruption on a stars surface ), but fainter than a supernova ( the explosion that marks the end of life for a large star ). scientists have offered a number of possible explanations, including the intriguing suggestion that it could have been caused by a giant planet plunging into its parent star. this hubble image was made in june 2010, during the period when the outburst was fading, so ptf 10fqss location could be pinpointed with great precision. these measurements will allow other telescopes to home in on the star in future, even when the afterglow of the outburst has faded to nothing. a version of this image of messier 99 was entered into the hubbles hidden treasures competition by contestant matej novak. hidden treasures is an initiative to invite astronomy enthusiasts to search the hubble archive for stunning images that have never been seen by the general public. the competition is now closed and the winners will be announced soon. explore further : hubble reveals the ring nebula ' s true shape


( phys. org ) - - an essay on robots by a professor in japan over 40 years ago has just got its official translation. many in robotics and other science circles will say better late than never for an official translation of yasahiro mori ' s paper, the uncanny valley which was published in a japanese journal called energy 42 years earlier. the essay has generated interest about the extent and limitations of making robots more and more human - like in human - robot interaction. an english translation was done in 2005 but the translation that has been authorized and and reviewed by mori was published tuesday in ieee spectrum. i have noticed that, in climbing toward the goal of making robots appear human, our affinity for them increases until we come to a valley ( figure 1 ), which i call the uncanny valley. that observation from his original essay is what sparked conversations and interest among robotic designers over the years. mori maintains that humans are drawn to human - like robots with positive feelings of affinity until the robot moves or reveals itself in such a way that triggers the persons realization that it is not human. then it becomes uncanny or in popular - culture terms, creepy. affinity is lost. in his essay, mori expressed this experience in a graph, and he also offered an example, the prosthetic hand. the human being gets an eerie sensation, he said, when realizing that the hand is not real. we could be startled during a handshake by its limp boneless grip together with its texture and coldness. when this happens, we lose our sense of affinity, and the hand becomes uncanny. in mathematical terms, this can be represented by a negative value. he adds that when a prosthetic hand that is near the bottom of the uncanny valley starts to move, the sensation of eeriness intensifies. the official translation on tuesday is accompanied by an interview with mori, who can look at the validity of his remarks 42 years later, when robotics has gone through so many developments. a counterpoint to the popularity of moris essay has been the contention that the essay was an essay, after all, of limited scientific value. mori said, i have read that there is scientific evidence that the uncanny valley does indeed exist ; for example, by measuring brain waves scientists have found evidence of that. i do appreciate the fact that research is being conducted in this area, but from my point of view, i think that the brain waves act that way because we feel eerie. it still doesn ' t explain why we feel eerie to begin with. mori said


do appreciate the fact that research is being conducted in this area, but from my point of view, i think that the brain waves act that way because we feel eerie. it still doesn ' t explain why we feel eerie to begin with. mori said that pointing out the existence of the uncanny valley was intended as advice for people who design robots rather than a scientific statement itself. mori said he still thinks that designers should steer clear of making robots too lifelike, falling into the valley. i have no motivation to build a robot that resides on the other side of the valley why do you have to take the risk and try to get closer to the other side? he said he did not even find it interesting to develop a robot that looks exactly like a human. mori spoke approvingly about asimo as invigorating, a robot inviting positive feelings but appearing as different from humans. the two translators of the essay are karl f. macdorman, associate professor of human computer interaction at the school of informatics, indiana university. and norri kageki, a journalist who writes about robots. explore further : robots learn to take a proper handoff by following digitized human examples more information : spectrum. ieee. org / automaton / robotics / humanoids / the - uncanny - valley


