Putting Theory Into A Paper Education Essay

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In this paper, we will describe classical and operant conditioning theories and its uses in an educational or work setting. It will begin with differences between classical and operant conditioning, followed by specific examples and applications for each developmental level (infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, or early childhood). A discussion on the use of rewards from a philosophical and practical viewpoint will follow with different developmental and learning theories that can be applied in an educational or work setting. Finally, a brief summary of definitions and terms of the theory, discussing specific examples, benefits, and challenges while implementing this theory.

According to Pavlov, "learning begins with a stimulus-response which is classical conditioning" (p.47). Learning should reflect a change in behavior. The stimulus and response noted within the working setting may not see a change in behavior. The classical conditionings in the work setting include:

A customer service representative in a call center receives call quality scores via e-mail. The customer representative experiences anxiety each time the score(s) are given.

The departmental potlucks create an atmosphere of food and fun. The departmental service level suffers because the customer service representatives are not adhering to scheduled breaks and lunches.

The emergency room receives the charts daily. As the end of the calendar month approaches overtime is required to complete all work received.

In operant conditioning, learning occurs because of rewards and punishment. Rice indicated, "Satisfying consequences bring about changes in behavior" (2001). Operant conditioning is often used in the educational or work setting.

His or Her father gives them a credit card at the end of their first year in college because they did so well. As a result, their grades continue to get better in their second year.

A professor has a policy of exempting students from the final exam if they maintain perfect attendance during the quarter. The professors' policy showed a dramatic increase in his student's attendance.

Customer service representatives strive daily to meet the quarterly incentive. The adherences to break and lunch schedules are enforced.

Examples of operant and classical conditioning are prevalent in the everyday lives of many and are seen in the educational environment. An example of operant conditioning during the infancy stage occurs when a caregiver is effective in comforting a crying infant, the infant stops crying. The removal of the unpleasant crying reinforces the caregivers comforting technique. The caregiver is apt to apply the same method of comforting the next time he cries. As an example of classical conditioning during the infancy stage occurs when a baby bottle is inserted in the infant's mouth. This brings out a reflexive unlearned response of sucking. The infant can develop a conditioned to the baby bottle; the sucking occurs as soon as the infant sees a baby bottle.

The following will provide examples of operant conditioning and classical conditioning during the early childhood stage in an educational environment. As an example of operant conditioning during the early childhood stage, when a student raises his or her hand and waits to be called on to receive something good as a reward. The rewards come in many forms for example a reward is the student receiving a praise or a piece of candy for his or her good behavior. Another example of classical conditioning during the early childhood stage is, when a student calls a classmate an inappropriate name. The teacher may call the student with the inappropriate behavior aside and reprimand him or her. The teacher would have that student take a time out or write sentences as of why he or she should not perform the action of calling the other student inappropriate names (Tuckman, 2010).

The following will provide examples of operant conditioning and classical conditioning during the middle childhood stage in an educational environment. As an example of classical conditioning during the middle childhood stage, when a student who seldom associates with other students is encouraged to associate with others, is given praise by the teacher. As an example of classical conditioning during the middle childhood stage, a student has a fear of test taking. In the past, the student has always performed poorly when taking a test. The teacher is aware the student knows the material. The teacher could work with the student by giving him or her series of tests the student could pass. The teacher would provide positive feedback to the student to reinforce the good grade. The student would associate the test taking with positive feedback, and then the student would no longer have a fear of taking test.

The following will provide examples of operant conditioning and classical conditioning during the adolescence stage in an educational environment. As an example of operant conditioning during the adolescence stage, when an above average child is receiving an average grade a parent could use monetary rewards if he or she receives A's in school however, if the child receives an undesirable grade, the child would pay the parent as a means of punishment. During the adolescence stage, students enjoy working in groups on assignments and projects. As an example of classical conditioning during the adolescence stage, the teacher advises the students to work with the partner of choice if the class exhibits appropriate behaviors until that point in the lesson. If the class is not well behaved, the class does not get to work in groups. If the class exceeds the teachers' expectations of appropriate behavior, the class is allowed to work in groups. The student's behavior gives a definite response, which is a consistent reaction to the classes' actions.

Over the year's punishment and rewards have been used to control behavior. The concern is that money, high grades, and even praises may be effective in a person's performance, but performance and interest can only remain constant as long as the reward is continuous.

Rewards and punishments are ways of manipulating behavior. These two methods are used in our educational environment. These methods are saying to the child, if he or she does this, we will give him or her this, and if he or she does that, we will take away this. The question that arises is as teachers are we using these methods appropriately and is our children benefiting from the methods as a hold.

What is the purpose of punishment? The purpose of punishment is to decrease certain responses. There are two types of punishments. Punishment I represents an appearance of an unpleasant stimulus, and punishment II removes the unpleasant stimulus. Punishment can be effective by immediate reasoning, or infrequent reasoning.

The purpose of a reward is to let the student know that he or she has done an impressive job. The reward is used to increase the student's ability to perform better or do more because his or her performance is already at or above level. This reward can cause a student's desire to fail in his or her ability, and become disinterested because he or she has already reached his or her level of attainment. The purpose of reinforces is to increase desired responses and behaviors. We use these reinforces to receive a positive or negative response.

The focal point is not principally on rewards and punishment. It is to create an atmosphere that increases motivation.

Learning Theory

There is no one perfect option in developing a strategy or theory of what would best to used in a classroom or workplace setting. The human mind has been studied for thousands of years, and there is not one study that can be reproduced exactly when it comes to human thinking. The classroom is set up based on the teacher's experiences as well as educational knowledge. Starting with the learning focus model, the classroom is set up in the following way to enhance the learning environment. 1) Self- Regulated students are students who develop goals, monitor goals, practice met cognition, and use effective strategies. 2) Teacher Characteristics is expressed in personal teaching efficacy, modeling and enthusiasm, caring as well as a positive expectation of the students' abilities. Promoting students' motivation in the classroom involves instructional variables, instructional focus, personalization, involvement, and feedback.

In comparing Piaget with Vygotsky, Piaget saw interaction primarily as a mechanism for promoting assimilation and accommodation in individuals. Whereas, Vygotsky developed his ideas based on learning and development, which arises directly from social interactions, which means individuals' cognitive developments are a direct result of interactions with other people. "The role of language is central to Vygotsky's theory, and it plays three different roles in development" (Eggen & Kauchak, 2007, p.46). The first role is giving learners access to knowledge. Second, language providing the learners with cognitive tools that allows humans to think about their surroundings and resolve problems. The third role that language plays is helping the learner with regulation and reflection of his or her own thinking. According to Vygotsky, "learning occurs when people acquire specific understanding," Thomas, 32(3), 656). In reviewing the research of the three different theories of motivation--behavioral theories humanistic theories and cognitive theories--the researcher has to study the development of the humanistic views of Charles Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Looking at Maslow's two-step processes, the first step is Deficiency needs, which includes survival, safety, belonging, and self-esteem. The second step, Growth needs, includes intellectual achievements, anesthetic appreciation, and self-actualization (Eggen & Kauchak, 2007, p.303). This researcher believes that if the work environment or the classroom environment could combine Piaget, Vygotsky and Maslow's theories in to one basic idea, one would have the closest thing to a perfect understanding of human physical and cognitive development.


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Audivolv - HardCoded_CodeTree_BreedFunction

HardCoded_CodeTree_BreedFunction will be replaced by evolved CodeTrees that operate on CodeTree.
My strategy in Audivolv is to hard-code things first then make them evolvable later.

In the end, only the window, file access, low-level internet connections, and similar things will be hard-coded.
All the AI will be evolved.

After breeding, part of the hard-coded things is the MovementScore.
Breed 2 JavaCodes X and Y

X and Y are a linear sequence of child JavaCodes. Start with X's childs.

Audivolv version 0.1.6 has a hard-coded CodeTree breed function that does approximately this:

20% chance{
    Pick 2 equal-size random ranges of childs, in X and Y.
    Overwrite X's childs with Y's childs.
5% chance{
    Cut X between 2 childs, and swap the 2 ranges. Ignore Y.
5% chance{
    Randomly reorder X's childs. Ignore Y.
70% chance{
    Pick random childs to remove.
    Quantity to remove is random^2 fraction of the childs.
    Keeps code size down because new childs are only added if vars are missing.

Fix the mutated code:

This increases evolved code size. Score higher for shorter code.

Each var must be Lvalue and Rvalue at least once.

Pick a random child in Y. Lvalue var names are child.floVars(".*L.*")

Pick an Lvalue (or Rvalue) thats missing in the mutated code.

If child does not have that var as Lvalue, rename some var in child.

Add the new child in a random place.

REVERSE LINKS: AUDIVOLV WEBSITES: http://audivolv.com | http://audivolv.sourceforge.net | http://audioevolve.com | http://instrumentsplaythemusicians.com


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Saturday, February 25, 2012

Monday, February 6, 2012

While I was preparing my non-fiction trial guide, SEE YOU IN COURT! for publication, it came to me that it was a good reference work for writing fictitious court scenes. It is full of nuances and quirks that could lend credence to a narrative.  And that got me to wondering what, if anything, lawyers and authors have in common. Go to the mystery and thriller section of a bookstore (if you can find one of those) and you will see that a lot of authors are actually lawyers who write novels. I came to the conclusion that there must be something they have in common. But what?

Of course, they both need to know how to write. But what you write about and the forms that you use to convey your message are completely different. To begin with, lawyers tend to want to tell. And they use funny words you could never get by with in a novel; words like “notwithstanding” and “submit” (not the kinky kind) “quash” and “subsequent.”  Authors like to show and be omniscient. Sometimes they don’t even write sentences, or whole ones. You’d never get away with that in a legal brief. So, “no” authors and lawyers don’t really have writing in common.

Unless they’re extraordinarily successful, authors don’t dine where lawyers do. They don’t go business class. And they don’t usually dress in suits. Authors often need day jobs. Authors sometimes need lawyers. Lawyers rarely need authors. Lawyers practice civil or criminal law. Authors are civil or uncivil.  Lawyers need a license to practice. Authors have license.

