most of the classical notions of hypnosis have long held that hypnosis was special in some way from other types of interpersonal communication and that an induction ( preparatory process considered by some to be... parapsychology > > hypnosis pliers common types is described in multiple online sources, as addition to our editors ' articles, see section below for printable documents, pliers common types books and related discussion. suggested pdf resources - clover safe # 90 using pliers safely - most types of have jaws located at the tips. pliers are primarily used for gripping, twisting, turning, and cutting objects. - using pliers safely - anr environmental health & safety - most types of pliers have serrated jaws located at the tips. - assembling means putting the parts of something together. for - square jaws are useful for bending corners on thin metal. fig. 24 - 6 using an offset screwdriver. - the toolbox - the most common type of pliers are slip - joint pliers ( 8 ” ) which have jaws that can be adjusted to grip large or small things. suggested web resources - pliers - wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - pliers are a hand tool used to hold objects firmly, for bending, or physical there are many kinds of pliers made for various general and specific purposes. - types of pliers - describes the types and features of various pliers. types of pliers. there are several types of pliers, each suited to a different task. - types of pliers - pliers are two - handled, two - jawed hand tools used mainly for gripping, twisting, here are some of the main types of pliers. insulated handles are common. - what are the most and less common types of pliers | trend - jul 27, 2011 one of the most common tools that are widely used by several people when fixing appliances or engines is called pliers. - osh answers : pliers and wire cutters - aug 17, 2010 what are common types of pliers and wire cutters? what are some safety tips to know when using pliers and wire cutters? great care has been taken to prepare the information on this page. elements of the content come from factual and lexical knowledge databases, realmagick. com library and third - party sources. we appreciate your suggestions and comments on further improvements of the site.


synthetic biology : tum researchers develop novel kind of fluorescent protein proteins are the most important functional biomolecules in nature with numerous applications in life science research, biotechnology and medicine. so how can they be modified in the most effective way to attain certain desired properties? in the past, the modifications were usually carried out either chemically or via genetic engineering. the team of professor arne skerra from the tum chair of biological chemistry has now developed a more elegant combined solution : by extending the otherwise universal genetic code, the scientists are able to coerce bacterial cells to produce tailored proteins with synthetic functional groups. to put their idea to the test, they set out to crack a particularly hard nut : the scientists wanted to incorporate a non - natural amino acid at a specific site into a widely used natural protein. in bioresearch this protein is commonly known as " gfp " ( = green fluorescent protein ). it emits a bright green glow and stems originally from a jellyfish that uses the protein to make itself visible in the darkness of the deep sea. the team chose a pale lavender coumarin pigment, serving as side chain of a non - natural amino acid, as the synthetic group. the scientists " fed " this artificial amino acid to a laboratory culture of escherichia coli bacteria “ “ the microorganism workhorses of genetic engineering, whose natural siblings are also found in the human intestine. since the team had transferred the modified genetic blueprints for the gfp to the bacteria “ “ including the necessary biosynthesis machinery “ “ it incorporated the coumarin amino acid at a very specific site into the fluorescent protein. this spot in the gfp was carefully chosen, explains professor skerra : " we positioned the synthetic amino acid at a very close distance from the fluorescence center of the natural protein. " the scientists employed the principle of the so - called foerster resonance energy transfer, or fret for short. under favorable conditions, this process of physical energy transfer, named after the german physical chemist theodor foerster, allows energy to be conveyed from one stimulated pigment to another in a radiation - less manner. it was precisely this fret effect that the scientists implemented very elegantly in the new fluorescent protein. they defined the distance between the imported chemical pigment and the biological blue - green ( cyan, to be more precise ) pigment of the jellyfish protein in such a way that the interplay between the two dyes resulted in a completely novel kind of fluorescent


defined the distance between the imported chemical pigment and the biological blue - green ( cyan, to be more precise ) pigment of the jellyfish protein in such a way that the interplay between the two dyes resulted in a completely novel kind of fluorescent chimeric biomolecule. because of the extreme proximity of the two luminescent groups the pale lavender of the synthetic amino acid can no longer be detected ; instead, the typical blue - green color of the fluorescent protein dominates. " what is special here, and different from the natural gfp, is that, thanks to the synthetically incorporated amino acid, the fluorescence can be excited with a commercially available black - light lamp in place of an expensive dedicated laser apparatus, " explains sebastian kuhn, who conducted these groundbreaking experiments as part of his doctoral thesis. according to skerra, the design principle of the novel bio - molecule, which is characterized by a particularly large and hard to achieve wavelength difference between excitation and emitted light, should open numerous interesting applications : " we have now demonstrated that the technology works. our strategy will enable the preparation of customized fluorescent proteins in various colors for manifold future purposes. " this research project was financially supported by the german research foundation ( dfg ) as part of the excellence cluster " munich center for integrated protein science " ( cips - m ). on the net :


bill scanlon, nrel january 02, 2013 | 3 comments it takes outside - the - box thinking to outsmart the solar spectrum and set a world record for solar cell efficiency. the solar spectrum has boundaries and immutable rules. no matter how much solar cell manufacturers want to bend those rules, they can ' t. so how can we make a solar cell that has a higher efficiency than the rules allow? that ' s the question scientists in the iii - v multijunction photovoltaics group at the u. s. department of energy ' s ( doe ) national renewable energy laboratory ( nrel ) faced 15 years ago as they searched for materials they could grow easily that also have the ideal combinations of band gaps for converting photons from the sun into electricity with unprecedented efficiency. a band gap is an energy that characterizes how a semiconductor material absorbs photons, and how efficiently a solar cell made from that material can extract the useful energy from those photons. " the ideal band gaps for a solar cell are determined by the solar spectrum, " said daniel friedman, manager of the nrel iii - v multijunction photovoltaics group. " there ' s no way around that. " but this year, friedman ' s team succeeded so spectacularly in bending the rules of the solar spectrum that nrel and its industry partner, solar junction, won a coveted r & d 100 award from r & d magazine for a world - record multijunction solar cell. the three - layered cell, sj3, converted 43. 5 % of the energy in sunlight into electrical energy — a rate that has stimulated demand for the cell to be used in concentrator photovoltaic ( cpv ) arrays for utility - scale energy production. last month, that record of 43. 5 % efficiency at 415 suns was eclipsed with a 44 % efficiency at 947 suns. both records were verified by nrel. this is nrel ' s third r & d 100 award for advances in ultra - high - efficiency multijunction cells. cpv technology gains efficiency by using low - cost lenses to multiply the sun ' s intensity, which scientists refer to as numbers of suns. friedman says earlier success with multijunction cells — layered semiconductors each optimized to capture different wavelengths of light at their junctions — gave nrel a head start. the sj3 cells fit into the market for utility - scale cpv projects. they ' re designed for application under sunlight concentrated to 1, 000 times its


matched the lattice of the layer above it — and that also had the ideal band gap. " we knew from the shape of the solar spectrum and modeling solar cells that what we wanted was a third junction that has a band gap of about 1. 0 electron volt, lattice - matched to gallium arsenide, " friedman said. " the lattice match makes materials easier to grow. " they concentrated on materials from the third and fifth columns of the periodic table because these so - called iii - v semiconductors have similar crystal structures and ideal diffusion, absorption, and mobility properties for solar cells. but there was seemingly no way to capture the benefits of the gallium arsenide material while matching the lattice of the layer below, because no known iii - v material compatible with gallium arsenide growth had both the desired 1 - ev band gap and the lattice - constant match to gallium arsenide. that changed in the early 1990s, when a research group at ntt laboratories in tokyo working on an unrelated problem made an unexpected discovery. even though gallium nitride has a higher band gap than gallium arsenide, when you add a bit of nitrogen to gallium arsenide, the band gap shrinks — exactly the opposite of what was expected to happen. " that was very surprising, and it stimulated a great deal of work all over the world, including here at nrel, " friedman said. " it helped push us to start making solar cells with this new dilute nitride material. " good band gaps, but not so good solar material the new solar cells nrel developed had two things going for them — and one big issue. " the good things were that we could make the material very easily, and we did get the band gap and the lattice match that we wanted, " friedman said. " the bad thing was that it wasn ' t a good solar cell material. it wasn ' t very good at converting absorbed photons into electrical energy. materials quality is critical for high - performance solar cells, so this was a big problem. " still, nrel continued to search for a solution. " we worked on it for quite a while, and we got to a point where we realized we had to choose between two ways of collecting current from a solar cell, " friedman said. " one way is to let the electrical carriers just diffuse along without the aid of an electric field. that ' s what you do if you have good material. "


