1972 ) noted that studies of the childhood syndrome tend to lack careful follow - up. acting on this observation, moe, larrie, and kirly ( 1974 ) began a large - scale longitudinal study. these investigators studied two groups. the first group consisted of 34 children currently engaged in a long - term conventional treatment program. the second was a group of 42 children receiving no treatment. all subjects had been diagnosed as children at least 4 years previously, with a mean duration of childhood at 6. 4 years. at the end of one year, the results confirmed the clinical wisdom that childhood is a refractory disorder - - virtually all symptoms persisted and the treatment group was only slightly better off than the controls. the results, however, of a careful 10 - year follow - up were startling. the investigators ( moe, larrie, kirly, & shemp, 1984 ) assessed the original cohort on a variety of measures. general knowledge and emotional maturity were assessed with standard measures. height was assess by the " metric system " ( see ruler, 1923 ), and legume appetite by the vegetable appetite test ( vat ) designed by popeye ( 1968 ). moe et al. found that subjects improved uniformly on all measures. indeed, in most cases, the subjects appeared to be symptom - free. moe et al. report a spontaneous remission rate of 95 %, a finding which is certain to revolutionize the clinical approach to childhood. these recent results suggests that the prognosis for victims of childhood may not be so bad as we have feared. we must not, however, become too complacent. despite its apparently high spontaneous remission rate, childhood remains one of the most serious and rapidly growing disorders facing mental health professionals today. and, beyond the psychological pain it brings, childhood has recently been linked to a number of physical disorders. twenty years ago, howdi, doodi, and beauzeau ( 1965 ) demonstrated a six - fold increased risk of chicken pox, measles, and mumps among children as compared with normal controls. later, barby and kenn ( 1971 ) linked childhood to an elevated risk of accidents - - compared with normal adults, victims of childhood were much more likely to scrape their knees, lose their teeth, and fall off their bikes. clearly, much more research is need before we can give any real hope to the millions of victims wracked by this insidious disorder. american psychiatric association ( 1990 ). the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders,


fall off their bikes. clearly, much more research is need before we can give any real hope to the millions of victims wracked by this insidious disorder. american psychiatric association ( 1990 ). the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edition : a preliminary report. washington, d. c. ; apa. barby, b., & kenn, k. ( 1971 ). the plasticity of behavior. in b. barby & k. kenn ( eds. ), psychotherapies r us. detroit : flintstone, f., & jetson, g. ( 1939 ). cognitive mediation of labour disputes. industrial psychology today, 2, 23 - 35. fudd, e. j. ( 1972 ). locus of control and shoe - size. journal of footwear psychology, 78, 345 - 356. gumbie, g., & pokey, p. ( 1957 ). a cognitive theory of iron - smelting. journal of abnormal metallurgy, 45, 235 - 239. howdi, c., doodi, c., & beauzeau, c. ( 1965 ). western civilization : a review of the literature. reader ' s digest, 60, moe, r., larrie, t., and kirly, q. ( 1974 ). state childhood versus trait childhood. tv guide, may 12 - 19, 1 - 3. moe, r., larrie, t., kirly, q. ( 1974 ). spontaneous remission of childhood. in w. c. fields ( ed. ), new hope for children and animals. hollywood : acme press. popeye, t. s. m. ( 1957 ). the use of spinach in extreme circumstances. journal of vegetable science, 58, 530 - 538. popeye, t. s. m. ( 1968 ). spinach : a phenomenological perspective. existential botany, 35, 908 - 813. rogers, f. ( 1979 ). becoming my neighbour. new york : ruler, y. ( 1923 ). assessing measurements protocols by the multi - method multiple regression index for the psychometric analysis of factorial interaction. annals of boredom, 67, 1190 - 1260. spanky, d., & alfalfa, q. ( 1978 ). coping with puberty. sears catalog, 45 - 46. suess, d. r. ( 1983 ). a psychometric analysis


fractions, number lines, and order what is wrong with the following sample advertisement statement? for one day only, save,, and even more! this is a sale you cannot miss! each fraction value is less than the previous value,, but the ending " and even more " implies that each fraction value is becoming greater in value. the statement is a common mistake that many people make when using fractions. here, the order of the fractions in the statement is based on the value of the denominator and not on the true value of the fraction. the statement should be, for one day only, save,, and even more! since the advertisement is implying that on some items a person can save more than half the listed price. we use a number line model to illustrate fraction order for values between 0 and 1. we divide that length into two equal - sized pieces and label the point where the segment is divided with the coordinate. the distance from 0 to represents a length of one - half the whole segment from 0 to 1. we further divide each of those halves in half ; the points where each segment is divided are represented by the fractions and. as with equivalent fractions from the previous session, we may label the point at as, that is, this is another way to visualize equivalent fractions. the next diagrams illustrate an extension of fraction order relationships to twelfths, sixths, fourths, thirds, and halves, and how they relate to each other on the segment between 0 and 1. we bring these number lines together in the illustration below to a single number line with the coordinates labeled with the simplified form for each of the fractions in the above illustration. when we compare values, the one that is farthest to the left on the number line has the least value. looking at the diagram below, we see that ( circled values ). likewise, we see that ( boxed values ). if we did not refer to a completed number line, we could still determine these inequalities by changing each pair of fractions to fractions with common denominators. since,, and, we have. twelfths is a common denominator for fourths and thirds. since and, we have. sixths is a common denominator for halves and sixths. further note that we could have compared all four of the fractions,,, and by changing them all to the common denominator of twelfths. since, we have. by converting the fractional


inaugurated in 1973, the sydney opera house is a great architectural work of the 20th century that brings together multiple strands of creativity and innovation in both architectural form and structural design. a great urban sculpture set in a remarkable waterscape, at the tip of a peninsula projecting into sydney harbour, the building has had an enduring influence on architecture. the sydney opera house comprises three groups of interlocking vaulted ‘ shells ’ which roof two main performance halls and a restaurant. these shell - structures are set upon a vast platform and are surrounded by terrace areas that function as pedestrian concourses. in 1957, when the project of the sydney opera house was awarded by an international jury to danish architect jørn utzon, it marked a radically new approach to construction. view from the air towards the south east © commonwealth of australia outstanding universal value the sydney opera house constitutes a masterpiece of 20th century architecture. its significance is based on its unparalleled design and construction ; its exceptional engineering achievements and technological innovation and its position as a world - famous icon of architecture. it is a daring and visionary experiment that has had an enduring influence on the emergent architecture of the late 20th century. utzon ' s original design concept and his unique approach to building gave impetus to a collective creativity of architects, engineers and builders. ove arup ' s engineering achievements helped make utzon ' s vision a reality. the design represents an extraordinary interpretation and response to the setting in sydney harbour. the sydney opera house is also of outstanding universal value for its achievements in structural engineering and building technology. the building is a great artistic monument and an icon, accessible to society at large. criterion ( i ) : the sydney opera house is a great architectural work of the 20th century. it represents multiple strands of creativity, both in architectural form and structural design, a great urban sculpture carefully set in a remarkable waterscape and a world famous iconic building. all elements necessary to express the values of the sydney opera house are included within the boundaries of the nominated area and buffer zone. this ensures the complete representation of its significance as an architectural object of great beauty in its waterscape setting. the sydney opera house continues to perform its function as a world - class performing arts centre. the conservation plan specifies the need to balance the roles of the building as an architectural monument and as a state of the art performing centre, thus retaining its authenticity of use and function. attention given to retaining the building ' s authenticity culminated with the conservation plan and the utzon design principles. the sydney opera house was included in the national heritage


and as a state of the art performing centre, thus retaining its authenticity of use and function. attention given to retaining the building ' s authenticity culminated with the conservation plan and the utzon design principles. the sydney opera house was included in the national heritage list in 2005 under the environment protection and biodiversity conservation act 1999 and on the state heritage register of new south wales in 2003 under the heritage act 1977. listing in the national heritage list implies that any proposed action to be taken inside or outside the boundaries of a national heritage place or a world heritage property that may have a significant impact on the heritage values is prohibited without the approval of the minister for the environment and heritage. a buffer zone has been established. the present state of conservation is very good. the property is maintained and preserved through regular and rigorous repair and conservation programmes. the management system of the sydney opera house takes into account a wide range of measures provided under planning and heritage legislation and policies of both the australian government and the new south wales government. the management plan for the sydney opera house, the conservation plan and the utzon design principles together provide the policy framework for the conservation and management of the sydney opera house. a major cultural centre for sydney and its siting at bennelong point had been discussed since the 1940s. in 1956 the new south wales government called an open - ended international design competition and appointed an independent jury, rather than commissioning a local firm. the competition brief provided broad specifications to attract the best design talent in the world ; it did not specify design parameters or set a cost limit. the main requirement of the competition brief was a design for a dual function building with two performance halls. the competition generated enormous interest in australia and overseas. the new south wales government ’ s decision to commission jørn utzon as the sole architect was unexpected, bold and visionary. there was scepticism as to whether the structure could be built given utzon ’ s limited experience, the rudimentary and unique design concept and the absence of any engineering advice. the competition drawings were largely diagrammatic, the design had not been fully costed and neither utzon nor the jury had consulted a structural engineer. utzon ’ s design concept included unprecedented architectural forms and demanded solutions that required new technologies and materials. the new south wales government also faced public pressure to select an australian architect. the sydney opera house is often thought of as being constructed in three stages and this is useful in understanding the history of the three key elements of its architectural composition : the podium ( stage 1 : 1958 – 1961 )