So what accounts for the plethora of lawyer/authors?  What accounts for, John Grisham, Erle Stanley Gardner, Scott Turow, Lia Matera, John Mortimer, Richard North Patterson, Henry Fielding, Marissa Piesman and Studs Turkel? I think I have an answer: observation. Authors and lawyers are in the business of paying close attention to human behavior, body language and the physical surroundings in which events occur -- good ones, at least.

Now you are saying, “Wait a minute, other occupations rely on observation too. What about cops and doctors, for example?” The difference though between those other occupations and lawyers is that the observations are generally used within the profession. More often than not, doctors report to other doctors and cops work with cops. They both tend to use lawyers when they want to translate their observations into language for public consumption.

Trial lawyers, especially, are trained to closely observe jurors' responses to their questioning during a selection process called voir dire. We scrutinize documents for evidence of forgery or late creation. We examine forensic evidence. We size up witnesses in pre-trial depositions. And our task is to communicate those observations to jurors, a judge or the public in general. Authors who have that skill can ascribe to their characters behavior from nuances and quirks to more definitive conduct. Authors can make their characters sweat, blush, pull their arms across their chests or stare.  These kinds of descriptions can show the reader a characters’ personality. Readers will come to empathize or despise, based on the behavior described. Readers can pick up on these descriptions to draw their judgments, rather than having the author tell us how the character feels. Likewise the physical environment can be shown, rather than told about. The gun can still be hot to the touch but the show would be inability to hold onto it, and then perhaps licking some burnt fingers. A stiff wind can whip clothing into knots or cause a wayward piece of trash to wrap around a leg. If I were to write: “As he walked, sheets of newsprint swirled about the sidewalk and the front page of the morning rag decided to wrap tightly around his leg,” the reader might guess that it was wind that caused it.

The law might call the dropping of the gun or the paper-wrapped leg “circumstantial evidence” that the gun was hot and the walk was windy. In See You In Court!, I explain that legally, circumstantial evidence is as good as a percipient narration, but in fiction,  circumstantial evidence is better. It is those kinds of details that make the best narrative. Attention to detail, through relating these small clues makes the story. So just as a lawyer is shown evidence, the author can show the reader the evidence, whether it be a weapon, a room, or a document, paying attention to clues, which constitute the circumstantial evidence that makes for the best reading. The best of the lawyer/authors possess this ability to process the evidence and then to communicate it in plain, simple, easy-to-read language.


How to Fix Computer Continuously Rebooting After XP SP3 is installed

Stop Error 0x0000007E After SP3 is installed

I've had a few computers that will not boot correctly after I've installed Windows XP Service Pack 3 on them. The computer finishes the install and then prompts for a reboot. The computer will start to reboot then give a BSOD Stop Error for a second and reboot again. This process will continue unless the computer is started in Safe Mode. In Safe mode the computer boots correctly and everything seems fine.

This problem only appears on some systems after upgrading to SP3. This particular problem on systems that have been prepared with SysPrep. The sysprep image was created on an Intel based computer, and then the sysprep image is deployed on a Non-Intel system such as an AMD processor. In these cases, the registry entry for Intelppm is incorrectly set and causes the computer to go into a continuous reboot after the service pack has installed

How Can I Solve This Problem?

Follow these steps to resolve this issue with the computer not booting correctly after SP3 is installed.

1) Start your computer in Safe Mode.

2) Click on Start, Run, and type REGEDIT and press Enter. This will open the Registry Editor.

3) Click the pluses(+) next to the following registry keys to navigate to the correct spot.
  • CurrentControlSet
  • Services
  • Intelppm
4) In the right hand column find the entry titled START and double-click on it

5) Change the number to 4 and click Ok

6) Close the Registry Editor

7) Shut down your computer and restart

This time the computer should restart normally and finish the installation of SP3.

Examples of free file mirroring sites are MassMirror, They allow anyone to mirror any file.
Disk mirroring:- In data storage, disk mirroring or RAID1 is the replication of logical disk volumes onto separate physical hard disks in real time to ensure continuous availability. A mirrored volume is a complete logical representation of separate volume copies.
In a Disaster Recovery context, mirroring data over long distance is referred to as storage replication. Depending on the technologies used, replication can be performed synchronously, asynchronously, semi-synchronously, or point-in-time. Replication is enabled via microcode on the disk array controller or via server software. It is typically a proprietary solution, not compatible between various storage vendors.


reddragdiva: (geek)
divabot ([personal profile] reddragdiva) wrote2016-05-19 11:05 am

Getting jsch to work in ant in Ubuntu.

It is not enough to have Ant's optional JARs
you need the JAR files that the optional tasks depend upon.
Ant's optional task dependencies are listed in the manual.
Do not panic, this is a common problem.
The commonest cause is a missing JAR.
This is not a bug; it is a configuration problem

vampwillow: (Default)

[personal profile] vampwillow 2016-05-20 02:58 pm (UTC)(link)
#sofixit would be the standard response, but I'm having enough problems with stuff (IPv6 through local router) that I wouldn't wish extra work on anyone presently!


Jesus Urupiy

(1912) - 2003

        Jesus Urupiy passed away peacefully September 24, 2003 on Lamotrek surrounded by family, relatives, and friends.  He was believed to be over 91 years of age.

         The exact year of Urupiy's birth on Satawal is unknown since birth dates were not recorded in the early 1900s, but a Japanese ethnologist, Hijikata Hisakatsu, working on Satawal in the 1930s wrote in his journal that Urupiy was initiated in a Pwo ceremony for navigators (paliuw) on June 3, 1932.  Since young men of his generation generally became initiated navigators before 20 years of age, it is fairly certain that Urupiy was born in or before the year 1912.

         Born into a distinguished family of master navigators from Polowat and Satawal, one of his earliest memories was of voyaging as a young boy in the 1920s to Satawan, an outer island south of Chuuk in the Mortlock Islands.  In family oral history, his grandfather Sawfa and granduncle Raubo are said to have sailed on trading voyages to Saipan, Kapingamarangi, and Pohnpei in addition to engaging in the Sawei tribute to Yap.

         In the late 1930s, Urupiy ran afoul of Japanese law and was unjustly imprisoned in Yap for three years.  After he was released he was sent to work in the phosphate mines of Anguar in Palau where he stayed for one year.  He was then sent back to Yap to work on the airstrip during World War II where he witnessed several bombings of Japanese planes by American forces.  After the end of the war he returned to Satawal and resumed his occupation as navigator by engaging in a number of voyaging expeditions.  Foremost of these was a voyage carrying several hundred coconut seedlings to Woleai to replenish the stocks of coconut trees that the Japanese had cut down during the war.  During the late 1940s he married Maria Legasugrig of Lamotrek.   He also survived a canoe wreck on the reef of Pikelot, where he and his crew were marooned for seven months.  For the next 30 years Urupiy divided his time between Lamotrek and Satawal, fishing and voyaging, and raising twelve children.  By 1980, after a lifetime of sailing in the glare of an unrelenting sun, he developed cataracts which caused him to go blind.  In the mid-1980s his vision was partially restored by surgery on Guam, but he would always need the assistance of glasses to see thereafter.

        With a new lease on life, Urupiy resurrected the traditional navigator Pwo ceremony on Lamotrek in 1990 for five initiates, including one of his sons, Ali Haleyalur.  Until this time, this ancient rite of passage was generally thought to be lost because it had not been performed for nearly 40 years since it was last conducted on Satawal in 1951.  This event sparked a rebirth of the Pwo Ceremony in the Caroline Islands which continues today.

        In the summer of 2000, Urupiy made his last tour of the Outer Islands of Yap and the Western Outer Islands of Chuuk.  Returning to his roots on Satawal and Polowat, he visited family and relatives, some of whom he had not seen in fifty years.  All of his kinfolk rejoiced in his return.  Ever the teacher, many asked him to recite the ancient navigator chants and lore that he knew so well.  This he did wherever he went.

        Jesus Urupiy will be dearly missed by his wife, Maria Legasugrig, and twelve children: Maria Latigral, Sandy Hagiltaw, Naty Ilemangtiw, Ali Haleyalur, Petra Legagilesiug, Maria Leyalomai, Elizabeth Leyarofrig, Sesario Pekalmai,  Alexia Legaleyeshie, John Maliuwelur, Ralph Siuta, and Tobias Sawfa.  In addition to a brother, Rapwi, and sister, Letigireng, he is survived by over fifty grandchildren and great grandchildren.

waaliwaiy sailing canoe

From an ancient Weriyeng navigator chant

recited by Urupiy at the Pwo Ceremony

he performed on Lamotrek

May 24, 1990

Ye nge iyo we rewe yaliu gatarata weligamal
spaialu yal male ye Lugeilengilo?

Ye nge iyo ho bwe nagangiu

Yenge yal iyo ho?

Yenge ngang mwolemesi

Yenge yeel mwoleme sililet la ho?

Ye nge ngang malmesil igeig we igeigewe, igeigewe

Who is that who stands on the rim of Luugoileng's sacred bowl?

It is I

  Who are you?

I am a pure man

How long have you been a pure man?

I have been a pure man since time began, since time began

Triton Films LogoView Film Clip of Chant


As Mark Monmonier's venerable book How to Lie with Maps has pointed out, cartographic projection can be another tool of deception. Maps of the Soviet Union adopt an unusual polar viewpoint to emphasize the reach of communism, as in a . Mode cites a TIME magazine that was welcomed by Alaska statehood advocates for mulberry bags outlet its strong visual emphasis of the state's strategic location relative to the Soviets.

It is known that in the development of the human immunodeficiency organism resists, and about 20% of infected individuals through several (2 4) years begin to produce neutralizing antibodies capable of blocking most known HIV cheap pandora bracelets strains. But by this time the body is already under the impact of HIV, which is heavily mutated and changed. Defense is again behind the attack..

Medoro also appears on the island, near death after a shipwreck. Alcina revives him and brings Medoro and Angelica together. Orlando is jealous, but before he can lose louboutin soldes his cool, Alcina calms him down with her magic. So in other words, there were four experiments. Three did not show benefits, and they weren't published. One showed a benefit and was published.