statistical modeling could help us understand cosmic accelerationdecember 24th, 2010 in physics / general physics ( physorg. com ) - - while it is generally accepted by scientists that the universe is expanding at an accelerated rate, there are questions about why this should be so. for years, scientists have been trying to determine the cause of this behavior. one of the theories is that dark energy could be the cause of cosmic acceleration. in order to test theories of dark energy, a group at los alamos national laboratory in new mexico and the university of california santa cruz came up with a technique designed to test different models of dark energy. we are trying to investigate what could be behind the accelerated expansion of the universe, katrin heitmann, one of the los alamos scientists tells physorg. com. our technique is based on data, and can be used to evaluate different models. heitmann and her collaborators created their method based on gaussian process modeling ; the implementation was led by tracy holsclaw from uc santa cruz. were using statistical methods rather than trying to come up with different models. our process takes data from different sources and then uses it to look for certain deviations from what we assume in a cosmological constant. the groups work can be seen in physical review letters : nonparametric dark energy reconstruction from supernova data. many scientists think that dark energy is driving the accelerated expansion of the universe, heitmann says. if this is the case, it is possible to characterize it via its equation of state w ( z ). the redshift evolution of the equation of state parameter w ( z ) would show some indication of a dynamical origin of dark energy. heitmann points out that in such a case, there could be an infinite number of models. we cant test all those models, she says, so we have to do an inverse problem. we have data and we can characterize the underlying cause of the accelerated expansion. it assumes that w is a smoothly varying function, and a dynamical dark energy theory would fit that. we can use data and analyze it to see if we can find indications that dark energy really is behind accelerated expansion. the los alamos and university of california, santa cruz team first tested their statistical technique on simulated data in order see whether the method was reliable. after we saw that it was, heitmann says, we tried it on currently available supernova data. so far, their analysis has not revealed that a dynamical dark energy is


technique on simulated data in order see whether the method was reliable. after we saw that it was, heitmann says, we tried it on currently available supernova data. so far, their analysis has not revealed that a dynamical dark energy is behind the accelerated expansion ( the cosmological constant is a very special case of dark energy and is still in agreement with the data ), but heitmann doesnt think that means that the door is closed on dynamical dark energy theories as the cause of acceleration in the expanding universe. the data so far is limited, and better data is coming in every day, she says. additionally, the group hopes to include other data in their statistical analyses. our technique allows for the input of data from cosmic microwave background and baryon acoustic oscillations as well, and thats what we want to add in next. if this technique does identify a dynamical dark energy as the reason behind accelerated expansion of the universe, it could mean revisiting the basics of what we know about the workings of the universe. if we do find the time dependence that supports the idea of dark energy as this mechanism, then we can go back to the theory approach. we would have an idea of which models could better explain universes expansion history and ultimately develop a self - consistent theory with no ad hoc assumptions. more information : tracy holsclaw, ujjaini alam, bruno sanso, herbert lee, katrin heitmann, salman halbib, and david higdon, nonparametric dark energy reconstruction from supernova data, physical review letters ( 2010 ). available online : link. aps. org / doi / 10. 1103 / physrevlett. 105. 241302 copyright 2010 physorg. com. all rights reserved. this material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or part without the express written permission of physorg. com. " statistical modeling could help us understand cosmic acceleration. " december 24th, 2010. http : / / phys. org / news / 2010 - 12 - statistical - cosmic. html


in the karlsruhe physics course one defines the term " substance - like " quantity : let my cite the definition from a paper by falk, herrmann and schmid : " there is a class of physical quantities whose characteristics are especially easy to visualize : those extensive physical quantities to which a density can be assigned. these include electric charge, mass, amount of substance ( number of particles ), and others. because of the fundamental role these quantities play throughout science and because such quantities can be distributed in and flow through space, we give them a designation of their own : substance - like. " are there examples of extensive quantities, which are not substance - like? i think volume is one example, since it seems to make no sense to assign a density to it, are there others? now the authors write that a quantity can only be conserved if it is substance - like, let my cite this from an other publication : f. herrmann, writes : " it is important to make clear that the question of conservation or non - conservation only makes sense with substance - like quantities. only in the context of substance - like quantities does it make sense to ask the question of whether they are conserved or not. the question makes no sense in the case of non - substance - like quantities such as field strength or temperature. " so my second question is : why has a conserved quantity to be substance like? it would be great if one could give me a detailed explanation ( or a counterexample if he thinks the statement is wrong ). are there resources where the ideas cited above are introduced with some higher degree of detail and rigour?