the universe may be a deterministic system, but that doesn ' t mean random chance doesn ' t exist, or that you can determine the exact path the future will take in advance. for example, heisenburg ' s uncertainty principle shows that you can affect an electron ' s position by measuring its momentum, and vice versa. that ' s because electrons are so small that the act of observing them causes a change in their position or momentum, depending on whether you ' re measuring their momentum or position. there ' s a well - known experiment where you shoot electrons at a double - slit in a screen and then see what pattern they form ; if you don ' t observe the electrons going through the slit, they generate a standard wave interference pattern ( meaning the electrons are seemingly interfering with themselves ), but if you do, the pattern changes to one generated by particles. furthermore, if you delay the observation ( i. e., by using a removable detector screen ), you can cause a retroactive change from a wave pattern to a particle one, and if you make it possible to destroy the measurement of which slit the electron goes through, you can cause a second retroactive change, from a particle pattern to a wave one. here ' s something interesting to think about. let ' s say you have two people, essentially identical, except one believes that free will somehow exists, and the other believes that it doesn ' t. the two people will act differently based on whether they believe in free will or not. furthermore, if they later change their minds ( in other words, make themselves believe the opposite of what they believed before ), it will change their behavior. to make the point even clearer, if you had a third person who had never heard of free will, they ' d act in a completely different way than the other two - but once they heard of it, depending on whether it was " free will exists " or " free will doesn ' t exist ", it would instantly change their behavior from then on. in other words, yes, i believe it ' s possible to change your own behavior by making yourself change what you believe. i don ' t know whether that would actually be considered free will, but i do know that it ' s close enough to count for me.


viticulture - n. : the cultivation or culture of grapes enology - n. : a science that deals with wine and wine making the v & e department combines the sciences of viticulture and enology in a single research and teaching unit that encompasses all of the scientific disciplines that impact grape growing and winemaking. for over one hundred years the university of california has maintained an active and productive program in research and education in viticulture and enology. the continuing excellence of the department has enabled california growers and vintners to develop practices that have allowed the golden state to achieve its potential and become a premier wine - producing region. dr. andy walker ; unraveling an olmo mystery in 1989, dr. harold olmo gave dr. andy walker a collection of grape seeds that he had produced the previous year. walker believed they had the potential for resistance to both pierces ’ disease ( pd ) and the dagger nematode ( xiphinema index ) that vectors fanleaf virus. they were the offspring of two v. rupestris females and six m. rotundifolia males. the rotundifolia is known to confer resistance to pd, x. index and fanleaf virus. walker ’ s lab began investigating the actual value of these rootstocks as parents in breeding new genotypes with effective resistance across a broad spectrum of applications, including rootstocks, raisin, table and winegrape production. for the next fifteen years, they tested and retested...


key : " s : " = show synset ( semantic ) relations, " w : " = show word ( lexical ) relations display options for sense : ( gloss ) " an example sentence " - s : ( n ) swing ( a state of steady vigorous action that is characteristic of an activity ) " the party went with a swing " ; " it took time to get into the swing of things " - s : ( n ) swing ( mechanical device used as a plaything to support someone swinging back and forth ) - s : ( n ) swing ( a sweeping blow or stroke ) " he took a wild swing at my head " - s : ( n ) swing, swinging, vacillation ( changing location by moving back and forth ) - s : ( n ) swing, swing music, jive ( a style of jazz played by big bands popular in the 1930s ; flowing rhythms but less complex than later styles of jazz ) - s : ( n ) lilt, swing ( a jaunty rhythm in music ) - s : ( n ) golf stroke, golf shot, swing ( the act of swinging a golf club at a golf ball and ( usually ) hitting it ) - s : ( n ) baseball swing, swing, cut ( in baseball ; a batter ' s attempt to hit a pitched ball ) " he took a vicious cut at the ball " - s : ( n ) swing ( a square dance figure ; a pair of dancers join hands and dance around a point between them ) - s : ( v ) swing ( move in a curve or arc, usually with the intent of hitting ) " he swung his left fist " ; " swing a bat " - s : ( v ) swing, sway ( move or walk in a swinging or swaying manner ) " he swung back " - s : ( v ) swing ( change direction with a swinging motion ; turn ) " swing back " ; " swing forward " - s : ( v ) swing, swing over ( influence decisively ) " this action swung many votes over to his side " - s : ( v ) swing, sweep, swing out ( make a big sweeping gesture or movement ) - s : ( v ) dangle, swing, drop ( hang freely ) " the ornaments dangled from the tree " ; " the light dropped from the ceiling " - s : ( v ) swing ( hit or aim at with a sweeping arm movement ) " the soccer player began to swing at the referee " - s : ( v ) swing ( alternate dramatically between high


key : " s : " = show synset ( semantic ) relations, " w : " = show word ( lexical ) relations display options for sense : ( gloss ) " an example sentence " - s : ( n ) output, yield ( production of a certain amount ) - s : ( n ) return, issue, take, takings, proceeds, yield, payoff ( the income or profit arising from such transactions as the sale of land or other property ) " the average return was about 5 % " - s : ( n ) yield, fruit ( an amount of a product ) - s : ( n ) output, yield, production ( the quantity of something ( as a commodity ) that is created ( usually within a given period of time ) ) " production was up in the second quarter " - s : ( v ) yield, give, afford ( be the cause or source of ) " he gave me a lot of trouble " ; " our meeting afforded much interesting information " - s : ( v ) give way, yield ( end resistance, as under pressure or force ) " the door yielded to repeated blows with a battering ram " - s : ( v ) render, yield, return, give, generate ( give or supply ) " the cow brings in 5 liters of milk " ; " this year ' s crop yielded 1, 000 bushels of corn " ; " the estate renders some revenue for the family " - s : ( v ) concede, yield, cede, grant ( give over ; surrender or relinquish to the physical control of another ) - s : ( v ) yield, relent, soften ( give in, as to influence or pressure ) - s : ( v ) move over, give way, give, ease up, yield ( move in order to make room for someone for something ) " the park gave way to a supermarket " ; " ` move over, ' he told the crowd " - s : ( v ) give, yield ( cause to happen or be responsible for ) " his two singles gave the team the victory " - s : ( v ) concede, yield, grant ( be willing to concede ) " i grant you this much " - s : ( v ) succumb, yield ( be fatally overwhelmed ) - s : ( v ) yield, pay, bear ( bring in ) " interest - bearing accounts " ; " how much does this savings certificate pay annually? " - s : ( v ) give, yield ( be


what sets allergies in motion? thursday, august 2, 2012 tau research identifies a protein group that may kick - start allergic reactions allergies, or hypersensitivities of the immune system, are more common than ever before. according to the asthma and allergies foundation of america, one in five americans suffers from an allergy — from milder forms like hay fever to more severe instances, like peanut allergies which can lead to anaphylactic shock. while medications like antihistamines can treat the symptoms of an allergic reaction, the treatment is too limited, says prof. ronit sagi - eisenberg, a cell biologist at tel aviv university ' s sackler faculty of medicine. cells release dozens of molecules during an allergic reaction, and available medications address only a small subset. now she and her fellow researchers are working to identify what triggers allergic reactions in the body, with the goal of stopping an allergic reaction before it starts. the answer may lie within the rab family, a group of 60 proteins that are known to regulate the distribution of proteins throughout the body. along with her ph. d. student nurit pereg - azouz, prof. sagi - eisenberg found that 30 of these proteins determined how cells react to an allergen, and two of these have been identified for further research as instruments of preventative medication. when the chain of events leading up to an allergic reaction can be understood, drugs can be developed to inhibit the initial reaction, explains prof. sagi - eisenberg. this research has been published in the journal of immunology. getting to the root allergic reactions can appear as rashes, respiratory difficulties, or swelling, but they ' re all caused by the same mechanism. when exposed to an allergen, the body activates the immune system. but mast cells, located throughout the body, sense that the immune system has mistakenly been activated against something that is not bacterial or viral, and they release biologically active molecules to create an inflammatory response. so what causes mast cells to react? prof. sagi - eisenberg and her team work to identify the exact chain of events in an allergic reaction. they looked to the rab family of proteins as a potential source for answers, screening for the proteins ' involvement in initiating allergic reaction. " we genetically manipulated mast cells so that they contained mutated versions of these proteins, which were already active without an allergen, " explains prof. sagi - eisenberg.


