Saturday, 7 June 2014

ENCODE turns DNA junk into treasure (updated 7 June 2014)

 It is well known that the DNA which resides in a living cell houses a genetic code, stored in binary form. These genes store digital instructions needed to manufacture the proteins which are needed by the organism, anything from a fly to a blue whale, from a pea to a giant redwood. The architecture of these systems is so sophisticated and efficient that biochemists and bioengineers seek to copy and use it.

When the genetic coding scheme of the human being was first announced around AD 2000 the popular science media and the evolutionary biology establishment gave the impression that all manner of genetic diseases would now be curable and that all the useful DNA was concentrated in about 1.5% of the DNA in the nucleus of a cell.  This 1.5% was the part of the DNA which has protein- coding genes – i.e. instructions for the protein manufacturing process which occurs within the ribosome, a kind of factory, located in the cytoplasm which exists within the space between the nucleus and membrane of a cell.  The rest was believed by many evolutionary biologists to be junk and evidence of the inefficiency of nature in evolving life – evidence, many said, that evolution is a blind, mindless process, a story of self-replicating machines running amok and creating the illusion of order and purpose.

Within only a few years the initial hubris was found to be entirely unjustified. There was little progress in dealing with heredity disorders and diseases and it became obvious that processes were occurring which could not be explained by the extant models.

The naming of 98.5 % of the DNA as junk was bad science, i.e. a dogmatic adherence to a blind watchmaker view of evolution rather than a strong suspicion that this so-called junk may well have a function. Those who did suspect this were proved right.

Common digital signatures were detected in junk DNA from different specimens of different species, from different generations of the same species and from patients with the same genetic disorders. It rapidly became clear that meaningful processes of some kind were occurring in what many had  thought to be a functional desert; but nobody could have predicted just how breathtakingly complex and orchestrated were these processes.

The reality of this paradigm shift in perception of the sub-cellular, sub-genetic and  epigenetic  processes which go on inside a cell is now being assimilated as the findings of the ENCODE project attract the attention of biologists, science journalists and the public. My impression is that the findings are so worldview-shattering that many evolutionary biologists are stunned into a (hopefully temporary) state of denial.

ENCODE stands for the encyclopaedia of DNA elements, and this programme was devoted to studying just the human genome. It was started in 2003 and involved over 1600 research projects by 400 scientists in 32 labs in the USA, UK, Japan, Spain and Singapore and the bulk of the results were released early in 2012.

 It showed that 80% of the genome consists of 4 million genetic switches together with mechanisms for controlling where, when, in what dynamic configuration and how much of a particular protein will be produced. Over 300 years of computer time were used and there was deep cross referencing via the internet between the open access journals Nature, Science, Genome Research and Genome Biology. The fact that there is a highly structured set of data open to any researcher to use should lead to a cascade of new findings in quite a short time.

This project, together with others on non-human genomes, has shown that the microscopic processes in the cell nucleus and its surrounding plasma are similar in purposeful complexity to those of the natural world we see around us.  The rich variety of trees, plants, animals, fish and insects we witness forming an ecological network are the out workings of a hitherto unknown sub-microscopic universe inside each cell as well as data transfer between cells and some means of orchestrating  both the cells and their interiors to produce living organisms. Plants and animals are not made up of simple self-duplicating jelly-like blobs.

This still leaves about 20% of the human genome totally unexplored and no doubt scientists are already working on it. And when some of the present mysteries have been 'solved' another whole layer of mystery will unfold before us. Given the history of science I think that is a reasonable assumption.

How the theory of evolution will itself evolve is impossible to say but I suspect that ENCODE, and similar projects on DNA and the thousands of processes that go on in the cell,  will reveal that learning from the environment can be passed down the generations, i.e. that evolution is far from a blind, chance-driven mechanism. Evidence along these lines is already emerging in mainstream journals and falls within the province of epigenetics. In particular  each gene is not a single entity but comprises dozens of functional units.

On the medical front research is now able to move very fast because we now know that the genes themselves are only a small part of the overall picture. Treatments will be able to be tailored to individuals both for rare diseases involving single genes and for more widespread ailments associated with groups of genes.

Stand by for some startling insights over the coming years.

see also

Author 2077 AD

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Sunday, September 11, 2016

Space X explosion

One person suggested that it could be a drone, but opined that if it was a drone it was a particularly fast and circular drone that does not match the description of any known existing defense products. Others opined that whatever the flying vehicle that may have given rise to the explosion, it appears it was a "well planned attack from a competitor."

Although speculation continues to circle around the explosion of the Space X Falcon 9 rockets with the most fascinating theory by far being the potential that space aliens beamed the rocket, many more plausible alternatives exist including a leak of propellant fuel, metal on metal contact sparking just enough initial flame, or a buildup of oxygen. Some commenters are even blaming Vladimir Putin and/or China – which makes maybe less sense than even space aliens.

The truth is out there.


Phobias - Crozer-Keystone Health System - PA

Every year, approximately 19 million Americans experience one or more phobias that range from mild to severe. Phobias can happen in early childhood, but usually are first evident between the ages of 15 and 20 years.

A phobia is an uncontrollable, irrational and persistent fear of a specific object, situation or activity. The fear experienced by people with phobias can be so great that some people go to extreme lengths to avoid the source of their fear.

Research suggests that both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the onset of phobias. Specific phobias have been connected to a fearful first encounter with the phobic object or situation. It is unknown whether this first encounter is necessary or if phobias can develop in people who are prone to them.

Types of Phobias

  • Specific Phobias: A specific phobia is characterized by extreme fear of an object or situation that is not harmful under general conditions, such as flying, heights, closed-in places or animals.
  • Social Phobias: A social phobia is an anxiety disorder in which a person has significant anxiety and discomfort related to a fear of being embarrassed, humiliated or scorned by others in social or performance situations. Social phobias often happen with public speaking, meeting new people, dealing with authority figures, eating in public or using public restrooms.
  • Agoraphobia: This anxiety disorder involves the fear of experiencing a panic attack in a place or situation from which escape may be difficult or embarrassing. People with agoraphobia typically avoid crowded places like streets, crowded stores, churches and theaters.

Treating Phobias

Treatment of phobias may include psychotherapy, medication or a combination of the two. A Crozer-Keystone behavioral health specialist can help you determine if you have a phobia and decide on the best treatment plan.


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The PhD program is a result of the rapid growth in research productivity in the Department of Statistical Sciences and Operations Research and the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics.

These pages contain descriptions of current and past research projects and technical reports.

Graph Pebbling

Faculty: Glenn Hurlbert

Graph Pebbling is a network optimization model for the transportation of resources that are consumed in transit. Electricity, heat, or other energy may dissipate as it moves from one location to another, oil tankers may use up some of the oil it transports, information may be lost as it travels through its medium, or military troops may be lost while moving through a region. The central problem in this model asks whether discrete pebbles from one set of vertices can be moved to another while pebbles are lost in the process. A typical question asks how many pebbles are necessary to guarantee that, from any configuration of that many pebbles, one can move a pebble to (“solve”) any particular vertex. A fractional version asks for the limiting behavior of the average number of pebbles used per “solution”. Instead of placing the initial pebbles cleverly, if the original configuration is chosen at random then we can wonder what the probability is that every vertex can be solved, which gives rise to the notion of a threshold, which divides almost sure success and almost sure failure. One may also ask: how few pebbles can be used so that, from some configuration of that many pebbles, one can move a pebble to any particular vertex; how many pebbles are required to guarantee that, from any configuration of that many pebbles, some pebble can travel at least some fixed distance; and other questions. Various rules for pebbling steps have been studied for years and have found applications in a wide array of areas: computational complexity theory (time-space tradeoffs), optimal register allocation for compilers, pursuit and evasion games (e.g. combating computer viruses), graph searching, computational linear algebra (Cholesky factorization of large sparse matrices), computational geometry (rigidity of graphs, matroids,  and other structures), combinatorial number theory and combinatorial group theory (zero sum theory), and p-adic diophantine equations. Most of these rules give rise to computationally difficult problems. Currently I am working on conjectures related to structured graphs such as chordal graphs.  There are many, many open problems in this area for interested students to work on.