the induction lamp is one of the newer technologies in lighting. this new tech lamp offers high efficacy and a very long life. with a shape similar to that of an incandescent lamp, it is useful in a variety of applications : - hard - to - reach areas - lobbies and atriums - decorative street lighting - hazardous areas compared with the incandescent lamp, the induction bulb is about four times as efficient and lasts over 40 times longer. in fact, this lamp and generator system are rated at 100, 000 hours, as compared to incandescents, which burn only 750 to 2, 500 hours. when compared to metal halide lamps of similar wattages, the induction lamp lasts up to 10 times longer, has higher color rendering, starts instantly, and does not require the warm - up period of metal halide lamps. the induction lamp operates without an electrode. at the center of the lamp is the induction coil, powered by an electronic unit at the base of the lamp, which produces a magnetic field that produces light. this coil is sometimes referred to as an energy - coupling antenna. the glass assembly surrounding the induction coil contains a mercury electron - ion plasma material, which is energized in a magnetic field producing uv light. the inner portion of the glass is lined with a phosphor coating very similar to that in fluorescent lamps. the induction lamp offers many features that make it an attractive light source. with such a long rated life, these lamps seldom need replacing, rendering them virtually maintenance - free. this is particularly useful in applications where lamp replacement is cumbersome and expensive, as in some outdoor applications and in hard - to - reach areas. the induction lamp is also durable, and its light output is not significantly influenced by ambient temperature. this makes the induction lamp ideal for outdoor applications, where durability is certainly a high priority. - ultra - long life - - 100, 000 hours rated life - white light, excellent color rendering ( 80 + cri ) with choice of color temperatures - no color shift - high reliability - - instant start when cold and re - starting when hot - low emi complies with fcc non - consumer limits


individual differences | methods | statistics | clinical | educational | industrial | professional items | world psychology | philosophy index : aesthetics · epistemology · ethics · logic · metaphysics · consciousness · philosophy of language · philosophy of mind · philosophy of science · social and political philosophy · philosophies · philosophers · list of lists - main article : inductive deductive reasoning in traditional aristotelian logic, deductive reasoning is inference in which the conclusion is of no greater generality than the premises, as opposed to inductive reasoning, where the conclusion is of greater generality than the premises. other theories of logic define deductive reasoning as inference in which the conclusion is just as certain as the premises, as opposed to inductive reasoning, where the conclusion can have less certainty than the premises. in both approaches, the conclusion of a deductive inference is necessitated by the premises : the premises can ' t be true while the conclusion is false. ( in aristotelian logic, the premises in inductive reasoning can also be related in this way to the conclusion. ) - all men are mortal. - socrates is a man. - therefore socrates is mortal. - the picture is above the desk. - the desk is above the floor. - therefore the picture is above the floor. - all birds have wings. - a cardinal is a bird. - therefore a cardinal has wings. - every criminal opposes the government. - everyone in the opposition party opposes the government. - therefore everyone in the opposition party is a criminal. this is invalid because the premises fail to establish commonality between membership in the opposition party and being a criminal. this is the famous fallacy of the undistributed middle. | basic argument forms of the calculus | | modus ponens | | [ ( p → q ) ∧ p ] q | | if p then q ; p ; therefore q | | modus tollens | | [ ( p → q ) ∧ ¬q ] ¬p | | if p then q ; not q ; therefore not p | | hypothetical syllogism | | [ ( p → q ) ∧ ( q → r ) ] ( p → r ) | | if p then q ; if q then r ; therefore, if p then r | | disjunctive syllogism | | [ ( p ∨ q ) ∧ ¬p ] q | | either p or q ; not p ; therefore, q | | constructive dilemma | | [ ( p →


p then r | | disjunctive syllogism | | [ ( p ∨ q ) ∧ ¬p ] q | | either p or q ; not p ; therefore, q | | constructive dilemma | | [ ( p → q ) ∧ ( r → s ) ∧ ( p ∨ r ) ] ( q ∨ s ) | | if p then q ; and if r then s ; but either p or r ; therefore either q or s | | destructive dilemma | | [ ( p → q ) ∧ ( r → s ) ∧ ( ¬q ∨ ¬s ) ] ( ¬p ∨ ¬r ) | | if p then q ; and if r then s ; but either not q or not s ; therefore rather not p or not r | | simplification | | ( p ∧ q ) p | | p and q are true ; therefore p is true | | conjunction | | p, q ( p ∧ q ) | | p and q are true separately ; therefore they are true conjointly | | addition | | p ( p ∨ q ) | | p is true ; therefore the disjunction ( p or q ) is true | | composition | | [ ( p → q ) ∧ ( p → r ) ] [ p → ( q ∧ r ) ] | | if p then q ; and if p then r ; therefore if p is true then q and r are true | | de morgan ' s theorem ( 1 ) | | ¬ ( p ∧ q ) ( ¬p ∨ ¬q ) | | the negation of ( p and q ) is equiv. to ( not p or not q ) | | de morgan ' s theorem ( 2 ) | | ¬ ( p ∨ q ) ( ¬p ∧ ¬q ) | | the negation of ( p or q ) is equiv. to ( not p and not q ) | | commutation ( 1 ) | | ( p ∨ q ) ( q ∨ p ) | | ( p or q ) is equiv. to ( q or p ) | | commutation ( 2 ) | | ( p ∧ q ) ( q ∧ p ) | | ( p and q ) is equiv. to ( q and p ) | | association ( 1 ) | | [ p ∨ ( q ∨ r ) ] [ ( p ∨ q ) ∨ r ] | | p or ( q or r )