If the Internet history is empty, it could also alert you to a problem; your spouse may have deleted everything so you cheap air max couldn see what she been up to online. If she seems upset or tries to talk you out of seeing her emails, she could be guilty of infidelity via emails. Also, if she recently changed passwords on accounts that you once had access to, it could be a sign of her hiding something.

Sports Minute: Here is the latest sac longchamp solde New England sports news from The Associated PressSports Minute: Here is the latest New England sports news from The Associated PressCanadiens rookie goalkeeper Mike Condon will try to extend his unbeaten streak when he leads Montreal against Boston. Condon is 5 0 1 and Carey Price is out with a lower body injury. The Bruins michael kors purses cheap are 5 1 on the road this..

Official fuel economy figures for the largest 6.4 litre V 8 are 10.4 litres/100 kilometres on the highway for manual equipped cars, and 16.8 l/100 km in the city. That ain't great, but it's not exactly supposed to be a fuel sipper of a machine. While the fun of the manual has to cheap louboutins be recommended, I'll point out that the automatic loses little of the experience, and has a couple of extra tall top gears for maximum highway cruising efficiency..

He explained everything that happened," Carter added before referring all additional questions to Perry's attorney.WJLA Portions are Associated Press. This christian louboutin outlet online material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or distributed.WJLA is the local ABC affiliate for the greater Washington DC area. From our studios in Arlington, VA ABC7 covers national and local news, sports, weather, traffic and culture and carries entertainment and sports programming.yi05.06

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Moyer recalls pressure and pranks below sea level

Moyer recounted his experiences serving on a submarine during the 1960s. Photo by Jeff Li

Lily Bohlke

While Professor Wayne Moyer, Political Science, is known for his courses on the Cold War, his relationship to the conflict is more than theoretical. On Tuesday, Nov. 17, Moyer gave a talk called, “Submerged during the Cold War,” which described his experiences in the United States Navy during the 1960s.

“I liked submarine life because it is very informal,” Moyer said. “No shining shoes, no formal inspections and a great deal of camaraderie.”

In October of 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Moyer was working on a submarine. But instead of being out at sea, it was on a dry dock in Norfolk, Virginia with a hole in the bottom. Moyer said he remembered listening to President Kennedy’s speech on the Cuban Missile Crisis, wondering what he could do with his submarine stuck on land.

“The situation was so incredibly dangerous. Norfolk could have been one of the first targets,” Moyer said. “But at the time, we weren’t able to come to grips with it.”

Although the Cuban Missile Crisis was an incredibly tense time, Moyer remarked that he was glad his submarine was not at sea.

“I met my wife during that time. With all the competition out at sea, things moved quickly,” he said. “I was the sole beneficiary of the Cuban Missile Crisis.”

Moyer, however, did eventually get out on the water. In 1963, his submarine participated in exercises with both the British and Pakistani navies.

Moyer’s submarine went through Portugal, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, Yemen and finally over to Pakistan.

“It was a very interesting experience to work the British and Pakistani Navy in that stage of the game,” Moyer said. “It was right in the middle of the Cold War.”

In 1965, he became a missile officer. He worked on submarines that were 407 feet long and weighed 7,500 pounds. Each submarine had 16 missiles with 1.1-megaton warheads. These missiles were 30 feet tall and could travel up to 1,500 miles.

“Missiles were placed vertically in the submarine. We would launch them submerged, there would be a blast of air under them and then we would push them out and they would light as they broke the surface,” Moyer said.

His job as a missile officer was to keep the Soviet Navy from finding the missile submarines. Due to the threat they posed, the Soviet Union would not launch a nuclear attack while the location of these submarines was unknown.

“We felt we were the primary target of Soviet attack at that stage,” Moyer said.

These missile submarines were equipped to sustainably stay underwater indefinitely. They were nuclear powered, distilled their own water, made their own oxygen and removed the carbon dioxide.

“The longest we stayed under was 72 days,” Moyer commented.

Every enlisted officer on a submarine had to be highly trained, knowing everything about the submarine including where the valves were and all the information about the reactors and engineering systems.

Patrols on the missile submarines would either go north, up the coast of Norway, or south, operating on the coast of Greece. The distance between each location and Soviet targets was roughly the same, according to Moyer.

Moyer ended his lecture by emphasizing the importance of camaraderie while in an enclosed submarine for long periods of time.

“We played practical jokes on each other. We stole the executive officer’s door and hid it. It took him three days to find it,” Moyer said. “When you’re living in those waters, unless you are close to people, you will go nuts.”


Applied Regenerative Medicine (ARM) Lab

The SHRS Applied Regenerative Medicine (ARM) Laboratory was established with a mission to contribute to the science of regenerative rehabilitation.

Regenerative rehabilitation is an emerging field dedicated to the integration of regenerative medicine and rehabilitation science.

Rehabilitation science is increasingly critical to the success of regenerative therapies by refining treatment protocols and optimizing functional outcomes.

Merging of rehabilitation and regenerative medicine.

The merger of rehabilitation and regenerative medicine at the beginning of therapeutic development enhances communication and collaboration between experts from multiple disciplines, leading to improved therapeutic outcomes.

The SHRS ARM Lab represents researchers from different healthcare professions including physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistants and nutrition and dietetics, each of which can make unique contributions to the field.


New ransomware program for macOS dubbed ‘Patcher’ discovered

Written in Apple’s Swift programming language and dubbed “Patcher,” OSX/Filecoder.E masquerades as a cracking tool for commercial software like Adobe Premiere Pro CC and Microsoft Office for Mac and is being distributed as a BitTorrent download, the article adds.

The application is generally poorly coded, ESET researchers said in a blog post. The window has a transparent background, which can be quite distracting or confusing, and it’s impossible to reopen the window if it is closed.


Vascular Ultrasound

Vascular ultrasound provides pictures of the body’s veins and arteries. A Doppler ultrasound study may be part of a vascular ultrasound examination.

Doppler ultrasound is a special ultrasound technique that measures and evaluates the direction and speed of blood cells as it flows through blood vessels in the body’s major arteries and veins in the abdomen, arms, legs and neck. The movement of blood cells causes a change in pitch of the reflected sound waves (called the Doppler effect). A pulse-like sound that changes in pitch as the blood flow is monitored and measured may be heard during the examination.

Ultrasound is a useful way of evaluating the body’s circulatory system.

Vascular ultrasound is performed to:

  • detect blood clots (deep venous thrombosis DVT) in the legs or arms
  • evaluate the success of procedures that graft or bypass blood vessels
  • determine if there is an enlarged artery (aneurysm)
  • determine the source and severity of varicose veins

Doppler ultrasound images can help to see and evaluate:

  •  blockages to blood flow (such as clots)
  •  narrowing of vessels (which may be caused by plaque)
  •  tumors and congenital malformation

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is venous doppler ultrasound?

    It is an ultrasound exam that looks at the veins in your arms or legs to determine if there is a blood clot.

  • What is an arterial doppler ultrasound?

    It is an ultrasound exam that looks at the arteries in your arms or legs to make sure there is not a blockage.

  • What is the difference between arteries and veins and why don’t you look at them both during the same examination?

    Veins and arteries sit next to each other within your body.  Arteries have muscles in their walls to pump blood through them.  Veins do not have muscles in their walls.  They depend on the surrounding muscles in the body, such as leg or arm muscles,  to circulate the blood.  Therefore, the vein testing to evaluate healthy circulation is performed differently for veins and arteries.

  • What is a renal duplex exam?

    This is an ultrasound exam that looks at your kidneys and your bladder, as well as your arteries that supply blood to the kidneys to look for a blockage.

  • What is a doppler?

    A Doppler ultrasound test uses reflected sound waves to evaluate blood as it flows through a blood vessel. It helps doctors evaluate blood flow through the major arteries and veins of the arms, legs, and neck. It can show blocked or reduced blood flow through narrowing in the major arteries of the neck that could cause a stroke. It also can reveal blood clots in leg veins (deep vein thrombosis, or DVT) that could break loose and block blood flow to the lungs (pulmonary embolism).

Renal Artery Duplex :  No food or drink 8 hrs prior to exam.  Drink 24 oz of water one hour prior to the exam.  Schedule preferably in the morning to eliminate bowel gas interference.

Aorta:  No food or drink 8 hrs prior to exam.


Colin Kaepernick: Breaking Down Versatile QB's Role in 49ers Offense

Ben ChodosCorrespondent IISeptember 30, 2012

Sept. 30, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) runs with the ball during the first quarter against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith has been getting attention for improved play this season, but backup Colin Kaepernick proved early in the team’s game against the New York Jets that he can play a significant role in the offense.

While spectators were expecting the Jets to be the team running gadget plays with versatile backup QB Tim Tebow, the Niners were much more successful using their second-stringer’s special skill set.

Kaepernick first made his mark on San Francisco’s second drive of the game, when he lined up at quarterback, kept the ball on a option play and scampered for 17 yards.

The 49ers also attempted to use Kaepernick’s scrambling ability as a decoy on that same drive. He once again lined up under center, then ran a play-action pass to try to get Randy Moss open down the field. The Jets were not fooled, but the young quarterback threw the ball anyway. Moss was nearly able to beat three Jets defenders to make a play on the ball.

Early in the second quarter, the Niners showed they had no intention of keeping Kaepernick on the sideline, and he scored the first touchdown of his career on a seven-yard run.

The mobile quarterback is in his second season in the NFL after being taken in the second round of the 2011 NFL draft out of Nevada.

Smith’s emergence as an efficient quarterback ensures that he will be the permanent starter in San Francisco. However, the Niners' offense is centered around the run, and using Kaepernick is an effective way to keep the opposing defense off-balance while still moving the ball on the ground.

As Kaepernick also proved, he has a rocket arm and is not afraid to throw the ball down the field. This expands the options for the plays that can be called for Kaepernick.

However, throwing plays called for the backup QB will likely be rare as the Niners have no reason to take such risks because of their elite defense. But his ability to pick up yardage on the ground should earn him a few carries each week.

Expect Kaepernick to play a minor role in the offense this season, but he will still consistently see the field for a few plays each Sunday.