around the arm to measure blood pressure can simply be too small to accurately... read more » mild traumatic brain injury often remains undiagnosed : although the symptoms of severe brain injury are hard to miss, it is less clear for milder injuries, or even those causing a mild concussion diagnosis. the condition goes by the name of " mild... read more » mtbi misdiagnosed as balance problem : when a person has symptoms such as vertigo or dizziness, a diagnosis of brain injury may go overlooked. this is particularly true of mild traumatic brain injury ( mtbi ), for which the symptoms are typically mild. the... read more » rare diseases misdiagnosed as parkinson ' s disease : a rare genetic disorder is often misdiagnosed as parkinson ' s disease for men in their 50 ' s. the disease fragile x disorder can show only mild symptoms in the early years, and parkinsons... read more » brain pressure condition often misdiagnosed as dementia : a condition that results from an excessive pressure of csf within the brain is often misdiagnosed. it may be misdiagnosed as parkinson ' s disease or dementia ( such as alzheimer ' s disease... read more » post - concussive brain injury often misdiagnosed : a study found that soldiers who had suffered a concussive injury in battle often were misdiagnosed on their return. a... read more » children with migraine often misdiagnosed : a migraine often fails to be correctly diagnosed in pediatric patients. these patients are not the... read more » vitamin b12 deficiency under - diagnosed : the condition of vitamin b12 deficiency is a possible misdiagnosis of various conditions, such as multiple sclerosis ( see symptoms of multiple sclerosis ). see symptoms of vitamin b12 deficiency... read more » other ways to find a doctor, or use doctor, physician and specialist online research services : research extensive quality ratings and patient safety measures for hospitals, clinics and medical facilities in health specialties related to tremors in children : rare types of medical conditions and diseases in related medical categories : conditions that are commonly undiagnosed in related areas may include : the list below shows some of the causes of tremors in children mentioned in various sources : this information refers to the general prevalence and incidence of these diseases, not to how likely they are to be the actual cause of tremors in children. of the 39 causes of tremor


sun lore of all ages, by william tyler olcott,, at sacred - texts. com p. 52 p. 53 some one has said : " if no other knowledge deserves to be called useful but that which helps to enlarge our possessions or to raise our station in society, then mythology has no claim to usefulness. but if that which tends to make us happier and better can be called useful, a knowledge of mythology is useful, for it is the handmaid of literature, and literature is one of the best allies of virtue and promoters of happiness. " the solar myth, above all others, commands the attention and interest of the student of mythology, for it is the very basis of the science ; it permeates the early history of all people, its influence has made itself felt in every age, and many of the customs that govern our lives to - day are of solar origin. the sun, above all that human eyes behold, is the chief element in life, the very essence of our existence, and to its beneficent influences we owe all that we possess to - day, that is of worth. how few realise this fact. " ' differentiated sun - shine, ' is the striking and suggestive phrase used by john fiske in his cosmic philosophy to stand for all things whatsoever to be found in this great world of ours ; from the tiny sun - dew, hid in the secret abiding places of spreading swamp lands, and the inconsequent midget it opens its sticky little fist to grasp, to the great forest tree, and all - consequent man armed with his conquering broadaxe. it is merely a terse symbolic way of describing the processes of cosmic evolution from the sun as the original source and continuous guiding power of our own special universe. " " back of the present sun figures in primitive and culture lore are the animistic conceptions of the sun such as that of manabozho, or the great white hare, of algonquin legend, or indra the bull sun of india. in course of time the zoomorphic sun gives place to the anthropomorphic sun, and finally we arrive at such personifications of the sun as osiris in egypt, apollo in greece, and balder in norse mythology. indeed it might almost be said that all the great steps in the onward march of the human race could be found recorded in the various and multiple personifications of the sun. " 1 our ideas concerning natural phenomena are but


balder in norse mythology. indeed it might almost be said that all the great steps in the onward march of the human race could be found recorded in the various and multiple personifications of the sun. " 1 our ideas concerning natural phenomena are but the result of past ages of research in the fields of science ; but when we come to a consideration of the phenomena that day and night present, in their ever - changing phases, we find it extremely difficult to clearly understand the mental viewpoint of primitive man regarding this continual change, for the uninterrupted sequence and constant repetition of this phenomena has dulled our faculties and it escapes our attention. in ancient times, however, this continual daily process was closely observed and seriously considered, and the sun in all its aspects became at an early date in certain countries a personified godhead. the expression " swallowed up by night " is now a mere metaphor, but the idea it conveys, that of the setting sun, was a matter of great importance to the ancients. however, the daily aspects of the sun were not alone matters of concern, the seasonable changes were closely observed, and the spring - tide sun, returning with youthful vigour after the long sleep in the night of winter, had a different name from the summer and autumnal sun. there are consequently, a multiplicity of names for the sun to be found in a study of primitive history and mythology, and an enormous mass of sun myths depicting the adventures of a primitive sun hero in terms of the varying aspects which the sun assumes during the day and year. there was simply no limit to the images suggested by these aspects, as sir george cox puts it 1 : " in the thought of these early ages the sun was the child of night or darkness, the dawn came before he was born, and died as he rose in the heavens. he strangled the serpents of the night, he went forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber, and like a giant to run his course. he had to do battle with clouds and storms, sometimes his light grew dim under their gloomy veil, and the children of men shuddered at the wrath of the hidden sun. his course might be brilliant and beneficent, or gloomy, sullen, and capricious. he might be a warrior, a friend, or a destroyer. the rays of the sun were changed into golden hair, into spears and lances, and robes of light. " from this play of the imagination the great fundamental solar myths sprang


the veda the sun is frequently called " the runner, " " the quick racer, " or simply " the horse. " this idea of the swift flight of the sun is further carried out by attributing wings to the sun, or dawn, and on the egyptian and assyrian monuments we find the winged solar disk inscribed. from this it was but a step of the imagination to regard the sun as a bird, and when the sun set the ancients said : " the bird of day is weary, and has fallen into the sea. " it is even thought that the hare is symbolic of eastertide, for the very reason that fleetness of foot was its chief attribute. it is also a significant fact that the solar personification of the north american indians was called " the great white hare. " " the more the babylonian mythology is examined, " says sayce, " the more solar is its origin found to be, thus confirming the results arrived at in the aryan and semitic fields of research. with two exceptions only the great deities seem all to go back to the sun. " of the mythology of egypt, the eminent authority renouf makes the statement : " whatever may be the case in other mythologies, i look upon the sunrise and sunset, on the daily return of day and night, on the battle between light and darkness, on the whole solar drama in all its details that is acted every day, every month, every year, in heaven and in earth as the principal subject of egyptian mythology. " the predominant mythological figures of egypt were so much involved in the sun worship of that country, and to such an extent sun - gods, that a discussion of their personality and deeds pertains more properly to the chapter on sun worship, and is omitted therefore in this place. there is one feature of solar mythology that is striking because of its universality, and that is the connection which the figures personifying the sun in various lands have with navigation. the jewish midrash compares the course of the sun to that of a ship, and curiously enough to a ship coming from britain, which is rigged with 365 ropes ( the number of days in the solar year ), and to a ship coming from alexandria which has 354 ropes ( the number of days of the lunar year ). in egypt we see on the monuments the figure of ra, the sun - god, in his boat sailing over the ocean of heaven. " the sun king apollo is with the greeks, " says goldhizer, 1 " the founder of navigation


. in egypt we see on the monuments the figure of ra, the sun - god, in his boat sailing over the ocean of heaven. " the sun king apollo is with the greeks, " says goldhizer, 1 " the founder of navigation, " and even the legendary charon, the ferry - man of the underworld, is a development of the solar myth. the roman sun - god, janus, is also brought into connection with navigation, and the peruvian sun deity came to them from the sea, and took his leave of them in a ship which floated down a river to the sea where it vanished. the ancient egyptians called the sun " the cat, " for, " like the sun, " says horapollo, " the pupil of the cat ' s eye grows larger with the advance of day. " the egyptians imagined that a great cat stood behind the sun which was the pupil of the cat ' s eye. the following sun myth found in india is quoted from anthropology by edward b. tylor. it relates that : ' ' vamana, the tiny brahman, to humble the pride of king bali, begs of him as much land as he can measure in three steps, but when the boon is granted, the little dwarf expands into the gigantic form of vishnu, and striding with one step across the earth, another across the air, and a third across the sky, drives bali into the infernal regions, where he still reigns. this most remarkable of all tom thumb stories seems really a myth of the sun, rising tiny above the horizon, then swelling into majestic power, and crossing the universe. for vamana the dwarf is one of the incarnations of vishnu, and vishnu was originally the sun. in the hymns of the veda the idea of his three steps is to be found before it had become a story, when it was as yet only a poetic metaphor of the sun crossing the airy regions in his three strides. " the ancient hindus enthroned the sun - god in a burning chariot, and saw in his flashing rays spirited and fiery steeds arrayed in resplendent and gleaming trappings. where we would say, " the sun is rising, " or, " he is high in the heavens, " they remarked, " the sun has yoked his steeds for his journey. " one of the common appellations for the sun in mythology is " the cow, " and the sun ' s rays are described as the cow ' s milk


they remarked, " the sun has yoked his steeds for his journey. " one of the common appellations for the sun in mythology is " the cow, " and the sun ' s rays are described as the cow ' s milk. in the veda this is one of the most familiar conceptions. these are good examples of the part imagination has played in the development of solar mythology. given the notion that the sun is a chariot, the rays are seen immediately to resemble steeds, and, likewise, if the sun be likened to a cow, the rays must peradventure represent milk. the sun ' s rays are compared more consistently with locks of hair or hair on the face or head of the sun. the sun - god helios is called by the greeks " the yellow - haired, " and long locks of hair and a flowing beard are mythological attributes of the sun in many lands. in an american indian myth the sun - god is described as an old man with a full beard, and the long beards of the peruvian and toltec sun - gods are often referred to in the mythological references concerning them. if mythology is regarded as a wondrous piece of tapestry, wrought by imagination and fancy, displaying in many hues the noble deeds of gods and heroes of the ancient world, then, the part woven by the greeks may well be considered the most conspicuous for brilliancy of conception and beauty of design of all that enters into this marvellous and priceless fabric. it has been said that greek mythology, in its dynastic series of ruling gods, shows an evolution from a worship of the forces of nature to a worship of the powers of the mind. it is beyond question the most complete in its details, the most perfect viewed from an artistic standpoint, the most beautiful and enduring of all the world ' s store of legendary lore that has come down to us, and in this wealth of mythology, the solar myth stands out supreme, as the central figure, clothed in the matchless imagery of a naturally poetical and highly artistic people. in the following discussion of the greek sun myths, there is much that seems so grotesque and fanciful as to border on absurdity, but the seriousness of the subject cannot be doubted, and, in order to understand it fully, with a true sense of appreciation, we must ever regard the legends as interpreting the natural phenomena of day and night. bearing this fact in mind will enable us to grasp the significance of much that would otherwise