and q ) is equiv. to ( q and p ) | | association ( 1 ) | | [ p ∨ ( q ∨ r ) ] [ ( p ∨ q ) ∨ r ] | | p or ( q or r ) is equiv. to ( p or q ) or r | | association ( 2 ) | | [ p ∧ ( q ∧ r ) ] [ ( p ∧ q ) ∧ r ] | | p and ( q and r ) is equiv. to ( p and q ) and r | | distribution ( 1 ) | | [ p ∧ ( q ∨ r ) ] [ ( p ∧ q ) ∨ ( p ∧ r ) ] | | p and ( q or r ) is equiv. to ( p and q ) or ( p and r ) | | distribution ( 2 ) | | [ p ∨ ( q ∧ r ) ] [ ( p ∨ q ) ∧ ( p ∨ r ) ] | | p or ( q and r ) is equiv. to ( p or q ) and ( p or r ) | | double negation | | p ¬¬p | | p is equivalent to the negation of not p | | transposition | | ( p → q ) ( ¬q → ¬p ) | | if p then q is equiv. to if not q then not p | | material implication | | ( p → q ) ( ¬p ∨ q ) | | if p then q is equiv. to either not p or q | | material equivalence ( 1 ) | | ( p ↔ q ) [ ( p → q ) ∧ ( q → p ) ] | | ( p is equiv. to q ) means, ( if p is true then q is true ) and ( if q is true then p is true ) | | material equivalence ( 2 ) | | ( p ↔ q ) [ ( p ∧ q ) ∨ ( ¬q ∧ ¬p ) ] | | ( p is equiv. to q ) means, either ( p and q are true ) or ( both p and q are false ) | | exportation | | [ ( p ∧ q ) → r ] [ p → ( q → r ) ] | | from ( if p and q are true then r is true ) we can prove ( if q is true then r is true, if p is true ) | | importation | | [ p


[ p → ( q → r ) ] | | from ( if p and q are true then r is true ) we can prove ( if q is true then r is true, if p is true ) | | importation | | [ p → ( q → r ) ] [ ( p ∧ q ) → r ] | | tautology | | p ( p ∨ p ) | | p is true is equiv. to p is true or p is true | in more formal terms, a deduction is a sequence of statements such that every statement can be derived from those before it. it is understandable, then, that this leaves open the question of how we prove the first sentence ( since it cannot follow from anything ). axiomatic propositional logic solves this by requiring the following conditions for a proof to be met : a proof of α from an ensemble σ of well - formed - formulas ( wffs ) is a finite sequence of wffs : - βn = α and for each βi ( 1 ≤ i ≤ n ), either - βi ∈ σ - βi is an axiom, - βi is the output of modus ponens for two previous wffs, βi - g and βi - h. different versions of axiomatic propositional logics contain a few axioms, usually three or more than three, in addition to one or more inference rules. for instance, gottlob frege ' s axiomatization of propositional logic, which is also the first instance of such an attempt, has six propositional axioms and two rules. bertrand russell and alfred north whitehead also suggested a system with five axioms. for instance a version of axiomatic propositional logic due to jan lukasiewicz ( 1878 - 1956 ) has a set a of axioms adopted as follows : - [ pl1 ] p → ( q → p ) - [ pl2 ] ( p → ( q → r ) ) → ( ( p → q ) → ( p → r ) ) - [ pl3 ] ( ¬p → ¬q ) → ( q → p ) and it has the set r of rules of inference with one rule in it that is modu ponendo ponens as follows : - [ mp ] from α and α → β, infer β. the inference rule ( s ) allows us to derive the statements following the axioms or given wffs of the ensemble σ. natural deductive logic edit in