Universal Cycles

Faculty: Glenn Hurlbert

A deBruijn cycle of order n is a cyclic listing of 0s and 1s with every binary n-tuple appearing exactly once contiguously in  the cycle. A Gray code is a listing of all binary n-tuples so that adjacent n-tuples differ by just one bit.  Both of these are examples of Universal Cycles, listings of combinatorial objects that are efficient for various applications in Communications, Cryptography, Randomization, Computer Science, and elsewhere.  Recently there has been much work on these in the area of Combinatorial Designs, which are important in Statistics, in addition to the above.  There are a number of outstanding questions to answer, and a new book (Ordering Block Designs, by Dewar & Stevens) that outlines the current frontiers.

Intersection Theory

Faculty: Glenn Hurlbert

From a population of n people, how many committees can be formed so that every pair of committees share a common member?  What if the size of each committee is fixed, or is even (or is odd)?  What if each committee must share k members?  What if, instead of committees (subsets) of people (elements) we ask about other combinatorial structures such as partitions or permutations of a set, or subspaces of a vector space, etc?  These are all basic questions in intersection theory, a specialty within extremal set theory and combinatorics that has fundamental applications to wide ranging disciplines such as polynomial algebra, probability, group theory, circuit complexity, statistics, number theory, graph coloring, geometry, and more. Recently I have been pursuing questions regarding independent sets in graphs (especially in trees), as well as the following 1972 conjecture of Chvatal:  if F is a family of sets that is closed under taking subsets then the largest intersecting subfamily of F consists of those sets of F that contain some fixed element.

Algebraic Operations on Graphs

Faculty: Richard Hammack

My primary research interest is in graph theory, a highly visual branch of mathematics concerned with networks of interconnections between nodes. I am especially fascinated by algebraic operations on graphs. For example, there are various ways to multiply graphs together to get new graphs, or, conversely to factor a given graph into a product of smaller graphs. This leads to many questions: Do graphs factor uniquely into prime graphs, the way that numbers factor uniquely into prime numbers? If A × C = B × C for three graphs A, B and C, can we conclude A = B? Can you divide one graph into another? What would it look like? There are fascinating answers to such questions, as well as many, many unsolved mysteries.

The research that I have done with students has led to about 10 published papers so far.

Graph Coloring

Faculty: Dan Cranston
Collaborators: Landon Rabern

For a graph G, we write χ(G), Δ(G), and ω(G) for the chromatic number, maximum degree, and clique number of G. Brooks showed that χ(G) ≤ max{ω(G), Δ(G)}, when Δ(G) ≥ 3. Borodin and Kostochka conjectured that χ(G) ≤ max{ω(G), Δ(G)-1} when Δ(G) ≥ 9. If true, this is best possible. We have proved this conjecture for claw-free graphs (those with no induced K1,3). The contrapositive of the conjecture says that if Δ(G) ≥ 9 and χ(G) ≥ Δ(G), then ω(G) ≥ Δ(G). In this direction, we showed that if Δ(G) ≥ 13 and χ(G) ≥ Δ(G), then ω(G) ≥ Δ(G)-3.

Graph Brain Project

Faculty: Craig Larson

Craig Larson and Nico Van Cleemput (Ghent University) have developed the Conjecturing program which can produce conjectures in any area of mathematics. Graph Theory is defined in part by its published concepts (invariants and properties), examples and counterexamples, theorems, and open problems.

One goal of this project is to code all published concepts, examples and counterexamples, and theorems. This is a long-term, massive project, which will ultimately require the work of a community of interested researchers.

As we add published graph theory knowledge we will continually propose experiments and investigate how advancing knowledge allows our program to advance research on existing graph theory problems.

Some of our experiments have included generating invariant and property conjectures in a variety of mathematical domains, developing a conjecture-based sequence guessing program, a conjecture-based Chomp playing program, as well as a conjecture-based program for classification of objects from their features. The possible experiments are limited only by your imagination!

Here is a link for a 2107 Graph Brain summer research project:

Sensory Inputs and Fluctuations in Cortical Neural Networks

Faculty: Cheng Ly

Structure-Exploiting Approaches for Solving Stochastic Programs

Faculty: Yongjia Song

Collaborators: Jim Luedtke (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Simge Kucukyavuz (The Ohio State University) We study structure-exploiting approaches for solving stochastic programs using a scenario-based formulation, which may come from the sample average approximation of the original stochastic program. In particular, we study chance-constrained combinatorial optimization problems and two-stage stochastic programs with fixed recourse. For chance-constrained combinatorial optimization problems, we propose a formulation in their original spaces, without using additional binary variables. This formulation could be strengthened by taking advantage of the particular problem structure, for example, the network structure or the packing structure. For two-stage stochastic programs with fixed recourse, we propose a finitely converging algorithm by adaptively adjusting the partition until it yields an optimal solution. A solution guided refinement strategy is developed to exploit the relaxation solution that corresponds to this partition. We conduct extensive computational study to demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed approaches on stochastic optimization problems with a large number of scenarios.

Container Security

Faculty: Jason Merrick

This research funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Homeland Security aims to create discrete optimization and decision analysis models to determine how to use scarce resources to interdict nuclear material from entering the United States, where it would presumably be used to create a dirty bomb. Nuclear material could be smuggled into the United States via a cargo container, vessel, or air cargo, for example. Physically inspecting all cargo entering the United States is not possible. My research explores how to design risk-based policies for optimally scanning and inspecting cargo containers for nuclear material given limited screening resources. One key finding is that risk-based policies for deciding which cargo containers to inspect can improve the likelihood of detecting nuclear material, given limited a limited inspection budget.

A Dynamic Approach to Linear Statistical Calibration with Applications to Microwave Radiometry

Ph.D. Student: Derick Rivers
Faculty Advisor: Ed Boone

This work funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Jenkins Pre-doctoral Fellowship Project (JPFP) involves the development of a calibration algorithm that captures the dynamics of an earth-observing microwave radiometer. Calibration of these highly sensitive instruments is required due to the fact that the current electronic hardware is unable to maintain a stable I/O relationship because of random gain fluctuations. In this project I develop a Bayesian statistical calibration method that computes the posterior distributions for calibration temperatures that reflect a system that is changing due to random gain fluctuations. This model can be used perform calibration in the present of time-varying parameters.

Dispatch, Delivery, and Location Logistics for the Aeromedical Evacuation of Military Casualties

Ph.D. Student: Ben Grannan

Faculty Advisors: Laura McLay, Jason Merrick

My research examines the logistics of aeromedical evacuation in military medical systems to increase survivability of combat casualties.  Improved decision making in military medical systems saves lives by providing high-priority casualties with timely medical care.  We develop discrete optimization models that leverage Markov decision processes, linear integer programming, and spatial queuing theory to solve hard logistical problems inherent in military medical systems.  The models strategically locate and dispatch scarce aeromedical evacuation assets such as the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter (pictured).