of eternal youth, and the most accomplished of athletes, apollo came to be regarded as the patron of youthful athletic contests, and the pythian games he instituted to commemorate his victory over the python were celebrated in all lands. space does not permit of a complete recital of the many deeds of this famous sun hero. his favourite animals were the hawk and the swan ; his tree, the bay. he was represented in the perfection of united manly strength and beauty. his long hair hangs loose, his brows are wreathed with bay, and in his hands he bears his bow and lyre. the wonderful and famous apollo belvedere shows at the same time the conception which the ancients had of this benign deity, and the high degree of perfection to which they had attained in sculpture. few deities had more appellations than phœbus apollo. he was called delian, delphian, clarian, etc., from the places of his worship. he was also referred to as " the loxian god, " from the ambiguity of many of his oracular predictions. another appellation which the god bore was " lycius " which means either the wolf - god, or the golden god of light. he is also called " the mouse - god, " because he was regarded either as the protector or as the destroyer of mice. other names for apollo were " silver - bowed, " " far shooter, " " light producer, " " well haired, " " gold - haired, " " gold - sworded. " " the likeness between apollo and achilles scarcely needs to be pointed out, " says keary. 1 " each is the ideal youth, the representative of young greece, that which was to become in after years hellas. " in contrasting the character of the sun - gods, helios and apollo, we note a striking similarity. [ paragraph continues ] both are conspicuous for their brilliant appearance, both possess powers of producing and destroying life, and weapons that are invulnerable. they are endowed alike with inexhaustible powers of creating happiness or sorrow, pleasure or torment, health or sickness. the exercise of these versatile faculties furnishes the theme for the major portion of that great mass of legends which constitute the essential elements of aryan mythology. in the figure of herakles we have a sun - god and hero whose fame has gone afar into all lands, and every age since his time has likened its greatest deeds to the power and might he displayed in the accomplishment of


hindu myth of indra and ahi, the source from which it sprang. one of the solar legends which has come down to us in the simplest form is that of sisyphus, who, so the myth relates, was condemned to spend his days in laboriously rolling a great stone to the summit of a hill. no sooner was the task accomplished than the stone rolled of its own volition to the base of the hill and his task began anew. if we regard this as a sun myth, we see how closely the details of the legend apply to the daily course of the sun. it appears as a great sphere or ball which gradually mounts to the zenith each day as if laboriously propelled upward, on reaching the meridian it immediately begins its descent to the horizon. again, the sun by reason of its penetrating rays and its commanding position, suggests a power and a light from which nothing can be hid. the personification of this all - seeing eye would therefore be an all - wise being. " the greek name sisyphus, " says cox, " is simply a reduplicated form of sophos, the wise, and so we have the image of a wise being compelled to ascend the heaven or mountain, and obliged in spite of his wisdom, his strength, and his power to come down as he had gone up. the idea of compulsion may soon pass into that of toil, and the latter into the thought of punishment, and thus the sun becomes a criminal under sentence. " in the myth of ixion we have another solar legend. ixion was condemned to a life of torture, being bound to a four - spoked and ever - revolving wheel. the name ixion probably means " visitor, " an appropriate name for the sun deity. the wheel revolves ceaselessly as the sun, and the condemned one is alternately raised into the high heavens, and lowered into the depths of the underworld. cox 1 points out a curious but well - known characteristic of solar myths. " it is the identification of the sun both with the agent or patient, and with the thing or object by which the act is exercised. ixion is the sun, and so is ixion ' s wheel. hercules is the sun who expires in the flames on the summit of mount œta, but the fiery robe which scorches him to death is the sun cloud. " the legend of tantalus again reveals the fact that at one stage in the history of man, anthropomorphic ideas concerning the sun


of mount œta, but the fiery robe which scorches him to death is the sun cloud. " the legend of tantalus again reveals the fact that at one stage in the history of man, anthropomorphic ideas concerning the sun were prevalent. tantalus was another victim of his misdeeds and consigned to eternal torture. it is related that he stood immersed in water to his chin, and yet dying of thirst, for as he lowered his head to drink, the water withdrew from him, and the earth appeared under his feet. to add to his torment luscious fruits hung alluringly from branches almost within his grasp, but no sooner did he stretch out his hands to pluck them than the wind blew them out of his reach, and their sight and that of the water only served to tantalise him. the figure of the tortured tantalus standing with his head alone exposed above the surface of the water clearly represents the sun setting in the western sea. " the ancients speculated, " says paley, " on the hissing and steaming caused by the red hot orb being cooled down and extinguished in the sea. fire and water could not co - exist, but in this myth the sun has the mastery, and it is the water that retires before the fire. hence homer says it was dried up by the god to punish tantalus. " the word " tantalus " means " the poiser, " the suspender in air of the huge disk of the sun, and one myth concerning tantalus relates that, as a punishment for his evil deeds, he was suspended in mid air with a huge stone hanging over his head ever ready to fall and crush him, like a sword of damocles. the ancients believed that the sun and earth were connected by a chain, and this fact reveals clearly the solar significance of the myth. it is further related that tantalus had had the honour of dining with zeus. this signifies that the sun ascended from the mundane sphere to the upper regions. primitive man believed as the bible teaches that all that exists will come to an end in a mighty conflagration, and that some day tantalus himself would be hurled from his throne in the heavens and consume the earth. paley says : " if sisyphus and tantalus do not represent the sun - gods, the deeds and sufferings attributed to them have no intellectual point or meaning, the origin of such wild fables is quite incapable of explanation.


oct. 22, 1998 oct. 21, 1998 - - a vibrant celestial photo album of some of nasa hubble space telescope ' s most stunning views of the universe is being unveiled today on the internet. called the hubble heritage program, this technicolor gallery is being assembled by a team of astronomers at hubble ' s science operations center, the space telescope science institute ( stsci ) in baltimore, md. the hubble heritage program is intended to provide the public with some of the very best celestial views the space telescope has to offer. a " newly processed " hubble " picture of the month " will be shared with the public on an ongoing basis at a dedicated web site : http : / / heritage. stsci. edu. a new image will be posted on the first thursday of every month. the stsci team is sifting through hubble telescope ' s treasure trove of space images to uncover some of the most striking pictures ever taken by the orbiting observatory. the hubble images were originally taken for astronomical research. the images are digitally stored on optical disks in the hubble archives for other scientists to retrieve for further research. aside from scientific value, the images offer compelling views of the universe ' s infinite wonders. they include all types of astronomical phenomena, from nearby planets, to colorful nebulae, to remote galaxies. the first batch of pictures released today includes a view into the star - studded hub of our galaxy ; saturn in " natural color " ; a stellar - wind sculpted bubble carved by a massive hot star ; and an overhead view of a magnificent spiral galaxy, dubbed " sunny side up. " since its launch in 1990 the hubble space telescope has taken pictures of over 10, 000 celestial objects. the most scientifically interesting observations have been released to news organizations routinely. a large number of pictures have not previously been presented to the public. the task of selecting images for the hubble heritage project involves more than just flipping through hubble ' s 5. 4 - terabyte scrapbook of over 130, 000 space pictures. beautiful color pictures have been meticulously assembled by skilled image processing specialists at stsci. the images selected from the archive are originally black and white and must be combined with other pictures of the same object, taken through different filters. photographic film, home video cameras, and even the human eye reconstruct color views in a similar manner. the institute ' s image processing specialists carefully selected colors to bring out the most detail in the pictures. these aesthetic pictures can also yield new


. photographic film, home video cameras, and even the human eye reconstruct color views in a similar manner. the institute ' s image processing specialists carefully selected colors to bring out the most detail in the pictures. these aesthetic pictures can also yield new insights into the nature of a celestial object. the team continues working away on hubble images, and assembling enticing new views of celestial wonders for the public. " these images communicate, at a visceral level, the awe and excitement that we experience when exploring the universe with hubble. it is our chance to repay the public that supports us, " says heritage program scientist keith noll. - - end - - the space telescope science institute is operated by the association of universities for research in astronomy, inc. ( aura ) for nasa, under contract with the goddard space flight center, greenbelt, md. the hubble space telescope is a project of international cooperation between nasa and the european space agency ( esa ). editor ' s note : images and photo captions associated with this release are available on the internet at : http : / / heritage. stsci. edu and http : / / oposite. stsci. edu / pubinfo / 1998 / 28 or via links in http : / / oposite. stsci. edu / pubinfo / latest. html or http : / / oposite. stsci. edu / pubinfo / pictures. html. other social bookmarking and sharing tools : the above story is reprinted from materials provided by space telescope science institute. note : materials may be edited for content and length. for further information, please contact the source cited above. note : if no author is given, the source is cited instead.


