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The decision that practically gripped the nation came down this morning, as Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz decided to cut interest rates once more. The last cut came more abruptly when in January of this year, the BoC shaved 25 basis points off what was thought to be a stable 1 per cent; it was the first rate cut since April, 2009, and was a direct response to the steep drop in oil prices.
Wednesday’s rate cut to 0.5 per cent was less of a surprise as the economy has not rebounded as the central bank expected. Now, not only did the BoC cut its rates, but it dramatically lowered its growth projections for the rest of the year.
Below are five things to watch out for after the interest rate cut.
How will the banks react?
The question now is whether the banks will follow suit and cut their own prime rates in response to the rate cut – and by how much. Toronto-Dominion Bank was the first of the big banks to react. Shortly after BoC announcement, TD cut its prime lending rate by 10 basis points, bringing its rate down to 2.75 per cent as of July 16.
Depending on how the others react to the cut, the country’s banks may have more customers looking for cheaper mortgages, they’ll be able to borrow funds at a cheaper rate, and they may not have to pay out as much to depositors. However, with cheaper borrowing rates come a hit to their lending margins as they are largely expected to follow the rate cut by cutting their prime rates. Time will tell how each of the banks react.
How will the housing market be affected?
Lower interest rates may add fuel to an already scorching housing market as potential homebuyers shop for more favourable rates. A Teranet-National Bank home price index released Tuesday found home prices rose 5.1 per cent in June from a year earlier. This frothy seller’s market may put more upward pressure on these already historic prices.
However, with cheaper debt comes more responsibility. Homeowners are expected to still watch their household debt.
Borrow more, invest more
With cheaper cash available comes more investing opportunities for Canadians. It is expected that stock markets may get a boost from an increase in the number of stock holders willing to take the risk, especially considering now that bond yields will decline further with a dip in interest rates.
Drag on the loonie
The loonie reacted to the news by tumbling more than a cent to 77.5 cents (U.S.) from its opening this morning of 78.57 cents. Rahim Madhavji, president of Knightsbridge Foreign Exchange, said this means funds will be fleeing the country in search of better bond yields.
The money supply also dictates which way the currency will swing. When access to money is cheaper, more people will borrow and spend. When more people spend money on goods, suppliers of goods will increase production to meet that demand. When supply can’t keep up with demand, the costs of goods rise, weakening the purchasing power of the currency to buy those same goods. The loonie, as some analysts have pointed out, may have been sacrificed for better times ahead.
Exports and imports
The weaker loonie means two things: imports are more expensive and exports are cheaper to foreign buyers. For importers, costs may go up. Retailers, for example, may see their import costs rise and as a result, may raise prices of goods to cover their margin loss. As for exports, Mr. Poloz said that weaker-than-expected growth in the U.S. and China in 2015 are to blame for some of the country’s export woes. Now, the BoC is serious about nudging exporters toward better months. Still, it was expected – on the strength of non-oil exports, such as car parts, lumber, machinery and equipment – that Canada would rebound from the last time the BoC cut rates. Evidently, it did not.
Looking ahead, a lot is riding on how the U.S., Canada’s largest trading partner, manages its own growth. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday that the U.S. central bank is on track to raise interest rates this year. So, if exports are a primary issue for the BoC, then we will definitely want to look south of the border intently.
http://www.theglobeandmail. | https://www.vancouverrealestatepro.ca/Blog.php/bank-of-canada-rate-cut |
تعلن منظمة ميرسي كور الدوية عن حاجتها الى :
Training Project Officer
- PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY:Nubader: Supporting Resilient Youth and Communities in Jordan (CSSF)Mercy Corps’ proposed ‘Nubader: Supporting Resilient Youth and Communities in Jordan Project supports youth, ages 12-25 who have been diverted from the Juvenile Justice System and at-risk youth from the community, by adopting a positive youth development approach to psychosocial support. This entails promoting learning, increased stability and security, coexistence and psychosocial resiliency, building social understanding, and re-establishing goal planning for the future. The program operates on the premise that social and emotional learning is instrumental in this window of adolescent development to acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. By operating on increasing the protective factors while decreasing the risk factors the project aims to maintain the overarching goal of mitigating key drivers of social instability and violent conflict, and engaging at-risk youth in activities that strengthen their sense of identity, belonging and connectedness to their families and communities. The expansion of the project’s activities will place additional focus on strengthening institutional capacities to sustain long-term impact. Mercy Corps partners with local CBOs and governmental institutions to build Community Action Hubs that provide young people with a safe space to improve social stability and ultimately make youth and their communities more resilient.GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:The Senior Training Officer will provide support to the implementation of ‘Nubader: Supporting Resilient Youth and Communities in Jordan Project. The Senior Training Officer will support the development of training and community activities, through guiding the curriculum design and development of training tools as well as delivery of the courses and capacity building process using internal and external resources that includes but not limited to facilitating the exchange of expertise with local CBO partners including community coaches as well as local\governmental actors. S/he will assist the Deputy Project Manager in monitoring and evaluating activities, providing follow up, and preparing continuous updates. He\She will report directly to the Deputy Project Manager.Essential Duties and Responsibilities:Operational:
Training and content design\development:
- Provide technical support throughout the project’s cycle (situation analysis, planning, implementation and evaluation) with special focus on the development and implementation of the project’s capacity building activities in close coordination with different projects’ functions.
- Contribute to the writing and submission of regular reports (monthly and quarterly) to Management, HQ and Donors.
- Lead the capacity building of Nubader training and youth session plans, and provides day to day coaching and mentoring to the community coaches and youth participants.
- Provide capacity building and knowledge sharing to the Nubader team members in MC and partner CBO personnel to ensure the delivery of youth activities in communities/CBOs that adhere to project overall goals.
- Support other Nubader functions in the delivery of the training plans provided to community coaches and other local \governmental actors who are directly working or contributing to the projects’ objectives.
- Contribute to the project’s assessment milestone through the designing and implementation process.
- Promote a community-based projects/ initiatives and activities specific to the needs of adolescents, and the community at large such as group and community-oriented awareness campaigns, initiatives, and national policies working on the youth sectors in Jordan.
- Conduct regular monthly and quarterly meetings with all staff to go through MHPSS and Protection activities’ progress, identify key challenges, and address other issues.
- Perform other duties as assigned in the implementation of program activities.
- Supervise the community coaches’ performance through structured one on one meetings in coordination with MC Nubader team and CBO project coordinator.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: CBO Partners community coaches.REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: Programme ManagerWORKS DIRECTLY WITH: Project Field officers, Civic Engagement Team Leader, MHPSS and Protection Senior Coordinator, M&E CoordinatorOrganizational LearningAs part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve - we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.Accountability to BeneficiariesMercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
- Contribute and provide technical input during the design of the projects’ activities in close coordination with all Nubader project’s functions.
- Develop the capacity building plan of the project and implement refresher workshops and learning circles to support community coaches in partners CBO’s, as well as develop and adapt strategies to help them address challenges and behaviors that are faced during the implementation.
- Prepare and design the foundation training of the project and conduct direct facilitation for all Nubader projects’ partners.
- Ensure quality of participant programming and trainings delivery through overseeing content development, delivery and scheduling and provide necessary support.
- Support quality assurance through review results of training programs evaluations, attendance and training data, and recommend necessary actions to maintain quality of the project’s activities in close coordination with all Nubader projects’ functions.
SUCCESS FACTORS: | https://www.wahawada2ef.com/2020/06/blog-post_480.html |
The aim of this study was to determine the influence from the recovering time on the dimensional stability of polydimethylsiloxane (Speedex, Coltène/Whaledent Company, Altstätten, Switzerland) prior to type IV dental stone pouring. The double impression technique was utilized with uniform spacing of 1 mm for the wash paste, at 30 minutes, 24 hours and 72 hours after making the impression using an individual perforated metal tray. After the preparation of the impressions, six stone models were made by the standard procedure for all the impressions. The dimensional alterations (mm) of the models obtained were submitted to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's test (α = 0.05). No statistically significant difference between the three groups (30 minutes, 24 hours and 72 hours) were recorded for either the height or diameter of the samples. However, upon comparing the results of the three groups with the metal standard model, there was a significant difference between group 1 (30 min) in relation to the diameter of the standard metal die (p = 0,047). The condensation silicone Speedex shows satisfactory dimensional stability, where dental stone models can be poured with assurance up to 72 hours after preparation of the impression. | https://www.radarciencia.org/artigo/influence-of-elastic-recovery-time-on-the-dimensional-stability-of-polydimethylsiloxane-pds |
A complete guide to linear regression using gene expression data for Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Part 1 - An introduction
In this tutorial, I will discuss how to use linear regression with transcriptomic data, in this first part I will introduce linear regression and math behind.
This is the index of the tutorial so you can choose which part interest you
- Introduction to supervised learning and linear regression
- Introduction to the dataset and it is preprocessing
- Digging in the algorithm and the math behind
- Fit a simple linear regression model
- Algorithm evaluation: error metrics, assumptions, plots, and solutions
- Underfitting and overfitting
- Penalized regression: ridge, lasso, and elastic net
- Other resources
- Bibliography
In this first part, I will present the first three chapters, you can skip the math description if you are less interested in mathematical details.
Introduction to supervised learning and linear regression
In the previous tutorials, we have used unsupervised techniques, in this tutorial we will focus on linear classifiers using gene expression data.
For starting, what is supervised learning? Conceptually, imagine you are working on a task and someone is controlling if you are results are correct or not. Similarly, you have a training algorithm and you have labeled data. Each sample (or data observation) of the data set presents a label, which the algorithm has to guess. In the previous tutorial, we did not furnish the label to the algorithm, the clustering algorithms based on the dataset characteristics had to find to which group the samples belong. In unsupervised learning we are not providing labels, we use algorithms to divide into categories (to define a subset, it can be considered as a label). In supervised learning, the algorithm learns on labeled data observation, it is providing an answer and can control on the label if its prediction is correct. As a simple example, if we a dataset of animal images, we will provide the algorithm images which are labeled with the animal’s name. The algorithm will then learn how to discriminate animals and you can use new unseen images to test it is ability.
Fig 1. Example of supervised learning. Figure source: here
Conceptually there are two main areas where you use supervised learning:
- Classification: based on the data observations in the dataset your algorithm task is to predict a discrete value (categorical variable). This is the example of the animal dataset we discussed before, you train your algorithm on an image dataset labeled with animals’ species names (categorical variable), and then using new images you ask to predict which animal they represent.
- Regression: the algorithm is predicting the value of a continuous variable. Based on numerous independent variables (a feature of the datasets) the algorithm predicts the variable of the dependent variable. The classical example is you have a dataset with the characteristics of city houses (size, number of rooms, garden extension) and you want to predict the price of the house.
Why this is interesting in medicine and in oncology? Supervised learning can be really useful in diagnosis and outcome prediction (1). An example of classification, machine learning algorithms have been successfully able to classify skin cancer (moles from superficial melanoma, differentiate the different types of skin cancers) (2). On the other hand, predict survival is a regression problem (a particular case, since survival data are censored data). Other tasks where you can use supervised learning are disease relapse, metastasis prediction, treatment option, treatment outcome, and so on.
In general, we can say that machine learning are algorithms (mathematical procedures that describe the relationship between variables, generally an independent variable and many dependent variables). In the case of linear classifiers (or regressors) the topic of this tutorial, the goal is inference (from the collected data, which represents a sample of the population, derives insights on the general population). Linear and logistic regressor are able to make predictions on new data because they make inferences on the relationship between variables. Thus, using these statistical methods we obtain knowledge on the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. As a general example, we have a dataset of some medical parameters (independent variables) and metastasis development (the dependent variable), we can build a linear model to predict on this dataset if new analyzed patients will develop metastasis. The model can also give information on which variables are more associated with the risk to develop metastasis (for instance, size, lymph node involvement). On the other hand, deep learning algorithms are more complex and focus more on accurate prediction (it is more difficult to follow the relationship between variables, also because they take into account nonlinear relationships) and for this reason, they are considered “black box”. These algorithms will be the focus of the following tutorials.
Fig 2. Image source: (1)
In summary, based on the assumption that at least one variable (the dependent) is dependent on other variables, we try to establish a relationship. This is achieved through a function that is mapping the variables to others in a satisfying manner.
As a general terminology:
- Dependent variable: is also called output or response, and for the convention is denoted as y
- Independent variables: also called inputs, predictors, and for convention denoted as x (since normally more than one x1, x2 … xn)
In general, we can say that linear regression is one of the very primitive statistical algorithms, but it is still used a lot. The principle of linear regression will be useful in many contexts and help to understand the more complex algorithms. The algorithm origin is described in the 18th century, there is a discussion about who invented between Carl Friedrich Gauss and Adrien-Marie Legendre, if you are interested you can find more information in the resources at the end of the paper.
Fig 3 present the concept of a regression problem, if we have a training set with independent variables (X) we can use a function (h) to map X to our dependent variable (y).
We will discuss these points more in details, but for starting we linear models we need:
- Dataset. In our dataset, we have to select which are dependent and independent variables.
- Score function. A function that considers our variables as input and maps to class labels (or the value of a variable in a regression problem). As an example, considering some variables as input vectors, a function f is considering the data points and returns us the predicted class labels.
- Loss function. The loss function is a function that quantifies how good our prediction is (for instance if the predicted class labels are similar to the ground-truth labels, the labels we provided in advance). In regression, the loss function calculates the distance between the predicted value and ground-truth value (the real value of the dependent variable). The higher is the agreement between the prediction and ground-truth labels, the lower is the loss (and this is meaning a higher classification accuracy). The scope is to minimize the loss (meaning increasing the accuracy).
- Weight matrix. Each variable in the input is associated with a weight (how this variable is important for the prediction). Based on the output of the score and loss function, the algorithm is optimizing these parameters (the weight matrix) to increase the accuracy.
There are other parameters, we will discuss them later. The idea is to use an optimization method which minimizes the loss (finding the right set of value for W) in respect of the score function to increase the accuracy.
Introduction to the dataset and it is preprocessing
Let’s start with the dataset. The dataset used in this tutorial is obtained from Warnat-Herresthal et al. (3). They collected and re-analyzed many datasets from leukemia. The dataset and microarray techniques are presented in detail in the previous tutorial.
I write this tutorial in python in Google Colab. As seen in the previous dataset
I have assumed you already have imported the dataset on google drive.
%reload_ext autoreload
%autoreload 2
%matplotlib inline
from google.colab import drive
drive.mount(‘/content/gdrive’, force_remount=True)
Import necessary libraries and the dataset:
#import necessary library
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import seaborn as sns
import umap
#dataset
data = pd.read_table("/content/gdrive/My Drive/aml/201028_GSE122505_Leukemia_clean.txt", sep = "\t")
After loading the dataset and necessary library let’s give a glance at the number of available disease conditions in the dataset.
#table of the disease
data.disease.value_counts()
There are two categories that are dominating the dataset: Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and Acute Lymphoid Leukemia (ALL). For easier visualization, we are grouping some categories.
#removing some disease type
data["disease"] = np.where(data["disease"] == "Diabetes_Type_I" , "Diabetes", data["disease"])
data["disease"] = np.where(data["disease"] == "Diabetes_Type_II" , "Diabetes", data["disease"])
other = ['CML','clinically_isolated_syndrome', 'MDS', 'DS_transient_myeloproliferative_disorder']
data = data[~data.disease.isin(other)]
data.disease.value_counts()
For this tutorial, we will focus only on two cancer types. Then:
selected = ['AML','ALL']
data = data[data.disease.isin(selected)]
data.disease.value_counts()
and then:
target = data[“disease”]
df = data.drop(“disease”, 1)
df = df.drop(“GSM”, 1)
df = df.drop(“FAB”, 1)
df.shape
We also filter out the features with low variance and scaling the remaining features.
df = df.drop(df.var()[(df.var() < 0.3)].index, axis=1)
from scipy.stats import zscore
df = df.apply(zscore)
df.shape
Digging in the math algorithm
In this section I will describe better the math behind the scene, you can skip this section if you are interested only in how to apply it.
You can find more details in this great tutorial: here?
Linear regression can be defined as a statistical process to estimate an unknown variable (the y) based on some known variables (the x or inputs) if the unknown variable can be calculated using only two operations: scalar multiplication and addition (a linear relationship).
As a start, a linear relationship between hours studied and the percentage score. In this case, the dependent variable is the percentage score (the y) and the hours studied is the independent variable (x). Each data point is a student.
Fig 4. Image source: here
The equation of a straight line is y = mx + b. With m we define the slope of the line and the b is the intercept. Since we have more than one input, we need to change our equation.
In many cases, m and b are actually indicated as B1 and B0.
In concept, we are want to estimate our unknown variable (the y) starting from the value of our known variables. As a little notation, X and Y can be real numbers, so we can define this as X=Y=IR. Since we have seen the equation of a straight line we can compute this through the weighted sum of inputs and adding a bias. More formally:
Xi is an input, wi is the weight associated with that input and b is the bias.
To make it a little easier we can consider the bias equal to a variable (the intercept) that has always the same value (equal to 1). For the moment we can simplify the equation.
Considering our dataset, we have a matrix of m x n input variables (where m are the number of the observation and n is the number of the features or variables) and we have a vector of dimension n for our dependent variable. We want to transform the last equation in matrix notation (under the hood the algorithm is doing exactly this). Below, we have the weighted sum for a y data point, in simple words is the multiplication of two vectors (the row vector of our input matrix for the column vector that stores the corresponding weights.
The result is a scalar. If you want to do the calculation for one point, this is the formula.
If we want to the calculation for the whole y variable, you have to multiply a matrix for a vector (will we denote the input matrix as X. y is now a vector, X a matrix, and w is the vector we have seen before.
Just to remember as you multiply a matrix for a vector. The product of a matrix (dimension m x n) with a vector (dimension n) is a vector of m dimension. The general formula is:
As an example, if we have a matrix A (dimension 2 x 3) and a vector of dimension 3. We first multiply the first row and then the second row. The result is a vector of dimension 2.
If you think about our dataset, in this case, is how we 2 data point (three input variables) with associated 3 weights and we are calculating the two-point of the y variable.
We know the inputs (these are our dataset variables) now we have to found the weights. The weights are learned from the examples. Generally, we have a training set where we have the inputs (X) and the labeled example (or in regression the corresponding value of the dependent variable y). Based on this, we use the values of x and y to calculate w.
In the simplest form, we can derive from the precedent equation by simple solving for w.
There is to do an assumption, the number of data points has to be at least one more the number of inputs (so, let’s say we have 4 inputs variables we need at least 5 observations). This is a regression line (technically is a regression line only when n inputs are equal to one, for 2 is a plane, for 3 a 3-d plane, and so on).
This equation actually is for an ideal case. Most of the time, our data points are not fitting a perfect line (as an example in Fig 3, the data points are not perfectly on the line, like there is some random noise around our regression line). This meaning we cannot find an exact solution for w, then the aim is to find the best solution for our weights. If the equation has no solution, technically y is not belonging to the column space of X. So, instead of using y, we will use its projection on the X column space. How we can do this? We start multiplying the transpose of X to both sides of the equation and then solve the equation.
To understand the matrix transposition, you can find in the figure some examples:
As a general rule, if you want to calculate the transpose of the matrix, you image a diagonal axis starting from the first point on the left to the bottom (the last on right) and then you reflect the matrix (the imaginary line is the symmetry axis). Alternatively, you rotate the matrix clockwise (90 degrees) then you start to exchange the rows like the first with the last and so on (looking at the first matrix in the figure, you exchange the first and third, while the second remain in position).
About the inverse of a matrix, A -> A-1. Here an example for a matrix of dimension 2x2, for different matrix dimension is much more complicated to calculate and there are many different methods, if you are interested to dig you can read these articles: here and here
Fig 6. Adapted from: here
Calculus approach
There is another approach you can follow to find w and this is calculus. We will discuss this briefly. we discussed before the idea of an error function. In this case, what we are doing is to define an error function and use calculus to find the weights that minimize our function. Let’s step back to better understand. In the easiest case, we have just one input variable and one dependent variable. As we said before, there is no perfect correspondence between our line and the data points. In practice, we have a function:
that calculate the dependencies between the inputs and outputs. With this function, we estimate for each input the output. For each observation, we can calculate the correspondence between our prediction and the ground-truth value:
This difference is called the residual. The idea is to find the best weight to reduce the residuals to the smallest value. In general, to find the best weight in this scenario you use the method of ordinary least squares, you minimize the sum of the squared residuals (SSR) with the formula
Fig 7. Figure source: here
This is the simplest case, but here we have an input matrix. The function here is doing exactly the same, it takes into account the difference between each true y and our y estimation (the one obtained by the regression model). Then these differences are squared and all summed. This we can write in matrix notation as:
In the same view, the idea is to find a minimum of this function (this should be where the gradient is zero). We will discuss the equation briefly but if you have interest in the process you can find additional details here.
this is for computing the gradient:
Then we need solving for w (after all, we are interested in the weights). So we set equal to zero.
As you see this solution is the same, we found a linear algebra approach. This is meaning that minimizes the sum of squared errors and projecting y on the column space of X are giving the same result. This solution is telling as that to have a solution the matrix has to be invertible. This requirement is generally met when we have more observations than input variables.
We have found a critical point, but we do not know if this point is the minimum or the maximum point of the function. How we can know it? We have to compute the Hessian matrix to establish the convexity or concavity of the function. The Hessian matrix basically describes the local curvature of a function of many variables. You can find more information here.
We will multiply for a vector z (of real values).
What is important to retain here is that our function is convex, so the solution for w is a minimum point of the function (which is what we were looking for).
Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD)
Behind the hood, scikit-learn is using the ordinary least squares method. However, when you are using a penalty term is using stochastic gradient descent (SGD). Since we will discuss penalty, we will discuss briefly SGD (we will go in deep on SGD in other tutorials since it has more sense to discuss in detail when facing neural networks). To discuss briefly we would say that SGD is a powerful algorithm and critical in optimization for many machine learning techniques.
To recapitulate quickly, since we are learning from examples, we have a training set (with input variable X and dependent variable y) and we want to find a function h that h(xi) is a good predictor for the corresponding yi. If we are planning to estimate the y as a linear function of x:
Theta is just another notation for our weight, and we rewrite this equation as we have seen before:
And from here we can calculate a cost function J, as we said before the main idea is to compute a function that determines how close a h(xi) is to yi. One of the main reasons we use square error is because is easier to solve (the derivative is a linear function, so it easy to solve):
Now we will use gradient descent to minimize this function. In simple word, gradient descent starts with an initial weight (theta) and it repeatedly updates it. The update is for all the values of J since we have different weights.
This is updated by a certain quantity defined before which is called learning rate (a). The algorithm takes this step (of dimension a) and iteratively changing the weight (theta) to converge to a value that minimizes J. the algorithm takes a step in the direction of the steepest decrease of J. This can be represented as:
Fig 8. Figure source: here
For a single training example this is the update rule:
Which more generally is (you have to use the partial derivative):
Fig 9. Figure source: here
What we can understand from the equation and the figure above, SGD is practically updating the parameters multiplying the partial derivative of the difference between an estimated value ( h(x)) and the true value (y), multiplying it for a (learning rate). In concrete, the derivative in simple words is driving the update of the parameter toward the minimum (is giving the direction of change) while the learning rate is specifying how much you have to change the value of the parameter.
For further detail on SGD: here?
In our context:
Remember a is the learning rate, we will discuss later in detail. Computing the gradient:
Bias-Variance trade-off
The last point to discuss is the Bias-Variance trade-off. Let’s start with this equation:
This equation shows that if you want to predict y, this is a combination of X (multiplied for a weight) plus a normally distributed error term that has a variance a^2.
Then as we said we minimize a loss function to obtain the estimated weights B-hat (which is a little different from the true B).
Which in turn using the ordinary least square (OLS) method is:
So far nothing new. The bias is the difference between the true population parameter and the expected estimator. It basically measures the accuracy of estimates. E is standing for expectations.
While variance measures the spread (called also the uncertainty)
And we can estimate the variance from the residuals:
If you want more details on these calculations: here
A simple way to understand what these terms are is by looking at the bull’s-eye image. The bull’s-eye is the true population and we want to estimate ?, the shoots are the value of our estimates (in this case 4 different estimators).
Fig 10. figure source from: here?
We desire that both variance and bias are low, high values lead to poor prediction. Indeed, the model error is composed of 3 parts: the bias, the variance, and the unexplainable part.
Specifically, in OLS the problem is the variance, due to too many predictor variables highly correlated among them and also depending by the number of inputs (if m is approaching n, the variance is close to infinity).
Generally, the solution is to reducing variance at cost of introducing some bias. This is the principle of regularization (which will be discussed in the next part of this tutorial). The next figure is summarizing this point. The concept is that increasing the number of inputs is creating complexity and the variance increase. At the same time the bias decrease. At the right point, we have the simple linear regression. So, the idea is to reach the optimal point. | https://www.leukaemiamedtechresearch.org.uk/blog/detection-early-detection/article/complete-guide-linear-regression-gene-expression-data-introduction |
Medical Imaging for Detection, Diagnosis and Treatment
Radiology uses X-rays, radioactive tracers and ultrasonic waves to help physicians detect, diagnose and treat a number of diseases and injuries. Continuing developments in technology, computers and science have advanced our ability to noninvasively view the body's inner structures, tissues and organs.
The dynamic images provided by radiology are essential to physicians because of their realistic depiction of the anatomy, functions and abnormalities within a patient's body.
Lakewood Ranch Medical Center provides comprehensive inpatient and outpatient radiology services using advanced digital equipment, including:
- Ultrasound uses sound waves to develop images of inside a patient's body.
- Diagnostic X-ray uses low doses of radiation to produce images of the body.
- Fluoroscopy uses X-ray technology to produce a continuous moving image.
- Nuclear medicine uses radioactive material to help diagnose and treat a wide range of medical conditions.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses a magnetic field, radio frequency pulses and a computer to obtain detailed images of the inside of a patient's body.
- Computed tomography (CT scan) uses specialized X-ray equipment and computers to obtain detailed images of the inside of the body. Each image created by CT scans shows a thin slice of an organ or body part.
- Computed tomography angiography (CTA) combines CT scanning technology with an iodine-rich contrast material injected into the patient's bloodstream to help identify and locate blood vessel disease or related conditions.
- MR/CT arthroscopy uses MRI and CT to obtain images of a patient's joints.
- Digital radiology is a form of X-ray in which digital sensors are used instead of traditional photographic film to capture images.
- 3D mammography/tomosynthesis can provide more detailed imaging than traditional mammography.
- Interventional radiology allows surgeons to use imaging guided, minimally invasive surgical techniques to diagnose and treat diseases.
- Bone densitometry measures the density of a patient's bones.
- CT biopsy uses CT technology to guide a surgeon as the surgeon uses a thin needle to withdraw a tissue sample from a suspected tumor mass.
- Ultrasound-guided and MRI-guided breast biopsies use either ultrasound or MRI technology to help surgeons locate an abnormal area of the breast for biopsy.
- Preoperative needle localization is a technique in which a tiny guide wire is inserted into the breast to help surgeons locate an abnormality that can be seen on a mammogram but not felt.
- Sentinel lymph node mapping is a procedure that helps physicians learn if a patient's breast cancer has spread beyond the original tumor and into the lymph nodes.
- SIR-Spheres therapy uses radioactive microspheres that are implanted inside a cancerous organ to help destroy cancer cells.
American College of Radiology Accreditation
Lakewood Ranch Medical Center is accredited by the American College of Radiology (ACR), the largest organization of radiologists in the nation, in several imaging categories:
- Mammography
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging Breast
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- Nuclear Medicine
- Ultrasound
To make an appointment, please call 941-745-7391. | https://www.lakewoodranchmedicalcenter.com/services/radiology |
MCPS recognizes the impact that a student's mental health has on learning and achievement. All schools and classrooms provide curriculum, programs, and strategies that foster the academic success and physical, social, and psychological well-being of all students, grades PreK-12. Our goal is to give students access to experiences that build social skills, leadership, self-awareness, and caring connections to adults in their school and community.
Programs and activities that create safe and nurturing school environments that provide students with opportunities to participate in physical activities and develop lifelong positive health-related attitudes and behaviors.
Programs and activities that build positive relationships between students and school staff and engage students to attend school regularly and participate in extra-curricular activities.
Programs and activities that help students become aware of and learn to understated and manage their emotions. This includes teaching students to advocate for themselves and others and to recognize signs and symptoms that indicate when they need help and how to access assistance.
Below are examples of the programs and activities schools engage in to maximize student development, help them become ready to learn, and interact effectively with peers, staff members and the community.
Be Well 365 is a district-wide action plan to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and abilities in six essential areas of physical, social, and psychological development that support academic growth and lifelong personal and career success.
The 6 Essentials:
The 6 essentials are incorporated in the academic curriculum and in regular school day activities, in addition to specific lessons provided by school counselors, school psychologists, health education and other content area teachers and programs.
Visit the Be Well 365 webpage for more information.
The Signs of Suicide® (SOS) Prevention Program SOS is a nationally recognized program that teaches secondary students the warning signs of emotional distress and/or suicide in themselves, friends, or loved ones. The program has demonstrated an improvement in students’ knowledge and attitudes toward suicide risk and depression, as well as a reduction in actual suicide attempts.
The SOS Program is designed to:
We are committed to ensuring that all students are able to learn and grow in school communities where they are safe and supported. To assist families in having these difficult conversations with their students, please refer to these local and national resources: Suicide Prevention Resources
Creating a safe school environment that is free of bullying, harassment and intimidation includes adults working together to identify and respond to bullying and teaching students important social emotional life-skills. All schools and classrooms implement proactive and preventive strategies to make schools safe and positive places to learn.
Several comprehensive programs support bullying prevention and provide students with safe and age appropriate opportunities to resolve conflicts, develop strong decision-making skills and enhance empathy. Some of these programs include Character Education, Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS), and classroom guidance lessons. More resources are available online to help families, or you can contact the school counselor or principal in your child’s school. You can also call the Office of Student and Family Support and Engagement at 240-740-5630.
Restorative Justice concepts and practices focus on mediation and agreement rather than punishment, thus keeping students in school where they can learn. It is set of proactive tools that foster community and help build relationships in schools. It is designed to resolve disciplinary problems in a cooperative and constructive way and is based on respect, responsibility, relationship-building, and relationship-repairing. Restorative practices uses a three-tiered approach:
You can hear more about Restorative Practices in this Be Well Talk video and on the Restorative Justice webpage.
Stress and pressure can negatively impact learning, memory, behavior, and both physical and mental health. Mindfulness programs can support students in calming themselves, focusing their attention, and interacting effectively with others, all critical skills for functioning well in school and in life. Mindfulness practice is a purposeful and non-judgmental awareness of the present moment that allows for acceptance of feelings, thoughts, and sensations. Many schools have been implementing a variety of mindfulness related strategies to help all students process and accept their emotions.
Learn more on how mindfulness contributes to the emotional well-being of students in this Be Well Talk video and visit the Mindfulness webpage to explore more.
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a proactive approach to improving a school’s ability to teach and support positive behavior for all students. It is based on the premise that students learn appropriate behaviors through instruction, practice, feedback, and encouragement. PBIS helps to create a culture where students know exactly what is expected of them and the consequences that result when they choose not to meet the expectations. When a school environment is positive and predictable, students feel safer, do better academically, and make better behavior choices.
PBIS provides flexible guidelines for schools to design, implement and evaluate school-wide behavior expectations that are appropriate for their school. The major components of PBIS are:
Contact your child's school to learn if they participate in the PBIS program. Additionally, using PBIS ideas at home can help students maintain expectations not only at home, but during the school day and in the community as well.
MCPS takes an active role in the prevention of child abuse and neglect through early prevention and intervention education. Personal Body Safety Lessons (PBSL) provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to keep themselves safe, and guidance on when and how to report incidents of suspected child abuse and neglect. PBSLs are taught in all grade levels.
An overview of PBSL and resources are available to families to help discuss the topic at home: Elementary | Secondary
In addition, both the elementary and secondary health curriculum include age-appropriate lessons on safety and injury prevention, family life and human sexuality, cyberbullying and social media, healthy relationships, harassment and intimidation. MCPS also partners with the Montgomery County Family Justice Foundation and youth service providers in sponsoring the annual “Choose Respect Montgomery” event for students to learn about healthy teen relationships, teen dating violence prevention, and resources on where to get help.
Tips for Parents When Talking With Your Children
More resources are available online, or you can contact the principal, the school counselor, or the Health Education teacher at your child's school.
Always seek immediate help if a child engages in unsafe behavior or talks about wanting to hurt themselves or someone else. Refer to this list of local and national resources: Where To Get Help
It can be hard for families to tell the difference between challenging behaviors and emotions that are consistent with typical child development and those that are cause for concern. In general, if a child’s behavior persists for a few weeks or longer, causes distress for the child or the child’s family, and interferes with functioning at school, at home, or with friends, then consider seeking help.
Listed below are informational resources on a variety of mental health topics to help families and educators support student success. | https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/mental-health/index.aspx |
- Students should complete a student petition form in its entirety and submit it to the Office of the Registrar. The petition should contain a complete statement of the facts and circumstances supporting the request. The Petitions Committee undertakes no responsibility for conducting supplemental inquiries.
- The signature of the involved faculty member is required for all matters except those related to pass/fail grading or where the anonymity of the student's exam would be compromised.
- Once a petition is received, the registrar's office will append information indicating the student's petition history and any relevant ABA, University or Law School regulation that the committee may wish to consider in reaching its decision. The petition will then be forwarded to the committee.
- The Petitions Committee consists of three faculty members appointed annually by the dean as well as the associate dean for academic affairs, the assistant dean for finance and administration, the director of student services and the registrar, who are ex officio (non-voting) members.
- The committee will not consider oral petitions. Students should not contact Petitions Committee members to discuss the facts or merit of a petition. The committee may request an oral presentation in rare circumstances.
- The Petitions Committee will attempt to decide petitions within seven days of their receipt but this may not always be possible. If the petitioner has a compelling need for expedited consideration, this should be explained in the petition. Petitions occasioned by students' failure to act within prescribed Law School deadlines will not be considered emergencies warranting expedited consideration.
- The registrar is informed of the committee's decision by the chairperson who in turn notifies the student. The committee does not issue written decisions explaining its rationale. Students seeking additional information are referred to the associate dean for academic affairs.
- Decisions of the Petitions Committee are final and nonappealable. | https://www.law.uconn.edu/academics/petition-request-form |
Management of asthma in pregnant women occurs in the same way as in non-pregnant. Like any other asthmatic, a pregnant woman should follow the prescribed treatment and adhere to a treatment program to control the inflammatory processes and prevent asthma attacks.
Part of the treatment program for a pregnant woman should be set aside to observe the movements of the fetus. This can be done independently by recording every movement of the fetus. If you notice that the fetus began to move less during an asthma attack, contact your doctor immediately or call an ambulance.
Overview of Asthma Treatment in a Pregnant Woman:
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If more than one specialist is involved in treating a pregnant woman with asthma, they should work together and coordinate their actions. An obstetrician should also be involved in the treatment of asthma.
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It is necessary to carefully monitor the performance of the lungs during the entire pregnancy – the child must receive a sufficient amount of oxygen. Since the severity of asthma can change during the second half of a woman’s pregnancy, regular examinations of symptoms and pulmonary function are necessary. The doctor uses spirometry or pneumotachometer to check for pulmonary function.
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After 28 weeks it is necessary to observe the movements of the fetus.
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In the case of poorly controlled or severe asthma after 32 weeks, an ultrasound examination of the fetus is necessary. An ultrasound examination also helps the doctor examine the condition of the fetus after an asthma attack.
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Try to do everything possible to avoid and control the causative agents of asthma (for example, tobacco smoke or dust mites), and you can take smaller doses of the medicine. Most women have nasal symptoms, and there is a close relationship between nasal symptoms and asthma attacks. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), especially common during pregnancy, can also cause exacerbation of symptoms.
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It is very important to protect yourself from the flu. You need to be vaccinated against the flu before the season begins – sometimes from the beginning of October to mid-November in the first, second or third trimester of pregnancy. The flu vaccine is only valid for one season. It is absolutely safe during pregnancy and is recommended for all pregnant women.
Asthma is very common in people, including pregnant women. Some women suffer from asthma during pregnancy, although there has never been the slightest sign of illness before. But during pregnancy, asthma not only affects the body of a woman, but also limits the access of oxygen to the child. But this does not mean that asthma complicates or increases the danger for a woman and for a child during pregnancy. In women with asthma, with proper control of the disease, pregnancy is carried out with minimal risk or no risk for the woman herself and her fetus.
Most pregnant women have allergies other than asthma, such as allergic rhinitis.
Therefore, allergy treatment is a very important part of treating and managing asthma.
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Inhaled corticosteroids at recommended doses are effective and safe for pregnant women.
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An antihistamine, loratadine or cetirizine is also recommended.
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If immunotherapy is started before the pregnancy begins, it can be continued, but it is not recommended to begin during pregnancy.
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Talk to your doctor about taking a decongestant (oral). Perhaps there are other better treatment options.
Asthma drugs and pregnancy
The results of studies on animals and people taking medication for asthma during pregnancy did not reveal so many side effects to which a woman and her child are exposed. It is much safer to take medications for asthma during pregnancy than to leave things as they are. Poor control of the disease does more harm to the fetus than medication. Budesonide, approved by the Food and Drug Administration, is the safest inhaled corticosteroid for use during pregnancy. One study showed that small doses of inhaled corticosteroid are safe for the woman and her fetus.
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Recommendations for taking medication during pregnancy
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Severity
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Daily intake medications necessary to maintain long-term disease control
|Heavy permanent form||Preferred:
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Alternative:
|Average permanent form||Preferred:
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Alternative:
|Minor permanent form||Preferred:
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Alternative:
|Periodic||
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|Fast rescue: for all patients||
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Never stop taking or reduce the dose of medication without a doctor’s permission. Make any changes to the treatment is necessary only after the expiration of pregnancy.
Drugs that can potentially harm a fetus include epinephrine, alpha adrenergic components (except pseudoepinephrine), decongestants (except pseudoepinephrine), antibiotics (tetracycline, sulfanilamide drugs, ciprofloxasin), immunotherapy (stimulation or dose increase), and iodine drugs (iodine stimulants, sulfanilamide drugs, ciprofloxasin), immunotherapy (stimulating or increasing the dose), and iodine drugs (iodine stimulants). Before you start taking the medication, being pregnant or about to become pregnant, you should consult a specialist.
Most medicines used to treat asthma are safe for pregnant women. After many years of research, experts can now say for sure that it is much safer to continue to treat asthma than to stop treatment during pregnancy. Check with your doctor about which treatment will be the safest for you.
Risks of non-treatment during pregnancy
If you previously had no signs of asthma, then you do not need to be so sure that shortness of breath or wheezing during pregnancy is a sign of asthma. Very few women who know that they have asthma, pay attention to minor symptoms. But we must not forget that asthma affects not only your body, but also the body of the fetus, so you need to take preventive measures in time.
If the disease is out of control, then it threatens the following:
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High blood pressure during pregnancy.
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Preeclampsia, a disease that increases blood pressure and can affect the placenta, kidneys, liver and brain.
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Greater than usual toxicosis in early pregnancy (pregnant women with hyperemesis).
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Births that occur in an unnatural way (the attending physician causes the onset of labor) or passes with complications.
Risks to the fetus:
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Sudden death before or after birth (perinatal mortality).
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Poor fetal development (intrauterine growth retardation). Small weight of a child at birth.
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The onset of labor before the 37th week of pregnancy (preterm labor).
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Low birth weight.
The higher the control over the disease, the lower the risks. | https://osvilt.com/allergology/treatment-of-asegnant-woman.html |
Content:
Basic Training with Federal VET Certificate and Employability
Background and aims
The two-year basic vocational education with the Swiss Federal Vocational Certificate (Eidgenössisches Berufsattest, EBA) established by the new Vocational Training Act, which will replace the former elementary training in the two areas of sales and the hotel trade from the beginning of the training 2005/2006, is intended in particular to ensure an increased employability of young people, as well as improved access to on-going education – for example the transition to basic vocational training with the Swiss Federal Proficiency Certificate (Eidgenössisches Fähigkeitszeugnis, EFZ).
Within the framework of a longitudinal investigation, the aim of the study is to pursue the vocational development of graduates of the basic vocational training with the Federal Vocational Certificate prescribed by the new Vocational Training Directives. By means of longitudinal and comparative methods, the study provides information about the occupational situation, mobility and flexibility of persons with the new two-year vocational qualification, up-to-date information about the vocational careers of under-achieving young people, and preliminary insights into new forms of education and training.
Methods
The emphasis of the study falls on the perspectives of graduates of the last round of traineeship and the first round of the two-year basic occupational training with the Federal Vocational Certificate.
At the centre of the study are the perspectives of graduates of the last stage of elementary traineeship and of the first term of the two-year basic vocational training with the Federal Vocational Certificate (issued at the end of, respectively one year after completion of education); of trainers at vocational colleges and in businesses (issued at the end of vocational education); and of employers (issued one year after the end of vocational education).
Results
The results of this study indicate that the two-year basic training programme in the retail sales and hospitality sectors increases the graduate's permeability to further training, most particularly to the three-year training programme with Federal VET Diploma.
When compared with elementary training, available data cannot provide conclusive evaluation with regard to improved employability: around 88% of those young people with Federal VET Certificates questioned were employed or enrolled on further training programmes. They average a higher salary and exhibit greater mobility in the form of changing establishments than those with an elementary traineeship in the same occupational field. The remaining 12%, however, are (still) unemployed one year after qualification; here there is no significant statistical improvement when compared with elementary training.
Results from the beginning and during vocational training and at the immediate point of transition from vocational training to the labour market indicate that all parties gauged the two-year vocational training programme positively. That the problematic nature of youths with migration backgrounds and young trainees from the lower end of the performance spectrum was evident at the first transition (entry onto the training programme) is to be viewed critically. Additionally, particular attention must be given to the support of youths in danger of failing vocational training: Ideally, this support would stretch over both transitional stages. Good coordination and cooperation between the various accompanying measures such as case management and individual expert support is necessary here.
Publications
Kammermann, M. (2009). Well Prepared for the Labour Market? Employment Perspectives and Job Careers of Young People after a two-Year Basic Training Course with Swiss Basic Federal VET-Certificate. In F. Rauner, E. Smith, U. Hauschildt & H. Zellroth (Eds.). Innovative Apprenticeships. Promoting Successful School-to-Work Transitions. Berlin: LIT-Verlag, 127-130.
Facts
- Duration
- 08/2005-07/2008
- No. | https://www.hfh.ch/en/research/projects/hfh_projects/basic_training_with_federal_vet_certificate_and_employability |
Education has been present throughout the history of Korea ( -1945). Public schools and private schools have been both present. Modern reforms to education began in the late 19th century.
Post-war years
After Gwangbokjeol and the liberation from Japan, the Korean government began to study and discuss for a new philosophy of education. The new educational philosophy was created under the United States Army Military Government in Korea(USAMGIK) with a focus on democratic education. The new system attempted to make education available to all students equally and promote the educational administration to be more self-governing. Specific policies included: re-educating teachers, lowering functional illiteracy by educating adults, restoration of the Korean language for technical terminology, and expansion of various educational institutions.
Following the Korean War, the government of Syngman Rhee reversed many of these reforms after 1948, when only primary schools remained in most cases coeducational and, because of a lack of resources, education was compulsory only up to the sixth grade.
During the years when Rhee and Park Chung Hee were in power, the control of education was gradually taken out of the hands of local school boards and concentrated in a centralized Ministry of Education. In the late 1980s, the ministry was responsible for administration of schools, allocation of resources, setting of enrollment quotas, certification of schools and teachers, curriculum development (including the issuance of textbook guidelines), and other basic policy decisions. Provincial and special city boards of education still existed. Although each board was composed of seven members who were supposed to be selected by popularly elected legislative bodies, this arrangement ceased to function after 1973. Subsequently, school board members were approved by the minister of education.
Most observers agree that South Korea's spectacular progress in modernization and economic growth since the Korean War is largely attributable to the willingness of individuals to invest a large amount of resources in education: the improvement of "human capital." The traditional esteem for the educated man, now extend to scientists, technicians, and others working with specialized knowledge. Highly educated technocrats and economic planners could claim much of the credit for their country's economic successes since the 1960s. Scientific professions were generally regarded as the most prestigious by South Koreans in the 1980s.
Statistics demonstrate the success of South Korea's national education programs. In 1945 the adult literacy rate was estimated at 22 percent; by 1970 adult literacy was 87.6 percent and, by the late 1980s, sources estimated it at around 93 percent. Although only primary school (grades one through six) was compulsory, percentages of age-groups of children and young people enrolled in secondary level schools were equivalent to those found in industrialized countries, including Japan. Approximately 4.8 million students in the eligible age-group were attending primary school in 1985. The percentage of students going on to optional middle school the same year was more than 99 percent. Approximately 34 percent, one of the world's highest rates of secondary-school graduates attended institutions of higher education in 1987, a rate similar to Japan's (about 30 percent) and exceeding Britain's (20 percent).
Government expenditure on education has been generous. In 1975, it was 220 billion won, the equivalent of 2.2 percent of the gross national product, or 13.9 percent of total government expenditure. By 1986, education expenditure had reached 3.76 trillion won, or 4.5 percent of the GNP, and 27.3 percent of government budget allocations.
Student activism
Student activism has a long and honorable history in Korea. Students in Joseon secondary schools often became involved in the intense factional struggles of the scholar-official class. Students played a major role in Korea's independence movement, particularly the March 1, 1919. Students protested against the regimes of Syngman Rhee and Park Chung-hee during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Observers noted, however, that while student activists in the past generally embraced liberal and democratic values, the new generation of militants in the 1980s were far more radical. Most participants adopted some version of the minjung ideology but was also animated by strong feelings of popular nationalism and xenophobia.
The most militant university students, perhaps about 5 percent of the total enrollment at Seoul National University and comparable figures at other institutions in the capital during the late 1980s, were organized into small circles or cells rarely containing more than fifty members. Police estimated that there were 72 such organizations of varying orientation, having the change of curriculum and education system of South Korea people have been enriched in an imaginary way that makes them to propel in all their studies.
Reforms in the 1980s
Following the assumption of power by General Chun Doo-hwan in 1980, the Ministry of Education implemented a number of reforms designed to make the system more fair and to increase higher education opportunities for the population at large. In a very popular move, the ministry dramatically increased enrollment at large.
Social emphasis on education was not without its problems, as it tended to accentuate class differences. In the late 1980s, a college degree was considered necessary for entering the middle class; there were no alternative pathways of social advancement, with the possible exception of a military career, outside higher education. People without a college education, including skilled workers with vocational school backgrounds, often were treated as second-class citizens by their white-collar, college-educated managers, despite the importance of their skills for economic development. Intense competition for places at the most prestigious universities--the sole gateway into elite circles--promoted, like the old Confucian system, a sterile emphasis on rote memorization in order to pass secondary school and college entrance examinations. Particularly after a dramatic expansion of college enrollments in the early 1980s, South Korea faced the problem of what to do about a large number of young people staying in school for a long time, usually at great sacrifice to themselves and their families, and then faced with limited job opportunities because their skills were not marketable.
Great recession
With a slowing economy, a rigid and fast changing job market as a result of the Financial crisis of 2007-08 and the demise of the Industrial Age, many young South Korean high school graduates are now realizing that high entrance examination and test scores for the promise of future career success did not carry the same weight as it once did. In 2013, 43,000 South Koreans in their twenties, and 21,000 in their thirties lost their jobs. According to a 2013 survey conducted by the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training, nearly four out of every 10 young workers in their 20s and 30s said they were overeducated. In 2013, fewer young South Koreans chose go on to university after finishing high school as the unemployment rate for university graduates continues to soar, falling income for college graduates continues to decline and the value of a college degree has now becoming increasingly in doubt. Educational reforms initiated by the South Korean government have become more dynamic and that university is no longer the only guarantee of a career. Government measures have also been prompted to encourage young unemployed college graduates to look at other employment possibilities such starting a business or seeking employment opportunities at smaller and medium size businesses. Former President Lee Myung-Bak urged young unemployed job seekers to start looking at other employment possibilities with small and medium-sized businesses beyond large conglomerates.
An oversaturated and overqualified labor market has resulted shortages of skilled blue-collar labor and a lack of qualified vocational employees for small and medium-sized businesses, young South Koreans now realize that a college degree no longer guarantees a job as it once did. With the nation's high university entrance rate, South Korea has produced an overeducated and underemployed labor force with many being unable find employment at the level of their education qualifications. In addition, a subsequent skills surplus has led to an overall decline in labour underutilization in vocational occupations. In the country, 70.9 percent of high school graduates went on to university in 2014, the highest college attendance rate among the Organization for Economic and Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries. In the third quarter of 2016, one out of three unemployed people in South Korea were university graduates largely attributed to the combination of a protracted South Korean economic slowdown and so-called academic inflation. Many young unemployed South Korean university graduates are now turning to vocational education such as skilled trade and technical schools and have simply opted out the national college entrance examination test in favor of entering straight into the workforce. With dire employment prospects for university graduates, enthusiasm for tertiary education has also been waning, as less than 72% of South Korean high-school students went on to university in 2012, a sharp drop from a high of 84.6% in 2008. Other factors that attribute to this include demographic change and the current economic climate as well as financial burdens - particularly the cost of education has gone up dramatically with income growth for college graduates stagnating. According to 2012 employment trend research conducted by Statistics Korea reveals that college graduates earnings are lower than those of high school graduates. Many traditional Korean families still continue to believe that a university education is the only route to a good well paying job in spite mounting evidence to the contrary according to a McKinsey report, noting that the net present value of a university education now trails the value of a high school diploma, due to huge private education costs. The cultural norms of South Korean parents continue to pressure their children to enter university and have even disregarded the phenomenon for declining income of college graduates where the income for university graduates has fallen that below of high school graduates as well as the fact that the unemployment rate for college graduates is higher than that of high-school graduates. The country has also produced an oversupply of university graduates in South Korea where in the first quarter of 2013 alone, nearly 3.3 million South Korean university graduates were jobless, leading many graduates overqualified for jobs requiring less education. Further criticism has been stemmed for causing labor shortages in various skilled blue-collar labor vocational occupations, where many of which go unfilled. With labor shortages in many skilled labor and vocational occupations, South Korean small and medium-sized businesses complain that they struggle to find enough skilled blue-collar workers to fill potential vocational job vacancies. Despite strong criticism and research statistics pointing alternative career options such as vocational school often with good pay and greater employment prospects that rival the income and prospects of many professional jobs requiring a university degree, a number of South Korean parents still continue to pressure their children regardless of their aptitude to enter university rather than go to a vocational school. In 2012, 93% of South Korean parents expected their children to attend university, but as societal attitudes change and reforms in the South Korean education system reform underway, more young South Koreans are starting to believe that they have to do what they like and what they enjoy in order to be happy to achieve success.
With South Korea's bleak economic and employment prospects for its youth, Prime Minister Park Geun-hye went out internationally to countries such as Germany, Switzerland, and Austria to address South Korea's more glaring employment needs including tackling the country's high youth employment rate and as well as reforming South Korea's education system. In early 2015, Park Geun-Hye traveled to Switzerland to study the European apprenticeship system. By summer, the South Korean government mandated that all students in vocational high schools must also have an opportunity to be an apprentice. The government has also mandated an "employment first, university later" policy to encourage vocational graduates to work in industry and put off higher education until later. Drawing inspiration from the vocational schools and apprenticeship models of Germany and Switzerland, many Meister schools have been established in South Korea to prepare students for careers earlier. The schools offer to teach students specialized industrial skills and job training to tailor the needs of respective South Korean industries such as automobile and mechanical manufacturing and shipbuilding. Dual apprentice schools have also been introduced where students can work and study at the same time. High school students can go to school for a couple of days a week or a set period of the year or study at school for the rest with a stronger emphasis gaining employment skills than rather going to college. Many young South Koreans are now choosing their jobs tailored to their interests rather than blindly accepting career choices imposed by their parents and choosing jobs outside the conventional classroom. With the changing dynamics in the global economy in the 21st century as well as the implementation of vocational education in the South Korean education system as an alternative to the traditional path of going to university, a good education from a prestigious university no longer guarantees a comfortable life, and one's status in society is no longer necessarily guaranteed by educational background. Since the rise of Meister schools and modern reforms in the South Korean education system, many young South Koreans are now realizing that one doesn't necessarily need a college degree to be successful in the workforce and enter the middle class, but instead the right skills. The establishment of Meister schools now shows South Koreans that there can be multiple pathways to socioeconomic and career success and that vocational school graduates can still be professionally and financially successful in South Korean society. Educational reform modeled from Switzerland and Germany offers career alternatives besides the traditional university route allowing South Koreans to express occupational diversity and as well as redefine what is real achievement in South Korean society is. | https://www.k12academics.com/Education%20Worldwide/Education%20in%20South%20Korea/history-education-south-korea |
The goal of the Newton’s second law experiment is to understand and demonstrate the validity of Newton’s 2nd law of motion. The goal is achieved by tactically using a cart moving on a track, a hanging mass providing the motion through gravitation pull and a string connecting the two masses through a single pulley. Once the hanging mass is released, the cart starts moving over the track smoothly whose motion movement are taken by the rotary motion sensor and plotted in the Logger Pro. The acceleration obtained from the velocity plot which is then compared with the calculated value. The force time plot is also used to obtain the measured force which is compared with the calculated force to further verify the Newton’s 2nd Law. The Newton’s 2nd law is described by F=Ma. Mass remains constant throughout this experiment with force and acceleration being used as the variables which rearranges the equation to a=M/F.