Why Is It So Hard to Live Up To Our Values?

I’ve known communication experts with dysfunctional relationships, professional speakers who decline events because they are horrified to go on stage, and time management gurus who are late to meetings. I’ve met renowned thought-leaders who fabricate some of their work to get published, and personal change advisors who are terrified of change.

Why is it so hard to live our values? Why is it we can consume so much new information and knowledge and yet do nothing new in our daily life? We watch TED talks about how the mere presence of a smartphone on the table between us detracts from the quality of our conversation. Over 80% of us know this, and yet we do it anyway.

We read studies on the importance of grit and perseverance, and yet we are quitting our jobs and hopping to new opportunities at record levels because we feel we aren’t making an “impact” quickly enough to satisfy our ego.

We are constantly reminded that multitasking is a myth and only leads to decreased work quality, slower learning, and decreased attention spans, and yet we have numerous email and message alerts active on our computers and devices.

We know we can accelerate our learning when we try new things at work, and yet we go along with idiotic ideas, hide our opinions, and mask our true identities, because we are scared of being fired, or are desperate to fit in.

We know that the quality of our sleep is directly related to the quality of our health and well-being, and yet we take our smartphones to bed, and even check them in the middle of the night. And we know that the first five minutes when we walk in the front door can set the tone for the entire evening, and yet often our first reaction is dismay at the mountain of dirty dishes in the sink. That dismay is a mood killer.

Excellence requires work, impact takes time, leadership presence requires being present, and meaningful relationships need kind conversations.

Make it easier on yourself. The expression “activation energy” was coined 150 years ago by a chemist. The term refers to the minimum amount of energy required to stimulate an interaction between available reactants.

In other words, we should minimize the amount of energy it takes to get us in motion, and remove all the hurdles to taking action that we can. If we want to start jogging more, we should lay our gear and our shoes by the bed before we go to sleep. If we want to become better public speakers, we need to block off a doable amount of time — perhaps thirty minutes each day — to actively write and rehearse our material. And if we truly want opinions and new ideas at our meetings, we should make our meetings psychologically safe for honesty.

When we make it easy to begin something, we lower the amount of energy it takes to get started. And if it takes less energy to get started, we are more likely to do it. The slow, intentional approach to learning something new, overcoming fear, and leading with confidence requires guided mastery toward self-efficacy.

Self-efficacy is not self-esteem. Self-esteem is how good you feel about yourself. Self-efficacy is the strength of your belief in your own ability to complete the tasks you set out for yourself and reach your goals.

Make it easy on yourself. Start small.

SmallActs-3DShawn Hunter is President and Founder of Mindscaling, a company building beautiful online learning courses based on the work of best-selling authors. My new book Small Acts of Leadership, (Routledge) just released. You can grab a copy now. Have a meeting coming up? Let’s talk.

Twitter: @gshunter
Say hello: email@gshunter.com
Web: www.shawnhunter.com

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Category: Organizing

Everything you need to keep your homeschool running (mostly) smoothly. Pages to keep records, make plans, sort supplies and hopefully anything else you need to put it all in order.

weekly homeschool to-do list printable 0

Weekly To-Do List Printables

I’m never that good at maintaining detailed daily schedules, and usually rely on more free-form to-do lists instead. This PDF has 5 pages, and you can just print out multiples of whatever design you like. Four of them have cute...

homeschool book log printable pages 0

Book Log Pages

If you have kids who are avid readers, it can be a great sense of accomplishment to see the book titles add up as books are read. In our house, it’s always about how big a book is, so page...


, 2007, Orban et al , 2004 and Passingham,

, 2007, Orban et al., 2004 and Passingham,

Romidepsin research buy 2009). One striking parallel in the memory signals seen across the monkey and human medial temporal lobe is significantly stronger responses to novel relative to familiar visual stimuli in the perirhinal cortex (Brown et al., 1987, Brozinsky et al., 2005, Fahy et al., 1993, Gonsalves et al., 2005, Henson et al., 2003, Köhler et al., 1998, Li et al., 1993 and Montaldi et al., 2006). Beyond this signal of relative stimulus novelty, however, the parallels between memory-related physiological signals in monkeys and humans are less striking. For example, in the monkey perirhinal cortex, Miller and Desimone (1994) reported stimulus-selective enhancement to a behaviorally relevant matching stimuli (match

enhancement) as well as stimulus-selective suppression to nonrelevant matching stimuli (match suppression) during a delayed match to sample task. Reports of match enhancement in the human perirhinal cortex, however, have been mixed (Dudukovic et al., 2011 and Duncan et al., 2009) although the tasks used in humans differed in numerous respects from the task used in monkeys. In the hippocampus, several human fMRI studies (Dudukovic et al., 2011 and Duncan et al., 2009) as well as a human single unit study in epileptic patients (Fried et al., 1997) FG 4592 reported strong match enhancement signals. By contrast, in the monkey hippocampus, several recent reports have described decrements but not enhancements in neural responses associated with repeated stimulus presentations (Jutras and Buffalo, 2010 and Yanike et al., 2009). Although many previous studies have mapped early visual areas in monkeys and humans performing the same perceptual task, few studies have compared medial

temporal lobe activity Ribonucleotide reductase across species as subjects perform the same memory task. One exception is Law et al. (2005), who developed a conditional motor associative learning task for humans based on one used in a previously published monkey physiology study (Wirth et al., 2003). Law et al. (2005) reported clear increases in the BOLD fMRI signals across the medial temporal lobe structures as human subjects learned new conditional motor associations. These findings appeared to parallel the single unit findings in the monkey hippocampus described by Wirth et al. (2003) that showed either increases or decreases in hippocampal single unit activity that were correlated with the animal’s learning curve. However, it remained unclear how the increases and decreases in single unit activity seen in individual monkey hippocampal cells corresponded to the global pattern of increased BOLD activity seen in humans.

g , Ojima et al ,

g., Ojima et al., learn more 1984) and that odors generally evoke widely distributed PCx activity (Illig and Haberly, 2003). Recent experiments have shown that different odorants activate unique subpopulations of neurons distributed across the PCx without spatial preference (Stettler and Axel, 2009) and that the projections of individual glomeruli (Nagayama et al., 2010 and Sosulski et al., 2011) and of single mitral cells (Gosh et al., 2011) are broadly

distributed in the PCx. A second set of questions concerns how the odor features represented by MOB glomeruli are recombined in the cortex. How many different mitral cell inputs synapse on an individual PCx neuron? What are the numbers and distribution of glomeruli from which the inputs to a single neuron arise? Up until recently, there has been little direct evidence concerning MOB to PCx convergence. It is known that PCx neurons can respond to dissimilar odorants that are likely to activate nonoverlapping glomeruli (Rennaker et al., 2007 and Poo and Isaacson, 2009). Some PCx neurons respond to electrical stimulation only when more than one glomerulus is coactivated (Apicella et al., 2010), and odor mixtures can activate PCx neurons that are not activated by the components alone (Stettler and Axel, 2009). Although intracortical excitation

could contribute to some of these observations, it was recently shown that individual PCx neurons indeed receive anatomical connections from multiple broadly distributed mitral cells (Miyamichi et al., 2011). Further critical INCB024360 questions relate to more detailed features

of the integrative properties of individual PCx neurons. How strong are the individual functional inputs from each glomerulus? How many glomeruli connect to each PCx cell and how many inputs must be coactive for a PCx neuron to respond? Do inputs combine linearly or nonlinearly? In this issue of Neuron, Davison and Ehlers (2011) provide important new insight into these issues by using in vivo laser scanning glutamate uncaging to create distributed artificial patterns of glomerular activation in the MOB while recording in the PCx in anesthetized mice. With this approach, the authors were able to independently activate targeted locations within Parvulin the glomerular layer of the MOB with near single glomerular spatial resolution. Davison and Ehlers’s data address several aspects of the convergence and integration of MOB inputs by individual PCx cells. First, PCx neurons did not generally respond to single-site stimulation; PCx firing was only triggered reliably by joint activation of at least three uncaging sites. Moreover, for a given number of sites, PCx activation was specific to the pattern of those sites: each cell responded differentially to different spatial patterns and different PCx cells responded differentially to a particular pattern.

While the 5% deviant responses were essentially as likely to be l

While the 5% deviant responses were essentially as likely to be larger or smaller in the Random compared

to the Periodic condition (66/138, 48%), the majority of the responses to 20% deviants were larger in the Random compared to the Periodic condition (103/156, 66%); furthermore, the average response to the 20% deviants was significantly larger in the Random than in the Periodic condition. The responses to standards followed the reverse tendencies: the differences between the responses in the Periodic and Random conditions became less prominent with increasing deviant probability (and decreasing standard probability). Thus, while the LFP responses to Periodic standards were overwhelmingly smaller than the responses to Random standards for 5% deviant probability (99/124, 80%), the imbalance in the standard response was substantially smaller when deviant probability Apoptosis inhibitor MG-132 cell line was 20% (85/147, 58%). It has been previously shown that SSA has several timescales, from hundreds of milliseconds to tens of seconds (Ulanovsky et al., 2004). In order to examine the time course of the effects shown above, we calculated the average responses

to the standards with different time resolutions along the sequence. Figure 5 shows the average LFP responses to standards (Figure 5A) and deviants (Figure 5B), as a function of the sequential position of the stimulus within the sequence for the 5% (left) and 20% (right) deviant probabilities. In Figure 5A, the blue and green bars represent the average response to the standard stimuli at four ranges of trials along the sequence (1–19, 20–80, 81–278, 279–475 for the 5% conditions; 1–4, 5–19, 20–59, 60–100 for the 20% conditions) in the Random and Periodic conditions, respectively. In Figure 5B, the red and yellow bars represent

the average response to the deviant stimuli in four ranges of trials (1:3, 4:6, 8:16, 17:25) in the Random and Periodic conditions, Rutecarpine respectively. We analyzed the data with a three-way ANOVA on time bin and sequence type, with recording site as a random factor. The main effects of time bin were significant for all conditions [5%: standards F(3,2032) = 46.01, p < < 0.01; deviants F(3,2508) = 3.22, p = 0.022; 20%: standards F(3,3076) = 47.57, p < < 0.01; deviants F(3,3172) = 4.85 p = 2.3∗10−3]. The main effect of sequence type (Periodic versus Random) was significant for the standards in the 5% conditions [F(1,2032) = 52.75, p < < 0.01] but not for the deviants [F(1,2508) = 0.16 p = 0.69]. In contrast, in the 20% conditions the main effect of sequence type was significant for the deviants [F(1,3172) = 14.5 p = 1∗10−4] but not for the standards [F(1,3076) = 0.29 p = 0.59].