pool. otherwise, we will select a strain of resistant bugs to destroy or mitigate the value of a promising new technology. ” the process of letting a few otherwise doomed bugs survive and pass their vulnerability or “ susceptibility ” on to future generations is called the “ refugia strategy ” – the practice of providing a gmo - free refuge for the bugs to happily grow, develop and breed. give the more fragile, yet genetically valuable pests a place to call their own – even if they munch away at the crops in a minor way – and they will pay farmers and society back for many, many years to come. the practice of refugia is still experimental – and can be a tough sell to farmers skeptical of showing mercy to any crop - eating pests. “ susceptibility is a natural resource, ” whalon said. “ just like there ’ s only so much water and air, there ’ s only so much susceptibility to be grabbed up and exploited. it ’ s a natural resource that could be critical to the future of feeding generation of people to come. ” other social bookmarking and sharing tools : the above story is reprinted from materials provided by michigan state university. note : materials may be edited for content and length. for further information, please contact the source cited above. note : if no author is given, the source is cited instead.


with the speed of the music and alignment with individual beats. potentially “ fake ” videos, where music was added to the video after the fact, or the animal was following visual cues, were omitted. “ the really important point is that many animals showed really strong evidence of synchronizing with the music, but they were all vocal mimics, ” says schachner. “ most of them were parrots — we found 14 different species of parrot on youtube that showed convincing evidence that they could keep a beat. ” because only animals capable of vocal mimicry — such as parrots — appear to be able to keep a beat, the study implies an evolutionary link between vocal mimicry and this crucial part of dance. “ our data suggests that some of the brain mechanisms needed for human dance originally evolved to allow us to imitate sound, ” says schachner. it is important to note that vocal mimicry alone is not enough for a bird to keep a beat, although the researchers aren ’ t yet certain why some parrots can dance and not others. it may be that all parrots have a latent capacity, but need certain experiences or social motivation, according to schachner. schachner says that these birds do not seem to move in synchrony with sounds in the wild, and so the behavior could not have evolved as a result of direct natural selection. for this reason, in bird species this capacity must be an evolutionary byproduct of something else, says schachner, seemingly vocal mimicry. it may be, says schachner, that the human ability to keep time with music has also evolved as a byproduct of vocal mimicry. she points out that the cognitive processes needed for both actions are related. “ in both vocal mimicry and entrainment, ” says schachner, “ you ’ re taking in auditory input, and constantly monitoring not only your output but also the sound input. this allows you to fix your output in real time, to better resemble or line up with what you hear. for example, if you are tapping to a beat, you constantly monitor the sound and your taps, so that if you become misaligned with the beat, you immediately change your timing. if you are imitating a sound, you constantly monitor your memory of the sound you are trying to imitate, as well as the sound you are producing, so if you notice a difference, you can change your vocalization. so it seems plausible that vocal mimicry and keeping a


july 20, 2012 a team led by harvard computer scientists, including two undergraduate students, has developed a new tool that could lead to increased security and enhanced performance for commonly used web and mobile applications. called rocksalt, the clever bit of code can verify that native computer programming languages comply with a particular security policy. presented at the acm conference on programming language design and implementation ( pldi ) in beijing, in june, rocksalt was created by greg morrisett, allen b. cutting professor of computer science at the harvard school of engineering and applied sciences ( seas ), two of his undergraduate students edward gan ' 13 and joseph tassarotti ' 13, former postdoctoral fellow jean - baptiste tristan ( now at oracle ), and gang tan of lehigh university. the use of native code, especially in an online environment, however, opens up the door to hackers who can exploit vulnerabilities and readily gain access to other parts of a computer or device. an initial solution to this problem was offered over a decade ago by computer scientists at the university of california, berkeley, who developed software fault isolation ( sfi ). sfi forces native code to " behave " by rewriting machine code to limit itself to functions that fall within particular parameters. this " sandbox process " sets up a contained environment for running native code. a separate " checker " program can then ensure that the executable code adheres to regulations before running the program. while considered a major breakthrough, the solution was limited to devices using risc chips, a processor more common in research than in consumer computing. in 2006, morrisett developed a way to implement sfi on the more popular cisc - based chips, like the intel x86 processor. the technique was adopted widely. google modified the routine for google chrome, eventually developing it into google native client ( or " nacl " ). when bugs and vulnerabilities were found in the checker for nacl, google sent out a call to arms. morrissett once again took on the challenge, turning the problem into an opportunity for his students. the result was rocksalt, an improvement over nacl, built using coq, a proof development system. " we built a simple but incredibly powerful system for proving a hypothesis - - so powerful that it ' s likely to be overlooked. we want to prove that if the checker says ' yes, ' the code will indeed respect the sandbox security policy, " says joseph tassarotti ' 13, who built and tested a model


powerful that it ' s likely to be overlooked. we want to prove that if the checker says ' yes, ' the code will indeed respect the sandbox security policy, " says joseph tassarotti ' 13, who built and tested a model of the execution of x86 instructions. " we wanted to get a guarantee that there are no bugs in the checker, so we set out to construct a rigorous, machine - checked proof that the checker is correct. " " our proofs about the correctness of our own tool say that if you run the tool on a program, and it says it ' s safe to run, then according to the model, this program can only do certain things, " tassarotti adds. " our proof, however, was only as good as this model. if the model was wrong, then the tool could potentially have an error. " in other words, he explains, think of an analogy in physics. while you might mathematically prove that according to newton ' s laws, a moving object will follow a certain trajectory, the proof is only meaningful to the degree that newton ' s laws accurately model the world. " since the x86 architecture is very complicated, it was essential to test the model by running programs on a real chip, then simulating them with the model, and seeing whether the results matched. i specified the meanings of many of these instructions and developed the testing infrastructure to check for errors in the model, " tassarotti says. " the biggest benefit may be that users can have more peace of mind that a piece of software works as they want it to, " says morrisett. " for users, the impact of such a tool is slightly more tangible ; it allows users to safely run, for example, games, in a web browser without the painfully slow speeds that translated code traditionally provides. " previous efforts to develop a robust, error - free checker have resulted in some success, but rocksalt has the potential to be scaled to software widely used by the general public. the researchers expect that their tool might end up being adopted and integrated into future versions of common web browsers. morrisett and his team also have plans to adapt the tool for use in a broader variety of processors. reflecting on how the class project has been transformative, tassarotti says, " i plan to pursue a ph. d. in computer science, and i hope to work on projects like this that can improve the correctness of software. as computers are so prevalent now in fields


in the fall of 2005, the dalai lama gave the inaugural dialogues between neuroscience and society lecture at the annual meeting of the society for neuroscience in washington, dc. there were over 30, 000 neuroscientists registered for the meeting, and it seemed as if most of them attended the talk. the dalai lama ’ s address was designed to highlight the areas of convergence between neuroscience and buddhist thought about the mind, and to many in the audience he clearly achieved his objective. there was some controversy over his being invited to deliver this lecture insofar as he is both a head of state and a religious leader, and for that reason he largely stuck to his prepared text. but he strayed from the text at least once, reminding the audience that not only was he a buddhist monk but also an enthusiastic proponent of modern technology. elaborating, he shared a confidence with the audience, telling the audience of scientists that meditating was hard work for him ( even though he meditates for 4 hours every morning ), and that if neuroscientists were able to find a way to put electrodes in his brain and provide him with the same outcome as he gets from meditating, he would be an enthusiastic volunteer. it turns out that a recent set of experiments, from researchers at mit and stanford, moves us a step closer to making his wish a reality. the dalai lama ’ s interest in neuroscience has been reciprocated by at least some members of the neuroscience community. reasoning that studying the brains of people who meditate might lead to novel insights about the human brain, investigations of long - term meditators has been fertile ground for scientific investigation, with some of the more rigorous work emerging from richard davidson ’ s laboratory at the university of wisconsin. from the perspective of neuroscience, meditation can be characterized as a series of mental exercises by which one strengthens one ’ s control over the workings of their own brain. the simplest of these meditation practices is ‘ focused attention ’ where one concentrates on a single object, for example one ’ s breath. when expert meditators practiced focused attention meditation, demonstrable changes were seen using fmri in the networks of the brain that are known to modulate attention. a second set of experiments studied long - term meditators practicing ‘ open monitoring meditation ’, a more advanced meditation practice which in many ways is a form of metacognition : the objective is not to focus one ’ s attention but rather to use one ’ s brain to monitor the universe of mental experience


practicing ‘ open monitoring meditation ’, a more advanced meditation practice which in many ways is a form of metacognition : the objective is not to focus one ’ s attention but rather to use one ’ s brain to monitor the universe of mental experience without directing attention to any one task. the unexpected result of this experiment was that the eeg of long - term meditators exhibited much more gamma - synchrony than that of naive meditators. moreover, normally human brains produce only short bursts of gamma - synchrony. what was most remarkable about this study was that long - term meditators were able to produce sustained gamma - activity in a manner that had never previously been observed in any other human. as such, sustained gamma activity has emerged as a proxy for at least some aspects of the meditative state. but what causes gamma rhythm? and are there any potential benefits of sustained gamma - activity? the strongest hypothesis for the cellular mechanisms underlying generation of the gamma rhythm is that it is due to the activation of fast - spiking interneurons in the cerebral cortex. in two new papers to be published in nature, the laboratories of christopher moore and li - huei tsai at mit and karl deisseroth at stanford tested this hypothesis directly. the experimenters utilized optogenetics, developing custom - designed viruses to infect only the fast - spiking interneurons of either the prefrontal or barrel cortex in mice with genetically engineered, light - sensitive cation channels. then, they inserted fine optical fibers into the relevant region of the cortex, allowing light to be delivered to the infected neurons and thereby activating only the fast - spiking interneurons. ( in essence, this allowed them to switch particular brain cells on and off. ) in both experiments, selectively stimulating the fast - spiking interneurons evoked gamma oscillations, thereby confirming the hypothesis that these neurons drive the gamma rhythm.