The tension exerted on the string by the hanging mass is given by;
T=mg-ma
The mass rolling over the track exerts a tension of;
T=Ma
Equating the two set of equation gives;
Ma+ma=mg
a=m/(M+m) g
With the force acting on moving cart being;
F=Ma=M m/(M+m) g
Error Analysis
The calculated acceleration was 0.4589m/s2 whereas the gradient of the velocity-curve (measured value) was obtained as 0.3368m/s2. The ∆% error was therefore calculated as 26.61%. The force, which was a variable in this experiment was calculated using equation (ii) as 0.28023N and measured (average value of force vs. time) 0.2705N which gave a ∆% error of 3.473%. The irregular ∆% errors suggests the presence of systematic errors possibly due to friction between the wheels of the cart and the cart and in the movement of the pulley. Such errors may be highly reduced through lubrication
Expansion Questions
The tension of the string changes with small magnitudes once the system is released to move. The tension is at its maximum when the cart is held in place, preventing the system from moving. Once the system is allowed to move freely, the tension does not always remain at the maximum level which triggers the conclusion that the external forces might be involved in controlling the motion of the system. Such external forces include friction and inertia.
The tension of the string is not always equal to mg since there are friction and inertia whose interaction causes instability in the tension between the cart and the mass. To prove this, we compare the tensions as the string approaches each mass. The mass m=0.03kg and M=0.6106kg;
T=mg=0.03×9.8=0.294N
T=(M+m)a=(0.6106+0.03)×0.3368=0.2158N
The tension of the string is therefore not always equal to mg as some tension difference is always seen as the system begins to move.
When mass m is zero, the equation becomes;
a=0/(M+0) g
Ma=g
This equation does not make sense physically. In real life cases, making mass m zero would mean removing the overhanging mass causing the acceleration. In that case, the cart would not move and the acceleration is also expected to be zero, hence the acceleration equation does not make sense.
When mass M is zero, the equation becomes;
a=m/(0+m) g
ma=mg=F
a=g
This equation makes sense since, it represents a case where the hanging mass falls freely. In a free fall, the acceleration a is always equal to g even though the values may slightly differ due to air friction. In real life case, this would be imagined as cutting the string of the hanging mass and measuring the acceleration. The acceleration will be approximately 9.8m/s2. | https://mycustomessay.com/samples/newtons-second-law.html |
The WONAT++ library includes unique mathematical methods and computational techniques developed by Optonicus’ team, which allows comprehensive numerical analysis of atmospheric optical systems in realistic operating conditions. The library has many applications including:
- Active and passive imaging
- Adaptive optics
- Beam combining
- Beam shaping
- Laser communication
- Laser target tracking
- Remote sensing
- Target designation
- Target hit-spot sensing
- Video information fusion
High-speed wave-optics simulations based on GPU/CUDA technology
Predictive numerical analysis of atmospheric optical systems is commonly performed using the Monte-Carlo technique. The Monte-Carlo approach requires numerical integration of the wave propagation equations in an optically inhomogeneous medium such as the atmosphere to be repeated hundreds of times and results in extremely time-consuming computations.
To address this challenge, II-VI's research team extended its numerical simulation capabilities by adopting the GPU/CUDA-based computational hardware and software. The WONAT++ library enhanced by the GPU/CUDA technology allows from 10x to 100x acceleration of routine wave-optics simulations.
Computer generation of infinitely long atmospheric phase screens with predefined and varied statistical characteristics
This novel technique offers truly unique capabilities for computer analysis of atmospheric optical systems operating from moving platforms, as well as considers engagements with targets moving over long distances. The movie on the left illustrates the generation of infinitely long phase screens with Kolmogorov atmospheric power spectrum model with fixed statistical characteristics (top-right corner), as well as the propagation of a Gaussian laser beam through atmospheric turbulence modeled by five such screens (bottom-left corner). The computation rate (here around 400 Hz for a 512x512 grid resolution), the scintillation index, and the power measured at the receiver are displayed at the bottom-right of the movie.
To learn more, see A. M. Vorontsov, P. V. Paramonov, M. T. Valley, and M. A. Vorontsov, “Generation of infinitely long phase screens for modeling of optical wave propagation in atmospheric turbulence,” Waves in Random and Complex Media, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 91–108, 2008.
Analysis of long-range atmospheric turbulence effects on optical system performance
Successful development of long-range (>30 km) atmospheric optical systems depends heavily on accurate prediction and performance assessment in various atmospheric conditions and engagement scenarios. The turbulence theory upon which current predictive models are based has only been verified for short propagation distances of several kilometers. Extrapolation of these models to assess performance of long-range systems can result in significant errors. In particular, with recent long-range atmospheric propagation experiments there was a substantial deviation between the data received, and predictions based on classical atmospheric turbulence models . These deviations are most likely caused by the presence of 3D refractive index coherent structures with long correlation lengths that are not accounted for in existing theory and numerical models. The II-VI team has developed innovative mathematical tools for computer generation of 3D (volume) random refractive index fields having arbitrarily long spatial correlation properties. For the first time, this new simulation capability enables high-accuracy analysis of long-range (deep) turbulence effects on optical systems.
In the conventional technique based on the “split”-operator method, the turbulence-induced refractive index inhomogeneities are represented by a set of infinitely narrow (2D) phase distorting layers (phase screens) .These 2D phase screens are statistically independent (delta-correlated) along optical wave propagation direction. This commonly used model cannot be applied for computer analysis of long-range and deep turbulence effects associated with presence of large-scale (thick) refractive index layers with long correlation lengths. For the same reason the conventional “thin” (2D) phase screen approach does not permit analysis of optical systems whose performance depends on variation in optical path difference (piston phase) along the propagation path. Among these systems are coherent imaging ladars, optical vibrometers and interferometers.
Contrary to the conventional approach, in the 3D-turbulence computer simulation technique developed by II-VI, the turbulence-induced refractive index inhomogeneities are represented by a set of large-scale phase distorting slabs extended over long distance, as shown in the picture on the left. In each 3D turbulent slab statistical properties of the refractive index correlation are preserved inside the entire 3D volume. The turbulent slabs can be extended up to a few kilometers or even longer.
1. M. A. Vorontsov, G. W. Carhart, V. S. Rao Gudimetla, T. Weyrauch, E. Stevenson, S. L. Lachinova, L. A. Beresnev, J. Liu, K. Rehder, and J. F. Riker, “Characterization of atmospheric turbulence effects over 149 km propagation path using multi-wavelength laser beacons,” Proceedings of the 2010 AMOS Conference, p. E18, 2010.
2. M. C. Roggemann and B. Welsh, Imaging Through Turbulence, CRC Press, 1996.
Target-in-the-loop (TIL) beam propagation and speckle effects: modeling and performance analysis
The innovative TIL laser beam propagation mathematical and computational models based on the brightness function method offers up to an order of magnitude decrease in the computational time required for analysis of directed energy, active imaging and laser designation systems operating with extended (speckle) targets. The developed computational technique allows accurate analysis of laser beam propagation with various spatial and temporal coherence characteristics, scattering off extended target of different shapes and surface roughness and accounts for back scattering speckle-field propagation through atmospheric channels.
To learn more, see M. A. Vorontsov and V. Kolosov, “Target-in-the-loop beam control: Basic considerations for analysis and wavefront sensing,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. A, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 126–141, 2005, and V. V. Dudorov, M. A. Vorontsov, and V. V. Kolosov, “Speckle-field propagation in “frozen” turbulence: brightness function approach,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. A, vol. 23, no. 8, pp. 1924–1936, 2006.
Anisoplanatic imaging through atmospheric turbulence: brightness function approach
This new numerical technique allows computationally efficient numerical analysis of incoherent (white light) wide field of view imaging systems operating in turbulent atmosphere. The images on the left represent examples of numerical simulation of the performance of imaging sensor of the tracker system in different turbulence conditions (turbulence strength increases from top-left to bottom-right picture).
To learn more, see S. L. Lachinova, M. A. Vorontsov, V. V. Dudorov, V. V. Kolosov, and M. T. Valley, “Anisoplanatic imaging through atmospheric turbulence: Brightness function approach,” Proc. SPIE, vol. 6708, p. 67080E, 2007. | https://www.iiviad.com/portfolio/mathematical-simulation-techniques/ |
Here are some advantages of an effective production plan and schedule:
- Reduced labor costs by eliminating wasted time and improving process flow.
- Reduced inventory costs by decreasing the need for safety stocks and excessive work-in-process inventories.
- Optimized equipment usage and increased capacity.
- Improved on-time deliveries of products and services.
Key factors of a production plan
Effective planning hinges on a sound understanding of key activities that entrepreneurs and business managers should apply to the planning process. Here are some examples:
- Forecast market expectations – To plan effectively, you will need to estimate potential sales with some reliability. Most businesses don’t have firm numbers on future sales. However, you can forecast sales based on historical information, market trends, and established orders.
- Inventory control – Reliable inventory levels feeding the pipeline have to be established and a sound inventory system should be in place.
- Availability of equipment and human resources – Also known as open time, this is the period allowed between processes so that all orders flow within your production line or service. Production planning helps you manage open time, ensuring it is well-utilized while being careful not to create delays. Planning should maximize your operational capacity but not exceed it. It’s also wise not to plan for full capacity and leave room for unexpected priorities and changes that may arise.
- Standardized steps and time – Typically, the most efficient means to determine your production steps is to map processes in the order that they happen and then incorporate the average time it took to complete the work. Remember that all steps don’t happen in sequence and that many may occur at the same time.
After completing a process map, you will understand how long it will take to complete the entire process. Where work is repeated or similar, it is best to standardize the work and time involved. Document similar activities for future use and use them as a baseline to establish future routings and times. This will speed up your planning process significantly.
During the process map stage, you may identify waste. You can use operational efficiency/lean manufacturing principles to eliminate waste, shorten the process and improve deliveries and costs.
- Risk factors – Evaluate these by collecting historical information on similar work experiences, detailing the actual time, materials and failures encountered. Where risks are significant, you should conduct a failure mode effect analysis method (FMEA) and ensure that controls are put in place to eliminate or minimize them. This method allows you to study and determine ways to diminish potential problems within your business operations. This type of analysis is more common in manufacturing and assembly businesses.
How to plan work
All other activities are initiated from the production plan and each area is dependent on the interaction of the activities. Typically, a plan addresses materials, equipment, human resources, training, capacity, and the routing or methods to complete the work in a standard time. To do a good sales forecast, you should base it on a history of firm orders.
The production plan initially needs to address specific key elements well before production to ensure an uninterrupted flow of work as it unfolds.
- Material ordering – Materials and services that require a long lead time or are at an extended shipping distance, also known as blanket orders, should be ordered in advance of production requirements. Suppliers should send you materials periodically to ensure an uninterrupted pipeline.
- Equipment procurement – Procuring specialized tools and equipment to initiate the production process may require a longer lead time. Keep in mind that the equipment may have to be custom-made or simply difficult to set up. This type of equipment may also require special training.
- Bottlenecks – These are constraints or restrictions in the process flow and should be assessed in advance so you can plan around them or eliminate them before you begin production. When you assess possible bottlenecks, be aware that they may shift to another area of the process. Dealing with bottlenecks is a continual challenge for any business.
- Human resources acquisitions and training – Key or specialized positions may demand extensive training on specialized equipment, technical processes, or regulatory requirements. Employees should be interviewed thoroughly about their skills. When hiring them, allow sufficient time for training and ensure that they are competent in their work before the job begins. This will ensure that your process or service flows smoothly.
The production plan provides a foundation to schedule the actual work and plan the details of day-to-day activities. As sales orders come in, you will need to address them individually based on their priority. The importance of the sales order will determine the workflow and when it should be scheduled. After this, you should evaluate whether or not you are ready for production or offer the service. You will need to determine:
- If the inventory is available at the point where work is to start? If not, then the work needs to be rescheduled when supplies become available. There is no point in scheduling work that you will not be able to complete.
- Are your resources available? Do you have the necessary staff to complete the task? Are the machines being used?
- Does the standard time fit within the open time allowed? If not, then the work should be rescheduled.
- You should be careful to minimize risk factors; allowing too many what-ifs can delay delivery and be counterproductive.
Communicate the plan
After you have determined that you have met the criteria to start production, you will need to communicate the plan to the employees who will implement it. You can plan production on spreadsheets, databases, or software, which usually speeds the process up. However, a visual representation is preferable as a means to communicate operation schedules to floor employees. Some businesses post work orders on boards or use computer monitors to display the floor schedule. The schedule also needs to be available to employees ahead of time and kept up to date.
Consider change
One of the many challenges of production planning and scheduling is following up with changes to orders. Changes happen every day. You will need to adjust your plan in line with these changes and advise the plant. Dealing with change is not always easy and may take as much effort as creating the original production plan. You will need to follow up with the various departments involved to rectify any problems. As well, computer software can help track changes, inventory, employees, and equipment. | https://www.titanarmor.com/makes-good-production-plan/ |
by Igor Blaško and Imrich Gál
The INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Audits’ (WGEA) work plan has a number of goals. One of these goals is to prepare a project on energy. This is the SAI of Slovakia experience.
The question of resources and their efficiency is as old as humankind. INTOSAI and individual SAIs certainly have this topic on their minds. Energy efficiency is also at the heart of Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and the transition to a resource efficient economy. Energy efficiency is arguably one of the most cost effective ways to enhance security of energy supply. Energy efficiency itself is one of the biggest energy resources, and that’s certainly the case in Europe. This is why the European Union (EU) has set a target to save 20 percent of its primary energy consumption by 2020. Meeting that target should help the EU achieve long-term energy and climate goals. The combined effects of existing and new EU measures have potential, for example, for saving 1 000 EUR per household/year, creating almost 2 million jobs, and reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions by 740 million tons.
The greatest energy saving potential lies in effective energy consumption management especially in real property such as buildings and homes. The public sector can take a lead by renovating public sector buildings, encouraging renovations in private buildings, improving energy performance of components and appliances used in those buildings, refurbishing public buildings through binding targets, introducing energy efficiency criteria in public spending, and foreseeing obligations to cut energy consumption in whole.
But what are the individual countries and their SAIs´ achievements in this field?
In 2015, the SAI of Slovakia performed a combined compliance and performance audit as a part of the INTOSAI WGEA project on energy savings. The audit goal was to assess the fulfillment of tasks by the State according to adopted international agreements and EU legislation, and finally, fulfillment of the long term goal to lower the primary energy consumption by 20 percent by 2020.
In Slovakia, several Ministries and State Administration Institutions have responsibilities for energy efficiency initiatives and energy savings in the public sector. The institution with primary responsibility for managing the public sector energy effectiveness and energy savings in Slovakia is Ministry of Economy. The SAI of Slovakia was not able to audit all of these institutions for lack of resources; but, the audit covered the most important institutions with responsibility for energy efficiency in the country.
The audit was performed in Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency, Environmental Fund and Agricultural Paying Agency. The audited timeframe was 2012 – 2014.
The Slovak Republic has adopted and implemented into its legal framework all EU Directives that concern the energy effectiveness and energy savings. The concept of energy effectiveness is being implemented through three-year action plans.
The Ministry of Economy assesses progress in meeting the national targets every year and, if needed, the Ministry amends the targets and informs European Commission (EC) about those changes.
The Ministry has also established a permanent intra-ministerial commission to prepare action plans for energy effectiveness in Slovakia.
The SAI of Slovakia publishes the relevant reports on its web site.
The audit at the Ministry of Economy detected several shortcomings related to the Slovakia´s progress meeting the nation’s strategic goals and objectives. They were defined as:
- Financial Risks–Derived from the System of Financing the Activities.
1.1 The resources were deemed insufficient, fragmented, and not coordinated. There was no systemic mechanism to support and unite the existing support mechanisms and make provisions for accepting new tools and mechanisms.
1.2 Problematic access to finance energy savings plans and products for municipalities – due to a special legislation (Constitutional Act 493/2011 on Fiscal Responsibility) that sets particular rules for indebtedness applicable in Public Administration and municipalities, some municipalities cannot borrow funds.
1.3 Insufficient sources to finance compulsory renewals of the State Administration buildings that would fulfil the energy savings goals.
1.4Insufficient use of EU Structural funds. For example, the audit reported shortcomings in the pace of public procurements, low and ineffective use of allocated financial resources by the recipient, and high administrative complexity.
- Capacity Risks–Lack of Employees in Energy Savings Field.
2.1 With increasing demands on analytical and administrative components of the processes, it would be necessary to increase the number of State employees in the given field. At the time of the audit, there were only 4 people at the Ministry of the Economy to perform analysis, develop legislation, manage the finances, evaluate he programs, monitor spending and administer the program.
2.2 All central organs of the State Administration were experiencing the same problems as described in 2.1 –existing employees having insufficient or poor qualifications and having not adequate time to fulfill the given agenda duties. Also there was a high level of employees attrition that hampered continuity and performance.
2.3 Various necessary assessments took too much time due to low level of employees number assigned to the tasks.
2.4 The individual State Administration departments are not prepared to accommodate increasing requirements from the energy savings plans stemming from the commitments to the EU.
- Risks Related to Assessment of Measures in Energy Effectiveness and Progress Towards Meeting the Program Goals.
3.1 The energy savings indicators were not always obligatory – the lack of data didn´t allow assessing possible savings.
3.2 The accountings for energy savings methods were complicated.
3.3 The Ministry of Economy is not going to be a leader for any operational program in the period 2014 – 2020. And that means it won´t have any direct influence to identify energy savings projects that should have priority.
3.4 Great differences were detected in similar projects. Significant disparities were found among various project costs that were identical or almost identical. Financing energy effectiveness founded from public (EU) resources should be equal to those projects in private sector.
3.5 Some European Commission assessment methods and guidance were missing for computing certain calculations.
- Risks Related to Translations
4.1 There is no check-up system for before and after adopting EU regulations. After the adoption of the Lisbon Agreement, the system of delegated regulations came into life (delegated regulation allows European Commission to issue a regulation that is only formally approved by the EU Council/Parliament). If a mistake is found in the translation, the regulations are printed and in force with the misprint corrected ex post in “corrigendum” (with a time lag). The translations were approved by the European Commission without possibility to lodge any submission. This timeline made it impossible to check the correct use of Slovak language in connection to Slovak legislative framework. At present, verifications of the translations is done unofficially among DG Energy, DE Translation and the Ministry of Economy. There is no guarantee that all regulations will be examined.
Overall, the audit findings also stated, that
- Slovakia breached its duty to provide annual renewal of 3 percent of total heated and cooled space in buildings owned and managed by Government and its bodies;
- To achieve the energy savings policy goals, the Government should systematically use the proceeds from emission trading schemes and revenues as well as excise duties collected from electricity, coal and natural gases sales;
- Resources for funding compulsory reconstruction of the State Administration buildings in period 2014 – 2020 are not sufficient.
To eliminate the detected shortcomings, the auditees approved 27 measures and SAI Slovakia will monitor their fulfillment. The report also found that it may be necessary simplify administrative procedures and tying the governmental support to achieved energy savings. | http://intosaijournal.org/auditing-energy-savings-in-public-administration-in-slovakia/ |
Workshop on Introduction to Swift Playgrounds
The workshop is intended for beginners without any programming knowledge. “Swift Playgrounds” is an iPad app for learning Swift language. Learners will made up executable lines of Swift codes to solve puzzles. In the workshop, some computational skills, such as variables, functions, logic flow control and arrays, will be presented to participants.
Workshop Content
- Introduction to programming and Swift Language
- What Swift Playgrounds books are and their applications
- Examples of solving puzzles in Swift Playgrounds books
|Date:||12, 19, 26 October and 2 November (Tuesdays)|
|Time:||10:00 am – 12:00 pm (2-hour tutorials x 4)|
|Target:||Students|
|Language:||Cantonese supplemented with English|
Resource
LTTC provide iPad loan service to all students at EdUHK. iPads are available for borrowing for up to 3-weeks on a first-come-first-served basis. Please send an email to [email protected] if you would like to borrow an iPad. Do remember to place your borrow reason(s). | https://www.lttc.eduhk.hk/for-students/coding-education-unit/ios-apps-develop/ |
** The primary topic of this dissertation is the study of the relationships between parts and wholes as described by particular physical theories, namely generalized probability theories in a quasi-classical physics framework and non-relativistic quantum theory. ** A large part of this dissertation is devoted to understanding different aspects of four different kinds of correlations: local, partially-local, no-signaling and quantum mechanical correlations. Novel characteristics of these correlations have been used to study how they are related and how they can be discerned via Bell-type inequalities that give non-trivial bounds on the strength of the correlations. ** The study of quantum correlations has also prompted us to study a) the multi-partite qubit state space with respect to its entanglement and separability characteristics, and b) the differing strength of the correlations in separable and entangled qubit states. Results include a novel classification of multipartite (partial) separability and entanglement, strong constraints on the monogamy of entanglement and of non-local correlations, and many new entanglement detection criteria that are directly experimentally accessible. ** Because of the generality of the investigation these results also have strong foundational as well as philosophical repercussions for the different sorts of physical theories as a whole; notably for the viability of hidden variable theories for quantum mechanics, for the possibility of doing experimental metaphysics, for the question of holism in physical theories, and for the classical vs. quantum dichotomy.
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References found in this work BETA
Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky & Nathan Rosen - 1935 - Physical Review (47):777-780.
The Problem of Hidden Variables in Quantum Mechanics.Simon Kochen & E. P. Specker - 1967 - Journal of Mathematics and Mechanics 17:59--87.
Quantum Computation and Quantum Information.Michael A. Nielsen, Isaac L. Chuang & Isaac L. Chuang - 2000 - Cambridge University Press.
Incompleteness, Nonlocality, and Realism: A Prolegomenon to the Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics.Michael Redhead - 1987 - Oxford University Press.
Autobiographical Notes.Max Black, Albert Einstein & Paul Arthur Schilpp - 1949 - Journal of Symbolic Logic 15 (2):157.
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Citations of this work BETA
Physical Composition.Richard Healey - 2013 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 44 (1):48-62.
Not Throwing Out the Baby with the Bathwater: Bell's Condition of Local Causality Mathematically 'Sharp and Clean'.Michiel P. Seevinck & Jos Uffink - 2010 - In Dennis Dieks, Wenceslao Gonzalo, Thomas Uebel, Stephan Hartmann & Marcel Weber (eds.), Explanation, Prediction, and Confirmation. Springer. pp. 425--450.
Nonlocality Without Nonlocality.Steven Weinstein - 2009 - Foundations of Physics 39 (8):921-936.
Constraints on Determinism: Bell Versus Conway–Kochen.Eric Cator & Klaas Landsman - 2014 - Foundations of Physics 44 (7):781-791.
A Flea on Schrödinger's Cat.Np Klaas Landsman & Robin Reuvers - 2013 - Foundations of Physics 43 (3):373-407.
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The development of linguistics is perhaps the single most significant development in the history of human civilization. Language and speech allowed humans to communicate with each other in ways that formed the foundation of nearly every aspect of civilization. Later, the development of writing made it possible to record information and to pass this information along to others, and to future generations. The earliest examples of writing were, by contemporary standards, fairly crude. This early writing often took the form of pictographs, wherein symbols were used to represent specific objects or ideas. Such writing was generally utilitarian, and was used to keep track of commercial activities, such as trade and other business transactions. As writing became more complex, and pictography was supplemented by the development of written symbols used to represent sounds and word, the way that writing could be used became even more complex. The development of writing served to underpin the advancement of ancient civilizations; the evidence of this can be found in innumerable artifacts and archeological items. This paper will examine the development and evolution of early writing systems as seen in civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia and China.
It is generally agreed that the earliest evidence of written language comes from the region of Mesopotamia1. As noted, this earliest writing was primarily used for keeping records of commercial transactions. Such writing took the form of pictographs, wherein symbols were drawn to represent known objects, such as might be found in trade or for sale1. These images typically represented livestock and other animals, such as sheep or oxen or fish; additionally, agricultural products such as wheat, barley, and oats were represented by pictographs1. Physical objects such as pottery or other items used for trade and commercial activities were also represented by pictographs.
This use of writing was, by its very nature, fairly crude, and had limited use. It was possible to keep records of items that had been bought or sold, and this allowed various aspects of commercial activity to be recorded and detailed in more accurate ways than could be done simply through spoken communication. Beyond that, however, pictography did not allow for the communication of more sophisticated or complex ideas or other forms of communication that were, at the time, only done through speaking. The Sumerians, an early civilization in the region of Mesopotamia, advanced the use of writing as a means of communication by developing a graphic system that used various symbols to represent sounds and syllables, making it possible for writing to more accurately represent and record the words that made up spoken language1. With the development of such a graphic system, it was now possible for written language to be used for more abstract ideas and thoughts than could be captured by simple pictography.
Over time, this advent of graphic writing systems was merged with the already-existing system of pictography, and a more sophisticated system of writing was developed. Using a combination of pictographs and graphics, writing could now be put to use to record much more than just commercial records; this evolution in writing laid the foundation for the development of literature, as it was possible to write stories, poems, and other literary works that would previously have only been recorded or transmitted through memory and the spoken word. The Sumerians developed a system for recording the pictographs and graphic symbols used for writing that is now known as “cuneiform.”2 Members of society who were responsible for learning to write and for recording those things that needed to be written down were known as scribes, and these scribes used a writing implement known as a stylus to make marks in slabs of wet clay. The shape of the stylus pressing into the wet clay left a wedge-shaped impression; “cuneiform” is based on a combination of Latin words that means, simply “wedge-shaped.”1
This cuneiform writing remained in use for thousands of years, and as the use of writing spread throughout the ancient world, cuneiform writing spread with it, becoming common throughout parts of the Middle East and Asia.
While the development of writing systems had significant influence on the ways that ancient civilizations developed and evolved, there were also social and cultural conditions in these ancient civilizations that influenced how these writing systems evolved. Some historians note the difference between “ceremonial” and “utilitarian” writing, drawing distinctions between the forms of writing that were used primarily for those seen, for example, in early Sumerian writing, where the purpose of writing was largely for recording commercial activities, and the kind of writing that was used for what might be considered to be more “artistic” purposes3. Ancient Chinese writing, for example, was put to use for the same sort of commercial record keeping seen in Mesopotamia, but it was also used for the purposes of writing poetry or narratives, for discussions about theology and philosophy, and for other abstract uses4. Some contemporary research seems to demonstrate that the utilitarian uses of writing as seen in ancient Mesopotamia remained the predominant way in which writing was employed for many centuries. By contrast, the development of writing in ancient China, which arose more or less at the same time as did writing in Mesopotamia, evolved into uses for more abstract writing far earlier than it did elsewhere4. When researchers examine the evidence of such differences in how writing evolved, and the ways in which it was used, some of the most significant questions that arise are related to these differences, and in determining whether the use of writing for more abstract purposes in China, for example, was a result of already-existing aspects of Chinese culture and society, or if the ability to use writing for more abstract purposes underpinned the way that ancient Chinese culture developed.
Another question that researchers often consider is how much of the writing that developed in different ancient cultures arose spontaneously and independently of other civilizations and cultures, and how much of it arose from communication and contact between different cultures. It seems clear that some of the advances in writing that were developed in Sumer, for example, were carried forth on trade routes and made their way into use in other cultures and societies1. At the same time, however, there were significant differences in the way that writing evolved in different cultures; in China, for example, early forms of written language were based on a pictograph system (the influence of which still exists in contemporary Chinese writing) just as were the earliest forms of writing in Sumer. Despite the general similarities between the writing of these two cultures, however, the pictograph system used in China was quite different than was that used in Sumer1. It may be possible that the development of writing in these two ancient cultures arose independently of each other yet was still influenced by each other. This would seem to explain why there are some fundamental similarities yet also some fundamental differences between the writing systems of these two, and of other ancient cultures.
There is no question that the development of writing had significant influence on the development and course of cultural evolution in ancient societies. In Mesopotamia, for example, traditional forms of education that existed prior to the development of writing were, just as was early writing, largely utilitarian. For young people acquiring an education, their experience was primarily vocational; in contemporary terms it might be referred to as on-the-job training1. As writing developed and became widely used in various aspects of societal activity, it became necessary to establish formal educational facilities that were primarily intended to teach scribes how to write. Learning to write was a time-consuming and challenging process1, and for those who did learn to write there were some notable societal advantages. It was, of course, not only necessary to learn how to make marks on clay; it was also necessary to understand what those marks meant. As writing grew more sophisticated, and the amount and type of information that could be recorded by scribes became greater and more complex, those who were capable of writing were also becoming well-versed in nearly every aspect of their society and culture. This education aligned well with careers in public service, and it was common for scribes to go on to serve in local government, to enter the priesthood, or to otherwise take on some role in public life in their communities1.
Regardless of whether writing in ancient China developed primarily independently of writing in other civilizations or if it was heavily influenced by outside forces, the historical record seems to indicate that it was used for purposes other than those that were strictly utilitarian much earlier than in some other cultures and civilizations. Examples of writing found in ancient China from the Shang dynasty that date nearly 4000 years old show that writing was used for simple matters such as commercial record keeping, but was also used for religious and ceremonial purposes4. Bronze statues and other artifacts from this period show inscriptions that are related to “divination records”4 and other ceremonial uses, and other examples of early writing in ancient China show that it was used for discussions related to the ideas put forth by ancient Chinese philosophers and other non-utilitarian uses.
It can be difficult to say with certainty exactly how much writing influenced the evolution of ancient cultures and how much these ancient cultures influenced the evolution of writing. What is certain, however, is that the two are deeply interconnected, and that writing was an integral component of the development of evolution and culture. Although it began as a means of making it easier to keep accurate business records, writing soon became a means of recording much more than simple trade and sale transactions. It became a means of recording and transmitting the idea and beliefs and philosophies of these ancient cultures; in a sense, it became an integral part of these cultures. The development of the written word allowed these cultures to evolve and develop over the centuries, and assured that they would remain alive even today.
- Gunduz, Metin. “The Origin of Sumerians.” Advances in Anthropology 2, no. 4 (2012): 221-223. Accessed March 14,”2013.
- Postgate, Nicholas, Tao Wang, and Toby Wilkinson. “The evidence for early writing: utilitarian or ceremonial?.” Antiquity 69, no. 264 (1995): 459. Accessed March 14,”2013.
- Liu, Li, and Hong Xu. “Rethinking Erlitou: legend, history, and Chinese archaeology.” Antiquity 81, no. 314 (2007): 886-901. Accessed March 14,”2013. | https://mypaperwriter.com/samples/the-influence-of-written-language-on-the-evolution-of-ancient-cultures/ |
Quantifying the bacterial level in the sample can be done in several ways. New rapid diagnostic tests can identify particular bacteria in a sample, but the total bacterial count is informative and important in a manufacturing or diagnostic process; there are several ways to do this. Later in the course you will use a statistical technique on water samples called the Most Probably Number (MPN).
- Direct microscopic counts of cells can be done, visually, and by various types of electronic particle counters.
- Viable bacterial counts can be determined by the Standard Plate Count (SPC) method. A sample is diluted several times (serial dilution) and then plated over the agar surface of a petri plate. After incubation the number of colonies on the plate can be counted and are directly related to the number of bacteria in original sample, based on the magnitude of the dilutions. Each colony arises from a single bacterium, or group of bacterium depending on the typical arrangement (tetrad, staph, diplo, etc.) and is referred to as a Colony Forming Unit (CFU).
- Indirect counts of a sample can be performed by using a spectrophotometer and measuring the turbidity (aka absorbance or Optical Density) of the sample. This is called the Turbidimetric method. A standard curve must be created using the known count of a sample, and then counts of various dilutions can be extrapolated.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each method. Direct counts sample small amounts of a larger sample and one can’t distinguish between live cells and dead cells. One could however, see a variety of cell types. Likewise, the Turbidimetric method would also count live and dead cells, though one could not distinguish different types of cells. In addition, the Optical Density (OD) of a culture may not always be linear especially at high cell density (twice the number of cells may not cause twice the turbidity). The Standard Plate Count does represent live cells, and sometimes a variety of colony types indicate the composition of the original sample. The SPC would not account for cells that might not grow well on the type of media being used, or cells that might be inhibited by other bacteria or other environmental factors. This is not a problem in a sample of known bacteria. | https://bio.libretexts.org/Courses/College_of_the_Canyons/Bio_221Lab%3A_Introduction_to_Microbiology_(Burke)/10%3A_Bacterial_Growth_Patterns-_Direct_Count_The_Standard_Plate_Count_and_Indirect_Turbidimetric_Methods/10.02%3A_Introduction |
Why oxides of non metals are acidic?
Last Update: April 20, 2022
This is a question our experts keep getting from time to time. Now, we have got the complete detailed explanation and answer for everyone, who is interested!Asked by: Raven Vandervort
Score: 4.3/5 (14 votes)
The oxides of non-metals are acidic. If a non-metal oxide dissolves in water, it will form an acid. The non-metal oxides can be neutralized with a base to form a salt and water.
Why non-metal oxides are called acidic?
Metallic oxide are basic in nature because when it is dissolve in water then it's form base. similarly when non-metallic oxide dissolve in water it's form acid. ... And non-mettalic oxides are called acidic in nature cause they react with base to form salt and water.
Are non-metal oxides acidic?
Metallic oxides are basic and non-metallic oxides are acidic.
Are metal oxides acidic?
In general, metal oxides are basic and non-metal oxides are acidic. Some metal oxides react with water to form alkaline solutions.
Is CO2 metal or nonmetal?
Chemical properties
For example, sulfur and carbon are both non-metals. They react with oxygen to form sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide. These compounds are both gases present in the air and which dissolve in rain water, making it acidic.
To prove that the oxides of non metals are acidic in nature
What are metal oxides called?
Any aqueous basic solution produces OH- ions. And similarly the metal oxides also produce OH- ions in the aqueous solution. That's why metal oxides are also known as the basic oxides.
Is CO2 a non-metal oxide?
Non - metallic oxides like CO2, SO2 , and NO2 shows acidic nature, justify it.
Is aluminum a base or acid?
Aluminium oxide is amphoteric. It has reactions as both a base and an acid. Reaction with water: Aluminum oxide is insoluble in water and does not react like sodium oxide and magnesium oxide. The oxide ions are held too strongly in the solid lattice to react with the water.
Is MGO acidic or basic?
Magnesium oxide is a simple basic oxide, because it contains oxide ions. It reacts with water to form magnesium hydroxide which is a base.
Is Tl2O3 acidic or basic?
In2O3, Tl2O3 and Tl2O are basic. When a metal exists in two oxidation states, the lower oxidation state is more basic.
Is Aluminium an oxide?
Aluminium oxide is a chemical compound of aluminium and oxygen with the chemical formula Al2O3. It is the most commonly occurring of several aluminium oxides, and specifically identified as aluminium(III) oxide.
Is carbon dioxide a neutral oxide?
The neutral oxide is Carbon monoxide CO, Option D is correct. Note: Here CO is soluble in water but it is a neutral oxide because it does not form any acid or any base when reacted with water rather it forms Carbon dioxide.
What is difference between oxide and dioxide?
The key difference between oxide and dioxide is that oxide is any compound having one or more oxygen atoms combined with another chemical element, whereas dioxide is an oxide containing two atoms of oxygen in its molecule. ... Therefore, dioxide is an oxide containing two oxygen atoms per molecule.
Which non-metal is good conductor of electricity?
Graphite is a non-metal and it is the only non-metal that can conduct electricity. You can find non-metals on the right side of the periodic table and graphite is the only non-metal that is a good conductor of electricity.
Are metal oxides salt?
Metal oxides are crystalline solids that contain a metal cation and an oxide anion. They typically react with water to form bases or with acids to form salts.
Which metal is present in calcium hydroxide?
As the name suggests, the given compound calcium hydroxide comprises a metal calcium and a group of non-metals i.e. hydroxide.
How is an oxide formed?
Oxide Formation
Natural formation of oxides involves either oxidation by oxygen or else hydrolysis. When elements burn in an oxygen-rich environment (such as metals in the thermite reaction), they readily yield oxides. Metals also react with water (especially the alkali metals) to yield hydroxides.
What is dioxide made of?
Carbon dioxide is composed of one carbon atom covalently bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is a gas (at standard temperature and pressure) that is exhaled by animals and utilized by plants during photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide, CO2, is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms and one carbon atom.
How many types of oxides are there?
There are different properties which help distinguish between the three types of oxides. The term anhydride ("without water") refers to compounds that assimilate H2O to form either an acid or a base upon the addition of water.
What are the 7 neutral oxides?
- Nitrous oxide (N2O)
- Nitric oxide (NO)
- Carbon monoxide (CO)
- Water (H2O)
- Manganese(IV) oxide (MnO2)
How can you tell if an oxide is acidic or basic?
In general, the electropositive character of the oxide's central atom will determine whether the oxide will be acidic or basic. The more electropositive the central atom, the more basic the oxide. The more electronegative the central atom, the more acidic the oxide.
Is CO2 acidic or alkaline?
Carbon dioxide is particularly influential in regulating pH. It is acidic, and its concentration is in continual flux as a result of its utilization by aquatic plants in photosynthesis and release in respiration of aquatic organisms.
Is aluminum oxide toxic to humans?
Aluminium oxides rank amongst the less toxic substances and only exhibit toxic effects in high concentrations. ... However, the oral intake of aluminium oxide over a long time period should be avoided as elevated aluminium levels in the blood could cause side effects on human health.
Can Aluminium oxide be reduced?
Aluminium oxide is a highly stable oxide of aluminium. Thus, it is chemically inert. Metal oxides can be reduced to the corresponding metal by using a suitable reducing agent. ... This is why aluminium is extracted from its ore bauxite by electrolytic reduction. | https://miniexperience.com.au/why-oxides-of-non-metals-are-acidic |
More about Laurence Kirmayer...
Laurence J. Kirmayer, MD, FRCPC, is James McGill Professor and Director, Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University. He is Editor-in-Chief of Transcultural Psychiatry, the journal of the Section on Transcultural Psychiatry of the World Psychiatric Association, and directs the Culture and Mental Health Research Unit at the Department of Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. He founded and directs the annual Summer Program and Advanced Study Institute in Cultural Psychiatry at McGill. He also founded and co-directs the CIHR-IAPH Network for Aboriginal Mental Health Research. His past research includes studies on cultural consultation, pathways and barriers to mental health care for immigrants and refugees, somatization in primary care, cultural concepts of mental health and illness in Inuit communities, risk and protective factors for suicide among Inuit youth, and resilience among Indigenous peoples. His current projects include a multi-site study of culturally-based, family-centered mental health promotion for Aboriginal youth; development of a web-based multicultural mental health resource centre; and the use of the cultural formulation in cultural consultation.
Douglas Hollan, PhD
Professor, Department of Anthropology, UCLA
Member, Board of Directors, Foundation for Psychocultural Research
More about Douglas Hollan...
Douglas Hollan, PhD is Professor in the Department of Anthropology at University of California, Los Angeles; Instructor at the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute; and President of the Society for Psychological Anthropology. His research interests include psychological anthropology; cross-cultural psychiatry; person-centered ethnography; and the cross-cultural study of mind, consciousness, and mental disorder. He is the co-author ofContentment and Suffering: Culture and Experience in Toraja (1994) and The Thread of Life: Toraja Reflections on the Life Cycle. Dr. Hollan is currently conducting cross-cultural studies of dreams, consciousness, and cultural idioms of distress. He is a member of the FPR Board, and holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology and in Psychoanalysis.
Eran Zaidel, PhD
Professor, Department of Psychology, UCLA
More about Eran Zaidel...
Eran Zaidel, PhD, is a Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology at UCLA and Director of the Zaidel Lab, which focuses on on hemispheric specialization and interhemispheric interaction in the mind/brain. The lab works with normal participants and participants with acquired (hemispheric lesions, split-brain, etc.) and developmental (ADHD, dyslexia, and schizophrenia) deficits using a variety of techniques, ranging from behavior to neurophysiology to neuroanatomy. They also study hemispheric relations in a variety of domains, including attention, perception, problem solving, error-monitoring, emotions and social cognition. Recent projects include hemispheric relations in attention and emotions (impulsivity, depression, and anxiety) and modulation of brain activity using EEG-Biofeedback.
Affiliated Faculty
Lauren Ban, PhD
Senior Research Fellow, Centre for International Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia
More about Lauren Ban...
Lauren Ban, PhD, is currently a Senior Research Fellow with the Centre for International Mental Health in Melbourne, Australia. She has recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Transcultural Psychiatry at the Jewish General Hospital/McGill University and Cultural Psychology at Concordia University. Her PhD in social and cultural psychology explored folk perceptions of mental disorder among people with East Asian (primarily Chinese Singaporean) and Australian cultural backgrounds. Her work now looks at explanatory models of mental illness, resilience, recovery and psychological stigma from a cultural psychology perspective.
Jennifer Bartz, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, McGill University
More about Jennifer Bartz...
Jennifer Bartz is Assistant Professor in Social Psychology at McGill University. She is interested in the ability to engage in prosocial, communal behavior is vital to developing and maintaining close relationships. Her work investigates the factor-both individual difference and situational-that hinder or facilitate people’s ability to engage in such behaviors. Her research is grounded in personality and social psychology, but also draws upon clinical and neuroscience traditions. Specifically, she conducts research in both healthy and clinical (Autism, borderline personality disorder) populations, and uses a multi-method approach involving experiential, behavioral, and biological levels of analysis.
Alain Brunet, PhD
Director, Psychosocial Research Division, Douglas Institute, McGill University
More about Alain Brunet...
Alain Brunet, Director of the Psychosocial Research Division at the Douglas Institute and Associate Professor at the Department of Psychiatry, McGill University. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Victimology, President of Traumatic Stress, Canadian Psychological Association and the founder of i-trauma website. As a clinical psychologist, he has been investigating the impact of trauma exposure on individuals for over 15 years, with a special focus on characterizing the risk factors and developing effective treatments for PTSD, such as early intervention and reconsolidation of blockade.
Suparna Choudhury, PhD
Assistant Professor, Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University
More about Suparna Choudhury...
Suparna Choudhury is an Assistant Professor at the Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University and an Investigator at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research. She did her doctoral research in cognitive neuroscience at University College London, postdoctoral research in transcultural psychiatry at McGill and most recently directed an interdisciplinary research program on critical neuroscience and the developing brain at the Max Planck Institute for History of Science in Berlin. Her current work investigates the production and dissemination of biomedical knowledge – in particular cognitive neuroscience – that shapes the ways in which researchers, clinicians, patients and laypeople understand themselves, their mental health and their illness experiences. Dr Choudhury’s research focuses primarily on the cases of the adolescent brain, cultural neuroscience and personalized genomic medicine. Her research investigates (i) How biological knowledge with significant social and clinical impact is produced. This line of research has focused mainly on the models, methodologies and disciplinary intersections in developmental cognitive neuroscience labs that work on the “teenage brain”. (ii) How this knowledge circulates and how it is it taken up, applied or resisted. This looks at how brain research informs mental health policy trans-nationally, how the language of genomics and neuroscience is interpreted by patient communities and lay users, and how these sciences shape everyday practices outside scientific research from education to meditation (iii) Social and political contexts of cognitive neuroscience, and interdisciplinary approaches to brain research through the framework of critical neuroscience.
Ian Gold, PhD
Canada Research Chair, Department of Philosophy, McGill University
More about Ian Gold...
Ian Gold is Associate Professor of Philosophy & Psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal. He completed a PhD in Philosophy at Princeton University and did postdoctoral training at the Australian National University in Canberra. From 2000 to 2006 he was on the faculty of the School of Philosophy & Bioethics at Monash University in Melbourne and returned to McGill in 2006. His research focuses on the theory of delusion in psychiatric and neurological illness and on reductionism in psychiatry and neuroscience. He is the author of research articles in such journals as Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Mind and Language, Consciousness and Cognition, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry & Psychology, and Cognitive Neuropsychiatry. No Mind is an Island is a book co-written with Joel Gold, is due to appear in 2012.
Brandon Kohrt, MD, PhD
Resident, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, George Washington University Medical Center
More about Brandon Kohrt...
Brandon Kohrt, MD, PhD, is a medical anthropologist and psychiatrist at The George Washington University. He conducts global mental health research focusing on populations affected by war-related trauma and chronic stressors of poverty, discrimination, and lack of access to healthcare and education. He has worked in Nepal for 16 years using a biocultural developmental perspective integrating epidemiology, cultural anthropology, ethnopsychology, and neuroendocrinology. With Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Nepal, he designed and evaluated psychosocial reintegration packages for child soldiers in Nepal. He currently works with The Carter Center Mental Health Liberia Program developing anti-stigma campaigns and family psychoeducation programs. He was a Laughlin Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists and a John Spiegel Fellow of the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture (SSPC). Dr. Kohrt has contributed to numerous documentary films including Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal’s Maoist Army.
Duncan Pederson, MD, MPH
Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University
More about Duncan Pederson...
Duncan Pederson, MD, MPH, studies how societies impact the mental health of their citizens. HIs work focuses on Latin America, where large numbers of urban poor, ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples are exposed to social discrimination and political upheavals, poor environmental conditions, poverty, and income inequality. This results in substantial health conditions and a high prevalence of mental and social disorders. His research is currently centered primarily on the long-term impact of political violence wars amongst the indigenous populations of the Peruvian Highlands, primarily in relation to trauma-related disorders, collective suffering and local forms of distress.
Amir Raz, PhD, ABPH (link to lab )
Professor, Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University
More about Amir Raz...
Amir Raz, PhD, ABPH, holds the Canada Research Chair in the cognitive neuroscience of attention, and heads the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at McGill University and the Clinical Neuroscience and Applied Cognition Laboratory at the Jewish General Hospital (JGH). He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, and a member of the Departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychology as well as the Montreal Neurological Institute. Dr. Raz is an interdisciplinary cognitive neuroscientist. He holds diplomate status with the American Board of Psychological Hypnosis. His active research interests span the neural and psychological substrates of attention, self-regulation, and effortful control. He is also conducting research into the cognitive neuroscience and culture, authorship processes, and atypical cognition.
Andrew Ryder, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Concordia University
More about Andrew Ryder...
Andrew Ryder, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Concordia University (Montreal). His Culture, Health & Personality lab’s research involves the relation between individuals and their cultural context, and the implications of this relation for psychopathology. His recent work has explored differences between Chinese and Euro-Canadians in the presentation of depression, using cross-national and acculturation designs in student, community, and clinical samples. Once cultural differences are identified, the emphasis is on why these differences occurred; the potential role of the self-concept is central to these efforts.
Ram P. Sapkota
Doctoral Student, Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University
More about Ram P. Sapkota...
Ram P. Sapkota is a Psychologist from Nepal. He is currently enrolled in a PhD program at the Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University. He has worked in the field of psychosocial and mental health care for almost a decade in Nepal. His areas of interest include organized violence and its impact on mental health and wellbeing, culture and mental health, psychosocial interventions and psychosocial counselling.
Allan Young, PhD
Marjorie Pronfman Professor, Department of Anthropology, McGill University
More about Allan Young...
Allan Young, PhD, is an anthropologist and the Marjorie Bronfman Professor in Social Studies in Medicine. His research focuses on the ethnography of psychiatric science, specifically the valorization of new diagnostic and therapeutic technologies and the institutionalization of standards of evidence; and the ethnography of psychogenic trauma as a clinical entity and as a subject of laboratory and epidemiological research. A current research interest is the origins of the social brain. | http://cbdmh.org/about/research-sites-faculty/cultural-psychiatry/ |
TECHNICAL FIELD
BACKGROUND ART
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
Problems to be Solved by the Invention
Means for Solving the Problems
Effects of the Invention
DESCRIPTION OF THE REFERENCE SIGNS
BEST MODE(S) FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
The present invention relates to a scalar multiplier and a scalar multiplication program for performing a scalar multiplication [s]P of a rational point P.
Conventionally, various services such as Internet banking and electronic applications with administrative agencies have been provided using telecommunication circuits such as the Internet.
To use such services, an authentication process is required to ensure that users of the services are not spoofers or fictitious persons but are correct users. Thus, an electronic authentication technique based on public key cryptography using a public key and a secret key has been frequently employed as a highly reliable authentication method.
Recently, an authentication system using ID-based encryption or a group signature has been developed in order to easily and efficiently manage more users.
In the ID-based encryption or group signature, a necessary exponentiation or scalar multiplication is performed together with a pairing computation. These computations are required to be performed at a high speed in order to shorten the time necessary for the authentication process as much as possible.
Therefore, developed is a technique of enhancing the speed of such exponentiation or scalar multiplication by using a binary method, a window method, or other methods.
Moreover, developed is a technique of enhancing the speed of scalar multiplication by reducing the number of computations using mapping (see Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, for example).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-271792
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-41461
However, reduction of the number of computations simply using mapping alone does not sufficiently enhance the speed. Particularly, it is difficult to complete an authentication process intended for over 10,000 users within a few seconds, and therefore, the technique may not be sufficient for practical applications.
In view of the present situation, the present inventors have conducted research and development to improve practicality by enhancing the speed of scalar multiplication and have achieved the present invention.
p
p
r
=p
−t
t
4
3
2
4
3
2
2
A scalar multiplier of the present invention is a scalar multiplier that computes a scalar multiplication [s]P of a rational point P of an additive group E(F) including rational points on an elliptic curve where a characteristic p, an order r, and a trace t of a Frobenius endomorphism at an embedding degree k=12 using an integer variable χ are given by:
(χ)=36χ−36χ+24χ−6χ+1,(χ)=36χ−36χ+18χ−6χ+1(χ)+1(χ),(χ)=6χ+1,
s]P
s
+s
+[s
−s
P,
4
5
2
2
5
the scalar multiplier comprising, to compute the scalar multiplication [s]P as:
[=([]φ′])
2
2
2
p
]P=φ′
P
]P
p
]P=[−
P
2
2
2
using a Frobenius map φ′given by:
[()
assuming that a twist degree d is 6 and a positive integer e is 2 where k=d×e to give:
[6χ−4χ+1=[(−2χ+1)2χ+1]χ′(),
2
2
s=s
ν+s
, s
s
s
p
+s
r,
1
2
2
1
2
computing ν-adic expansion of the scalar s using 6χ−4χ+1=ν to give:
<ν, and≡(−2χ+1)mod
1
3
4
2
5
4
2
s
s
ν+s
p
+s
≡s
p
+s
p
+s
r
2
4
2
4
2
computing ν-adic expansion of the (−2χ+1)spart to give:
≡()mod
where p≡p−1 mod r, and
s
s
+s
p
s
−s
r:
4
5
2
5
2
using
≡()+()mod
storage means for storing the value of the scalar s; and
1
2
3
4
5
first to fifth auxiliary storage means for storing the coefficients s, s, s, s, and s, respectively, wherein
a value obtained by computing ν-adic expansion of the scalar s is stored in the first auxiliary storage means and the second auxiliary storage means,
1
a value obtained by computing ν-adic expansion of (−2χ+1)sare stored in the third auxiliary storage means and the fourth auxiliary storage means, and
3
the value of (−2χ+1)sis stored in the fifth auxiliary storage means.
p
p
r
=p
−t
t
4
3
2
4
3
2
2
A scalar multiplication program of the present invention is a scalar multiplication program that causes an electronic computer including a central processing unit (CPU) to compute a scalar multiplication [s]P of a rational point P of an additive group E(F) including rational points on an elliptic curve where a characteristic p, an order r, and a trace t of a Frobenius endomorphism at an embedding degree k=12 using an integer variable χ are given by:
(χ)=36χ−36χ+24χ−6χ+1,(χ)=36χ−36χ+18χ−6χ+1(χ)+1(χ),(χ)=6χ+1,
s]P
s
+s
+[s
−s
P,
4
5
2
2
5
the scalar multiplication program comprising, to cause the electronic computer to compute the scalar multiplication [s]P as:
[=([]φ′])
2
2
2
p
]P=φ′
P
]P
p
]P
P
2
2
2
using a Frobenius map φ′given by:
[()
assuming that a twist degree d is 6 and a positive integer e is 2 where k=d×e to give:
[6χ−4χ+1=[(−2χ+1)=[−2χ+1]φ′(),
2
2
s=s
ν+s
, s
s
s
p
+s
r,
1
2
2
1
2
computing ν-adic expansion of the scalar s using 6χ−4χ+1=ν to give:
<ν, and≡(−2χ+1)mod
1
3
4
2
5
4
2
s
s
ν+s
p
+s
≡s
p
+s
p
+s
r
2
4
2
4
2
computing ν-adic expansion of the (−2χ+1)spart to give:
≡()mod
where p≡p−1 mod r, and
s
s
+s
p
s
−s
r:
4
5
2
5
2
using
≡()+()mod
1
2
storing the sand the sobtained by computing ν-adic expansion of the scalar s in a first register and a second register, respectively,
3
4
1
storing the sand the sobtained by computing ν-adic expansion of (−2χ+1)sin a third register and a fourth register, respectively, and
3
5
storing the value of (−2χ+1)sas the value of the sin a fifth register.
p
p
r
t
6
5
4
3
2
4
3
2
3
2
A scalar multiplier of the present invention is a scalar multiplier that computes a scalar multiplication [s]P of a rational point P of an additive group E(F) including rational points on an elliptic curve where a characteristic p, an order r, and a trace t of a Frobenius endomorphism at an embedding degree k=8 using an integer variable χ are given by:
(χ)=(81χ+54χ+45χ+12χ+13χ+6χ+1)/4,(χ)=9χ+12χ+8χ+4χ+1,(χ)=−9χ−3χ−2χ,
s]P
s
+[s
−s
P,
4
2
2
5
the scalar multiplier comprising, to compute the scalar multiplication [s]P as:
[=([]φ′])
2
2
2
p
]P=φ′
P
]P
p
]P=[−
P
2
2
2
using a Frobenius map φ′given by:
[()
assuming that a twist degree d is 4 and a positive integer e is 2 where k=d×e to give:
[3χ+2χ=[(−2χ−1)2χ−1]φ′(),
2
2
s=s
ν+s
, s
s
s
p
+s
r,
1
2
2
1
2
computing ν-adic expansion of the scalar s using 3χ+2χ=ν to give:
<ν, and≡(−2χ−1)mod
1
3
4
2
5
4
2
s
s
ν+s
p
+s
≡s
p
+s
p
+s
r
2
4
2
4
computing ν-adic expansion of the (−2χ−1)spart to give:
≡()mod
where p≡−1 mod r, and
s≡s
p
s
−s
r:
4
2
5
2
using
+()mod
storage means for storing the value of the scalar s; and
1
2
3
4
5
first to fifth auxiliary storage means for storing the coefficients s, s, s, s, and s, respectively, wherein
a value obtained by computing ν-adic expansion of the scalar s is stored in the first auxiliary storage means and the second auxiliary storage means,
1
a value obtained by computing ν-adic expansion of (−2χ−1)sis stored in the third auxiliary storage means and the fourth auxiliary storage means, and
3
the value of (−2χ−1)sare stored in the fifth auxiliary storage means.
p
p
r
t
6
5
4
3
2
4
3
2
3
2
A scalar multiplication program of the present invention is a scalar multiplication program that causes an electronic computer including a central processing unit (CPU) to compute a scalar multiplication [s]P of a rational point P of an additive group E(F) including rational points on an elliptic curve where a characteristic p, an order r, and a trace t of a Frobenius endomorphism at an embedding degree k=8 using an integer variable χ are given by:
(χ)=(81χ+54χ+45χ+12χ+13χ+6χ+1)/4,(χ)=9χ+12χ8χ+4χ+1,(χ)=−9χ−3χ−2χ,
s]P
s
+[s
−s
P,
4
2
2
5
the scalar multiplication program comprising, to cause the electronic computer to compute the scalar multiplication [s]P as:
[=([]φ′])
2
2
2
p
]P=φ′
P
χ]P
p
]P
P
2
2
2
using a Frobenius map φ′given by:
[()
assuming that a twist degree d is 4 and a positive integer e is 2 where k=d×e to give:
[3χ+2=[(−2χ−1)=[−2χ−1]φ′(),
2
2
s=s
ν+s
, s
s≡
s
p
+s
r,
1
2
2
1
2
computing ν-adic expansion of the scalar s using 3χ+2χ=ν to give:
=ν, and(−2χ−1)mod
1
3
4
2
5
4
2
s
s
ν+s
p
+s
≡s
p
+s
p
+s
r
2
4
2
4
computing ν-adic expansion of the (−2χ−1)spart to give:
≡()mod
where p≡−1 mod r, and
s≡s
p
s
−s
r:
4
2
5
2
using
+()mod
1
2
storing the sand the sobtained by computing ν-adic expansion of the scalar s in a first register and a second register, respectively,
3
4
1
storing the sand the sobtained by computing ν-adic expansion of (−2χ−1)sin a third register and a fourth register, respectively, and
3
5
storing the value of (−2χ−1)sas the value of the sin a fifth register.