The firing patterns of hippocampal interneurons are highly depend

The firing patterns of hippocampal interneurons are highly dependent on the network state, such as theta oscillations during movement or large-amplitude irregular network activity during sleep (Buzsáki, 2006, Ego-Stengel and Wilson, 2007, O’Keefe and Conway, 1978 and Ranck, 1973). Drug-free behavior-dependent firing patterns of some identified cell types have been determined recently in freely moving rats (ivy cells, PV+ basket cells; Lapray et al., 2012) and in head-fixed mice (O-LM cells, PV+ basket cells; Varga et al., 2012), although for O-LM cells this did not include sleep.

The firing patterns of identified bistratified cells in drug-free animals are unknown. We have recorded the firing of two distinct types of dendrite-targeting neuron in freely moving rats to test the hypothesis that differences in the axonal terminations of SOM-expressing cells are associated with different firing patterns under natural awake behavior and Smad inhibitor sleep. This required the recording and labeling of SOM-expressing interneurons in freely moving rats using

the juxtacellular labeling technique to identify NVP-BKM120 the cells and enabled us to quantitatively dissect the firing dynamics of these cells and compare them to PV+ basket cells (Lapray et al., 2012), which target a different subcellular domain of pyramidal cells. We have recorded the firing patterns of single interneurons using a glass electrode during periods of sleep, movement, and quiet wakefulness. Then, we either moved the electrode into a juxtacellular position or sometimes the cells spontaneously drifted close to the electrode, which made it possible to attempt labeling the cells with neurobiotin for identification of cell types. The

labeled Oxymatrine cells were assessed by immunofluorescence microscopy and tested for the presence of various molecules, including SOM and NPY. Nine identified interneurons (n = 9 rats, one cell each) were immunopositive for SOM, NPY, or both when tested by immunofluorescence microscopy and showed dendritic and axonal arborizations similar to previously described bistratified and O-LM cells (Buhl et al., 1994 and McBain et al., 1994). The recording sites were distributed over an area of 1.7 × 1.4 mm along the rostrocaudal and mediolateral axes (Figure S1A available online). Somata of bistratified cells (n = 4/5 recovered) were located in the vicinity of pyramidal cell somata (Figures 1A and S1A and S1C), had mainly radially oriented dendritic trees (n = 3/5 recovered; see exception Figure S1C), and axon collaterals distributed in strata oriens and radiatum (n = 3/5 recovered). The axonal extent of a well-labeled cell was large (Figure 1A), reaching 2.4 mm mediolaterally and 1.7 mm rostrocaudally, confirming previous results obtained in vivo (Klausberger et al., 2004). Somata (n = 4/4 tested) were immunopositive for NPY (Figures 1B and S1E) and parvalbumin (PV), the latter also expressed in dendrites and axon (Figures 1C and S1D; Table 1).

Patch-clamp recordings were made from SACs and DSGCs

Patch-clamp recordings were made from SACs and DSGCs Androgen Receptor Antagonist solubility dmso in flatmount retina in Ames medium (Sigma-Aldrich, Saint Louis, MO), equilibrated with 95% O2 and 5% CO2) at ∼35°C as described previously (Lee and

Zhou, 2006, Zheng et al., 2004 and Zhou and Fain, 1995). Spike responses of DSGCs were recorded with an on-cell loose-patch electrode (3–5 MΩ, filled with Ames medium). Whole-cell patch clamp was made from SACs using a pipette solution containing (in mM) 110 CsMeSO4, 15 CsOH, 5 NaCl, 0.5 CaCl2, 2 MgCl2, 5 ethylene glycol-bis(2-aminoethylether)-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid (EGTA), 2 adenosine 5′-triphosphate (disodium salt), 0.5 guanosine 5′-triphosphate (trisodium salt), 10 HEPES, and 2 ascorbate (pH 7.2). The same

pipette solution, supplemented with 10 mM lidocaine N-ethyl bromide (QX314), was used Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Library in vitro for whole-cell recording from DSGCs. Lucifer yellow (0.1%–0.3%, w/v) was included in the whole-cell pipette solution for morphological confirmation of cell types. The effects of Ca2+ channel blockers, ω-conotoxin GVIA, and ω-agatoxin IVA, which had a slow onset, were tested under perforated patch-clamp recording from SACs using electrodes (6-8 MΩ) filled with (in mM) 145 glutamic acid, 10 HEPES, 10 NaCl, and 500 μg/ml amphotericin B (titrated to pH 7.2 with 147 mM CsOH). Lysozyme (1.5 mg/ml) was added to the superfusate to prevent nonspecific binding of calcium channel toxins to the perfusion system. Flash photolysis of caged Ca2+ (DM-nitorphen) in SACs was done under dual whole-cell voltage-clamp recordings from pairs of SACs and DSGCs,

with the pipette solution for SAC recording containing (in mM) 95 CsMeSO4, 30 CsOH, 5 NaCl, 2 CaCl2, 6 Ca(NO3)2, 2 adenosine 5′-triphosphate (disodium salt), 0.5 guanosine TCL 5′-triphosphate (trisodium salt), 40 HEPES, 2 ascorbate, and 10 DM-nitrophen (pH 7.2). DM-nitrophen (1-(4,5-dimethoxy-2-nitro-phenyl)-1,2-diaminoethane-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid) was allowed to diffuse into the SAC for 5–7 min before an ultraviolet (UV) light (355 nm in wavelength, 25 ms in duration) was flashed onto the SAC dendrites. The UV light was generated by a UV laser (30 mW average output power, 3 μJ/pulse at 10kHz, Model DPSL355/30, Rapp Opto Electronik, Heidelberg, Germany), which was guided to the epifluorescence port of the microscope via a spot illumination adaptor (OSI BX, Rapp Opto Electronik) by a quartz optic fiber (940 μm in diameter) and focused in a 50 μm diameter spot on the SAC dendrites via a 60× objective lens (NA/09). The uncaging area was positioned by moving the microscope stage on which the recording chamber and micromanipulators were mounted.

Surprisingly, however, they were also eliminated between P15 and

Surprisingly, however, they were also eliminated between P15 and P25 (Figure 3G). The rate of inactive DG axon elimination was not affected by the percentage of Epacadostat ic50 mature axons that were inactivated (Figure 3H). This elimination was not just a developmental retraction but was induced by synaptic inactivity, because in DG-A::tau-lacZ mice (no TeTxLC), DG axons were maintained at P25 (Figure 3I; quantification at P15 and P23 is shown in Figure 3J). To further characterize the inactive axon elimination in DG-A::TeTxLC-tau-lacZ mice, we visualized

TeTxLC/tau-lacZ-expressing axons by staining with the antibody to β-gal. Confocal microscopy revealed that at P15, TeTxLC-expressing axons were intact at both the proximal and distal regions (Figure 4A). At P20, the proximal region of TeTxLC-expressing axons appeared still intact (Figure 4B, proximal). However, OTX015 order at the distal region of TeTxLC-expressing axons, there were clear signs of axon retraction: swollen axonal tips (retraction bulbs) and remnants of axons (axosomes) (Figure 4B, distal). These features resemble axon retraction observed during synapse elimination at the neuromuscular junction (Bishop et al., 2004). Without TeTxLC (DG-A::tau-lacZ), the distal region of DG axons remained intact at P23 (Figure 4C). We further examined the morphology of active and inactive DG axons in

DG-A::TeTxLC-tau-lacZ mice by sparsely labeling DG axons with a lipophilic tracer, DiI. Inactive (TeTxLC/tau-lacZ-expressing) axons were identified by staining for β-gal. At P18, active (β-gal−/DiI+) DG axons formed many large mossy fiber boutons with long extensions in CA3 (Figure 4D) (Amaral and Dent, 1981). In

contrast, inactive (β-gal+/DiI+) DG axons did not have any large mossy fiber boutons (Figure 4D). These results indicate that synaptic transmission plays an important role in the refinement of mossy fiber synapses and that inactive axons are retracted during development. Is the elimination of inactive DG axons initiated by the death of DG neurons? To address this question, we injected 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU) into DG-A::TeTxLC-tau-lacZ from mice at P7–8 to label newborn DGCs (Kee et al., 2002 and Kokoeva et al., 2005) and examined the number of surviving BrdU-positive cells at P15, P20, and P25 (Figure 4E). All of the BrdU-labeled neurons became NeuN positive mature neurons by P15 (Figure 4F), consistent with earlier reports showing that DG neurons differentiate very quickly during development (Amaral and Dent, 1981 and Hastings and Gould, 1999; also see Figure 7). The total number of BrdU-positive cells in DG-A::TeTxLC-tau-lacZ mice was similar to that in wild-type mice at P15 and P20 (Figure 4E). In addition, at P20 there was no apparent increase in the number of DG cells that are positive for activated caspase 3, a marker for apoptosis (Figure S2).

During ozone and heat treatments, juice samples were mixed at 150

During ozone and heat treatments, juice samples were mixed at 150 rpm for the entire treatment time in a shaking water bath to ensure even distribution of inoculum and dispersal of ozone. All experiments were conducted in a fume hood. Excess gaseous ozone was passed into an ozone decomposer. For enumeration of pathogens, sample aliquots (1 ml) were transferred into test tubes containing 9 ml of D/E neutralizing broth (Difco, Becton Dickinson, Sparks, MD, USA) after each treatment

and homogenized using a vortex mixer (VM-10, Daihan Scientific Co., Ltd, RAD001 clinical trial Korea). After homogenization, samples were 10-fold serially diluted with 9 ml of 0.2% sterile buffered peptone water and 0.1 ml of the samples was spread plated onto selective media (E. coli O157:H7: Sorbitol MacConkey Agar (SMAC), Difco; S. Typhimurium: Xylose Lysine Desoxycholate Agar (XLD), Difco; and L. monocytogenes: Oxford Agar Base with antimicrobial supplement Osimertinib in vitro MB Cell (MOX), MB Cell). All plates were incubated at 37 °C for 24 h before counting.