Simultaneously Optimized Follow-Up Designs

Ph.D. Student: Bob Leonard
Faculty Advisor: David Edwards

Optimal follow-up experimentation provides a useful way to augment an initial design when traditional follow-up approaches are not appropriate. When choosing a single criterion for which to optimize the combined design, practitioners often have to deal with tradeoffs. For example, choosing to optimize the D-criterion can help with precision of model parameter estimates but at the possible expense of model misspecification. Past studies have investigated comparing multiple criteria in order to incorporate multiple design objectives into a follow-up design, but only after optimizing a single criterion. The research investigates simultaneously optimizing multiple criteria as a viable alternative to forming follow-up designs. Practical uses of such designs are also investigated by comparing these methods to traditional fold-over techniques and single-criterion optimization approaches.

Multi-Scale Modeling of Ventilator-Induced Lung Injury

Pollen Dispersal

Faculty: David Chan
Collaborators: Rodney Dyer (VCU)

We are studying pollen movement through insect dispersal in dogwood at the VCU Rice Center for Environmental Research.  In this project we are developing a variety of models and performing several experiments to better understand the behavior of insects in dispersing pollen.  Gene movement within a plant population in a complex process and also critical for sustaining species in not only forests but also in agricultural and urban environments.

Optimization Models of Cellular Metabolism

Faculty: Paul Brooks
Collaborators: Stephen Fong (VCU)

This work involves the design and analysis of algorithms for constructing models of cellular metabolism. This modeling paradigm embodies the principles of Systems Biology in that the interactions of the components of the entire cell can be analyzed simultaneously. These models can be used to predict the effects of metabolic engineering of cellular organisms. Specific examples including engineering bacteria for maximizing the production of ethanol for biofuels and predicting modifications that will kill disease-causing organisms.

Maritime Risk Assessment

Faculty: Jason Merrick
Collaborators: Rene van Dorp (George Washington University), Jack Harrald (Virginia Tech), Martha Grabowski (RPI)

For the past 12 years, VCU has been part of the largest risk assessments in the maritime domain. Starting with the Prince William Sound Risk Assessment of oils spills in 1996 and continuing with the Washington State Ferries Risk Assessment in 1998, the San Francisco Bay ferry expansion assessment in 2003, and the Vessel Traffic Risk Assessment of the Cherry Point Refinery in 2008, VCU has led the development of simulation-based risk assessment of maritime transportation systems incorporating expert judgment. This work has been funded by Exxon, BP, the US Coast Guard, the Alaska state government, the Washington state government, and the National Science Foundation. VCU has also been involved in developing the Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment tool and process that is used by the US Coast Guard in all their safety related decision making.


For the first time UK scientists have found evidence of epigenetic changes from smoking that causes cancer. The results were reported at the 35th Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Milan, Italy. We all have known that cancer was linked to smoking but now we can actually see the methylation caused by cancer and compare them to the cell methylation of a normal non-smoker. Smoking introduces a foreign toxin to the body that triggers epigenetic changes in our cells that can turn ON cancer cells. I find it shocking to see how many young people are smoking again.


King's B.Th., Graduate Diploma and M.A. (Theology) programmes are all validated by the University of Chester. For further details view the page for each programme by selecting from the Courses drop-down menu above.

For prospective students who are seeking specific emphases and features of a theological education, King's offers several distinctives that help set us apart from other institutions. Of course, every student is looking for something different, but if you are looking for any of the following distinctives in your pursuit of a theological education, then King's Evangelical Divinity School and its programmes may be for you.

1. Evangelical

While King's welcomes students from all backgrounds, the school is a confessional Evangelical institution which focuses strongly upon Evangelical studies and theology across all its courses. All tutors and the majority of students come from across the Evangelical spectrum. View what we believe.

However, what makes us distinctive in this regard is that King's does not seek to "push" or promote a particular Evangelical dogmatic position, whether Reformed, Dispensational, Charismatic, Arminian, or whatever. Our main focus is upon biblical interpretation (see below) and we therefore encourage students to think independently and engage theological issues critically, helping to develop and draw upon a strong knowledge and understanding of the Bible, together with advanced exegetical and hermeneutical skills.

As students progress through their studies, or for those already possessing advanced theological training, more advanced modules at King's also highlight Evangelicalism's global heritage and openness towards non-Western expressions and complimentary models of the movement.

King's publishes the Evangelical Review of Society and Politics, an international peer-reviewed journal which also serves as a potential avenue of academic publishing for more advanced students.

2. Online Learning

King's Evangelical Divinity School specialises in distance learning and online Higher Education theological studies. All our programmes are delivered through our innovative eCampus, providing remote learners with flexibility and ease of access to theological studies that a traditional taught or residential theological programme make impractical.

Distance education is also considerably more economical than traditional taught programmes, so if you are interested in formal theological training, the time has never been better to pursue and achieve that goal.

3. The Bible, Hermeneutics and Theology

King's primary focus is the development of excellent biblical knowledge, understanding and interpretative skills. Our courses focus strongly upon exegesis and biblical interpretation across all levels, exploring a range of diverse interpetative methods and results, while studies in biblical and systematic theology are closely related to each other.

Students are encouraged to utilise these valuable skills to reflect upon and engage with a wide range of theological issues explored across our courses. Moreover, King's seeks to move beyond abstract theoretical hermeneutics to include political and cultural engagement as well as practical theology and ministry, which represent essential components if Evangelicals are to respond robustly and effectively in a globalised, postmodern world.

4. Jewish-Christian Studies

While studies and modules on offer at King's are varied, covering various topics and issues taught from a range of positions across the Evangelical spectrum, for those specifically seeking a Jewish-Christian focus the school offers pathways in Jewish-Christian Studies for both our B.Th. and M.A. degrees.

For details of syllabus, activities and resources visit King's Centre for Jewish-Christian Studies.


Categorical perception and prenuclear pitch peak alignment in Spanish

Author(s): Germán Zárate-Sández

Most dialects of Spanish seem to produce prenuclear pitch peaks displaced to the right of the stressed syllable in neutral declarative utterances. In Autosegmental-Metrical phonology, this delayed peak has usually been described as a L*+H pitch accent. Since evidence for this observation comes almost exclusively from production studies, the purpose of this paper was to investigate how Spanish speakers perceive prenuclear pitch alignment. Perception was tested using an imitation task aimed at capturing categorical effects (or lack thereof) in the perception of intonation. The stimuli consisted of the utterance “La nena lloraba” [“The girl was crying”], where the prenuclear pitch peak in “nena” was displaced 10 times in 25-millisecond increments. Seventeen native speakers of Spanish listened to the 10 resynthesized utterances and were asked to imitate each stimulus while being recorded. Resulting utterances were normalized for speech rate and analyzed acoustically for prenuclear pitch alignment. Data yielded a clear categorical perception effect, but did not necessarily lend support to a pitch accent with a delayed peak. The discussion addresses phonological representations of tonal events and the link between production and perception in prosody.


Benjamin West, ‘The Battle of La Hogue’, ca. 1778, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
overall: 152.7 x 214 cm (60 1/8 x 84 1/4 in.)  framed: 180.3 x 241 cm (71 x 94 7/8 in.)

About Benjamin West

Extremely popular among the 18th-century British aristocracy and royalty, Benjamin West’s work is primarily composed of commissioned portraits and history paintings. West is best known for his 1770 painting The Death of General Wolfe, which caused a stir when it was displayed at the Royal Academy because the figures were shown wearing contemporary clothing rather than classical garb. Later in his career, West began to focus on religious subject matter in his work and began to devote a great deal of effort to teaching American-born artists in England, such as Charles Willson Peale and Matthew Pratt.