anthocyanin : the pigment that gives red wine its color, which is found in the skin of the grape. the thicker the grape ’ s skin, the more color and opacity it delivers to the wine. aromatics : the floral term for the scents you perceive in a wine. berry : winemaker and grower ’ s term for an individual grape. botrytis cinerea : a fungus that affects fruits, including grapes. often referred to as “ noble rot ” when particularly wet conditions are followed by dry. botrytis cinerea doesn ’ t destroy the grapes but rather produces higher sugar content that can lend a honey flavor to wines. in solely wet conditions, it can destroy the bunches. blending trials : process used by vintners whereby they blend wines with different characteristics to produce a single, balanced wine with a strong beginning, middle and end on the palette. blind test : a format for wine tasting where the tasters have no information about the wines other than what they can determine with their senses. brix : the unit of measure for the amount of sugar within a grape. it is measured with a refractometer and used to determine ripeness and harvest date. bud break : the point when new shoots emerge, or break out, from the buds on a grapevine. this takes place in early spring and begins the grapevines ' growth cycle for the year. estate wines / estate winery : by u. s. government standards, for a wine to be labeled “ estate ” 100 percent of it must be made from grapes grown on land owned by the winery ( or controlled by the winery ). loire : referring to the loire valley wine region in france that stretches east from the atlantic coast at nantes to within 90 miles of chinon, bourgeuil and samur - champigny most especially. like the finger lakes region, cabernet franc is grown in abundance here and is renowned and respected by wine aficionados. meritage ( rhymes with “ heritage ” ) : created by a group of vintners and registered with the u. s. department of trademarks and patents, the term refers to a category of american blended wines made from bordeaux grape varieties. wines termed meritage must meet a specific set of standards. nose : aromas perceived in a particular wine ; also called bouquet. sorting : removing the diseased grapes from those of the quality you want to keep. at sheldrake, sorting is done first in the vineyard when pickers are told


in many homes. this instrument like the stethoscope has greek origins and gets its name from thermos that means hot and metros that means to measure. the thermometer has mercury in its bulb and shows readings as per the hotness of one ’ s body. a temperature reading of 100 and above on the thermometer indicates that one has developed a fever. the weighing scale is yet another medical equipment that is used by doctors. with health becoming a very important facet in the world today and people keeping a check on their weight often, many homes have weighing scales. based on the simple principle of the spring balance the weighing scale is used by doctors to check patients bmi or body mass index. this is very important for a patient to be healthy, since today a number of diseases are lifestyle based. these five are basic medical equipment that one sees on a visit to the doctor, our doctor may use one more than the other but on a routine checkup these are basic equipment that doctors from physicians to specialists to surgeons all use to detect diseases and treat patients. jerry kurtz, an enthusiast blogger and a specialist in medical silicone design and molding provides news and discussion on medical silicone design, prototyping, manufacturing, and quality control through his site silicone pro.


7. a point is on the perpendicular bisector of a line segment if and only if it lies the same distance from the two endpoints. there are two things that need to be proved here. the first is that if a point is on the perpendicular bisector of a line segment, then it is equidistant from the two endpoints of the segment. if we only use two column proofs, the student might get the idea that all proofs have to be two column proofs. this is not so. it is just that two column proofs work very well for congruent triangle proofs. in a congruent triangle proof, we first need to get the three parts of one triangle congruent to the corresponding three parts in the other triangle, note that we have congruent triangles, then conclude that the things we are trying to prove to be congruent will then be corresponding parts of the congruent triangles. that is a minimum of five steps, each step having a reason, which is a previously established statement. the two column format helps the student to keep all of these ideas straight and organized. however, the fact of the matter is, that when we get away from congruent triangle proofs, the two column format does not always work as well. this result is an example. while it is possible to devise a two column proof, a prose proof using the isosceles triangle theorems might prove to be simpler. if the point is on the perpendicular bisector of the line segment between the two points, then in the triangle formed by the base being the line segment, and the point being the vertex, the line from the vertex of the triangle to the midpoint of the base is perpendicular to the base, so the triangle is isosceles, and the point is equidistant from the endpoints of the line segment. for the converse - if the point is equidistant from the endpoints of the line segment, then we again have an isosceles triangle, and the line from the vertex to the midpoint of the base will be perpendicular to the base, and thus be the perpendicular bisector of the base.


introduction to integrals the definite integral the definite integral is a convenient notation used the represent the left - hand and right - hand approximations discussed in the previous section. f ( x ) dx means the area of the region bounded by f, the y - axis and the lines x = a and x = b. writing f ( x ) dx is equivalent to writing on the interval [ a, b ], but it is a much more compact way of doing so. note also the similarity between the two expressions. this should serve as a clear reminder that the definite integral is just the limit of right - hand and left - hand approximations. unlike the indefinite integral, which represents a function, the definite integral represents a number, and is simply the signed area under the curve of f. the area is considered " signed " because according to the method of calculating the areas by subdivisions, the regions located below the x - axis will be counted as negative, and the regions above will be counted as positive. negative regions cancel out positive regions, and the definite integral represents the total balance between the two over the given interval. for example, find based on the picture of the region being considered, it should be clear that the answer is zero. here, the negative region is exactly the same size as the positive region : properties of the definite integral the definite integral has certain properties that should be intuitive, given its definition as the signed area under the curve : - cf ( x ) dx = c f ( x ) dx - f ( x ) + g ( x ) dx = f ( x ) dx + g ( x ) dx is on the interval f ( x ) dx = f ( x ) dx + f ( x ) dx this means that we can break up a graph into convenient units and find the definite integral of each section and then add the results to find the total signed area for the whole region. the fundamental theorem of calculusthe fundamental theorem of calculus, or " ftc ", offers a quick and powerful method of evaluating definite integrals. it states : if f is an antiderivative of f, then f ( x ) dx = f ( b ) - f ( a ) x 2 dx = ( 1 ) 3 - ( 0 ) 3 = often, a shorthand is used that means the same as what is written above : x 2 dx = x 3 = one interpretation of the ftc is that the area under the graph of the derivative is equal to


logic. what darwin had going for him, though, was a fine command of plain language and a body of evidence developed over more than two decades of investigation, observation, and reflection. darwin ' s quarry was the deeply entrenched conviction that each of the earth ' s myriad life forms was created by divine intervention only a few thousand years ago. darwin argued that the living things of the world had evolved from, at most, a handful of ancestors of almost unimaginable antiquity. darwin wasn ' t alone in this heresy, but what distinguished his argument was the contention that evolution occurred by a process of minute variation in type and form, caused by natural factors that constantly " selected " those heritable traits in animals and plants that favour advantage and survival. evolution occurred at a glacial pace but it occurred nonetheless, and it was still going on, " daily and hourly ", in life all around us, darwin insisted. that was his resolution of the great mystery. god, maybe, but not necessarily. and, ultimately, it meant there was no reason to imagine that humanity was at the centre of any divine plan after all. for the time, this was a very dangerous idea. darwin had gathered all manner of evidence from fossils, from pigeon breeders, and from his discoveries during his five - year tour as the naturalist aboard the survey ship hms beagle. but because evolution occurred so slowly, his thinking went, it wasn ' t possible to demonstrate its workings in case studies. darwin had his defenders and champions, and he also had in his corner the naturalist alfred russel wallace, sometimes referred to as the " codiscoverer " of what came to be called darwin ' s theory. but wallace, too, despite years of fieldwork, relied on inference and logic to make his case, in the form of a table of " proved facts " and " necessary consequences ". although darwin could show that evolution by natural selection must be the answer, he couldn ' t present evidence for that answer in even a single case of evolution by natural selection, observed and documented in the " natural " world. no one, least of all darwin, had ever seen it actually happen. as a consequence, long after darwin ' s theory had come to form the theoretical basis for the biological sciences, there was still an embarrassing dearth of experimental research into evolution. it was still, outside of science, just an " opinion ". while darwin explained how the " natural " world worked in theory, no one, even into the 1970s, had been able