Color was measured by using a Minolta colorimeter (model CR400; Minolta Co., Osaka, Japan). The values for L*, a* and b* were recorded to evaluate the color changes of apple juice after each treatment with heat or combination of ozone and heat. Untreated apple juice was used as the control. A 2 ml of sample was poured into the bottom half of the measurement equipment. The measuring head of the colorimeter was placed on top of the measurement Methisazone equipment. Before measurement, the treated juice was cooled to about 15 °C by dipping the bottle in crushed ice. The parameter L* is a measure of lightness, a* is an indicator of redness, and the parameter b* is a measure of yellowness. All measurements were performed in triplicate. To measure ozone concentration, distilled water was substituted for apple juice, as will

be explained in the Discussion section. The ozone concentration of distilled water treated with ozone in the same way as apple juice was measured by the indigo method (Bader and Hoigni, 1981). An indigo stock reagent was prepared by the following method (Gordon and Bubnis, 2002). Indigo stock solution was prepared by dissolving 770 mg of potassium indigotrisulfonate (Sigma Aldrich Co., LLC) into a 1 l flask containing 500 ml of distilled water and 1 ml of phosphoric acid (85%) and diluting to volume (1 l) with distilled water. Indigo reagent II was prepared in a 1 l flask by adding 100 ml of indigo stock solution, 10 g of sodium dihydrogen phosphate (NaH2PO4) and 7 ml of phosphoric acid (85%). This was stirred and diluted to volume (1 l) with distilled water. The solution was stored in the dark. After each treatment, the treated sample was cooled to about 15 °C and then 90 ml of the sample was transferred to a flask containing 10 ml of indigo reagent II. The absorbance was measured by a spectrophotometer at 600 nm.

We next investigated whether there was a topographical organizati

We next investigated whether there was a topographical organization of unisensory responses in RL, and, if so, whether the two sensory maps were aligned. We used 3 × 4 grids of extracellular electrodes covering all of RL (see Experimental Procedures). For unimodal sensory input, we

separately stimulated the upper/lower and medial/lateral halves of both visual space and the whisker pad (Figure 1F). For each neuron, we computed a relative preference index as (U − L)/(U + L), where U and L are the neuronal responses to the upper or lower visual or tactile field stimulations, respectively. Then we averaged the relative spatial preference indexes of Selleck CP673451 all neurons along a given position of the grid. We finally mapped the spatial preference within RL for the upper versus lower and medial versus lateral stimulation for both modalities (Figure 1G). In line with (Marshel et al., 2011 and Wang and Burkhalter, 2007) we

found a retinotopic map within RL, but we also found a spatial segregation between responses elicited by the upper or lower aspects of the whisker pad. For example, the rostral part of RL preferentially responded to the upper visual field and to the upper whiskers. To quantify the degree of alignment between the two maps, we computed the correlation between the retinotopic and tactile maps along the same spatial direction (upper-lower and medial-lateral axes separately; Figure 1H). GSK1120212 order because We found a significant degree of spatial alignment of the somatic and visual spatial

preference maps along the upper-lower axis of the sensory space (black circles; r = 0.58, p < 0.001) but a weaker and nonsignificant alignment along its mediolateral axis (gray squares; r = 0.11, p = 0.44). We next compared bimodality and MI at the level of PSPs and of APs by IOI-targeted whole-cell recordings from layer 2/3 pyramids (n = 46 from 12 mice; Figure 2A). First, bimodal neurons were more abundant for PSPs (56% of responsive cells) compared to APs (39% of them; Figure 2B). Indeed, many neurons that were bimodal for PSPs were unimodal for APs (see example of Figure 2C): out of 24 neurons that were bimodal for PSPs, only 11 (46%) were bimodal for APs, 4 (17%) were unimodal and 9 did not respond with APs. Also, some cells with bimodal PSPs responded with APs only when V and T stimuli were simultaneously presented (multisensory—M stimulation; see example of Figure 2D). Second, we compared MI for PSPs and APs. Multisensory neurons display a response to a cross-modal combination of stimuli that is enhanced compared to the preferred unisensory stimulus (Stein and Stanford, 2008). To quantify such multisensory enhancement (ME), we computed an ME index, defined as (M−max(V,T))/max(V,T)(M−max(V,T))/max(V,T), where M is the response to M stimulation, and max(V,T) is the highest unimodal response.

g , Feng et al , 2004 and Benzing et al , 2000) Therefore, our r

g., Feng et al., 2004 and Benzing et al., 2000). Therefore, our results suggest a model ( Figure 10) in which Sema/Plex interactions activate PlexA GAP activity, which inactivates Ras/Rap and disables Integrin-mediated adhesion. However, these Sema/Plex-mediated effects are subject to regulation, such that increasing cAMP levels activates PlexA-bound PKA to phosphorylate PlexA and provide a binding site for 14-3-3ε. These PlexA-14-3-3ε interactions occlude PlexA GAP-mediated inactivation of Ras family GTPases and restore Integrin-dependent adhesion.

In conclusion, we have identified a simple mechanism that allows multiple axon guidance signals to be incorporated during axon guidance. Neuronal growth cones encounter both Selleckchem EPZ 6438 attractive and repulsive guidance cues but the molecular pathways and biochemical mechanisms that integrate these antagonistic cues and enable a discrete steering event are incompletely understood. One way in which to integrate these disparate signals is to allow different axon guidance receptors to directly modulate each other’s function (e.g., Stein and Tessier-Lavigne, 2001). Another means is to tightly regulate the cell surface expression of specific receptors and thereby actively prevent axons from seeing certain guidance cues (e.g., Kidd et al., 1998, Brittis

et al., 2002, Keleman et al., 2002, Nawabi et al., 2010, Chen et al., 2008 and Yang et al., 2009). Still further results are not simply explained by relatively slow modulatory mechanisms like receptor trafficking, endocytosis, and local protein synthesis but indicate that interpreting a particular guidance cue is susceptible to rapid Cyclopamine intracellular modulation by other, distinct, signaling pathways (e.g., Song et al., 1998, Dontchev and Letourneau, 2002, Terman and Kolodkin, 2004, Parra and Zou, 2010 and Xu et al., 2010). Our results now indicate a means to allow

for such intracellular signaling crosstalk events and present a logic by which axon guidance signaling pathways override one another. Given this molecular link between such key regulators of axon pathfinding as cyclic nucleotides, phosphorylation, and GTPases, our observations on silencing Sema/Plex-mediated repulsive axon guidance also suggest approaches to neutralize axonal growth inhibition Parvulin and encourage axon regeneration. Yeast two-hybrid setup, protein expression analyses, and screening were performed following standard procedures (Terman et al., 2002). Drosophila husbandry, genetics, imaging, and characterization of axon guidance were performed using standard methods ( Terman et al., 2002 and Hung et al., 2010). GST pull-down (Oinuma et al., 2004) and coimmunoprecipitation (Terman et al., 2002) assays were performed using standard approaches. GDP and GTPγS-preloading was assessed by GST pull-down assays using GST-RBD proteins (Diekmann and Hall, 1995 and Benard et al., 1999).

Application of high glucose concentrations to fibroblast cell cul

Application of high glucose concentrations to fibroblast cell cultures leads to acute transcriptional repression of the Per1, Per2, and Bmal1 genes, thereby synchronizing fibroblast clocks ( Hirota et al., 2002). This is reminiscent of glucocorticoid or glucocorticoid analog synchronization of cell cultures ( Balsalobre et al., 2000), with the difference being that they induce Per1

and Per2 gene expression that leads to a repression Dabrafenib of their own transcription and subsequent synchronization of all cells within hours. Glucose appears to upregulate TIEG1 (KLF10), a negatively acting zinc-finger transcription factor ( Hirota et al., 2002). It binds to two GC-rich elements in the Bmal1 promoter and thereby represses Bmal1 transcription. In vitro experiments have shown that siRNA-mediated knockdown of TIEG1/KLF10 causes

period shortening of cellular bioluminescence rhythms driven by Bmal1-luciferase and Per2-luciferase reporters ( Hirota et al., 2010a). Interestingly, Tieg1/Klf10 is regulated by BMAL1/CLOCK and thus appears to be part of a feedback loop involving the circadian clock and glucose levels ( Guillaumond selleck compound et al., 2010) ( Figure 4). Accordingly, glucose absorbed with food or generated by gluconeogenesis will stimulate Tieg1/Klf10 expression and reduce the expression of Bmal1 and genes encoding for enzymes involved in gluconeogenesis. In line with this notion is the observation that Klf10 knockout mice display postprandial and fasting hyperglycemia, although curiously, this has only been observed in male mice. However, KLF10 is implicated in circadian lipid and cholesterol homeostasis in females ( Guillaumond et al., 2010). Collectively, it appears that TIEG1/KLF10 is a transcriptional regulator that links the circadian clock to energy metabolism in the liver. One measure of metabolic state is the ratio between AMP and ATP. Once the ratio increases either (high AMP levels), cells reduce the

activity of ATP-consuming pathways and increase the activity of ATP-generating pathways. A major sensor for the AMP/ATP ratio is adenosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase (AMPK), which becomes activated when AMP binds to its γ-subunit. This binding elicits a structural change in the AMPK catalytic α-subunit, making it a substrate for liver kinase B1 (LKB1). LKB1 then phosphorylates a threonine in the α-subunit of AMPK, leading to activation of AMPK (Carling et al., 2011). It appears that AMPK impacts circadian clock mechanisms in various ways. It can directly phosphorylate CRY1, leading to destabilization and degradation of this core clock protein (Lamia et al., 2009) and consequently affecting the negative limb of the circadian clock mechanism (Figure 4). The activity of AMPK kinase also appears to modulate PER2 protein stability via an indirect mechanism involving casein kinase 1ε (CK1ε).