| | ( 1 ) | | ( p → q ) | | a | | 3 | | ( 3 ) | | p | | a ( for raa ) | | 1, 2, 3 | | ( 5 ) | | q ∧ ¬q | | 2, 4, ∧i | an example of the proof of a sequent ( a theorem in this case ) : | ∨ ¬p | | assumption number | | line number | | formula ( wff ) | | lines in - use and justification | | 1 | | ( 1 ) | | ¬ ( p ∨ ¬p ) | | a ( for raa ) | | 2 | | ( 2 ) | | ¬p | | a ( for raa ) | | 2 | | ( 3 ) | | ( p ∨ ¬p ) | | 2, ∨i | | 1, 2 | | ( 4 ) | | ( p ∨ ¬p ) ∧ ¬ ( p ∨ ¬p ) | | 1, 2, ∧i | | 1 | | ( 5 ) | | ¬¬p | | 2, 4, raa | | 1 | | ( 7 ) | | ( p ∨ ¬p ) | | 6, ∨i | | 1 | | ( 8 ) | | ( p ∨ ¬p ) ∧ ¬ ( p ∨ ¬p ) | | 1, 7, ∧i | | ( 9 ) | | ¬¬ ( p ∨ ¬p ) | | 1, 8, raa | | ( 10 ) | | ( p ∨ ¬p ) | | 9, dn | each rule of system l has its own requirements for the type of input ( s ) or entry ( es ) that it can accept and has its own way of treating and calculating the assumptions used by its inputs. - jennings, r. e., continuing logic, the course book of ' axiomatic logic ' in simon fraser university, vancouver, canada - zarefsky, david, argumentation : the study of effective reasoning parts i and ii, the teaching company 2002 - abductive reasoning - correspondence theory of truth - defeasible reasoning - hypothetico - deductive method - inductive reasoning - propositional calculus - retroductive reasoning | general : philosophy : eastern - western | history of philosophy : ancient - medieval - modern | portal | | lists : basic topics | topic list | philosophers | philosophies | glossary of philosophical " isms " | philosophical movements | publications | category listings


philosophy : eastern - western | history of philosophy : ancient - medieval - modern | portal | | lists : basic topics | topic list | philosophers | philosophies | glossary of philosophical " isms " | philosophical movements | publications | category listings... more lists | | branches : aesthetics | ethics | epistemology | logic | metaphysics | philosophy of : education, history, language, law, mathematics, mind, philosophy, politics, psychology, religion, science, social philosophy, social sciences | | schools : agnosticism | analytic philosophy | atheism | critical theory | determinism | dialectics | empiricism | existentialism | humanism | idealism | logical positivism | materialism | nihilism | postmodernism | rationalism | relativism | skepticism | theism | | references : philosophy primer | internet encyclo. of philosophy | philosophical dictionary | stanford encyclo. of philosophy | internet philosophy guide | cs : dedukce da : deduktion de : deduktion es : razonamiento deductivo fr : deduction logique ko : 연역법 hr : dedukcija he : דדוקציה hu : dedukcio nl : deductieno : deduksjon ( filosofi ) nn : deduksjonru : дедукция sl : dedukcija sv : deduktionuk : дедукція zh : | this page uses creative commons licensed content from wikipedia ( view authors ). |


methods | statistics | clinical | educational | industrial | professional items | world psychology | psychological operations ( psyop, psyops ) are techniques used by military and police forces to influence a target audience ' s emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and behavior. target audiences can be governments, organizations, groups, and individuals, and are used in order to induce confessions, or reinforce attitudes and behaviors favorable to the originator ' s objectives. this concept has been used by military institutions throughout history, but it is only since the 20th century that it has been accorded the organizational and professional status it enjoys now. in the german bundeswehr, the zentrum operative information and its subordinated bataillon fur operative information 950 are responsible for the psyop efforts ( called operative information in german ). both the center and the battalion are subordinate to the new streitkraftebasis ( joint services support command, skb ) and together consist of about 1, 000 soldiers specialising in modern communication and media technologies. one project of the german psyop forces is the radio station stimme der freiheit ( voice of freedom ), heard by thousands of afghans. another is publication of various newspapers and magazines in kosovo and afghanistan. united kingdom edit in the british armed forces, psyops are handled by the tri - service 15 psychological operations group. united states edit - main article : psychological operations ( united states ) the purpose of united states psychological operations ( psyop ) is to induce or reinforce attitudes and behaviors favorable to u. s. objectives. in the united states department of defense, dedicated psychological operations units exist only in the united states army. however, the united states navy also plans and executes limited psyop missions. unlike some countries, united states psyop units and soldiers of all branches of the military are prohibited by law from conducting psyop missions on domestic audiences. while united states army psyop units may offer non - psyop support to domestic military missions, they can only target foreign audiences. within the u. s. psychological operations community, the correct acronym is psyop without the " s " at the end, as noted in fm 33 - 1 - 1. nato references will alternately list the capability as psyop or psyops, depending on the source ' s nation of origin. during the waco siege, the fbi and batf conducted psychological operations on the men, women and children inside the mount carmel complex. this included using loud speakers to play sounds