was still an embarrassing dearth of experimental research into evolution. it was still, outside of science, just an " opinion ". while darwin explained how the " natural " world worked in theory, no one, even into the 1970s, had been able to fully and methodically document and describe having actually seen it work that way in practice. this is where peter and rosemary grant come in. peter and rosemary, both from england, met at the university of british columbia in 1960. they soon married, and both went on to work as professors of evolutionary biology at princeton university. now both 71, the grants are among the most successful and important collaborations in the history of science. in 2005 they won the coveted balzan prize, which is equal in prestige to the nobel prize and brings almost three times the cash : the equivalent of about $ 3 million in swiss francs. the grants have produced a body of research that is so exhaustive, so exacting and thorough, that many ornithologists fear it will never be replicated. the object of the grants ' obsessions is galapagos finches. these are the birds so closely associated with darwin that they ' re commonly called darwin ' s finches. it was darwin ' s encounter with the archipelago ' s 13 finch species in 1835, during his five - week galapagos sojourn as the naturalist aboard the beagle, that caused his epiphany and produced evolution ' s great eureka moment. that ' s the legend, anyway. the truth is it was long after his return to england, and after the specimens he ' d collected had been properly classified by british taxonomists, that the significance of the birds, and of all those other peculiar endemic species he ' d found on the galapagos islands, began to dawn on darwin. it wasn ' t until peter and rosemary grant began making their annual pilgrimages to the galapagos island of daphne major, a forbidding place of black lava and hellish summers, that the finches began to fully reveal themselves to science. the grants began their fieldwork on daphne major in 1973. they ' ve put in 35 field seasons, and they ' re still at it. ( the grants will be presenting an overview of their most recent findings in a free lecture at the university of british columbia on november 20. ) the grants have documented the phenomenon that darwin could only surmise by deduction and conjecture. it turns out that the mechanism of evolution can be observed moving through nature, not just in a laboratory or in a


university of british columbia on november 20. ) the grants have documented the phenomenon that darwin could only surmise by deduction and conjecture. it turns out that the mechanism of evolution can be observed moving through nature, not just in a laboratory or in a human - altered environment, and it doesn ' t always move at a glacial pace. the grants have watched it happen, up close. biologists rosemary and peter grant have spent 35 field seasons observing how natural selection has resulted in the evolution of galapagos finches. specifically, what peter and rosemary have done is present the world with a rare and dramatic glimpse of variation caused by natural selection from one generation of animals to the next. and down through several generations of galapagos finches, from different species, they ' ve shown how heritable traits are " selected " so as to result in evolution. as evolution occurs, even when it occurs quickly, it ' s usually barely detectable. the tiniest change can mean survival or extinction. in the case of the galapagos finches, what matters is often barely measurable changes in the size and shape of the finches ' beaks. " that ' s the really difficult thing to do, " peter told me the other day. " you don ' t want to try it with earthworms. " it isn ' t that darwin ' s theory had not been shown to work in practice before the grants. it ' s just that no one had documented it in nature so completely and methodically. before the grants, the case of the english peppered moth was one of the best - known studies of natural selection driving evolution. but the story of the peppered moth unfolds in a completely human - altered environment. its observed evolution was in response to the rise and decline of the industrial revolution. prior to the advent of the " dark satanic mills " and the clouds of coal smoke and ash that settled over the english countryside, peppered moths were light - coloured, with specks and streaks of black, a colour scheme suited perfectly to camouflage because of the moths ' habit of alighting and resting on tree trunks, on similarly coloured lichens. in the poisoned air of the industrial revolution, the lichens diminished in abundance and trees were commonly blackened with soot. this trend favoured a black - coloured mutation in peppered moths and caused the light - coloured moths to nearly disappear. in recent years, however, with the decline of both factories and coal power, the light - coloured moths have become dominant


soot. this trend favoured a black - coloured mutation in peppered moths and caused the light - coloured moths to nearly disappear. in recent years, however, with the decline of both factories and coal power, the light - coloured moths have become dominant again. nowadays, evolution by natural selection is being observed in " the wild " among sticklebacks in british columbia coastal lakes, among fruit flies in south america, and also in laboratories, on an hourly basis, around the world. in his pulitzer prize – winning the beak of the finch : a story of evolution in our time, a 1994 book about the grants and the significance of their work, author jonathan weiner sets out the paradox of the persistent hostility to darwin ' s " theory ". evolution denial is a common habit of some of darwin ' s most privileged beneficiaries in the united states, almost always evangelical protestants, whose wealth often depends solely upon darwin being right. the paradox occurs in an especially bizarre way in the american south, in the " cotton belt ", where the health of the cotton crop and the wealth that derives from it depend completely upon the application of darwinian principles in the laboratory. it is only by the close observation of evolution by natural selection occurring in various cotton blights and pests that science has managed to devise at least temporarily effective pesticides and herbicides. the paradox deepens in the recurring failure of those blight and pest remedies. there are now moths in louisiana that can ruin cotton crops, and they ' re now 200 times more resistant to pesticides than they were before they first encountered them. reject darwin and you ' ll never understand why that happens. you ' ll continue to employ pesticides, and you ' ll find yourself in a losing battle, precisely because evolution happens. it happens by natural selection. resistant strains emerge by natural selection for certain heritable traits. life is not static. species are not fixed and unchanging. they evolve, and if darwin were wrong, the branches of science known as immunology, bacteriology, and virology would never produce any results. it would all be quack science. " there is no new theoretical structure that has come along since darwin, " grant told me. " his ideas have been extended through genetics and have been modified and elaborated upon, but his ideas and observations and explanations have withstood the test of time. " and so darwin prevails. evolution is driven by hybridization and by sex selection, but the main engine is natural selection


from the time of aristotle ( 384 - 322 bc ) until the late 1500 ’ s, gravity was believed to act differently on different objects. - drop a metal bar and a feather at the same time … which one hits the ground first? - obviously, common sense will tell you that the bar will hit first, while the feather slowly flutters to the ground. - in aristotle ’ s view, this was because the bar was being pulled harder ( and faster ) by gravity because of its physical properties. - because everyone sees this when they drop different objects, it wasn ’ t questioned for almost 2000 years. galileo galilei was the first major scientist to refute ( prove wrong ) aristotle ’ s theories. - in his famous ( at least to physicists! ) experiment, galileo went to the top of the leaning tower of pisa and dropped a wooden ball and a lead ball, both the same size, but different masses. - they both hit the ground at the same time, even though aristotle would say that the heavier metal ball should hit first. - galileo had shown that the different rates at which some objects fall is due to air resistance, a type of friction. - get rid of friction ( air resistance ) and all objects will fall at the same rate. - galileo said that the acceleration of any object ( in the absence of air resistance ) is the same. - to this day we follow the model that galileo created. ag = g = 9. 81m / s2 ag = g = acceleration due to gravity since gravity is just an acceleration like any other, it can be used in any of the formulas that we have used so far. - just be careful about using the correct sign ( positive or negative ) depending on the problem. examples of calculations with gravity example 1 : a ball is thrown up into the air at an initial velocity of 56. 3m / s. determine its velocity after 4. 52s have passed. in the question the velocity upwards is positive, and i ’ ll keep it that way. that just means that i have to make sure that i use gravity as a negative number, since gravity always acts down. vf = vi + at = 56. 3m / s + ( - 9. 81m / s2 ) ( 4. 52s ) vf = 12. 0 m / s this value is still positive, but smaller. the ball is slowing down as it rises into the air. example 2 : i throw a ball down off the top of a cliff so that it leaves


) determine how much time does it take to reach its maximum height. - it reaches its maximum height when its velocity is zero. we ’ ll use that as the final velocity. - also, if we define up as positive, we need to remember to define down ( like gravity ) as negative. a = ( vf - vi ) / t t = ( vf - vi ) / a = ( 0 - 56. 3m / s ) / - 9. 81m / s2 t = 5. 74s b ) determine how high it goes. - it ’ s best to try to avoid using the number you calculated in part ( a ), since if you made a mistake, this answer will be wrong also. - if you can ’ t avoid it, then go ahead and use it. vf2 = vi2 + 2ad d = ( vf2 = vi2 ) / 2a = ( 0 - 56. 32 ) / 2 ( - 9. 81m / s2 ) d = 1. 62e2 m c ) determine how fast is it going when it reaches my hand again. - ignoring air resistance, it will be going as fast coming down as it was going up. you might have heard people in movies say how many " gee ’ s " they were feeling. - all this means is that they are comparing the acceleration they are feeling to regular gravity. - so, right now, you are experiencing 1g … regular gravity. - during lift - off the astronauts in the space shuttle experience about 4g ’ s. - that works out to about 39m / s2. - gravity on the moon is about 1. 7m / s2 = 0. 17g


clinial trials are medical research studies carried out under very strict guidelines and they are the building blocks of scientific progress. researchers, physicians and other healthcare professionals rely on these studies for scientifically sound information on whether or not treatments are safe and effective. to start, the research team must first determine the objective of the study - for example, whether an experimental treatment is safe or whether a treatment known to work for hyperhidrosis on one part of the body will work for hyperhidrosis on another part of the body. the research team then designs the study to answer that question, including developing a protocol for the trial. clinical trials with human subjects follow only after the completion of tests using laboratory animals. these trials fall into four categories called phases. in phase i a trial tests a potential new treatment with a small number of volunteers ( 20 - 80 individuals ) to determine the treatment ’ s safety and potential side effects. phase ii studies test a treatment with known dose and side effects with a larger number of volunteers to learn more about side effects, how the body responds to the treatment, and whether the treatment is effective in treating the condition. the new treatment is compared with commonly used treatments and monitored for long - term side effects in phase iii and iv trials. phase iv trials are done after the treatment is marketed. clinical researchers call the standard scientific approach for trying out treatments a “ double - blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial. ” such trials are " grade a " research because the researcher has taken precautions to get the most unbiased results possible. ideally, such research can also be replicated ; that is, another researcher using the same protocol would get similar results. the " control " aspect refers to the fact that researchers are usually looking at how one treatment stacks up against another or even against no treatment at all. to make the comparison useful, the investigator must try both methods on similar groups of subjects. researchers call the treatment with the predictable, or known effect, the control. the control may be a standard, commonly used treatment, or it may be a placebo. a placebo is an inactive pill, liquid, powder, or other modality with no treatment value ( commonly referred to as a " sugar pill " ). some studies use both a standard treatment and a placebo as controls. the control helps an investigator find out if any changes in the experimental group are, in fact, due to the new treatment. trials are randomized because researchers assign patients by chance either to the group getting the new treatment ( called the treatment group )