2
2
p
]P=φ′
P
2
According to the present invention, when a scalar multiplication [s]P is computed, the computing amount of the scalar multiplication [s]P can be reduced by about half by computing ν-adic expansion of a scalar s to reduce the size of the scalar s and using a Frobenius map φ′(P) satisfying:
[().
Therefore, it is possible to enhance the speed of the scalar multiplication.
10
electronic computer
11
CPU
12
storage device
13
memory device
14
bus
110
register for scalar value
111
first register
112
second register
113
third register
114
fourth register
115
5
fifth register
For describing an embodiment of the present invention, a case of an embedding degree k=12 is described, and then, a case of an embedding degree k=8 is described.
p
p
r
=p
−t
t
4
3
2
4
3
2
2
A scalar multiplication executed by a scalar multiplier and a scalar multiplication program according to the embodiment of the present invention is a scalar multiplication [s]P of a rational point P of an additive group E(F) including rational points on an elliptic curve where a characteristic p, an order r, and a trace t of a Frobenius endomorphism at an embedding degree k=12 are given by:
(χ)=36χ−36χ+24χ−6χ+1, (Equation 1)(χ)=36χ−36χ+18χ−6χ+1(χ)+1(χ), (Equation 2)(χ)=6χ+1, (Equation 3).
The elliptic curve is known as a Barreto-Naehrig curve (hereinafter, referred to as a “BN curve”) that is a type of pairing-friendly curves.
2
2
p
]P=φ′
P
2
The presence of a subfield twist curve is known relative to the elliptic curve represented by this BN curve. Particularly, with the embedding degree k=12, a sextic twist curve is known, and a Frobenius map φ′satisfying:
[()
is known.
2
While using a technique capable of enhancing the speed of scalar computation using this Frobenius map φ′, the present invention enhances the speed of scalar computation using relational expressions described below.
4
3
2
r
Equation below is obtained from Equation 2.
36χ−36χ+18χ−6χ+1≡0 mod (Equation 4)
p
p
p−
r
2
Since p≡t−1 mod r, Equation below is obtained.
−6χ+36χ+1≡0 mod (Equation 5)
p≡−p
r
2
Equation below is obtained by transforming Equation 5.
(−6χ+3)+6χ−1 mod (Equation 6)
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
4
2
2
2
p
p
r,
p
p
p
≡p
p
p
r
Equation below is obtained by squaring both sides of Equation 6.
(−6χ3)≡(−6χ+1)mod 36χ−36χ+9−12χ+2+36χ−12χ+1 mod (Equation 7)
4
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
p
p
p
p
p
r,
p
p
r,
p
p
r
Equation below is obtained by further transforming Equation 7 using p+1≡pmod r.
36χ−36χ+9≡−12χ+3+36χ−12χ mod 36χ(−1)≡(24χ−6)−12χ mod 6χ(−1)≡(4χ−1)−2χ mod (Equation 8)
p
−p
r
−p
p
r
p
≡p
r
p
p
p
χp
r
4
2
2
2
2
−1
2
2
−1
2
4
2
2
2
Equation 8 can be transformed into Equation below using
+1≡0 mod (Equation 9),(−1)≡1 mod (Equation 10), and(−1)mod (Equation 11),
when both sides of Equation 8 are multiplied by (p−1).
6χ≡−(4χ−1)+2χ≡−(4χ−1)(−1)+2mod (Equation 12)
2
2
p
r
Thus, Equation below is obtained by transforming Equation 12.
6χ−4χ+1≡(−2χ−1)mod (Equation 13)
2
2
2
2
]P
p
]P=
P
Accordingly, the relational expression below of the Frobenius map φ′is obtained.
[6χ−4χ+1=[(−2χ+1)[−2χ+1]φ′() (Equation 14)
2
2
Subsequently, a scalar multiplication [s]p using the Frobenius map φ′is considered. Here,
ν=6χ−4χ+1 (Equation 15)
is given for the sake of convenience.
s=s
ν+s
, s
1
2
2
In this case, ν-adic expansion of a scalar s can be expressed by Equation below.
<ν (Equation 16)
s
s
p
+s
r
1
2
2
Here, Equation 16 can be expressed by Equation below using Equation 15 and Equation 14.
≡(−2χ+1)mod (Equation 17)
1
1
3
4
2
s
s
ν+s
p
+s
r
2
(−2χ+1)smay be greater than ν. Therefore, Equation below is expressed by further computing ν-adic expansion of (−2χ+1)s.
≡()mod (Equation 18)
3
3
3
5
5
4
2
2
4
4
2
s≡s
p
+s
p
+s
r
Here, sνp≡(−2χ+1)spis given using Equation 14, and thus, Equation 18 can be expressed by Equation below using (−2χ+1)s=s.
mod (Equation 19)
4
2
5
5
In this case, while sand sare smaller than ν, smay not be smaller than ν. Even in such case, sdoes not become problematically large.
4
2
2
2
2
s≡s
p
s
p
+s
s
+s
p
s
−s
r
A=s
+s
B=s
−s
s]P
A]φ′
+[B]
P
5
4
2
4
5
2
5
4
5
2
5
2
Equation 19 can be transformed into Equation below using p≡p−1 mod r transformed from Equation 9.
(−1)+≡()+()mod (Equation 20)Here, (Equation 21), and (Equation 22)
are given, and the scalar multiplication [s]P can be computed as:
[=([) (Equation 23)
Therefore, for example, when a scalar multiplication with a 256-bit scalar s is computed, A and B are 128 bits in size, and thus, the computing amount can be reduced by about half to enhance the speed of the scalar multiplication.
10
10
11
12
13
14
FIG. 1
FIG. 1
The scalar multiplier that performs the scalar multiplication described above is configured to include an electronic computer as illustrated in . The electronic computer includes a central processing unit (CPU) that performs a computation process, a storage device such as a hard disk that stores therein a scalar multiplication program, data of rational points to be used in the scalar multiplication program, and the like, and a memory device including a random-access memory (RAM) that loads the scalar multiplication program to be executable and that temporarily stores therein data generated during the scalar multiplication program execution, and the like. In , denotes a bus.
110
11
111
112
113
114
115
11
110
111
112
113
114
115
11
13
11
1
2
3
4
5
In the embodiment of the present invention, a register for scalar value that stores therein the value of the scalar s is provided as storage means in the CPU . First to fifth registers , , , , and that store therein the values of coefficients s, s, s, s, and s, respectively, generated during ν-adic expansion of the scalar s as described above are further provided as first to fifth auxiliary storage means in the CPU . The storage means configured as the register for scalar value and the first to fifth auxiliary storage means configured as the first to fifth registers , , , , and may not be provided in the CPU but may be provided in storage means such as the memory device except for the CPU .
10
When a scalar multiplication needs to be executed, the electronic computer functioning as a scalar multiplier starts a scalar multiplication program to execute the scalar multiplication.
10
FIG. 2
In other words, the electronic computer performs the scalar multiplication based on the flowchart illustrated in using the started scalar multiplication program to output a computation result.
10
11
12
13
11
1
Using the started scalar multiplication program, the electronic computer makes the CPU function as input means to read data of an integer variable χ and data of the rational point P that are stored in the storage device or the memory device and input the data into respective specified registers provided in the CPU (Step S).
10
11
11
110
2
Moreover, the electronic computer makes the CPU function as input means using the scalar multiplication program and input the value of the scalar s for a scalar multiplication. The CPU is made to function as storage means to store the input value of the scalar s in the register for scalar value (Step S).
10
11
3
1
2
1
2
Subsequently, the electronic computer makes the CPU function as computation means using the scalar multiplication program to compute ν-adic expansion of the scalar s as described above and calculate sand sthat are coefficients of the ν-adic expansion (Step S). In other words, the coefficient sis the quotient obtained by dividing the scalar s by ν, and the coefficient sis the remainder obtained by dividing the scalar s by ν.
11
111
112
4
1
2
The CPU is made to function as storage means and store the values of sand sthat are calculated coefficients of the ν-adic expansion, respectively, in the first register and the second register (Step S).
10
11
5
6
1
1
3
4
3
1
4
1
Subsequently, the electronic computer makes the CPU function as computation means to calculate the value of (−2χ+1)s(Step S) and compute ν-adic expansion of (−2χ+1)sas described above to calculate sand sthat are coefficients of the ν-adic expansion (Step S). In other words, the coefficient sis the quotient obtained by dividing (−2χ+1)sby ν, and the coefficient sis the remainder obtained by dividing (−2χ+1)sby ν.
11
113
114
7
3
4
1
The CPU is made to function as storage means to store the values of sand sthat are calculated coefficients of the ν-adic expansion of (−2χ+1)s, respectively, in the third register and the fourth register (Step S).
10
11
8
115
9
3
The electronic computer makes the CPU function as computation means to compute the value of (−2χ+1)s(Step S) and stores the value in the fifth register (Step S).
10
11
11
112
113
114
115
10
4
5
2
5
Subsequently, the electronic computer makes the CPU function as computation means to compute the value of s+sand the value of s−susing the values stored in the first to fifth registers , , , , and (Step S).
4
5
2
5
4
5
2
5
The computed value of s+sand value of s−sare stored in respective specified registers. s+s=A and s−s=B are given for the sake of convenience.
10
11
11
2
Subsequently, the electronic computer makes the CPU function as computation means to calculate the scalar multiplication [s]P as [s]P=([A]φ′+[B])P (Step S). When the size of the values of A and B is about half the size of the scalar s, the computation time can be significantly reduced. In a computer simulation, the speed of the computation can be enhanced by about 40% as compared with a scalar multiplication performed by a general binary method.
2
11
The computation of [s]P=([A]φ′+[B])P performed in Step S is specifically performed as follows.
10
The electronic computer includes a register R for computation result that stores therein a computation result of the scalar computation [s]P and a first auxiliary register C and a second auxiliary register D that temporarily store therein values necessary for computation.
10
2
As an initialization process, the electronic computer sets the register R for computation result to zero element, assigns φ′(P) into the first auxiliary register C, and assigns the rational point P into the second auxiliary register D.
i
i
10
Assuming that values of the A and B described above at the i-th digit displayed in binary are expressed as Aand B, the electronic computer executes the following computation loop over the whole digits of A and B.
i
i
If A=1 and B=1 at the i-th digit, the sum of the register R for computation result and the second auxiliary register D is substituted into the register R for computation result. That is, R←R+D.
i
i
If A=1 and B=0 at the i-th digit, the sum of the register R for computation result and the first auxiliary register C is substituted into the register R for computation result. That is, R←R+C.
i
i
If A=0 and B=1 at the i-th digit, the sum of the register R for computation result and the rational point P is substituted into the register R for computation result. That is, R←R+P.
Then, the sum of the register R for computation result and the register R for computation result is substituted into the register R for computation result. That is, R←R+R.
10
i
i
Subsequently, the electronic computer performs the scalar computation [s]P by computing the whole digits of A and B while shifting the digits of Aand Bby decrementing or incrementing the digits to enable the output of a computation result.
Because A is computed in parallel with B, the computation of the embodiment of the present invention can maximize the advantageous effect of the size of the values of A and B being about half the size of the scalar s.
The case of an embedding degree k=8 will be described below.
p
p
r
t
6
5
4
3
2
4
3
2
3
2
With the embedding degree k=8, the scalar multiplication according to the embodiment of the present invention is a scalar multiplication [s]P of a rational point P of an additive group E(F) including rational points on a BN curve where a characteristic p, an order r, and a trace t of a Frobenius endomorphism are given by:
(χ)=(81χ+54χ+45χ+12χ+13χ+6χ+1)/4,(χ)=9χ+12χ+8χ+4χ+1,(χ)=−9χ−3χ−2χ.
2
2
[p
]P=φ′
P
2
Also in this case, the presence of a subfield twist curve is known. Particularly, with the embedding degree k=8, a quartic twist curve is known, and a Frobenius map φ′satisfying:
()
is known.
2
2
]P
p
]P=[−
P
2
In the case of the embedding degree k=8, the relational expression:
[3χ+2χ=[(−2χ−1)2χ−1]φ′() (Equation 24)
is used instead of Equation 14.
2
s=s
ν+s
, s
1
2
2
Similarly to the case of the embedding degree k=12, the ν-adic expansion of the scalar s is computed using 3χ2χ=ν, and can be expressed as Equation below.
<ν (Equation 25)
s
s
p
+s
r
1
2
2
Here, Equation 25 can be expressed by Equation below using Equation 24.
≡(−2χ−1)mod (Equation 26)
1
1
3
4
2
s
s
ν+s
p
+s
r
2
(−2χ−1)smay be greater than ν. Therefore, Equation below may be expressed by further computing ν-adic expansion of (−2χ−1)s.
≡()mod (Equation 27)
3
3
3
5
5
4
2
2
4
4
2
s≡s
p
+s
p
+s
r
Here, sνp≡(−2χ−1)spis given using Equation 24, and thus, Equation 27 can be expressed by Equation below using (−2χ−1)s=s.
mod (Equation 28)
4
2
5
5
In this case, while sand sare smaller than ν, smay not be smaller than ν. Even in such case, sdoes not become problematically large.
4
2
2
s≡−s
s
p
+s
≡s
p
s
−s
r
A=s
B=s
−s
s]P
A]φ′
+[B]
P
5
4
2
4
2
5
4
2
5
2
With the embedding degree k=8, Equation 28 can be transformed into Equation below using p≡−1 mod r.
+()mod (Equation 29)Here, (Equation 30), and (Equation 31)
are given, and the scalar multiplication [s]P can be computed as:
[=([)
similarly to the case of the embedding degree k=12.
115
Therefore, comparing the case of the embedding degree k=8 and the case of the embedding degree k=12, the difference is only the formula to find the value to be stored in the fifth register and the value of A in Equation 30. Accordingly, the computation with the embedding degree k=8 can be performed similarly to that with the embedding degree k=12.
3
3
5
4
8
9
10
FIG. 2
Thus, a scalar multiplier in the case of the embedding degree k=8 is assumed to be the same as the scalar multiplier in the case of the embedding degree k=12, (−2χ−1)sis used as the formula in Step S of the flowchart illustrated in , (−2χ−1)sis used as the value of sin Step S, and A=sis used in Step S.
Accordingly, even with the embedding degree k=8, the size of the values of A and B is about half the size of the scalar s, and thus, the computation time of the scalar multiplication [s]P can be significantly reduced.
The present invention can enhance the speed of the scalar multiplication required during computation of a group signature to enhance the speed of a group signature process.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a schematic view of an electronic computer including a scalar multiplier according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2
is a flowchart of a scalar multiplication program according to the embodiment of the present invention. | |
Amanda Rosado is a music therapist with the Sheppard Pratt Health System in Towson. As an empathetic, compassionate and open-minded listener with a long history and interest in playing instruments and singing, Rosado uses the soothing, creative expressiveness of music to help adolescent females at Sheppard Pratt discover the healing and therapeutic effects music can have on the mind, body and soul.
READ MORE: Maryland Weather: Mild Saturday, With Temps Dropping Sunday
Rosado is board certified in music therapy and has been working in this field for five years. She received her bachelor’s degree in music therapy from Shenandoah Conservatory and completed an internship at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital. She also received additional training on how to utilize music therapy techniques within the realm of drumming, 12-step recovery programming and dialectical behavioral therapy. Before becoming a music therapist, Rosado also volunteered, both for music and non-music related functions with nursing homes, group homes and extracurricular activities for individuals with developmental disabilities.
What are the responsibilities of a music therapist?
“In my role, I facilitate music therapy group to help patients work toward their treatment goals. The adolescent unit is a short-term unit focused on crisis stabilization, and so I try to focus my efforts on what I can do to teach patients that upon discharge, music can be an effective strategy for coping. In my groups, patients have the opportunity to work on song writing, lyric analysis, active music listening for mindfulness and emotional awareness, drumming and singing, among other music activities.”
What is your favorite part about your daily duties?READ MORE: Health Officials Urge Vaccination & Boosters As COVID-19 Rate Rises, Omicron Arrives In Maryland
“My favorite part about this job is how quickly and easily patients can respond to musical stimuli, verbally and non-verbally. Within days, I have seen even the most resistant patients respond to music in some way. It could be something as small as tapping their toes while listening to music, which in my opinion could be where it all begins. I have found music and music therapy interventions to be one of the fastest ways to break down emotional walls, and it’s amazing to see music take hold of the patients on the unit.”
How has your education and training prepared you?
“Music therapy training is based on evidence-based practices from accredited institutions. As a result, we have training protocols that have been created to demonstrate the most effective ways to utilize music interventions. As part of my education, I also continually stay on top of new research findings conducted by music therapists and others supporting growth and evolution in the field.”
What do you do to continue your education and training?
“Music therapists are required to complete 100 continuing education credits every five years in order to maintain their certification. There is also the opportunity to pursue a master’s degree or doctorate in music therapy. This is an exciting time for the field because soon a master’s degree in music therapy will be required before you are able to obtain your music therapy board certification.”MORE NEWS: Maryland Has Three Confirmed Cases Of The Omicron Variant Of COVID-19, Hogan Says
Laura Catherine Hermoza has a lifelong love for writing. In addition to serving as a contributor to various media publications, she is also a published novelist of several books and works as a proofreader/editor. LC resides in Baltimore County. | https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2015/09/28/music-therapy-in-baltimore-fosters-creative-healing-expressionism-in-patients/ |
Hazel Clark, research chair for Fashion at Parsons School of Design, will interview Eileen Fisher, American clothing designer and founder of the women's clothing brand Eileen Fisher, Inc. on Tuesday, May 17, 2016 from 5:30PM to 7:00PM at Parsons School of Design at The New School. This conversational interview will explore Eileen Fisher's life and work including a discussion of a collaborative project between Parsons School of Design and Eileen Fisher's "Green Eileen" sustainability initiative.
RSVP is recommended. General admission seating is on a first-come first-served basis for this free public program. | https://www.chicmi.com/event/3096/ |
The final description may miss detail or even fundamental aspects of the organization that may be available when one or few modalities are pushed to their limits.
Complex Systems Modeling for Obesity Research
Magnetic field tomography Ioannides et al. The capability of delineating contributions within distinct cytoarchitectonic areas leads to more refined analysis as in the example shown in Fig. Coincidence in spatial location and timing of activations in the brain. The demonstration of the coincidence in spatial location and timing of the earliest visually evoked top and spatial attention bottom related activations responses to images presented in the left visual field.
No matter how regional time series are derived, mathematical methods must then be employed to extract from each pair of time series a quantitative measure of the functional link between two brain areas, usually in two stages. First, one must define an appropriate measure of linked activity. For example using time-delayed mutual information as a non-linear measure enables identification and quantification of linkages between areas in real time for example in relation to an external stimulus or event and enables assessment of reactive delays.
The second stage of addressing the connectivity problem is the technical problem of using graph theory tools to put together the pair-wise links into a more global network. Specific problems can be tackled using a subset of the entire network through judicious choice of what cytoarchitectonic area to include and careful design of experiments. While empirical Neuroscience section Neuroscience deals with measuring and functionally interpreting connectivity on many scales, the aspects of Computational Neuroscience, which we address here, deal with structure-function relationships on a more abstract, aggregated level.
Generic models of network topology, as well as simple abstract models of the dynamical units, play an important role. In Computational Neuroscience the idea of relating network architecture with dynamics and, consequently, function has long been explored e.
On the level of network architecture, a particularly fruitful approach has been to compare empirically observed networks with random graphs. The field was revolutionized in the late s by the publication of two further models of random graphs: a model of small-world graphs Watts and Strogatz, uniting high local clustering with short average distances between nodes and a model of random graphs with a broad power-law shaped degree distribution Barabasi and Albert, Within Computational Neuroscience, the fundamental unit is typically defined as being individual neurons Vladimirov et al.
The discussion below focusses on the latter case. In contrast to the discussion in section Neuroscience the fundamental unit is not necessarily identified with the cortical areas, but is more flexible, allowing aggregates of cortical areas or even abstract ones derived from the raw data from fMRI to be the fundamental units that constitute the nodes of a network.
Such cortical areas can also be defined by anatomical means and neurobiological knowledge as for example in the cortical areas of the cortical areas network of the cat or the macaque; see Hilgetag et al. In Computational Neuroscience, SC refers to brain network connectivity derived from anatomical and other data, at the level of the fundamental unit.
FC refers to relationships among nodes inferred from the dynamics. Typical observables for FC are co-activations or sequential activations of nodes. A node can be excited active , refractory resting and susceptible, waiting for an excitation in the neighbourhood. Upon the presence of such a neighbouring excitation, a susceptible node changes to the active state for a single time step, then goes into the refractory state, from which it moves to the susceptible state with a probability p at each time step. Furthermore, spontaneous excitations are possible with a small probability f.
A more global perspective includes learning, i. In its simplest form, such a co-evolution of structural and FC is given by Hebbian learning rules Hebb, , where — qualitatively speaking — frequently used network links persist, while rarely used links are degraded. The co-evolution of SC and FC offers an interesting possibility for the overarching perspective of self-organization and emergent behaviours, as the system now can, in principle, tune itself towards phase transition points, maximizing its flexibility and its pattern formation capacities.
This concept is called self-organised criticality and goes back to the pioneering work by Bak et al. Phase transition points of a dynamical system are choices of parameters, which position the system precisely at the boundary between two dynamical regimes e. At such points a small change of the parameter value can induce drastic changes in system behaviour. As already suggested with the example of waves around hubs, the concepts of self- organization and pattern formation may provide a useful theoretical framework for describing the interplay of SC and FC.
Returning to network topology, a wide range of descriptors of connectivity is used in Computational Neuroscience and other disciplines. Another common quantifier of connectivity is the average degree i. Beyond these simple quantifiers, the connection pattern in a graph can be characterized in a multitude of ways, for instance via clustering coefficients Watts and Strogatz, , centrality measures Newman, and the matching index or topological overlap Ravasz et al.
Geomorphologists study the origin and evolution of landforms. Geomorphic surface processes comprise the action of different geomorphic agents or transporting media, such as water, wind and ice which move sediment from one part of the landscape to another thereby changing the shape of the Earth. Therefore, looking at potential sediment pathways connections and transport processes has always been one of the core tasks in Geomorphology.
Chorley and Kennedy, ; Brunsden and Thornes, However, since the beginning of the 21 st century connectivity research experienced a huge boom as geomorphologists started to develop new concepts on connectivity to understand better the complexity of geomorphic systems and system response to change. It is widely recognised that investigating connectivity in geomorphic systems provides an important opportunity to improve our understanding of how physical linkages govern geomorphic processes Van Oost et al. Connectivity further reflects the feedbacks and interactions within the different system components under changing conditions Beuselinck et al.
However, to date most - if not all - of the existing connectivity concepts in geomorphology represent a palimpsest of traditional system thinking based on general systems theory e. Landforms are the product of a myriad of processes operating at different spatial and temporal scales: defining a fundamental unit for the study of connectivity is therefore particularly difficult.
Geomorphologists have traditionally drawn structural boundaries between the units of study which are often obvious by visible sharp gradients in the landscape, for example channel-hillslope or field boundaries. This imposition of structural boundaries has led to the separate consideration of these landscape compartments, rather than looking at the interlinkages between them, which results in an incomplete picture when it comes to explain large-scale geomorphic landscape evolution.
Bracken et al. However, this framework provides no insight into how the fundamental unit may be defined. Its size and demarcation is highly dependent on i the processes involved and ii the spatial and temporal scale of study i. If, for example, the temporal scale of analysis is considerably greater than the frequency of key processes i. Alternatively, if the temporal scale over which sediment connectivity is evaluated is less than the frequency at which key sediment-transport-related processes within the study domain operate, then sediment connectivity will be perceived to be lower Bracken et al.
The size of a fundamental unit in Geomorphology is thus dependent on the underlying research question and may range from plot- e. However, geomorphic processes tend to vary between spatial scales, which leads to one of the key problems in geomorphology, i. Consideration of how fundamental units make up landscapes has a long history in geomorphology.
Vertically, the upper boundary of a geomorphic cell is defined by the atmosphere, while the lower boundary is generally formed by the bedrock layer of the lithosphere. Laterally, geomorphic cells are delimited from neighbouring cells with a change in environmental characteristics that determine hydro-geomorphic boundary conditions e.
In Geomorphology, SC describes the extent to which landscape units however defined are physically linked to one another With et al. An early consideration of functional interlinkages between system compartments i. However, besides a general notion of the importance of coupling between system components for landscape evolution the authors did not provide any further information on how to define and quantify these relationships. In Geomorphology it is becoming increasingly accepted that SC and FC cannot be separated from each other in a meaningful way due to inherent feedbacks between them Fig.
Geomorphic feedbacks between structural and functional connectivity. Schematic diagram of feedbacks between structural and functional connectivity source: Wainwright et al. Landscapes can be perceived as systems exhibiting a distinct type of memory, i. Thus, a critical issue when separating SC and FC is determining the timescale at which a change in SC becomes dynamic i.
Past geologic, anthropogenic and climatic controls upon sediment availability, for example, influence contemporary process-form relationships in many environments Brierley, such as embayments e. Hine et al. Poeppl et al. In most geomorphic systems the imprint of memory and the timescales over which feedbacks affect connectivity are too strong for a separation of SC and FC. However, this philosophical position has not yet made its way into approaches to measuring connectivity.
A challenge when developing quantitative descriptions of the structural-functional evolution of connectivity in geomorphic systems is thus how to incorporate memory effects. Furthermore, when distinguishing between SC and FC, the challenge is to achieve the balance between scientific gains and losses, further depending on the spatio-temporal scale of interest and the applied methodology. The conceptualization of landforms as the outcome of the interactions of structure, function and memory implies that landscapes are organised in a hierarchical manner as they are seen as complex macroscopic features that emerge from myriad microscopic factors processes which form them at different spatio-temporal scales Harrison, For example, river meander development e.
Church, or dune formation e. Baas, can be seen as emergent properties of geomorphic systems that are governed by manifold microscale processes e. In Geomorphology, emergence thus becomes the basis on which qualitative structures landforms arise from the self- organisation of quantitative phenomena processes Harrison, operating at a range of different spatial and temporal scales. In order to get a grasp on emergent behaviour of geomorphic systems recent advances in Geomorphology are based on chaos theory and quantitative tools of complex systems research e.
Coco and Murray, ; combined approaches: e. Combining numerical models with new data-collection strategies and other techniques as also discussed in 3. Murray et al. However, to date this hypothesis remains untested and is being subject to further inquiry. Yet, the potential appears to exist that connectivity may help to understand how geospatial processes produce a range of fluxes that come together to produce landscape form.
In Geomorphology, it is only possible to measure i the morphology of the landscape itself from which SC is quantified or ii fluxes of material that are a result of FC and event magnitude. Few standard methods exist to quantify FC directly Bracken et al. One of the key challenges to measure connectivity is to define the spatial and temporal scales over which connectivity should be assessed, which may depend on how the fundamental unit is defined.
Furthermore, data comparability is often constrained by the measurement design including the types of technical equipment involved. Changes in SC can be quantified at high spatial and temporal resolutions using several novel methods that have been developed or improved over the past years.
Structure-from-Motion SfM photogrammetry and laser scanning are techniques that create high-resolution, three-dimensional digital representations of the landscape. Sediment transport processes FC are traditionally measured using erosion plots for small-scale measurements to water sampling for suspended sediment and bedload traps in streams and rivers for large-scale measurements e. Recently, new techniques have been developed to trace and track sediment with higher spatial and temporal resolution.
Sediment tracers, which can either occur naturally in the soil or be applied to the soil, have been increasingly used to quantify erosion and deposition of sediments. Furthermore, laboratory experiments allow sediment tracking in high detail by using a combination of multiple high-speed cameras, trajectories and velocities of individual sand particles under varying conditions Long et al. However, it is highly questionable if measuring water and sediment fluxes provides sufficient information to infer adequately FC, since these data solely represent snapshots of fluxes instead of reflecting system dynamics incl.
Besides measuring landscape structure and sediment fluxes to infer connectivity, different types of indices and models are used. Connectivity indices mainly use a combination of topography and vegetation characteristics to determine connectivity Borselli et al. These indices are static representations of SC, which are useful for determining areas of high and low SC within the study areas. Because indices are static, they do not provide information about fluxes. Different types of models e. Landscapes are composed of interconnected ecosystems that mediate ecological processes and functions — such as material fluxes and food web dynamics, and control species composition, diversity and evolution.
The importance of connectivity within ecology has been recognised for decades e. Connectivity is now recognised to be an important determinant of many ecological processes Kadoya, including population movement Hanski, , changes in species diversity Cadotte, , metacommunity dynamics Koelle and Vandermeer, and nutrient and organic matter cycling Laudon et al.
For example, in marine ecology, identifying and quantifying the scale of connectivity of larval dispersal among local populations i. Regardless of the scale at which connectivity is defined within Ecology, there is nonetheless consensus that connectivity affects most population, community, and ecosystem processes Wiens ; Moilanen and Hanski Hierarchy theory provides a clear tool for dealing with spatial scale, and suggests that all scales are equally deserving of study Cadenasso et al.
It is therefore critical that the fundamental unit be defined clearly as well as relationships that cross scales Ascher, The fundamental unit is typically defined as being the ecosystem — a complex of living organisms, their physical environment, and their interrelationships in a particular unit of space Weathers et al. In this respect, an ecosystem can be a single gravel bar, a whole river section, or the entire catchment, or an ecosystem can be a plant, a vegetation patch, or a mosaic of patches, depending on the spatiotemporal context and the specific questions.
Hence, the ecosystem concept offers a unique opportunity in bridging scales and systems e. Notably, this definition of the fundamental unit is scale-free; therefore identifying the fundamental unit will emerge naturally out of the ecosystem s in question. Whilst an appropriate definition of the fundamental unit is critical in Ecology, this does not present a challenge, as the ecosystem provides a clear-cut definition that is applied ubiquitously. Ecology has long been concerned with structure—function relationships Watt, , and connectivity now tends to be viewed structurally and functionally Goodwin, , taking both structure and function into account often referred to as landscape connectivity; Belisle, Structural connectivity refers to the architecture and composition of a system Noss and Cooperrider, e.
Measurements of SC are sometimes used to provide a backdrop against which complex behaviour can be measured Cadenasso et al. Functional connectivity depends not only on the structure of the landscape, but on the behaviour of and interactions between particular species, or the transfer and transformation of matter, and the landscapes in which these species and processes occur Schumaker ; Wiens ; Tischendorf and Fahrig b ; Moilanen and Hanski Moreover, it is concerned with the degree and direction of movement of organisms or flow of matter through the landscape Kadoya, , describing the linkages between different landscape elements Calabrese and Fagan, In terms of animals, the FC of a depends on how an organism perceives and responds to landscape structure within a hierarchy of spatial scales Belisle, , which will depend on their state and their motivation which in turn will dictate their needs and how much they are willing to risk to fulfil those needs Belisle, Thus, the FC of a landscape is likely to be context and species-dependent e.
Pither and Taylor, Linking and separating SC and FC is challenging. Furthermore, riverine assemblages are governed by a combination of local e. There is empirical evidence that the position within the river network i. For example, in looking at the interacting effects of habitat suitability patch quality , dispersal ability of fishes, and migration barriers on the distribution of fish species within a river network, it has been found that whilst dispersal is most important in explaining species occurrence on short time scales, habitat suitability is fundamental over longer time-scales Radinger and Wolter, Hence, ignoring network geometry and the role of spatial connectivity may lead to major failure in conservation and restoration planning.
These legacy effects may consist of information e. These time lags in the functional response to changes in system structure can confound the ability to make meaningful separations between structure and function.
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Emergent behaviour in Ecology is evident by the scale-free nature of ecosystems. Because ecosystems can be defined at any scale usually spatial rather than temporal , interactions across different hierarchical levels lead to emergent behaviour at a different scale too. A striking example of such emergent behaviour is the existence of patterns in vegetation, for example Tiger Bush MacFadyen , Clos-Arceduc However, although attempts to explain this phenomenon using advection-diffusion models e.
A more extensive critique of such approaches is given in Stewart et al. Based upon the argument that spatial patterns emerge in response to interactions between landscape structure and biophysical processes e. Turnbull et al. Evolutionary impacts of past processes, such as glaciations also shape emergent behaviour in Ecology, through separations and reconnection of larger areas even continents. Increases in physical connectivity of landscape patches also facilitate the invasion of non-native species which in turn may trigger long-term evolutionary processes for both native and non-native species e.
Mooney and Cleland, The challenge in Ecology is to overcome the highlighted methodological constrains to studying emergent behavior and develop approaches that truly allow for explorations of emergent behavior. Measuring SC tends to be based on simple indices of patch or ecosystem connectivity. Patch proximity indices are widely used e. Bender et al. Other structural approaches to looking at ecological corridors include landscape genetics, telemetry, least-cost models, raster-, vector- and network-based models, among many other methods, which offer unique opportunities to quantify connectivity see Cushmann et al.
Most metacommunity and metaecosystem studies apply lattice-like grids as landscape approximations, where dispersal is random in direction, and distance varies with species. However, many natural systems, including river networks, mountain ranges or cave networks have a dentritic structure. These systems are not only hierarchically organised but topology and physical flow dictate distance and directionality of dispersal and movement Altermatt , references therein.
Larsen et al. In a graph-based approach, patches or habitats or ecosystems are considered as nodes, which link pathways between these nodes. Most work in Ecology has focused on unweighted, one-mode monopartite networks Dormann and Strauss, Measuring FC requires dealing with complex phenomena that are difficult to sample, experiment on and describe synthetically Belisle, Approaches to measuring FC have the greatest data requirements, and include connectivity measures based on organism movement, such as dispersal success and immigration rate, with, for example, a high immigration rate indicating a high level of FC.
In a study on seven Forest Atlantic bird species, the SC-FC relation was explored using a range of empirical survey techniques Uezu et al. Quantitative analysis of landscape structure was carried out using a suite of SC measures. Functional connectivity measures were derived from bird surveys and playback techniques, carried out at snapshots in time and at discrete locations. Whilst these empirical measures allow insight to SC-FC relations, they nonetheless go hand-in-hand with a series of assumptions that allow the level of FC to be inferred.
Similarly, data on dispersal distances a proxy for FC also tends to be relatively sparse. For example, they have been collected for a small number of marine species Cowen et al. Sammarco and Andrews, ; Shanks et al. An ongoing challenge associated with empirically-based studies for assessing FC in Ecology is that they provide only a snapshot of dispersal or migration, representing only one possible movement scenario. It is generally accepted that it is impossible to measure empirically the full range of spatial and temporal variability in FC Cowen et al. Modelling approaches are being used increasingly to overcome the limitations of empirically-based approaches to measuring FC.
However, these modelling approaches are still limited by a paucity of available empirical data to verify the results of modelling experiments. The limitations of patch-based or landscape-based approaches to studying connectivity, and the prevalence of ecological research being carried out at increasingly larger scales has driven research in the direction of using network-based approaches e. Urban and Keitt, , often drawing on the concept of modularity from Social Network Science, Physics and Biology, and using network-based tools from Statistical Physics that account for weighted non-binary , directed network data e.
Fletcher et al. Progress has been made in developing network-based tools for analyzing weighted monopartite networks e. Clauset et al. In weighted networks, the links between two species may be quantified in terms of their functional connectivity; i. For example, in pollinator-visitation networks, pollinators interact with flowers, but pollinators do not interact among themselves Vazquez et al. A major challenge in using weighted bipartite networks in Ecology is that many of the analytical tools available require one-mode projections of weighted bipartite networks e.
Martin Gonzalez et al. Guillaume and Latapy, , meaning that potentially useful information of ecological connectivity is lost. However, tools are being developed to analyze weighted bipartite networks e. Dormann and Strauss, Multi-layer networks are increasingly being used in Ecology with the advantage over simpler networks that they allow for analysis of inter-habitat connectivity of species and processes spanning multiple spatial and temporal scales, contributing to the FC of ecosystems Timoteo et al.
Advances are being made in the analysis of multi-layer ecological networks, with the recent developments in the analysis of modular structure of ecological networks i. A recent study, for the first time looked at modular structure seed dispersal modules; i. A strength of using multi-layer networks in the analysis of ecological systems is that it allows differentiation of intra-layer and inter-layer connectivity within the multi-layer network Pilosof et al.
Whilst multi-layer networks are potentially a valuable tool for measuring connectivity in ecological systems, the application of such tools is often limited by the amount of system complexity that can be sampled and analyzed, potentially leading to an over-simplification of real ecological networks Kivela et al.
Social network scientists study the social behaviour of society including the relationships among individuals and groups. There is a long history of social network theory which views social relationships in terms of individual actors nodes and relationships links which together constitute a network. This history dates back to the development of the sociogram describing the relations among people by Jacob Moreno Later work by Leavit , White , Freeman , Everett , Borgatti , and Wasserman and Faust created a foundation of social theory frameworks based on network analysis.
In many cases the theory that was developed in understanding social systems was subsequently applied in fields such as ecology. Social scientists have continued to lead the development in key areas with the statistical analysis of motifs small building blocks found in networks Robins et al. In recent times the incorporation of ecological and social theory to facilitate socio-ecological analysis has expanded the social networks to include ecological systems Janssen et al. The focus on sustainability and resilience within these multifaceted networks continues to spawn novel solutions and advanced techniques Bodin and Tengo, ; Kininmonth et al.
Given that social network theory is often centred on the micro interaction of people there can be a convincing argument that the fundamental unit is the person Wasserman and Faust Certainly many published networks in sociology are based on the interaction history of people within a small group Sampson ; Zachary However with the advent of technology such as mobile phones, the internet, online gaming and social web pages i. Facebook this definition of the fundamental unit is less certain and some researchers now use the interaction itself as the unit of study Garton et al.
Ideas and behaviours that spread through a society known as memes Dawkins or the use of textual analysis Treml et al. From a network perspective the individual human is not represented by a single node in these cases but instead might have temporary links to the ideas and behaviours that are in circulation.
For example we are aware of the spread of technology, such as pottery styles across continents, but we remain unaware of the individuals involved. For many researchers the meso-scale focus on populations facilitates the analysis of organisational structures and their interactions Ostrom This hierarchical nature of social interactions has resulted in an increased emphasis on organisational culture as a defining influence on the social network Sayles and Baggio a.
Utilizing multi-layer networks to explore complex social theory promotes the conceptual possibility of combining fundamental units Bodin For example the management of natural resources across a region requires a functioning social network within the management agencies Bodin and Crona ; Kininmonth et al. However analysis of multi-layer networks that combine the fundamental units of organisation often with cultural attributes and individuals has demanded new methodological advances particularly in the interpretation of decision-making and engagement between the actors embedded within the associated organisation Sayles and Baggio a.
In this regard the analysis of the diverse suite of roles that actors and organisations portray is highly topical in understanding the long- and short-term dynamics of social systems. The development of social networks has primarily been based on observed interactions between members of a group and these interactions have been used to generate structural networks. These networks have then been used to determine the basis for subsequent events, such as a split in the group, based solely on the distribution of links Sampson ; Zachary For simple networks and simple events this approach appears to have merit, but when the networks become complex or highly dynamic this method is limited in terms of analytical power.
To bridge the link to a more functional approach requires understanding the processes happening at the individual level such that the links have meaning at a functional level. One solution here is to understand the functional meaning of simple network structures i. The powerful component is to try to recreate the larger network from the described frequency of specified motifs Robins et al. This approach has significant statistical power rather than just qualitative comparisons and can be useful for many research objectives Fig.
The difficulty with this method is translating the human response in an experimental setting, rather than real life, where the consequences are often of high impact. Phenomena such as Small World topology has highlighted the widespread effect of structure and function on the larger network dynamics Travers and Milgram Link prediction is also becoming widely used in social network studies to predict future interactions and the evolution of a network from the network topology alone e. Liben-Nowell and Kleinberg, The relationship within the common resource pool motif subset display across effective-complexity space.
This shows the various combinations of social interactions white that govern connected natural resources such as wetlands grey. From Kininmonth et al. Complicating the conceptual link between structure and function for social networks is the influence of culture. In particular, cultural norms are a strong influence on the responsiveness of social network structures such that different cultures are likely to generate different responses to identical network structures Malone ; Stephanson and Mascia Key to this influence is the human propensity for diverse communication methods that have inflated the effect of memory on the function of interaction networks.
This memory effect is also likely to affect the individual response following a repeat of the social interactions. Members of society will respond and interpret particular interactions differently based on their age group and background and this is evident in the expansion in computer-assisted social networks often binding diverse community groups Garton et al. The complexity that an evolving mix of cultures brings to the analysis of social networks is a significant challenge to providing a general set of rules of social engagement across the planet.
The emergent behaviours observed within social networks has spawned many significant publications from the splitting of monks at an abbey Sampson to the smoking habits of the general population derived from friendship clusters Bewley et al. The resilience of social systems is now seen as a direct response to the topological structure such as small world or scale free Holling The translation of the resilience concept from a structural perspective involves maintaining the integrity of the network, despite this being difficult to predict or measure. Methods that impose a process on the nodes and links such as Susceptibility-Infection-Resistance for disease propagation can be highly dependent on density and centrality measures.
The emergence of the network property such as resilience or effectiveness is conditional on the entire network interactions.
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To complicate matters further, the challenge of adopting models of social behaviour that recognise the diversity of social interactions across a population remains elusive. Network diagram of the interaction of fishers with people who buy fish. This network diagram highlights the emerging property of organised fishing businesses that are dependent on the access to capital. From the early research efforts of Moreno came the visual analysis of social networks using the depiction of people and interactions as nodes joined by links.
Gradually the application of mathematics defined the various patterns observed. In particular, the work by Harary set up the foundation of structural analysis of social networks. The advent of fast computing was necessary to enable more dynamic analysis including the evaluation of networks against non-random networks.
Centrality and link density measures formed the basis of many actor-level analytical tools Garton et al. The topological configurations that influence network function were incorporated into the analytical framework. Motif analysis Robins et al. This technique is still restricted in the configurations able to be utilised for analysis.
The greatest challenge in the field of social network analysis is the extension of the analytical techniques to encompass the postulations of the socioecological paradigm. Understanding the heterogeneous networks across hierarchical systems within dynamic structures remains a subject of rapid development Leenhardt et al.
Measuring connectivity in the social sciences is difficult due to ethical, practical and philosophical issues. These influences are found when collecting the data that describes the connectivity Garton et al. Questionnaires that seek to record a range of social interactions are hampered by privacy i. Ethical considerations mean the use of publically collected data must remain anonymous and limited to the case in question. Tricking individuals to react through the use of physiological experiments can be fraught with danger as Stanley Milgram demonstrated.
Another complication is the practical issue of who and the organisation they represent can conduct the interviews since people will respond differently to the type of person asking the questions based on their past interaction history or interview context Garton et al. The alternative is collecting large data volumes on connecting behaviour such as mobile phones but this is limited to the numerical ID of the caller rather than a fully described demographic suite.
In some cases the use of synthetic populations Namazi-Rad et al. Philosophical considerations are required to understand the complex human responses to simple observations of connections. Applying a Marxist rather than a Durkheimian perspective will lead to different interpretations of the observed changes in social network structure Calhoun However caching the network analysis in a particular school of thought is a powerful mechanism to reduce the vagueness of fundamental descriptions.
There are a number of important similarities in the way that the concept of connectivity is approached and the tools that are used within the disciplines explored. Notably though, there are also significant differences, which provides an opportunity for cross-fertilization of ideas to further the application of connectivity studies to improve understanding of complex systems.
This section i evaluates the key challenges by drawing upon differences in the ways they are approached across the different disciplines Table 1 , enabling ii identification of opportunities for cross-fertilization of ideas and development of a unified approach in connectivity studies via the development of a common toolbox. We then iii outline potential future avenues for research in exploring SC-FC relations.
Within all the disciplines explored the fundamental unit employed in any connectivity analysis depends on the spatio-temporal context of the study and the specific research question — this applies even where a clear fundamental unit might be self-evident e. The spatial and temporal scale of the fundamental unit may span orders of magnitude within a single discipline, and may thus have to be redefined for each particular study.
For example, whilst for some applications in Neuroscience it is appropriate to adopt the neuron as the fundamental unit, for others the cortical area many orders of magnitude larger in size may be more appropriate — notably in cases where it becomes challenging to address adequately the connectivity of neurons due to computational limitations. This issue is also present in Geomorphology where adopting individual sediment particles as the fundamental unit would become too computationally demanding.
In this sense, there are parallels between connectivity and the field of numerical taxonomy Sneath and Sokal, where, despite the obvious taxonomic unit being the individual organism, an arbitrary taxonomic unit termed an operational taxonomic unit was employed. The exception to this general statement is the field of Ecology, where the ecosystem provides a conceptual unit that can be applied at any spatial scale. The concept of the ecosystem was introduced by Tansley and has been subject to much debate since.
Despite the shortcomings of the ecosystem concept, within connectivity studies it is nonetheless useful to have an overarching concept that can be employed at any scale. The ecosystem concept is particularly useful when the interactions connectivity between different organizational levels are of interest, with an ecosystem at a lower hierarchical level forming a sub-unit of an ecosystem at a higher hierarchical level. Many systems are hierarchically organised, and therefore a key question for other disciplines is whether identifying something theoretically similar to the ecosystem concept may be useful.
For many applications in connectivity studies, appropriate conceptualisation and operationalisation of the fundamental unit will depend on the purpose of investigations. For example where interventions within a system have the goal of managing or repairing a property of that system, the scale of the fundamental unit may be specified, to work within the certain system boundaries for a particular purpose. But as noted in the case of Ecology section Defining the Fundamental Unit it is critical that whilst defining the FU, relationships that cross scales are also defined clearly.
Although in most disciplines the fundamental unit corresponds to some physical entity, in Social Network Science for example, it may be more abstract, i. More abstract conceptualisations of the fundamental unit may be fruitful in other disciplines where the definition of a fundamental unit as a physical entity has proved difficult e. Geomorphology , or in modelling approaches to examining connectivity e. Furthermore, the notion in Systems Biology that the fundamental unit is a concept dependent upon the current state of knowledge of the system under study is a valuable point that merits wider consideration.
There is general consensus that SC is derived from network topology whilst FC is concerned with how processes operate over the network. In all the disciplines considered, the separation of SC from FC is commonplace, due to the ease with which they can be studied separately — especially in terms of measuring and quantifying connectivity. The success separating SC and FC in Systems Biology has been attributed to the fact that the structural properties and snapshots of biological function are typically measured in independent ways, whereas elsewhere it is common for FC to be inferred from measurements of SC.
For example, in Geomorphology it is well established that structural-functional feedbacks drive system evolution and emergent behaviour, and whilst it is common in some applications to explore these feedbacks e. There is a similar tendency in Neuroscience to focus on structural-functional interactions rather than the full suite of reciprocal feedbacks between structure and function. However the increasing recognition within Geomorphology and Neuroscience of reciprocal feedbacks is heightening the need for additional tools that will allow the evolution of SC and FC and the development of emergent behaviour to be understood more fully.
The importance of such feedbacks is highlighted in Computational Neuroscience, in the case where frequently used networks persist, whilst rarely used links are degraded leading to the development of network topology over time. Nevertheless, separating SC and FC does permit insights into the behaviour of systems insofar as it permits predictive models of function from structure that are amenable to experimental testing.
The ease and meaningfulness with which SC and FC can be separated will also depend on the timescale over which feedbacks occur within a system. Structural connectivity can only be usefully studied independently of FC if the timescale of the feedbacks is large compared to the timescale of the observation of SC. Any description of SC is merely a snapshot of the system. For that snapshot to be useful it needs to have a relatively long-term validity. Thus, for meaningful separations of SC and FC to be made, it is paramount to know how feedbacks work, the timescales over which they operate, and how connectivity helps us to understand these feedbacks.
There are striking examples from several of the disciplines explored here of the ways in which feedbacks between SC and FC can lead to the co-evolution of systems towards a phase transition point — this is seen in Computational Neuroscience, and in Ecology and Geomorphology where system-intrinsic SC-FC feedbacks shift a system to an alternate stable state. Linked to SC-FC relations and the validity of separating the two is the concept of memory. Memory is about the coexistence of fast and slow timescales. Qualitatively speaking, the length of distribution cycles in a graph can be viewed as being related to a distribution of time scales.
Changes to SC in response to functional relationships imprint memory within a system. Thus, key questions are: How far back does the memory of a system go? Is memory cumulative? In systems subject to perturbations possibly true for all discipline studied here which perturbations control memory and its erasure? What are the timescales of learning in response to memory?
Other disciplines have similarly struggled to comprehend the instantaneous non-linear behaviour of their systems in terms of memory. In Social Network Science it is possible to speak of culture, which raises the notion of a hierarchy of memory effects on connectivity: one that has not yet been explored. Of all the key challenges facing the use of connectivity, memory appears to be one which no discipline has yet resolved.
Emergence is a characteristic of complex systems, and is intimately tied to the relationship between SC and FC. In this sense, a fundamental unit is an emergent property of microscopic descriptions. An important question is how far does the analysis of connectivity help understand emergence? As noted in section Understanding emergent behaviour , the co-evolution of SC and FC offers an interesting possibility for the overarching perspective of self-organization and emergent behaviours, as the system now can, in principle, tune itself towards phase transition points. Thus, by separating SC and FC in our analyses of connectivity, we remove the opportunity to understand and to quantify emergence — to understand how a system tunes itself towards phase transition points and the role of external drivers.
Without tools that can deal with SC and FC simultaneously, it is challenging to see how connectivity can be used to improve understanding of emergent behaviour. However, some suitable tools do exist. For example, adaptive networks that allow for a coevolution of dynamics on the network in addition to dynamical changes of the network Gross and Blasius, provide a powerful tool that have potential to drive forward our understanding of how connectivity shapes the evolution of complex systems.
Approaches are used in Computational Neuroscience that look at the propagation of excitation through a graph showing waves of self-organization around hubs, thus allowing exploration of conditions that lead to self-organised behaviour. However, even in this example, there is still great demand for new ideas that will more easily accommodate the study of memory effects in all its various guises and emergent properties. In Geomorphology and Ecology, key studies demonstrate how incorporating SC and FC into studies of system dynamics allows for the development of emergent behaviour e.
Stewart et al. However, such examples are relatively rare, which highlights the scope for trans-disciplinary learning which may help to drive forward our understanding of emergent behaviour. Link prediction is a potentially useful tool that has been applied for example in Systems Biology and Social Network analysis. It can be used to test our understanding of how connectivity drives network structure and function Wang et al.
If a comprehensive understanding of a system has been derived of the SC and FC of a network and their interactions, then we should be able to predict missing links Lu et al. Lu et al. Thus, prediction and network inference — even though blurring the distinction between SC and FC see section Neuroscience — can be used to identify the most important links in a network — i. In view of the widespread adoption of the concept of connectivity it may seem surprising that actually measuring connectivity remains a key challenge. However, such is the case. Because connectivity is an abstract concept, operationalizing models into something measurable is not straightforward.
The imperative here is to consider SC and FC separately. For the former, some disciplines e. Geomorphology, Ecology have developed indices of connectivity e. Furthermore, there is a concern as to what is the usefulness of such indices, other than as descriptions of SC: as might equally be said of clustering coefficients and centrality measures. Systems Biology, on the other hand, does not attempt to measure SC per se , but infers SC based on knowledge accumulation of the system.