or psyops, depending on the source ' s nation of origin. during the waco siege, the fbi and batf conducted psychological operations on the men, women and children inside the mount carmel complex. this included using loud speakers to play sounds of animals being slaughtered, drilling noises and clips from talk shows about how david koresh was much hated. in addition, very bright, flashing lights were used at night. see also edit - psychological warfare - information warfare - psychological operations ( united states ) - 15 psychological operations group ( british armed forces ) - political warfare executive - psychological warfare division it is possible that psyops, using a combonation of the patriot act and the rave act, could engage in psychological warfare on those who produce, promote, or organize events centered around electronic music. these acts allow governmental agencies on all levels to coordinate and engage in psychological warfare against innocent civilians who use the electronic medium as a tool to create art. these acts could potentially lead to a constitutional conflict in regards to the quartering of troops as stated in the bill of rights. - psywar. org — psychological operations and black propaganda the history of psychological warfare / psyop with an extensive library of aerial propaganda leaflets. - iws — the information warfare site - u. s. — psyop producing mid - eastern kids comic book - the institute of heraldry — psychological operations - oss — development of psychological warfare ( wwii ) - clandestine radio - it : operazioni psicologiche - fi : psykologinen operaatio | this page uses creative commons licensed content from wikipedia ( view authors ). |


- mobile air quality studies ( maqs ) - an international project ( 2010 ) - due to an increasing awareness of the potential hazardousness of air pollutants, new laws, rules and guidelines have recently been implemented globally. in this respect, numerous studies have addressed traffic - related exposure to particulate matter using stationary technology so far. by contrast, only few studies used the advanced technology of mobile exposure analysis. the mobile air quality study ( maqs ) addresses the issue of air pollutant exposure by combining advanced high - granularity spatial - temporal analysis with vehicle - mounted, person - mounted and roadside sensors. the maqs - platform will be used by international collaborators in order 1 ) to assess air pollutant exposure in relation to road structure, 2 ) to assess air pollutant exposure in relation to traffic density, 3 ) to assess air pollutant exposure in relation to weather conditions, 4 ) to compare exposure within vehicles between front and back seat ( children ) positions, and 5 ) to evaluate " traffic zone " - exposure in relation to non - " traffic zone " - exposure. primarily, the maqs - platform will focus on particulate matter. with the establishment of advanced mobile analysis tools, it is planed to extend the analysis to other pollutants including including no2, so2, nanoparticles, and ozone.


or his possessions. notice that locke and madison include among " property " people ' s very lives, their property in their own existence and the right to preserve that existence. other forms of property are no less important, for they are necessary to sustain our lives. if we are to live, we must also provide for food, clothing, shelter, and other needs and luxuries. we can obtain these things only through the fruits of our labor or through charity ( leaving aside the possibility of violating others ' rights through theft, either directly or by using the government as our agent to take from another and give to us ). in other words, you can talk all you want about the freedom of speech, but what good is it if you are unable to own a printing press or the paper ( or computer ) on which to write your ideas? you can pay lip service to the freedom of association, the freedom to peaceably assemble, and the freedom to practice any religion you want ( or none at all ), but what good is it if you are not permitted the opportunity to own the land on which to exercise these rights? you can have the right to keep and bear arms, but what good is it if you are not allowed to own any place to keep them? property rights are not just an academic concept or an economic expediency, they are inexorably intertwined with the human rights and freedoms we hold so dear. this is why the power of eminent domain is one of government ' s most evil, insidious powers. but, you may argue, when government invokes eminent domain to take someone ' s property, the " takings clause " of the fifth amendment says it must pay " just compensation " so that the property owner is no worse off than before the taking. the key question that must be asked is : who determines whether the compensation is " just "? it certainly isn ' t just to the property owners who simply desire to be left alone and remain in their homes ; otherwise, they would have simply accepted a buyout offer. so, the government has an appraisal done, oftentimes producing a lowball figure, and demands that the property owner take the offer and leave. never mind that the government - acquired appraisal may be only a fraction of what the owner could get for the property from another private party ( the government ' s claims of its offer ' s " fair market value " notwithstanding ). the government can offer below market value ( or reduce the value of the property