American, 1738-1820, Swarthmore, PA, United States, based in London, United Kingdom


posted by .

Rewrite the equation so the variable is alone.
Solve to find the value of the variable.

Divide both sides by 2.
Then change the signs of both sides.
That will provide the answer.

Possibly in 1 step:
Divide by -ve 2

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Tulsa County State Misdemeanor Process

This page gives a description of the Oklahoma state misdemeanor process in Tulsa County. This page is written specifically for those individuals who have been charged by the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office with state misdemeanors and are required to attend court at the Tulsa County courthouse located at 500 S Denver Ave in Tulsa. Every county does things a little bit differently, but much of the information in this page will also be applicable to those charged with state misdemeanors in other counties.

Steps in the State Misdemeanor Process

Beginning of the Process

Initial Appearance/Arraignment

Status Conference

Jury Trial Sounding Docket

Allen/Discovery Hearing

Beginning of the Process

The formal misdemeanor process typically begins with the filing of an information or a probable cause arrest. The information is a written allegation filed by the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office. (The process can also begin with an Indictment from a grand jury but this is very unusual for individuals charged with state misdemeanors.)

If the defendant has not been previously arrested an arrest warrant will be issued for the defendant and a bond will be set. No notice will be given to a defendant that a warrant has been issued for their arrest. Often the first notice that a defendant receives that a warrant has been issued for his or her arrest is when law enforcement officials arrest them.(Find out if someone is in David L. Moss, the Tulsa County Jail, or call 918-596-8900)

Frequently individuals will know that they are being investigated for a crime and that criminal charges are a possibility. To check charges have been filed against an individual you can search on the Oklahoma Supreme Court Network (OSCN). Search the "Court Dockets" screen for the county that you believe charges have been filed in by entering the first and last name of the individual you are searching for.

If an individual has been arrested without the issuance of a warrant than that individual will be given a court date to appear in court. If charges are not filed by the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office than that individual will be released from jail or if they have bonded out of jail their bond will be exonerated. (This usually does not occur on the defendant's first appearance in court.)

Once the District Attorney's office files an information the defendant's case will be given a misdemeanor case number. An example of a felony case number is CM-2017-1284. All felony case numbers began with "CM". The next part of the case number is the year that the Felony was filed in, "2017". The last part of the number "1284" means that this is the 1284th misdemeanor case filed in 2003.

Sometimes you may hear someone refer to a "No File" number. Every time someone is arrested for a felony that charge or case is given a "no file" number. The number will look very similar to a normal felony number. For example a typical number may be NF-2003-1456. The "No File" number is used to track a case prior to the District Attorney's office filing formal charges. No File or NF numbers are not available on OSCN but the Court Clerks are able to access those numbers.

Initial Appearance/Arraignment

If an individual is arrested without the issuance of an arrest warrant, a probable cause arrest, their first appearance in court will be to set a bond, if a bond has not already been set. If that person is still in jail, David L. Moss, they will appear in court via a video conference and will not actually be physically present in the courtroom. If that person has bonded out of jail they will be given a court date and they will need to appear in Room 173 of the Tulsa County Courthouse at 9:00 am on the date of their court appearance. For individuals arrested on probable they are typically required to return to court on a latter date in order to give the district attorney's office an opportunity to decide whether formal charges will be filed.

If an individual is arrested after the issuance of arrest warrant or they are arrested on probable cause and the District Attorney's Office has filed formal charges against that person, than they will be expected to have an attorney when they appear in Court. At arraignment the defendant will informed of the charges filed against them. In Tulsa County a defendant will not be given a copy of the information at the arraignment. In Tulsa County a defendant will not be asked to state whether or not the "identifiers" of the information are correct. A plea of not guilty will be entered at that time and a date for the Status Conference Docket will be set.

If that individual needs some time to hire an attorney they can ask to have their arraignment passed to give them time to hire an attorney. If an individual is without the ability to hire an attorney than they can request a "pauper's affidavit" and request that the court appoint an attorney to represent them. If a defendant has bonded out of jail there is a presumption that defendant has the resources to hire an attorney to represent them, as a result it may be difficult to get the judge to appoint an attorney for them. However, a defendant is not required to chose between his or her constitutional right to reasonable bail and their right to be represented by counsel if indigent.

Status Conference

At or after the arraignment a defendant's lawyer can request discovery (Police Reports) from the Tulsa County District Attorney's office. Typically, a defendant's lawyer will have the discovery by the time of the status conference and will have had an opportunity to analyze the case.

In Tulsa County the status conference is held in room 158 and is typically the first opportunity a defense lawyer has to discuss the case with the prosecutor and to get the "rec" or "recomendation" from the prosecutor. Often times status conferences are continued for various reasons.

Jury Trial Sounding Docket/Conference Date

Jury Trial Sounding Dockets/Conferences are held in room 158 of the Tulsa County Courthouse.

Most misdemeanor cases are resolved without a jury trial. The majority of cases are resolved with plea agreements. When a defendant enters a plea there are different types of agreements that can be entered into with the state. Listed below are the types of agreements that can be entered into and what they mean.

Deferred Sentence—When a defendant receives a deferred sentence it means that the defendant enters a plea, the judge excepts the plea but does not find the defendant guilty. Instead the judge defers the sentencing for a period of time upon certain conditions that the defendant must satisfy. If the defendant complies with the terms of deferment on the review date the defendant will be allowed to withdraw his or her plea and any record of a plea will be expunged. A defendant who successfully completes a deferred sentence has not been convicted of the offense that they entered a plea of guilty or no contest to.

Suspended Sentence—A defendant who receives a suspended sentence is a convicted felon. They are sentenced to a period of time in the Department of Corrections and that sentence is suspended upon their continued good behavior. If the defendant complies with the conditions of probation they will not be incarcerated in the department of corrections.

In Time—Sometimes the State and the Defense agree to a plea bargain that involves the defendant being sentenced to the Tulsa County Jail for a period of time. This is commonly referred to as “In Time”.

One of the major considerations that needs to be considered when entering a plea to a misdemeanor offense is whether or not the conviction of that offense is a prerequisite to a felony. Some crimes such as DUI and Domestic violence are misdemeanors the first time someone is convicted of them and a felony the second time they are convicted.

If an agreement cannot be reached at the conference date than a Jury Trial will likely be set. Once a Jury Trial Date is set than a "Allen Hearing/Discovery Hearing" will also be set.

Allen/Discovery Hearing

Many people are surprised to learn that discovery in a criminal case is more restrictive than discovery in a civil case. Discovery in criminal cases is governed by statute, Title 22 O.S. Section 2002, and case law. Most District Judges will set an "Allen Hearing" or "Discovery Hearing" to make sure that both parties have exchanged discovery. This hearing is set at least 10 days prior to the trial. The name "Allen Hearing" comes from the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Allen v. State, 1997 OK CR 44.

Every defendant charged with a felony has an Oklahoma and United States Constitutional Right to a Jury Trial. Misdemeanor Juries consist of six (6) jurors. The jury decides questions of fact and the judge decides questions of law. There are numerous rights associated with a juror trial including the right not to testify, the right to confront the witnesses, the right to be represented by counsel, and the right to use the court’s process to compel the production of favorable evidence.