, screening for the proteins ' involvement in initiating allergic reaction. " we genetically manipulated mast cells so that they contained mutated versions of these proteins, which were already active without an allergen, " explains prof. sagi - eisenberg. if a protein was relevant, it would cause an allergic reaction. " this new methodology allowed us to screen for the functional impact of each member of this family, determining if they either inhibited or activated the allergic process. " in the end, the researchers flagged 30 proteins that were relevant to the process of creating an allergic reaction in the body, and have identified two that appear to be the most involved. further research will use these two proteins as tools to gain more understanding of allergic reactions. targeted drugs could prevent allergic reaction an allergic reaction is not only a function of two proteins interacting — it ' s the result of a chain of events. by identifying crucial links in such a chain, researchers can create targeted drugs that break the chain. new medications that target tumor cells, for example, are directed at halting the tumor ' s ability to function and grow, starving it of crucial blood and oxygen supplies. prof. sagi - eisenberg envisions similar medications for allergies, with medications that address the source of the allergic reaction instead of the symptoms. the need for such medications is pressing. steroids, the only available type of drug that effectively prevents mast cells from secreting biologically active agents, also cause harm to kidneys, bones, and the immune system. patients may suffer more from the treatment than they do from the allergy itself. alternative medications that are as effective as steroids but will be devoid of their adverse side effects are desperately needed. prof. sagi - eisenberg ' s work will help to identify proteins that can be targeted by medications without impacting the function of other cells, she hopes. for more medicine and health news from tel aviv university, click here


― we who are here, all of us alive today. face to face did god speak with you on the mountain from amid the fire. ' ( deut. 5 : 1 - 4 ) the torah claims that the entire jewish nation heard god speak at sinai, an assertion that has been accepted as part of their nation ' s history for over 3, 000 years. demille ' s mistake is such a big deal because the jewish claim of national revelation, as opposed to individual revelation, is the central defining event that makes judaism different than every other religion in the world. history and legends two types of stories are part of any national heritage. the first kind is legends. included in this category is george washington ' s admission to chopping down the cherry tree, along with his statement, " i cannot tell a lie. " johnny appleseed planting apple trees across america with his discarded apple cores is another legend. then there is history. for example, george washington was the first president of the united states. william the conqueror led the battle of hastings in 1066 in which harold, king of england, was killed. the jews of spain were expelled from their country in 1492, the year christopher columbus set sail. what is the difference between legend and history? a legend is an unverified story. by their very nature legends are unverifiable because they have very few eyewitnesses. perhaps little george did chop down the cherry tree. we can ' t know if it happened. this does not mean that the legend is necessarily false, only that it is unverifiable. no one thinks legends are facts, therefore they are not accepted as reliable history. history, however, is comprised of events we know actually happened. it is reliable because we can determine if the claimed event is true or false through a number of ways. one key to verification is the assertion that large numbers of eyewitnesses observed the specific event. why is the number of claimed original witnesses a principal determining factor in making historical accounts reliable? this can be understood through looking at the nature of the following series of claims and weighing their levels of credibility. the nature of the claim itself can often determine its degree of believability. the believability game gauge the level of credibility of the following scenarios. some claims are inherently unverifiable. for example, would you believe me if i told you the following : " last week after dinner, i went for a walk through the forest near my house. suddenly everything was awash in a


scenarios. some claims are inherently unverifiable. for example, would you believe me if i told you the following : " last week after dinner, i went for a walk through the forest near my house. suddenly everything was awash in a tremendous light and god appeared to me, designating me as his prophet. he told me to announce this revelation to you at this time. " in theory this could have happened. it doesn ' t seem likely, but you don ' t know i ' m lying. would you choose to believe me? without any substantiating evidence, why choose to believe me? a foolish move, indeed. would you believe me if i told you the following : " last night while i was eating dinner with my family, the room started to suddenly shake and god ' s booming voice was heard by all of us. he designated me as his prophet and commanded me to announce this revelation. " this could have happened too. if i were to bring in my family to confirm the story it would be more believable than the first story. you certainly don ' t know if i ' m lying. would you believe me? would you fork over $ 10, 000 dollars if i told you god commanded you to do so? no way. there is still not enough evidence to trust my claim ― because it is very possible that my family is lying. there is another type of claim that you can know is false. for example, would you believe me if i told you this : " do you remember what happened 10 minutes ago just as you began reading this article? remember how the room started shaking, then the ceiling opened up to the skies, and you and i together heard god ' s booming voice come down and say ' thou shalt hearken to the voice of nechemia coopersmith for he is my prophet! ' and then the room went back to normal and you continued reading. you remember that, don ' t you? " is this believable? this kind of claim is completely different. the two previous scenarios at least had the possibility of being true. you chose not to accept them because they were unverifiable. however this third scenario is impossible to believe. i ' m claiming something happened to you that you know did not happen. since you didn ' t experience it, you know i ' m lying. i cannot convince you of something that you yourself know didn ' t happen. i cannot convince you of something that you yourself know didn ' t happen. this first type


happen. since you didn ' t experience it, you know i ' m lying. i cannot convince you of something that you yourself know didn ' t happen. i cannot convince you of something that you yourself know didn ' t happen. this first type of claim ― that something happened to someone else ― is unverifiable, because you do not know for certain that the claim is a lie. therefore it is possible for a person to decide to accept the claim as true if he really wanted to and take that leap of faith. however, the other type of claim ― that something happened to you ― you know if it is inherently false. people do not accept patently false assertions, especially those that carry significant consequences. sinai : an impossible hoax so far we have seen two types of claims ― one is unverifiable and the other is inherently false. could the revelation at sinai have been a brilliant hoax, duping millions of people into believing that god spoke to them? let ' s imagine the scene. moses comes down the mountain and claims, " we all today heard god speak, all of you heard the god ' s voice from the fire... " assuming moses is making it up, how would the people respond to his story? " moses! what are you talking about?! boy, you sure had us going there for awhile. we may have even believed you if you came down and claimed that god appeared to you personally. but now you blew it! now we know you ' re lying because you ' re claiming an event happened to us that we know didn ' t happen! we did not hear god speak to us from any fire! " if the revelation at sinai did not occur, then moses is claiming an event everyone immediately knows is an outright lie, since they know that they never heard god speak. it is preposterous to think moses can get away with a claim that everyone knows is lie. revelation claimed later in history? perhaps a hoax such as this could have been attempted at a later period in history. perhaps the claim of national revelation did not originate at sinai, but began, for example, 1, 000 years after the event was said to have occurred. perhaps the leader ezra, for example, appears on the scene, introducing a book purported to be written by god and given to a people who stood at sinai a long time ago. could someone get away with this kind of hoax? for example, would you believe the following : " i want to let you in on a very little -


with laws, history and stories. here, take a look at it. " very nice, ezra. where did you get this? " " open up the book and see what it says. this book was given thousands of years ago to your ancestors. three million of them stood at mount sinai and heard god speak! god appeared to everyone, giving his law and instruction. " how would you respond to such a claim? the people give ezra a quizzical look and say, " wait a second, ezra. something is a little fishy here. why haven ' t we ever heard of this before? you ' re describing one of the most momentous events that could ever happen, claiming that it happened to our ancestors – and we never heard about it? " " sure. it was along time ago. of course you never heard about it. " " c ' mon ezra! it ' s impossible that our grandparents or great - grandparents would not have passed down the most significant event in our nation ' s history to some of the people! how could it be that no one has heard about this up until now?! you ' re claiming all my ancestors, the entire nation, 3 million people heard god speak and received a set of instructions called the torah, and none of us have heard about it?! you must be lying. " if one cannot pull off a hoax with regard to a continent sinking, so too one cannot pull off a hoax to convince an entire people that their ancestors experienced the most unique event in all of human history. everyone would know it ' s a lie. for thousands of years, sinai was accepted as central to jewish history. how else can this be explained? given that people will not fall for a hoax they know is a lie, how could national revelation have been not only accepted ― but faithfully followed with great sacrifice by the vast majority of jews? the only way a people would accept such a claim is if it really happened. if sinai did not happen, everyone would know it ' s a lie and it would never have been accepted. the only way one can ever claim a nation experienced revelation and have it accepted is if it is true. sinai : the only claim of national revelation throughout history, tens of thousands of religions have been started by individuals, attempting to convince people that god spoke to him or her. all religions that base themselves on some type of revelation share essentially the same beginning : a holy person goes into solitude, comes back to his people, and announces that he has experienced a personal revelation


attempting to convince people that god spoke to him or her. all religions that base themselves on some type of revelation share essentially the same beginning : a holy person goes into solitude, comes back to his people, and announces that he has experienced a personal revelation where god appointed him to be his prophet. would you believe someone who claims that god appointed him a new prophet? would you believe someone who claims to have received a personal communication from god appointing him or her as god ' s new prophet? maybe he did. then again, maybe he didn ' t. one can never know. the claim is inherently unverifiable. personal revelation is an extremely weak basis for a religion since one can never know if it is indeed true. even if the individual claiming personal revelation performs miracles, there is still no verification that he is a genuine prophet. miracles do not prove anything. all they show ― assuming they are genuine ― is that he has certain powers. it has nothing to do with his claim of prophecy. israel did not believe in moses, our teacher, on account of the miracles he performed. for when one ' s faith is based on miracles, doubt remains in the mind that these miracles may have been done through the occult and witchcraft... what then were the grounds of believing him? the revelation on sinai which we saw with our own eyes, and heard with our own ears, not having to depend on the testimony of others... ( mishna torah - foundations of torah 8 : 1 ) a bold prediction there are 15, 000 known religions in all of recorded history. given this inherent weakness, why do all of them base their claim on personal revelation? if someone wanted their religion to be accepted, why wouldn ' t they present the strongest, most believable claim possible ― i. e. national revelation! it ' s far more credible. no one has to take a leap of faith and blindly trust just one person ' s word. it is qualitatively better to claim that god came to everyone, telling the entire group that so - and - so is his prophet. why would god establish his entire relationship with a nation through one man, without any possibility of verification, and still expect this nation to obediently follow an entire system of instructions, based only on blind faith? yet, judaism is the only religion in the annals of history that makes the best of all claims ― that everyone heard god speak. no other religion claims the experience of national revelation. why? furthermore, the author of the torah predicts