In that sense, connectivity may be seen as a means of describing current understanding. Neuroscience, in contrast again, measures connectivity directly through experimentation. How far such an approach could be applied in other disciplines raises the issue of ethics, as discussed in 3. Only in the case of Computational Neuroscience, which deals with analysed entities the properties of which are defined a priori is measuring SC straightforward. Of the two, FC poses the greater measuring problem.
Without such a description, FC can be derived from fluxes e. Link prediction is also a potentially useful tool in deriving a network-based abstraction of a system where it is infeasible to collect data on SC and FC required to parameterise all links, or where links, by their very nature, are not detectable Cannistraci et al.
This problem of observability is inherent in Systems Biology where link types can be very diverse and it has already been noted that databases will drift in time. Therefore, the topological prediction of novel interactions in Systems Biology is particularly useful Cannistraci et al. The use of link prediction also raises the possibility that data can be collected to represent the subset of a network therefore reducing data collection requirements , and link prediction be used to estimate the rest of the network Lu et al.
Separate, but directly linked to measuring connectivity, is analysis of the measurements. The most commonly applied approach is the use of graph theory. This powerful mathematical tool has yielded significant insights in fields as diverse as Social Network Science, Systems Biology, Neuroscience, Ecology, and Geomorphology. However, in many applications of network-based approaches simply knowing if a link is present or absent i. This issue can be dealt with by providing a more detailed representation of the network using weighted or directional links. The use of weighted links is common within network science see for example Barratt et al.
Masselink et al. Using a weighted network can provide an additional layer of information to the characterisation of a network that carries with it advantages for specific applications, and to ignore such information is to throw out data that could potentially help us to understand these systems better Newman, a ; hence, the importance of using measures that incorporate the weights of links Opsahl and Panzarasa, More recently, further advances have been made in network-based abstractions of systems, for example, in Ecology, multi-layer networks are being increasingly used, which overcome the limitations of mono-layer networks, to allow the study of connections between different types or layers of networks, or interactions across different time steps.
Similarly, bipartite networks have been used to provide a more detailed representation of different types of nodes in a network. These more complex network-based approaches carry with them advantages that a more detailed assessment of connectivity within and between different entities can be assessed. However, whilst there are many advantages in using more complex network-based abstractions of a system weighted, bipartite and multi-layer networks , there are also inherent limitations as many of the standard tools of statistical network analysis applicable to binary networks are no longer available.
In the case of weighted networks, even the possibility of defining and categorizing a degree distribution on a weighted network is lost. In some cases there are ways to modify these tools for application to weighted networks, but one loses the comparability to the vast inventory of analysed natural and technical networks available. A further problem of assigning weights to network links is that it requires greatly increased parameterisation of network properties, which may in turn start to drive the outcome of using the network to help characterise SC and FC and may influence any emergence we might have otherwise seen.
However, in recognition of not throwing away important information associated with the weights of links, there are increasingly tools available to deal with weighted links, including: the revised clustering coefficient Opsahl and Panzarasa, ; node strength the sum of weights attached to links belonging to a node Barratt et al. As already discussed in the case of Ecology, a limitation of bipartite networks is that to analyze these networks, a one-mode monopartite projection of the network is required, as many of the tools available for monopartite networks are not so well developed for bipartite networks.
An important issue when analyzing bipartite networks is therefore devising a way to obtain a projection of the layer of interest without generating a dense network whose topological structure is almost trivial Saracco et al. Potential solutions to this issue include projecting a bipartite network into a weighted monopartite network Neal, and only retaining links in the monopartite projection by only linking nodes belonging to the same layer that are significantly similar Saracco et al.
A further issue is that it is often not possible to recover the bipartite graph from which the classical form has been derived Guillaume and Latapy, Developments are being made in our ability to analyze bipartite networks directly; for example, progress has been made in developing link-prediction algorithms applicable to bipartite networks e. Cannistracti et al. Similarly, to apply standard network techniques to multi-layer networks requires aggregating data from different layers of a multi-layer network to a mono-layer network De Dominico et al.
Careful consideration of the most appropriate tools is thus required when measuring connectivity using a network-based abstraction. Can a sensible projection of a bipartite network be derived, to facilitate analysis of the network? Is it possible to derive a monoplex abstraction of a multiplex network without losing too much information?
From this review it clear that the persistence of the four key challenges identified depends on the availability of different types of tools and their varied applications across the disciplines Table 1. Notably, disciplines that are more advanced in their application of network-based approaches appear to be less limited by the four key challenges.
The conceptual similarities in SC and FC observed between the disciplines discussed here, in which a wide range of different types of systems can be represented as nodes and links Fig. This common toolbox can be employed across the different disciplines to solve a set of common problems.
Network-based approaches drawing upon the tools of Graph Theory and Network Science reside at the core of this common toolbox as they have been applied in disciplines where the key challenges pose less of a problem. Network-centred common toolbox. Diagram showing how a network-centred common toolbox implicitly addresses the four inextricably linked key challenges: defining the fundamental unit, separating SC and FC, understanding emergent behaviour and measuring connectivity.
Groups of nodes form fundamental units at higher levels of organization denoted by grey dashed lines ; B. Topological representation of system structure spatially embedded depending in the system in question ; C. Identifying parts of the network that are dynamic functionally connected ; D.
Adaptive network where the evolution of topology depends on the dynamics of nodes source: Gross and Blasius; Network adaptation at multiple cross scale levels of organization shapes emergent behaviour; E. FC may have an emergent aspect self-organised, collective patterns on the structural network that is independent of network adaptation; F. The fundamental unit should dictate the measurement approach; G. How we measure connectivity determines our ability to detect how connectivity leads to emergent behaviour.
A common toolbox requires that tools are readily accessible. The widespread uptake of the tools of Graph Theory has been facilitated by the implementation and dissemination of various graph theoretical models. Facilitating this uptake is the freely available stand-alone open source packages or enhanced parts of more general data analysis packages, all of which are becoming more sophisticated with time.
A common toolbox can draw upon many existing freely available tools. One example is the Brain Connectivity Toolbox Rubinov and Sporns, which was developed for complex-network analysis of structural and functional brain-connectivity data sets using the approaches of graph theory. More recently this toolbox has been used to investigate braided river networks Marra et al. Continued knowledge accumulation.
This enables the fundamental unit to be defined based on the system in question, which is then represented within the network as a node. To deal with multi-scale dynamics within a system, groups of nodes at one level of organization can form a fundamental unit at a higher level of organization.
Complex Systems Modeling
Network-based approaches. These are well suited to the separation of SC and FC through the topological representation of system structure SC and through identifying parts of the network that are dynamic FC. The spatial embeddedness of many networks is an essential feature, whereby the location of nodes and their spatial proximity is an important feature of the system, and it is necessary that this be accounted for.
Further, the position of nodes within a network or node characteristics may alter the relative weighting of links. Accounting for network adaptation. In recognition that SC-FC relations evolve potentially leading to emergent behaviour , accounting for network adaption, where the evolution of network topology depends on node dynamics, is essential Gross and Blasius, Only by dealing with network adaptation can SC-FC feedbacks and interactions be dealt with.
Also important for understanding emergent behaviour is the capacity for fundamental units to be represented at multiple levels of organization, since this is critical where emergent behaviour is the result of cross-scale interactions and feedbacks. Whilst connectivity research in complex systems should not be restricted to the use of a single tool or approach, there are clearly advances that can be made in connectivity studies by merging tools used within different disciplines into a common toolbox approach and learning from examples from different disciplines where certain challenges have already been overcome.
It is important to recognise that not all the tools of the common toolbox will be applicable to all applications in all disciplines, and that some disciplines will only require a subset of approaches. Furthermore, it is important not to overcomplicate analyses, for instance through the use of spatially embedded networks where space is not an important network characteristic, or through the use of weighted links in cases where this is not critical to the representation of a system. Overcomplicating network representation reduces the scope for some network-based metrics to be used to quantify connectivity e.
To operationalise this common toolbox, what is required now is a transdisciplinary endeavour that brings together leading scholars and practitioners to explore applications of connectivity-based tools across different fields with the goal of understanding and managing complex systems. Examples include: i determining how critical nodes shape the evolution of a system and how they can be manipulated or managed to alter system dynamics; ii deriving minimal models of SC and FC to capture their relations and identify the most relevant properties of dynamical processes, and iii to explore how shifts in network topology result in novel systems.
Key to fulfilling this goal will be: synthesising theoretical knowledge about structure-function connectivity SC-FC relationships in networks; exploring the ranges of validity of SC-FC relationships and reformulating them for usage in the application projects; deriving suitable minimal abstractions of specific systems, such that the tools within the common methodology become applicable. Also important will be the synthesis of distinct methods that are similar in terms of the theoretical basis and share common ways of quantitatively describing specific aspects of connectivity.
An important task will be to test the applicability, compatibility and enhancement of consistent methods in the common toolbox from one discipline to the other. Then, using the common toolbox, it will become possible to explore and understand commonalities in the structure and dynamics of a range of complex systems and hence of the respective concepts that have been developed across scientific disciplines. In addition to these findings, other areas that may yield novel insights into SC-FC relations and assist in understanding commonalities in the structure and dynamics of a range of complex systems can be highlighted.
Examples include:. Estimating the importance of certain network components using the elementary flux mode concept. The importance of certain network components has been demonstrated in Systems Biology, but there are opportunities for all disciplines using network-based approaches to identify which parts of systems networks are particularly important. In Systems Biology elementary mode analysis is used to decompose complex metabolic networks into simpler units that perform a coherent function Stelling et al.
Thus, there is opportunity to extend the concept of elementary mode analysis to other disciplines to predict key aspects of network functionality. Citation: Webster AJ Multi-stage models for the failure of complex systems, cascading disasters, and the onset of disease. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. There was no additional external funding received for this study. Competing interests: The author has declared that no competing interests exist.
Complex systems such as a car can fail through many different routes, often requiring a sequence or combination of events for a component to fail. The same can be true for human disease, cancer in particular [ 1 — 3 ]. For example, cancer can arise through a sequence of steps such as genetic mutations, each of which must occur prior to cancer [ 4 — 8 ]. The considerable genetic variation between otherwise similar cancers [ 9 , 10 ], suggests that similar cancers might arise through a variety of different paths.
Multi-stage models describe how systems can fail through one or more possible routes. Here we show that the model is easy to conceptualise and derive, and that many specific examples have analytical solutions or approximations, making it ideally suited to the construction of biologically- or physically-motivated models for the incidence of events such as diseases, disasters, or mechanical failures. Jaynes [ 13 ] generalises to give an exact analytical formula for the sums of random variables needed to evaluate the sequential model.
This is evaluated for specific cases. The approach described here can incorporate simple models for a clonal expansion prior to cancer detection [ 5 — 7 ], but as discussed in Sections 8 and 9, it may not be able to describe evolutionary competition or cancer-evolution in a changing micro-environment without additional modification. More generally, it is hoped that the mathematical framework can be used in a broad range of applications, including the modelling of other diseases [ 15 — 18 ].
Imagine that we can enumerate all possible routes 1 to n by which a failure can occur Fig 1. In words, if failure can occur by any of n possible routes, the overall hazard of failure equals the sum of the hazard of failure by all the individual routes. A few notes on Eq 2 and its application to cancer modelling. Due to different manufacturing processes, genetic backgrounds, chance processes or exposures e.
Secondly, the stem cell cancer model assumes that cancer can occur through any of n s equivalent stem cells in a tissue, for which Eq 2 is modified to,. So a greater number of stem cells is expected to increase cancer risk, as is observed [ 21 , 22 ]. As a consequence, many cancer models implicity or explicitly assume and , a limit emphasised in the Appendix of Moolgavkar [ 14 ]. Often failure by a particular path will require more than one failure to occur independently.
Consider firstly when there are m i steps to failure, and the order of failure is unimportant Fig 2. The probability of surviving failure by the i th route, S i t is, 4 where F ij t is the cumulative probability distribution for failure of the j th step on the i th route within time t. It may be helpful to explain how Eqs 1 and 4 are used in recently described multi-stage cancer models [ 23 — 25 ]. Similarly, the probability of a given stem cell having mutation j is.
This is the solution of Zhang et al. Therefore, in addition to the models of Wu and Calabrese being equivalent cancer models needing m mutational steps, the models also assume that the order of the steps is not important. This differs from the original Armitage-Doll model that considered a sequential set of rate-limiting steps, and was exactly solved by Moolgavkar [ 14 ].
Eqs 8 and 9 are equivalent to assuming: i equivalent stem cells, ii a single path to cancer, iii equivalent divisions per stem cell, and, iv equivalent mutation rates for all steps. Despite the differences in modelling assumptions for Eq 9 and the Armitage-Doll model, their predictions can be quantitatively similar. This approximate solution is expected to become inaccurate at sufficiently long times. An equivalent expression to Eq 8 was known to Armitage, Doll, and Pike since at least [ 26 ], as was its limiting behaviour for large n.
The authors [ 26 ] emphasised that many different forms for the F i t i could produce approximately the same observed F t , especially for large n , with the behaviour of F t being dominated by the small t behaviour of F i t. As a result, for sufficiently small times power-law behaviour for F t is likely, and if longer times were observable then an extreme value distribution would be expected [ 4 , 26 , 27 ]. However the power-law approximation can fail for important cases with extra rate-limiting steps such as a clonal expansion [ 5 — 7 ].
It seems likely that a model that includes clonal expansion and cancer detection is needed for cancer modelling, but the power law approximation could be used for all but the penultimate step, for example. A general methodology that includes this approach is described next, and examples are given in the subsequent section 6.
The results and examples of sections 5 and 6 are intended to have a broad range of applications. Some failures require a sequence of independent events to occur, each following the one before Fig 3. A well-known example is the Armitage-Doll multistage cancer model, that requires a sequence of m mutations failures , that each occur with a different constant rate.
The probability density for failure time is the pdf for a sum of the m independent times t j to failure at each step in the sequence, each of which may have a different probability density function f j t j. A general method for evaluating the probability density is outlined below, adapting a method described by Jaynes [ 13 ] page Writing , then gives, 13 To evaluate the integrals, take the Laplace transform with respect to t , to give, 14 This factorises as, 15 Giving a general analytical solution as, 16 where is the inverse Laplace transform, and with the same variable s for each value of j.
Eq 15 is similar to the relationship between moment generating functions of discrete probability distributions p i t i , and the moment generating function M s for , that has, 17 whose derivation is analogous to Eq 17 but with integrals replaced by sums. The survival and hazard functions for f t can be obtained from Eq 16 in the usual way. For example, 18 that can be used in combination with Eq 1.
A number of valuable results are easy to evaluate using Eq 16 , as is illustrated in the next section. Eq 20 can be solved using the convolution theorem for Laplace transforms, that gives, 21 which is sometimes easier to evaluate than two Laplace transforms and their inverse. In general, solutions can be presented in terms of multiple convolutions if it is preferable to do so. In that case an analogous calculation using a Fourier transform with respect to t in Eq 13 leads to analogous results in terms of Fourier transforms, with in place of Laplace transforms, resulting in, 22 Eq 22 is mentioned for completeness, but is not used here.
A general solution to Eq 16 can be given in terms of definite integrals, with, 23 This can sometimes be easier to evaluate or approximate than Eq A derivation is given in the Supporting Information S1 Appendix. This is discussed further in the Supporting Information S1 Appendix. Some of the results are well-known but not usually presented this way, others are new or poorly known.
We will use the Laplace transforms and their inverses , of, 25 and, For many situations such as most diseases, you are unlikely to get any particular disease during your lifetime. Then we have, A well known example of this approximation Eq 28 , is implicitly in the original approximate solution to the Armitage-Doll multi-stage cancer model.
Note that an equivalent time-dependence can be produced by a different combination of hazard functions with and steps, provided. Moolgavkar [ 14 ] used induction to provide an explicit formula for f t , with, 37 where, 38 For small times the terms in a Taylor expansion of Eq 37 cancel exactly, so that , as expected. This feature could be useful for approximating a normalised function when the early-time behaviour approximates an integer power of time. For example, consider m Gamma distributions with different integer-valued shape parameters p i , and.
Eq 42 is most easily evaluated with a symbolic algebra package. Alternatively, if e. If we also let e. An advantage of the method described above, is that it is often easy to calculate pdfs for sums of differently distributed samples. For the first example, consider two samples from the same or very similar exponential distribution, and a third from a different exponential distribution. More generally, it can be seen that a sum of exponentially distributed samples with different rates, smoothly approximate a gamma distribution as the rates become increasingly similar, as expected from Eq If a path to failure involves a combination of sequential and non-sequential steps, then the necessary set of sequential steps can be considered as one of the non-sequential steps, with overall survival given by Eq 1 and the survival for any sequential set of steps calculated from Eq 18 Fig 4.
For the purposes of modelling, a sequence of dependent or multiple routes can be regarded as a single step e. Clonal expansion is thought to be an essential element of cancer progression [ 29 ], and can modify the timing of cancer onset and detection [ 5 — 7 , 30 — 32 ]. The growing number of cells at risk increases the probability of the next step in a sequence of mutations occurring, and if already cancerous, then it increases the likelihood of detection.
Some cancer models have a clonal expansion of cells as a rate-limiting step [ 5 — 7 ]. For example, Michor et al. This gives a survival function for cancer detection of, 49 where, 50 a , c , are rate constants, and N is the total number of cells prior to cancer initiation. Alternatively, we might expect the likelihood of cancer being diagnosed to continue to increase with time since the cancer is initiated.
For example, a hazard function that is linear in time would give a Weibull distribution with. It is unlikely that either this or the logistic model would be an equally good description for the detection of all cancers, although they may both be an improvement on a model without either. Qualitatively, we might expect a delay between cancer initiation and the possibility of diagnosis, and diagnosis to occur almost inevitably within a reasonable time-period.
Therefore a Weibull or Gamma distributed time to diagnosis may be reasonable for many cancers, with the shorter tail of the Weibull distribution making it more suitable approximation for cancers whose diagnosis is almost inevitable. The possibility of misdiagnosis or death by another cause is not considered here. Taking , and using the convolution formula Eq 21 , we get, 51 where we integrated by parts to get the last line.
This may be written as, 52 with. Now consider non-independent failures, where the failure of A changes the probability of a failure in B or C. In general, if the paths to failure are not independent of each other then the situation cannot be described by Eq 1. Benjamin Cairns suggested exploring the following example—if step 1 of A prevents step 1 of B and vice-versa, then only one path can be followed.
As a consequence, Eq 1 may be inappropriate to describe phenomenon such as survival in the presence of natural selection, where competition for the same resource means that not all can survive. In some cases it may be possible to include a different model for the step or steps where Eq 1 fails, analogously to the clonal expansion model [ 6 ] described in Section 6.
But in principle, an alternative model may be required. We will return to this point in Section 9. The rest of this section limits the discussion to situations where the paths to failure are independent, but where the failure-rate depends on the order of events. An equivalent scenario would require m parts to fail for the system to fail, but the order in which the parts fail, modifies the probability of subsequent component failures. As an example, if three components A, B, and C, must fail, then we need to evaluate the probability of each of the 6 possible routes in turn, and obtain the overall failure probability from Eq 1.
Assuming the paths to failure are independent, then there are m! We can calculate this using Eq 16 , for example giving, 55 from which we can construct. Although in principle every term in e. Eqs 54 and 55 need evaluating, there will be situations where results simplify. For example, if one route is much more probable than another—e.
A more striking example is when there are very many potential routes to failure, as for the Armitage-Doll model where there are numerous stem cells that can cause cancer. If one route is much more likely than the others then both f t and h t can be approximated as a single power of time, with the approximation best at early times, and a cross-over to different power-law behaviour at later times.
Cancer is increasingly viewed as an evolutionary process that is influenced by a combination of random and carcinogen-driven genetic and epigenetic changes [ 2 , 3 , 21 , 29 , 33 — 37 ], and an evolving tissue micro-environment [ 38 — 41 ]. This highlights two limitations of the multi-stage model described here. As noted in Section 8, Eq 1 cannot necessarily model a competitive process such as natural selection, where the growth of one cancer variant can inhibit the growth of another. | https://equverinebev.cf/miscellaneous/modeling-multi-level-systems-understanding-complex-systems.php |
Design of bracing to resist forces induced by wind, seismic disturbances, and moving loads, such as those caused by cranes, is not unlike, in principle, design of members that support vertical dead and live loads. These lateral forces are readily calculable. They are collected at points of application and then distributed through the structural system and delivered to the ground. Wind loads, for example, are collected at each floor level and distributed to the columns that are selected to participate in the system. Such loads are cumulative; that is, columns resisting wind shears must support at any floor level all the wind loads on the floors above the one in consideration.
Bracing Tall Buildings
If the steel frame of the multistory building in Fig. 7.16a is subjected to lateral wind load, it will distort as shown in Fig. 7.16b, if the connections of columns and beams are of the standard type, for which rigidity (resistance to rotation) is nil. One can visualize this readily by assuming each joint is connected with a single pin. Naturally, the simplest method to prevent this distortion is to insert diagonal members— triangles being inherently rigid, even if all the members forming the triangles are pin-connected.
FIGURE 7.16 Wind bracing for multistory buildings.
Braced Bents
Bracing of the type in Fig. 7.16c, called X bracing, is both efficient and economical. Unfortunately, X bracing is usually impracticable because of interference with doors, windows, and clearance between floor and ceiling. Usually, for office buildings large column-free areas are required. This offers flexibility of space use, with movable partitions. But about the only place for X bracing in this type of building is in the elevator shaft, fire tower, or wherever a windowless wall is required. As a result, additional bracing must be supplied by other methods. On the other hand, X bracing is used extensively for bracing industrial buildings of the shed or mill type.
Moment-Resisting Frames.
Designers have a choice of several alternatives to X bracing. Knee braces, shown in Fig. 7.16d, or portal frames, shown in Fig. 7.16e, may be used in outer walls, where they are likely to interfere only with windows. For buildings with window walls, the bracing often used is the bracket type (Fig. 7.16ƒ). It simply develops the end connection for the calculated wind moment. Connections vary in type, depending on size of members, magnitude of wind moment, and compactness needed to comply with floor-to-ceiling clearances.
Figure 7.17 illustrates a number of bracket-type wind-braced connections. The minimum type, represented in Fig. 7.17e, consists of angles top and bottom: They are ample for moderate-height buildings. Usually the outstanding leg (against the column) is of a size that permits only one gage line. A second line of fasteners would not be effective because of the eccentricity. When greater moment resistance is needed, the type shown in Fig. 7.17b should be considered. This is the type that has become rather conventional in field-bolted construction. Figure 7.17c illustrates the maximum size with beam stubs having flange widths that permit additional gage lines, as shown. It is thus possible on larger wide-flange columns to obtain 16 fasteners in the stub-to-column connection.
The resisting moment of a given connection varies with the distance between centroids of the top and bottom connection piece. To increase this distance, thus increasing the moment, an auxiliary beam may be introduced as shown in Fig. 7.17d, if it does not create an interference.
FIGURE 7.17 Typical wind connections for beams to columns.
All the foregoing types may be of welded construction, rather than bolted. In fact, it is not unusual to find mixtures of both because of the fabricator’s decision to shop-bolt and field-weld, or vice versa. Welding, however, has much to offer in simplifying details and saving weight, as illustrated in Fig. 7.17e, ƒ, and g. The last represents the ultimate efficiency with respect to weight saving, and furthermore, it eliminates interfering details.
Deep wing brackets (Fig. 7.17h and i) are sometimes used for wall beams and spandrels designed to take wind stresses. Such deep brackets are, of course, acceptable for interior beam bracing whenever the brackets do not interfere with required clearances.
Not all beams need to wind-braced in tall buildings. Usually the wind load is concentrated on certain column lines, called bents, and the forces are carried through the bents to the ground. For example, in a wing of a building, it is possible to concentrate the wind load on the outermost bent. To do so may require a stiff floor or diaphragm-like system capable of distributing the wind loads laterally. One-half these loads may be transmitted to the outer bent, and one-half to the main building to which the wing connects.
Braced bents are invariably necessary across the narrow dimension of a building. The question arises as to the amount of bracing required in the long dimension, since wind of equal unit intensity is assumed to act on all exposed faces of structures. In buildings of square or near square proportions, it is likely that braced bents will be provided in both directions. In buildings having a relatively long dimension, as compared with width, the need for bracing diminishes. In fact, in many instances, wind loads are distributed over so many columns that the inherent rigidity of the whole system is sufficient to preclude the necessity of additional bracing.
Column-to-column joints are treated differently for wind loads. Columns are compression members and transmit their loads, from section above to section below, by direct bearing between finished ends. It is not likely, in the average building, for the tensile stresses induced by wind loads ever to exceed the compressive pressure due to dead loads. Consequently, there is no theoretical need for bracing a column joint. Actually, however, column joints are connected together with nominal splice plates for practical considerations—to tie the columns during erection and to obtain vertical alignment.
This does not mean that designers may always ignore the adequacy of column splices. In lightly loaded structures, or in exceptionally tall but narrow buildings, it is possible for the horizontal wind forces to cause a net uplift in the windward column because of the overturning action. The commonly used column splices should then be checked for their capacity to resist the maximum net tensile stresses caused in the column flanges. This computation and possible heaving up of the splice material may not be thought of as bracing; yet, in principle, the column joint is being ‘‘wind-braced’’ in a manner similar to the wind-braced floor-beam connections.
Shear Walls
Masonary walls enveloping a steel frame, interior masonry walls, and perhaps some stiff partitions can resist a substantial amount of lateral load. Rigid floor systems participate in lateral-force distribution by distributing the shears induced at each floor level to the columns and walls. Yet, it is common design practice to carry wind loads on the steel frame, little or no credit being given to the substantial resistance rendered by the floors and walls. In the past, some engineers deviated from this conservatism by assigning a portion of the wind loads to the floors and walls; nevertheless, the steel frame carried the major share. When walls of glass or thin metallic curtain walls, lightweight floors, and removable partitions are used, this construction imposes on the steel frame almost complete responsibility for transmittal of wind loads to the ground. Consequently, wind bracing is critical for tall steel structures.
In tall, slender buildings, such as hotels and apartments with partitions, the cracking of rigid-type partitions is related to the wracking action of the frame caused by excessive deflection. One remedy that may be used for exceptionally slender frames (those most likely to deflect excessively) is to supplement the normal bracing of the steel frame with shear walls. Acting as vertical cantilevers in resisting lateral forces, these walls, often constructed of reinforced concrete, may be arranged much like structural shapes, such as plates, channels, Ts, Is, or Hs. Walls needed for fire towers, elevator shafts, divisional walls, etc., may be extended and reinforced to serve as shear walls, and may relieve the steel frame of cumbersome bracing or avoid uneconomical proportions.
Bracing Industrial-Type Buildings
Bracing of low industrial buildings for horizontal forces presents fewer difficulties than bracing of multistory buildings, because the designer usually is virtually free to select the most efficient bracing without regard to architectural considerations or interferences. For this reason, conventional X bracing is widely used—but not exclusively. Knee braces, struts, and sway frames are used where needed.
FIGURE 7.18 Relative stiffness of bents depends on restraints on columns
Wind forces acting on the frame shown in Fig. 7.18a, with hinged joints at the top and bottom of supporting columns, would cause collapse as indicated in Fig. 7.18b. In practice, the joints would not be hinged. However, a minimum-type connection at the truss connection and a conventional column base with anchor bolts located on the axis transverse to the frame would approximate this theoretical consideration of hinged joints. Therefore, the structure requires bracing capable of preventing collapse or unacceptable deflection. In the usual case, the connection between truss and columns will be stiffened by means of knee braces (Fig. 7.18c). The rigidity so obtained may be supplemented by providing partial rigidity at the column base by simply locating the anchor bolts in the plane of the bent.
In buildings containing overhead cranes, the knee braced may interfere with crane operation. Then, the interference may be eliminated by fully anchoring the column base so that the column may function as a vertical cantilever (Fig. 7.18d).
The method often used for very heavy industrial buildings is to obtain substantial rigidity at both ends of the column so that the behaviour under lateral load will resemble the condition illustrated in Fig. 7.18e. In both (d) and (e), the footings must be designed for such moments.
FIGURE 7.19 Braced bays in framing for an industrial building.
A common assumption in wind distribution for the type of light mill building shown in Fig. 7.19 is that the windward columns take a large share of the load acting on the side of the building and deliver the load directly to the ground. The remaining wind load on the side is delivered by the same columns to the roof systems, where the load joins with the wind forces imposed directly on the roof surface. Then, by means of diagonal X bracing, working in conjunction with the struts and top chords of the trusses, the load is carried to the eave struts, thence to the gables and, through diagonal bracing, to the foundations.
Because wind may blow from any direction, the building also must be braced for the wind load on the gables. This bracing becomes less important as the building increases in length and conceivably could be omitted in exceptionally long structures. The stress path is not unlike that assumed for the transverse wind forces. The load generated on the ends is picked up by the roof system and side framing, delivered to the eave struts, and then transmitted by the diagonals in the end sidewall bays to the foundation.
No distribution rule for bracing is intended in this discussion; bracing can be designed many different ways. Whereas the foregoing method would be sufficient for a small building, a more elaborate treatment may be required for larger structures.
Braced bays, or towers, are usually favoured for structures such as that shown in Fig. 7.20. There, a pair of transverse bents are connected together with X bracing in the plane of the columns, plane of truss bottom chords, plane of truss top chords, and by means of struts and sway frames. It is assumed that each such tower can carry the wind load from adjacent bents, the number depending on assumed rigidities, size, span, and also on sound judgment. Usually every third or fourth bent should become a braced bay. Participation of bents adjoining the braced bay can be assured by insertion of bracing designated ‘‘intermediate’’ in Fig. 7.20b. This bracing is of greater importance when knee braces between trusses and columns cannot be used. When maximum lateral stiffness of intermediate bents is desired, it can be obtained by extending the X bracing across the span; this is shown with broken lines in Fig. 7.20b.
FIGURE 7.20 Braced bays in a one-story building transmit wind loads to the ground.
Buildings with flat or low-pitched roofs, shown in Fig. 7.12d and e, require little bracing because the trusses are framed into the columns. These columns are designed for the heavy moments induced by wind pressure against the building side. The bracing that would be provided, at most, would consist of X bracing in the plane of the bottom chords for purpose of alignment during erection and a line or two of sway frames for longitudinal rigidity. Alignment bracing is left in the structure since it affords a secondary system for distributing wind loads.
Bracing Crane way Structures
All building framing affected by overhead cranes should be braced for the thrusts induced by sides way and longitudinal motions of the cranes. Bracing used for wind or erection may be assumed to sustain the lateral crane loadings. These forces are usually concentrated on one bent. Therefore, normal good practice dictates that adjoining bents share in the distribution. Most effective is a system of X bracing located in the plane of the bottom chords of the roof trusses.
In addition, the bottom chords should be investigated for possible compression, although the chords normally are tension members. A heavily loaded crane is apt to draw the columns together, conceivably exerting a greater compression stress than the tension stress obtainable under dead load alone. This may indicate the need for intermediate bracing of the bottom chord.
Bracing Rigid Frames
Rigid frames of the type shown in Fig. 7.14 have enjoyed popular usage for gymnasiums, auditoriums, mess halls, and with increasing frequency, industrial buildings. The stiff knees at the junction of the column with the rafter imparts excellent transverse rigidity. Each bent is capable of delivering its share of wind load directly to the footings. Nevertheless, some bracing is advisable, particularly for resisting wind loads against the end of the building. Most designers emphasize the importance of an adequate eave strut; it usually is arranged so as to brace the inside flange (compression) of the frame knee, the connection being located at the midpoint of the transition between column and rafter segments of the frame. Intermediate X bracing in the plane of the rafters usually is omitted. | https://architecturalengineering.softecks.in/55/ |
Frequently Asked Questions About Gout
What is Gout?
Gout is a rheumatic disease in the arthritis family resulting in the deposits of uric acid crystals in the tissues and fluids of a person’s body. Gout is caused when one has high uric acid levels in the blood usually over 6 mg. It first begins with what we call asymptomatic hyperuricemia that is the period before getting a first gout attack where there are no symptoms as of yet and crystals are slowly forming in the joint. There is a breakdown in the metabolic process that is supposed to maintain healthy uric acid levels but the body produces too much uric acid causing this disease.
How is Uric Acid Connected to Gout?
Everybody has a certain level of uric acid in their blood where it is transported to the kidneys and then it is flushed out through the urine. Some people produce too much uric acid or they produce normal amounts but their kidneys don’t process it properly and as a result the uric acid keeps building up. It then crystallizes in the joint causing gout.
What Are the Symptoms of Gout?
The symptoms of gout are painful inflammation usually in the big toe but can also occur in the knee, ankle, elbow and fingers. The affected joint becomes tender, warm, sensitive, red and swollen. A gout attack or flare-up usually occurs without any warning and usually strike at night when the body temperature is the coolest.
How Long Does Gout Last?
Gout is what we call a lifelong disease cause the majority of people who are diagnosed with it will have gout for the remainder of their lives. This is what we call chronic gout. Acute gout is when a person suffers a flare-up or gout attack and pain usually subsides anywhere between 7 to 12 days depending on the severity.
Who is Affected by Gout?
Gout is quite common and affects about 3.9% or 8.3 million adults in the United States, about 6 million men and 2 million women. The prevalence of gout is higher in men. Gout is more common in men than women until around age 60. Researchers believe natural estrogen protects women up to that point.
What are Considered Gout Risk Factors?
Usually people that are diagnosed with gout are people that suffer from other conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease and rheumatoid arthritis to name a few. Genetics are also considered a risk factor for some.
Medications are also considered risk factors like diuretics taken by people suffering from high blood pressure or drugs that suppress the immune system taken by psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis sufferers can raise uric acid levels.
Finally, obesity is also a major risk factor. There is a strong correlation between people that are obese which are at a higher risk of developing gout.
What Joints Can Get Affected by Gout?
50% of the time gout will affect the big toe. It can also affect the elbow, knee, fingers, middle of the foot and wrist. Men will often get flare-ups in the bottom half of their body while women will experience them in the upper half.
What About Diet? Is that a Gout Risk Factor as Well?
Yes it is! People that suffer from gout usually ate foods that are known to raise uric acid levels in the blood. Foods like red meat, seafood, shellfish, organ meats, processed meats, processed foods, foods/beverages high in fructose, high fructose corn syrup and alcohol. Obesity increases one’s risk of developing gout as well.
Is There a Gout Cure?
Unfortunately at this time gout is what we call a lifelong disease and there is no cure. Gout though is very manageable with medication, a healthy diet, exercise and some supplements. You can live a normal life and pain free!
Are Natural Gout Treatments and Alternative Non-Medical Remedies Safe and Effective?
It depends. Whenever trying to take this route is it always recommended that you work with your doctor and measure the results. There are many gout sufferers who have claimed and stated that many different remedies do work but please remember that everybody is different and results will vary.
What Are the Risks if I ignore my Gout and Decide Not to Get Any Treatment?
The risks are very real. If gout is left untreated, the length and severity of attacks will become worse over time and more frequent. You can also experience deteriorating joints over time which can cause a permanent disability. Furthermore, your joints can become deformed. Gout can also cause other complications as well. It is in your best interest to treat it immediately and manage it long term. | https://goutandyou.com/faq/ |
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This paper looks at fiber optics as a technology that has been developing and improving the way the world communicates for more than two centuries. It examines its origins from 1790, when a French engineer Claude Chappe invented a system for sending messages using a series of semaphores mounted on top of two towers.
This paper examines the advantages and disadvantages of fiber optics and describes some of the uses of fiber optics in our everyday lives.
It analyzes the manner in which fiber optic technology has revolutionised and advanced the field of telecommunications, imaging and data transmission. Modern information systems handle ever-increasing data loads, processor speeds and high-speed interconnection networks, thus impacting our world and expanding the boundaries of our technological development in all spheres of life.
INTRODUCTION
Nothing in the world gives us more power and confidence than having information. The ability to communicate information is essential to achieve the successful advancement of humankind. Transmission of information is imperative to the expansion of our horizons.
What does this all have to do with fiber optics? This research paper will cover the basis of fiber optics in terms of its transmission, communication, origin, uses and applications.
Fiber optics transports light in a very directional way. Light is focused into and guided through a cylindrical glass fiber. Inside the core of the fiber, light bounces back and forth at angles to the side walls, making its way to the end of the fiber where it eventually escapes. The light does not escape through the side walls because of total internal reflection.
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Why is fiber optics so important? Besides being a flexible conduit that is used to illuminate microscopic objects, fiber optics can also transmit information similarly to the way a copper wire can transmit electricity. However, copper transmits only a few million electrical pulses per second, compared to an optical fiber that carries up to a 20 billion light pulses per second. This means telephone, cable and computer companies can handle huge amounts of data transfers at once, much more than conventional wires can carry. Fiber optic cable was developed because of the incredible increase in the quantity of data over the past 20 years. Without fiber optic cable, the modern Internet and World Wide Web would not be possible.
Origin of Fiber Optics
Even though it may seem new, the origin of fiber optics actually that dates back several centuries.
This is a brief timeline illustrating the history and discovery of fiber optics.
1790
French engineer Claude Chappe invented the first “optical telegraph.” This was an optical communication system which consisted of a series of human operated semaphoresmounted on top of a tower.
1870
Irish philosopher and physicist, John Tyndall, demonstrated to the Royal Society, that light used internal reflection to follow a specific path. This simple experiment marked the first research into the guided transmission of light.
1880
Alexander Graham Bell patented an optical telephone system called the “photo phone.” The “photo phone” was an optical voice transmission system that used light to carry a human voice. This unique device used no wires to connect the transmitter and the receiver.
William Wheeler invented a system of light pipes lined with a highly reflective coating that lit up homes. He used a light from an electric arc lamp placed it in the basement and directed the light around the home with the pipes.
1888
Dr. Roth and Prof. Reuss of a medical company in Vienna used bent glass rods to illuminate body cavities.
1895
The French engineer Henry Saint-Rene designed a system of bent glass rods.
1898
David Smith, an American from Indianapolis, applied for a patent on a dental illuminator using a curved glass rod.
1926
John Logie Baird applies for British patent on an array of parallel glass rods or hollow tubes to carry image in a mechanical television. Baird’s 30 line images were the first demonstrations of television using the total internal reflection of light.
During the same year, Clarence W. Hansell outlined principles of the fiber optic imaging bundle
1930
Heinrich Lamm, a German medical student, was the first person to assemble a bundle of transparent fibers together to carry an image. During these experiments, he transmitted an image of a light bulb filament through the bundle of optical fibers. His attempt to file a patent is denied because of Hansell’s British patent.
1931
Owens-Illinois invented a method to mass-produce glass fibers for Fiberglas.
1937
Armand Lamesch of Germany applied for U.S. patent on two-layer glass fiber.
1939
Curvlite Sales offered illuminated tongue depressor and dental illuminators made of Lucite, a transparent plastic invented by DuPont.
1951
Holger Moeller applied for a Danish patent on fiber optic imaging in which he used cladding on glass or plastic fibers with transparent low-index material. This patent was also declined because of Hansell’s patents.
In October of that same year, Brian O’Brien, from the University of Rochester suggested to Abraham C. S. Van Heel of the Technical University of Delft, that applying a transparent cladding would improve transmission of fibers in his imaging bundle.
1954
The Dutch scientist Abraham Van Heel and British scientist Harold H. Hopkins separately published papers on imaging bundles. Hopkins delivered his paper on imaging bundles of unclad fibers while Van Heel reported on simple bundles of cladded fibers that greatly reduced signal interference.
American Optical hired Will Hicks to implement and develop fiber optic image scramblers, an idea O’Brien proposed to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
1955
Hirschowitz and C. Wilbur Peters hired an undergraduate student, Larry Curtiss, to work on their fiber optic endoscope project.
1956
Curtiss suggested making glass clad fibers by melting a tube onto a rod of higher-index glass.
Later that year Curtiss made the first glass-clad fibers using the rod-in-tube method.
1957
Hirschowitz was the first to test fiber optic endoscope in a patient.
The Image scrambler project ended after Hicks tells the CIA the code was easy to break.
1959
Working with Hicks, American Optical drew fibers so fine they transmitted only a single mode of light.
Elias Snitzer recognised the fibers as single-mode waveguides.
1960
Theodore Maiman demonstrated the first laser at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu.
1961
Elias Snitzer of American Optical published a theoretical description of single mode fibers. A fiber with a core so small it could carry light with only one wave-guide mode.
1964
Charles Kao and George Hockham, of Standard Communications Laboratories in England, published a paper indicating that light loss in existing glass fibers could be decreased dramatically by removing impurities.
1967
Corning summer intern, Cliff Fonstad, made fibers. Loss is high, but Maurer decides to continue the research using titania-doped cores and pure-silica cladding.
1970
Corning Glass researchers Robert Maurer, Donald Keck and Peter Schultzinvented fiber optic wire or “Optical Waveguide Fibers” capable of carrying 65,000 times more information than copper wire. These optical fibers could carry information in a pattern of light waves and could be decoded at a destination a thousand miles away.
The Corning breakthrough was among the most dramatic of many developments that opened the door to fiber optic communications. In that same year, Morton Panish and Izuo Hayashi of Bell Laboratories worked with a group from the Ioffe Physical Institute in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and made the first semiconductor diode laser capable of emitting continuous waves at room temperature.
Telephone companies began to incorporate the use of optical fibers into their communications infrastructure.
1973
Bell Laboratories developed a modified chemical vapour deposition process that heats chemical vapours and oxygen to form ultra-transparent glass that can be mass-produced into low-loss optical fiber. This process still remains the standard for fiber-optic cable manufacturing
1975
First non-experimental fiber-optic link installed by the Dorset police in UK police after lightning knocks out their communication system
1977
Corning joined forces Siemens Corporation, to form Corning Cable Systems. Corning’s extensive work with fiber, coupled with Siemens’ cabling technology, helped launch a new era in the manufacturing of optical fiber cable.
General Telephone and Electronics started to send live telephone messages through underground fiber optic cables at 6Mbit/s, in Long Beach, California.
Bell System started to send live telephone messages through fibers in underground ducts at 45Mbit/s, in downtown Chicargo.
1978
Optical fibers began to carry signals to homes in Japan
AT &T, British Post Office and STL pledge to develop a single mode transatlantic fiber cable to be operational by 1988.
1980
Graded-index fiber system carries video signals for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
1981
British Telecom transmits 140 million bits per second through 49 kilometers of single-mode fiber at 1.3 micrometers
1982
MCI leases the right of way to install single-mode fiber from New York to Washington. The system will operate at 400 million bits per second at 1.3 micrometers.
1984
British Telecom lays the first submarine fiber to carry regular traffic to the Isle of Wight.
1985
Single-mode fiber spreads across America, carrying long distance telephone signals at 400 million bits per second.
1986
The first fiber optic cable begins service across the English Channel.
In the same year, AT&T sends 1.7 billion bits per second through single-mode optic fiber
1991
Masataka Nakazawa of NTT reports sending soliton signals through a million kilometres of cable
1996
Fujitsu, NTT Labs and Bell Laboratories all report sending one trillion bits per seconds through a single optical fiber. They have all used separate experiments and different techniques to achieve this.
APPLICATIONS OF FIBER OPTICS
As the popularity of optical fibers continue to grow, so does their applications and practical uses. Fiber optic cables became more and more popular in a variety of industries and applications.
Communications / Data Storage
Since fiber optics are resistant to electronic noise, fiber optics has made significant advances in the field of communications. The use of light as its source of data transmission has improved the sound quality in voice communications. It is also being used for transmitting and receiving purposes.
Military
Optical systems offer more security than traditional metal-based systems. The magnetic interference allows the leak of information in the coaxial cables. Fiber optics is not sensitive to electrical interference; therefore fiber optics is suitable for military applications and communications, where signal quality and security of data transmission are important.
The increased interest of the military in this technology caused the development of stronger fibers, specially designed cables and high quality components. It was also applied in more varied areas such as hydrophones for seismic and sonar, aircrafts, submarines and other underwater applications.
Medical
Fiber optics is used as light guides, imaging tools and as lasers for surgeries. Another popular use of fiber optic cable is in an endoscope, which is a diagnostic instrument that enables users to see through small holes in the body. Medical endoscopes are used for minimum invasive surgical procedures. Fiber optics is also used in bronchoscopes (for lungs) and laparoscopes.
All versions of endoscopes look like a long thin tube, with a lens or camera at one end through which light is emitted from the bundle of optical fibers banded together inside the enclosure.
Mechanical or Industrial
Industrial endoscopes also called a borescope or fiberscope, enables the user to observe areas that are difficult to reach or to see under normal circumstances, such as jet engine interiors, inspecting mechanical welds in pipes and engines, inspecting space shuttles and rockets and the inspection of sewer lines and pipes.
Networking
Fiber optics is used to connect servers and users in a variety of network settings. It increases the speed, quality and accuracy of data transmission. Computer and Internet technology has improved due to the enhanced transmission of digital signals through optical fibers.
Industrial/Commercial
Fiber optics is used for imaging in areas which are difficult to reach. It is also used in wiring where electromagnetic interference (EMI) is a problem. It gets used often as sensory devices to make temperature, pressure and other measurements as well as in the wiring of motorcars and in industrial settings.
Spectroscopy
Optical fiber bundles are used to transmit light from a spectrometer to a substance which cannot be placed inside the spectrometer itself, in order to analyse its composition. A spectrometer analyses substances by bouncing light off of and through them. By using optical fibers, a spectrometer can be used to study objects that are too large to fit inside, or gasses, or reactions which occur in pressure vessels.
Broadcast/CATV /Cable Television
Broadcast or cable companies use fiber optic cables for wiring CATV, HDTV, internet, video and other applications.
Usage of fiber optic cables in the cable-television industry began in 1976 and quickly spread because of the superiority of fiber optic cable over traditional coaxial cable. Fiber optic systems became less expensive and capable of transmitting clearer signals further away from the source signal. It also reduced signal losses and decreased the number of amplifiers required for each customer. Fiber optic cable allows cable providers to offer better service, because only one optical line is needed for every ± 500 households.
Lighting and Imaging
Fiber optic cables are used for lighting and imaging and as sensors to measure and monitor a vast range of variables. It is also used in research, development and testing in the medical, technological and industrial fields.
Fiber optics are used as light guides in medical and other applications where bright light needs to shine on a target without a clear “line-of-sight path”. In some buildings, optical fibers are used to route sunlight from the roof to other parts of the building. Optical fiber illumination is also used for decorative applications, including signs, art and artificial Christmas trees.
Optical fiber is an essential part of the light-transmitting concrete building product, LiTraCon which is a translucent concrete building material.
ADVANTAGES OF FIBER OPTICS
The use of fiber optics is fast becoming the medium of choice for telecommunication systems, television transmission and data networks. Fiber optic cables have a multitude of advantages and benefits over the more traditional methods of information systems, such as copper or coaxial cables.
Speed
One of the greatest benefits to using fiber optic systems is the capacity and speed of such a system. Light travels faster than electrical impulses which allow faster delivery and reception of information. Fiber optic cables also have a much higher capacity for bandwidth than the more traditional copper cables.
Immunity to electromagnetic interference
Coaxial cables have a tendency for electromagnetic interference, which renders them less effective. Fiber optics is not affected by external electrical signals, because the data is transmitted with light.
Security
Optical systems are more secure than traditional mediums. Electromagnetic interference causes coaxial cables to leak information. Optical fiber makes it impossible to remotely detect the signal which is transmitted within the cable. The only way to do so is by actually accessing the optical fiber itself. Accessing the fiber requires intervention that is easily detectable by security surveillance. These circumstances make fiber optics extremely attractive to governments, banks and companies requiring increased security of data.
Fire prevention
Copper wire transmission can generate sparks, causing shortages and even fire. Because fiber optical strands use light instead of electricity to carry signals, the chance of an electrical fire is eliminated. This makes fiber optics an exceptionally safe form of wiring and one of the safest forms of data transmission.
Data signalling
Fiber optic systems are much more effective than coaxial or copper systems, because there is minimal loss of data. This can be credited to the design of optical fibers, because of the principle of total internal reflection. The cladding increases the effectiveness of data transmission significantly. There is no crosstalk between cables, e.g. telephone signals from overseas using a signal bounced off a communications satellite, will result in an echo being heard. With undersea fiber optic cables, you have a direct connection with no echoes.
Unlike electrical signals in copper wires the light signals from one fiber do not interfere with those of other fibers in the same cable. This means clearer phone conversations or TV reception.
Less expensive
Several kilometers of optical cable can be made far cheaper than equivalent lengths of copper wire. Service, such as the internet is often cheaper because fiber optic signals stay strong longer, requiring less power over time to transmit signals than copper-wire systems, which need high-voltage transmitters.
Large Bandwidth, Light Weight and Small Diameter
Modern applications require increased amounts of bandwidth or data capacity, fiber optics can carry much larger bandwidth through a much smaller cable and they aren’t prone to the loss of information. With the rapid increase of bandwidth demand, fiber optics will continue to play a vital role in the long-term success of telecommunications.
Space constraints of many end-users are easily overcome because new cabling can be installed within existing duct systems. The relatively small diameter and light weight of optical cables makes such installations easy and practical.
Easy Installation and Upgrades
Long lengths of optical cable make installation much easier and less expensive. Fiber optic cables can be installed with the same equipment that is used to install copper and coaxial cables.
Long Distance Signal Transmission
The low attenuation and superior signal capacity found in optical systems allow much longer intervals of signal transmission than metallic-based systems. Metal based systems require signal repeaters to perform satisfactory. Fiber optic cables can transmit over hundreds of kilometres without any problems. Even greater distances are being investigated for the future.
To use fiber optics in data systems have proven to be a far better alternative to copper wire and coaxial cables. As new technologies are developed, transmission will become even more efficient, assuring the expansion of telecommunication, television and data network industries.
DISADVANTAGES OF FIBER OPTICS
Despite the many advantages of fiber optic systems, there are some disadvantages.
The relative new technology of fiber optic makes the components expensive. Fiber optic transmitters and receivers are still somewhat expensive compared to electrical components. The absence of standardisation in the industry has also limited the acceptance of fiber optics. Many industries are more comfortable with the use of electrical systems and are reluctant to switch to fiber optics.
The cost to install fiber optic systems is falling because of an increase in the use of fiber optic technology. As more information about fiber optics is made available to educate managers and technicians, the use of fiber optics in the industry will increase over time.
The advantages and the need for more capacity and information will also increase the use of fiber optics in our everyday life.
Conclusion
From its humble beginnings in the 1790’s to the introduction of highly transparent fiber optic cable in the 1970’s, very high-frequency optic fibers now carry phenomenal loads of communication and data signals across the country and around the world.
From surgical procedures to worldwide communication via the internet, fiber optics has revolutionised our world. Fiber optics has made important contributions to the medical field, especially with regards to surgery. One of the most useful characteristics of optical fibers is their ability to enter the minute passageways and hard-to-reach areas of the human body. But perhaps the greatest contribution of the 20th century is the combination of fiber optics and electronics to transform telecommunications.
Fiber optic transmission has found a vast range of applications in computer systems. As we move towards a more sophisticated and modern future, the uses of fiber optics are increasing in all computer systems as well as telecommunication networks.
As new optical fibers are being made, many telecommunication companies are joining forces to share the cost of installing new network cables. In July 2009 and underwater fiber optic cable was put down along the East African coast by Seacom. New technologies are constantly being invented and video phones and video conferencing such as Skype are becoming an everyday occurrence in many businesses and households. Shopping from home via the internet and online stores such as Amazon.com and Kalahari.net are making many people’s lives easier. Even television on demand, such as being offered by DSTV, will replace the current cable television systems of today.
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We live in a technological age that is the result of many brilliant discoveries and inventions. However, it is our ability to transmit information and all the media we use to achieve this that is responsible for this evolution. Our progress from using copper wire a century ago to modern day fiber optics that can transmit phenomenal loads of data over longer and longer distances at ever increasing speed has expanded the boundaries of our technological development in all spheres of life.
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Can GANs replicate eye-gaze trajectories?
Master thesis
Published version
Permanent lenkehttps://hdl.handle.net/11250/3016775
Utgivelsesdato2022
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Samlinger
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Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have gained popularity in the field of computer vision. Recently, GANs have shown promising results in generating sequential data, such as time series data and text. This thesis explores the ability of a variety of time-series GAN architectures to generate realistic eye-gaze trajectory data, with the aim to create synthetic datasets for research within Machine Learning (ML) and statistics. The experiments were conducted in four stages, with increasingly more complex data for the GANs to generate, to study the limitations of each GAN model. The first experiments were done on synthetically generated data of Vector Autoregressive (VAR) processes and intermittent processes, and the final experiment was conducted on real eye-gaze trajectories. We show that even though several time-series GAN models are capable of generating seemingly realistic VAR processes and intermittent processes, there is still some way to go to be able to generate realistic eye-gaze trajectories. We discuss the limitations of a range of GAN models, and propose future experiments and models which could be further studied. | https://oda.oslomet.no/oda-xmlui/handle/11250/3016775 |
The creation of Glen Canyon Dam has had a profound influence on Colorado River recreation. The cold, clear water released from the base of the dam has allowed the development of a vibrant, non-native rainbow trout sport fishery along the 15 mile stretch of river immediately downstream of the dam. Meanwhile, interest in Colorado River white water rafting has risen dramatically since the mid-1960s, due in part to the relatively consistent and generally higher flows being released from the dam relative to pre-dam conditions. Today a 226-mile journey through Grand Canyon by boat is regarded as one of the world’s premier white water rafting experiences.
Beginning with the initial explorations of John Wesley Powell, second Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, river runners have used sandbars along the Colorado River as campsites. Previous research by the National Park Service and others in the 1970s and 1980s documented the loss of campsite area and concluded that the natural erosion of sand bars had been exacerbated by the completion of Glen Canyon Dam. Because of their crucial role in contributing to a high quality visitor experience, the relative size, distribution, and quality of campsites along the Colorado River are of particular concern to river managers.