. the control helps an investigator find out if any changes in the experimental group are, in fact, due to the new treatment. trials are randomized because researchers assign patients by chance either to the group getting the new treatment ( called the treatment group ) or to the group receiving a standard treatment or placebo ( called the control group ). this randomization keeps the study ' s results from being affected by human choices or other factors not related to the treatments being tested. in some studies, the patient does not know whether he or she is in the treatment or control group ( a single - blind study ) ; in others, neither the patient nor the researcher know ( a double - blind study ). this, again, is a way of avoiding bias in the results. sometimes when people know what treatment they are getting, it changes the way they react ; similarly, the researchers ' own expectations about the treatment could influence how they perceive patients ' reactions, side effects, and progress during the study. participants in clinical trials are randomly assigned once they ' ve been accepted into the study and have agreed to participate by signing an informed consent. all clinical trials have guidelines about who can participate. these guidelines are an important part of medical research that helps to produce reliable results. the factors that allow someone to participate in a clinical trial are called " inclusion criteria " and those that disallow someone from participating are called " exclusion criteria ". the criteria are based on such factors as age, gender, the type and stage of a disease or condition, previous treatment history, and other medical conditions. before joining a clinical trial, a participant must qualify for the study. some research studies seek participants with illnesses or conditions to be studied in the clinical trial, while others need healthy participants. it is important to note that inclusion and exclusion criteria are not used to reject people personally. instead, the criteria are used to identify appropriate participants and keep them safe. the criteria help ensure that researchers will be able to answer the questions they plan to study. the exact clinical trial process depends on the kind of trial being conducted. in general, the clinical trial team includes doctors and nurses as well as social workers and other healthcare professionals. they check the health of the participant at the beginning of the trial, give specific instructions for participating in the trial, monitor the participant carefully during the trial, and stay in touch after the trial is completed. some clinical trials involve more tests and doctor visits than the participant would normally have for an illness or condition. for all types of trials, the participant works with a


- scientists & leadership - isb research - education & outreach seattle - relocating is stressful, even for a microbe. knowing how a microorganism can quickly adapt to challenges of a new habitat helps researchers better understand how commensals ( good microbes ) and pathogens colonize diverse environments including soil, plant roots, and the human gut. institute for systems biology ( isb ) researchers are the first to discover that a protein once thought to have no regulatory function in microbes actually helps them to rapidly adapt to new environments. isb scientists had previously discovered that the gene encoding this protein, called transcription factor b ( tfb ), is present in multiple copies in many microorganisms called archaea – especially those that are known to live in environments that are constantly changing. to understand why, the researchers used an interdisciplinary systems approach that systematically analyzed across many environments the consequences of deleting each copy of the gene or introducing a mutated copy on the health of one such organism, halobacterium salinarum, that lives in saturate brine. simultaneously, they observed how all of the other genes and the complex molecular networks in h. salinarum responded to these genetic manipulations. they integrated millions of data points generated from thousands of such experiments and analyzed patterns in these data across evolutionary timescales by analyzing genome sequences of diverse organisms. they made the remarkable discovery that the microbe gained capability for acclimating to new environments by simply transferring genetic information from one copy of the tfb gene to another, akin to cutting and replacing text in one copy of a document from an edited version. because it has seven variant copies of tfbs, h. salinarum could perform a large array of such mix - and - match experiments to explore new solutions for adaptation. how does this work? nitin baliga, professor and director of isb and senior author on the paper, explained that " tfbs bind to different locations in the genome and function like wires inside the cell to execute programs that determine which genes in the genome need to be turned on or off and when. " in other words, by transferring information across tfbs, an organism can rapidly rewire its networks to generate new programs that enable new capabilities with the same set of genes. " it´s astounding, " remarked dr. baliga. this discovery helps us to understand how archaea colonize diverse environments to give structure and function to microbial communities. this is important for two reasons : first, arch


of genes. " it´s astounding, " remarked dr. baliga. this discovery helps us to understand how archaea colonize diverse environments to give structure and function to microbial communities. this is important for two reasons : first, archaea make up 20 percent of biomass on earth and serve important roles in biogeochemical cycles, which are similar to our circulatory systems and necessary to maintain a health planet. second, understanding the mechanics of adaptation will help us better understand and predict how microbes and communities might respond to pollution or climate change due to anthropogenic activities. furthermore, because they have similar functions in eukaryotic organisms we can also begin to understand how duplicated copies of tfiib proteins reorganize networks for development of body plans in animals. understanding that this family of proteins in archaea have regulatory consequences for adaptation into new environments is " knowledge that can be applied to understanding how the tfiib proteins might have come to mediate the encoding and execution of regulatory programs in humans, " said serdar turkarslan, the lead author of the paper, which was published on nov. 22 in " molecular systems biology. " this study was supported by the u. s. department of energy´s genomic science funding, the national institutes of health, and the national science foundation. about the institute for systems biology the institute for systems biology ( isb ) is an internationally renowned, non - profit research institute headquartered in seattle and dedicated to the study and application of systems biology. founded by leroy hood, alan aderem and ruedi aebersold, isb seeks to unravel the mysteries of human biology and identify strategies for predicting and preventing diseases such as cancer, diabetes and aids. isb ' s systems approach integrates biology, computation and technological development, enabling scientists to analyze all elements in a biological system rather than one gene or protein at a time. founded in 2000, the institute has grown to 13 faculty and more than 300 staff members ; an annual budget of more than $ 50 million ; and an extensive network of academic and industrial partners. for more information about isb, visit www. systemsbiology. org


recent years have seen an upsurge of interest in knowledge. leading organisations now recognise the importance of identifying what they know, sharing what they know and using what they know for maximum benefit. many organisations employ knowledge engineers to capture knowledge from experts using the principles and techniques of knowledge engineering. the emphasis is on a structured approach built on a sound understanding of the psychology of expertise and making use of knowledge modelling methods and the latest web technologies. knowledge acquisition in practice is the first book to provide a detailed step - by - step guide to the methods and practical aspects of acquiring, modelling, storing and sharing knowledge. the reader is led through 47 steps from the inception of a project to its successful conclusion. each step is described in terms of the reasons for the step, the required resources, the activities to be undertaken, and the solutions to common problems. in addition, each step has a checklist which lists the key items that should be achieved during the step. knowledge acquisition in practice will be of value to knowledge engineers, knowledge workers, knowledge officers and ontological engineers. the book will also be of interest to students and researchers of ai, computer science and business studies. several technologies are emerging that provide new ways to capture, store, present and use knowledge. this book is the first to provide a comprehensive introduction to five of the most important of these technologies : knowledge engineering, knowledge based engineering, knowledge webs, ontologies and semantic webs. for each of these, answers are given to a number of key questions ( what is it? how does it operate? how is a system developed? what can it be used for? what tools are available? what are the main issues? ). the book is aimed at students, researchers and practitioners interested in knowledge management, artificial intelligence, design engineering and web technologies. " they [ the two books ] are both very readable and very informative. " engineering manager, usa " they are excellent as you manage to explain a complex subject with great clarity. " editor of it magazine, uk " i believe that it will be very useful for the students. " paperback : 138 pages publisher : polimetrica, international scientific publisher ( march 3, 2008 ) hard copies are available from polimetrica and most good bookshops. a free softcopy of the book is available at the e - lis and arxiv repositories. knowledge practitioners ' reference books for those who want to find out more about knowledge technologies or the steps involved in capturing, structuring and publishing knowledge


body composition tests december 19, 2011 the tests and measurements described in this fact sheet provide detailed measurements of fat and lean body mass. repeated measurements can be helpful in monitoring body shape changes associated with lipodystrophy ( see fact sheet 553 ) or with wasting syndrome ( see fact sheet 519 ). some of these measurements are used to determine if someone is overweight. excess weight is associated with a higher risk of heart disease. low weight, including an unintended weight loss of 5 % or more, may also be a sign of health problems ( see fact sheet 519 ). there are pluses and minuses for each method. some have to do with cost. also, a trained technician can often make a big difference in measurements. try to use the same technique and technician if you are tracking changes over time. this word just means measuring the body. anthropometry is the simplest technology. it involves using a tape measure to take key readings, such as biceps, thigh, waist, and hips. a trained technician is very important for this method. calipers ( a metal tool ) are used to " pinch " body tissue in several places. the measurements are compared to standards. people doing the measurement should be trained so that the measurements are standardized. divide your waist measurement ( at the narrowest point ) by your hip measurement ( at the widest point. ) in general, a healthy waist to hip ratio is below 0. 9 for men and below 0. 8 for women. these may not hold true for people with hiv who have fat accumulation around the waist. in general, a waist size over 40 " for men or over 35 " for women is associated with greater health risk. in bia, a person is weighed. age, height, gender and weight or other physical characteristics such as body type, physical activity level, ethnicity, etc. are entered in a computer. while the person is lying down, electrodes are attached to various parts of the body and a small electric signal is circulated. this signal cannot be felt. bia measures the resistance ( impedance ) to the signal as it travels through the body muscle and fat. the more muscle a person has, the more water their body can hold. the greater the amount of water in a person ' s body, the easier it is for the current to pass through it. higher fat levels result in more resistance to the current. fat tissue is about 10 % - 20 % water, while fat - free mass ( which includes muscle, bone