a similar claim, a prediction he knows he cannot foresee, and whose outcome is likely to be the exact opposite? there is one simple answer to both questions. a national revelation ― as opposed to personal revelation ― is the one lie you cannot get away with. it is one event you cannot fabricate. the only way to make this claim is if it actually happened. if the claim is true, the people will believe it because they are agreeing to something they already know. either they personally witnessed it, or their ancestors collectively passed down the account as part of their nation ' s accepted history. if the claim is false, it ' s like trying to convince you that god spoke to you or your parents and somehow you never heard of it. no one would ever accept such a claim. therefore no other religion has ever made the best of all claims, because it is the one claim that can only be made if it is true. one cannot pass national revelation off as a hoax. when inventing a religion, the originator must resort to personal revelation, despite its inherent weakness, since it is a claim that is unverifiable. the originator can hope to find adherents willing to take a leap of faith and accept his or her religion. after all, no one can ever know it is a lie. [ of course, no one can know if it ' s true either. ] this simply cannot work with national revelation since it ' s the one claim that everyone will know is a lie. it ' s no wonder that all other religions are based on ' personal ' revelation. only judaism can claim national revelation since the jewish people is the only nation in the history of mankind who ever experienced it. furthermore, it is interesting to note that the other major religions of the world both accept the jewish revelation at sinai, including the five books of moses in their bible, and hold the sinai revelation as a key component of their religion. when starting their own religions, why did they build upon the jewish claim? why didn ' t they just deny the revelation ever happened? the answer is that they knew that if national revelation can never be fabricated ; so too, its validity can therefore never be denied. now it is understandable how the author of the torah can confidently predict that there will never be another claim of national revelation in history. because only god knew it would happen only once, as it did ― at sinai over 3, 000 years ago. based on a segment of aish hatorah ' s discovery seminar.


animal rights articles moo - ving people toward compassionate living visit the all - creatures. org home page. write us with your comments : firstname. lastname @ example. org what ' s wrong with xenotransplantation? merriam - webster : xenotransplantation is the transplantation of an organ, tissue, or cells between two different species from campaign for responsible transplantation ( crt ) why crt is opposed to xenotransplantation the alleged chronic shortage of human organs has led some researchers and federal health officials in the us and elsewhere to consider using organs from animals such as pigs and nonhuman primates. xenotransplantation, attempted since 1905, is marred by a history of failures and intense human and animal suffering. but the prospect of commercializing the technology has created huge financial incentives for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies who have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in xenotransplantation. the desire to gain a return on such large investments has led many companies to make exaggerated claims about the alleged merits of the technology. crt believes that these claims are baseless and that, in fact, the technology is dangerous, expensive, inhumane, and unnecessary, and should therefore be banned. - transplanting living animal organs into humans circumvents the natural barriers ( such as skin and gastrointestinal tract ) that prevent infection, thereby facilitating the transmission of infectious diseases from animals to humans. - many animal viruses have the ability to jump species barriers and kill humans. viruses that are harmless to their animal hosts, can be deadly when transmitted to humans. for example, macaque herpes is harmless to macaque monkeys, but lethal to humans. - many viruses, as innocuous as the common cold or as lethal as ebola, can be transmitted via a mere cough or sneeze. an animal virus residing in a xenograft recipient could become airborne, infecting scores of people, and causing a potentially deadly viral epidemic of global proportions akin to hiv or worse. - pigs, genetically altered to carry human genes, are being considered as the source animals of choice for xenotransplants, despite the existence of over 25 diseases in pigs that can infect humans. the influenza virus of 1918, which resembled a common swine flu, killed more people in modern history than any other epidemic including aids and the black plague. new mutations of swine influenza are being seen around the globe, and novel pig


the means of a majority of americans and an already overburdened health care system. - it is predicted that, by the year 2000, 48 million americans will lack basic healthcare. another 30 + million will be underinsured. the uninsured ( largely minorities, 18 to 24 - year - olds, and the working poor ) who are chronically ill are least likely to receive proper care, with the result that untreated conditions can lead to serious health consequences. can we justify spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on operations that, if they ever succeed, would at best benefit a small minority of patients, while dramatically driving up health care costs for all? animal welfare concerns - biotechnology companies are breeding pigs with human genes in the hopes of fooling the human immune system into accepting a foreign organ from another species. this disturbing genetic reconstruction of life ( the creation of animals that are, in essence, part animal and part human ) is advancing on a commercial scale with almost no informed public discussion or effective oversight. - scientific studies have demonstrated that pigs are highly intelligent and sensitive animals. pigs used in studies at the university of pennsylvania manipulated joysticks with their mouths to solve mazes and play games on a computer. pigs used in biomedical research can be subjected to painful biological and surgical manipulations at experimenters ' discretion, causing great pain and suffering before death. policy - makers in the u. s. and elsewhere have decided that it is " ethical " to use pigs in xenotransplants because pigs are killed for food. but two wrongs do not make a right. ironically, it is precisely because people eat too many pigs, and have unhealthy lifestyles, that pig organ transplants are being considered. a large majority of heart, liver, and kidney transplants could be prevented if people reduced their meat, ( and alcohol and tobacco consumption ). we should ask whether it is acceptable to make pigs and other nonhuman animals scapegoats for our species ' self - destructive behaviors. transgenic technology is very imprecise. previous transgenic pig research programs have produced animals with various painful physical abnormalities including arthritis, stomach ulcers, muscular weakness, defective vision, and weakened immunity. transgenic animals are destined to spend their lives confined in unnatural, sterile environments, unable to fulfill their basic behavioral needs, until death. in her book, genetic engineering : dream or nightmare ( 1998 ), british biologist mae - wan ho wrote that, " the creation of transgenic animals for xenotranspl


sterile environments, unable to fulfill their basic behavioral needs, until death. in her book, genetic engineering : dream or nightmare ( 1998 ), british biologist mae - wan ho wrote that, " the creation of transgenic animals for xenotransplantation... [ is ] scientifically flawed and morally unjustifiable. [ it carries ] inherent hazards in facilitating cross - species exchange and recombination of viral pathogens. these projects ought not to be allowed to continue without full public review. " - in crt ' s opinion, hhs failed to consider the environmental consequences of xenotransplantation as required by the national environmental policy act ( nepa ). hhs issued guidelines for xenotransplantation without complying with any of nepa ' s requirements. nepa requires that agencies " take a ' hard look ' at the environmental consequences before taking a major action. " hhs failed to take the required " hard look " at the environmental and health consequences of its actions because no environmental impact statement ( eis ) was performed. by completely ignoring the entire eis requirements, hhs has violated nepa. - crt believes that xenotransplantation is a " significant " action because it is highly controversial and poses unique and unknown health effects to the xenograft recipient and the general public. furthermore, xenotransplantation affects " the quality of the human environment. " federal regulations define " the quality of the human environment " to include " the natural and physical environment and the relationship of people with that environment. " in this case, the relationship of people to their environment is affected by the hhs ' s action because xenotransplantation may create deadly new animal viruses. due to this significant public health concern, hhs should have prepared an eis. - xenotransplantation also poses significant threats to the environment. the animals needed for xenotransplantation will increase the environmental problems caused by animal - based agriculture. u. s. farms already generate about 1. 4 billion tons of animal manure a year, 130 times the quantity of u. s. human sewage, according to a 1997 report by the senate agriculture committee entitled, animal waste pollution in america : an emerging national problem. this untreated and largely unregulated manure, contaminated with bacteria, parasites, chemicals and heavy metals, is washed off farmland by rain and discharged into streams and rivers, killing fish


inverting the turing test the most human human : what talking with computers teaches us about what it means to be alive. brian christian. xiv + 303 pp. doubleday, 2011. $ 27. 95. in his book the most human human, brian christian extrapolates from his experiences at the 2009 loebner prize competition, a competition among chatbots ( computer programs that engage in conversation with people ) to see which is “ most human. ” in doing so, he demonstrates once again that the human being may be the only animal that overinterprets. you may not have heard of the loebner competition, and for good reason. the annual event was inspired by the turing test, proposed by alan turing in his seminal 1950 paper “ computing machinery and intelligence ” as a method for determining in principle whether a computer possesses thought. turing meant his test as a thought experiment to address a particular philosophical question, namely, how to define a sufficient condition for properly attributing intelligence, the capacity of thinking, to a computer. he proposed that a blind controlled test of verbal indistinguishability could serve that purpose. if a computer program were indistinguishable from people in a kind of open - ended typewritten back - and - forth, the program would have passed the test and, in turing ’ s view, would merit attribution of thinking. the loebner competition picks up on this idea ; it charges a set of judges to engage in conversation with the chatbot entrants and several human confederates, and to determine which are the humans and which the computers. at the end, a prize is awarded to the “ most human ” chatbot — that is, the chatbot that is most highly ranked as human in paired tests against the human confederates. “ each year, the artificial intelligence ( ai ) community convenes for the field ’ s most anticipated and controversial annual event, ” christian says. well, not so much. the ai community pretty much ignores this sideshow. it ’ s the chatbot community that has taken up the loebner competition. the loebner prize has done little for ai beyond spreading confusions about turing ’ s test, some of which unfortunately find their way into christian ’ s ( otherwise quite sound ) book. for instance, christian promulgates the common misunderstanding that turing ’ s test would be passed by a computer if it “ fool [ ed ] 30 percent of human judges after five minutes of conversation. ” ( although turing makes a