Following the establishment of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program in 1997, a systematic campsite monitoring program was initiated by the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) to track changes in the amount of area suitable for camping at a sample of sand bars throughout the river corridor. Working cooperatively with the GCMRC, researchers at Northern Arizona University have monitored campsite area at approximately 31 representative sandbars between Lees Ferry and Diamond Creek, Arizona, using repeat surveys since 1998. These monitoring efforts have shown a relatively consistent decline in campable area of approximately 15% per year, punctuated by occasional pronounced but short-lived increases following high flow experiments in 1996, 2004 and 2008. The decline in campsite area appears to be due to a combination of factors: 1) overall reduction in the pre-dam sediment supply by about 90%, 2) effects of daily fluctuations in river level due to hydroelectrical operations tied to daily fluctuations in energy demand, and 3) vegetation encroachment due to the loss of periodic scouring floods. Currently, researchers are compiling and analyzing these data on a site-by-site basis to understand the long-term impacts of Glen Canyon Dam operations on the condition and quality of Grand Canyon campsites and the implications of these changes for visitor capacity and quality of experience.
In addition to the ongoing monitoring program, GCMRC is working cooperatively with the National Park Service to develop a comprehensive Geographic Information System (GIS) atlas documenting historical and current campsites in lower Glen Canyon and Grand Canyon National Park. In addition to GIS maps of campsites, the atlas includes relevant data and photographs about each of the camps. In the future, this atlas will serve as an electronic repository for all information related to campsites along the Colorado River between Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Mead. Over 500 campsites have been documented to date, of which approximately 320 are actively used by river runners and anglers.
Some of these files may require the ability to read Portable Document Format (PDF) documents; the latest version of Adobe Reader or similar software is required to view it. Download the latest version of Adobe Reader, free of charge. | https://www.gcmrc.gov/research_areas/recreation/recreation_default.aspx |
The WTO trading system is a fact of life. This is only organization which can manage the challenges of globalization. There are both opportunities and threats for the member states in relation to different sectors of economy like agriculture. This paper examines that Pakistan has a great potential to produce and export agricultural commodities in the international markets. In order to achieve maximum benefits from the WTO, Pakistan has to take strong and immediate steps in the light of SPS and TBT Agreement that are germane with agriculture sector. In this connection Pakistan has achieved GSP+ status by European Union which gives a great opportunity to Pakistan to improve its agricultural standards and enhance its export in European agricultural markets. The paper also recommends some possible solutions to improve the agriculture standards in Pakistan. In all countries farming system play a very important role for increasing crop production and strengthen the economy of the country. Government sector should also play a vital role to educate the farmers with new planting techniques and strategic plans for the production of good quality disease free crops. Based on results and conclusion development of extension program, utilization of proper management techniques, utilization of high quality seed, government support, infrastructure and market opportunities are the dire need for farmers and agriculture of Pakistan.
Key words: WTO, Agriculture, Threats, opportunities, Pakistan
Introduction
Pakistan is a contracting party of the World Trade Organization, (WTO), which came into existence on January 1, 1995. This organization was established to regulate international trade issues through the process of dialogue and dispute settlement of the WTO . It has already emerged as one of the most significant institutions, impacting on a progressively wider spectrum of economies anywhere in the world. No one can claim that the WTO is an unmixed blessing for Pakistan. There are both positive and negative implications of the Pakistan’s membership of the WTO. In this context, Pakistan may face many challenges and threats under the WTO regime. Equally important is the fact that a variety of opportunities are available to Pakistan which can lead to increase in international trade and economic growth. There is also every present possibility to convert threats into opportunities. Much depends on our policies and strategies- not by the government alone but also on responses of the private sectors. Pakistan may avail maximum benefits through the instrument of public-private partnership (PPP) in agriculture sector, because the WTO obligations, among other things, have placed new demands on the capacity building and skill of both public and private sector in relation to agriculture sector. This is a critical issue and Pakistan’s failure to measure up these demands would make challenges more daunting and opportunities elusive. It is pertinent to mention here that the Pakistan is an agro-based country and the agriculture is the back bone of the economic growth. It accounts for 19.8 percent of GDP and 42.3 percent of employment; the sector has direct and indirect linkages with other sector of the economy and plays significant role in socio-economic development of the country . We can optimize opportunities, among other things, through increasing “public investment, rationalizing public expenditure, reforming market regulations, expanding market infrastructure, improving market information system, developing agricultural infrastructure, establishing grades and standards/accreditation of laboratories, upgrading the agriculture innovation system, enhancing access to credit, diversifying export making it more value added and adoption of better farming practices”. It is the need of the time to develop a sound and comprehensive strategy for sustainable accelerated growth in the agriculture sector. Pakistan has to make our agriculture sector fit for the 21st century. Agriculture should be transformed from a traditional producer of basic food grain crops and provide raw materials for indigenous markets, to a sector that excels in crop production for international markets and adds value to raw materials through agro-based industries. As it has been rightly reported in Punjab’s vision 2020, such types of transition will have to be based on provision of top quality distribution, top quality agricultural research, top quality seed production, provision of top quality input package and marketing infrastructure .
Methods
Literature survey and selection criteria
Different research papers search from the various search engines according to the content i.e. Google scholar, ISI web of knowledge, Thomson Reuters, Pubmed, Google Web browser by providing the main key words regarding WTO, Agriculture, Challenges, Threats, Solutions and strategies etc. The suitable literature was selected according to the content that most fit to the current study. In this review 34 articles were included. To analyze the impact of the WTO on poverty alleviation, food security, SPS measures, Plant Breeders Rights, Agreements on agriculture, agreements on trade related issues, income inequality, farmers’ welfare, government policies and import export issues etc. One of the basic areas, i.e. whether international trade has increased up according to the expectations in response to the WTO, needs attention, that is the core of the present study. It highlights the issue of uneven distribution of export growth in international market especially in European market.
Discussion
The impact of the WTO regime on our agriculture sector, which absorbs 42.3% of the large labor force, contributes to 19.8 % of the GDP , forms foundation of agro-based exports and in-fact the back bone of the economy of Pakistan. The agricultural sector was covered under the old GATT (GATT, 1947) system, but there were many loopholes in the system. As a consequence, it became highly fainted, unfair, especially because of the use of export subsidies by the rich countries such as USA. Keeping in view this historical problem the Uruguay Round produced the first multilateral agreement viz the Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) which brought agriculture sector under the more better and attractive discipline. In-case of violation of this agreement by any member state the WTO is empowered to take legal actions against the violator (Country), in accordance with law and impose penalties under the dispute settlement body (DSB) of WTO. Therefore, AOA is a significant first step towards establishing a “fair and market oriented agriculture trading system” and a less fainted area. (It was implemented over a six years period for developed countries and for developing countries within a ten year period), that begin in 1995. This agreement was launched in DOHA (2000) and is ongoing. The AOA is germane with agreements to SPS, TBT and TRIPS .
WTO Agreements related to Agriculture
1. “Agreement on Agriculture (AOA)”
- To setup “a fair and market oriented agriculture trading market
- Purpose to major reduction in agriculture support and assistance
- “Rules regarding market access, domestic support, export subsidies”
2. “Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)”
This agreement empowers the member states to initiate necessary steps to protect (human, animal or plant life or health). These actions subject to conditions such as
- Not arbitrary
- Not justifiable
- Not discriminatory
If an importing country imposed unjustified restriction on the export of a particular country then under the WTO Law the aggrieved party may challenge these restrictions in the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB).
3. “Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)”
This agreement is relevant with the regulations, standards, testing, marking certification methods, packing and labeling requirements. Under this agreement the exporting country is empowered to make law for quality assurance and “protection of human, animal or plant life or health, of environment or for the prevention of deceptive practices”.
4. “Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)”
This agreement protects the rights of the creator, inventor and discoverer in relation with the intellectual property rights (IPRs) such as, Patents and Plant varieties etc.
The Position of Pakistan in the Light of Three Pillars of the Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) is as under:
1. Market Access
Position has fully complied with the AOA. It has lessened tariffs on this sector (more than 36% on average and more than 15% on each tariff line from the base year 1986-1988 “from maximum 65% in 1995 to 25% on agricultural products). Regulation duty has been converted into fixed specific duty on import of selected products. The agricultural items which are harmful to animal, human and plant life are prohibited according to existing WTO rules and import policy orders. Pakistan is bound tariff providing upper ceiling on import tariff is 102% on average; however applied rates on the import of agricultural items are much lower”.
2. Domestic Support
Domestic support covers subsidies and other programs, including those that raise or guarantee farm-gate prices and farmers’ incomes. Until a few years ago agriculture sector received a maximum domestic support. Pakistan’s domestic support price programme, at present, is restricted to wheat and cotton only. As a matter of fact, the aggregate measure of support (AMS) i.e. the annual level of support provided to agricultural products is negative. Phasing out of domestic support by the rich countries will have a positive impact on Pakistan’s agriculture exports. Pakistan will receive the fair price for export of cotton in the international market.
3. Export Subsidies
Export subsidies and other measures used to enhance exports falls in this category. Pakistan always not in a position to give subsidies to its farmers in any shape, however, in exceptional circumstances, provides subsidies (up-gradation and transportation of agricultural commodities). Important crops like wheat, rice, cotton and sugar-cane. Pakistan has comparative advantage in these crops but due to lack of infrastructure and modern facilities, Pakistan is not in a position to export these crops. In this context Pakistani local farmers are unable to export their agricultural items in international market because government of Pakistan does not give any subsides to its local farmers. However, the developed countries are giving subsides to their farmers to enhance their export in agricultural products. It has created artificial competitive edge to develop countries, which hurt the export prospects for Pakistan.
CHALLENGES FOR PAKISTAN
Pakistan is facing growing competition and lot of pressure in international market due to restructuring of worldwide policies. Especially, in all those areas that offer a greater scope of trade expansion to Pakistan in the prominent markets of the developed countries [5-7]. On the other hand, the trade related concessions granted from the developed countries have been minimal and very limited. Thus, the future prospects of potential economic growth for Pakistan before the complete implementation of agreement regarding WTO and Pakistan are not very bright. To survive and meet the requirements of international standards the various policies regarding WTO and Pakistan should be very clear [8-11]. Some of the challenges which the international trade in agriculture sector encounters:
Issue of the SPS Standards
According to the WTO’s Agreement on SPS measures, “food safety practices should be used to ensure mandatory sanitary and hygienic food production. Pakistan, in order to ensure that SPS measures do not constitute disguised barriers to trade for Pakistan’s” industrial and agriculture products have to bring both agricultural and industrial products in conformity with SPS measures [11,12]. On the other hand, SPS measures are proposed to protect plant, animal and human health from unhygienic and low quality livestock, poultry and fish products. Steps need to be taken for bringing the standards of those industries and agriculture products that attracts SPS measures. In conformity with that of Codex Alimentations Commission, International Office of Epizootics, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), International Plant Protection Convention Standards [12-15].
1. Issue of TBT Standards
The TBT agreement of WTO recognizes that the member countries may make domestic legislation for the protection of [human, animal, plant or health] and environment. In order to meet the challenges posed by TBT Pakistan has to “carry out to collaborate with other international agencies and certifications of international standards laboratories in Pakistan through Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC). Moreover, developed international standards under Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), which are acceptable, equivalent and recognized to all other countries, which encouraging our industries to adopt ISO standards for Quality Management system, testing and certification of products” including packing, marking and labeling practices of agricultural items.
2. Issue of the Capacity-Building
In agriculture sector the capacity-building of the relevant department is not up to the mark as required by the global challenges in the field of agriculture and related products. However, there is need to develop a strategy for capacity-building in terms of awareness programs, strengthening the infrastructure and research funding in universities imparting education in agriculture and related sectors. Government has to change the procedural requirements of sending scientist on training and encourages the young scientist and newly appointed officials in agriculture departments to hunt for training opportunities in developed countries. Moreover, fixed 30% amount of funds must be added in all research projects because it is the need of the time under the WTO regime [16,17]. The government of Punjab in collaboration with the University of the Punjab should develop mega projects for the promotion of agriculture in the province of Punjab.
3. Issue of The Plant Breeders Rights
The agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is recognition of the fact that the products of intellectual efforts are progressively gaining importance new ideas and inventions are no serving as important engines of growth. In this context, there has been pressure upon Pakistan to adopt a Plant Breeders Rights System such as union for protection of new varieties of Plants (UPOV) convention of 1991 under article. 27.3(b) of TRIPS Agreement although, Pakistan is not a member of UPOV convention However, Pakistan has promulgated PBR Act, 2015 in order to care for the interest of the Breeders with respect to the plant varieties and seeds produced by them. There is an apprehension that the law would restrict Pakistani farmers’ capacity to purchase seeds from original breeders [18,19]. Moreover, majority of the farmers have a lack of awareness regarding this legislation there is a need to create awareness regarding the implications of this legislation, otherwise they may suffer economic problems [20,21].
OPPORTUNITIES FOR PAKISTAN
Pakistan has potential to convert the challenges into opportunities through increasing capacity-building of the agriculture sector. The current DOHA ROUND successful negotiation will improve market access in the developed countries markets. European Union (EU) issued GSP+ status to Pakistan in year, 2013 in the agricultural items such as livestock and meat, dairy products, vegetables, fruits, Dairy Fruits, seeds and oils and other edibles etc. The extension of the EU’s GSP+ preferences to Pakistan will improve its competitiveness but access in EU’s markets largely depends upon Pakistani farmers capacity-building to meet EU consumer’s demand. Pakistan has also an opportunity to export its agricultural products [like broken rice, kinnows, and ethanol, fish products including shrimps, dates potatoes, fruit juices, water melon and dried apricots] to neighboring countries such as India, china and Iran [22-24]. On the other hand, Pakistan has an equal opportunity to increase his export and economy in the field of textile and clothing, general agreement on trade in services, agreement on trade related investment measures and agreement on trade related intellectual property rights with developed countries (DC) and less developed countries (LDC) [25-28]. With the implementation of agreement Pakistan exports would receive significant tariff reduction from the DC and LDC. On the other hand, strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) indicates a frame work for helping the scientists, economists, researchers, agriculturists, planners and farmers community to set proper objectives for achieving maximum benefits under limited resources availability. As Such, SWOT analysis is also helpful for identification of possible strategies especially for agriculture development, farming system improvement that helps the scientists to manage priorities in a good way for achieving food security [29,30].
Possible Strategies
In order to make optimum use of opportunities offered by the progressive liberalization of trade in agriculture sector, Government of Pakistan should take a number of additional initiatives for improving and enhancing agricultural products to meet SPS, TBT and TRIPS standards, upgrading the agriculture innovation system, enhancing access to credit, diversifying export making it more value added and adoption of better farming practices, Moreover the government has to be focused on research and development (R&D) . On the other hand, Pakistan should prepare to improve and restructure the textile and clothing as well as other agriculture commodities for promoting value addition and quality. Pakistan should take credible measures to strengthen the economy of the country by adoption WTO agreements, international enforcement procedures, modifying intellectual property protection laws and actively participation in WTO negotiations for the incorporation of its own agenda in to various agreements [32-34]. This will be very fruitful for achieving good results and making alliances with other countries having common interests.
Recommendations
To round of the brief discussion on the subject the following results have achieved:
- There is a need to develop a comprehensive course of action for sustainable accelerated growth in agriculture sector.
- In 2010 Kenya banned Pakistani Rice due to Quality Certification issue and there is a need that Pakistan should upgrade its quality standards in the light of SPS and TBT Agreements.
- Pakistan has to change its methods of production in the traditional means of production.
- There is lack of awareness among the farmers regarding the new challenges and demands under the WTO regime.
Pakistan has potential to export its agricultural products in European Markets and neighboring countries but this depend upon the Government priorities and Trade Policies.
Conclusion
The WTO is a fact of life. Like any other dispensation, it causes threats of loss and offers opportunities for gain particularly in agriculture sector. Therefore, there will be both loser and achiever hence it is necessary, among other things, to develop effective mechanism to convert the challenges into opportunities. Pakistan has to drop a sound and comprehensive strategy for sustainable accelerated growth in agriculture sector. There is dire need to update Pakistan in agriculture in the light of global requirements. “We have to make our agriculture region fit for the 21st century”. We can optimize opportunities, among other things, through increasing/attracting investment, rationalizing “public expenditure, reforming market regulations, expanding market infrastructure, developing agricultural infrastructure, improving market information system, establishing new laboratories and their proper certification”. Government should take a step to educate the farmers by adopting the following strategies for strengthen of the agriculture sector.
- Development and equal access of local market opportunities to poor peoples.
- Planting of those crops with high economic returns.
- Government sector must supportive to the farmers for increasing the economy and agricultural crops of the country.
- Preparing strategic plans to achieve maximum goals for increasing the yield of the crop.
- Government must supply pure and healthy seed to the farmers for the production of quality crops.
- Evaluation and determination of import export ratio of goods per annum.
Educate the farmers with the proper utilization of the new agricultural techniques.
Conflict of Interest Statement
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
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The US Departments of Energy and Agriculture and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are launching a joint research program to produce high-resolution models for predicting climate change and its resulting impacts. Called Decadal and Regional Climate Prediction Using Earth System Models (EaSM), the program is designed to generate models that are significantly more powerful than existing models and can help decision-makers develop adaptation strategies addressing climate change. These models will be developed through a joint, interagency solicitation for proposals.
EaSM is intended to produce:
Predictions of climate change and associated impacts at more localized scales and over shorter time periods than previously possible; and
Innovative interdisciplinary approaches to address the interdisciplinary sources and impacts of climate change. These interdisciplinary approaches will draw on biologists, chemists, computer scientists, geoscientists, materials scientists, mathematicians, physicists, computer specialists, and social scientists.
By producing reliable, accurate information about climate change and resulting impacts at improved geographic and temporal resolutions, models developed under the EaSM solicitation are intended to provide decision-makers with sound scientific bases for developing adaptation and management responses to climate change at regional levels.
To help to mitigate the consequences of climate change—the consequences of which are becoming more immediate and profound than earlier anticipated—EaSM models will be designed to support planning for the management of food and water supplies, infrastructure construction, ecosystem maintenance, and other pressing societal issues at more localized levels and more immediate time periods than can existing models.
The joint solicitation for EaSM proposals enables the three partner agencies to combine resources and fund the highest-impact projects without duplicating efforts. The FY 2010 EaSM solicitation will be supported by the following funding levels: 1) about $30 million from NSF; 2) about $10 million from DOE; and 3) about $9 million from USDA. This project represents an historic augmentation of support for interdisciplinary climate change research by NSF and its partner agencies.
This solicitation is the first solicitation for the five-year EaSM program, which will run from FY 2010 to FY 2014. Submitted proposals will be reviewed through NSF’s peer review process, and awards will be funded by all three partner agencies. About 20 NSF grants under EaSM are expected to be awarded.
DOE is particularly interested in developing models that better define interactions between climate change and decadal modes of natural climate variability, simulate climate extremes under a changing climate, and help resolve the uncertainties of the indirect effects of aerosols on climate.
NSF is particularly interested in developing models that will produce reliable predictions of 1) climate change at regional and decadal scales; 2) resulting impacts; and 3) potential adaptations of living systems to these impacts. Related research may, for example, include studies of natural decadal climate change, regional aspects of water and nutrient cycling, and methods to test predictions of climate change.
The USDA is particularly interested in developing climate models that can be linked to crop, forestry and livestock models. Such models will be used to help assess possible risk management strategies and projections of yields at various spatial and temporal scales.
Two types of interdisciplinary proposals will be considered for EaSM funding:
Type 1 proposals should be capacity/community building activities, address one or more goals, and last up to three years; these proposals may receive up to $300,000 in annual funding.
Type 2 proposals should describe large, ambitious, collaborative, interdisciplinary efforts that advance Earth system modeling on regional and decadal scales, and last three to five years; these proposals may receive $300,000 to $1 million in annual funding. | https://www.greencarcongress.com/2010/03/easm-20100322.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+greencarcongress%2FTrBK+%28Green+Car+Congress%29&utm_content=Google+Reader |
industrial revolution has been identified as the defining force behind the tremendous economic growth witnessed in the American nation during the 19th and twentieth century (Hudson 56).
Thanks to industrial revolution, the American nation improved its ability to conduct mass production both for its domestic needs and surplus for export.
Just to be appreciated here is the factor that the sustainable economic development of any nation does not only depend on self-sufficiency but on its ability to conduct international business. Another important aspect of the American industrial revolution is that it led to the formalization of employment, a factor that served to mitigate human exploitation (Collier, and Kevin 21).
However, the American industrial revolution is blamed for compromising the sustainable competitive advantage of small scale cortege industries in the nation (Michigan State University).
The revolution is also significantly blamed for compromising the cultural identity of the individual American ethnic groups (Hudson 88).
This is because it led to increased social intermixing of races as well as cross-race marriages. Still, the revolution is closely attributed to an increase in environmental hazards among American communities (Hudson 91).
The Essay on American Industrial Revolution
The growth in large-scale industry and labor unions in the second half of the nineteenth century can be explained in many ways. Unlike earlier in the century, now there were broad markets, fast expansion in good economic times, thus causing a rise in demand for more goods. Additionally, new inventions with development in big business caused large scale industrialization to become possible. Lastly, ...
This paper is written as a discussion on the effects of the American industrial revolution. The author takes a look at both sides of the implications of the revolution to the American people.
Effects of industrial revolution to the life of the Americans
There are many positive effects of the American industrial revolution to the people of America. According to available historical information, the massive industrial growth in the American nation during the 19th century is the direct result of its current superpower status in the globe. Following the emergence of the industrial revolution, the people of America enjoyed the concept of increased production in the industries, a factor that greatly improved their investment profitability (Collier, and Kevin 21).
It is worth noting that the sole purpose of any investor is to ensure maximum profits. Although slaves provided cheap labor for agricultural industries in America, their productivity could not much the modernized agricultural practices that came with the industrial revolution.
Another important effect of the American industrial revolution is that it led to the formalization of employment in the nation (Collier, and Kevin 21).
Prior to the onset of the industrial revolution, slavery was one of the most commonly employed forms of labor for fueling the economy of America.
This was a negation of the human rights since slaves were perceived as a property to their masters rather than human beings who deserved decent treatment. Nevertheless, with the coming of the industrial revolution, there came more effective and reliable machine technologies, a factor which negated the need for forced labor in the industries (Collier, and Kevin 25).
This greatly improved the working conditions for the employed people of America.
Still on formalization of employment is the creation of new employment opportunities for the American citizens (Michigan State University).
The onset of industrial revolution brought with it new jobs for the different professional classes in the American nation. This did not only serve to improve the living standards for some members of the community but also as an encouragement for professionalism among Americans.
The Essay on Industrial Revolutions francis Cabot Lowell
Industrial Revolutions (Francis Cabot Lowell) Among many factors that contributed towards making America great, the early industrialization of this country was probably the most important one. By introducing innovative industrial technologies early in 19th century, the American commercial elite of the time was able to turn United States into fully industrialized nation by the year 1860. It is ...
Also, the revolution is to be thanked for the innovative development of industrial management and leadership principles as well as strategic marketing practices in America (Collier, and Kevin 27).
With increased level of productivity, management and industrial leadership principles grew. Such also called for the expansionism process by the American nation in the quest to ensure sustainable market for its surplus products.
According to proponents of the industrial revolution, the American industrial revolution brought with it the need for innovative approach to problem solving. It is rightly asserted that necessity is the ultimate mother of invention. Still, it is worth to acknowledge the fact that the process of industrialization has undergone many challenges.
Based on this reasoning, the American industrial revolution is praised for the overall improvement of the technological and economic stand of the American nation (Collier, and Kevin 28).
As per the available information, America is one of the leading influences in the international industrial product market to date. This gives its citizens a competitive advantage over those of other nations.
Also, the extensive industrial revolution that marked America during the 19th and early 20th centuries are to be praised for the power control enjoyed by the nation across the globe (Michigan State University).
According to available information, due to the influence of its industrial revolution, the American nation enjoys the competitive advantage of intellectual properties. Just to be underscored here is the fact that intellectual properties are found to promote the economic advantage of a nation.
This is because they are protected by the law against use by other persons without providing commercial benefits to the source. Therefore, since the revolution led to establishment of numerous intellectual property rights, it served to protect the social and economic stability of the American people (Hudson 67).
The Term Paper on The Industrial Revolution 8
ter> Examine in detail the History of the Industrial Revolution. Discuss why Britain led the way in the Industrial Revolution and also explain in detail the effects of industrialization on society. Had it not been for the industrial revolution, I would doubt very much that we would enjoy the technology we have in the year 2000. The reason we have this technology is that between the years 1750 ... | https://educheer.com/essays/america-industrial-revolution/ |
With Jenny Eaton Dyer, PhD, Executive Director, Hope Through Healing Hands
As governments, organizations, and private individuals commit large contributions to fight Ebola in western Africa, we are reminded of the need to invest in building health care systems in developing nations that are designed to handle public health crises, and provide basic primary health services for the people they serve. The World Bank estimates that the world will spend $32.6 billion by the end of 2015 to combat the spread of Ebola.
The human and economic return on that investment is yet to be determined. But for many global health issues, we know every dollar we invest today will allow us to reap a strong return on investment. For instance, every dollar invested in clean water initiatives now will return at least $4 in economic productivity and decreased health care costs.
Similarly, global investments that provide women and girls with the information and tools they need to time and space their pregnancies are driving progress across the health and development spectrums. This November, a report by the global initiative FP2020 showcased the impressive progress in 2013 to expand access to contraceptives across 69 of the world’s poorest countries:
- More than 8.4 million additional women and girls, compared to the prior year, gained access to contraceptives
- More than 77 million unintended pregnancies were averted
- More than 125,000 women and girls’ lives were saved from complications due to unintended pregnancies
- More than 24 million abortions were averted
Let’s understand the realities behind these numbers. First and foremost, healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies saves lives. We know that if young women in developing countries delay their first pregnancy until they are 20-24 years old, they are 10-14 times more likely to survive than those who have babies when they are younger.
And if women in these countries are able to space their children every three years, their newborns are twice as likely to survive their first year. Access to family planning reduces maternal and infant mortality worldwide. This is why our organization, Hope Through Healing Hands, is leading an awareness and advocacy initiative to promote education and action for maternal and child health, with a special emphasis on healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies.
Ethiopian First Lady Mrs. Roman Tesfaye recently told the Center for Strategic and International Studies, “To be engaged in the economic sphere, to create income, to contribute to family health and well-being and to the country’s development, we must have family planning services.”
Ethiopia has become a standard-bearer for increases in healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies. Between 2005 and 2011, the country increased women’s access to education and contraceptives for family planning, leading its contraceptive prevalence rate to increase by 51%, from 14.7% to 28.6%.
At the same time, the country’s GDP per capita also increased from $236 in 2007 to $453 in 2012, a 47% increase per capita. While there are clearly many factors in such a change at the national level, access to family planning is one of them. Access can allow mothers to work for income, providing stronger financial support for their families. This is a critical component of lifting families, communities, and nations out of poverty. For every dollar invested to support women in healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies, countries save at least $6 in health, education, water, housing, and other public services.
There is another dimension to the economic impact of healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies. When infant and child mortality rates decline, population growth rates decline as well. This makes sense—when women are educated, have the information and tools they need to plan their families, and are confident their children will survive childhood, many naturally choose to have smaller families.
The aggregate effect of these individual decisions is that there are relatively fewer dependents that rely on government services, and the working-age—and therefore economically productive—population goes up in relative terms, setting the stage for rapid economic growth. Examples of the effects of this shift, known as the ‘demographic dividend,’ can be seen in the economies of Thailand, Bangladesh, South Korea, and Brazil.
Investing in global health issues, like healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies, yields impressive returns in terms of saving lives and promoting economic growth in developing nations. Yet family planning often goes overlooked on the crowded landscape of urgent global health issues. Let’s reconsider its role, and how the U.S. budget might better invest in programs that save the lives of women and children while also helping to break the cycle of poverty and create sustainable futures for some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/billfrist/2014/12/05/smart-investments-invest-in-the-health-of-women-and-children-worldwide-foster-sustainable-growth/ |
Eth. Sung Bin Leather Garment Factory PLC produces various leather garment products for both the local and international markets.
Leather Garments: Leather jackets, skirts, and shirts of various colours, styles, and sizes for men and women.
Leather Accessories: Leather wallets, purses, briefcases, belts, gloves, and hats of various colours, styles, and sizes. | http://www.womenexporters.com/access/Exporters-Profiles/Eth-Sung-Bin-Leather-Garment-Factory-PLC/ |
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CAS number: 2582-30-1
INHALATION: Remove person to fresh air immediately while getting immediate medical attention. Use a bag valve mask or similar device to perform artificial respiration (rescue breathing) if needed.
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SAFE STORAGE: Store in original container in a cool, dry, well ventilated place.
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Welcome to the ECHA website. This site is not fully supported in Internet Explorer 7 (and earlier versions). Please upgrade your Internet Explorer to a newer version. | https://www.echa.europa.eu/cs/web/guest/registration-dossier/-/registered-dossier/12353/9 |
We have previously shown that Lsh can influence the methylation pattern at retroviral sequences and endogenous genes, but the precise role of Lsh in the establishment of DNA methylation at a given site remained unclear. In particular it is not known whether Lsh, a member of the SNF2 family of chromatin remodeling proteins, can alter chromatin structure and how this can modulate DNA methylation. In order to study the molecular function of Lsh on chromatin, we established an in vitro ES cell based system. DNA methylation levels vary during development and are lowest in the inner cell mass of blastocysts before implantation. After implantation, a wave of de novo DNA methylation occurs and is associated with tissue differentiation. ES cells that differentiate in vitro show a similar wave of de novo methylation and can serve as suitable model to study the molecular function of Lsh in this process. We generated Lsh-/- ES cells and found that de novo methylation at several repeat sequences was incomplete in the absence of Lsh and fully restored when Lsh was re-introduced into Lsh-/- ES cells. This indicated that Lsh plays a critical in the establishment of DNA methylation during cellular differentiation. Furthermore, we found that Lsh is directly associated with those repeat sequences that are undergoing de novo methylation and that the presence of Lsh is required for association of the major DNA methyltransferase 3b to these loci. When we tested functional domains of Lsh, we discovered that the ATP binding site of Lsh is required for complete methylation and Dnmt3b association to these repeat target sequences. The ATP binding site is essential for ATP hydrolysis and chromatin remodeling function of SNF2 factors. Thus our results indicate that chromatin remodeling function of Lsh is required for effective DNA methylation. In order to assess chromatin structure we applied the nucleosomal occupancy assay. We detected lower nucleosomal density in Lsh-/- cells at repeat sequences compared to wild type controls. Nucleosomal density was restored to wild type levels upon re-introduction of Lsh into Lsh-/- cells. This indicated that nucleosomal occupancy at repeat sequences depends on the presence of Lsh. Finally, we could demonstrate that nucleosomal density depends on ATP function of Lsh indicating that Lsh performs chromatin remodeling at those repeat loci. Our results suggest that the primary molecular function of Lsh is chromatin remodeling via altering nucleosomal density at loci that are undergoing de novo methylation. Altered nucleosomal occupancy in turn modulates association of Dnmt3b with target sequences and hence supports de novo methylation. Our results connect two major epigenetic features, chromatin remodeling and DNA methylation, and provide mechanistic insights into the interplay of epigenetic pathways.
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Economic decisions don’t happen in a vacuum, they are shaped by the ideologies and values of the people making those decisions.
This Omnibus Bill tells us that the Turnbull government is prepared to sacrifice the community of tomorrow for the sake of the privileged today. It is a government willing to deplete the health, education, infrastructure and public services our community depends on to pay for tax cuts for corporations who don’t currently contribute their fair share.
It is a government ready to cut the income of our poorest at the same time as providing tax breaks for our wealthiest. The government’s program of sustained cuts to public services and infrastructure will not only have a significant impact on the day to day lives of people who are already struggling to get by, they will hinder the chances of future generations to reach their full potential.
Cuts to Newstart payments have left the unemployed and their families living below the poverty line. Cuts to health and education have compromised families’ access to vital health services and the best start in life for our children. Cuts to our higher education, vocational education, TAFEs and apprenticeship programs have limited young people’s access to the skills and education they need for the jobs of the future. Cuts to science, research and renewable energy organisations have weakened our global competitiveness, ability to innovate and create good jobs.
We urge the government not to continue to be driven by expenditure cuts that undermine investment in the fundamental social and tangible infrastructure of economic growth that delivers quality jobs, quality services and high living standards. We can’t cut our way to prosperity. We can only grow and invest our way to prosperity. The ‘trickle down’ logic of the government has always been flawed and now it is widely understood to be inconsistent with strong and sustainable economic growth. This has been repeatedly confirmed by recent findings from the World Bank, IMF and the OECD. Every expert and policymaker in the world, with the tragic exception of those that constitute our Government, now understand that growing inequality in wealth and income is one of the biggest social, economic and political challenges of our time and that public expenditure cuts hamper inclusive economic growth and living standards. As IMF Managing Director Lagarde said at the G20 this year “There must be more growth, and it must be more inclusive.”
Overseas experience shows that cuts which are unfairly targeted at low and middle income households, such as many of those contained in this Bill, have hollowed out working and middle classes and as a result consumer demand; a crucial driver of economic growth, jobs and higher living standards. As well as being morally unjust, such policies are economically unsound and inefficient.
Government investment and expenditure is key to promoting economic growth, jobs and improved living standards. Not only it is unwise to retrench public expenditure at a time when private spending is stagnating and international demand is depressed, it is perhaps even more unwise to ignore or deny the fundamental role that public education, health, research, and a raft of other services play in supporting economic growth. Fiscal austerity is a drag on growth when we desperately need significant investments in physical infrastructure, education, health services and developing the skills of our workforce.
Rather than one-off, short term savings through cuts which have little long term structural impact on the budget bottom line, this government should be developing a comprehensive, long term plan to invest strategically in high quality health, education, skills and training, research and innovation and clean technology and infrastructure to sustain a strong economy and society in to the future.
To do this, the government must have the political courage to address corporate tax avoidance, close tax loopholes and reform egregious high income concessions in areas like negative gearing, capital gains and superannuation. Our revenue base remains less than optimal because we have allowed multinational companies and the very wealthy far too many opportunities to evade and avoid contributing their fair share to the public good. This where the government focus should be - not on short term cuts which undermine the future prosperity of our economy and our society. | https://www.actu.org.au/our-work/policies-publications-submissions/2016/actu-submission-budget-savings-omnibus-bill-2016 |
Q:
Arranging arrows between points nicely in ggplot2
(note - this is the same piece of work as using multiple size scales in a ggplot, but I'm asking a different question)
I'm trying to construct a plot which shows transitions from one class to another. I want to have circles representing each class, and arrows from one class to another representing transitions.
I'm using geom_segment with arrow() to draw the arrows. Is there any way to:
make the arrows stop before they reach the circles
adjust the position so that if there is an arrow in both directions, they are "dodged" rather than overlapping.
I couldn't get position="dodge" to do anything useful here.
As an example:
library(ggplot2)
points <- data.frame( x=runif(10), y=runif(10),class=1:10, size=runif(10,min=1000,max=100000) )
trans <- data.frame( from=rep(1:10,times=10), to=rep(1:10,each=10), amount=runif(100)^3 )
trans <- merge( trans, points, by.x="from", by.y="class" )
trans <- merge( trans, points, by.x="to", by.y="class", suffixes=c(".to",".from") )
ggplot( points, aes( x=x, y=y ) ) + geom_point(aes(size=size),color="red",shape=1) +
scale_size_continuous(range=c(4,20)) +
geom_segment( data=trans[trans$amount>0.6,], aes( x=x.from, y=y.from, xend=x.to, yend=y.to ),lineend="round",arrow=arrow(),alpha=0.5, size=0.3)
A:
I thought since nobody has given a solution i would provide an example of package more aimed a this sort of problem:
vecs <- data.frame(vecs =1:6,size=sample(1:100,6))
edges <- data.frame(from=sample(1:6,9,replace=TRUE), to=sample(1:6,9,replace=TRUE))
library(igraph)
g <- graph.data.frame(edges, vertices = vecs, directed = TRUE)
coords <- cbind(sample(1:20,6), sample(1:20,6))
plot(g, vertex.size=V(g)$size,vertex.color="white",layout=coords,axes=TRUE)
This will at least solve your arrows before the circle issue and also when there are reciprocal arrows it will adjusts them with the curved lines as in 2<->5:
(arrrow sizes, line widths, colours etc can of course be modified)
A:
I've put together a simple extension of geom_segment, which allows specification of
shortening at the start and end of the lines
an amount to offset lines which share a reversed source and destination
It's up on pastebin here: geom_segment_plus.
I used code along the lines of this:
ggplot( points, aes( x=x, y=y ) ) + geom_point(aes(size=size),color="red",shape=1) +
scale_size_continuous(range=c(4,20)) +
geom_segment_plus( data=trans[trans$amount>0.3,],
aes( x=x.from, y=y.from, xend=x.to, yend=y.to ),
lineend="round",arrow=arrow(length=unit(0.15, "inches")),
alpha=0.5, size=1.3,
offset=0.01, shorten.start=0.03, shorten.end=0.03)
It's definitely not perfect, but it works - you can see a double arrow going to the bottom left point here.
offset, shorten.start and shorten.end are the aes elements added. They can be set to data points, but I haven't figured out how to scale them properly.
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Q:
If $f$ is integrable on $[0,1]$, and $\lim_{x\to 0^+}f(x)$ exists, compute $\lim_{x\to 0^{+}}x\int_x^1 \frac{f(t)}{t^2}dt$.
If $f$ is integrable on $[0,1]$, and $\lim_{x\to 0}f(x)$ exists, compute $\lim_{x\to 0^{+}}x\int_x^1 \frac{f(t)}{t^2}dt$.
I'm lost about what the value is for this limit in the first place. How can I make a guess for this kind of limit?
A:
To make a guess, first consider the simplest kind of function for which the limit exists, say $f=1$. Then $\lim_{x\to 0^{+}}x\int_x^1 \frac{f(t)}{t^2}dt=\lim_{x\to 0^{+}}x(1/x-1)=1$.
So clearly, if $\lim_{x\to 0} f(x)=l$, then $\lim_{x\to 0^{+}}x\int_x^1 \frac{f(t)}{t}dt=l$.
Now let's prove this. Let's use the condition of the $\lim_{x\to 0} f(x)=l$.
Given any $\epsilon \gt 0$, there is some $\delta \gt 0$ such that $|f(t)-l|\lt \epsilon$ for $0\lt t\lt \delta$.
Then
$|x\int_x^1 \frac{f(t)-l}{t^2}dt|\le x\int_x^{\delta} \frac{|f(t)-l|}{t^2}dt+x|\int_{\delta}^1 \frac{f(t)-l}{t^2}dt|\le x\epsilon \int_x^{\delta}\frac{dt}{t^2}+x|\int_{\delta}^1 \frac{f(t)-l}{t^2}dt|$.
Hence we get
$|x\int_x^1 \frac{f(t)}{t^2}dt+xl-l|\le \epsilon-\frac{\epsilon x}{\delta}+x|\int_{\delta}^1 \frac{f(t)-l}{t^2}dt|$.
Finally, we have
$|x\int_x^1 \frac{f(t)}{t^2}dt-l|=|x\int_x^1 \frac{f(t)}{t^2}dt+xl-l-xl|\le |x\int_x^1 \frac{f(t)}{t^2}dt+xl-l|+|xl|\le \epsilon-\frac{\epsilon x}{\delta}+x|\int_{\delta}^1 \frac{f(t)-l}{t^2}dt|+|xl|$.
Now in both sides, let $x\to 0^{+}$, then we have
$\lim_{x\to 0^{+}}|x\int_x^1 \frac{f(t)}{t^2}dt-l|\le \epsilon$, and since $\epsilon\gt 0$ is arbitrary, this limit is $0$.
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Action-specific remapping of peripersonal space.
Peripersonal space processing in monkeys' brain relies on visuo-tactile neurons activated by objects near, not touching, the animal's skin. Multisensory interplay in peripersonal space is now well documented also in humans, in brain damaged patients presenting cross-modal extinction as well as in healthy subjects and typically takes the form of stronger visuo-tactile interactions in peripersonal than far space. We recently showed in healthy humans the existence of a functional link between voluntary object-oriented actions (Grasping) and the multisensory coding of the space around us (as indexed by visual-tactile interaction). Here, we investigated whether performing different actions towards the same object implies differential modulations of peripersonal space. Healthy subjects were asked to either grasp or point towards a target object. In addition, they discriminated whether tactile stimuli were delivered on their right index finger (up), or thumb (down), while ignoring visual distractors. Visuo-tactile interaction was probed in baseline Static conditions (before the movement) and in dynamic conditions (action onset and execution). Results showed that, compared to the Static baseline both actions similarly strengthened visuo-tactile interaction at the action onset, when Grasping and Pointing were kinematically indistinguishable. Crucially, Grasping induced further enhancement than Pointing in the execution phase, i.e., when the two actions kinematically diverged. These findings reveal that performing actions induce a continuous remapping of the multisensory peripersonal space as a function of on-line sensory-motor requirements, thus supporting the hypothesis of a role for peripersonal space in the motor control of voluntary actions.
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Community transformation has been an ongoing process since humans began forming into groupings for support, security and comfort. Throughout history these community transformations, resulting from dramatic changes brought on by natural disasters, famines, strife and economic shifts, have often been exceedingly difficult and swift (i.e. the recent Tsunami, the flooding of New Orleans, the collapse of the Soviet Union). Processes to facilitate response and adaptation to these changes have been a part of societal development. In earlier times responses were perhaps rudimentary. Now they tend to be systematic and organized. Then, as today, many communities never recover and cease to exist after such traumatic shocks to their systems and, more importantly, to people.
Today it can be argued that the world is going through an extraordinary period of political and economic transformation with many communities at risk, especially in rural areas (one report suggested in Canada that 30% of communities are in distress). There are movements developing almost everywhere to create processes to facilitate adjustment to the changes being experienced. Attempts are being developed to lessen the impact on people and the communities and societies that they have created. What appears evident is that most societies are moving from highly structured socio-economic systems to something much more fluid. This might be just a transformational stage in itself.
These community responses to such widespread changes are being delineated, defined and explained in different ways, in many languages and with different terminologies and are designed with many societal biases. As a result, community processes are being defined using various terms (for example, Community Development, Community Economic Development, Local Development, Community Regeneration, Social Economy). These variations in definition and use of different terminology more than anything are creating a crisis of complexity which deflects people from the true nature of the activity required, that of creating a process to facilitate the transformational change required for people to cope and progress. Most, if not all, of these processes relate to a form of people-based development. Yet, often people are engaged in a myriad of activities unrelated to the real requirements of their communities and its transformation. It might be argued that community is becoming lost in the quagmire of complexity created around the language, terminologies and quest by some for dominance of one theory over another.
Human development is a pre-requisite for any transformational process and for real development.
Social and economic organizations, institutions and instruments have to be rethought, restructured and even renewed.
Legal frameworks need to be evaluated and revised.
Values and principles require reflection, appreciation and understanding as do concepts of equity and equality.
The foundational elements above, of course, relate to transformational processes that have people as a focus, a somewhat balanced society as an aim, and social and economic equality as an ideal.
People-Centred Development requires positive and adequate foundations from which to work. It requires a fundamental belief in people and their abilities and capabilities to do what they need for themselves. But it requires the understanding that encouragement and support are a part of the adequate foundations that have to be built. Foundational building, often neglected to achieve some artificial goal, is perhaps the most critical element of all and often requires the most time and effort.
In most processes being developed currently, economy has become the greatest focus without full realization that economy in and by itself is not an end but only a part of the means to achieve many other aspects of societal well being. This rush to an economic end is being driven by real and perceived forces at play which are facilitating structural changes and invalidating conventional approaches to local socio-economic balance (for example, globalization, technology, global warming).
What might be more beneficial for most people is to take a step back and take an in-depth look at these transformations, their causes and how a community might respond in a meaningful way to whatever forces (and there are usually many) causing the imbalances and changes. Perhaps what might be realized is that what is first required is a movement (of people), not just the creation of organizations or institutions. What might be understood is that first people need development skills and tools, not necessarily physical or other constructs. What might be appreciated is that values (what it is people really value) have more relevance than any uniform ideology. And what might be of most value to a local community is realistic (and targeted) investment rather than charity and grants.
The development of community transformational processes has always faced many challenges, not the least being the unwillingness of people to fully see the root causes of the changes happening or to accept the circumstances that result. But this aspect of human nature is compounded in today’s world by the complexities that are being created around the very processes that might assist. These complexities, as indicated, relate to language and terminology, organizational and institutional creation and a belief by some that there is one uniform ideology that can be created to solve the problems of everyone. There are even some who believe that there must be just one ideology. People-Centred Development implies togetherness, understanding and cooperation based on simple values, not a single ideology.
First of all what must be understood and agreed is that there is not some mystical end that is to be reached but that all are engaged in a continuous process of human transformation. This process relates to thinking and doing but most necessary there has to be a belief in being and a necessity of belonging – thus valuing ourselves and feeling a part of a whole. These key beliefs evolve fundamentally from values and culture, which require preservation (and evolution) so that new generations not only have foundational beliefs but a true sense of their belonging. Uncovering these beliefs and values are the elemental and fundamental components of the foundational work required for meaningful community transformations to occur.
Recognizing that the true value of self-determination requires not a single or unitary structure but a mosaic of local community groups (some more formal than others) providing the basis of transformational thinking, actions and deeds. | http://www.wwpardy.com/?p=589 |
Bullying refers to any behaviour which acts against the fundamental rights of another to feel safe and to be treated with respect. Bullying behaviours may be physical, verbal, visual or social in nature and may be conducted by an individual or a group and may be directed against any individual in a less powerful position and unable to defend themselves in a given situation. It is the severity as well as the frequency of the behaviour that is of concern.
We define bullying as systematic, repeated and deliberate negative actions towards an individual or individuals that are designed to hurt, create discomfort or embarrass.
Bullying can undermine a child’s wellbeing and ability to learn, and with this in mind, the Applecross Senior High School community is taking a proactive approach to this issue. We aim to provide school members with a safe and secure environment, where bullying is an unacceptable behaviour and action will be taken to eliminate this behaviour.
Underpinning our policy is the Health Promoting Schools Framework, which ensures a whole school approach to bullying is taken, and recognises that bullying can be tackled by the child, parents, school staff and community members. Parents can expect to be informed of on-going bullying so that they can work with the school to solve the issue.
Prevention practices will be used in order to minimise the incidence of bullying at Applecross Senior High School. The school addresses bullying and cyber-bullying as part of the curriculum and informs students on procedures and expectations.
If bullying does occur, students will receive mediation via a "Shared Concern Approach" to problem-solve the unacceptable behaviour. Further, the school encourages and promotes positive student behaviour through its curriculum and behaviour management policy. The "Applecross Senior High Chooses Respect" program aims to instill the values of mutual respect and personal best. Students are expected to set goals and work together to achieve positive learning outcomes.
Bullying behaviour can occur by the following means: Physical, verbal, electronic, gesture, extortion, exclusion or indirect bullying.
Bullying is not: Mutual conflict or single episodes of nastiness or random acts of aggression.
What should students do if they are bullied? Students should report bullying behaviours (whether as a subject of bullying or as a bystander) to their teacher, year coordinator or any staff member they feel comfortable with. At home, students should disclose the bullying incident to a parent or guardian, who can then inform the appropriate year coordinator. In the case of cyber-bullying, parents are requested to inform police and their service provider. Students must not delete any information they receive as it can be used as evidence against the perpetrator. | http://applecross.wa.edu.au/node/29 |
I get busy and have a lot to do. However, if I do my meditation and yoga routine in the morning I usually have an organized mind focused on love, compassion, and healing.
Ironically, the picture most people think of when they hear the word “yoga” is the asanas, (those crazy twisted pretzel positions), but yoga is so much more than an exercise class: it is a way to greater physical and mental health, a journey into finding who you really are, and a map to how to live a meaningful, purposeful life, and have more satisfying and fulfilling relationships with all living things, including parents, children, pets, and husbands.
The asanas are only the first of many things you will learn: there are eight kinds of yoga that are the centerpiece of how to live your life better. They are called the eight arms of yoga: there are the Yamas, Niyamas, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadi, and Asana arms that can help you become the person you would like to be…helping you become an organic whole with all your emotions, thoughts, and prejudices in their place. You don’t tune out with yoga, as much as you tune in.
In an age where more and more people feel isolated, afraid, and alone, yoga brings things together slowly and deliberately into harmony. The word yoga itself means “yoke” as you would yoke oxen to a plow to stir up the ground to grow food to eat. As a gardener, I guarantee you that you will have to wait for your carrots to grow before you pull them out of the ground. That is the pace of life growing and healing, even in this time of speedy internet and smartphones.
Over the years, my mind and body have been learning to work together to produce something remarkable and beautiful, a more harmonious human being. However, it often feels like herding cats and other ridiculous adventures trying to master yoga. So don’t, just enjoy the journey.
Let’s start with the Yamas. There are actually five parts to Yamas, starting with Ahimsa, or non-violence.
Many years ago, I took an oath to be non-violent, helpful, and harmless. I have not always met my goal: I have kicked furniture, gotten mad at my pets, and shouted and stomped my feet a lot in this lifetime, but I know life is a learning process. We are all born weak and helpless and get stronger inside as we grow, and then we grow weak again as we age. This is all about the struggle to be human, but in my case, when I started yoga it helped me to treat my relationships better.
An excerpt from Art of Living Retreat Center blog Jan 28 2018
The five Yamas are as follows: Ahimsa, or non-violence, Satya, or truth, Asteya, or non-stealing, Brahmacharya, or moving with infinity, and Aparigraha, or non-accumulation. These five principles are universal in nature, without exception. An intrinsic part of human values and an ethical code of conduct. The understanding of, and more importantly, incorporation of them, changes the entire texture of our physical practice. | https://good-belly-yoga.com/2022/05/03/sometimes-i-wish-i-had-8-arms/ |
Studies of the neural mechanisms underlying value-based decision making typically employ food or fluid rewards to motivate subjects to perform cognitive tasks. Rewards are often treated as interchangeable, but it is well known that the specific tastes of foods and fluids and the values associated with their taste sensations influence choices and contribute to overall levels of food consumption. Accordingly, we characterized the gustatory system in three macaque monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and examined whether gustatory responses were modulated by preferences and hydration status. To identify taste-responsive cortex, we delivered small quantities (0.1 ml) of sucrose (sweet), citric acid (sour), or distilled water in random order without any predictive cues while scanning monkeys using event-related fMRI. Neural effects were evaluated by using each session in each monkey as a data point in a second-level analysis. By contrasting BOLD responses to sweet and sour tastes with those from distilled water in a group level analysis, we identified taste responses in primary gustatory cortex area G, an adjacent portion of the anterior insular cortex, and prefrontal cortex area 12o. Choice tests administered outside the scanner revealed that all three monkeys strongly preferred sucrose to citric acid or water. BOLD responses in the ventral striatum, ventral pallidum, and amygdala reflected monkeys’ preferences, with greater BOLD responses to sucrose than citric acid. Finally, we examined the influence of hydration level by contrasting BOLD responses to receipt of fluids when monkeys were thirsty and after ad libitum water consumption. BOLD responses in area G and area 12o in the left hemisphere were greater following full hydration. By contrast, BOLD responses in portions of medial frontal cortex were reduced after ad libitum water consumption. These findings highlight brain regions involved in representing taste, taste preference and internal state. | https://einstein.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/gustatory-responses-in-macaque-monkeys-revealed-with-fmri-comment |
Recent events show that there has never been a more crucial time for critical thinking. A global onslaught of misinformation, social media saturation, partisan politics, and science skepticism continuously challenge how information is shared, understood, and how it influences the decisions people make.
Research from the Reboot Foundation and others show that an overwhelming majority of the population recognizes the importance of critical thinking skills in today’s modern society. From parents to employers, there is near unanimous support for the teaching of critical skills in American classrooms, yet new national survey data shows schools may not be teaching those skills often enough.
A new Reboot paper, Teaching Critical Thinking in K-12: When There’s A Will But Not Always A Way, examines the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and found that the teaching of critical thinking skills is inconsistent across states and tends to drop as students get older.
Among some of the key findings from NAEP:
- While 86 percent of 4th grade teachers said they put “quite a bit” or “a lot of emphasis” on deductive reasoning, that figure fell to only 39 percent of teachers in 8th grade. Deductive reasoning is one of the key skills in critical thinking, as it requires students to take a logical approach to turning general ideas into specific conclusions.
- At the state level, the analysis found that only seven states had at least 50 percent of their 8th grade teachers report that they place “quite a bit or a lot of emphasis” on teaching their students to engage in deductive reasoning.
While the numbers themselves are cause for concern, the age range at which these statistics are being reported is equally concerning. Research shows that while critical thinking skills can be learned at any stage of life, the teen years are an opportune time to engage young people as their brains are developing strong cognitive abilities.
These years are exactly when students should be building a strong foundation of critical thinking competencies that can last a lifetime. Developmental psychologists have noted that beginning at around age 13, adolescents can begin to acquire and apply formal logical rules and processes, if they are shown how. Yet the data shows that schools are largely failing to capitalize on this period, despite a desire by many educators to do so.
Per NAEP, nearly 90% of 4th grade teachers nationally said they put “quite a bit” or “a lot of emphasis” on deductive reasoning, only for that figure to fall to less than 40% of teachers in 8th grade – what issues are contributing to the drastic drop?
In 2020, Reboot surveyed teachers and found that many teachers harbored misconceptions about how to best teach critical thinking. The survey found that, among teachers, 42 percent reported that students should learn basic facts first, then engage in critical thinking practice, while an additional 16 percent said that they believed basic facts and critical thinking should be taught separately. This line of thinking is wrong, as research strongly suggests that critical thinking skills are best acquired in combination with the teaching of basic facts in a subject area.