. — friedrich august von hayek, the road to serfdom, 1944 if we wish to preserve a free society, it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular object is not sufficient justification for the use of coercion. — friedrich august von hayek, the constitution of liberty, 1960 property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty. — john adams, dissertation on the canon and the feudal law, 1765 property must be secured, or liberty cannot exist. — john adams, a balanced government ( 1790 ) in discourses on davila ( 1805 ), reprinted in 6 works of john adams ( 1851 ed. ) now what liberty can there be where property is taken away without consent? — samuel adams, the rights of the colonists, the report of the committee of correspondence to the boston town meeting, november 20, 1772 private property and freedom are inseparable. — george washington you cannot have a free society without private property. — milton friedman man is born into the universe with a personality that is his own. he has a right that is founded upon the constitution of the universe to have property that is his own. ultimately, property rights and personal rights are the same thing. the one cannot be preserved if the other be violated. — calvin coolidge, " have faith in massachusetts, " massachusetts senate president acceptance speech, january 7, 1914 the right of liberty means man ' s right to individual action, individual initiative and individual property. without the right to private property no independent action is possible. — ayn rand, " the only path to tomorrow, " 1944 the right to life is the source of all rights — and the right to property is their only implementation. without property rights, no other rights are possible. since man has to sustain his life by his own effort, the man who has no right to the product of his effort has no means to sustain his life. the man who produces while others dispose of his product, is a slave. — ayn rand, " man ' s rights " in the virtue of selfishness, 1964 the sacred rights of property are to be guarded at every point. i call them sacred, because, if they are unprotected, all other rights become worthless or visionary. what is personal liberty, if it does not draw after it the right to enjoy the fruits of our own industry? what is political liberty, if it imparts only perpetual poverty to us and all our posterity? what is the privilege of a vote, if the majority


cleon skousen, the five thousand year leap ( washington, dc : national center for constitutional. studies, 1981 ), p. 173. the great and chief end, therefore, of men uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property. — john locke, two treatises of government, 1690, book ii, chapter ix, sec. 124 the supreme power cannot take from any man any part of his property without his own consent.... men therefore in society having property, they have such a right to the goods, which by the law of the community are theirs, that no body hath a right to take their substance or any part of it from them, without their own consent : without this they have no property at all ; for i have truly no property in that, which another can by right take from me, when he pleases, against my consent. hence it is a mistake to think, that the supreme or legislative power of any commonwealth, can do what it will, and dispose of the estates of the subject arbitrarily, or take any part of them at pleasure. — john locke, two treatises of government, book ii, chapter xi, sec. 138 there is, therefore, secondly, another way whereby governments are dissolved, and that is, when the legislative, or the prince, either of them, act contrary to their trust. first, the legislative acts against the trust reposed in them, when they endeavor to invade the property of the subject, and to make themselves, or any part of the community, masters, or arbitrary disposers of the lives, liberties, or fortunes of the people. — john locke, two treatises of government, 1690, book ii, chapter xix, sec. 221 whenever the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience. — john locke, two treatises of government, 1690, book ii, chapter xix, sec. 222 all men are created equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity ; among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing the obtaining of happiness and safety. — george mason, first draft, virginia declaration of rights, may 1776 that all