sound ) book. for instance, christian promulgates the common misunderstanding that turing ’ s test would be passed by a computer if it “ fool [ ed ] 30 percent of human judges after five minutes of conversation. ” ( although turing makes a side comment about this more limited criterion, he understood the test to have no time limit and a threshold of statistical indistinguishability, which is the only philosophically sustainable stance. ) and most important, christian conflates the turing test with the loebner competition. but the two are different in many ways. in particular, on the turing test, unlike in horseshoes and hand grenades, close doesn ’ t count. better performance on a turing test is not a valid basis for concluding that a machine is “ closer to thinking ” or “ more human. ” as a kind of afterthought, the promoters of the loebner competition have been naming, in addition to the “ most human ” chatbot, the “ most human ” human — the confederate who performs best according to the same criteria in the paired tests against the chatbots. the conceit of the book is that christian takes on a kind of moral charge to win this dubious distinction on behalf of humanity. of course, there ’ s nothing “ most human ” about the person so named. rather, the awardee is the person whose behavior is most distinguishable from the particular bag of tricks that the chatbots happen to use. if you ’ re interested in winning this award, it behooves you to understand how the chatbots work, and how to distinguish yourself from them. certainly christian ’ s book is successful in providing this guidance. he points out that the chatbots tend to deal with each turn in the conversation independently ; they have no memory. so a good confederate will tie multiple turns of dialogue together. the chatbots are light on factual knowledge, so they ’ ll deflect questions rather than answering them. a good confederate will answer directly. this is all useful information for the confederates, but it is even more important for the judges. in reading the transcripts, you wish that the judges had read turing ’ s original paper, which does a great job of exemplifying a good judge ’ s probing approach. under that kind of attack, the chatbots would have no hope at all, which is why the loebner competition is such thin gruel. with so little substance, can the loebner competition really shed any light on what makes us human? early


kind of attack, the chatbots would have no hope at all, which is why the loebner competition is such thin gruel. with so little substance, can the loebner competition really shed any light on what makes us human? early on, christian talks about an only slightly tongue - in - cheek claim made by harvard psychologist daniel gilbert : gilbert says that every psychologist must, at some point in his or her career, write a version of “ the sentence. ” specifically, the sentence reads like this : “ the human being is the only animal that _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. ” when nonhumans rival humans in some area, we learn what can ’ t fill that blank. but given the vast gulf in verbal performance between chatbots and people, they don ’ t seem to illuminate the matter. why is it, then, that even with such poor performance the chatbots still hold people ’ s interest? why, after rehearsing all of the limitations of chatbot performance, does christian still stick to the claim that even the primordial chatbot eliza ’ s performance was “ stunning, maybe even staggering ”? it comes back to the issue of overinterpretation. human cognition is geared toward finding patterns ; that ’ s what we do, and we do it well. as infants, we track the changing conditional probabilities of sounds in human speech, which allows us to learn where the boundaries are between words. as children we learn new words at a rate of several per day. we hear the patterns in music, see the objects in images, understand the logic of a story in a sequence of sentences. we can ’ t help ourselves. we even do it when it isn ’ t appropriate. sure, we learn to recognize the faces of our family members and our friends. but we also see faces where there aren ’ t any, in the moon, in clouds. we see causality where there is only coincidence — when a supplicant ’ s prayer is answered, or when the rain dance is followed by rain. and we hear coherent language use where there are only snippets of canned text. turing understood all this, which is why he left his turing test wide open, unconstrained by time limit or style of questioning. christian understands this too ; the book ’ s conceit is more honored in the breach than in the observance. in the end, who cares about distinguishing oneself from the weak performances put on by even the


time limit or style of questioning. christian understands this too ; the book ’ s conceit is more honored in the breach than in the observance. in the end, who cares about distinguishing oneself from the weak performances put on by even the best chatbots? i expect not even christian, who admits the award is “ disappointing, anticlimactic. ” the book is most successful when it roams farthest from its ostensible subject. christian uses the hook of pursuing the “ most human human ” award as an opportunity to explore a wide range of matters related, more or less, to issues of language use by humans and computers, and it is here that the book is most rewarding and entertaining. he riffs from the statelessness of chatbot conversation to markov chains to information theory to text compression to morality, from phonagnosia to speed dating to the coherence of personality to the television show the office to the travails of customer service. the connections of these subjects to the hook and to one another are tangential at best, but that ’ s okay in a popular science book. these are fascinating topics more or less related to cognitive science and its broad connections to the humanities. the “ most human human ” bit is the macguffin. stuart m. shieber is james o. welch, jr., and virginia b. welch professor of computer science and director of the office for scholarly communication at harvard university. he is the editor of the turing test : verbal behavior as the hallmark of intelligence ( the mit press, 2004 ). » post comment


the chronology of the new world : two faces of one reality by n. guidon and b. arnaud the paper gives a review of archaeological work in the south - eastern part of piaui state, brazil, with particular reference to the chronology and geological history of rockshelter sites, such as toca do boqueirao da pedra furada, and toca do sitio do meio. the article analyses critiques of early dates in south america, notes a bias towards the rejection of early dates, and gives additional documentation to the early dates in piaui state. it concludes by urging that a new consensus be developed among archaeologists studying early american sites. the chronology of the earliest period, of occupation in the new world is a subject of intensive controvesy. in the endless debate one might reflect that everything seems to have been said already. the situation does not change each time there is a new discovery, unfailingly the dehate takes up again around the same arguments. this results in dogmatic positions and a climate of ideological fervour. today, it seems to us that we have no hope of writing an article ahout the chronology of pleistocene america which will not convince the convinced, and augment the suspicions of the sceptics! yet it is time for the ' cold war ' of americanist archaeology to come to an end ; the two camps - those favouring early colonization, and those setting a limit at 12, 000 - 14, 000 before present - must seek out in collaboration the evidence necessary for building up a cultural sequence which can be accepted as the only really accurate record of the peopling of the continent in this paper, as our contribution to such an exercise, we review the work of our own expedition in piaui ( brazil ), and the arguments for and against the evidence which we have revealed. a climate of scepticism first we draw attention to the climate of, cepticism attending old dates. reviewing work mried out in the old crow hasin of north - west canada, guthrie ( 1984 ) begin " the following critique deal, only with the pleistocene archaeological interpretatio ", pertaining to the old crow osteological material and is not intended to reflect negatively on the excellent paleontological, taphonomic, paleoecological, paleoclimatic, geographic, stratigrapt, ic and holocene archaeological studies which have been and are being carried out by highly qualified old crow basin re " arch team '. one may


state. for the holocene, our results have never provoked controversy, even though we have discovered new aspects of culture. the unexpected age of a certain pottery type, and the ages of rock paintings covered by archaeological layers dating to 10, 500 bp have drawn no reaction - even though rock paintings and pottery have always been considered as very recent features in the prehistory of north - eastern brazil. in spite of the bias seen above, we know now that homo sapiens sapiens has an antiquity of 100, 000 to 90, 000 years in the old world, and must concede that this is sufficient to allow the possibility that humans were in america from 70, 000 to 50, 000 years ago. north - eastern brazil showing the area of sao raimundo nonato. the excavations at toca do boqueirao da pedra furada the area of sao raimundo nonato in the south - eastern part of piaui state occupies a region of broken country between the sedimentary basins of piaui - maranhao and the sao francisco river. all along the cuesta front which separates the two basins, and in the valleys inside the basins, thousands of rockshelters have formed - hundreds of which have traces of prehistoric human activity ( guidon and delibrias 1985, 1986 ; delibrias et al. 1988 ). for over twenty years we have carried out investigations in this area. we will give a rapid review of the excavations undertaken in the great rockshelter of toca do boqueirao da pedra furada ( 42o 33 ' 30 " w, 8o 50 ' s ) between 1978 and 1988. the rockshelter is over 70 meters long. the initial area of excavation, up against the rockwall of the site, measured 7 m by 3 m. the subsequent seasons of work raised the extent up to 700 square metres, through an average depth of 4 metres. from 1978 to 1983 we encountered problems in interpreting the stratigraphy in the western part of the site. the holocene layers were well preserved, but in the east they had been eroded. in contrast, the pleistocene layers had been partly destroyed in the west, whereas to the east they were perfectly preserved, since they were protected by blocks fallen from the shelter roof. the slopes ofthe layers presented a complex picture, highly variable from place to place. it was only in 1983, after discovering a mass of fallen rocks almost directly in contact with the rocky floor, that we were able to understand how the site had