Jury Selection

Every Jury trials begin with jury selection. Jurors are called to the courtroom and the judge’s clerk randomly selects the potential jurors for the case by drawing their names out of a box. The judge will then question the potential jurors to ensure that each juror meets the appropriate qualifications. Jurors must live in Tulsa County and they cannot be convicted felons. The judge asks questions to determine if there is any reason that a juror cannot be fair.

Once the judge is finished with the initial questioning the district attorney handling the case questions the potential jurors. After the district attorney is finished questioning the jurors the defense will be allowed to question the jurors. If during the questioning either the attorney for the state or the defense uncovers a reason that they believe an individual juror cannot be fair that side can ask the court to excuse that juror for cause. If the judge excuses that juror another juror will be called to replace that juror.

After each side has passed the jury for cause each side begins exercising their preemptory challenges. In misdemeanor cases each side is allowed three (3) preemptory challenges. Each side can exercise its preemptory challenges for any reason that it desires but it cannot exercise them for the wrong reason, potential jurors cannot be excused on the basis of their race, religion or sex. After each side has exercised their preemptory challenges the remaining jurors are the jury that will hear the case.

Opening Statements

After the jury is selected the next step in the trial process is the opening statement. Since the state has the burden of proof, the attorney for the state will give the opening statement first. The opening statement is the time for each side to explain to the jury what they anticipate that the evidence will be; a sort of road map to the expected evidence. Parties are not allowed to argue the evidence in the opening statement. The defense can either give their opening statement at the beginning of the trial or reserve their opening statement until the beginning of the defense case.

Presentation of Evidence

After the opening statements have concluded the state begins presenting their case. The state will call witnesses to the stand and ask those witnesses questions designed to elicit the relevant testimony. During the witnesses testimony both sides have the opportunity to introduce exhibits such as physical evidence, written statements, video statements, photographs and videos.

After the state conducts its direct examination the defense is allowed to cross-examine the witness in order to elicit favorable information not brought out in the direct examination or to discredit the credibility or testimony of the witness. After the state has finished presenting its evidence the state will rest and the defense will be allowed to present its evidence if it chooses to do so. The defendant has a constitutional right to testify if he or she desire and if the defendant chooses not to testify than no mention of the defendant’s choice can be made by the prosecution.

The above described process will be repeated until both sides have introduced all of the admissible evidence that they desire to introduce. If during the course of the trial there is a dispute concerning the admissibility of evidence that dispute will be resolved be the judge after hearing arguments of both parties and reviewing the applicable law.

Instructing the Jury

After the close of all the evidence the Judge will instruct the jury on the applicable law. Jury instructions are concise statements of the law designed to give the jury the law that they need in order to decide the case. The judge decides the applicable law but the jury applies the law to the evidence to determine the facts of the case. Most of the instructions are selected from the Oklahoma Uniform Jury Instructions known as OUJIs. OUJIs can be found on the internet on the Oklahoma Supreme Court Network.

Closing Arguments

Since the state has the burden the state will give the first closing argument and the final closing argument. During the closing argument the state will review the evidence and argue reasonable inferences from that evidence. After the conclusion of the state’s first closing argument the defense will be allowed to give its closing argument. Then state will conclude with its final closing argument.

After hearing the evidence in the trial, listening to the jury instructions and the arguments of counsel the jurors retire to deliberate their verdict. The verdict of the jury must be unanimous whether for guilt or innocence. If the jury is unable to decide the case a mistrial will be declared and the state has the option of retrying the defendant for the charges. If a jury reaches the verdict the jury will announce its verdict in open court.


Analogue Cabling: The Basics

by Pablo Bellinghausen

multicore cable

Analogue audio connections are an aspect of pro audio to which many give little thought, but can quickly become a show-stopper. Every single lead in the signal path has the potential to degrade or even completely kill your sound, and in a system with dozens of channels and hundreds of metres of cable, a faulty connection can potentially ruin a golden take, or even a high-profile live show. It is however easy (although not always cheap) to get the basics right. Before we go into any specifics however, it is crucial to recap on a few basic but essential concepts of audio so we can explain certain types of wiring later on.

Sound is a vibration of the air around our ears, which oscillates back and forth from the average atmospheric pressure and causes our eardrum to move with it.
It can be helpful to think of audio as two forces constantly pushing and pulling back and forth in a sort of tug of war; it can be a pressure difference between the air inside and outside of the inner ear, or in analogue audio, an electric charge difference between the two ends of a circuit.

Here’s a little snippet of the a capella hit song “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega, which was used to test MP3 algorithms when the format was invented:

This is what happens if we “invert” the above recording, so that the air that was originally being pushed into our ears is now being pulled away from them:

In any normal testing conditions, these files sound identical, even though they are the exact opposite of each other; and although there are some rare occasions in which there might be a slight difference due to the inherent distortion in equipment and our ear, for most music the sound is the same.

The process of changing the signal in this way is called called reversing its polarity (sometimes mistakenly called phase) – whenever the signal in the first file is positive, the signal in the second one is negative, and vice versa.

Signals with opposite polarity have an interesting property: when added together, they cancel each other out.
Adding two signals of opposite polarity can be visualised as a stalemate or a tie in the aforementioned tug of war, with one force pulling as much as the other at any given point so that there is no signal left.

Balanced vs. Unbalanced Connections

Now that we know why signals of opposite polarity cancel each other out, we can talk about balanced leads, a very clever trick that is used in pro audio to remove most of the noise that is normally picked up by cables. A normal audio connection requires two conductors: the central conductor that carries the signal, and the ground, which surrounds the central connector. The ground acts both as a shield for the conductor, and as the link that completes the electrical circuit.
Unbalanced _
This works pretty well in many cases, particularly on short cable runs. If the signal strength is high, the impedance is low, the cable is of high quality, and there are no nearby sources of interference, an unbalanced connection is all you need. However, on long runs or in places with high electromagnetic interference, the cable will add a noticeable amount of noise to the signal.

_Balanced _
A balanced connection sends the signal twice, on two separate conductors instead of only one. These are called “hot” and “cold”, with the former usually having red insulation for easy identification.
However, the polarity is reversed on the “cold” conductor, in the same way as explained above. When the cable is subjected to interference, noise is added to both conductors, which are so close together that said noise is basically the same on both.

Here is the clever bit: in the input of a balanced connection, the polarity of the “cold” signal is reversed again, and then added to the “hot” one. The original signal is added to itself, therefore getting louder, and the noise, which is now at opposite polarity, cancels itself out.

In our next instalment we will be taking a look at the types of cable to use for different applications, as well as all going through the connectors that are used in analog pro audio. Stay tuned!


1. Study suggests that expressive writing can help worriers perform a stressful task more efficiently

    September 21, 2017 by Ashley

    From the Michigan State University press release:

  2. Study suggests coping skills affect women’s anxiety levels

    September 18, 2017 by Ashley

    From the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) press release:

    Research shows that having a strong sense of coherence and good coping skills can help women facing adversity to overcome anxiety. The work found that women encountering difficult circumstances, such as living in a deprived community, who reported good coping skills did not have anxiety. However, women living in deprived communities but without these coping skills were at high risk of suffering from anxiety. This work, presented at the ECNP Conference, is the largest study ever conducted on coping and the anxiety that arises from facing adverse circumstances, such as living in deprivation. This study opens the possibility that teaching women coping strategies may be a way of overcoming the anxiety that stems from facing adverse circumstances, such as living in deprivation.

    Lead researcher, Olivia Remes (University of Cambridge), explained, “Individuals with this sense of coherence, with good coping skills, view life as comprehensible and meaningful. In other words, they feel they can manage their life, and that they are in control of their life, they believe challenges encountered in life are worthy of investment and effort; and they believe that life has meaning and purpose. These are skills which can be taught.”