This commonly-held misconception about when and how to teach critical thinking skills might be a clue as to why deductive reasoning instruction seems to tail off as students get older and take more specialized, content-driven classes. This might be made worse by the fact that eighth grade is a crucial year for many schools to show success under their state accountability measures.
In many states, students cannot move on to high school if they fail state exams in eighth grade. And things such as teacher pay, school funding and other “high-stakes” accountability measures often hinge on student performance in that grade. This pressure forces schools and teachers to focus on preparing their eighth graders for state exams in lieu of a more well-rounded educational experience. Indeed, our 2020 survey of teachers revealed that 55 percent believed that the emphasis on standardized testing made it more difficult to incorporate critical thinking instruction in their classrooms.
Reboot and others are working to identify ways teachers can implement critical thinking skills education into their curriculums more simply and efficiently. Among the stepping stones toward broader adoption are:
- A shared standard or consensus around critical thinking education that could contribute to more uniform and equitable teaching of these key skills nationwide.
- An easier way to broach critical thinking for a wide-ranging group of students. New research by Reboot and researchers from Indiana University explores innovative, inexpensive and scalable ways to teach critical thinking skills. The research found that educators and others can teach and hone essential critical thinking skills using a simple method that is easy to implement across diverse groups of students. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/helenleebouygues/2022/08/17/critical-skills-not-emphasized-by-most-middle-school-teachers/?sh=572f716a2ee4 |
Academic dishonesty in connection with any Northwest Indian College activity threatens personal, academic and institutional integrity and is not tolerated. Academic dishonesty includes; cheating, plagiarism, and knowingly furnishing any false information to the College. In addition, any commitment of the acts of cheating, lying, and deceit in any form such as the use of substitutes for taking exams, plagiarism, and copying during an examination is prohibited. Knowingly helping someone to commit dishonest acts is also in itself dishonest.
The following are more specific examples of academic dishonesty:
Plagiarism is a type of academic dishonesty. Plagiarism occurs when a person falsely presents written course work as his or her own product. This is most likely to occur in the following ways:
Before formal action is taken against a student who is suspected of committing academic dishonesty, instructors are encouraged to meet with the student informally and discuss the facts surrounding the suspicions. If the instructor determines that the student is guilty of academic dishonesty the instructor can resolve the matter with the student through punitive grading. Examples of punitive grading are:
Students who feel they were unfairly accused or punished for academic dishonesty may follow the grievance procedures outlined in the Grievance Procedure and the student rights section of this catalog. Additionally, instructors are encouraged to document and refer academic dishonesty cases to the Registrar, the Dean for Student Life and/or the Vice President of Instruction and Student Services. The Office of Instruction and Student Services will follow established procedures. If a student is found guilty, possible penalties include a warning, probation, suspension, or expulsion. | http://nwic.smartcatalogiq.com/en/2021-2023/2021-2023-Catalog/College-Policies/Definition-of-Academic-Dishonesty |
High-quality energy systems information is crucial for energy systems research, modeling, and decision-making. Unfortunately, actionable information about energy systems is often of limited availability, incomplete, or only accessible for a substantial fee or through a non-disclosure agreement. This systematic review explores remote sensing and machine learning for energy data extraction.
Developing a State-Level Natural and Working Lands Climate Action Plan
Natural and working lands—forests, wetlands, coastal, and agricultural lands—provide many benefits, including supporting key economic sectors, enhancing community resilience to hazards such as fires and floods, and contributing to climate mitigation by storing large amounts of carbon. This guide is aimed at states interested in developing plans for conserving, managing, and restoring these lands to preserve and enhance their benefits. The guide uses examples from North Carolina’s recently completed Natural and Working Lands Action Plan to walk through the planning process, helpful resources, and the tracking of plan implementation.
Climate Finance for Just Transitions
This paper investigates challenges in the international climate finance landscape through three issue areas: (1) aligning national climate strategies and international finance, (2) finding avenues for positive climate finance outcomes in an era of growing rivalry between Chinese and Group of Seven—particularly US—public financiers, and (3) reforming major climate finance practices and institutions to more effectively cater to the needs of LMIC stakeholders.
Guidebook for the Engaged University
The next phase of academic reforms must build toward the broad institutionalization of engaged scholarship, as demanded by students and the communities that surround and support universities. The Guidebook for the Engaged University gives the academy both a vision and a roadmap to a more impactful future, in which universities, including their scholars and staff, catalyze solutions for the world’s most pressing challenges.
Developing Key Performance Indicators for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Planning
This document from the Resilience Roadmap project recommends a common approach to developing key performance indicators (KPIs) for climate change adaptation and resilience planning, drawing upon current science and tools referenced throughout. The work is particularly aimed to support climate adaptation and resilience planning by US federal agencies and thus presents principally US national-level data and online resources. The approach is broadly applicable across agencies, sectors, and systems and can also be applied by state or local planners and adaptation/resilience practitioners.
Proximity to Small-Scale Inland and Coastal Fisheries Is Associated with Improved Income and Food Security
Poverty and food insecurity persist in sub-Saharan Africa. The authors conducted a secondary analysis of nationally representative data from Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda to investigate how both proximity to and engagement with small-scale fisheries are associated with household poverty and food insecurity. Results suggest that households engaged in small-scale fisheries were less likely to be poor than households engaged only in agriculture. Households living in proximity to small-scale fisheries were more likely to achieve adequate food security and were less likely to be income poor, compared to the most distant households.
The Role of Taxes and Subsidies in the Clean Cooking Transition: A Review of Relevant Theoretical and Empirical Insights
Cost barriers are among the most significant challenges impeding progress toward use of clean cooking energy in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This brief discusses the role of subsidy and tax policies—levied on both the supply and demand side—in affecting progress toward universal access to clean cooking in LMICs. Also, combating a common myth among those opposing subsidies for clean cooking, the brief demonstrates that a “fear of spoiling the market” with such incentives finds little empirical support in the literature. Finally, the brief offers recommendations to policy makers.
Building Climate-Resilient Communities for All: Suggested Next Steps for Federal Action in the US
Under President Biden, the federal government has made climate resilience a priority and has already committed more executive action, capacity, information resources, and funding to it than any previous administration. And yet, these historic efforts are not enough as the effects of climate change grow more intense across the United States and the world. This policy brief follows up on Resilience Roadmap’s original recommendations to suggest three catalytic steps for amplifying existing executive and legislative resilience-building actions.
Improving Rural Livelihoods, Energy Access, and Resilience Where It’s Needed Most: The Case for Solar Mini-Grid Irrigation in Ethiopia
Ethiopia’s levels of agricultural productivity and energy access are among the lowest in the world. Now Ethiopia is moving forward with the new Distributed Renewable Energy-Agriculture Modalities (DREAM) project to test distributed solar mini-grids as a solution for improving irrigation, increasing agricultural productivity and farmer incomes, expanding rural electricity access, and enhancing gender and social inclusion. This policy brief summarizes the approach, along with findings of an economic viability analysis examining how the solar mini-grid irrigation projects are likely to impact farmers' incomes at nine unique sites in rural Ethiopia.
Sea Level Rise Drives Carbon and Habitat Loss in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic Coastal Zone
As the climate changes, marshes on the Atlantic coast will migrate inland and cause even more carbon to be released into the atmosphere, a new modeling study finds. Researchers developed a spatial model for predicting habitat and carbon changes due to SLR in six mid-Atlantic U.S. states likely to face coastal habitat loss. The modeling runs looked at land changes in coastal areas through the year 2104 in scenarios that predict intermediate sea level rise. In 16 out of the 19 runs of the model, inland marsh migration converted land from a net carbon sink to a net carbon source. | https://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/publications |
,
Hamed Rezaei
,
Afsaneh Ghojoghi
1- ,
[email protected]
Abstract:
(1439 Views)
Introduction
The landslides, as a natural hazard, caused to numerous damages in residential area and financial loss. In many cases, we can forecast the occurrence probability of this natural phenomenon with using of detail geological and Geomorphological studies. This seems that one of the most effective parameters in landsliding phenomenon is structural parameters, especially faulting in rocky outcrops. For verifying this hypothesis, the Nargeschal area, as high potential of hazardous area, is selected as case study for investigation on influences of faulting on landslide occurrence probability. Many large composite landslides were happened in 2016 and hence, this area is enumerated an active zone of landsliding. This area with geographic attitude 55° 09' 06" to 55° 27' 21" Eastern Longitude and 36° 54' 23" to 37° 05' 15" Northern Latitude located in south of Azad shahr (in Golestan Provinces) placed in Northeastern of Iran.
Geological studies indicate that this area located in northern limb of Alborz fold belt (as a young fold-thrust belt with 900 km length) which formed in late Alpine orogenic events by convergence Afro-Arabian and Eurasian plates. In this zone, the structures have main NE-SW trends with main active faults such as Khazar and North Alborz faults, as reverse faults with north-ward movements. The remnant part of Paleotethyan rocks (which transported from collision zone toward southern part by low angle thrusts) located between these faults and formed the mountain-plain boundary hills.
Material and Methods
In this research, we investigated on effective parameters in landslide occurrence probability of Nargeschal area with using of remote sensing techniques, GIS environment abilities and complementary field investigations. Therefore, we have prepared the seven data layers of geological and morphological effective parameters which are affected on landslide probabilities. These data layers consist of: lithology of outcropped rocks, faulting condition, topographic slopes categorizes cultivation circumstances, seismicity condition, spring population (ground water condition) and surveyed occurred landslides. Then, the content of each data layer is weighted and classified into five classes in GIS environment. Finally, the content of each pixels in all of 7 layers are algebraically summed and recorded as an attributed table. Hence, the landslide hazard zonation map was prepared by drawing the isopotential surface map on the basis of quantities of attributed table by using of GIS functions in Arc view 3.2 software.
Results and Discussion
The results of this research illustrate that a high risk zone is located in central part of area as an oblique broad-stripe zone with NE-SW trend . This zone is correlatable with high density of fractures zone and high population of springs and earthquake focus and also, taken place in Shemshak formation with shale, marl and siltstone rocky outcrops (upper Triassic- Jurassic in age).
Also, the results of investigations on influences of structural parameters (especially faulting) in landslide hazard demonstrated that faults are indirectly impressed on this hazard probabilities via formed the high slope topography, poor strength faulted rocks, locating of spring presences and creation of seismicity, and hence, defined the spatial pattern of landslides.
Conclusion
Nargeschal area in Northern limb of Eastern Alborz is selected as case study for investigation on temporal relationship between Faulting and Landslides. The following conclusions were drawn from this research.
- It seems that the fault surface plays the role of rupture planes for landsliding.
- The structural factors also increased the ground slope and then, the close relationship is formed between landslides and faults.
- The results demonstrate the genetically relationships between landslides and faults in macroscopic scale in Nargeschal area.
Keywords:
Nargeschal area
,
Landslide Zonation
,
Remote Sensing
,
GIS
,
Faulting
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Subject:
En. Geology
Received: 2018/06/24 | Accepted: 2019/09/16 | Published: 2020/11/30
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Safari H O, Rezaei H, Ghojoghi A. Influences of Faulting on Landslide Occurrence Probability-A Case Study: Landslides of Nargeschal Area. Journal of Engineering Geology. 2020; 14 (3) :457-486
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How does biodiversity provide food?
Biodiversity is the origin of all species of crops and domesticated livestock and the variety within them. … Maintenance of this biodiversity is essential for the sustainable production of food and other agricultural products and the benefits these provide to humanity, including food security, nutrition and livelihoods.
How do we consume biodiversity?
Maintain wetlands by conserving water and reducing irrigation. Avoid draining water bodies on your property. Construct fences to protect riparian areas and other sensitive habitats from trampling and other disturbances. Manage livestock grazing to maintain good quality range conditions.
What resources do we get from biodiversity?
Biodiversity provides us with drinking water, oxygen to breathe, food, medicine, decomposition of waste, and helps our planet withstand natural disasters.
Why is biodiversity in food important?
Biodiversity is of great importance to farmers. Crops, livestock, insects, water systems, soils and natural landscapes all interact with each other. … Genetic variety also allows crops to tolerate a variety of soil or climate conditions. Encouraging different species is the second level of biodiversity.
Why is biodiversity important for food production?
Conservation and maintenance of biodiversity are important for four reasons. … Economics: Biodiversity provides us with great economic returns, for example the provision of food and fibre, medicines, control of pest organisms, building materials and crop pollination.
How can we protect biodiversity as a student?
Ecosystems and habitats including plants and animals are negatively impacted by bad practices. The production of life-saving medicine, clean water and healthy food choices is connected to biodiversity. As the world’s population grows, so does the stress placed on the environment.
What is the best example of how do you directly improve biodiversity?
Reduce the amount of vegetables we eat. Reduce the amount of water we drink. Reduce the use of electricity. Reduce the use of pesticides as they might do harm to other plants nearby.
How is biodiversity essential to the environment?
Ecological life support— biodiversity provides functioning ecosystems that supply oxygen, clean air and water, pollination of plants, pest control, wastewater treatment and many ecosystem services. Recreation—many recreational pursuits rely on our unique biodiversity , such as birdwatching, hiking, camping and fishing. | https://lindsaysbackyard.com/ecosystem/quick-answer-how-is-food-obtained-from-biodiversity.html |
Solving today’s complex environmental challenges is a daunting task. It requires the delicate balancing of many competing factors, from cost and convenience to public health protection and resource allocation. At ERG, I am fortunate to be able to work on projects that get to the core of this balance, surrounded by clients and colleagues who are equally passionate about finding mindful, objective solutions for our complex world.
Dr. Sam Arden has worked for over 10 years on water resource projects occupying the space where water meets the urban environment. At ERG, his projects range from sustainability assessments of future urban water management strategies to stormwater permitting support for federal clients. He regularly serves as the technical lead for development of novel models and tools. These have included a suite of Excel-based tools to help small communities manage their combined sewer systems to reduce the potential for overflows during wet weather, as well as a web-based screening tool that allows building designers to estimate the life cycle impacts of building-scale, non-potable water reuse systems. He is actively involved in research efforts on water treatment and reuse, sustainable groundwater management, and novel and emerging contaminants.
Sam holds a B.S. in coastal engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology, as well as an M.E. and Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Florida. His time at UF was spent in the H.T. Odum Center for Wetlands, where his studies and environmental perspective were informed by energy, systems thinking, and long hours wading through wetlands. His doctoral work was supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Network for Environmental Management Studies Fellowship Program, through which he developed a collaborative relationship with Office of Research and Development staff that continues in his work at ERG today. When not working on water, Sam enjoys doing anything in, on, or near water, especially surfing and sailing. | http://www.erg.com/bio/sam-arden |
Adox Adonal Result., a photo by Davidap2009 on Flickr.
The above is the result I got using Adox Adonal I think I have found another developer that fits with my lazy style in the darkroom.
This is a hurried test shot of my daughter . I used Rollei 80s 120 film in my Hasselblad. I developed my film as follows at 20°C:-
Adox Adonol 1:100 (That’s 495mls water to 5 ml Adonal)
Inversions for the first minute. Then left to stand 29 mins then 3 more inversions and left to stand for a further 30mins. Stopped with water for one minute inversions constantly and then Fixed 5mins (T-Max fixer)and washed for 10mins. | https://davidapw.com/2013/04/08/adox-adonal-result/ |
The Missouri University of Science and Technology Master of Science in Industrial Organizational Psychology emphasizes the application of psychological science to enhance the performance and well-being of people in organizations. S&T I-O psychologists will be well prepared to develop assessments of people for selection and placement into jobs, effective training programs, strategies for organizational development, measurement of performance, and ways to promote quality of work-life. S&T students will receive a strong core foundation in industrial and organizational psychology as well as statistics and research methods.
Our program develops individuals who can manage human resources within technological environments, understand human factors relevant to these technologies, and apply research and scientific methods necessary to implement new technologies users will accept. Graduates of the S&T program will be prepared to thrive and make immediate impacts in a variety of corporate and organizational environments.
Want to know more? Watch this video.
#curriculums
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Curriculums
Core Content Courses | (Thesis & Non-Thesis) 24 HOURS
Psych 5010 Introduction to I-O Psychology (3 credits)
Psych 5601 Small Group Dynamics (3 credits)
Psych 5602 Organizational Development (3 credits)
Psych 5700 Job Analysis and Performance Management (3 credits)
Psych 6602 Employee Affect and Behavior (3 credits)
Psych 6610 Advanced Leadership Theory and Practice (3 credits)
Psych 6700 Training and Development (3 credits)
Psych 6702 Personnel Selection (3 credits)
Methods Courses | (Thesis & Non-Thesis) 10 HOURS
Psych 5202 Applied Psychological Data Analysis (3 credits)
Psych 5210 Advanced Research Methods (3 credits)
Psych 5201 Psychometrics (3 credits)
Psych 5012 Ethics and Professional Responsibilities (1 credits)
Non-Thesis Electives Courses | ( Non-Thesis) 6 HOURS
Psych 5400 Advanced Cognition (3 credits)
Psych 5600 Advanced Social Psychology (3 credits)
Psych 5710 Advanced Human Factors (3 credits)
Psych 5740 Occupational Health and Safety (3 credits)
Or
Thesis Option | (Thesis) 6 HOURS
Psych 6099 Research (Thesis credit) (6 credits)
|
|
The M.S. in Industiral-Organizational Psychology is a minimal 36 credit hour program: | https://psych.mst.edu/graduate/gradpsych/gradpsych01/ |
In Kyle Academy we are all learners. In our learning community each of us has the determination and resilience to embrace the challenges learning brings, and take responsibility for our own learning and development - today and throughout our lives.
Our curriculum provides active and inspiring learning experiences, both within and beyond the classroom - we learn with partners in the real world. It inspires confidence, achievement and ambition, develops creative and innovative thinkers, and ensures the highest standards of attainment and personal achievement for our young people. Our curriculum develops the whole child, including their health, well-being, confidence, character, interests, talents and aspirations.
Our learning environment is stimulating and sustainable. We learn together in a climate that includes and values everyone and is encouraging, supportive and characterised by mutual respect.
We challenge complacency.
Our young people are fully equipped with the skills they need for life, learning and work. They realise their personal ambitions and have a competitive edge in the workplace. They are healthy, happy and responsible - eager and able to make a positive contribution to society and build a better future. | https://www.kyle.sayr.sch.uk/our-vision |
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REOPENING:
BOTANIC RITUALS
05.15.2021 – 06.30.2021
Opening Reception Sa 22 May, 2p – 6p
Capacity will be limited to 30 patrons at a time. If you haven’t yet been vaccinated, please consider a private appointment.
California is an ecosystem with a remarkable range of flora, and an equally remarkable range of artists who work to capture the beauty, intrigue, and symbolism embodied in plant life.
After more than a year of the pandemic’s dark clouds acted as an unrelenting April Showers, forcing the cancellation of the original opening reception for this show, we are pleased to bring you this collection of May Flowers in a symbolic rebirth of artistic life.
Participating Artists:
Jennifer Banzaca, Douglas Benezra, Yooseon Choi, Velia de Iuliis, Donald Hershman, J. Iglesias, Dani Jeffries, Linda Larson, Peter Palmer, Peter Sandback, and Curtis Wallin.
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Recent Past Exhibitions
THE INVISIBILITY COLLECTIVE:
SEEN X UNSEEN
12.06.2020 – 02.28.2020
The Invisibility Collective and invited guest artists assembled an exhibition that is the culmination of months of virtual “Covid Conversations” from the West Coast to the East Coast of the USA.
We are looking at various ways that people express their feelings about being seen and not being seen and the intersection of the two worlds. We are exploring the many aspects of what it means to be invisible and presenting ways of becoming more aware of how this status affects us. Each of the collective’s members has asked questions about their experiences with invisibility. Our inner community is expanding to include a slightly larger outer community circle.
Together and individually we are exploring this intersection of being seen and unseen. The ideas that form the foundation of the collective preceded Covid, but have not surprisingly grown to encompass elements and results of the prolonged pandemic. How often and in how many ways do these words come up in your own conversation? As we’ve probed these ideas sparks have flown and intangible becomes more tangible. We are peeling away layers to look beneath the obvious – to reveal – and to reflect through an art experience that peaks the senses.
Questions are raised. Answers are discussed. It is experiential.
For more information on the Invisibility Collective, please visit https://theinvisibilitycollective.com/ or email Susan Kirshenbaum [email protected].
Participating Artists:
Collective Members: Lonnie Graham, Susan R. Kirshenbaum, Rhiannon Evans MacFadyen, Samira Shaheen, Angela Tirrell
Invited Artists: Mary Graham, Sophia Green, Rell Rushin, Sawyer Rose, John Stone, Christopher M. Tandy (Courtesy of Glass Rice Gallery, SF), Nancy Willis
ABSTRAX
Group Invitational
11.07 – 01.20
Opening Reception Th 7 Nov 6-8p
Co-curated by Joseph Abbati, Abstrax features the talent of emerging and mid-career artists whose collected works showcase how current explorations of this genre continues to deliver engaging and evocative creativity.
Contributing Artists: Ali Saif, Ann Phelan, Athena Kim, Cindy Jian, Kees van Prooijen, Myke Reilly, Olivia Kuo, Robert di Matteo, Tom O’Brien, Usha Shukla, and William Salit.
(Top to bottom: Athena Kim, Tom O’Brien)
JUST VISITING
paintings by
andrew lyko
10.05 – 10.26
Reception: 10.05 8p – 11p
Lyko’s artwork uses mediums of acrylic, oil bar and spray paint in diverse mediums which awaken our sensibilities to experiences and strokes which stimulate our intense interest. Growing up in Southern California, Lyko was heavily influenced by his childhood in East Los Angeles where he saw and experienced street urban culture and spent many childhood days on his skateboard flying by street graffiti from Shepard Fairey, Mr Brainwash, Invader and Kid Zoom.
Friendly Fire
Group Invitational
Click Here to View the 360° Tour
Some of the works on the virtual tour are still available to add to your collection. Please inquire if you’d like to know the status of a particular work.
director’s statement
notes
Believing in Plaid Hydrangeas: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Listen to the Seen
The following essay is taken from the catalog for the show "Listening to the Seen: Paintings by Curtis Wallin." In this, his first solo West Coast exhibition, Curtis Wallin presents a cohesive body of paintings and prints that continue his artistic dialogue with...
Vibrantly Celebrated: “Chance Encounter” Opening Reception
On the evening of October 13 a whole bunch of art enthusiasts who had never met before came together to celebrate the opening reception for three artists who had never met before, all part of the "Chance Encounters" exhibition at Radian Gallery in San Francisco's SoMa...
Assembling the Work for “Friendly Fire”
I've begun to assemble the work for this show, and it's very exciting. Giant woodcuts from Holly Greenberg arrived the other day from the East Coast; This morning found me at the Russian Hill studio of Kim Frohsin collecting an assemblage of her expressive figurative... | http://radiangallery.com/ |
Agile Software Development with SCRUM, 1st edition
Unfortunately, this item is not available in your country.
Overview
Arguably the most important book about managing technology and systems development efforts, this book describes building systems using the deceptively simple process, Scrum. Readers will come to understand a new approach to systems development projects that cuts through the complexity and ambiguity of complex, emergent requirements and unstable technology to iteratively and quickly produce quality software.BENEFITS
- Learn how to immediately start producing software incrementally regardless of existing engineering practices or methodologies
- Learn how to simplify the implementation of Agile processes
- Learn how to simplify XP implementation through a Scrum wrapper
- Learn why Agile processes work and how to manage them
- Understand the theoretical underpinnings of Agile processes
Table of contents
1. Introduction.
2. Great Ready for Scrum!
3. Scrum Practices.
4. Applying Scrum.
5. Why Scrum?
6. Why Does Scrum Work?
7. Advanced Scrum Applications.
8. Scrum and the Organization.
9. Scrum Values. | https://www.pearson.com/store/p/agile-software-development-with-scrum/P100000137646 |
Sayenne Schoute May 22, 2020 Argumentative
Complex issues and detailed research call for complex and detailed essays. Argumentative essays discussing a number of research sources or empirical research will most certainly be longer than five paragraphs. Authors may have to discuss the context surrounding the topic, sources of information and their credibility, as well as a number of different opinions on the issue before concluding the essay. Many of these factors will be determined by the assignment.
An argumentative essay is a type of writing that presents the writer’s position or stance on a specific topic and uses evidence to support that position. The goal of an argumentative essay is to convince your reader that your position is logical, ethical, and, ultimately, right.
The argumentative essay is a genre of writing that requires the student to investigate a topic; collect, generate, and evaluate evidence; and establish a position on the topic in a concise manner.
There are three main areas where you want to focus your energy as you develop a strategy for how to write an argumentative essay: supporting your claim—your thesis statement—in your essay, addressing other viewpoints on your topic, and writing a solid conclusion. If you put thought and effort into these three things, you’re much more likely to write an argumentative essay that’s engaging, persuasive, and memorable...aka A+ material.
Another thing about argumentative essays: they’re often longer than other types of essays. Why, you ask? Because it takes time to develop an effective argument. If your argument is going to be persuasive to readers, you have to address multiple points that support your argument, acknowledge counterpoints, and provide enough evidence and explanations to convince your reader that your points are valid.
You may look for research that provides statistics on your topic that support your reasoning, as well as examples of how your topic impacts people, animals, or even the Earth. Interviewing experts on your topic can also help you structure a compelling argument.
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Most agency people can quickly rattle off a list of all the annoying, frustrating, and infuriating things clients do. Stories of clients provide most of the lighthearted fodder for conversations over 5:00 beers and late nights at the office.
But as in most relationships, there are two sides to every story, and agencies can be just as guilty of annoying their clients.
Read on to determine if you're making these common mistakes that frustrate your clients.
There isn’t a defined rule in business on what the expectation should be for a response to an email or even a call. Some clients may expect an answer by the end of the day, while others consider 48 hours a reasonable response time.
For most, 24 to 48 hours is an acceptable timeframe, but this needs to be made clear to both the agency and client team. During the onboarding process and even at the start of a new project, the agency team should set guidelines about communication. The lack of communication about acceptable response times is what causes confusion, anxiety, and frustration. However, this should be a conversation. Ask the client if they think the timeframe is fair and if they can also adhere to it. Discuss your backup plan for when the client’s account manager is out of the office or unreachable. Who should they reach out to? Can they text the account manager after a certain hour in the day? Do you have a process for an urgent request?
But remember: Responsiveness in an age of email overload will stand out. Encourage your team to try to get back to the client as quickly as possible. It’s sometimes as simple as saying,” I got your email and am working to find the answer. I’ll be in touch shortly with an update.”
Good partnerships are built on trust, and to build trust, you need to not only prove your value but also show that you care about the client’s success, challenges, and problems.
You need to be as good about listening to the client as you are about delivering results. Being a good conversationalist is less about what you can interject at the opportune moment and more about how you make the person on the other side of the table feel when they are in conversation with you. The way you sit, your ability to make eye contact, affirmative nods, and the vocal confirmations you make all help the other person feel more comfortable. Ask questions, and listen more than you talk. Refrain from always providing your opinion. Make the client feel heard and understood. This will help you to build a better relationship, and you’ll learn a lot more about the client, her approach to business and marketing, and her brand.
We’ve all met this type of person: She finds every opportunity to share her vast knowledge of a subject, challenge an assumption, and generally take over a conversation with her library of facts, stats, and examples.
It’s exhausting and irritating.
And it’s exactly the type of thing some agency people do when trying to impress a client. It’s also an attitude that is adopted when working with a client hasn’t studied marketing day in and day out for the past 10, 20, 40 years or is investing in newer tactics. Some people feel the need to showcase how much they know in an effort to gain trust.
There is a way to do this where you agency team members are teachers -- the type that help lead a client to a better understanding of a subject. There are also situations that are better suited to providing this information. In the end, it’s about attitude, tone, and the way you deliver the information.
Not many people want to deal with conflicts with clients. But what’s worse is working with people who avoid them all together. Clients will see this as a weakness on the part of your team, not to mention that an unresolved problem can lead to unrepairable breaks in the relationship.
Dealing with a problem by asking the right questions, opening a line of communication with the client, and working to resolve the issue or negotiate a solution will engender respect at the very least. Sometimes, it’s not about the problem but the way that you solve it that matters in the end.
When something goes wrong in the client relationship, it can be easy to place the blame on a member of your team. Yet, this is a weakness you should avoid with clients.
The client has her own goals to meet. She’s been in the position of trying to explain why a target wasn’t met or a launch date was moved back. And most likely, her CEO or sales director or another executive wasn’t satisfied with the blame game.
You are ultimately responsible for your team’s performance. Own this, and then move forward by figuring out how to move past the issue or solve the problem. It will build more credibility with the client than blaming someone else.
The marketing and advertising industry is known for its reliance on jargon and acronyms: CPM, CTR, API, CAC, CTV, CRM, KPI … not to mention our reliance on phrases such as growth hacker, innovation, omnichannel, multichannel, programmatic, real-time, retargeting, etc. Once you add in favored words such as paradigm, utilize, leverage, low-hanging fruit, storytelling, native, and transparency, it’s a wonder anyone can understand anything we have to say.
Don’t use an acronym unless you are sure the client completely understands it. Don’t be vague about an approach by using buzzwords. And don’t fill your writing with useless and confusing words that you would never utter in conversations with your friends. As Mark Twain said, “Don't use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do.”
This may be the most annoying and frustrating issue on this list. There are some instances where a missed deadline is avoidable, but I would argue that if you properly scoped the project, discussed the risks to delivering the project on time, and communicated on a regular basis throughout the project, you should never miss a deadline. You should know in advance that you won’t be able to deliver something on time and communicate this to the client, explain why, and adjust the deadline accordingly.
If you do miss a deadline, work to get the project delivered and the relationship back on track as quickly as possible.
Originally published Jun 14, 2016 9:00:00 AM, updated February 01 2017
Topics: | https://blog.hubspot.com/agency/annoy-clients |
Our aim:
We want to help students address feelings of alienation and disconnection by building their skills of connection and belonging. All of the lessons in this curriculum are sequential building blocks, geared toward having each student gain this ability and inner strength. Even a handful of students who practice being Connection Superheroes can change the entire atmosphere of a classroom.
Student Learning Objective:
Students will acquire the tools and language to establish healthy connections with themselves and each other, and create an invincible armour of self-worth while helping others do the same.
Sequential:
Assumes beginning with lesson 1 and working straight through (each lesson builds on the ones before it).
Pacing Guide:
This could be a semester or a year-long project, depending on the time you can dedicate in a week. These 20 lessons aim to establish a classroom practice and lifelong habits of connection, belonging and joy.
Time needed:
Each lesson takes about half an hour. | https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Courage-to-Connect-Social-Emotional-Learning-4028199 |
© 2019 Think Social Publishing, Inc.
Social Communicative Development
Social development appears to begin prior to birth and emerges in the early days of life as babies actively pursue social learning through their daily experiences (Hirsh-Pasek & Golinkoff, 2003). Marshall and Fox (2006) describe early social developmental milestones, identifying that babies as young as 36 hours of life distinguish between facial expressions while babies at seven months match vocal expressions of emotion to facial expression. By the end of the first year of life, infants are also developing pre-linguistic communication skills such as declarative/imperative points (Carpenter, Pennington & Rogers, 2002). Toddlers are actively developing social learning, which includes responding to the ideas of others, even before they can verbally express these ideas (Meltzoff, 1995). For example, the more a child engages in verbal communicative exchanges, the more he or she learns about what other people are thinking.
This early social thought ignites the development of perspective taking which encourages abstract language to communicate increasingly complex feelings and thoughts (Flavell, 2004). By four years of age, neurotypical children emerge in their use of mental state verbs (e.g., think, know, guess, decide, etc.) to express information about what they think others are thinking (De Villiers, 2000). By six years old they can understand the basic concept that people can lie, cheat and steal (Baron-Cohen, 2000). As children begin to realize they can manipulate other people, their language emerges into increasingly sophisticated linguistic trickery. It is not uncommon to see a third grade child trick someone into looking in a certain direction and then state, “made you look.”
Social manipulation and the ability to think socially appear to be critical not only for social participation but also for understanding aspects of play, problem solving, understanding communicative intentions, written expression and reading comprehension (Booth, Hall, Robison & Kim, 1997; Norbury & Bishop, 2002; Westby, 1985). Not coincidentally, abstract social language and communicative interpretation become heavily coded in academic curricula, as students are asked early in their educational journey to interpret the intentions of a character in a story to understand the motives for the actor’s actions. Children with typical development acquire this social communication foundation with ease; however, those with social learning challenges (autism spectrum, ADHD, etc.) do not intuitively understand and use these concepts without great effort and direct teaching.
Given these developmental progressions of social learning, it is clear that early development of neurotypical children involves actively learning social information which includes the awareness that we all think about each other’s different thoughts and feelings. It appears that this core conceptual information is required for even pre-school children to “act appropriately” with others, hence producing “good social skills.” Thus, it is expected that social awareness of socially related concepts (you feel and think differently from me) are critical for students to produce expected social behavior (social skills).
SLPs learn about social pragmatics to explore how we use social communication skills. Based on the above information it can be argued that not only should we as SLPs focus on the communication skill production itself but also on the knowledge students need to acquire in order to understand why they should produce this skill. For example, we often focus on teaching students the behavioral social skill of “eye-contact” by asking them to “look at me,” but in reality many higher level students with ASD we have worked with lack development of the social concept (e.g. Joint Attention) to know to follow the iris of people’s eyes to determine where they are looking and then infer what they might be thinking about. Our treatment takes on new meaning when we teach students the social concept that supports how we use the social skill we call “eye-contact.” This type of teaching we refer to as teaching “Social Thinking and related social skills.” This deeper study of how we learn socially and then develop related treatment strategies for those who lack in social pragmatic development has only recently taken on new urgency with the increasing presence of students on our caseload with reasonable verbal cognition and language skills who have diagnoses such as Asperger Syndrome, PDD-NOS and Nonverbal Learning Disability. Given their astute technical language skills and strong concrete learning style, they are critical consumers of the information we teach them. They often ask “why do I have to do it that way?” Teaching Social Thinking and related social skills appears to provide a deeper answer as well as lessons to increase social pragmatic functioning. But, how do we, as professionals, learn about the social thinking associated with production of social skills? Below is one framework to explore this information.
The ILAUGH Model of Social Thinking
The ILAUGH Model of Social Thinking, developed by Winner (2000), is a theoretical model for use by parents and professionals to explore some of the many variables that lend themselves to what we call good “communication” or “problem solving” skills across the day. Winner created this based on her observations of what her students with social learning challenges were requiring to learn to help with their social skills and specific aspects of their curriculum. A literature review also found that each aspect Winner had identified had already been researched and demonstrated to be a relevant learning hurdle for students with ASD. Thus, the ILAUGH Model represents an integrated summary of the evidence based research. It is designed to: 1) help SLPs, educators and parents systematically organize and “make sense” of the challenges faced by those with social learning challenges, and 2) provide a direction for therapists to build on the student’s strengths and areas of need to tailor intervention . The ILAUGH Model also helps us understand the relationship between social interaction, problem solving and the ability to interpret and respond to aspects of the academic curricula to create more efficient treatment programs.
This model incorporates concepts known to impact persons with ASD and related diagnoses, namely executive functions (e.g. multitasking), (Hill, 2004; McEvoy, Rogers, & Pennington, 1993), theory of mind (e.g. perspective taking),(Baron-Cohen, Leslie, & Frith, 1985; Flavell, 2004), central coherence theory (e.g. gestalt processing), (Frith, 1989; van Lang, Bouma, Sytema, Kraijer, & Minderaa, 2006) and social emotional processing (e.g. human relatedness), (Prizant, Wetherby, Rubin, Laurent, & Rydell, 2006a & b). The six components of the model are reviewed briefly below:
I = Initiation of Language (Krantz & McClannahan, 1993; MacDonald et al., 2006). Initiation of communication and language refers to the ability to use one’s skills to seek assistance or information. A student’s ability to talk about his own interests can be in sharp contrast to how she communicates when she needs assistance. Many individuals with social cognitive challenges have the ability to produce a great deal of language. Yet while these students talk frequently about their own knowledge and ideas, they may not be proficient using their sizeable language skills to communicate when unaware of what to do next or how to clarify when they don’t understand.
L= Listening with Eyes and Brain (Baron-Cohen, 1995; Jones & Carr, 2004; Whalen, Schreibman & Ingersoll, 2006). Many individuals on the autism spectrum, as well as others with social learning challenges have technical visual processing strengths, but may struggle to comprehend information presented via the dual challenges of social visual information (reading nonverbal cues) and auditory processing. In fact, listening requires more than just taking in auditory information. Listening requires the integration of information the student sees and hears to understand the deeper concept, or to make an educated guess about what is being said when the message cannot be interpreted literally. This is also referred to as “active listening” or “whole body listening.”
A = Abstract and Inferential Language/Communication (Minshew, Goldstein, Muenz, & Payton, 1992; Norbury & Bishop, 2002). Comprehension depends on one’s ability to recognize that most language or communication is not intended for literal interpretation. Abstract and inferential meaning occurs subtly through verbal and nonverbal communication and analyzing the language in context. One must be flexible in interpreting the intended meaning of a message by considering what they know about people within specific contexts (Simmons-Mackie & Damico, 2003).
U = Understanding Perspective (Baron-Cohen, 2000; Baron-Cohen, Jolliffe, Mortimore, & Robertson 1997; Flavell, 2004). The ability to interpret others’ perspectives or beliefs, thoughts and feelings across contexts is a critical social learning skill. It is central to group participation in the social, academic or vocational world. Individuals with social cognitive challenges are often highly aware of their own perspective, but may struggle to see another’s point of view.
G=Gestalt Processing/Getting the Big Picture (Fullerton, Stratton, Coyne & Gray, 1996; McEvoy et al., 1993; Norbury & Bishop, 2002; Shah & Frith, 1993). Many students with social learning issues are highly skilled at obtaining and retaining factual information related to their particular area of interest. However, both written and conversational language is conveyed through concepts, not just facts. For example, when having a conversation, participants intuitively determine the underlying concept being discussed. When reading a book, the reader must follow the overall meaning (gestalt) of the book rather than just collecting the details of the story, especially if expected to compose a cohesive written description of what has been read that others easily understand and interpret. Further, organizational skills fall within this area and are critical for completing homework, preparing written assignments, cleaning a household and finishing tasks at work. These skills require us to “see the big picture” and assess what needs to be done systematically before plugging in the details to accomplish a goal.
H= Humor and Human Relatedness (Greenspan, 1990; Prizant, Wetherby, Rubin & Laurent, 2003; Wolfberg, 2003). Many individuals with social challenges often exhibit an excellent sense of humor, but feel anxious as they miss many of the subtle cues that would help them understand ways to participate more successfully with others in a social context. Emotional processing is also at the heart of human relatedness.
Social Thinking and Teaching Related Social Skills: From Social Knowledge to Social Skills
Social skill interventions for persons with social challenges, especially those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), require treatment which includes these fundamental tenants (Krasney, Williams, Provencal & Ozonoff, 2003, p. 111):
- make the abstract concrete
- provide a scaffold of language support
- foster self-awareness and self-esteem
- program in a sequential and progressive manner
- provide opportunities for programmed generalization and ongoing practice
The ILAUGH Model provides one of the frameworks upon which the principles of Social Thinking intervention are built. Also fundamental to Winner’s work is the recognition that we all have thoughts and feelings about each other’s social behavior (e.g. social skills) (Goleman, 2006). Winner, in her quest to create concrete lessons to teach these abstract social concepts (2000, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008), recognized the need for us to create specific language based concepts that could be used consistently by teachers, parents, SLPs, etc. to describe and explain our social expectations and related social thoughts and emotions.
These specific concepts are described as the Social Thinking Vocabulary, which represents one portion of the larger Social Thinking theoretical framework. However, for the purposes of this article, these concepts are considered foundational and give the reader a broad overview.
Think with Your Eyes. This is a statement used in lieu of telling a student to “use good eye-contact” or “look at me.” We have found that many students with social learning challenges don’t know what they are supposed to think about when we simply tell them to “use good eye-contact.” By explaining that they should “think with their eyes” we can begin to teach them that eyes aren’t just for looking at another person during an interaction. The eyes are powerful tools to be used for gaining information in almost any situation. For example, if a teacher is showing a picture book to a small group, students are not expected to use “eye contact” with the teacher. Instead, students are expected to show they are thinking about the book by looking at the book. Often a teacher will pause to ask a question. She may not state the student’s name, but instead signify that she is speaking to the student by just looking (e.g., “what would you do next?”). The concept of “thinking with your eyes” is also relevant in problem solving and perspective taking. For instance, children learn that they use their eyes to figure out other’s plans (e.g., I see him reach for the blue one, that means he wants the blue one) and determine what to do next (e.g., I see others lining up and know to line up too).
Expected/Unexpected Behavior. We teach that social and communicative expectations are contextually sensitive. In fact, for every situation there are a set of expected and unexpected behaviors that generate different types of thoughts. When a behavior is expected for a situation it encourages us to have good or okay or normal thoughts and feelings; when a behavior is unexpected we tend to have uncomfortable or weird thoughts* and related feelings. How we think about someone over time affects our “social memory” of them. *(Note: This is not the same as thinking a person is “weird.” Instead, we have a weird thought based on the behavior within that situation.)
Smart Guess/Wacky Guess. This concept is addressed by teaching students to “read the situation” and infer what actions to take based on the situation. Social inferencing is at the heart of determining what to say or do and occurs at a rapid-fire pace in everyday social communication as well as when comprehending text. We break down the process of inferencing by teaching students to become aware of words and nonverbal cues to “take what you (think, know, see and hear) to make a guess.”
Social Fake. This is a concept that explores how “genuinely” interested we feel as we engage in a social dialogue with others. Most of us are interested in getting to know one another, even though we aren’t always fascinated by exactly what they say. We teach that often we simply tolerate other’s conversational topic in order to maintain the social-emotional connection. How we make each other feel is more important than the exact words used to sustain the relationship.
In addition to this sampling of Social Thinking Vocabulary other key concepts related to Social Thinking include constant infusion of the following:
What are “good social skills”? Social thinking precedes the use of good social skills. First we have to be aware of the people and the situation before we select which sets of social behaviors (social skills) to employ. While sharing space with others we are constantly aware of people (social thinking) and then monitor and modify our behavior accordingly to encourage people to think about us the way we want them to perceive us. Interestingly, the majority of time we are socially thinking in the presence of others, we are not actually interacting with these people, rather we are co-existing. For example, consider how students all are expected to work quietly during tests to keep from distracting the thoughts of other students around them. In this example, the students are demonstrating good social skills but none are engaged in a verbal interaction.
The social rules change with age. Teaching social thinking and related social skills is a bit like shooting a bullet at a moving target. Although we may overtly teach a child to greet others with a friendly “hi” when in the early elementary years, students in high school realize that a friendly “hi” between two guys is no longer the norm (i.e., instead a grunt or “hey” is required). Social rules change in nuance and sophistication across our lifetime. We not only expect 15-year-olds to act differently than 10-year-olds, we also expect 20-year-olds to act differently than 30-year-olds. Teaching children to be keen observers of situations within environments is one way to learn the nuance of the social rules within their age and cultural group.
EBP and Social Skills/Social Thinking Therapy
Evidence-based practices (EBP), according to ASHA guidelines, are those which “recognize the needs, abilities, values, preferences, and interests of individuals and families to whom they provide clinical services, and integrate those factors along with best current research evidence and their clinical expertise in making clinical decisions” (ASHA, 2005, p. 1). This definition serves to help practitioners evaluate which new teachings are “best or promising practices” given the infancy of our emerging fields of study as well as the complexity of treatment that involves not only social communication but complex social emotional responses. Social thinking may, in fact, be one of the promising practices that has recently been the focus of research.
Crooke, Hendrix, and Rachman (2008) examined the effectiveness of teaching Social Thinking vocabulary to adolescents with Asperger Syndrome (AS) or High Functioning Autism (HFA). The published pre-post-study was one piece of a larger single subject treatment study where the authors measured verbal and nonverbal social behaviors in two separate settings (treatment and generalization). In the treatment setting, subjects were taught Social Thinking vocabulary such as “social files”, “thinking with eyes,” “filtering knowledge vs. opinions” and “expected” and “unexpected” for the situation within an environment. Lessons were designed to encourage students to think about the “why” underlying the actual production of the social skill. How to use specific social skills (e.g., turn-taking, eye-contact, topic maintenance) was never directly taught; rather the concepts of thinking socially were addressed by showing that others have thoughts and emotions related to their behaviors, both positive and negative. Generalization measures included the use of social skills such as initiations, looking at the speaker, on-topic remarks that added to the topic, and one-word comments that served to sustain the interaction, Results indicated statistically significant (p >= .03) changes from pre- to post- measures on both verbal/nonverbal ‘‘expected’’ and ‘‘unexpected’’ social responses in the generalization setting. Although not significant for the group (p >= .15, p)
An additional study was conducted by Adams (2008) who examined the effectiveness of a mentoring program for social thinking intervention in the schools. Results of this study indicated significant changes for the group based on the parent and teacher rankings using the Autism Social Skills Profile (Bellini & Hopf , 2007).
Finally, a new group of investigators at the University of Hong Kong translated Winner’s ILAUGH Model and Social Thinking Vocabulary into Chinese in 2006. The investigators (S.K. Lee and colleagues, personal communication, July 20-23, 2008.) infused Social Thinking into the school setting and measured teacher and parent perception of change over the course of a school year and reported significant changes (ongoing analysis in process).
Social Thinking, when compared to other paradigms, is still in its infancy, but represents a promising conceptual framework that can be utilized by SLPs and educators when developing treatment plans for individuals with social learning issues. As with any treatment regime, a multidimensional pattern of approaches must be considered. Ongoing and future research to address this population must consider the synergistic nature of these students’ multiple learning challenges and how their needs change across their lifespan.
References
Adams, Allison (2008). Mentoring “Social Thinking” ” Groups in Middle & Secondary Schools. Talk presented at NASP, New Orleans. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2005). Evidence based practice in communication disorders (position paper). Available at: http://www.asha.org/members/deskreferjournals/deskref/default. (pp1).
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Baron-Cohen, S. (1995). Mindblindness: An essay on autism and theory of mind. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Baron-Cohen, S. (2000). Theory of mind and autism: A fifteen-year review. In S. Baron-Cohen, H. Tager-Flusberg. & D. Cohen (Eds.), Understanding other minds: Perspectives from developmental cognitive neuroscience, 2nd edition (pp.1-20). New York: Oxford University Press.
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A.M., & Frith, U. (1985). Does the autistic child have a theory of mind Cognition, 21, 37-46.
Baron-Cohen, S., Jolliffe, T., Mortimore, C & Robertson, M. (1997). Another advanced test of theory of mind: Evidence from very high functioning adults with Autism and Asperger Syndrome. Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology. 38(7), 813-822.
Bellini, S. & Hopf, A. (2007). The development of the autism social skills profile: A preliminary analysis of psychometrics. Focus Autism Other Dev Disabl.2007; 22: 80-87.
Booth, J., Hall, W., Robison, G., & Kim, S.Y. (1997). Acquisition of the mental state verb know by 2- to 5-year-old children. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 26 (6), 581-603.
Carpenter, M., Pennington, B., & Rogers, S. (2002). Interrelations among social-cognitive skillsin young children with autism. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 32 (2) 91-106.
Crooke, P., Hendrix, R., & Rachman, J. (2008). Measuring the effectiveness of teaching social thinking to children with Autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism &Developmental Disorders. 38(3):581-91.
DeVilliers, J. (2000). Language and theory of mind: What are the developmental relationships? In S. Baron-Cohen, H. Tager-Flusberg. & D. Cohen (Eds.), Understanding other minds: Perspectives from developmental cognitive neuroscience (pp.83-123). New York: Oxford University Press.
Flavell, J. (2004). Theory-of-mind development: Retrospect and prospect. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 50 (3), 274-290.
Fullerton, A., Stratton, J., Coyne, P., & Gray, C. (1996). Higher functioning adolescents and young adults with autism. Austin, Texas: Pro-Ed, Inc.
Frith, U. (1989). Autism, explaining the enigma (pp 107-163). Worcester, England: Billing & Sons Ltd.
Goleman, D. (1989). Social Intelligence; the new science of social relationships. New York, NY. Bantum Books.
Greenspan, S. (1990). Floor time, tuning in to each child. NY: Scholastic, Inc., Early Childhood Division.
Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Golinkoff, M. (2003). Einstein never used flashcards (p. 183). New York, NY; Rodale Inc. Publishers.
Hill, E. (2004). Evaluating the theory of executive dysfunction in autism. Developmental Review, 24 (2),189-233.
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Krantz, P., & McClannahan, L. (1993). Teaching children with autism to initiate to peers: Effects of a script-fading procedure. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 26, 121-132.
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MacDonald, R., Anderson, J., Dube, W., Geckeler, A., Green, G., Holcomb, W., Mansfield, R., & Sanchez, J. (2006). Behavioral assessment of joint attention: A methodological report. Research in Developmental Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 27 (2), 138-150.
Marshall, P., & Fox, N. (2006). Biological approaches to the study of social engagement. In P. Marshall & N. Fox (Eds.), The development of social engagement. Neurobiological Perspectives (pp. 3-18). NY: Oxford University Press.
McEvoy, R., Rogers, S., & Pennington, B. (1993). Executive function and social communication deficits in young autistic children. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 32 (4), 563-578.
Meltzoff, A.N. (1995). Understanding the intentions of others: Re-enactment of intended acts by 18-month-old children. Developmental Psychology, 31, 838-850.
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Prizant, B., Wetherby, A., Rubin, E., & Laurent, A. (2003). The SCERTS model: A transactional, family-centered approach to enhancing communication and social emotional abilities of children with autism spectrum disorder. Infants & Young Children, 16 (4), 296-316.
Prizant, B., Wetherby, A., Rubin, E., Laurent, A., & Rydell, P. (2006a). The SCERTS model: A comprehensive educational approach for children with autism spectrum disorders. Vo1 1, Assessment. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.
Prizant, B., Wetherby, A., Rubin, E., Laurent, A., & Rydell, P. (2006b). The SCERTS model: A comprehensive educational approach for children with autism spectrum disorders. Vo1 II, Program Planning & Intervention. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.
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Whalen, C., Schreibman, L., & Ingersoll, B. (2006). The collateral effects of joint attention training on social initiations, positive affect, imitation and spontaneous speech for young children with autism. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 36 (5), 655-664.
Winner, M. (2000). Inside out: What makes the person with social cognitive deficits tick San Jose, CA: Think Social Publishing, Inc.
Winner, M. (2002). Assessment of social skills for students with Asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 27, 73–80.
Winner, M (2005). Think social! A social thinking curriculum for school age students. San Jose, CA: Think Social Publishing, Inc.
Winner, M. (2007). Thinking about you thinking about me, 2nd edition. San Jose, CA: Think Social Publishing, Inc.
Winner, M. & Crooke, P. (2007). You Are A Social Detective. San Jose, CA: Think Social Publishing, Inc.
Wolfberg, P. (2003). Peer play and the autism spectrum. Shawnee Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing Company.
van Lang, N., Bouma, A., Sytema, S., Kraijer, D., & Minderaa, R. (2006). A comparison of central coherence skills between adolescents and an intellectual disability with and without comorbid autism spectrum disorder. Research in Developmental Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 27 (2), 217-266. | https://www.socialthinking.com/Articles?name=developmental-treatment-approach-students-learning-issues |
Yamal authorities establish awards and grants for permafrost researchers
Starting in 2023, geocryology specialists in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area (YANAA) will receive a gubernatorial award of up to 1 million rubles. The annual award will be open to scientists with Ph.D.s and D.Sc.s whose work is of theoretical and practical importance for the region. Dissertations should be based on research conducted in the YANAA.
“We are seeking to have the academic community focus on permafrost as much as we can. Regrettably, we have discovered that there were practically no related studies in recent years. Last fall, Yamal hosted a conference on permafrost that was attended by leading specialists. At the conference, we agreed to establish special incentive payments for Ph.D. and D.Sc. papers on permafrost, which would carry practical importance for our region. I hope this support will incentivize scientists to do more research on this difficult subject,” YANAA Governor Dmitry Artyukhov said.
There are plans to grant awards to no more than four Ph.D. holders and four D.Sc. holders per year. The decisions will be approved by the autonomous area’s Council for Science and Higher Education. The one-time payment will amount to 500,000 rubles for those with Ph.D.s and 1 million rubles for those with D.Sc.s, the Governor’s press service reports.
Apart from that, there will be incentives for scientists intending to study permafrost in the region. Subsidies will be allocated following a competitive selection process held annually. The main selection criterion will be the significance of the research results for the YANAA. The largest grants will amount to 5 million rubles.
“The Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area was among the first to become aware of how important it is to study the geocryology processes and interactions between permafrost and buildings and infrastructure facilities. Grants and awards for permafrost researchers are unique measures of support and will encourage the best scientists and geocryology specialists to come to the region. They are in high demand at the research center and local businesses,” Director of the Research Center for the Study of the Arctic Gleb Krayev said. | https://arctic.ru/climate/20220610/1001957.html |
In a submission to the United Nations in advance of its review of US compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Human Rights Watch and our partners laid out three key areas in which racial discrimination thrives in the US and perpetuates health inequities, with particularly devastating impacts on Black women.
First, abortion. Since the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional protection for abortion access, over half the country’s states have made nearly all abortion illegal or are poised to do so.
Yet abortion is a form of health care needed more frequently by women of color, especially Black women, than white women in the US. Abortion restrictions compound economic, social, and geographic barriers to health care, including contraception, disproportionately impacting Black women’s ability to access the care we need.
Second, the US allows the shackling of pregnant prisoners during labor, delivery, and post-partum recovery. Such shackling is a clear human rights violation as recognized by UN bodies. Black women are almost twice as likely to be incarcerated as white women and we are disproportionately affected by this barbaric practice and the related negative health impacts.
Third, Black women are almost twice as likely to die from cervical cancer as white women in the US. This despite cervical cancer being highly preventable and treatable.