. the slopes ofthe layers presented a complex picture, highly variable from place to place. it was only in 1983, after discovering a mass of fallen rocks almost directly in contact with the rocky floor, that we were able to understand how the site had been formed. this basic discovery allowed us the certainty that we had primary archaeological layers which had not been disturbed by erosion. let us pause for a moment over this assertion : it is effectively almost impossible to interpret a stratigraphic sequence, or the association between a charcoal sample and stone tools, if one is working in a small test - pit. unfortunately a high proportion of american excavations are carried out using the technique of test - pits, and only small areas are excavated. our experience at pedra furada is much more conclusive : we would never have been able to make interpretations with assurance or work out the details of deposition without uncovering the site almost completely. the great abri ( rockshelter ) of boqueirao da pedra furada was thus formed in the following manner, beginning with a major rockfall about 60, 000 years ago. the rockfall isolated the part of the site under the overhang from the slope down to the valley ( the shelter is situated 19 metres above a plain, and so safe from all flooding ). sands composed of material derived from the sandstone shelter walls then began to be deposited over the rockfall. the first humans arrived at the site, perhaps drawn by the presence of a water source towards the west, in the depths of a vertical crevice funneling water down from the plateau above. this water course was probably responsible for the erosion which destroyed the outer part of the pleistocene layers, but it never penetrated the area of the archaeological site. plan and section of toca do boqueirao da pedra it appears that the first inhabitants then cleared a level area, using fire to break up the largest boulders. these events were not forest fires : the boulders destroyed were only those by the shelter wall, under the overhang, and none of the boulders isolating the shelter from the valley were touched. the first campsite thus lay protected between the pile of boulders and the back wall of the shelter. as the ancient rocks of the plateau are composed of conglomerates, the violent torrents of water which occurred during wet periods were able to transport quartz and quartzite pebbles downwards. as we have already explained, these pebbles were unable to fall down into the shelter, except for the outer parts which were not protected by the overhang. under


found in association with flint artifacts, nobody has called their anthropogenic nature into doubt. equally difficult to explain would be pottery using peoples, who are predominant in the region from about 3, 000 years before the present, and who used exclusively quartz and quartzite for making tools, although they used jade for exquisite ornaments. as a further example, the inhabitants of some shell middens on the brazilian coast were working in quartz at 5, 000 years before the present. as for the flint knappers, we would like the opportunity to show them certain specimens which have been made in these ' difficult raw materials '. experiment enables us to understand certain parts of the ' operational chain ', but we will never have the same facility as an individual who has been knapping from childhood, and who does not have other techniques at his disposal. technical competence is not acquired as easily as one might think, and the stone age knapper will use his hands and arms quite differently from a professor of archaeology. in the case of pedra furada the work being carried out by fabio parenti at present will provide more precise answers, but we can state definitely now that there are retouched pieces. we agree with butzer ( 1988 ) who suggests that, even if the pieces were naturally formed, the stone material has been carried by humans, since we have found cobbles, fragments flakes and retouched pieces in parts of the abri where they could not possibly have arrived by natural means. another alleged problem ( p. 21 ) is that we have found no wooden or bone tools. this observation could be seen to increase doubts about the human manufacture of the stone industry, since in the classical scheme for this period, one ought always to find a stone industry associated with bone or wood tools. at piaui we have never found any of these, even in the holocene levels. on this point, guidon recalls the advice of a great master of archaeology, andre leroi - gourhan : ' carry on excavating : sooner or later excavation resolves problems '. hearths and bushfires many hearths have been recorded and dated at pedra furada ( cf. guidon and delibrias 1986 ), but these have also raised doubts. lynch ( 1990 : 21 ) writes ' it seems quite possible that these resulted from natural brush fires in the surrounding semi desert caatinga '. we do not accept this, since in that case : - we should find charcoal scattered in layers, and not concentrated


old world models. when one classifies a tool, for example a sidescraper ( racloir ), the critical judgement is based on the edge angle, and not on the fact that the piece in question can be identified as one of the types on bordes ' list, or some other old world typology. these names are not satisfactory, and are used by default because there is a need for some common language, but the typology of the new world ought to free itself completely from this influence, and be reviewed in its entirety. it would be helpful if we could rise above the present state of controversy about new world chronologies, so as to establish an entente between the different currents of thought. it is unfortunate, for example, that authors, who doubt the discoveries made at piaui have not visited the sites. working parties, meetings of specialists on site, and formal debates, should take place regularly if we are to establish an agreed basis for evaluating evidence. it would be constructive for american prehistory if we could seek out a consensus upon the value of the factual material which accumulates year by. then, on the basis of the evidence which we now possess, new theoretical propositions could be set forward. ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales butzer, k. w. 1988. " a marginality ' model to explain major spatial and temporal gaps in the old and new world pleistocene settlement records. " geoarchaeology, 3 : 193 - 203. delibrias, g., guidon, n. and parenti, f. 1988. " the toca do boqueirao do sitio da pedro furada : stratigraphy and chronology. " in early man in the southern hemisphere, supplement to archaeometry : australasian studies 1988. guerin, c. 1991. " la faune de vertebres du pleistocene superieur de l ' aire archeologique de sao raimundo nonato ( piaui, bresil ). " comptes rendus de l ' academie des sciences ( paris ), 312, series ii : 567 - 72. guidon, n. and delibrias, g. 1985. " inventaire des sites sud - americaines anterieurs a 12, 000 ans. " l ' anthropoloqie, 89 : 385 - 407. guidon, n. and delibrias, g. 1986. "


share with those who care spina bifida association of delaware po box 807 wilmington, delaware, 19899 spina bifida is a birth defect which involves damage to the spine and nervous system. spina bifida means that the vertebrae and the spinal cord did not form properly as the fetus developed in the motheris womb. there are three forms of spina bifida. the mildest form, occulta, is harmless and may never be detected. the second is called meningocele, and can cause weak muscles and poor skin. the third and most serious condition is called myelomeningocele. when this condition occurs the spinal column does not form properly leaving the spine split in two. this usually results in paralysis of the legs and no control of the bowels and bladder. spina bifida is often accompanied by hydrocephalus ( water on the brain ) which can be controlled by a surgical procedure called shunting. children with sb also have a condition called arnold chiari malformation type ii, an abnormality of the two parts of the brain. most of the children in our association and the tri - state area go to the " dupont hospital for children ", located in wilmington, delaware for their medical care. the dupont hospital runs a spinal dysfunction clinic on tuesdays of each week, which consists of urology, orthopedics, rehab, social service workers and physical therapy evaluations. neurosurgery is also available. one out of 1, 000 babies in the u. s. have spina bifida. more than 11, 000 children are born with this defect every year. it is the second most common birth defect, the most disabling and one of the least understood. what causes spina bifida? many theories about spina bifida have been advanced but none have been substantiated. even though the cause of spina bifida still remains a mystery, most researchers believe it is a result of a combination of factors, including heredity and environment. one of the goals of the spina bifida association of delaware ( sbad ) is to discover the cause. we are a group of parents, relatives, and friends of people who have spina bifida. by acting as a source of information, we can help organizations who are conducting spina bifida research. the spina bifida association of delaware is a non - profit organization. all donations are tax deductible


root cause is a neurological disorder. " fifty - five percent of medical professionals believe that tourette ' s tics can ' t be controlled and 77 percent believe that if tics are suppressed, they will be even worse later, according to a 2004 survey published in cognitive and behavioral practice ( vol. 11, no. 1, pages 298 - 305 ). the survey of 78 neurologists, family practitioners, psychiatrists and clinical psychologists showed that many members of the medical community held beliefs about tourette ' s syndrome that were false or untested, says study author douglas woods, phd, a university of wisconsin - milwaukee psychology professor. " it ' s almost freudian, this idea that you can try to repress an unwanted urge, and the more you suppress it the more it will bubble up somewhere else, " woods notes. woods and his student himle set out to test those assumptions. in a study published in a 2005 issue of behaviour research and therapy ( vol. 43, no. 1, pages 1443 - 1451 ), they rewarded seven children, ages 8 to 11, for suppressing their tics. they told the children a " tic detector " would reward them with a token for every 10 seconds they did not tic. they also said the tokens were worth a few cents each, but regardless of their performance, all the participants received $ 2 at the end of the study. while the children believed the tic detector worked automatically, a behind - the - scenes experimenter actually controlled the dispensing of the tokens. the tics exhibited by the participants in the study - - which included throat clearing, nose scrunching and grunting - - were too complex and subtle to be detected by a machine, woods notes. before introducing the tic detector, the researchers recorded the frequency of the children ' s tics. afterward, they also " turned off " the machine for five minutes and instructed the participants to tic freely, to measure any rebound effect. they found that the children were able to suppress their tics - - they expressed a tic during 16 percent of the 10 - second intervals when they were being rewarded, as opposed to 50 percent of the intervals at the beginning of the experiment. though the children returned to a high rate of tics once they thought the machine was off, they flinched and grunted less after the suppression period than they did at the beginning of the experiment. that same year, another study - - published in behavior modification ( vol. 29, no


overview of content related to ' dcc ' this page provides an overview of 1 article related to ' web services '. note that filters may be applied to display a sub - set of articles in this category ( see faqs on filtering for usage tips ). select this link to remove all filters. a web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over a network. the w3c defines a " web service " as " a software system designed to support interoperable machine - to - machine interaction over a network. it has an interface described in a machine - processable format ( specifically web services description language wsdl ). other systems interact with the web service in a manner prescribed by its description using soap messages, typically conveyed using http with an xml serialization in conjunction with other web - related standards. " the w3c also states, " we can identify two major classes of web services, rest - compliant web services, in which the primary purpose of the service is to manipulate xml representations of web resources using a uniform set of " stateless " operations ; and arbitrary web services, in which the service may expose an arbitrary set of operations. ( excerpt from wikipedia article : web service ) see our ' web services ' overview for more data and comparisons with other tags. for visualisations of metadata related to timelines, bands of recency, top authors, and and overall distribution of authors using this term, see our ' web services ' usage charts. ariadne contributors most frequently referring to ' web services ' :