    The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, surveyed 10,000 women over the age of 40 who were taking part in a major cancer study in Norfolk, UK. They used health and lifestyle questionnaires to record information on living conditions, history of physical health and mental health problems, and linked that to 1991 census data to determine if the women were living in a deprived community. They also checked on each person’s sense of coherence using a questionnaire developed from Aaron Antonovsky’s groundbreaking work on how people find meaning and purpose in life. They found that 261 (2.6%) of the 10,000 women had Generalised Anxiety Disorder. Among women without coping skills, those living in a deprived area were about twice (98%) more likely to have anxiety than those living in more affluent communities. On the other hand, living in a deprived or affluent community made very little difference to the levels of anxiety experienced by women if they had good coping skills.

    Olivia Remes commented, “In general, people with good coping skills tend to have a higher quality of life and lower mortality rates than people without such coping skills. Good coping can be an important life resource for preserving health. For the first time, we show that good coping skills can buffer the negative impact of deprivation on mental health, such as having generalized anxiety disorder. And importantly, these skills, such as feeling like you’re in control of your life and finding purpose in life, can be taught.

    There is a huge number of people living in deprivation, and significant numbers have Generalised Anxiety Disorder. For the first time, we have been able to show that how you cope in life can impact the level of anxiety you are experiencing. Of course, more work needs to be done on this, but this points us in an important direction.

    Many people with anxiety are prescribed medication-and while it is useful in the short-term-it is less effective in the long run, is costly and can come with side effects. Researchers are therefore now turning to coping mechanisms as a way to lower anxiety. This is particularly important for those people who do not experience any improvement in their anxiety symptoms following commonly-prescribed therapies.”

    Commenting, Professor David Nutt (Ex-Chair of the ECNP, Imperial College, London) said, “These data suggest a trial of training in coping skills could be valuable for women lacking in them — such training needs to developed and then a study of its efficacy needs to be carried out.”

  3. Study suggests exclusion from school can trigger long-term psychiatric illness

    September 13, 2017 by Ashley

    From the University of Exeter press release:

    The study, also found that — separately — poor mental health can lead to exclusion from school.

    Professor Tamsin Ford, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University of Exeter’s Medical School, warned that excluded children can develop a range of mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety as well as behavioural disturbance. The impact of excluding a child from school on their education and progress is often long term, and this work suggests that their mental health may also deteriorate.

    Professor Ford said: “For children who really struggle at school, exclusion can be a relief as it removes then from an unbearable situation with the result that on their return to school they will behave even more badly to escape again. As such, it becomes an entirely counterproductive disciplinary tool as for these children it encourages the very behaviour that it intends to punish. By avoiding exclusion and finding other solutions to poor behaviour, schools can help children’s mental health in the future as well as their education.”

    The researchers concluded there is a ‘bi-directional association’ between psychological distress and exclusion: children with psychological distress and mental-health problems are more likely to be excluded in the first place but exclusion predicted increased levels of psychological distress three years later.

    Most research into the impact of exclusion has so far involved the study of individuals’ experience and narratives from much smaller groups of people chosen because of their experience, which may not be so representative.

    Professor Ford added: “Given the established link between children’s behaviour, classroom climate and teachers’ mental health, burn out and self-efficacy, greater availability of timely support for children whose behaviour is challenging might also improve teachers’ productivity and school effectiveness”.

  4. Manipulating a single gene defines a new pathway to anxiety

    September 9, 2017 by Ashley

    From the University of Utah Health press release:

    Removing a single gene from the brains of mice and zebrafish causes these animals to become more anxious than normal. Researchers from University of Utah Health show that eliminating the gene encoding Lef1 disrupts the development of certain nerve cells in the hypothalamus that affect stress and anxiety. These results are the first implication that Lef1 functions in the hypothalamus to mediate behavior, knowledge that could prove useful for diagnosing and treating human brain disorders.

    “Anxiety is an essential behavior that is much more complex than we thought,” says first author Yuanyuan Xie, Ph.D., who led the research in collaboration with senior author Richard Dorsky, Ph.D., professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy at U of U Health. Lef1 is a component of the Wnt signaling pathway, which has roles in animal development, physiology, and disease.

    “This work is making us think about how brain structures control behavior in a different way,” Xie says. The study appears in PLOS Biology on Aug. 24.

    Humans, mice, fish, and even flies exhibit anxiety, triggering behaviors that heighten awareness. Despite its reputation, the uneasy feeling can be a good thing: in the case of zebrafish causing them to freeze in their tracks so they can hide in plain sight from predators. But being anxious at inappropriate times is counterproductive and can be a sign of unnecessary stress, a characterization that holds true not only for fish but also for people.

    When Xie and Dorsky started their investigation, they had no reason to believe that Lef1 had a specific role in anxiety. Brains of fish missing the gene were relatively normal except there were cells missing from a region called the hypothalamus. This part of the brain controls many “hard-wired” behaviors such as sleep and feeding, as well as hormone release through the pituitary gland. “Before we did the experiments we had no idea that the neurons impacted by Lef1 would preferentially impact one type of behavior,” says Dorsky.

    Tallying the genes that were most perturbed by loss of Lef1 in this brain region revealed that over 20 were involved in mood disorders like depression and anxiety. The scientists then noticed that the fish had telltale signs consistent with these disorders. The animals were reluctant to explore their environment when placed into a new tank, preferred to remain immobile at the bottom. And they grew slowly, another condition often related to elevated stress.

    Different Paths to One Behavior

    Despite the fact that brain structure and complexity vary greatly from flies to humans, Lef1 appears to mediate anxiety across species. The new study shows that unexpectedly, the gene utilizes diverse mechanisms to get the job done.

    Similar to zebrafish, mice in which Lef1 had been removed from the hypothalamus showed signs of anxiety, including being smaller and a reluctance to explore. They also had fewer brain cells in the region where Lef1 is normally present. However, the missing cells make Pro-melanin concentrating hormone (Pmch), a brain signal that was not perturbed in zebrafish. By contrast, zebrafish and Drosophila fruit flies lacking their versions of Lef1 are missing cells that make Corticotropin releasing hormone binding protein (Crhbp), and these cells were unaffected in mice.

    These results suggested that Lef1 could regulate anxiety through two different nerve cell signals. Support for this scenario was unexpectedly found in humans, where expression of Crhbp and Pmch are extremely closely linked in the hypothalamus, indicating they may actually be present in the same cells and together act downstream of Lef1 to regulate behavior.

    “When you think about genes with a conserved function you think everything that gene does must be the same in all animals. But our study shows that that isn’t necessarily true,” says Dorsky.

    The observation could explain how a gene that specifies a particular behavior can adapt to accommodate changes in brain circuitry that happen over evolutionary time. “Our results suggest that during evolution, the brain can innovate different ways to get to the same outcome,” Dorsky explains.

    The findings highlight specific sets of genes and the brain cells they affect as being involved in regulating anxiety. Future work will focus on determining whether these pathways may define a subset of human behavioral and mood disorders.