The Roots of Commercial Design

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Ever wonder how raw materials, environment, and collaboration drive design?

This panel will explore the roots of commercial design. Where does it begin? How do raw materials influence design or the product? Where does collaboration come in? How does the designer articulate the client’s or brand’s vision?

Each panelist will offer an overview of their process and projects. Introductions will be followed by a moderated discussion and a public Q & A.

Kelly Hamilton, publisher and editor-in-chief, EQ Magazine

Tom Niemeier, founder and lead architect, Space Architecture + Design
Sarah Frost, senior designer, The Saint Louis Brewery (Schlafly)
Mike Spakowski, creative director, Atomicdust
David Stine, owner and master craftsman, David Stine Woodworking

All proceeds from the event will go to St. Louis Public Radio!

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World leading smartphone and mobile technology research at Strathclyde...

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The impact of universal stock futures on feedback trading and volatility dynamics

Paudyal, Krishna and Chau, F and Holmes, P (2008) The impact of universal stock futures on feedback trading and volatility dynamics. Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, 35 (1-2). pp. 227-249. ISSN 0306-686X

This paper investigates the impact of the introduction of Universal Stock Futures (USFs) on underlying market dynamics (volatility and the level of feedback trading). Analysis of USFs provides a number of advantages compared to investigation of index futures, leading to reliable and wider ranging insights into the impact of derivatives. Specifically: (i) any impact of derivatives is more likely to be evident in the behaviour of individual stocks; (ii) with USFs it is possible to directly trade the underlying; (iii) USFs have multiple introduction dates within a given market; (iv) differential country/industry effects can be identified; and (v) the endogeneity issue can be addressed using control stocks. Findings suggest limited feedback trading in USF stocks, but listing has reduced this further. While news has less impact and persistence and asymmetry effects are more evident post-futures, control stock results suggest these changes are not futures induced. Differences are evident across industries. The need for analysis of an appropriate (industry based) control sample is highlighted if reliable policy conclusions are to be reached.


A dog died

A dog died. I do not own any dogs and the recently deceased was not the pet of someone I knew. The dog, however, was one I passed by frequently, whether it was going to the train station or taking one of the few routes to go the very few places that I go. That dog was always there. Now there is a bouquet of flowers.

When my wife told me she saw the flowers instead of the dog my initial response was "Good." This may seem cold, crass or even heartless. Especially if you consider that I am particularly not fond of dogs. However seeing this dog as often as I did, it was clear it was suffering. A large, unsightly, clearly cancerous growth consumed the dog and always made me wonder why the owner had not done anything. This is not to presume they could have done anything. I felt bad for this dog, however, as it angrily barked every time I walked past it.

My son's reaction to the dog was different. Despite it howling out an unholy rage every time we walked past it, all he would do was point its way and say "doggy". He is quite fond of my mother-in-law's dogs and he is far too young to differentiate between ones that are friendly or not. He thinks they are neat.

I do not know how this dog went, but I hope it was relatively painless. There is an empty space that I go by now, and while that dog will never mean as much to me as it did to its owners, it is still outstanding how such a seemingly small thing can impact my day and likely the day of everyone who stops at that intersection.


FS: C8A HUW 1943

Bei Milweb war dieser Chevy C8A HUW (Heavy Utility Wireless) aus Holland zu kaufen:
All restored to original condition, working sliding roof, glass windows. Radio set, generator, etc etc. Older restoration, never been cut. Now up and running, however I would recommend new tyres. Street legal Dutch license.

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The Pros and Cons of Indoor Farming - One of the countries in the world that earns benefits of indoor farming is Australia. In the deserts of Port Augusta, Australia, Sundrop Farms operates a 49 acre indoor farm that produces 17,000 tons of fruits and vegetables. 180,000 non-GMO tomato plants, grown without soil, herbicides or pesticides supply 13% of all the tomatoes consumed in Australia.

Yah, Indoor Farming is a great idea for future agriculture technology with the help of which one can minimize the land usage while still feeding the masses. It is not difficult to adopt this farming method; just find a fertile urban land, create blocks through concrete and glass and then start farming the vegetables, fruits, poultry, and fish on it. All this will be happened in a structured and controlled environment. Surely, you will be interested in indoor farming advantages and disadvantages, for you we will going to explain both. There are many advantages of using a indoor farming method however there are also disadvantages of using one of these method.

See also: 3 Challenges of Indoor Farming

Indoor Farming Advantages

Efficient and effective Method: There are a number of people who diverted from traditional farming to vertical farming because they thought that this method is quite efficient and effective. Because there is no soil in this farming method, automatically there are no weeds, then farmers don't need for herbicides and they don't need to spend his amount on pesticides or on insecticides; everything is produced in a controlled environment so there are less chances of attack of pests and insects. No need for field fumigation with highly toxic chemicals such as methyl bromide. No need for tractors, and other expensive tillage equipment.

Reduces the use of water: When you compare the indoor farming with traditional farming then you come to know that the former method reduces the water waste to a great extent. Almost 70% of the world’s drinkable water is used for conventional farming while only 30-40% utilized for Indoor Farming purpose. The reduction of water waste is another indoor farming advantage. Indoor farms recirculate and reuse their water, and average 95% less water to grow the same crops, as compared to open field farming. When the plants and crops are grown in these farms then transpiration process starts. This process makes it feasible for the farmers to reuse the water for irrigation purpose. The chances of water waste become minimal and therefore this method is helpful in resources conservation process.

Plants grow faster and have higher yields: If you’ve already read about the many benefits and advantages of indoor farming over soil-based growing, you’ll see that one point that is often emphasized is that indoor farming yields produce faster and in greater quantities. Internet feedback from growers indicates that their indoor farming crops grew anywhere between 20 and 50 per cent faster than the same crops grown in soil. The main reason why plants grow quicker in indoor farming method because The growers can create the ideal blend of nutrients and all nutrients are recyclable. These nutrients are received directly by the roots, the plants aren’t forced to expend energy in search of nutrients as they would in soil, where plant food becomes diluted. As a result, the root systems in hydroponically-grown plants don’t grow out and so this growth is now realized in the form of upward growth.

Protection from Climate Changing: One of the best indoor farming advantages is protection of crops and plant from harsh weather condition.The reason is that the climate changing is causing growing conditions to become much more difficult. By using indoor farming method, temperature in the space of growing can be set at the level that is good for the growth of crops and plants. The indifferent weather conditions such as hurricanes, hail, drought and snap freezes have little or no effect on the produce. As global temperature is becoming unpredictable with the passage of time therefore many farmers considered this method of farming more suitable.

Indoor Farming Disadvantages

Not all plants can be grown: Another thing that makes this idea unattractive for the farmer is limited varieties of vegetables and fruits. In fact, the grower are unable to grow the different varieties of fruits and vegetables in this indoor farming. The reason is that there are only a few varieties of vegetables and fruits that can be produced well in this controlled environment of farm.

High initial cost to set up: One of the main Indoor Farming disadvantage is the high cost associated with this method. You know that the price of urban land is higher than that of farmland. It requires daily attention such as monitoring water, nutrients and pH levels. In addition, the indoor farming needs to electricity cost therefore a lot more energy to maintain perfect growing conditions

Due to these possible indoor farming disadvantages, some farmers still prefer the conventional farming over it. However, a person who wants to do something creative must go for this lucrative idea by paying more attention to indoor farming advantages and less onto its disadvantages.


Belfast Telegraph

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John McDonnell: Labour would make top earners publish tax records

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell insisted there would be "no place to hide" for tax dodgers under Labour as he set out plans for top earners to make their returns public.

Laws forcing taxpayers raking in more than £1 million to release their records would restore public trust in the system and curb avoidance, he claimed.

Mr McDonnell also called on the Government to hand over the extra money it is expected to collect from higher than predicted tax receipts to the NHS and social care.

In a speech in central London, he warned anything less would be an "inadequate" response to the crisis in the services.

" Published figures indicate that tax receipts are currently higher than anticipated," he said.

" Given that we're facing an immediate crisis in the NHS and social care, I'm calling on the Chancellor to use that money to address this NHS and social care emergency.

"Any measure less than this is likely to be inadequate."

Mr McDonnell said financing of the NHS has become so "excessively politicised" that supposedly official figures are subject to dispute.

He called for a politically neutral organisation to give independent assessments of need and provision in the straining health service.

" People need to know that the contribution they make will be spent properly," the shadow chancellor added.

" Hypothecation, allocating taxes raised to specific purposes, can make absolutely clear where tax money is being spent.

" It can help restore the trust and confidence in taxation and government spending that has otherwise started to break down.

" But hypothecation for the NHS has to be more than a commitment from a politician or a political party to spend a given amount, however firm that promise.

" It needs a clear commitment, over the long term, that specific taxes will be used for specific purposes, and that this spending will be properly monitored."

Labour has drawn on practices in Scandinavian countries such as Norway and Sweden to devise its plans for tax return disclosures for Britain's wealthiest.

He said: " There'll be no place to hide for tax avoiders under Labour. O ur tax transparency and enforcement programme will clamp down on the worst avoiders.

"And building on the successful Nordic model, we'll introduce legislation to make public the tax returns of those earning over £1m.

" Transparency and fairness is at the heart of building a decent, open society. This will help restore public trust in the tax system - and help clamp down on any avoidance."

From Belfast Telegraph


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The Road to 9/11 [DVD] [English]
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The Road to 9/11
For many Americans, the psychic wounds inflicted by the shocking events of September 11, 2001, are still tender. For those who may still be asking themselves exactly what it was that caused the Muslim population of the world to take such an extreme stance against Western culture, and their country in particular, this insightful documentary takes a closer look at the powers that have shaped the Middle East to provide a better understanding of the troubling crisis. From the downward spiral of the economic and sociopolitical state of the region to the increasing prominence of religious fanaticism and terrorism, filmmakers attempt to get to the root of the problem by highlighting the various factors that have played into the growing destabilization of the region. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi


Practical Theology

Those who know me in person may already know that I’ve become religious. The foundation of my belief comes from Christianity, Calvinist branch of Protestantism, to be specific. It was a spectacular psychological journey in which I did much philosophical and sci-fi pondering, and my basic understanding of life, universe and everything has altered a lot. Of course the faith didn’t come out from nowhere. I’ve repeatedly experienced certain kinds of revelation (facts that hard to reasoning via atheists’ perspective), as the lyric goes: “how precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed …”

However, with my study of Bible and catechumens course, gradually I found the doctrines overly-sophisticated with too many justifications that are hard to testify, falsify or even sense. It makes the so-called truth inelegant to me. Meanwhile, I paid attention to historical critical interpretation of the Bible and those literal contradictions taunted by arrogant atheists. Crises emerged in my spirit.