of this common good, and to decide whether it be expedient or no. besides, the public good is in nothing more essentially interested, than in the protection of every individuals private rights, as modeled by the municipal law. — sir william blackstone, commentaries on the laws of england, 1765 it is evident that the right of acquiring and possessing property, and having it protected, is one of the natural, inherent, and inalienable rights of man. men have a sense of property : property is necessary to their subsistence, and correspondent to their natural wants and desires ; its security was one of the objects that induced them to unite in society. no man would become a member of a community, in which he could not enjoy the fruits of his honest labor and industry. the preservation of property then is a primary object of the social compact.... where is the security, where is the inviolability of property, if the legislature, by a private act, affecting particular persons only, can take land from one citizen, who acquired it legally, and vest it in another? — william paterson, associate justice of the united states supreme court and signer of the constitution, van horne ' s lessee v. dorrance, 2 u. s. ( 2 dall. ) 304, 309, 311 - 12 ( 1795 ) government is instituted to protect property of every sort ; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses. this being the end of government, that alone is a just government which impartially secures to every man whatever is his own. — james madison, " property, " national gazette, march 27, 1792 government is instituted no less for protection of the property, than of the persons, of individuals. — james madison, federalist no. 54 it is sufficiently obvious, that persons and property are the two great subjects on which governments are to act ; and that the rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which government was instituted. these rights cannot well be separated. — james madison, speech at the virginia constitutional convention, december 2, 1829 by liberty i understand the power which every man has over his own actions, and his right to enjoy the fruits of his labour, art, and industry, as far as by it he hurts not the society, or any members of it, by taking from any member, or by hindering him from enjoying what he himself enjoys. the fruits of a


- geneva - u. s. and european intelligence agencies are reporting mounting evidence that russia and china have massively violated the 1972 biological and toxic weapons convention and subsequent international and bilateral agreements to control biowarfare weapons. - the convention, signed by 169 nations, prohibits the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, transfer or use of chemical and biological weapons. - all signatories with biowarfare arsenals are pledged to eliminate such weapons over 10 years. while russia and china appear to have ceased adding to their huge stockpiles of chemical weapons, both are developing new strains of highly lethal biological toxins. - according to ken alibek, a former deputy director of the top secret soviet - era biowarfare program, who defected to the west, moscow never ended its offensive biological warfare research. alibek claims russia has stockpiled many hundreds of tonnes of anthrax and plague, as well as smaller quantities of smallpox, ebola and marburg viruses, and toxins designed to attack plants and animals. russia is also developing a new strain of " invisible " biowarfare agents, known as bioregulators, that destroy the body ' s immune or neurological systems. - the highest - ranking defector from russia ' s biowarfare program ever to come west also claims that in 1985 former soviet leader mikhail gorbachev secretly authorized a five - year program to develop weaponized germs and viruses, some of which were mounted on multiple warheads of the large ss - 18 icbms targeted at north america. alibek also says china, which claims to have abandoned biowarfare production and eliminated stockpiles, is producing hemorrhagic viruses at lop nor in central asia and suffered two major accidents in the late 1980s that killed hundreds of people. - many toxins being developed in russia have been biologically engineered to resist antibiotics, notably a super - strain of anthrax that is apparently impervious to the anti - anthrax inoculations now being given to nato troops. - alibek and other russian defectors also confirmed the soviet union used chemical and biological weapons in afghanistan from 1980 - 89. while covering the war there, i saw numerous cases of grave injuries or death inflicted on the afghan mujahedeen by mysterious soviet weapons. after being sprayed by a fine chemical mist, or exposed to gas, people would turn black and die, bleed profusely from all body orifices, choke and vomit or become disoriented and dazed. bodies of


what is an ssl certificate? the secure sockets layer ( ssl ) protects data transferred over http using encryption enabled by a servers ssl certificate. an ssl certificate is an electronic file that uniquely identifies individuals and web sites and enables encrypted communications. an ssl certificate contains a public key and a private key. a public key is used to encrypt information and a private key is used to decipher it. when a browser points to a secured domain, an ssl handshake authenticates the server and the client and establishes an encryption method and a unique session key. they can begin a secure session that guarantees message privacy and message integrity. ssl certificates serve as a kind of digital passport or credential. typically, the " signer " of a certificate is a " certificate authority " ( ca ), such as verisign. encryption, the process of transforming information to make it unintelligible to all but the intended recipient, forms the basis of data integrity and privacy necessary for e - commerce. customers submit sensitive information and purchase goods or services via the web only when they are confident that their personal information is secure. the solution for businesses that are serious about online transactions is to implement a trust infrastructure based on encryption technology. the diagram below illustrates the process that guarantees protected communications between a web server and a client. all exchanges of ssl certificates occur within seconds, and require no action by the consumer.