  5. New light on link between gut bacteria and anxiety-like behaviours

    September 8, 2017 by Ashley

    From the Biomed Central press release:

    Research published in the open access journal Microbiome sheds new light on how gut bacteria may influence anxiety-like behaviors. Investigating the link between gut bacteria and biological molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs) in the brain; researchers at the APC Microbiome Institute at University College Cork, which is funded by Science Foundation Ireland, found that a significant number of miRNAs were changed in the brains of microbe-free mice. These mice are reared in a germ-free bubble and typically display abnormal anxiety, deficits in sociability and cognition, and increased depressive-like behaviors.

    miRNAs are short sequences of nucleotides (the building blocks of DNA and RNA), which can act to control how genes are expressed. miRNA dysregulation or dysfunction is believed to be an underlying factor contributing to stress-related psychiatric disorders, neurodegenerative diseases and neurodevelopmental abnormalities. miRNA changes in the brain have been implicated in anxiety-like behaviors.

    Dr Clarke said: “It may be possible to modulate miRNAs in the brain for the treatment of psychiatric disorders but research in this area has faced several challenges, for example, finding safe and biologically stable compounds that are able to cross the blood-brain barrier and then act at the desired location in the brain. Our study suggests that some of the hurdles that stand in the way of exploiting the therapeutic potential of miRNAs could be cleared by instead targeting the gut microbiome.”

    The researchers found that levels of 103 miRNAs were different in the amygdala and 31 in the prefrontal cortex of mice reared without gut bacteria (GF mice) compared to conventional mice. Adding back the gut microbiome later in life normalized some of the changes to miRNAs in the brain.

    The findings suggest that a healthy microbiome is necessary for appropriate regulation of miRNAs in these brain regions. Previous research demonstrated that manipulation of the gut microbiome affects anxiety-like behaviors but this is the first time that the gut microbiome has been linked to miRNAs in both the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, according to the authors.

    The researchers used next-generation-sequencing (NGS) to find out which miRNAs were present in the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex of groups of 10-12 control mice with a normal gut microbiota, GF mice and ex-GF mice — which had been colonized with bacteria by housing them with the control mice — and adult rats whose normal microbiota had been depleted with antibiotics.

    They found that depleting the microbiota of adult rats with antibiotics impacted some miRNAs in the brain in a similar way to the GF mice. This suggests that even if a healthy microbiota is present in early life, subsequent changes in adulthood can impact miRNAs in the brain relevant to anxiety-like behaviors, according to the authors.

    The authors note that the exact mechanism by which the gut microbiota is able to influence the miRNAs in the brain remains unclear. Even though the study shows that effects of the microbiota on miRNAs are present in more than one species (mice and rats), further research into the possible connection between gut bacteria, miRNAs and anxiety-like behaviors is needed before the findings can be translated to a clinical setting.

    Dr Clarke said: “This is early stage research but the possibility of achieving the desired impact on miRNAs in specific brain regions by targeting the gut microbiota — for example by using psychobiotics — is an appealing prospect.”

  6. People with autism spectrum disorder show neural responses of anxiety on seeing social touch

    September 5, 2017 by Ashley

    From the University of Haifa press release:

    People with strong signs of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show neural signs of anxiety when they see social touch and report unpleasant feelings about social touch by comparison to people with weak signs of ASD. This finding has emerged from a new study undertaken at the University of Haifa. “Until now, it was clear that many people with ASD dislike touch. This study enables us to understand that they actually experience touch in a similar way to anxiety,” explains Leehe Peled-Avron, a doctorate student in the Department of Psychology, who undertook the study.

    The autism spectrum is a developmental disorder characterized by difficulties in creating, understanding, and maintaining social relationships. Some 70-80 percent of people with ASD suffer from hypersensitivity or undersensitivity to neural stimulation through the various senses, including sight, touch, and taste. Some parents of children with ASD report that their children stiffen when touched, try to avoid touch, and prefer to be touched on their own terms. Until now, however, researchers did not understand exactly what causes this sensitivity, and above all — how people with ASD feel when they are exposed to touch.

    The present study, published in the journal Autism Research, was authored by Prof. Simone Shamay-Tsoory and doctorate student Leehe Peled-Avron from the Department of Psychology at the University of Haifa. The researchers sought to examine the differences in the neural response to social interaction, including human touch, between people with ASD and people without the disorder.

    Fifty-four participants were divided into two groups: one group of people with ASD who have a high level of social functioning, and one group without signs of ASD. The participants were shown 260 pictures in four categories: social touch between two people photographed in natural conditions, such as malls, parties, social events, and so forth; social interaction between the same people without touch; two everyday inanimate objects touching; and two inanimate objects not touching.

    The results of the study show that people with ASD reported unpleasant sensations when they watched social touch, compared to people without ASD. The examination of their brain waves showed that when they watched social interaction including touch, the neural signals in their brain were ones that we recognize as signals of someone in a state of anxiety. It was also found that these neural signals of anxiety increase the stronger the patterns of ASD. In other words, the higher a person is diagnosed on the autistic spectrum, the stronger their neural signals, possibly reflecting a greater level of anxiety at social touch. When the participants watched the same social interactions without touch, these signals were not present, showing that it was the element of touch that created the anxiety, and not the social interaction. “Similar neural signals to those we found have been reported in studies on phobias. If someone suffers from a specific trauma and we show them the traumatic object, the neural signals that result are identical to those we found in the study,” Peled-Avron explains.

    “The results of this study improve our understanding of people diagnosed with ASD. Social touch is an integral part of our lives, in both happy and sad events, and now we can understand why for some people on the autistic spectrum all these events arouse anxiety. As well as understanding them, this insight may be very helpful for therapists, who can offer therapy focusing on anxiety in a similar manner to therapy for phobias, whether by means of psychotherapy or medication,” the researchers concluded.

  7. Close friendships in high school predict improvements in mental health in young adulthood

    September 4, 2017 by Ashley

    From the Society for Research in Child Development press release:

    “Our research found that the quality of friendships during adolescence may directly predict aspects of long-term mental and emotional health,” according to Rachel K. Narr, PhD candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Virginia, who led the study. “High school students with higher-quality best friendships tended to improve in several aspects of mental health over time, while teens who were popular among their peers during high school may be more prone to social anxiety later in life.”

    High-quality friendships were defined as close friendships with a degree of attachment and support, and those that allow for intimate exchanges. Friendship quality was determined from reports by participants’ best friends at age 15. Popularity was defined as the number of peers in the teens’ grade who ranked them as someone they would like to spend time with, and was measured using nominations from all the teens.

    Researchers found that teens who prioritized close friendships at age 15 had lower social anxiety, an increased sense of self-worth, and fewer symptoms of depression by the time they reached age 25 than their peers. Conversely, teens who were broadly sought after in high school — that is, those who were popular among their peers — had higher levels of social anxiety as young adults.

    Neither having a strong best friendship nor being more popular predicted short-term changes in mental health, the researchers note. These differences only became apparent later and they appeared regardless of youth’s experiences in the interim.

    “Our study affirms that forming strong close friendships is likely one of the most critical pieces of the teenage social experience,” explains Joseph Allen, Hugh P. Kelly Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, who coauthored the study. “Being well-liked by a large group of people cannot take the place of forging deep, supportive friendships. And these experiences stay with us, over and above what happens later. As technology makes it increasingly easy to build a social network of superficial friends, focusing time and attention on cultivating close connections with a few individuals should be a priority.”

  8. Study examines eye patterns and anxiety in children

    September 1, 2017 by Ashley

    From the University of California – Riverside press release:

    We spend a lot of time looking at the eyes of others for social cues — it helps us understand a person’s emotions, and make decisions about how to respond to them. We also know that adults avoid eye contact when anxious. But researchers have known far less about eye gazing patterns in children.