The wikipedia entry of the word “theology” states: “theology is the critical study of the nature of the divine.” Just like science, theology also needs critical thinking and evolution, otherwise Reformation wouldn’t have happened. So I think it’s okay for me to tune my understanding of religion a little bit to be compatible with modern common sense. Science and religion shall share a same basic cognitive style and together form a integral of knowledge of man kind. I call this version practical theology (the name is already taken, but I don’t want to waste my nerves on such difficult tasks like naming). Pious protestants might think it heretical, while my intention is primarily self-convincing. Maybe, as a side effect, it makes things more acceptable to paranoid but open-minded atheists.

Materialists believe that the universe could be understood by human beings. If the nature is chaotic, our brains should have infinitely many neurons to accomplish the goal. Because our brains themselves are included in the universe. The whole can be covered by a part, only if both of them have infinite complexity, analogous to Fractal. It’s hard to believe so, as a result, I suppose that most materialists tend to believe that the essence of our world can be compressed into elegant rules - law of nature - that can be understood using limited neurons.

The trick is how to treat randomness. Modern statistics doesn’t try to explain the nature of uncertainty. On the other hand, it’s a study of the macroscopic effects of randomness. Despite of its successful applications in other research fields, building “law of nature” on uncertain blocks doesn’t mean understanding to me because too much useful information being neglected. Something more fundamental should be revealed. However, with my very limited knowledge of quantum mechanics, it seems very unlikely for human to discover the very power that makes wave functions collapse.

In other words, we may peek at a corner of “law of nature”, but it’s hard or even impossible to get an entire overview of it. Karl Marx’s view of science overestimates human intelligence. Maybe we are “frogs of the well” who don’t even have the possibility to escape from our narrow space of sensation. Or, at least we should agree that beyond the boundary of our current scientific exploration activities, there are existences of certain kinds of rules or forces that have strong causal relations with our observations. We can take them as a set and give it a name, “super-natural power” perhaps :-). Obviously, it’s a dynamic set which shrinks over time and the discrepancy comes from whether it will become empty eventually. No matter which side you pick, nothing diminishes our curiosity of it.

Cognitive Style

Can not understand doesn’t mean can not guess. We can think of theology as the hypothesis of “super-natural power” while other scientific hypotheses like string theory and evolution focus on specific subsets of it. Then we can follow typical statistical methods to verify all of them in progress. So theology, as I mentioned earlier, should also be a dynamically evolving study. As our scientific understanding grows vast and more concrete, theology goes the opposite direction, more concise and abstract. (The phrasing here makes the relationship look like a dualism, but it is actually a continuous model in my mind.)

Atheists around me, those educated with scientific socialism, often mingle the concepts of religion, superstition and cult. In their eyes, religious people pick authoritative ways of knowing and certainly lack the ability to suspect, which makes them easy to fool around. Actually it’s not the case, people of true faith build their faith on suspicion. They hardily make claims like “100% certain of the existence of God”. Instead, adverbs meaning uncertainty appear a lot when they express their believes, like “maybe, likely …” in this article. This illustrates that modern science and religion is congruence in their basic cognitive style, i.e. statistical inference and logic. The procedure of spiritual formation can be viewed as a simple statistical hypothesis testing or Bayesian inference process. Using our observations (physical & mental experiences) to update the prior belief of our theology hypothesis.

Occam’s Razor

Occam’s Razor is a very useful philosophical thinking principle which is widely accepted by scientists. Yet many people may not know that its originator William of Ockham was a theologian, and it was firstly brought up to deal with theological problems. Unfortunately, theologians after him didn’t carry on the good tradition which leads to the disintegration of Christianity. Nowadays only the branches of Protestantism form a massive forest.

The reason is that we have made up too complex hypotheses. Some branches go “astray” when encountered with trivial questions, the answers to which might be by-all-means unreachable to us human. Actually, the unanswerable questions themselves are often pedantic and irrelevant. For example, which method of baptism is correct, immersion, affusion or aspersion?

Equipped with both science and religion though, we still have to admit that there are questions can’t be answered, especially silly questions. That is to say, we don’t need to provide completeness besides consistence to our system, and historical attempts resulted in vain.

Thus within practical theology, I put those insensible doctrines aside. A more brutal way to phase it is “cut them by the razor”.

Some atheists might argue that the existence of divine beings is insensible, thus could be cut out by Occam’s razor. Well, the revelations appeared to me make this very unlikely to be true. I tried to explain the divergence using the experience of my own reconstruction, and I found that the labeling processes of our observations might be highly biased by our prior assumptions. It seems to be a intrinsic flaw of our brains. An effective way to mitigate the bias is simply to intentionally modify our priors and see how the labels change under that assumption. The mathematical model of this phenomenon actually can be formalized by computer languages, such as WebPPL, but I’d like to use a more sentimental way to put it: please give religion a chance to alter your hard mind.

The Bible

Perhaps the most heretical part of my theology is the attitudes towards the Bible. Note that I omit the word “holy” here. The reason comes from the principles mentioned above. The claim of “xx being holy” has little prior probability in my cognition system even if the existence of God is generally accepted. It’s pretty reasonable since claims implying so much information have large amounts of self-information, indicating small probabilities. My data is simply not enough to support the claim, so I remain skeptical about the holiness of the Bible.

In practical theology, The Bible is to theology as “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” is to science. The evolution of theology urges critical thinking of the literal meaning of the Bible. Just recall how Jesus criticized Pharisees in the gospels. The words and information of the canon have their historical restrictions. It just saves us lots of effort to admit it and stops us from making up delicate stories.

However the theology conveyed by the Bible still needs to be studied carefully, for the purpose of a more advanced theology though, which is analogous to the built of quantum mechanics and theory of relativity on top of Newtonian mechanics.

This essay tries to avoid the mention of a single concrete creed or dogma while focuses mainly on ontology and methodology. Neither does personal testimony involve in detail. It shouldn’t be regarded as any kind of preaching content. Here I just want to share my current state of philosophical and theological thoughts, and I don’t suppose it to convince anybody. Yet it would be very nice to have someone happens to share similar understandings.

Those serious Christians who regard my spiritual conditions as poor or dangerous, please help the hell out of me, amen!


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Tula Pink - Moon Shine - Static Dot - Dandelion

Item # PWTP061.DANDE
Moon Shine is a fantasy camping trip full of mystery and wonder. Find the deer hiding in the daisies and the bear who ran off with all of the food, a paper boat floats down the stream and a mouse holes up in a woodland tree house. In typical Tula Pink fashion this narrative is set against a backdrop of vibrant color with a touch of elegance and whimsy. Moon Shine is a day dream where anything is possible and reality is replaced by imagination, here, anything is possible.

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Q&A: Should I Take a Prenatal Vitamin Even If I’m Not Pregnant?

Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes

Question: I’ve heard that prenatal vitamins can help improve hair quality, balance hormones, prevent acne and make fingernails stronger. Should I consider taking them even though I’m not pregnant?

Prenatal vitaminsImage credit: Prenatal vitamins via Shutterstock

Answer: The notion that prenatal vitamins affect hormone levels or the quality of skin, hair and nails is a myth that likely has its origins in the observation that pregnant women (who are generally taking prenatal vitamins) have fast-growing, healthy-looking hair and nails, and glowing skin. However, the changes in skin, hair and nails experienced by pregnant women are due to hormonal changes associated with pregnancy, and have nothing to do with prenatal vitamins.

Prenatal vitamins are multivitamin and mineral supplements specifically formulated for pregnant women. Compared to a regular multivitamin, prenatals have more iron and folic acid. The extra iron (27 mg/day for pregnant women, versus 18 mg/day for non-pregnant women) is important to the production of additional red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the tissues. Folic acid, one of the B-vitamins, helps to promote normal development of the neural tube. Deficiencies in folic acid during pregnancy increase the risk of spina bifida and other neural tube defects in the developing fetus. Pregnant women need 600 mg of folic acid a day, compared to 400 mg/day for non-pregnant women.

There is no scientific evidence — nor is there a plausible hypothesis — to suggest that prenatal vitamins affect hormone levels or confer any particular benefit upon non-pregnant women. Further, prenatals contain large quantities of iron, which can be toxic in excess. Still, it’s unlikely that the iron in prenatals would be sufficient to cause iron toxicity in an otherwise healthy female. Men and children, who have much lower iron requirements and tolerances, should not take prenatal vitamins.

There is one group of non-pregnant individuals who potentially stands to benefit from prenatal vitamins: women who are actively trying to conceive. However, the extra iron isn’t actually necessary until the second trimester of pregnancy, and many women find that it upsets the gut, leading to nausea and constipation. As such, women who are attempting to become pregnant may prefer a regular multivitamin, plus an additional folic acid supplement. Of course, it’s important to discuss all supplement decisions with a healthcare practitioner.

Q&A is a biweekly series answering YOUR questions about the science of health. Have a question? Use the contact form to ask us!

About the Author

Kirstin Hendrickson, Ph.D., is a science journalist and faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Arizona State University. She has a PhD in Chemistry, and studied mechanisms of damage to DNA during her graduate career. Kirstin also holds degrees in Zoology and Psychology. Currently, both in her teaching and in her writing, she’s interested in methods of communicating about science, and in the reciprocal relationship between science and society. She has written a textbook called Chemistry In The World, which focuses on the ways in which chemistry affects everyday life, and the ways in which humans affect each other and the environment through chemistry.