Compounding racism and discrimination, which are rampant in the healthcare field, women of color are more likely to be uninsured and lack access to affordable and comprehensive healthcare coverage in the US.
Twelve US states, including many in the US South, where the majority of Black people live, haven’t expanded Medicaid, a government healthcare program, to extend affordable healthcare coverage to more low-income people.
The US federal government is not doing enough to address and eliminate structural racism and discrimination in the US, and the impact on the health of Black women is clear.
To help correct this, the government should enact concrete measures to protect and promote the rights to equality under the law, nondiscrimination, information, and health, including reproductive health care, for all people. | https://human-wrongs-watch.net/2022/08/12/racism-is-rampant-in-us-reproductive-health-care/ |
Mesopotamia also several similarities between the two
Mesopotamia and Egypt were two civilizations that were similar in many ways but also had many differences. Not only did they differ in the geographical layout of the civilization, but also in many aspects of basic life. Although different in many aspects of life, there are also several similarities between the two civilizations.
Egypt and Mesopotamia are both developed around river valleys. Mesopotamia is located in between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and Egypt is along the Nile River. They drank from it, bathed in it, used it for cooking and cleaning. Both civilizations depended on the rivers for survival.
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Mesopotamia and Egypt rivers would flood irregularly without warning, often causing damage and sometimes death. Even though it flooded yearly what was left behind was fertile, rich, black soil that was great for planting. It provided irrigation and filled the lands with wildlife and vegetation. The rivers made it possible for farmers to grow crops, meaning that they could plant and harvest food.
In Egypt, people used the Nile for trade and transportation. | https://proxdeveloper.com/mesopotamia-and-egypt-were-two-civilizations-that-were-similar-in-many-ways-but-also-had-many-differences/ |
Mar 13, 2018 ... Acres and square footage are terms that are applied to the area of a piece of land . These measurements are extremely important when buying ...
sciencing.com/acre-measured-8686802.html
Apr 24, 2017 ... If the width of the parcel is 600 yards and the length is 1,000 yards, the area is 600,000 square yards. There are 4,840 square yards in an acre so ...
www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States_Land_Measurements
Land measurements. The following terms are familiar terms to describe land: Acre 10 square chains or 160 rods, or 43,560 square feet or 4840 square yards.
www.sizes.com/units/acre.htm
May 13, 2018 ... Answer: Since 1305 the acre hasn't had any fixed length or width, just a fixed area. Unlike the square foot, square yard, square meter, etc., the ...
landforsalestore.com/articles/acre
How big is an acre – a unit of area commonly used for measuring tracts of land? In our business, this is an important word as most properties are defined in ...
lancaster.unl.edu/ag/factsheets/291.htm
ACRE The unit of land area in the United States is the acre. An acre contains 43,560 square feet. Have you ever wondered why an acre is 43,560 square feet ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBkOuXd6yDQ
Apr 6, 2017 ... An explanation of the size and history of acres. ... (Measurement #21) ... How to calculate Irregular land area// Irregular ptot area in Square feet.
www.wagrown.com/what-does-an-acre-look-like
As all farmers and real estate agents know, an acre is defined as an area one furlong long by 4 rods wide. An acre is standard measurement used in the United ...
www.almanac.com/fact/how-was-the-measurement-of-an-acre
Answer: In the British Imperial and U.S. Customary Systems, an acre was originally a unit of land equal to 43,560 square feet, or 160 square rods. The word is ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the ... | https://www.reference.com/web?q=Land+Measurements+Acres&qo=relatedSearchNarrow&o=600605&l=dir&sga=1 |
Have you ever wondered why you have to spend so much time walking without a board or being body dragged by a kite before attempting to do a real waterstart in kitesurfing?
The answer to both questions is simple: the more you train with simple and potentially boring, but not dangerous, exercises, the more you will create automatisms that will allow you to master the most complex situations.
These two exercises are the basis of good riding and should be done repeatedly in order to get your first waterstat and first tack right.
These are two skills, in my opinion, that should be done on one side of the wind window, as the goal is to discover the feeling you will get once you are up on the board and riding.
Let’s look at them in detail:
What are the advantages of moving around on the spot without a board and what precautions should you take?
At this point, the goal is to generate the minimum possible traction that allows you to move properly and comfortably.
Moving with a kite means mastering :
- continuous and controlled kite movement;
- kite stabilization.
As you can see, I am referring to the basic pilotage movements you need in order to ride.
In fact, when we cruise, we keep alternating these two actions.
Learning how to move on the spot is like simulating the navigation by removing the complexity added by the board, of course by adapting the traction to your needs.
If you manage to do this exercise without a board in a relaxed way, everything will be easier in the next phase.
Walking with the kite will also allow you to reach a first stage of autonomy, that is to say to acquire the capacity to position yourself where you want on the spot, but especially to return to the starting point if you do not manage to go upwind (obviously if you practice on a spot in shallow water).
Here are some tips on how to proceed and mistakes to avoid.
- How to perform the exercise?
First of all, for the exercise to be done correctly, you will need to be able to get a steady pull. The kite must help you walk, without you being swept up and/or dropping the kite.
It is not the kite that decides where you go, it is your steering.
My advice is to alternate soft and coordinated movements, to give some power, with kite stabilization, to get more control and less traction, while continuing walking.
It is fundamental to be able to alternate them in a harmonious way.
The exercise must be done by moving the kite in a unique quadrant od the wind window.
- Common mistakes to avoid:
Lorsque le vent est faible, les mouvements doivent être plus amples et plus continus.
- If you simulate a crosswind or upwind tack, the exercise is easier. The faster you walk, the more apparent wind you will generate and the easier it will be to stabilize the kite.
- If you simulate a downwind, you will have no choice but to make very large movements in the power zone.
In any case, in light wind, you either move or you move the kite.
When the wind is strong, the exercise is easier, but the movements must be reduced. So in strong wind:
- Be careful not to lower the kite too low, otherwise you will feel too much traction and have trouble braking. In addition, the kite will travel a longer way back to the zentih, generating more traction.
- It is important to keep the bar in its “sweet spot”, which will allow you to manage your movements in a controlled manner.
- Be careful not to give too abrupt a command, the kite must have a linear curve and not rotate. The consequence of this mistake is often a moment of panic and the total release of the bar. The kite may then accelerate even more as it passes through the power zone and you risk being catapulted forward.
If you don’t feel in control, stop, then start again. Walking can be disorienting at first.
Moving with the kite in the air is very important to understand the wind window and to practice/simulate the different gaits.
It’s up to you to figure out how to adapt your steering to the direction you’re going.
What does body drag teach you, and what mistakes should you avoid?
The body drag is the technique that allows us to be pulled by the kite, without the board at our feet.
It is necessary to distinguish two types of body drag, which have each their utility:
on the belly, to go downwind;
on the side (upwind), for a crosswind gait or to go upwind.
Body dragging
The body dragging is usually taught when we need to learn how to generate a consistent pull with the kite and bring it into the power zone. In fact, it’s all about practicing how to handle the power of the kite.
Since it is a delicate moment, as any mistake can shake you considerably, it is good to practice it in the water without risking clumsy moves on the beach that would cause more damage, unless the wind is light and the equipment appropriate.
Body drag prevents the practitioner, who loses control, from running after the kite with the bar in his hands and risking injury to his lower limbs, or falling on hard surfaces.
In this type of exercise, the kite must descend into the power zone. It is up to you to decide whether the kite movement (often called the “8”) should be large (more pull) or small (less pull). The exercise should be adapted to your needs and the situation.
In all cases, you will descend downwind.
What to watch out for?
- Start with small but frank movements to avoid scaring yourself. Gradually increase your range of motion to generate more traction;
- Use only one quadrant of the wind window. If you are heading to the right, the kite must never go to the left, otherwise, you will lose your balance and you could end up on your back or be thrown forward and lose control completely;
- Make continuous movements, and try to link several movements (at least 3) in the same direction, before stopping at the zenith and going in the opposite direction;
- Stay tonic and always keep your shoulders parallel to the lines. The most critical moment is the first movement, if you don’t keep the right posture, you will lose your balance and end up on your side or back while losing control of the kite;
- Relax as much as possible. If you stiffen up, you will tend to hang on to the bar, which will have a negative impact on your riding.
The upwind body drag
The upwind body drag is mainly used to recover the board when lost or to return to shore in case you can’t get on the board. In fact, by using your own body as a drift, and keeping the kite stable at about 45°, you will be able to keep a crosswind or upwind gait.
In addition, this practice is useful in situations where you need to move away from the shore to make a water start, for example on a beach with a side-onshore wind orientation.
Thanks to the body drag, you will be able to move far enough away not to risk a water start too close to the shore.
What should you watch out for?
- First of all, you have to be able to fly the kite with one hand and stabilize it in the wind window you are heading for;
- Be toned. Your “front arm” (right arm if you are going on a starboard tack) should be extended and pointed as far as possible into the wind, and your legs should be straight (don’t kick your feet, the kite is pulling you). You should have your flank in the water (not your stomach, not your back).
- If you hold the kite too high, you risk losing your balance and ending up on your back, if the kite goes down too low, the control will be more delicate and you risk ending up on your belly, at the drops. One-handed stabilization is essential.
- Get into the habit of doing fairly long tacks to master the exercise. Doing short tacks when you are trying to recover the board is not appropriate. It is in the transitions that you risk being swept away by the wind and losing the progress you have made.
- To make a correct transition, stop at the zenith for a fraction of a second while gently raising the kite. The more abrupt the movement, the more you will let the kite take you downwind and ruin your previous efforts.
The upwind body drag is often neglected in the progression, and in some schools, it is replaced by the board’s leash. But be careful, if you don’t know how to do it, you will quickly find yourself in trouble as soon as you lose your board in deep water. So I strongly recommend you to practice until you feel comfortable!
Conclusion
It is in this part of the progression that your progression goes to the next level. By the end of these exercises, you will be able to control the kite in most circumstances, move around the spot as you wish (walking or being pulled by the kite), and generate controlled power.
The more time you spend on these elements, the easier and more effortless the water start will be. Conversely, if you speed up your progress, be prepared to experience “the superman effect” and be swept from side to side by the kite.
Keep practicing, you’re almost there! | https://www.triderland.com/en/2-key-exercises-before-the-waterstart-in-kitesurfing-moving-without-a-board-and-body-drag/ |
When it comes to dealing with student bullying complaints, school administrators can get into legal trouble by imposing disciplinary action against a complaining student. Courts have held that retaliatory discipline in response to complaints of harassment or bullying may violate Title IX and the First Amendment. In Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court first recognized a claim of retaliation under Title IX by a male former coach of a girls’ basketball team. The plaintiff in Jackson was removed after complaining to superiors that his team did not receive funding and access to athletic equipment equal to the boys’ team. The Supreme Court held that Jackson could raise a retaliation claim even though he was not a victim of the discrimination that was the subject of his original complaint.
Title IX retaliation claims require a showing that (1) the plaintiff engaged in activity protected under Title IX; (2) the district knew of the protected activity; (3) the plaintiff was subjected to a materially adverse action; and (4) there was a causal connection between the protected activity and the adverse action. If the district is able to articulate a legitimate reason for taking the adverse action, the plaintiff must then establish that the reason given by the district was pretextual. Plaintiffs may prove pretext by showing that a retaliatory reason more likely motivated the district’s decision or by showing that the district’s reasons were “unworthy of credence.”
Similarly, to recover damages for a First Amendment retaliation claim, a plaintiff must demonstrate that (1) the student was engaged in a constitutionally protected activity; (2) the district’s adverse action caused the student to suffer an injury that would likely chill a person to engage in that activity; and (3) the adverse action was motivated, at least in part, by the student’s exercise of their constitutional rights.
One bullying case out of Ohio illustrates this point. In Marcum v. Bd. of Educ. of Bloom-Carroll Local Sch. Dist., 727 F.Supp.2d 657 (S.D. Ohio 2010), the student alleged that the district retaliated against her for complaining of student bullying and sexual harassment by suspending her and ultimately expelling her. The Ohio court declined to dismiss the retaliation claims against the school principal under Title IX and the First Amendment, holding that genuine issues of fact existed on whether the principal acted with a retaliatory motive when he disciplined the student. The record showed that the principal disciplined the student for allegedly stealing another student’s iPod. The student claimed, however, that she found the iPod and gave it to another student to return to its owner.
The student also presented sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could find that the decision to suspend and expel the student was motivated, at least in part, by her prior complaints about alleged sexual harassment and verbal taunts by other students. For example, evidence suggested that the principal acted as if he was “getting tired of” the complaints. The student’s mother characterized the principal as “rude” and “hateful.” The principal allegedly laughed and smirked when he told the mother that he was “going for expulsion” of the student. The principal also admitted that he should have investigated the iPod incident more before issuing the discipline. According to the court, the evidence was sufficient to create genuine issues of material fact on whether the principal disciplined the student in retaliation for complaints of harassment.
The main lesson here is that disciplinary action, especially a suspension or expulsion, against a student who has raised complaints of sexual harassment or bullying can give rise to a retaliation claim under either Title IX or the First Amendment. School officials must be able to establish legitimate, non-retaliatory reasons for the discipline. A thorough and impartial investigation of the student’s misconduct, as well as clear and unbiased documentation, will support the reasons for the district’s actions. | http://billhowe.org/TitleIX/school-officials-can-face-liability-for-retaliation-against-a-bullied-student/ |
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This page informs you of our policies regarding the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information we receive from users subscribing to our newsletter as well as the contents of our newsletter. The policy covers distribution and statistical evaluation procedures as well as your right of objection. By subscribing to our newsletter, you agree to the receipt and the procedures described.
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We send newsletters, e-mails and other electronic notifications with advertising information (hereinafter “newsletter”) only with the consent of the recipient or a legal permission. Incidentally, our newsletters contain information on programmes at the Ashram de Yoga Sivananda including yoga vacation, yoga further education programs, and yoga teacher training courses as well as information about offers in other Sivananda Yoga Centers worldwide. This may in particular include references to blog posts, lectures or workshops or online presence.
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We only use Google Analytics with activated IP anonymisation. This means that the IP address of the users will be shortened by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be sent to a Google server in the US and shortened there. The IP address submitted by the user’s browser will not be merged with other data provided by Google.Users can prevent the storage of cookies by setting their browser software accordingly; Users may also prevent the collection by Google of the data generated by the cookie and related to their use of the online offer as well as the processing of such data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under the following link.
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What are Your Rights?
The GDPR taking effect on 25th May 2018, gives you a number of rights. These are:
- Right to be informed: We are transparent over how we use your personal information
- Right of access: You can request a copy of the information we hold about you, which will be provided to you within one month
- Right of rectification: You can request that we update or amend the information we hold about you if it is wrong
- Right to restrict processing: You can request that we stop using your information
- Right to be “forgotten”: You can request that we remove your personal information from our records
- Right to object: You can object to the processing of your information for marketing purposes
However, we would like to point out that the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre is subject to legal obligations that do not allow us to delete certain information directly. These obligations result from accounting and tax laws. We may, however, block your personal information, thereby preventing processing for purposes other than those required by law. | https://sivanandayogafarm.org/privacy-policy/ |
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about a “Leader”? Does your mind immediately think about great political leaders like Churchill, JFK, or Gandhi?
Leadership is not just limited to politics or people who bring about social and political change.
On the most basic level, the word leadership means the ability to create a following by having the capacity to lead, connecting with the people in such a way as to speak to their hearts and minds directly, enabling them to gravitate towards you naturally.
A true leader can be a common everyday man you meet on the street. It could be a doctor daring enough to rise to the challenge of a teacher encouraging her students to believe in themselves by teaching them self-management and how to build effective and trustworthy relationships with their peers.
Generally, some people are naturally born to lead; while it is valid, it does not necessarily mean that these skills can’t be developed in anyone.
If someone can work hard towards achieving their goal and have the ways to motivate people, they too can become a good and effective leader.
This is where a teacher comes in as a natural leader and role model for students.
The goal of a teacher isn’t mainly to impart knowledge to their students but also to prepare them for the real world by equipping them with the necessary tools to succeed in life further.
New research shows that by just flipping the conventional classroom paradigm around, better outcomes can be provided in developing intellect and self-confidence (amongst other things) in students.
Below we’ve discussed ways teachers can use the flipped classroom technique to develop essential leadership skills in their students.
This method will equip them with success tools not only for life in the classroom but also beyond.
1. Show the willingness to learn:
As pointed out above, teachers are role models for students. A good leader must always be willing and eager to move ahead with their learning.
This is true especially for teachers and students both. A good and knowledgeable teacher is an empowered teacher.
If you’re an aspiring teacher keen on instilling meaningful knowledge into your students, you should consider advanced education.
Given your busy schedule, registering for an Educational Leadership Online MSEd Program would be excellent.
2. Giving them the power for decision making:
Students learn better when they are given the choice of how they want to know. It could be a hands-on activity, a presentation, or even a topic they like.
They have control over choosing what interests them using techniques that they enjoy, thereby boosting their productivity and at the same time learning.
Another essential skill learned here is how their decisions can affect their peers. Something critical that a leader must understand.
3. Learn to be a team player:
One of the foremost skills students can learn for effective leadership is understanding that a leader is only as good as his followers.
Teamwork makes the dream work. School sports can be effective in teaching this.
You either win as a team or lose as a team. Communication is the key to making your ideas and requirements clearer to your team.
4. No space for your ego:
Continuing from the last point, you either win as a team or lose. A good leader needs to understand that failure shouldn’t be taken as a single person’s fault and maintain a positive attitude.
The blame game should be avoided as a good leader must be willing to put aside their ego and identify the fault, striving to strengthen the weak link.
Team-based learning activities and competitions can help a student learn this.
5. Be a hard worker:
“Leaders are not born; they are made with hard work and passion” A teacher may have the ability to identify a natural leader in the classroom early on.
These leaders are extroverts who volunteer for every job themselves and put themselves at the front of everything.
But that doesn’t mean someone who doesn’t show natural talent can’t be a leader. Talent can only take you as far; hard work makes the difference.
Conclusion
Learning leadership qualities always impacts the students’ personalities because this is how they know how to build relationships with their peers effectively.
They also learn how to cooperate and communicate effectively as a team to achieve their communal tasks.
They develop their self-esteem and confidence in their independent skills.
Studies have shown that effective education leadership makes a significant impact not only on student learning in the classroom but also in later life. | https://amolife.com/infinite/five-ways-to-promote-leadership-skills-in-students/ |
The axiom knows thyself was inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. It is worth stating here that Apollo was the Greek God of Reason. This particular temple at Delphi was home to the Oracle of Delphi and the Priestess Pythia, who was known for divining the future and consulting before all major decisions.
The unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates)Tweet
The legend says that 7 sages of Ancient Greece gathered together at the Temple of Apollo and summarized their wisdom in the expression know thyself. This expression has been, however, attributed to several other enlightened minds such as Socrates and Plato.
The idea and importance of knowing yourself are not exclusive to western thought though. The Hindus believed the man was not born knowing himself and such activity was rather bold and challenging.
Knowing the Self seems to be a universal quest and a human need deeply carved in our collective unconscious. In Psychology, knowing yourself is crucial for the development of your sense of self and identity. This involves knowing your values, your potential, and your purpose in life, and finding healthy ways to express yourself. | https://thewellbeingblogger.com/knowthyself/ |
0001 RELATED U.S. APPLICATION
0002 This application is the U.S. national stage of corresponding PCT application No. PCT/EP01/13537 filed Nov. 21, 2001 and designating the United States, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
0003 The invention relates to a method for operating an instrument for HF surgery, as well as an electrosurgical device.
0004 Electrosurgical apparatus operated by high-frequency currents has become increasingly significant in recent years. In general such arrangements comprise an instrument that can be manipulated by the surgeon as well as at least one device to which the instrument is connected. The device both supplies a high-frequency electrical current and is used to control auxiliary functions such as the introduction of a noble gas, the application of suction to remove smoke produced during the operation, and the actions of irrigation tools or similar accessories. With electrosurgical apparatus of this kind many surgical interventions can be carried out under a great variety of conditions, both in open surgery and in (minimally invasive) endoscopic operations, where tissue is to be cut, coagulated, glued or treated in other ways.
0005 On one hand such devices offer the major advantage that they can be adjusted very specifically to suit the operation being performed, even taking into account the surgeon's particular working habits. On the other hand, however, this is associated with a great disadvantage, which everyone will have noticed when programming a video recorder or adjusting a car radio: there are simply too many possibilities for setting things, people lose their way.
0006 It is the object of the invention to provide a method for operating, a HF-surgical instrument or electrosurgical apparatus that can be employed in a simple manner, optimal for the particular application.
0007 An essential point of the invention lies in the fact that it enables an individually specified configuration of HF-surgical systems for an HF-surgical instrument. That is, once the surgeon has decided on settings that are tailored not only to the purpose of the operation but also to his personal, individual habits, abilities and preferences, he can not only easily find them again by simply plugging his instrument into an available apparatus, but even more, he can immediately adopt these settings. Hence an exchange of instruments is possible with no complications, because the surgeon is immediately using the instrument with the operational data that he knows and wants to find installed. If during an operation he wishes to change the operational data, he can undertake these changes at the device in the customary manner andif the new mode of operation seems betteradopt them for the future. That is, it is a matter of individualizing the instrument that the surgeon uses. He has a personal set of surgical tools, which he can always take with him.
0008 In particular, the object stated above is achieved by a method of operating an instrument for HF surgery by way of at least one device for HF surgery, namely a method comprising the following steps:
0009 recording the operational data for the device at least during a first period in which the instrument connected to the device is employed; in this first employment the device can be used either with a model or during an actual operation;
0010 transmission of the operational data to a memory unit connected to the instrument, and storage of the operational data that were found to be optimal during this first employment;
0011 transmission of the operational data to a data-acquisition unit during a new or continued period of employment and/or checking of the instrument, so that the operational data previously found to be optimal can now again be communicated to the device, and the device can be set to precisely these operational specifications;
0012 adjustment of the device according to the operational data obtained during the first period of employment, so that the instrument can be operated in the same way as during the first employment and/or the operational data can be used to check the instrument.
0013 The term first employment as used above should be understood to mean the period of employment immediately preceding a subsequent employment, i.e. not necessarily the very first period during which the instrument was employed.
0014 The operational data should be understood to include minimally operation and pause; such operational data can of course document only when and how often the device was used, so as to provide an improved service or documentation concerning the surgeon's work. In the case of an APC device such as is described, for example, in the document WO 97/11647, the term operational data is to be understood as denoting the specifications for voltage, current shape and flow of the applied noble gas. These are parameters relevant, e.g., to a surgical procedure in the esophagus for which it is difficult to decide on the settings appropriate to the particular case; a surgeon accustomed to such a procedure learns how to adjust such parameters on the basis of experience and practice, and thus naturally keeps these settings in mind for the next operation. In such a situation it is also possible to configure the memory units of an instrument that can be used for a large number of different operations in such a way that the programs that the surgeon considers optimal for a particular operation can be called up.
0015 Preferably the operational data available at a given moment are stored in response to a storage-command signal, which in particular can be input manually. Thus the surgeon can decide on the precise time for storing the operational data to which he will want to refer in future, in particular for the specific purpose of the operational step that has just been completed.
0016 To facilitate servicing and in particular also documentation for the surgeon, it is advantageous for the operational data to include information about the duration of use, the date on which the equipment was used, and/or similar data relevant to maintenance. This enables the surgeon to record very accurately the operations performed, so that a precise, scientifically based learning process is made possible. Such data can also, of course, be drawn upon if questions of liability arise.
0017 Preferably the operational data also comprise user-identification data, which can be input by the user. By this means the instrument can be individualized considerably better than is possible by a simple name plate, ensuringif the user-identification data are suitably displayedthat instruments will not be accidentally confused with one another.
0018 Also stored in the instrument, preferably in the factory and in such a way that alteration is impossible, are identification data that are transmitted to a device when the instrument is connected thereto, in particular so that basic values of operational data can be set in advance. These basic data are chosen such that they do not contradict the operational data determined and stored by the surgeon, i.e. do not overwrite the latter. In the case of a virginal instrument, these operational data can represent the basic settings for general operation; using them as a point of departure, the surgeon can then decide on the optimal operation. Then as soon as the optimal operational data have been determined and stored in the instrument or the associated memory unit, the basic data previously stored in the factory are no longer used. However, it remains possible for the surgeon, in case various trials introduce erroneous settings that lead to chaos, to eliminate this problem by reverting to the basic factory settings.
0019 The object is achieved with respect to the apparatus by an electrosurgical apparatus having the following characteristics:
0020 at least one device for electrosurgery, in particular a HF generator;
0021 an instrument for HF electrosurgery that can be manipulated by a surgeon and, after being connected to an electrical circuit on the patient side of the device, can be used to carry out treatments of biological tissue;
0022 an operational-data-acquisition unit to collect data regarding momentary settings that affect operation of the device and of auxiliary apparatus that may in some circumstances be used together with the device;
0023 a memory unit connected to the instrument for the storage of the operational data, in which regard it should be noted that this memory unit can be provided both in the instrument itself and also in an auxiliary apparatus;
0024 a bidirectional data-transfer unit, in particular a data bus for transmitting the operational data from the device to the instrument and transmitting stored data from the instrument to the device.
0025 Preferably the device is provided with a manually actuated command element, e.g. a button-operated switch, for transmitting the momentary settings that comprise the operational data into the memory units, so that these operational data can be stored in the memory unit. Such a command element can also be implemented by a hand-operated switch on the instrument or by a pedal switch.
0026 The memory units, depending on the size of the instrument, are disposed in the instrument itself, in a plug element by which the instrument can be connected to the device, or also in a separate component. An important consideration is that between the memory unit and the instrument there is a connection that cannot be broken or can be accessed with no possibility of error, because individualization of the instrument requires communication with the contents of the associated memory unit.
0027 The device, for instance the HF generator, comprises a bidirectional accessory data-transfer means, e.g. a plug connector for a data bus, for connection to the auxiliary apparatus, e.g. a valve for a gas source; this should be such that operational data derived from the instrument regarding adjustment of the auxiliary apparatus, as well as operational data from the auxiliary apparatus, can be transferred for storage in the memory units. By this means even very complex arrangements of devices, which thus require considerable time and experience in order to optimize their settings, can be operated in an extremely simple manner.
0028 In the device there are preferably provided time- and/or date-generating means (e.g., a clock), the output data from which are stored in the memory units in association with operational data, in particular with times at which the instrument is used, preferably with the simultaneous storage of associated operational parameters. Such apparatus enables optimal documentation such as is described above. Furthermore, it is possible to compare critical operational data, Such as the duration of use and operating intensities, with prespecified values and to emit a warning signal if it is desirable or even essential from the manufacturer's point of view, in order to maintain optimal function, to service the instrument or even replace it with a new one.
0029 For the purposes of servicing and/or documentation a readout means is preferably provided, with which to read out and/or print out the data stored in the memory units. This readout means can be disposed in the device (or a separate device connected thereto) or in an entirely separate unit that can be operated independently of the HF-surgical device. In this case the user takes along a personal memory unit for use with a particular type of instrument.
0030 So that user identification data can be input to the memory units, i.e. for further individualization of an instrument, within the device or in an accessory device there is provided a keyboard, an interface (for connection to a PC) or similar data-input means. With this the user can enter personal data, such as his name and in some cases also the particular use for which he has optimized the instrument (i.e., has optimized the operational data stored therein). By this means it is also possible to reproduce various operating programs whichas discussed abovehave been stored and assigned (i.e., by means of identification codes) to various operational situations, in case an instrument has been optimized for a variety of such situations.
0031 It is advantageous also to provide a memory unit that cannot be altered by the user, in particular so that instrument-specific identifying and/or operational data for the instrument can be stored before it leaves the factory. This memory can be either a ROM or a region of an EEPROM that is made inaccessible to the user, the remainder being left accessible for storage of the operational data. The data stored in this unalterable memory unit or region thereof not only allow the instrument to be individualized regarding its manufacture (batch number), but also can incorporate basic operational information that, when the instrument is used for the very first time, enable the HF-surgical device connected thereto to be adjusted or a reversion to a basic constellation of settings to be carried out.
0032 The following exemplary embodiments will now be used to explain the invention with reference to the attached drawing
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0033 The drawing showshighly schematicallya device , which in this case is designed as a HF-generator.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS
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0034 Within the device an isolating boundary separates a patient circuit from an intermediate circuit . The device further comprises a calculation/control unit , the central processing unit (CPU). The CPU controls a HF-generator circuit , which is put into operation by an actuator switch , which for example is constructed as a pedal switch. The operational parameters are preselected by the surgeon at the device by way of setting members (setting members P-Pn). Operational data and other data, such as are explained further below, can be visualized on a display .
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0035 To the device an instrument can be connected by way of a plug-in connector. In the present example the instrument is described as a multifunctional instrument, which can be used for both cutting and coagulating tissue by HF-surgical means. For coagulation, from an auxiliary apparatus , which in the present exemplary case would be a gas supply, a noble gas is sent into the instrument or an active part of said instrument. In this process the gas supply or the auxiliary apparatus is controlled as shown in the drawing, by way of the CPU in accordance with the settings installed by the setting members .
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0036 In an embodiment of the invention not shown here, several such instruments , variously differing in construction, can be connected to the device .
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0037 In the instrument , or fixedly connected thereto, a memory unit and a signal switch are provided. The memory unit is in communication with the CPU by way of a bidirectional connection , as is the signal switch by way of an optical coupler . To provide power to the memory unit , an instrument power supply is disposed in the device .
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0038 When an instrument is first put into operation, i.e. when it is plugged into the device , in the manner known per se instrument data are read into the CPU by way of a read-only memory arrangement provided in the instrument and programmed in the factory, or by way of a plug code or similar identifying means. As a result, the CPU then adopts basic settings that enable the plugged-in instrument to function at a basic level. The surgeon now uses the setting members to refine these settings in a way that seems appropriate to him, having found during the operation just performed that particular setting values were optimal. As soon as these optimal data are available, a storage key on the device is actuated, whereupon the CPU reads out the settings in the setting members and transfers these settings through the bidirectional connection to the memory unit in the instrument , which stores these settings. During subsequent use of the instrument, i.e. at another place and/or another time, if an operation is performed that requires the same operational data, when the instrument is plugged into the device , the stored operational data are transmitted by way of the bidirectional connection to the CPU , which then makes all the adjustments needed to reproduce the settings of the setting members that were chosen at the time of storage. Furthermore, the control commands that had been transmitted from the CPU to the auxiliary apparatus when the operational parameters were stored, i.e. the optimal settings, are stored simultaneously and produced again during a subsequent operation, to adjust the auxiliary apparatus .
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0039 When several instruments , are combined with a single device , by actuation of the signal switch the CPU is informed as to which of the plugged-in instruments is being used at the moment, so that the CPU adopts the settings data stored in the associated memory unit or and adjusts the operational parameters accordingly (including those for the auxiliary device ).
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0040 In addition a keyboard is provided, by way of which an individualization of the instruments , can be undertaken for instance as follows: the surgeon who will be using the instrument , enters his name and/or a particular term that identifies the use for which the instrument has been optimized, by way of the keyboard , and by actuating the storage key reads the entered data into the memory unit , by way of the bidirectional connection . When the instrument , is again plugged into a correspondingly constructed device , on the display the name of the surgeon and the intended use of the instrument , are indicated, so that the surgeon knows exactly which one of his own instruments has just been plugged in.
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0041 In an embodiment of the invention not shown here, either the signal switch is appropriately constructed or an extra signal switch is provided, so that it is possible to communicate to the CPU which of several settings programs stored in the memory unit , is now to be employed. This confers a great advantage particularly when a device is to be used for different purposes during an operation, so that different optimal parameter configurations will be needed. Something of this sort can, e.g. be advantageous when different kinds of coagulation are employed, each of which has been optimized by the surgeon.
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0042 It will be evident from the above that a basic idea underlying the invention resides in the individualization of the instruments that are used in combination with a device , such that the surgeon communicates to the device and to the associated auxiliary apparatus the modes of operation that have been found to be optimal, without having to make the necessary adjustments once again by hand.
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0043 Furthermore, in the device a time component is provided, by means of which time and date signals are communicated to the CPU , which by way of the bidirectional connection stores these signals in the memory unit in such a way that they correspond to particular modes of operation. This enables documentation of the operating history of each instrument , so that, firstly, operations that have been performed can be optimally documented and, secondly, the maintenance personnel can be provided with all the data they need in order to take whatever measures are necessary but not excessive. In this regard it is also possible to make these data available not on the display provided in the device , but rather in a separate device that has access to the bidirectional connection and also to a power supply for the memory , but not to the HF circuit or any other connections.
0044
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0045 Device
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0046 Patient circuit
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0047 Intermediate circuit
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0048 Isolating boundary
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0049 Optical coupler
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0050 Instrument power supply
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0051 HF-generator circuit
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0052 Storage key
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0053 Setting member
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0054 Pedal switch
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0055 CPU
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0056 Display
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0057 Bidirectional connection
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0058 Keyboard
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0059 Time component
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0060 Auxiliary apparatus
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0061 Instrument
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0062 Active part
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0063 Signal switch
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0064 Memory unit | |
Interfaith Glasgow is a Scottish charity specialising in promoting and facilitating engagement between different faith and belief communities in Glasgow, to help create a better-connected, safer, and more harmonious city for all.
We aim to deliver programmes of activities aimed, firstly, at increasing friendships between people of diverse faiths and beliefs; secondly, at fostering greater mutual understanding and challenging prejudices and misconceptions; and, thirdly, at increasing opportunities for people from different faith communities to work together on issues of common concern.
We have been operating since October 2012 and became an independent charity (SCIO) in May 2016. We are funded in part by the Scottish Government as well as other grant funders.
Get involved in Interfaith Glasgow
You can email the IG team at [email protected]
You can find Interfaith Glasgow at Flemington House, 110 Flemington Street, Glasgow, G21 4BF.
Check out the Interfaith Glasgow website www.interfaithglasgow.org, Facebook and Twitter.
Glasgow Forum of Faiths
The Glasgow Forum of faiths brings together civic authorities and the leaders of the main faith communities to work together for mutual understanding and the good of the City of Glasgow through the discussion of common concerns and promotion of multi-faith and multi-cultural events in the city. | https://interfaithscotland.org/local-interfaith-groups/glasgow |
47 dollars an hour is how much a year? Hourly to salary to quickly convert your hourly rate to an equivalent annual salary. To find out your annual salary, simply enter your hourly rate, and the number of hours you work per week.
To find out how much do I make a year if I make 47 an hour, multiply your 47 x 40 x 52.
Annual Salary = R*H*W, where
R = Hourly Rate
H = Hours Per Week
W = Weeks in a Year
Answer: | https://online-calculator.org/how-much-do-i-make-a-year-if-i-make-47-an-hour |
The NBA comprises 30 teams which play in the Eastern Conference (15 teams) and the Western Conference (15 teams). Each conference is subdivided into three divisions. Eastern Conference divisions are known as Central, Atlantic and Southeast. Conference divisions are called Southwest, Pacific and Northwest.
Playoffs and NBA Finals
NBA playoffs commence in with eight teams from each conference competing for the championship. Playoff games occur between the winners of each the three divisions and the team with the next best record from the conference. These four groups are given the best four seeds, and the four teams with the next best documents are given the reduced four seeds.
The playoffs follow a knockout tournament format. Each group and an opponent in a best-of-seven format in each conference play. Each conference’s winners then play at the NBA Finals to determine a winner.
Strategy Possessing a strong strategy is a vital element to making money on the Betfair market. When investing on the market spotting trends can be especially rewarding. By way of instance, the Oklahoma City Thunder has been averaging 119.0 points in their past four games while shooting 51.4 percent. This is a perfect illustration. No team can maintain this level of play for extended periods, therefore it is crucial to stop when the numbers drop.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Milwaukee Bucks dropped to 2-21 against Western Conference opponents. This is an example. This team ought to be opposed till they win a couple of consecutive games against the West. | http://www.elikagallery.com/how-to-win-money-betting-on-basketball/ |
Q:
Calculating which drawn circle is the nearest to another one
i want to get the x and y of the circle with the lowest distance to my special circle. I am creating 25 circles with a timer and need to check every drawn circle on the field. What I already have is this:
protected void onDraw (android.graphics.Canvas canvas){
//If arrow-button was clicked, do ... get the circle with the lowest distance to viking circle
if (buttonClicked == true) {
//distance of the current circle from the viking
int tempCircleDistance = 0;
//the minimum distance we have found so far in our loop
int minCircleDistance = 0;
//index of the min circle we have found so far
int indexOfNearest=0;
for(int i = 0; i<circlesOnTheField; i++)
{
//help me Phytagoras
tempCircleDistance = (int) (Math.sqrt((viking.getX() - circles.get(i).getX())*
(viking.getX() - circles.get(i).getX())+
(viking.getY() - circles.get(i).getY())*
(viking.getY() - circles.get(i).getY()))-
(viking.getR() + circles.get(i).getR()));
//first cycle or did we find the nearest circle? If so update our variables
if(i==0||tempCircleDistance<minCircleDistance)
{
indexOfNearest=i;
minCircleDistance=tempCircleDistance;
}
}
if(circles.get(indexOfNearest).getIsDrawn() == true) {
//draw the line with the given index of the nearest circle
//At this point, nearest circle is calculated and we draw a line from viking to that circle
canvas.drawLine(viking.getX(), viking.getY(),
circles.get(indexOfNearest).getX(),
circles.get(indexOfNearest).getY(),
pgoal);
//Here we delete the circle and increase our variable frags for one more killed opponent.
deleteCircle(circles.get(indexOfNearest));
circlesOnTheField--;
frags++;
buttonClicked = false;
}
}
//END
//This is where the circles are drawn
for(int k = 0; k<circlesOnTheField; k++) {
canvas.drawCircle(circles.get(k).getX(), circles.get(k).getY(), circles.get(k).getR(), p3);
circles.get(k).setIsDrawn(true);
}
}
So I store my circles in the array called circles[] and have my fixed second circle viking to calculate the distance to. The variable arrowCircle should store the name of the nearest circle. Then I want to draw a line between the nearest circle to the viking circle.
Any ideas what's wrong?
Thanks in advance
I think the part with if(i>=1) {... might be incorrect.
Edited 21.09.15:
This is what happens on deleteCircle():
public static void deleteCircle(Circle circle) {
circles.remove(circle);
circlesOnTheField--;
}
And the addCircle():
public static void addCircle() {
if(circlesOnTheField >= 25) {
circlesOnTheField = 25;
}
else{
circlesOnTheField++;
}
}
I have one timer which executes addCircle() and another one with moveCircle():
public static void moveCircle() {
for(int i=0; i<circlesOnTheField; i++) {
//Move circles downwards
circles.get(i).setY(circles.get(i).getY()+5);
//Check if the circle collides with the viking
if(detectCollision(viking, circles.get(i))) {
deleteCircle(circles.get(i));
circles.get(i).setIsDrawn(false);
life--;
}
//Check if the circle intersects the goal line and recreate it if yes
if(intersects(circles.get(i).getX(), circles.get(i).getY(), circles.get(i).getR(), 0, 750, 500, 760)) {
deleteCircle(circles.get(i));
circles.get(i).setIsDrawn(false);
circlesInGoal++;
}
}
}
And finally, this is what is executed in the constructor:
public static void createNewCircleOnCanvas() {
//Collision Detection
circles.clear();
int createdCircles = 0;
outer: while (createdCircles < 25) {
int randomX = r.nextInt(500);
int randomY = r.nextInt(300);
candidate = new Circle(randomX, randomY, 33, "Circle"+createdCircles, false);
inner: for (int z = 0; z<createdCircles;z++) {
//If new created circle collides with any already created circle or viking, continue with outer
if (detectCollision(candidate, circles.get(z))) continue outer;
}
circles.add(candidate);
createdCircles++;
}
A:
Im assuming getR() gives the radius?!
Then try this instead of your for loop:
{
tempCircleDistance = (int) (Math.sqrt((viking.getX() - circles[i].getX())*
(viking.getX() - circles[i].getX())+
(viking.getY() - circles[i].getY())*
(viking.getY() - circles[i].getY()))-
(viking.getR() + circles[i].getR()));
{
}
}
//draw the line with the given index of the nearest circle
canvas.drawLine(viking.getX(), viking.getY(),
circles[indexOfNearest].getX(),
circles[indexOfNearest].getY(),
pgoal);
just copy paste and it will magically work ╰( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )つ──☆*:・ﾟ
No need to go through the Array twice, just hold the index of the nearest circle in a variable
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If you’ve ever driven U.S. 41 between Rockville and Evansville, you’ve passed more than a dozen active or historic coal mine sites. Coal has been mined in 19 Indiana counties in the Illinois Basin since the early 1800s, and as of 2019, Indiana was still the eighth-largest producer of coal among all states.
Nearly 200 years of coal mining also has yielded waste and byproducts in the form of slurry ponds (fine refuse), gob piles (coarse refuse), ash piles, and acid mine drainage at abandoned mine sites which dot western Indiana. It is in that material, however, where researchers have been finding elevated concentrations of another important resource: rare earth elements (REEs).
REEs are metals necessary to make dozens of products we use every day, such as color TVs, headphones, computer hard drives, cellphones, GPS units, rechargeable batteries, CFL bulbs, satellites, and aircraft engines. They’re also essential to produce green technologies such as electric vehicles and wind power; and have applications in the medical field and in military technologies.
These elements aren’t actually rare—they occur in magmatic rocks as well as in clays and sedimentary rocks—but they are rarely found in large concentrations and are difficult to extract at an economically feasible scale. Historically, China has been the leading producer of REEs, controlling more than 92 percent of the market in 2010 and 58 percent in 2020. Several other countries, including the United States, have been stepping up their REE research and production in the past decade so as not to depend so heavily on imports.
The Indiana Geological and Water Survey is working on two federally funded projects related to rare earth elements: Earth MRI (Earth Minerals Resources Initiative) and CORE-CM (Carbon Ore, Rare Earth and Critical Minerals).
The U.S. Geological Survey launched Earth MRI in 2019 to gather data about the potential for rare earth minerals nationwide. Since 2020, IGWS researcher Pat McLaughlin has been leading a geochemical survey of the Appalachian and Illinois basins focusing on REEs in Devonian black shales. The IGWS also has been working with geological surveys in Illinois, West Virginia, Maryland, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky to collect and analyze samples from Pennsylvanian-age paleosols for REE content. In addition, the IGWS is collecting samples to study Ordovician-age phosphates for REE, collaborating with several other Midwestern states.
“Because Indiana geology is dominated by sedimentary rocks, our priorities are sedimentary rocks and the resources they host,” explained IGWS researcher Maria Mastalerz. “It could be rare earth elements; it could be uranium.” All the data collected from the multi-state consortiums will be combined into regional USGS reports to show what resources are available in each basin.
While Earth MRI is looking at potential sources of REE that are still underground, CORE-CM is looking at potential sources that have already been mined.
CORE-CM is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. In April 2021, a research team from the Illinois Basin of Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Tennessee was awarded nearly $1.5 million to study evidence and potential for coal and coal waste to contain REEs. At the IGWS, researchers Mastalerz, Phil Ames, Agnieszka Drobniak, LaBraun Hampton, and McLaughlin have been mapping the locations of mine waste sites in Indiana and collecting data on how much REEs are contained in them.
Prior to the CORE-CM project, Mastalerz, Drobniak, Ames, McLaughlin, and a colleague from Kentucky published a paper in 2020 evaluating concentrations of REEs and yttrium (together known as REY) in Pennsylvanian coals and shales in the Illinois Basin. They found the highest concentrations of REY in samples of Staunton and Brazil Formation coals from mines in Dubois and Daviess counties. More sampling, though, still needs to be done.
In addition, geochemical analysis showed that the coal waste from coal preparation plants and coal-fired power plants had higher levels of “enrichment” in REEs than raw, unprocessed coal. That means that gob piles at coal preparation plants (more than 70 of them in the state) and ash pits could be “huge resources” for REEs, Mastalerz said. But, again, more samples need to be collected and analysis done. The project team knows where all the coal prep plants are and is evaluating the probable volume of material that could be targeted as the source of REEs, Mastalerz said.
IGWS research scientist Tracy Branam, who’s studied acid mine drainage and abandoned mine sites for more than 30 years, has been working with Mastalerz and Drobniak to gather water and sediment samples near mined areas so that those can be analyzed for REE content as well. Branam documented REEs in acid mine drainage back in 2011 when he was collecting data for a different project, but no one seemed interested in REE data until now, he said.
One of the major hurdles right now is that technology does not exist to separate REY from coal waste and coal ash in an economically viable way, but that is a component of the DOE-backed CORE-CM project. Mastalerz is confident that major progress will come “within the next several years.”
“Coal, coal waste, coal ash—this is so important for Indiana, because we have so much of all of these materials that are such an unexplored REE resource, yet it could make a difference for our state,” she said. “So, I think the more people get involved in this subject, the better. This line of research definitely deserves more funding.”
To learn more about REEs, read this excellent primer on the subject in the Indiana Journal of Earth Sciences, Vol. 4. | https://igws.indiana.edu/outreach/news/research/REE |
Acetaldehyde: an intermediate in the formation of ethanol from glucose by lactic acid bacteria.
Group N streptococci formed acetaldehyde and ethanol from glucose. As the enzymes aldehyde dehydrogenase, phosphotransacetylase and acetate kinase were present this would enable these organisms to reduce acetyl-CoA to acetaldehyde and convert acetyl-CoA to acetyl phosphate and acetate. A pentose phosphate pathway which converted ribose-5-phosphate to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate was also present. Acetaldehyde could not be formed via the hexose monophosphate shunt or by direct decarboxylation of pyruvate, as the enzymes phosphoketolase and alpha-carboxylase were absent. Phosphoketolase activity was induced in Streptococcus lactis subsp. diacetylactis after growth on D-xylose. Group N streptococci also contained an NAD-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase which reduced acetaldehyde to ethanol while both NAD- and NADP-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase activities were found in Leuconostoc cremoris.
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The forum aims to offer all First Peoples of Québec a virtual space for sharing and gathering information to promote the launch and continuous improvement of projects encouraging First Nations youth to stay in school.
To create a collaborative space with valuable content, constructive feedback is required. These exchanges will ultimately contribute positively to school motivation projects for aboriginal youth.
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-
- FPSJA Evaluation Report
You can download the PDF version from this forum.2 years, 12 months ago
-
- Collaborative space
This is a space where you can launch an ask for help to all the participants. Here you can collaborate with each other about a challenge or ask for collaboration on a project.
- New projects – ideas testing
Under this discussion you can test your project ideas, asking for constructive feedback from the other participants, based on their own experience and their perception.
- Tools
This space is provided to share tools with other participants.2 years, 11 months ago
- Research linked to school persistence
You want to share an academic or journalistic article, you can insert the internet link here to invite other participant to access it.
- News
You want to share news related to Aboriginal Youth School Persistence or you want the other participants to be inspired by what you see in the news. Post the information here.2 years, 7 months ago
- Events
You can use this space to share an upcoming event with other participants.3 years ago
- Projects – external support for academic learning
You want to know more about external support for academic learning projects:
- Projects – Youth Entrepreneurship
You want to know more about Youth Entrepreneurship projects:
- Projects – family support for academic success
You want to know more about family support projects:
http://psja.ctreq.qc.ca/en/projet/family-support-academic-success/
- Projects – promotion of aboriginal culture
You want to know more about aboriginal culture projects:
http://psja.ctreq.qc.ca/en/projet/promotion-of-aboriginal-culture/
- Projects – leadership and students’ commitment
You want to know more about Leadership projects:
-
Welcome!
You are interested in Aboriginal Youth School persistence, this forum has been created for you. This space gives you the opportunity to exchange, to be mutually inspired as promoters of school persistence in aboriginal environment.
The Aboriginal knowledge and culture are at the heart of this forum. It has been developed and inspired by your comments of the last three years, resulting in this common place where you can exchange ideas and concerns you share about aboriginal youth school persistence.
The forum’s success requires your implication. The place is yours….
Let’s break the ice and meet at the project ideas testing.
-
Questions or comments
You have a question or comment for the administration of this forum, you can post it in this section. | http://psja.ctreq.qc.ca/en/forums/ |
Found! Finally caught the last one in our quest to see the Seven Modern Wonders of the World!
We were really excited that morning as we took a quick tour of the charming city of Valladolid, but were really chomping at the bit to get moving toward the true destination of our trip (for us at least), the incredible Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza.
For the first time the weather forecast called for a chance of rain, but apparently the Mayan Gods knew we were coming and blew in bright blue skies with scattered, puffy fair weather clouds for our grand entrance.
This is the best preserved Maya site on the Yucatan Peninsula. The impressive El Castillo, built around 800 AD is a perfect astronomical design with the four staircases facing exactly toward the cardinal directional points. Twice a year, at the equinoxes, thousands of visitors gather to watch as the sun creates an amazing optical illusion on the edge of the north stair; a legendary snake undulates down the staircase as the equinox unfolds.
The Mayan Super Bowl…
…was played in this space, the largest ball court in mesoamerica. The rings are still there at the center of each side wall. The king’s super box is at the upper right and the referees would be at the far corners. A good bet the King could overrule the refs on a controversial call. The game, with seven players on each side, could go on for hours or be over in a few minutes as the ball would just have to pass through the ring once to determine the losers, whose “captain” would be decapitated for his trip to the underworld.
You can see the ring and carvings of the players who at this time could use a basket on one hand (like in jai lai courts in Florida now) and a bat in the other. The last photo shows a decapitated “loser”.
Snakes, skulls, jaguars and eagles….
Cenote #1
After an authentic Mayan lunch with some semi-authentic entertainment, We headed off to a local cenote, Ik’kil, to cool off after an exciting and hot morning (around 90 degrees).
Cenotes are water-filled sink holes common in the Riviera Maya that are great for swimming, snorkeling in some more open spaces, and even made into waterparks for the entire family in some popular areas. Ours that day was literally a cave close to 100 rocky steps down (later up) on slippery rocks (forgot our water shoes). Beautifully cool, clean water with limestone stalactites and tree roots hanging from above, and a hole to the sky a hundred feet above. A refreshing and fun swim. We would later explore two more cenotes, more remote and very unique.
Relaxed and back in Valladolid, we went to explore the downtown and the square in front of the San Bernardino Convent and Church with stops for something like crepes/tortillas, freshly made, stuffed with savory and/or sweet “stuff”, good stuff; churros, fresh-hot from the fryer, hollowed out and stuffed with whatever you liked; and, fresh-steamed corn (not Jersey), but coated with just lime and salt, or jazzed up with a coat of mayonnaise topped with your choice of mild to hot chili powders, or slathered with a really firey habernero sauce. Really Ouch.
Some of us made this our dinner as we sat back and watched some local entertainment. Dancing with a tray of bottles and glasses on your head seemed to be a big deal in this part of the Yucatan.
A day to be treasured for Marsha and me. But, tomorrow promised to be almost as amazing as we tried to settle down our stomachs and minds for some needed sleep as our journey begins heading for the finale. | https://www.mjblog.marshadowshenpottery.com/2023/01/chasing-chichan-itza/ |
A shrinking middle class, rising global poor
The pandemic has pushed millions out of the global middle class and increased the number of poor.
The pandemic, poverty and business
With developing countries now accounting for three quarters of new COVID-19 cases, what should businesses be doing?
CEO Insights: Technology against poverty with 40K’s Clary Castrission
Clary Castrission, the founder and CEO of 40K, shares his thoughts on technology, poverty, and inequality around the future of business.
Is business the answer to poverty alleviation?
We talk to Associate Professor Ranjit Voola who advocates re-imagining the purpose of business, where there is both an economic and moral imperative for businesses to engage in alleviating poverty, whilst making profits. | https://sbi.sydney.edu.au/tag/poverty/ |
Ethical hacking involves testing to see if an organization’s network is vulnerable to outside threats. Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks are one of the biggest threats out there. Being able to mitigate DoS attacks is one of the most desired skills for any IT security professional—and a key topic on the Certified Ethical Hacker exam. In this course, learn about the history of the major DoS attacks and the types of techniques hackers use to cripple wired and wireless networks, applications, and services on the infrastructure. Instructor Malcolm Shore covers the basic methods hackers use to flood networks and damage services, the rising threat of ransomware like Cryptolocker, mitigation techniques for detecting and defeating DoS attacks, and more.
Note: The Ethical Hacking series maps to the 20 parts of the EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) exam (312_50) version 10.
Topics include:
What is denial of service? | https://tut4dl.com/ethical-hacking-denial-of-service-lynda/ |
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
0001 This application claims priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 10/252,251, filed Sep. 23, 2002, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/324,761, filed Sep. 25, 2001, and U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/350,004, filed Jan. 17, 2002, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Astragalus membranceus
Atractylodes macrocephala kodiz.
Ledebouriella seseloides
hoffm.
Saposhnikovia divaricata;
0002 Chinese herbs have long been used to treat different allergic and immunologic diseases. Yu Ping Feng San, a Chinese medicine, includes Bge. (Huang-Qi in Chinese), (Bai-Zhu in Chinese), and () Wolff (also named Fang-Feng in Chinese). In various formulas (i.e., different weight ratios of the three components), it has been used clinically to treat allergic rhinitis. However, their efficacy has not been entirely satisfactory.
Hedysarum polybotrys
Astragalus membranceus
Atractylodes macrocephala kodiz
Ledebouriella seseloides
hoffm.
0003 One aspect of this invention relates to a nutraceutical composition containing extracts of at least three or four herbs, wherein the first herb, which is optional, is Hand.-Mazz. (e.g., its root, Gin-Qi in Chinese) or Bge. (e.g., its root), the second herb is the root of (e.g., its root), the third herb is () Wolff (e.g., its root), and the fourth herb is an anti-allergy herb. An anti-allergy herb is one that, when used alone or in combination with other herbs, can exhibit activity in treating allergy. The weight percentage of the herbal extracts in the nutraceutical composition ranges from 1% to 99%.