person ' s body, the easier it is for the current to pass through it. higher fat levels result in more resistance to the current. fat tissue is about 10 % - 20 % water, while fat - free mass ( which includes muscle, bone, and water outside muscles ) averages 70 % - 75 % water. bia values depend on a person ' s age. normally you can get an analysis of your results when the test is done. this is a calculation based on your weight and height. the formula is : ( weight in kilograms ) divided by ( height in meters squared ; or multiplied by itself ). to convert pounds to kilograms, divide by 2. 2. to convert height to meters, first convert height to inches ( 12 x feet, plus extra inches ). then divide by 39. 4. for example, let ' s say that someone weighing 165 pounds is 5 ' 8 " tall. bmi result categories are : for more information and a convenient bmi calculator that uses pounds and inches, see the web site " calculate your bmi " at http : / / nhlbisupport. com / bmi / tomography means looking at slices of the body. cat scanning uses x - rays to do this. it is helpful in calculating the ratio of fat within the abdomen compared to fat under the skin. the equipment is expensive. this x - ray technique divides the body into fat - free ( lean ) mass, bone mineral content, and fat. different amounts of the x - ray energy are absorbed by different types of tissue. dexa scans are very accurate but can be expensive due to the cost of the machine. dexa scans are also used to measure bone density ( see fact sheet 557. ) this technique uses a magnetic field to create an image of the body. the image shows the location and amount of fat. this is very expensive due to the cost of the machine and reading the scans. this method determines body volume. first the person is weighed dry. then they are immersed in water in a tank and weighed again. bone and muscle are more dense than water, and fat is less dense than water. a person with more bone and muscle will weigh more in water than a person with less bone and muscle. the volume of the body is calculated and body density and body fat percentage are calculated. this technique may underestimate the body fat percentage of athletes, and overestimate body fat in elderly people. body composition measurements can be helpful, over time, in tracking changes due to hiv or


boffins simulate plasma - eating dusty ' life - forms ' dust to dust, etc physicists have discovered that charged particles of dust can form themselves into life - like structures that appear to be capable of reproducing and passing information along, behaviour reminiscent of life on earth. the researchers, ( led by v n tsytovich of the general physics institute, russian academy of science, in moscow, along with boffins from the max - planck institute for extraterrestrial physics in germany, and the university of sydney ) have developed a computer model to help them understand " the behaviour of complex mixtures of inorganic materials in a plasma ". although convention dictates that there would be very little organisation in a system of such particles, the researchers demonstrated that under the right conditions, order could emerge. as the plasma becomes polarised, the model shows microscopic strands of particles twisting into helical, or corkscrew structures. the simulation suggests that the dusty corkscrews have two stable configurations - a large spiral and a small spiral. each helix could contain various sequences of these two states, the researchers say, which raises the possibility that they could store information. the team reports that the structures can divide, form copies ( transmit their stored information information ), interact with neighbouring spirals, and even induce changes in other spirals. more speculatively, they suggest these changes could evolve as less stable structures break down. so, are there corkscrew - shaped dust - aliens floating about in interstellar space? gregor morfill of the max planck institute for extraterrestrial physics in germany is not prepared to go quite that far. he told new scientist : " it has a lot of the hallmarks for how we define life at present, but we have not simulated life. to us, they ' re just a special form of plasma crystal. " however, tsytovich is prepared to be a bit more flexible on his definition of what might constitute life, saying that the spirals " exhibit all the necessary properties to qualify them as candidates for inorganic living matter. they are autonomous, they reproduce, and they evolve ". the next step is to go hunting for a real environment where such structures could have emerged. morfill suggests that planetary rings would be the best place to start the search. the research is reported in the 14 august edition of the new journal of physics, and new scientist has a more extensive write up here. ® 2 : 7 and the lord god formed man of the dust of the ground,


| [ excerpt from the science of yoga, page 280 ] in yoga, the spinal column is referred to as brahma danda, which literally means " the walking stick of god. " this should give us an indication of the importance that the ancients attributed to this region of the body. spinal health is of paramount importance in yoga. the spine is seen as a vehicle through which the power of the universe may manifest in the human form. as well, it is through sushumna nadi, the central channel within the spinal column that the mysterious and powerful kundalini force raises from its dormant state at the base of the spine to the brahmarandhra, or psychic aperture at the crown of the head. it is the vertical nature of the human spine which aligns the mechanism of our central nervous system with the vertical energy flows of the universe and gives superior intelligence to the human beings. thus, in meditation it is of the utmost importance that one ' s spine be vertical and straight. as we have touched upon in an earlier lesson, it was precisely to enable the yogi to sit comfortably with a tall and straight spine that the asanas were primarily concerned with. even so today, the recurring theme throughout much of our hatha yoga practice revolves around the health, strength and flexibility of the spine. one cannot have good health without a healthy spine. note : this yoga article is an excerpt from the science of yoga, an online yoga training program with streaming yoga videos and 600 pages of step - by - step yoga instruction. " the science of yoga is a course worthy of leather binding and an honored place in the finest libraries in the world... it is indeed a masterful work. " dr. john michael christian learn more about the science of yoga course


weapons, ” is a soviet martial art, a hodgepodge of judo, karate, and folk wrestling moves. with its discipline, sambo became part of putin ’ s transformation from a grade - school thug into a goal - directed and hardworking adolescent. it was also linked to what had become an overriding ambition : putin had apparently heard that the kgb expected new recruits to be skilled in hand - to - hand combat. “ imagine a boy who dreams of being a kgb officer when everyone else wants to be a cosmonaut, ” the journalist natalia gevorkyan said to me, trying to explain how odd putin ’ s passion seemed to her. i did not find it quite so farfetched : in the 1960s, soviet cultural authorities invested heavily in creating a romantic, even glamorous image of the secret police. when putin was 12, a novel called the shield and the sword became a bestseller. its protagonist was a soviet intelligence officer working in germany. when putin was 15, the novel was made into a wildly popular miniseries. forty - three years later, as prime minister, he would meet with 11 russian spies deported from the united states — and together, in a show of camaraderie and nostalgia, they would sing the theme song from the miniseries. “ when i was in ninth grade, i was influenced by films and books, and i developed a desire to work for the kgb, ” putin told a biographer. “ there is nothing special about that. ” the protestation raises the question : is there another explanation for putin ’ s single - minded passion? it seems there is, and putin has hidden it in plain sight, as the best spies do. we all want our children to grow up to be more successful versions of ourselves. vladimir putin was born to be a soviet spy. during world war ii, the elder putin had been assigned to troops who worked with the nkvd, as the soviet secret police was then called. the legend of his father ’ s daring escape from behind german lines with which the younger putin grew up is as likely to have been true as any other tale of miraculous survival and spontaneous heroism. it is not clear whether the elder putin had worked for the secret police before the war or continued to work for the nkvd afterward. it seems likely that he remained part of the so - called active reserve, a giant group of secret - police officers who held regular jobs while also informing for — and drawing a salary from — the kgb. this may explain why the putins lived so comparatively well


leningrad to live with putin in the two rooms he shared with his parents. in the middle to late 1970s, when putin joined the kgb, it, like all soviet institutions, was undergoing a phase of extreme bloating. its growing number of directorates and departments were producing mountains of information that had no clear purpose, application, or meaning. an entire army of men and a few women spent their lives com - piling newspaper clippings, transcripts of tapped telephone conversations, reports of people followed and trivia learned. the internal ideology of the kgb, as of any police organization, rested on a clear concept of the enemy. but putin entered the service not only in the post - stalin era but also during one of the few brief periods of peace in soviet history. the only active enemies were the dissidents, a handful of brave souls who drew a disproportionate amount of kgb force. putin claims not to have taken part in anti - dissident work but has shown in interviews that he was thoroughly familiar with the way it was organized, probably because he was part of the group fighting the dissidents, as a former comrade ’ s memoir claimed. his break came in 1984, when he was sent to spy school in moscow. barring an unexpected disaster, putin knew that afterward he would be assigned to work in germany, but he was disappointed that it was to dresden. at the age of 33, putin, with ludmila — who was pregnant — and their 1 - year - old daughter, maria, traveled to his backwater assignment. this was the job for which he had worked and waited for 20 years, and he would not even be undercover. the putins, like five other russian families, were given an apartment in a large apartment block in a little stasi world : secret - police staff lived here, worked in a building a five - minute walk away, and sent their children to nursery school in the same compound. their job was to collect information about “ the enemy, ” which was the west, meaning west germany and, especially, united states military bases in west germany, which were hardly more accessible from dresden than they would have been from leningrad. putin and his colleagues were reduced mainly to collecting press clippings, thus contributing to the growing mountains of useless information produced by the kgb. the putins had a second daughter and named her ekaterina. putin drank beer and got fat. he stopped training, or exercising at all, and he gained more than 20 pounds — a