accurate fires on the enemy. the squad employs m203 and hand - held ir smoke to screen the assaulting teams movement. the squad leader notifies the platoon leader of his actions. ( 2 ) the platoon leader, his rto, the platoon fo, the squad leader of the next squad, and one machine gun team move forward to link up with the squad leader of the squad in contact. ( 3 ) the squad leader of the trail squad moves to the front of his lead fire team. ( 4 ) the platoon sergeant moves forward with the second machine gun team and the weapons squad leader and links up with the platoon leader. if directed, he assumes control of the base of fire element and positions the machine guns to add suppressive fire against the enemy. the platoon sergeant uses his hand - held laser to designate the left and right limits of fires while the weapons squad leader uses the pointer to designate targets. ( 5 ) the platoon leader assesses the situation. he follows the success of the squad ' s flank attack by leading the trail squads along the covered and concealed route taken by the assaulting fire team of the squad in contact. the base of fire element uses the an / pvs - 7b to monitor the movement of the assaulting element. c. if the squad in contact cannot achieve suppressive fire, the squad leader reports to the platoon leader. ( 1 ) the squad in contact establishes a base of fire. ( a ) the squad leader deploys his squad to provide effective, sustained fires on the enemy position. the squad leader continues to designate targets using the hand - held laser pointer and an / paq - 4 while soldiers see through their an / pvs - 7b and place accurate fires on the enemy with the an / paq - 4. ( b ) the squad leader reports his final position to the platoon leader. ( 2 ) the remaining squad ( not in contact ) takes up covered and concealed positions in place and uses the an / pvs - 7b to observe the flanks and rear of the platoon. ( 3 ) the platoon leader moves forward with his rto, the platoon fo, the squad leader of the nearest squad, and one machine gun team. 2. locate the enemy. a. the squad leader of the squad in contact reports the enemy size, location, and any other information to the platoon leader. the platoon leader completes the squad leader ' s assessment of the situation. b. the squad continues to engage the enemy positions and mark the engagement area with ground ir flares


from the art and popular culture encyclopedia a neologism ( greek νεολογισμος [ neologismos ], from νεος [ neos ] new + λογος [ logos ] word, speech, discourse + suffix - ισμος [ - ismos ] - ism ) is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created ( " coined " ) — often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre - existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. neologisms are especially useful in identifying inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context. the term " e - mail ", as used today, is an example of a neologism. neologisms are by definition " new ", and as such are often directly attributable to a specific individual, publication, period or event. the term " neologism " was itself coined around 1800 ; so for some time in the early 19th century, the word " neologism " was itself a neologism. neologisms can also refer to an existing word or phrase which has been assigned a new meaning. in psychiatry, the term is used to describe the creation of words which only have meaning to the person who uses them. it is considered normal in children, but a symptom of thought disorder indicative of a psychotic mental illness such as schizophrenia in adults. usage of neologisms may also be related to aphasia acquired after brain damage resulting from a stroke or head injury. in theology, a neologism is a relatively new doctrine ( for example, rationalism ). in this sense, a neologist is an innovator in the area of a doctrine or belief system, and is often considered heretical or subversive by the mainstream clergy or religious institution ( s ).


as used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the following meanings apply : ( 1 ) “ commission ” means the american samoa natural resources commission. ( 2 ) “ endangered species ” means any species of fish, plant life, or wildlife which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant part of its range other than a species of insects determined by the commission or the secretary of the united states department of the interior to constitute a pest whose protection under this chapter would present an overwhelming and overriding risk to man. ( 3 ) “ fish or wildlife ” means any member of the animal kingdom, including any mammal, fish, amphibian, mollusk, crustacean, arthropod, or other invertebrate, and includes any part, product, egg, or offspring, or the dead body or parts thereof. fish or wildlife includes migratory birds, nonmigratory birds, or endangered birds for which protection is afforded by treaty or other international agreement. ( 4 ) “ import ” means to bring into, or introduce into, or attempt to bring into, or introduce into, any place subject to the jurisdiction of this territory. ( 5 ) “ person ” means an individual, corporation, partnership, trust, association, or any other private entity, or any officer, agent, department, or instrumentality of the federal government, of any state or territory or political subdivision thereof, or of any foreign government. ( 6 ) “ plant or plant life ” means any member of the plant kingdom, including seeds, roots, and other parts thereof. ( 7 ) “ species ” includes any subspecies of fish, plant life, or wildlife and any other group of fish, plants, or wildlife of the same species or smaller taxa in common spatial arrangement that interbreed or cross - pollinate when mature. ( 8 ) “ take ” means, in reference to fish and wildlife, to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, collect, or attempt to engage in any such conduct. ( 9 ) “ take ” means, in reference to plants, to collect, pick, cut, dig up, or destroy in any manner. ( 10 ) “ threatened species ” means any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. history : 1982, pl 17 - 49 § 1.


2008 – 2009 projects on multicultural activities bilingual performance on an object and action battery : preliminary normative data in spanish and english lisa a. edmonds university of florida the u. s. has the fifth largest spanish - speaking community in the world, with 30 million citizens ( 12 % of the population ) that speak spanish. the hispanic elderly population is expected to increase from < 4 percent of the total elderly population in 1990 to 16 percent by the middle of the next century. hispanics are 30 % more likely than non - hispanic caucasians to have a stroke, and thus are at a greater risk for aphasia. lexical retrieval impairments are the most common deficit in aphasia. as a result, a fundamental aspect of aphasia evaluation is testing naming abilities. however, there are no available naming tests developed specifically for spanish - english populations in the united states. providing bilingual normative data on available naming tests is an alternative until appropriate tests can be developed. the purpose of this study was to 1 ) examine naming performance of spanish - english bilingual adult speakers on an object and action naming battery ( druks and masterson, 2000 ), and 2 ) identify which language use / history and self - ratings factors best predicted naming performance in english and spanish. the overall goal was to generally evaluate whether this test, which was developed for monolingual english speakers, would be appropriate to use in some form with spanish / english bilinguals. the preliminary results of the classical and rasch analyses revealed a large number of noun and verb items able to distinguish between different levels of naming proficiency in english and spanish for spanish / english bilinguals. evidenced - based language screening procedures for young spanish speakers ( elysa ) university of northern colorado young children who have delayed language development are at risk for a number of concomitant developmental problems, including delays in social, behavioral, and academic development. early intervention with children with language delays is critically important ; many studies have demonstrated that early childhood is the greatest time of developmental change, and that children who receive early intervention demonstrate favorable long - term outcomes. thus, identifying children at risk for language and learning problems is of paramount importance during early childhood. as a result, early childhood programs such as head start have made screening of preschoolers a priority. twenty seven percent of children enrolled in head start programs are from homes where languages other than english are spoken ; 82 % of these children are from spanish speaking families and this percentage is expected to increase. nationwide surveys have demonstrated that most slps lack confidence when assessing spanish bilingual


completed their graduate degree. their dream of asha membership grows dim, as does any hope of impacting the number, diversity and cultural competence of the membership. the objectives of this project were ( 1 ) to develop an intensive, systematic intervention plan to support six csd native american graduates in passing the praxis. four participants had already graduated and were working as non - certified professionals on the navajo and hopi reservations ; the other two were currently enrolled in the csd summers only program and were working on the reservations as non - certified professionals ; and ( 2 ) on passing the praxis, to partner the current six - student cohort with reservation - employed, certified, native american slps ( also csd alumni to serve as their cfy supervisors ). the systematic, intervention plan was made up of several components : 1 ) a combination of three, 7 - hour face - to - face and video conferencing sessions ( requiring participant enrollment in 1 credit independent study ) with study sessions at 4 - weeks, 2 - weeks and one day before the praxis exam, 2 ) partnering the current cohort of native american graduates with the aforementioned native american slps who were to serve as mentors / supervisors and a current csd graduate student who was to serve as their praxis study partner, and finally ( 3 ) all project participants participated daily in the american psychological association ' s mind habits program, a tool documented to help users reduce stress and boost self confidence and esteem. the praxis lecture series was professionally videotaped " live " using nau ' s itv services. all csd students have access to the entire set of praxis lectures and the accompanying handouts as well. the praxis exam results revealed that none of the four participants who took the exam - using the extended time for non - native speakers of english - passed. following this outcome, two participants dropped out of the project. on a repeat attempt, one participant passed and applied for asha membership. supporting acquisition of language and literacy through school - home based activities ( salsa ) lena g. caesar the improvement of literacy outcomes among language minority students has become a significant area of concern among educators, clinicians, and lawmakers. research indicates that spanish - speaking english language learners ( ells ) are twice as likely as their monolingual english - speaking peers to demonstrate sub - average literacy skills. findings from the national literacy panel on language - minority children and youth indicate that english oral proficiency is an important prerequisite for bilingual children ' s


rough surfaces, as in the articulation between the maxillæ, or between the horizontal parts of the palatine bones. fig. 297 section through occipitosphenoid synchondrosis of an infant. ( see enlarged image ) schindylesis. schindylesis is that form of articulation in which a thin plate of bone is received into a cleft or fissure formed by the separation of two laminæ in another bone, as in the articulation of the rostrum of the sphenoid and perpendicular plate of the ethmoid with the vomer, or in the reception of the latter in the fissure between the maxillæ and between the palatine bones. gomphosis. gomphosis is articulation by the insertion of a conical process into a socket ; this is not illustrated by any articulation between bones, properly so called, but is seen in the articulations of the roots of the teeth with the alveoli of the mandible and maxillæ. synchondrosis. where the connecting medium is cartilage the joint is termed a synchondrosis ( fig. 297 ). this is a temporary form of joint, for the cartilage is converted into bone before adult life. such joints are found between the epiphyses and bodies of long bones, between the occipital and the sphenoid at, and for some years after, birth, and between the petrous portion of the temporal and the jugular process of the occipital. in these articulations the contiguous bony surfaces are either connected by broad flattened disks of fibrocartilage, of a more or less complex structure, as in the articulations between the bodies of the vertebræ ; or are united by an interosseous ligament, as in the inferior tibiofibular articulation. the first form is termed a symphysis ( fig. 298 ), the second a syndesmosis. diarthroses ( freely movable articulations ). this class includes the greater number of the joints in the body. in a diarthrodial joint the contiguous bony surfaces are covered with articular cartilage, and connected by ligaments lined by synovial membrane ( fig. 299 ). the joint may be divided, completely or incompletely, by an articular disk or meniscus, the periphery of which is continuous with the fi