Centipeda minimal
0004 In one subset of the nutraceutical compositions, the fourth herb is (L.) A. Br. Et Aschers (e.g., its whole plant, E-Bu-Shi-Cao in Chinese). They include those wherein the weight ratio of the first, second, third, and fourth herbs is (0-1.5):(0.5-1.5):(0.5-1.5):(0.5-1.5). As indicated by this weight ratio, the first herb may not be included. In other words, the nutraceutical compositions may contain extracts of only three herbs.
0005 The term weight refers to dry weight, i.e., the weight measured after the herb have been harvested and dried. Typically, the drying processes are specified by the regulations in herb-producing countries (e.g., P.R. China). Herbs so obtained are suitable for transportation and long term storage.
Magnolia biondii
0006 In another subset of the nutraceutical compositions, the fourth herb is Pamp. (e.g., its flower; Xin-Yi-Hua in Chinese). They include those wherein the weight ratio of the first, second, third, and fourth herbs is (0-1.5):(0.5-1.5):(0.5-1.5):(0.5-1.5); and those containing extracts of three or four herbs.
0007 In still another subset of the nutraceutical compositions, each composition contains extracts of exactly three or four herbs. The weight ratio of the first, second, third, and fourth herbs can be (0-1.5):(0.5-1.5):(0.5-1.5):(0.5-1.5).
Hedysarum polybotrys
Astragalus membranceus
Atractylodes macrocephala kodiz.
Ledebouriella seseloides
hoffm.
0008 Another aspect of this invention relates to a method of treating a disorder related to excessive secretion of histamine or interleukin-4. The method includes administering to a subject in need thereof a nutraceutical composition containing extracts of at least three or four herbs, wherein the first herb, which is optional, is Hand.-Mazz. or Bge. (e.g., the root), the second herb is (e.g., the root), the third herb is () Wolff (e.g., the root), and the fourth herb is an anti-allergy herb. Examples of the disorder to be treated include, but are not limited to, allergic rhinitis, asthma, and eczyma.
Centipeda minimal
Magnolia biondii
0009 The compositions used in the method of treating such a disorder include those wherein the fourth herb is (L.) A. Br. Et Aschers (whole plant) or Pamp. (flower), those wherein the weight ratio of the first, second, third, and fourth herbs is (0-1.5):(0.5-1.5):(0.5-1.5):(0.5-1.5); and those containing extracts of three or four herbs.
0010 The details of the invention are set forth in the accompanying description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and from the claims.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
OTHER EMBODIMENTS
Hedysarum polybotrys
Astragalus membranceus
Atractylodes macrocephala kodiz.,
Ledebouriella seseloides
hoffm.
0011 This invention is based on the discovery of an improved herbal medicine. The improved herbal medicine includes extracts of at least three or four herbs, wherein the first herb, which is optional, is the root of Hand.-Mazz. or Bge., the second herb is the root of the third herb is the root of () Wolff, and the fourth herb is an anti-allergy herb.
Hedysarum polybotrys
Astragalus membranceus
Atractylodes macrocephala kodiz.,
Ledebouriella seseloides
hoffm.
Centipeda minimal
Magnolia biondii
Magnolia denudata
Magnolia sprengeri,
Magnolia lilifora
0012 Accordingly, a nutraceutical composition of this invention includes extracts of the root of Hand.-Mazz. or Bge., the root of the root of () Wolff, and at least a fourth herb which is an anti-allergy herb. Examples of the fourth herb include, but are not limited to, the whole plant of (L.) A. Br. Et Aschers and the flower of Pamp., Desr., or Desr. The weight ratio of the extracts of the first, second, third, and fourth herbs can be in the range of (0-1.5):(0.5-1.5):(0.5-1.5):(0.5-1.5). Preferred ratios can be determined by efficacy-evaluating methods described below or analogous methods. The nutraceutical composition is unexpectedly effective for the treatment of disorders related to excessive secretion of histamine or interleukin-4, such as allergic rhinitis, asthma, and eczyma.
0013 The extracts of the herbs can be obtained by methods well known in the art. For instance, each herb is first soaked in water and then heated (e.g., at 100 C.), or first soaked in a mixture of water and an organic solvent (e.g., ethanol) and then heated (e.g., at 55 C.) for an extended period of time (e.g., 1-4 hours). The liquid phase, which contains active ingredients from the herbs, is then collected. The solvent (or the solvents) of the solution thus obtained, i.e., water (or a mixture of water and the organic solvent), is then removed under reduced pressure, yielding a residue (i.e., extracts of the herbs). The herbs can be handled together or individually to obtain their extracts.
0014 The extracts thus obtained can be used to formulate a nutraceutical composition for treating (including preventing or ameliorating the symptoms of) a disorder related to excessive secretion of histamine or interleukin-4, such as allergic rhinitis, asthma, and eczyma. The nutraceutical composition can be a dietary supplement (e.g., a capsule or tablet, or placed in a mini-bag), a food product (e.g., a soft drink, milk, juice, or confectionary, or placed in a herbal tea-bag), or a botanical drug. The botanical drug can be in a form suitable for oral use, such as a tablet, a hard or soft capsule, an aqueous solution, or a syrup; or in a form suitable for parenteral use, such as an aqueous propylene glycol solution, or a buffered aqueous solution. The amounts of the active ingredients in the nutraceutical composition depend to a large extent on a subject's specific need. The amount will also vary, as recognized by those skilled in the art, depending on administration route, and possible co-usage of other agents useful for treating the above-mentioned disorders.
0015 Herbal extracts thus obtained in an effective amount can also be formulated with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier into a pharmaceutical composition for treating the above-mentioned disorders. An effective amount refers to the amount of the extracts which is required to confer therapeutic effect on the treated subject. Effective doses will vary, as recognized by those skilled in the art, depending on the route of administration, the excipient usage, and the optional co-usage with other therapeutic treatments. Examples of pharmaceutically acceptable carriers include colloidal silicon dioxide, magnesium stearate, cellulose, sodium lauryl sulfate, and D&C Yellow 10.
0016 The herbal extracts can be formulated into dosage forms for different administration routes utilizing conventional methods. For example, they can be formulated in a capsule, a gel seal, or a tablet for oral administration. Capsules may contain any standard pharmaceutically acceptable materials such as gelatin or cellulose. Tablets may be formulated in accordance with conventional procedures by compressing mixtures of the polysaccharide with a solid carrier and a lubricant. Examples of a suitable solid carrier include starch and sugar bentonite. The herbal extracts can also be administered in the form of a hard shell tablet or a capsule containing a binder, e.g., lactose or mannitol, a conventional filler, and a tableting agent. The pharmaceutical composition may be administered via a parenteral route, e.g., topically, intraperitoneally, and intravenously. Examples of parenteral dosage forms include aqueous solutions, isotonic saline or 5% glucose of the active agent, or other well-known pharmaceutically acceptable excipient. Cyclodextrins, or other solubilizing agents well known to those familiar with the art, can be utilized as pharmaceutical excipients for delivery of the therapeutic compound.
0017 Also within the scope of this invention is use of the herbal extracts described above for treating the aforementioned disorders or for manufacture of a medicament for treating such disorders.
0018 The efficacy of a nutraceutical or pharmaceutical composition of this invention in inhibiting the secretion of histamine or interleukin-4 can be evaluated by an in vitro assay well known in the art. See, e.g., Cheng et al., M. Taiwan J. Med., 1998, 3:166-173; and Cheng et al., J. of E.N.T. Medicine, 1998, 33: 431-441.
0019 A nutraceutical composition of this invention can be further evaluated by clinical studies. For example, a group of patients suffering from allergic rhinitis (which is related to excessive excretion of histamine or interleukin-4) can be treated with the nutraceutical composition. Before the treatment, they exhibit some symptoms typical of allergic rhinitis including stuffy nose, sneezing, runny nose, itchy nose, itchy eyes, watery eyes, swollen eyes, and sore eyes. The patients are then orally administered with the nutraceutical composition, e.g., by a dose of 800 mg/10 kg/day, for an extended period of time, e.g., 14 days. Relief of the allergy can be observed, as characterized by reduced severity, and sometimes frequency, of the symptoms. Other symptoms that can be observed in the studies include nose and eyes rub, nose blow, carrying Kleenex, feeling embarrassed, thirst, feeling no well generally, tiredness, headache, scratchy throat, reduced outdoor activities, difficulties in sleeping at night, difficulties in concentrating, waking up during sleep, and limited daily activities. The frequencies of the symptoms before and after the treatment can be compared by statistical methods well known in the art, e.g., the Paired T-test.
0020 Different dosages and administration routes can be tested. Based on the results, an appropriate dosage range and administration route can be determined.
Centipeda minimal
Magnolia biondii
0021 Two nutraceutical compositions of this invention, which contained an extract of the whole plant of (L.) A. Br. Et Aschers or an extract of the flower of Pamp. as the fourth herb, were tested and proved to be efficacious in treating allergic rhinitis.
Astragalus membranceus
Hedysarum polybotrys
Magnolia biondii
0022 Other nutraceutical compositions of this invention, which contained an extract of the root of Bge. or Hand.-Mazz. as the first herb, and an extract of the flower of Pamp. as the fourth herb, were tested and also proved to be efficacious in treating allergic rhinitis.
0023 Without further elaboration, it is believed that one skilled in the art, based on the description herein, can utilize the present invention to its fullest extent. All publications recited herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
0024 From the above description, one skilled in the art can easily ascertain the essential characteristics of the present invention, and without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, can make various changes and modifications of the invention to adapt it to various usages and conditions. Accordingly, other embodiments are also within the claims. | |
The use of two optical diagnostic techniques for the visualization of low-gravity experiments is described. The analysis of requirements relevant to the low-gravity environment led to the choice of real-time holographic interferometry and moiré deflectometry as suitable optical visualization techniques. An optical setup designed to operate in the KC-135 aircraft is described. An interactive fringe analysis system is also presented. Fringe center lines are extracted using a special onedimensional algorithm. The reconstruction of physical parameters from axisymmetrical objects is achieved using direct and inverse Abel transforms on moiré and interferometric fringe fields. The applicability of the optical diagnostic techniques to the visualization of laser processing with liquids and solids in a low-gravity environment is demonstrated and experimental results on laser beam interaction with plastic, quartz, and water are presented. | http://spie.org/Publications/Journal/10.1117/12.145068?SSO=1 |
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year (FY) 2018 contains several important bid protest-related reforms. If signed into law, these reforms will affect all government contractors! Come join us for an extensive panel discussion of how these reforms will change the nature of bid protest and how you can prepare for them!
Mark Ries is a senior counsel in the Government Contracts Group in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office. He is also Vice Chairman of the Bid Protest Committee of the American Bar Association Public Contract Law Section. Mark’s practice includes a wide variety of government procurement law, including bid protests, internal investigations, ethics and compliance, interpretation of FAR, and small business contracting. During his 20 years of service in the U.S. Army, Mark garnered experience across the full spectrum of government contract and fiscal law matters as an acquisition law specialist within the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
Kathryn Szymanski served the Army as an SES from 1995-2016. In that time, she served in legal positions as the Command Counsel of the Army Materiel Command (AMC), the Chief Counsel of the Communications-Electronics Command as well as the AMC Legal Center - Rock Island (IL). She also served as the Executive Deputy to the Commanding General of AMC and the Assistant Secretary of the Army (ASA) - Infrastructure Analysis in ASA-I&E. In her SES legal positions, she was the senior attorney responsible for acquisition and contract law issues including protests and claims. She has received two Presidential Meritorious Rank Awards and is currently self-employed as a Government contracts consultant and Executive Coach.
Jonathan L. Kang is a senior attorney in the Procurement Law group of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), where he serves in a quasi-judicial role in deciding bid protests. He frequently lectures on GAO’s bid protest process and contract formation issues for government and private-sector audiences, and has written numerous articles on these subjects. Mr. Kang is also the Vice-Chairman of the GAO Contract Appeals Board, which hears contract claims arising under legislative branch contracts. Prior to joining GAO, he was an attorney in a Washington, D.C. law firm, where he counseled clients on various procurement matters, including bid protests and contract claims. Mr. Kang is a graduate of Vassar College (B.A. 1996) and The George Washington University Law School (J.D. 2001). In 2012, he received the Arthur S. Flemming Award for outstanding public service.
Ryan C. Bradel is an experienced government contracts lawyer with Greenberg Traurig LLP focusing on government contracts litigation matters. He has successfully represented clients before the Court of Federal Claims, the Boards of Contract Appeals, the Government Accountability Office, the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals, and state and federal courts. In these forums, Ryan has successfully prosecuted and defended complex bid protests, secured multimilliondollar awards on claims against the government, litigated prime-sub disputes, and obtained precedentchanging opinions in size appeals.
8:00–8:30am: Networking Breakfast
8:30–11:00am: Program/Discussion
11:00–11:30am: Networking/Conclude
Register Now
Remember Me
8/12/2020Reminder: ISOA Webinar -- Tomorrow -- Women, Peace, and Security -- Training
8/12/2020COVID Contract Opportunities -- August 12, 2020
8/17/2020WEBINAR - Returning to the Workplace in the Era of COVID-19: U.S. Legal and Regulatory Requirements
International Stability Operations Association
ISOA is a global partnership of private sector and nongovernmental organizations providing critical services in fragile environments worldwide. | https://stability-operations.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1057371&group= |
Institutional Collaboration around Institutional Repositories
Hayes, Leonie
;
Stevenson, Alison
;
Mason, Ingrid
;
Scott, Anne
;
Kennedy, Peter
Identifier:
http://hdl.handle.net/2292/411
Issue Date:
2007
Reference:
Poster Presented at Educause Australasia 2007
Rights:
Copyright: the author
Rights (URI):
https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm
Abstract:
Three New Zealand universities have been collaborating on a project to provide open, web-based, access to research outputs through the creation of institutional repositories using the DSpace software. This poster will therefore address the theme of eResearch with particular focus on the benefits of active collaboration, intra-university, inter-university and international, in this area of activity. New Zealand has a small population of 4 million, an innovative and resourceful academic community, a newly implemented research funding model, based on performance (PBRF) and a readiness to stay competitive with the rest of the world. Institutional Repositories in New Zealand are in their infancy but a considerable body of experience already exists overseas which we can draw upon if we work in partnership with those institutions who have already implemented institutional repositories. Funding is limited but by sharing resources and working collaboratively each institution can make substantial progress towards the creation of individual repositories. This poster reports on the joint project between the University of Auckland, the University of Canterbury and Victoria University of Wellington. The three partners have been funded by the New Zealand Tertiary Education Commission to make available, via the Internet for access by Open Archives Initiative (OAI) compliant search engines, research outputs created by staff and students of the three partner institutions. This poster will present information on the work to: • Establish DSpace repositories in partner institutions that conform to the OAI-PMH standard. • Contribute to the development of linkages with the Australian DEST funded information infrastructure projects, i.e. ADT, APSR and ARROW projects. • Identify methods for increasing academic understanding of, and promoting contributions to, digital repositories the content of which is then available to enhance teaching and learning, as well as research. • Provide digital materials, either through the deposit of “born digital” material or through digitisation of material already available in print, that contribute to the developing digital content landscape as envisaged in the NZ Digital Strategy • Contribute to national research resource discovery service to be established by the National Library of New Zealand. Ensure that the content in the project repositories is visible for harvesting by global OAI-compliant search engines such as Google Scholar, OAIster, etc. Collaborate with other IR projects and communicate the lessons learned to the wider tertiary and research communities of New Zealand
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KAAN has five standing committees of the association: professional development fund, program, membership, communications, and nominations and elections. Each committee will be limited to a chair and six members, unless otherwise specified. If you have interest in serving on a committee with openings, please contact the committee chair.
The purpose of the committee shall be to establish guidelines, review and award professional development funds to applicants, and promote the professional development fund to the general membership.
The purpose of the committee shall be to assist in planning the annual meeting and to develop other opportunities for professional growth and development of the membership.
The purpose of the committee shall be to promote, establish, and maintain active membership in the association and to coordinate and encourage regional networking events.
The purpose of the committee shall be to establish a communication network among advisors within the KAAN.
The purpose of the committee shall be to solicit applications of candidacy from interested members and then to proceed as specified in the bylaws.
*KAAN members may communicate their desire to serve on a standing committee by contacting the chairperson of the standing committee.
**Committee members shall be selected by the standing committee chairperson from among those members indicating interest. | http://www.kansasadvising.com/p/kaan-committees.html |
Nestlings are very young baby birds that are featherless or have partially developed feathers that are just starting to grow in. At this stage of their development, these babies remain in the nest and the parents come and feed them there.
These birds, when found, are usually on the ground below the nest, and may be there because they fell out, blew out during a storm, or were pushed out by siblings. This last behavior may actually be adaptive for some species, as it insures that only the strongest survives.
The best thing to do if you find a nestling out of its nest is to try and put it back. You can handle a baby bird and the parents will almost always come back and take care of it. Birds in general have a poorly developed sense of smell (the exception being the turkey vulture), and will not mind that you have handled the baby. The parental bond is very strong, and the parents will continue to care for their young.
If you can’t reach the nest, or if it has been destroyed, you can create an artificial nest by doing the following:
- Punch holes in the bottom of a plastic margarine container.
- Line it with paper towels.
- Fasten it to the tree or bush as close to the original nest as possible, and in a location sheltered from direct sunlight, rain, and wind.
- If you cannot pinpoint the exact tree from which the nest came, another tree close by should suffice.
- Place the baby bird in the new nest and move away, ideally, far enough away that you will not interfere with the parents’ normal activities but close enough that you can observe to see if they do return. The parents should come back in a short time and feed the babies just like they were in the original nest. If the parents do not return within a couple of hours, then the baby may truly be orphaned and you should contact a wildlife rehabilitator.
A True Orphan
The only time we recommend that you bring a baby bird directly to a wildlife rehabilitator is if you know that the parents are dead or if the baby appears to be injured, is listless, cold, emaciated, or has flies all over it. If any of these situations exists, gently place the bird in a cardboard box lined with tissue paper and place it in a warm, dark, quiet place. Refrain from checking on it frequently and do not offer it any food or water. Call a wildlife rehabilitation center for instructions.
Fledglings
Fledgling birds are babies that have fully developed feathers (or nearly so) and are at a stage of development where they are just learning to fly. These birds are often seen sitting on the ground below a tree or hopping around on the ground and in the lower branches of trees and bushes. People often assume that because these fledglings cannot fly that they are injured, when in fact they are exhibiting normal behavior.
Unless the bird is obviously injured or sick, it should be left alone if possible. Take time to assess the situation by observing the bird from as far away as possible to make sure that the parents are around. Often, if you take a moment to look and listen, you will realize that the adult bird flitting around and yelling at you is in fact the parent trying to chase you away from her baby. Some parent birds will even go so far as to dive bomb you. Some birds, such as great horned owls, can get very aggressive when protecting their young.
The best thing that you can do for these young birds is to protect them from disturbance while they develop their skills. Make an effort to keep dogs, cats, and curious children away. If there are cats or dogs in the area that you cannot control, you can pick up the young bird from the ground and place it high in a bush or on a tree branch. If you know where the nest is, you can also try and place the baby back in it (if you handle a baby bird, the parents will not reject it). The fledgling may quickly end up back on the ground again, but there is not much you can do about this. The whole process is necessary for normal development. Wildlife rehabilitators cannot take in every baby bird or mammal just because a cat or dog might catch it. The only thing we can do is advocate responsible pet ownership.
Swifts
Vaux’s swifts often build nests on the insides of house chimneys, and are known for their loud chirping. The babies often fall out of their nests, or the nests will fall apart and the babies will end up inside fireplaces. Fortunately, these birds have extremely sharp claws that help them cling to the brick inside a chimney. If you can reach up inside your chimney past the flue lining (which is slippery metal that a bird cannot cling to), a displaced baby can grab a hold and will climb back up inside where the parents will come down to feed it. After placing a baby inside the chimney, close the flue so that it won’t fall down into the fireplace again. Another alternative:
- Fashion an artificial nest using a plastic container as described under “Baby Birds.”
- Attach one or two extended coat hangers to the artificial nest.
- Bend one end of the coat hanger into a U shape and hang it over the chimney lip at roof level so that the artificial nest is lowered down inside the chimney. (This is of course assuming that you can safely climb up on your roof.) With this nest, the parents can get to their babies and the babies will still be able to climb out onto the chimney when they get older.
Owls
Great Horned Owl Baby – Call the Help Hotline at 541-745-5324
Some species of owls, especially the great horned owl, leave the nest when they are quite young and are still covered with down. Babies that exhibit this behavior are called “branchers” because they hop from one branch to another gradually moving farther and farther from the nest. The parents follow them around and continue to take care of them. This process can go on for months in some species as the young develop their feathers prior to fledgling.
If you find a young owl standing on the ground or on a lower tree branch, and it appears to be alert, then the parents are probably nearby. If, however, the bird has not moved in 24 hours, or is not alert, has flies on it, or it cannot stand, it may need help and you should contact a wildlife rehabilitator.
Contact us for more info.
The clinic is open for admitting an injured or orphaned animal every day of the year from 9am to 7pm. | https://chintiminiwildlife.org/handling-orphaned-birds/ |
Ms. Schein has over a dozen years of experience as a brand strategy, licensing, and marketing professional, focusing on both established and emerging brands in fashion, accessories and the home retail space. Her areas of expertise include brand strategy & brand management, licensing, brand awareness and growth. She focuses on the creation of brand architecture, creating and implementing 360º marketing strategies, as well as conceptualizing and executing all necessary steps required to accurately lead a brand towards the realization of its potential. As brand awareness relevant to niche markets lies at the core of Ms. Schein’s ability, she has a strong understanding of the individual requirements needed for a brand to develop and expand successfully.
Ms. Schein started her career in product development, working with some of the largest retailers in the world. In that role, she was immersed in the product life cycle and gained valuable experience with overseas manufacturers to source and develop product. Ms. Schein then took a position as a buyer, which gave her insight as to how to evaluate the target consumer and her or his shopping behaviors. Transitioning to brand licensing, she developed relationships with brand owners, licensees and manufacturers, managing every aspect of brand awareness and monetization. Most recently, Ms. Schein was Senior Director of Creative, Marketing and Brand Management at Sequential Brands Group focusing on the outdoor, home and fashion apparel spaces.
Ms. Schein received her BA from Rutgers College at Rutgers University and obtained a secondary degree in Fashion Merchandising Management from the Fashion Institute of Technology. | https://www.scheinbright.com/about-me-1 |
Goldsmiths' operating principles for 2022-23 have not yet been finalised but should changes be required to teaching in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we will publish these as early as possible for prospective students wishing to start their programme in September 2022.
This MA unpacks the nitty-gritty of global transformations where media and politics, culture and society converge. Its cutting-edge approach to study provides you with the analytical skills and hands-on experience to grasp these shifts in theory and practice.
The programme addresses key questions central to the relationship between global media and politics, culture and society, such as:
- What is the relationship between ‘everyday life’ – our own and that of others – online and offline?
- Can political institutions ensure that the online environment is safe for all, or should this be left to internet service providers?
- How do we protect fundamental rights and freedoms online such as freedom of expression in the wake of terrorist attacks?
- What are the differences between how public and private broadcasters, activists, artists, and communities make use of social media?
Studying on this MA, you will focus on critical themes like the ‘Digital Divide’, privacy and surveillance, freedom of expression, and the climate crisis. You will also explore the role and impact of governments, international organisations, broadcasters, activists, artists, and communities.
These issues are more important now than ever, in the wake of both climate change activism and the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as worldwide mobilisation such as the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements. In the context of fast-changing markets in digital goods and services and technological advances such as Artificial Intelligence, 5G networks, and machine learning programs, these issues underscore our increasing dependence on digital, networked technologies.
This MA programme interrogates these broad trends and their local manifestations from a critical, culturally comparative, and historical perspective. The term “global” works as a critical point of reference as well as a descriptor of how the contemporary domains of politics, media, and communications are interconnected at home and abroad, on an intimate, interpersonal, and planetary scale.
The Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies has been ranked 2nd in the UK for 'world-leading or internationally excellent' research (Research Excellence Framework, 2021) and 12th in the world (2nd in the UK) in the 2022 QS World Rankings for communication and media studies.
Who can apply
The MA in Global Media and Politics attracts budding scholars, media and communications professionals, journalists, artists and filmmakers, policy-makers, and activists from around the world, and across the spectrum of academic and professional backgrounds. It is particularly suitable for those wanting to move their knowledge and analytical skills up a level, either for further study or career advancement. It is also suitable for anyone with an interest in, or experience with the media and cultural sectors, creative industries, non-profits and other third sector organisations, alternative media outlets, the arts, community networks, international NGOs, as well as governmental and intergovernmental organizations.
Contact the department
If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Professor Marianne Franklin. | https://www.gold.ac.uk/pg/ma-global-media-and-politics/ |
Skill Levels In Societies Currently Relying On Animal Power
In some areas of the world, draft animals are part of the traditional way of cultivating the land. For instance, in Ethiopia, Egypt, India, Nepal, Southeast Asia, North Africa, and in most of Latin America, people are accustomed to training and managing their draft animals. Implements are readily available locally, usually made from local materials, with a local system to repair and replace them.
In other areas of the world, draft animal power is a more recent technology in cultivation and crop production. For instance, until recently in West Africa and much of sub-Saharan Africa, animal diseases prevented the keeping of animals in many areas, and the traditional methods of cultivating the land used manual labor only. It is only within the last century that many people have made use of draft animals on their farms in these areas, following availability of drugs (Fig. 1). Because of the relative newness of the technology, the support infrastructure might not be available locally. As a result, the animals and implements available are expensive, and they involve considerable investment by the farmers before they can see the benefits and the drawbacks for themselves. Often, implements are imported or manufactured by companies selling a range of agricultural
equipment. Although spares may be available, the manufacturers or retailers can be some distance from the farm, and so repairs cannot be done in situ in the fields, as they often can be in more traditional systems.
A lack of skill can often be seen where working animals are used in transport enterprises in urban areas. In these operations, while some users have a long experience of working with animals, others have little experience in livestock keeping. Equids tend to be favored over ruminants for their greater speed in urban transport. The horse or donkey is used to provide a daily income, rather as a vehicle would be, and may be regarded as an expendable item by some, with little care given to working practices or its management. Cattle, buffalo, and camels generally fare better, largely due to their resale value for meat. Thus, it is not surprising that the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and animal charities often voice welfare concerns for the working horse and donkey.
Diabetes Sustenance
Get All The Support And Guidance You Need To Be A Success At Dealing With Diabetes The Healthy Way. This Book Is One Of The Most Valuable Resources In The World When It Comes To Learning How Nutritional Supplements Can Control Sugar Levels. | https://www.barnardhealth.us/amino-acids-2/skill-levels-in-societies-currently-relying-on-animal-power.html |
- Corresponding Author:
- Shu-Zheng Wen
Department of Hand and Microsurgery II
The Second Affiliated Hospital of
Inner Mongolia Medical University
Hohhot 010030, China
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical effect of biologically absorbable antiadhesive film to promote zone II flexor tendon healing and reduce tendon adhesion. Eighty fingers of 67 postoperative patients of zone II flexor tendon repair were randomly divided into two groups: an anti-adhesion film group and a non anti-adhesion film group. After 12 weeks, the VAS method was used to assess the degree of hand pain. TAM standard was used to evaluate functional status of the finger flexor tendon. The Lovett classification method was used to evaluate muscle strength. Twelve weeks after operation, the VAS pain scores of the experimental and control groups were 1.9 ± 1.8 and 2.3 ± 1.9, respectively (P = 0.337). The standard evaluation system of TAM yielded excellent rates of 94.9% and 70.7% for the experiment and control groups, respectively. Significant difference was found between the groups (P = 0.000), with the value for the experimental group being significantly higher than that for the control group. The finger flexor muscle strength recovery to normal incidence rates of the two groups were 100% and 95.1%, respectively, with no significant difference (P = 0.162). In conclusion, anti-adhesive biologically absorbable film promotes zone II flexor tendon healing, prevents tendon adhesion, and improves the autonomic active function of fingers.
Keywords
Medical absorbable film, Flexor tendon, Healing, Postoperative adhesion.
Introduction
Statistics show that tendon injuries are the most common injuries (approximately 30%) for hand surgery with a relatively high disability rate. Thus, studies on tendon injury are important in hand surgery.
Many scholars have conducted considerable research on tendon injury with significant achievements. However, some problems remain unsolved. One such problem is the hand dysfunction caused by the adhesion of the zone II flexor tendon injury after operation.
The application of absorbable film in clinical surgery has significantly increased [1-3]. However, further prospective studies are still needed on the prevention of postoperative tendon adhesion. This prospective randomised study aimed to investigate the application effect of biologically absorbable anti-adhesive film to prevent tendon adhesion.
Materials and methods
Subjects
Sixty-seven adult outpatients, aged 19 to 58 years, who underwent operation for finger flexor tendon injury from December 2010 to April 2013, were included in this study. The mean age of the patients was 38.5 ± 16.4. The actual work was done with 80 fingers from these patients. The sole criterion for inclusion was the flexor tendon injury (zone II concis). The patients filled out a questionnaire with details such as age, gender, profession, reason for injury, mechanism of injury, as well as health state and hand function before injury.
The criteria for exclusion were as follows: patients aged <18 or >60 years, those who have taken cortisol within the past six months (for general or local injury), diabetic, have a broken finger or bone fracture, mentally disturbed and cannot comply with the treatment protocol.
Through the random number table, patients were prospectively, randomly, and double-blindly divided into two groups. One group was the anti-adhesive group, in which biologically absorbable anti-adhesive film was used to prevent tendon adhesion after anastomosis. This group consisted of 20 males and 13 females with the mean age being 36.9 ± 15.8 years. The other group consisting of 34 patients was the control group, in which no anti-adhesive materials or drugs were used. This group had a total of 41 fingers and their mean age was 39.1 ± 17.2. The age and gender constituent ratio of the two groups had no significant difference (P > 0.05). This study was conducted in accordance with the declaration of Helsinki and with approval from the Ethics Committee of Inner Mongolia Medical University. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.
Surgical method
Under brachial plexus anaesthesia, the same group of surgeons performed surgery on the patients by the following methods: debridement, tendon repair , modified Kessler method and tendon suture with 4/0 nylon suture. The broken tendon of the anti-adhesive film group was bandaged with anti-adhesion absorbable film (MAST operation American polylactic acid protective filmfrom MAST, Biosurgery Inc.; San Diego, CA USA). Meanwhile, the broken tendon of the control group was not wrapped with any tendon anti-adhesion material, nor was any drug applied.
After surgery, patients underwent therapy forslight wrist flexion (0° to 50°) , metacarpophalangeal (MP) joint flexion, proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints and distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint straight position. Conventional anti-inflammatory rehydration therapy was also applied to observe wound healing and finger blood. Stitches were removed two weeks after the operation. Patients were kept under gypsum protection for four weeks, after which external fixation was removed. Patients began to perform functional exercises until 12 weeks after the surgery.
Assessment
Wound healing was assessed two weeks after surgery. The visual analogue scale (visual analogue scale, VAS) was used to assess hand pain after 12 weeks. Tendon function was evaluated according to hand surgery of the tendon total active motion (TAM) of the American Association [TAM = the total flexion (MP flexion degree + PIP flexion degree +DIP flexion degree) − the total extension limitation degree (MP extension limits degree + PIP extension limitation degree + DIP extension limitation degree)]. If the TAM was equal to that of a normal finger, the status is excellent. TAM >75% of that of a normal finger is considered good, TAM >50% of that of a normal is considered medium and TAM <50% of that of a normal finger is considered poor. Lovett classification was used to evaluate finger flexor muscle strength.
Statistic analysis
SPSS13.0 software was used for statistical data treatment. Measurement data were recorded as mean±standard deviation, whereas count data were expressed as ratio. The student t test orχ2 test was used to comparethe data between groups, with a test level of α = 0.05.
Results
All wounds of the two groups healed in grade A, with no adverse effect, such as infection, and no palondromic tendon case.
VAS pain score results
Twelve weeks after operation (Table 1), the VAS pain scores of the anti-adhesive and control groups were 1.9 ± 1.8 and 2.3 ± 1.9, respectively, with no significant difference (t = 0.996, P = 0.337).
TAM Evaluation Result
According to the TAM score criteria, we found two excellent fingers, 35 good fingers, two medium fingers and no poor finger in the anti-adhesive group. Meanwhile, we found no excellent finger, 29 good fingers, 10 medium fingers and two poor fingers in the control group. The excellent rate of the anti-adhesive group was 94.9%, whereas that of the control was 70.7%. The two groups were significantly different (χ2 = 12.798, P = 0.000), with the anti-adhesive group having significantly higher values than the control group.
Lovett classification evaluation results
According to the Lovett classification method, V level muscle strength of the finger flexor was observed in 39 fingers in the anti-adhesive group. The finger flexor muscle strength recovery to normal incidence rates of the two groups were 100% and 95.1% for the anti-adhesive and control groups, respectively, with no significant difference (χ2 = 1.951, P = 0.162).
Discussion
The clinical tendon fracture or defect repair methods being conducted include direct suture, tendon autograft, allograft, xenograft tendon transplantation, and artificial tendon [6-9]. These methods need postoperative routine immobilisation for four weeks (tendon transplantation or even immobilisation longer). However, long-term immobilisation after tendon repair may cause tendon adhesion, which often results in poor recovery of hand function . A considerable proportion of patients must accept the second release operation three months to half-a-year after tendon repair, especially when the flexor tendon in zone II is damaged . Therefore, promoting the healing of tendon repair to reduce incidence rates remains one of the problems related to tendon adhesion. Hand surgeons must thus focus on this matter.
Over the past 10 years the improvement of tendon suture methods enabled doctors and scientists to study biological materials (including sodium hyaluronic acid, chitosan, and collagen membrane) [12-14], growth factors (including insulin-like growth factor, transforming growth factor, and epidermal growth factor) , and stem cells for tendon healing. Among these approaches, the application of all kinds of absorbable materials is common in clinical surgery. Biologically absorbable film has ultra-high molecular weight, flexibility and good adhesion, with a physical isolation effect that can separate the operation wound from surrounding tissues and thus prevent fibroblast invasion. The film effectively protects the wound and prevents tissue adhesion, besides being highly biocompatible and easily absorbed without stimulation [17, 18]. Moreover, the selective permeability function of absorbable film enables the entry of synovial fluid and other nutrients to promote endogenous healing of tendon and prevent scar tissue formation thereby preventing tendon adhesion [1, 2].
Oryan et al [19, 20] recently explored the effect of applying absorbable film and sodium hyaluronate on tendon repair. Results showed that when the cast was removed three weeks after surgery, the excellent and good rates of TAM exhibited no statistically significant difference between groups. However, when TAM was measured after eight and 12 weeks, the absorbable film group exhibited better rates than the sodium hyaluronate group. The researchers concluded that absorbable film and sodium hyaluronate can effectively prevent muscle tendon adhesion, but the earlier effect of absorbable film was better than that of the sodium hyaluronate, thus supporting the application of anti-adhesion materials in tendon repair. The study, however, did not use a blind model design. Hanako Nishimoto investigated the application of polylactic acid anti-adhesion membrane in tendon repair. In animal studies, tissues were drawn for morphological analysis four weeks to eight weeks after surgery. The comprehensive excellent rate of the biological anti-adhesion membrane was significantly higher in the anti-adhesion group than in the control group (P < 0.05). Results showed that polylactic acid anti-adhesion membrane can effectively reduce the formation of adhesions after tendon repair. However, the researcher selected the extensor tendon or flexor tendon in the experiment, which meant that the study was un-uniform.
In our study through prospective randomised clinical trial, the clinical effect of absorbable film in treating tendon injury was evaluated. This study also focused on the promotion of healing and reduction of tendon adhesion effect. The subject of research was the zone II flexor tendon only, in a single-blind method, which produced more credible results than the previous study. Results showed that the two groups had no tendon recurrent rupture cases. An evaluation at 12 weeks after surgery showed that the VAS pain score had no statistically significant difference between the anti-adhesion film and control groups (t = 0.996, P = 0.337). The flexor muscle recovery rate had no statistically significant difference (χ2 = 1.951, P = 0.162) between the two groups. However, according to the TAM system evaluation criteria, the difference in the ‘excellent’ and ‘good’ rates of function recovery for the two groups was statistically significant (χ2= 12.798, P = 0.000), with the anti-adhesion film group having significantly better outcome than the control group. Results of this study showed that anti-adhesion film promotes the flexor tendon healing effect, effectively reduces flexor tendon adhesion incidence after anastomosis and improves the active function of fingers.
The mechanism by which absorbable films promote flexor tendon healing is still not entirely clear . This study only clinically observed and evaluated the research subject without MRI radiographic inspection because the subject is part of the living human body, for which histological observation cannot be performed. This is the limitation of this study. In addition, post-operative observation time is relatively short for the long-term follow-up. Further studies should be conducted to analyse whether medical treatment using absorption film has an enhanced functional effect.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Second Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University.
References
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- Tang JB, Chang J, Elliot D, Lalonde DH, Sandow M, Vögelin E. IFSSH Flexor Tendon Committee Report 2014: From the IFSSH Flexor Tendon Committee (Chairman: Jin Bo Tang). J Hand SurgEurVol 2014; 39:107-115.
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- Karabekmez FE, Zhao C. Surface treatment of flexortendon autograft and allograft decreases adhesion without an effect of graft cellularity: a pilot study. ClinOrthopRelat Res 2012; 470:2522-2527.
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- Starr HM, Snoddy M, Hammond KE, Seiler JG 3rd. Flexor tendon repair rehabilitation protocols: a systematic review. J Hand Surg Am 2013;38:1712-1717.
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- Bhavsar D, Shettko D, Tenenhaus M. Encircling the tendon repair site with collagen-GAG reduces the formation of postoperative tendon adhesions in a chicken flexor tendon model. J Surg Res 2010;159:765-771.
- Jiang K, Wang Z, Du Q, Yu J, Wang A, Xiong Y. A new TGF-b3 controlled-released chitosan scaffold for tissue engineering synovial sheath. J Biomed Mater Res A 2014;102:801-807.
- Duffy FJ Jr, Seiler JG, Gelberman RH, Hergrueter CA. Growthfactors and canine flexor tendon healing: initial studies in uninjured and repair models. J Hand SurgAm 1995;20:645-649.
- Young RG, Butler DL, Weber W, Caplan AI, Gordon SL, Fink DJ. Use of mesenchymal stem cells in a collagen matrix for Achilles tendon repair. J Orthop Res 1998;16:406-413.
- Sato T, Shimizu H, Beppu M, Takagi M. Effects on bone union and prevention of tendon adhesion by new porous anti-adhesive poly L-lactide-co-e-caprolactonemembrane in a rabbit model. Hand Surg 2013;18:1-10.
- Mentzel M, Hoss H, Keppler P, Ebinger T, Kinzl L,Wachter NJ. The effectiveness of ADCON-T/N, a newanti-adhesion barrier gel, in fresh divisions of the flexor tendons in Zone II. J Hand Surg Br 2000;25:590-592.
- Oryan A, Moshiri A, MeimandiParizi AH, RaayatJahromi A. Repeated administration of exogenousSodium- hyaluronate improved tendonhealing in an in vivo transection model. J Tissue Viability 2012;21:88-102.
- Oryan A, Moshiri A, Meimandiparizi AH. Effects of sodium-hyaluronate and glucosamine-chondroitin sulfateon remodeling stage of tenotomized superficial digital flexor tendonin rabbits: a clinical, histopathological, ultrastructural, andbiomechanical study. Connective Tissue Res 2011;52:329-339.
- Nishimoto H, KokubuT, Inui A, Mifune Y, Nishida K, Fjioka H, Yokota K, Hiwa C, Kurosaka M. Ligament regeneration using an absorbable stent-shaped poly-Llacticacid scaffold in a rabbit model. IntOrthop2012;36:2379-2386.
- Nho JH, Lee TK, Kim BS, Yoon HK, Gong HS, SuhYS.Closed rupture of flexor tendon by hyperextension mechanism in wrist level (zone V): a report of three cases. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg 2013;133:1029-1032. | http://www.alliedacademies.org/articles/clinical-application-of-absorbable-antiadhesive-film-in-tendon-repair.html |
Skeleton for Marge Piercy
Ashley Zogba November 30, 2010 Skeleton #1 Colors passing through us by Marge Piercy: In the collection of poems, Colors passing through us, Marge Piercy expressed her feelings and her perspection of life through her eyes using references to colors, and other daily life things. “Blue as still water. Blue as the eyes of a siamese cat.
” She expresses her calm and cool feelings through the color blue. She refers to the still water, which symbolizes tranquility, serenity and the state of being at peace. Love is a lumpy thing. ” Marge compares love to a lumpy thing. Almost like it has different sides to it. Then she continues on to compare it to cutting onions, fun, and work. Through her eyes, love has different stages. Love is “lumpy” it has its ups and downs. In bed, we act the grace of dolphins arcing like a wheel, The grace of water falling, from a cliff white and sparkling in a roar of spume. Piercy states that “in bed we act like grace… ” then she goes on to that later we eould be ourselves again.That means that we are one way but when we get out into the open world we follow society’s rules of civilization. “The womb opens on a new beast” Marge piercy describes the world as a womb and a new beast as new opportunities. She uses the arrival of a new child to tie it all in one. In The collections of poems, Colors passing through us, Marge Piercy develops many significances through colors, animals and daily life things to express her feelings and her perspective of life. | https://phdessay.com/skeleton-for-marge-piercy/ |
Kate Guastaferro, Ph.D. is an Assistant Research Professor in the Center for Healthy Children, and an affiliate of the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network. Dr. Guastaferro’s program of research sits at the intersection of prevention science and innovative methods for intervention development, optimization, and evaluation. She is an expert in the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST), and has experience applying MOST to a variety of public health problems, including STI prevention among first year college students. Dr. Guastaferro received her PhD in Public Health from Georgia State University in 2016, and was the recipient of the Public Health Achievement Award recognizing her scholarship and academic success. She completed her undergraduate work at Boston University in 2008 and received her MPH from Georgia State in 2011. Kate’s vision is to integrate her substantive and methodological interests to develop, optimize, evaluate, and disseminate child maltreatment prevention programs that are effective, efficient, economical, and scalable.
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My client is a growing, multi-disciplinary consultancy with 7 offices working throughout the UK. They currently provide their expert services in areas such as Planning, Geomatics, and Agriculture but recently have launched a new service area, Environment, and Planning. They are looking for an experienced Ecologist who wants an opportunity to become a subject matter expert for Ecology within the team.
To achieve this opportunity, you will need:
* You should have experience working within a consultancy environment, public sector or conservation body delivering projects for built development.
* You’ll have a detailed understanding of Ecological Impact Assessments, planning regulations, nature conservation legislation. You’ll have a good knowledge of legislation and policy requirements associated with Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Protection Areas (SPA) and other relevant designations.
* You’ll be familiar with GIS systems and understand environmental technical disciplines at a high level allowing you to coordinate and project manage their input into the delivery of the project.
* You’ll work as part of a team of specialists and you’ll have great written and verbal communication skills with the ability to work closely with internal and external stakeholders.
* You’ll hold a degree in an environmental-related discipline and maybe a member of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environment Management (CIEEM) or an equivalent organization.
* You’ll be predominantly office-based, but be expected to travel to meetings, client offices and inspect site works, therefore a full driving license is required.
During your time at this role you will be:
* Working with internal and external teams liaising with clients, Natural England, County Ecologists, Local Authority planning officers, and stakeholders whilst working on a wide range of utility and built development projects.
* You’ll input into development and design proposals, including master planning and construction methodologies, assisting with gaining the necessary consents and licenses in order to deliver medium / large scale infrastructure, energy, residential and commercial projects.
* You’ll offer Ecological advice and provide innovative mitigation solutions enhancement consideration across a range of sites and schemes with varying levels of Environmental and Ecological sensitivities, including National and European designations.
* You’ll be able to feed into Environmental Impact Assessment Screening, Scoping and chapters. You’ll advise on ecological site constraints and advise on solutions/mitigation measures and have a commercial awareness on delivery and viability of projects. You’ll provide ecological support to our client’s team, complete license applications, and be the technical lead for ecological surveys.
My client will be offering a competitive salary depending on your level of experience, as well as bonuses such as pension schemes and health care. You will also have the option to buy additional holidays along with regular training and career development. If this role is of interest to you or you are looking for roles related to Ecology, please do not hesitate to contact Steffan Child on 01792 362010 for a confidential conversation, or by email [email protected] We also have a vast variety of opportunities on our website www.penguinrecruitment.co.uk. | http://www.penguinrecruitment.co.uk/job/senior-principal-ecologist-cheltenham |
After finishing as a top-12 defense last season, big things were expected of the New York Giants defense Year 2 of the Patrick Graham system.
So far, the Giants have failed to come anywhere close to mastering the new wrinkles Graham has installed to take the defense to the next level. in fact, they've struggled to do some of the things they did so well last season when they were still learning the system on the fly.
How bad has it been? Graham used the word “unacceptable,” a tame descriptor by comparison to what some Giants fans have used for the play of a defense that ranks 29th in yards per game allowed (408.6), 27th against the run (138.4 yards/game), 22nd against the pass (270.2 yards/game) and which is allowing an average of 27.8 points per game.
As Graham said, unacceptable.
“We’ve got to improve, for sure,” said defensive back Logan Ryan. “Just too many mental errors—didn’t execute our game plan. You play anybody like that, you’re not going to beat anyone in the league. The league’s too good, too much parity – and Dallas is a pretty good team. You don’t play well against them (then) you’re going to lose like that. It just shows you how you’ve got to be on your game every game.”
To help the defense get back on track, Graham spoke about simplifying things.
“Right now, when you do that self-evaluation and you’re leading into the game, you have to start with yourself. That’s what I do and I’m sure that’s what you guys do in your profession, but we’ve got to simplify. How can I make it so we’re playing faster, we’re playing with confidence and everything?” Graham said.
“To me, the simpler we can make it – I know this, we have good players. We have good players. Let me let them play, does that make sense? So, if that means simplifying or doing a better job of coaching whatever the scheme is – doesn’t mean we’re going to challenge and ask them to do something, maybe get a check here or there, something like that – but it’s definitely part of the process.”
If that’s what Graham feels is best, Ryan is on board.
“I think his job as D-coordinator is to put us in a position to play fast and play well,” he said. “If he felt like we weren’t playing fast enough or didn’t play well enough, simplifying is always the quickest fix, the best fix, to just allow our players to play. I think that if Pat says that then I agree that that could help.”
Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 20+ seasons. She is the host of the LockedOn Giants podcast and is the author of The Big 50: New York Giants: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. | |
To write narrative essay is one of the skills that a student will need to be familiar with. Here are guidelines to follow when writing this academic assignment.
Guidelines on How to Write a Narrative Essay
As a student, you are likely to have to write a narrative essay either for your college admission or a school assignment. Usually, such papers work to show how a significant event shaped your beliefs, values or the person you have become today. Regardless of your reason for writing this type of mla format research paper, to ensure that you avoid deviating from the topic you must first create an outline. Narrative essay outline must have an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
Major narratives also tend to follow a chronological order as it helps to explain how the story unfolds from the beginning to the end. Transition words and phrases such as meanwhile, as soon as and eventually work to connect the paragraphs.
Most narratives can come from book, movies, poems or videos. If you are stuck and are finding it hard to come up with a good topic, then narrative examples which are available online or in various academic databases can help inspire you.
The purpose of narrative writing is to vividly tell a story about an event or incidence in an engaging way. Whether you plan to tell a factual story or fiction, you need to master the art of storytelling if you are to write content that will give you an excellent grade.
Narrative Essay Examples to Inspire your Next Writing
When it comes to writing an narrative essay you have to use the introduction to capture the attention of your reader and make them continue reading until the last sentence. You can start your introduction with a famous quote, intriguing fact or something that your reader can relate to. Use the listed below examples of narrative introduction to inspire you.
Example 1: “Learning a new skill can be scary. I always love doing activities that I am confident in and never do I try new things. Little did I know that a simple dare was going to change my whole life”.
Here is another free narrative essay introduction that can help you get an idea on what to write about.
Example 2: It was a cold unusual Sunday morning. Instead of the normal clicking noise of pots that would be accompanied by a sweet smell of pancakes, what woke me up was the sound of my mother crying. I got out of bed and slowly went towards the crying sound and what I saw changed my life forever.
Is it Better to Get Narrative Essay Help?
Writing a narrative requires one to have not only good storytelling skills but also excellent writing and editing skills. It also needs a student to organize their ideas into an outline which will also give your content sense of direction.
Not everyone has these skills; hence instead of accepting a poor score, you can use a professional to get quality work. In situations where you lack adequate time or have intense workloads, you can buy a narrative essay online from qualified essay writer who have extensive experience writing these types of assignments.
What’s even great is that you can use the provided A-grade paper to gain writing skills in storytelling and understand the subject. Remember, your essay should have five essential elements a good topic, characters, plot, themes, and dialogue. | http://colerainemotorcycles.com/ |
DESCRIPTION (Verbatim from Applicant's Abstract): The broad objective of the proposed research is to comprehensively characterize the molecular interactions between Staphylococcus aureus and platelets as a function of the dynamic shear environment in order to provide a rational basis for the development of novel treatments to combat staphylococcal cardiovascular infections. The hypothesis to be tested is that shear stress affects the adhesive interactions between platelets and S. aureus by modulating the (i) relative importance of the adhesive molecules involved and (ii) the reaction binding kinetics. The proposed approach uses controlled, dynamic, in vitro experimental systems to systematically and comprehensively examine the importance of platelet activation, blood components, blood flow, and bacteria in the development of blood-born staphylococcal infections. A long-term goal of this work is to investigate the interrelationship between thrombogenesis and cardiovascular infection mechanisms. The specific aims of the project are to: 1) comprehensively elucidate the molecular mechanisms of S. aureus-platelet interactions under shear conditions of direct physiological relevance; 2) characterize S. aureus-platelet heteroaggregation in cell suspensions subjected to controlled levels of shear and; 3) develop a protocol to study S. aureus-platelet aggregation in whole blood and to evaluate the effect of this extension on S. aureus-platelet interactions under shear conditions. Completion of these specific aims will provide a rational basis for the design of new therapeutic molecules to block specific adhesion events, as well as identify the most important bacterial receptors to target in vaccine development.
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We still including expert professionals in the program of the second EBART Congress. Meet today Pascal BORRY (Belgium) who will talk about “ETHICS AND SOCIETY: Expanded carrier screening: ethical challenges”. You can consult the other speakers who will accompany us here.
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EBART Congress: REGISTRATION OPEN
You can now formally register for the EBART International Congress to be held in Barcelona on April 5th and 6th, 2018. Take advantage of the early registration until January 31st, 2018. Register here.
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Come and join in the EBART spirit!
What makes the EBART Congress different from other ART conferences? Our directors and medical professionals provide you with some of the reasons why… Don’t miss this opportunity! Watch the video! | https://www.ebartcongress.com/news/page/5/ |
To celebrate the culmination of our year and to showcase the technical and artistic accomplishments of our dancers, we present our annual End of the Year Student Dance Recital. We envision the customary ‘recital’ in a unique way. Instead of presenting each class separately, we take the final four to six weeks of classes to create either an original dance narrative or an adaptation of a classical or romantic ballet. This is a wonderful learning opportunity for our younger dancers and a great way to teach leadership for our older dancers. | http://nmyb.org/performance-opportunities.html |
Tungco, Inc. is hiring a Maintenance Technician for our Madisonville, Kentucky location. We have a collaborative culture and look to hire exceptional people who possess a wide spectrum of talents. You would work closely with our Director of Operations and Department Leads.
Responsibilities for Maintenance Technician
- Inspect machines regularly to ensure optimal performance.
- Monitor, identify, and respond promptly to signs of malfunction in machinery such as: changes in performance, temperature fluctuations, sounds, smells, atypical energy usage, & increased vibration.
- Perform troubleshooting for production machinery to identify and replace worn or damaged parts in a timely manner.
- Schedule and perform routine preventative maintenance, service, and testing for each piece of equipment.
- Perform emergency repairs on various types of machinery including mechanical, electric, and hydraulic systems.
- Lead small fabrication and modification projects in house on current equipment and future projects to maximize efficiency & productivity.
- Use a variety of power and hand tools to perform job functions.
- Maintain machinery and the adjacent workplace in a state of appropriate cleanliness.
- Install, assemble, and test new machines and equipment.
- Understand and comply with workplace safety regulations.
- Read and comply with work orders concerning service, modification or installation of machinery.
- Work effectively with other team members.
- Learn, understand, and become fluent in Maintenance Connection software program to process work orders, input data and information, and create and run reports for daily, weekly, & monthly operations.
Qualifications for Maintenance Technician
- Successful vocational or trade school completion (preferred)
- Associate’s degree in electrical, mechanical, or engineering specialties (preferred)
- Minimum 5 years of maintenance experience
- Strong mechanical and manufacturing experience
- Ability to walk & stand for an extended period of time
- Ability to lift up to 75 lbs
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
PROCESS
If we feel you are a fit and could be a contributing asset to our culture, we will move forward with a formal phone interview from the Director of Operations. Successful phone interviews will be scheduled for an in-person interview and evaluation of skills.
QUALIFICATIONS AND CULTURE
This person needs to be driven, able to self-direct, and eager to learn. Our environment offers quick feedback and we count on each person to thrive on that and be able to execute given new information. Our office and culture is casual but we enjoy hard work and pride ourselves on delivering top quality work. We have an excellent work-life balance and are able to be most productive by working together. This role offers competitive benefits and compensation.
BENEFITS
Tungco, Inc. prides itself on offering a highly competitive salary commensurate with experience, as well as a performance-based bonus. Tungco, Inc. strives for a casual and fun work environment and promotes a healthy lifestyle. Full medical, dental and vision coverage is offered as well as a retirement plan. | https://www.tungco.com/careers/maintenance-tech/ |
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