to rotation, the joint is formed by a pivot - like process turning within a ring, or a ring on a pivot, the ring being formed partly of bone, partly of ligament. in the proximal radioulnar articulation, the ring is formed by the radial notch of the ulna and the annular ligament ; here, the head of the radius rotates within the ring. in the articulation of the odontoid process of the axis with the atlas the ring is formed in front by the anterior arch, and behind by the transverse ligament of the atlas ; here, the ring rotates around the odontoid process. condyloid articulation ( articulatio ellipsoidea ). in this form of joint, an ovoid articular surface, or condyle, is received into an elliptical cavity in such a manner as to permit of flexion, extension, adduction, abduction, and circumduction, but no axial rotation. the wrist - joint is an example of this form of articulation. articulation by reciprocal reception ( articulatio sellaris ; saddle - joint ). in this variety the opposing surfaces are reciprocally concavo - convex. the movements are the same as in the preceding form ; that is to say, flexion, extension, adduction, abduction, and circumduction are allowed ; but no axial rotation. the best example of this form is the carpometacarpal joint of the thumb. enarthrosis ( ball - and - socket joints ). enarthrosis is a joint in which the distal bone is capable of motion around an indefinite number of axes, which have one common center. it is formed by the reception of a globular head into a cup - like cavity, hence the name ball - and - socket. examples of this form of articulation are found in the hip and shoulder. arthrodia ( gliding joints ) is a joint which admits of only gliding movement ; it is formed by the apposition of plane surfaces, or one slightly concave, the other slightly convex, the amount of motion between them being limited by the ligaments or osseous processes surrounding the articulation. it is the form present in the joints between the articular processes of the vertebræ, the carpal joints, except that of the capitate with the navicular and lunate, and the tarsal joints with the exception


all about radiant barriers learn the facts about radiant barriers and reflective insulation products to determine if they are a wise investment for achieving energy and cost savings in your home. what are radiant barriers? radiant barriers and reflective insulation products are installed in buildings to reduce radiant heat transfer, which is one of the ways buildings gain heat in the summer and lose heat in the winter. the idea is that by reducing radiant heat gain into the attic, for instance, you will use less energy to cool the house in the summer. there are three primary types of radiant barrier products on the market : foils and films usually reinforced for strength coatings such as radiant barrier paints or sprays reflective insulation such as foil - faced bubble wrap products sometimes, products combine more than one type, such as foil - faced bubble wrap installed in an open attic. this is both an insulation and a radiant barrier. do they actually reduce radiant heat transfer? in a word, yes. most of the foil and reflective insulation products reduce radiant heat transfer by about 96 percent. the performance of the paints and sprays is much more variable. some reduce radiant heat transfer by about 75 percent, some by much less. some radiant barrier foil and reflective insulation products have qualified for the energy star label, indicating they may save energy when properly installed. none of the paints and coatings has qualified for the energy star label. none of the radiant barrier products qualifies for federal energy tax credits. do they actually save me energy? studies by oak ridge national lab and florida solar energy center documented, on average, a 2 – 10 percent reduction in the air conditioning bills of homes with radiant barriers ( foil ) installed in the attic, but almost no savings on heating costs during the winter. are they worth it? the answer to this question is more complicated and depends on cost. if you spend $ 200 and save $ 45 every year, that may be a worthwhile investment. but if you spend $ 1, 000, it ' s not nearly as clear. are there better ways to invest your money that would reduce your energy bills? what other factors should you consider? the more insulation you have in your attic — if it ' s properly installed without air leaks between the house and the attic — the less you will save with a radiant barrier. in many homes, it would cost less to seal all of the gaps and holes between the house and attic and add additional insulation. studies have shown that dirt and dust accumulation on radiant barriers degrades their performance fairly quickly and results in less savings over time. if the


skip to content skip to navigation menu 15 november 2011 genetic mutations that cause schizophrenia could be linked to systems in the brain responsible for learning and memory, a study suggests. researchers from cardiff university and the university of edinburgh have identified changes to genes – genetic mutations – in patients with schizophrenia who had not inherited the condition. the study, published in the journal molecular psychiatry, showed that these mutations occurred among a set of proteins that play a key role in memory function. the scientists took samples of dna from more than 650 patients with schizophrenia and compared these with dna from their parents – who did not have the condition – to identify the genetic differences. professor michael owen of cardiff university, who led the research with colleague professor michael o ’ donovan, said : " by studying such a large sample we have been able to provide the first clear insights into the sorts of basic biological processes that underlie schizophrenia. " we hope that by identifying these mutations our findings will help us understand more clearly how schizophrenia arises and ultimately identify new targets for treatments. " the task of identifying what causes schizophrenia is difficult because the disorder does not occur as a result of a single genetic mutation, but reflects a large number of different risk genes. professor seth grant, of the university of edinburgh, whose laboratory previously discovered dozens of proteins linked to learning and memory, said : " although it has been known for some time that dna mutations predispose individuals to the development of schizophrenia, it has remained a puzzle as to how these genes cause behavioural problems. " the surprising finding was that dna mutations that cause schizophrenia are interfering with the same proteins in the molecular machinery that controls learning and memory. the findings will help research into new drug therapies and in developing new diagnostic tests. " the genetic mutations disrupt the production of proteins found at synapses, which are the connections between different brain cells. the proteins are normally assembled together and process information that is passed from the environment to the memory systems in the brain. disrupting the fundamental information processing systems in synapses results in behavioural disorders. professor michael o ’ donovan from cardiff university added : " the main importance of the finding is that the new mutations were not randomly occurring in genes, instead they were concentrated in a relatively small number of genes which are crucial to the way nerve cells communicate with each other at junctions called synapses. " the study was funded by the medical research council, the wellcome trust and the european union. professor george kirov also from cardiff university and the study ’ s first author, said : " we already know that


junctions called synapses. " the study was funded by the medical research council, the wellcome trust and the european union. professor george kirov also from cardiff university and the study ’ s first author, said : " we already know that genetic factors increase the risk of schizophrenia, as well as non - genetic factors. however, we assumed that because schizophrenia sufferers are less likely than average to have children, genes with quite large effects on risk will be removed from the population by the process of natural selection. " if this is true, this loss of disease genes must be compensated for by new mutations or the disease would no longer exist. " rare genetic mutations that occurred either prior to or at fertilisation - do novo mutations – were found to occur among patients with schizophrenia. schizophrenia is a severe disorder affecting approximately one per cent of the population. signs can be present from childhood, but usually the disorder is diagnosed in early teens and has an impact on adult life. notes to editor a copy of de novo cnv analysis implicate specific abnormalities of postsynaptic signalling complexes in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia published in molecular psychiatry, published online before print at doi : 10. 1038 / mp. 2011. 154, is available, on request. for further information or media interviews, contact : professor mike owencardiff universitytel : 02920 687065 professor seth grant university of edinburgh tel : 01223 494908 tel : 029 20 874731 press and pr officer university of edinburgh tel : 0131 650 9836 mob : + 44 ( 0 ) 7791 3455804 this is an externally hosted beta service offered by google.


alpha - beta pruning is a search algorithm which seeks to reduce the number of nodes that are evaluated in the search tree by the minimax algorithm. in computer science, a search algorithm, broadly speaking is an algorithm that takes a problem as input and returns a solution to the problem usually if you ' re looking for game tree as it ' s used in game theory ( not combinatorial game theory please see extensive form game. minimax ( sometimes minmax ) is a decision rule used in decision theory, game theory, statistics and philosophy for mini mizing it is a search with adversary algorithm used commonly for machine playing of two - player games ( tic - tac - toe, chess, go, etc. chess is a recreational and competitive game played between two players. ). it stops completely evaluating a move when at least one possibility has been found that proves the move to be worse than a previously examined move. such moves need not be evaluated further. alpha - beta pruning is a sound optimization in that it does not change the result of the algorithm it optimizes. allen newell and herbert simon who used what john mccarthy calls an " approximation " in 1958 wrote that alpha - beta " appears to have been reinvented a number of times ". allen newell ( march 19, 1927 - july 19, 1992 ) was a researcher in computer science and cognitive psychology at the herbert alexander simon ( june 15, 1916 february 9, 2001 ) was an american political scientist whose research ranged john mccarthy ( born september 4, 1927, in boston, massachusetts ) is an american computer scientist and cognitive arthur samuel had an early version and richards, hart, levine and / or edwards found alpha - beta independently in the united states. arthur l samuel ( 1901 – july 29, 1990 ) was a pioneer in the field of computer gaming and artificial intelligence the united states of america — commonly referred to as the mccarthy proposed similar ideas during the dartmouth conference in 1956 and suggested it to a group of his students including alan kotok at mit in 1961. the dartmouth summer research conference on artificial intelligence was the name of a conference now considered the seminal event for artificial intelligence as a this article is about alan kotok who was associate chair of w3c. alexander brudno independently discovered the alpha - beta algorithm, publishing his results in 1963. alexander brudno ( aleksandr l ' vovich brudno ) ( александр львович брудно ( born 1918 is a russian computer scientist, best known