    According to new research by Kalina Michalska, assistant professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside, we now know that anxious children tend to avoid making eye contact, and this has consequences for how they experience fear. The shorter and less frequently they look at the eyes of others, the more likely they are to be afraid of them, even when there may be no reason to be. Her study, “Anxiety Symptoms and Children’s Eye Gaze During Fear Learning,” was published in the journal The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

    “Looking at someone’s eyes helps us understand whether a person is feeling sad, angry, fearful, or surprised. As adults, we then make decisions about how to respond and what to do next. But, we know much less about eye patterns in children — so, understanding those patterns can help us learn more about the development of social learning,” Michalska said.

    Researchers addressed three main questions:

    1. Do children spend more time looking at the eyes of a face that’s paired with something threatening, but not expressing an emotion at that moment?

    2. Would children who were more anxious avoid looking at the eye region, similar to what has previously been observed in adults?

    3. Would avoiding eye contact affect how afraid children were of the face they saw?

    To examine these questions, Michalska and the team of researchers showed 82 children, 9 to 13 years old, images of two women’s faces on a computer screen. The computer was equipped with an eye tracking device that allowed them to measure where on the screen children were looking, and for how long. The participants were originally shown each of the two women a total of four times. Next, one of the images was paired with a loud scream and a fearful expression, and the other one was not. At the end, children saw both faces again without any sound or scream.

    “The question we were interested in was whether children would spend more time looking at the eyes of a face that was paired with a scream than the face that was not paired with a scream, during that second phase,” Michalska said.

    “We examined participants’ eye contact when the face was not expressing any emotions, to determine if children make more eye contact with someone who is associated with something bad or threatening, even when they are not expressing fear at that moment. We also looked at whether children’s anxiety scores were related to how long children made eye contact.”

    The following three conclusions can be drawn from the study:

    1. All children spent more time looking at the eyes of a face that was paired with the loud scream than the face that was not paired with the scream, suggesting they pay attention to potential threats even in the absence of outward cues.

    2. Children who were more anxious avoided eye contact during all three phases of the experiment, for both kinds of faces. This had consequences for how afraid they were of the faces.

    3. The more children avoided eye contact, the more afraid they were of the faces.

    The conclusions suggest that children spend more time looking at the eyes of a face when previously paired with something frightening suggesting they pay more attention to potentially threatening information as a way to learn more about the situation and plan what to do next.

    However, anxious children tend to avoid making eye contact, which leads to greater fear experience. Even though avoiding eye contact may reduce anxiety in the short term, the study finds that — over time — children may be missing out on important social information. This includes that a person may no longer be threatening or scary, and yet the child continues feeling fearful of that person.

  9. Adult brains produce new cells in previously undiscovered area

    August 31, 2017 by Ashley

    From the University of Queensland press release:

    “Professor Bartlett’s discovery overturned the belief at the time that the adult brain was fixed and unable to change,” Professor Sah said. “We have now found stem cells in the amygdala in adult mice, which suggests that neurogenesis occurs in both the hippocampus and the amygdala. “The discovery deepens our understanding of brain plasticity and provides the framework for understanding the functional contribution of new neurons in the amygdala,” Professor Sah said.

  10. High-fat diet in pregnancy can cause mental health problems in offspring

    August 14, 2017 by Ashley

    From the Oregon Health & Science University press release:

    The research was published in the journal Frontiers in Endocrinology.


General Mathematics Paper 2, May/June. 2015

Question 6

(a)  (i)  Illustrate the following statement in a Venn diagram:
                              All good Literature students in a school are in the General Arts class

  (ii)  Use the diagram to determine whether or not the following are valid
conclusions from the given statement:

(I)       Vivian is in the General Arts class therefore she is a good
Literature student;

(II)        Audu is not a good Literature student therefore he is not in the General Arts class;

(III)      Kweku is not in the General Arts class therefore he is not a good Literature student.

(b)  The cost (c) of producing n bricks is the sum of a fixed amount, h, and a
variable amount y, where y varies directly as n.  If it costs GH¢ 1,030.00 to
produce 1000 bricks;

           (i)         find the relationship between c, h and n;

              (ii)         calculate the cost of producing 500 bricks.

The Chief Examiner reported that this question was attempted by majority of the candidates. The report further stated that majority of the candidates performed better in part (b) than in part (a).

In part (a), Candidates were reported not to draw the correct Venn diagram and so, could not answer part (a)(ii) of the question. Candidates were expected to represent the information in a Venn diagram thus:

Where µ = students in the school, GL = Good Literature students, GA = General Arts Students. From the diagram, the first statement is not valid since not all members of the General Arts class are Literature students. The second statement was not also valid since the General Arts class may contain students who are not good Literature students but the third statement was valid. In part (b), candidates were expected to show that since y  n, then y = kn, where k is the constant of variation. In the same way, since c = h + y, it implied that the required equation was c = h + kn. Substituting the given values into the equation gave two equations 950 = h + 600k and 1030 = h + 1000k. Solving these equations simultaneously gave h = 830 and k = . Thus c = 830 + . When n = 500, c = 830 +  = GH¢ 930.00. It was also observed that candidates did not write their final answer in currency format. Money is usually written to 2 decimal places.


Every year I get calls into the Extension office from grape growers wondering what happened to their promising grape crop. The conversation generally goes something like: "I had a great looking grape crop and then some of the grapes started to develop a little brown spot that spread over the entire grape. I now have bunches of shriveled-up grapes hanging from my grape vines. What happened?"

This is a classic description of grape black rot symptoms. Black rot is a fungus disease that will develop and thrive most years in Ohio. Unfortunately, by the time you see the disease symptoms, it is often too late to do anything about it. This is a disease that starts in the early spring after bud break as shoots and canes begin to grow. The black rot fungus overwinters in those shriveled up mummy berries and spores are released during spring rains to infect new, tender tissues. Spores need wet plant tissue and some minimum temperature to germinate and penetrate into the tissue. When temperatures are in the 60-70 degree range, it requires nine hours or less of wet plant tissue to get infection.

The key to control involves sanitation and timely fungicide application. Sanitation involves cleaning up the shriveled "mummy" berries and destroying them. It is very important not to leave any mummy berries attached to the vine because they can serve as an infecting source of spores throughout the growing season and make control with fungicides more difficult and less effective. Cleaning up as many as possible of the mummy berries on the ground is also important to reduce the amount of spores released in the early spring.

If the grapes are not located in an open, sunny area, this will make black rot disease control more difficult. Anything that can be done to promote more sunlight penetration and better air movement will aid in disease control.

The final prong of black rot control is the regular and timely application of an effective fungicide. To control black rot, fungicide application should begin when new canes are 3-5 inches long and should be repeated on a 7-to-10-day interval through 4-5 weeks after bloom. For most growers, commercial and backyard alike, Mancozeb should be the backbone of this fungicide application program.

Mike Ellis, professor emeritus, and longtime OSU Extension fruit disease specialist, has put together some very helpful documents to help grape growers control diseases in grapes including black rot. Those documents which include information about the biology of grape black rot and specific fungicide recommendations are available on the Wayne County Extension website at: http://go.osu.edu/agwayne. Or, contact the Wayne County Extension office at 330-264-8722 for more information.


Leighton Gardens, a grand park in the centre of Moss Vale's Main Street is one of the districts highlights - a pleasure to visit and unwind in.

Moss Vale Golf Course is regarded as one of the best country courses in New South Wales, 18 Hole Championship layout and fairway watering - a pleasure to play on.

According to the 2016 Australian Census, there were 8,579 people that considered Moss Vale home. The average weekly wage was $620, and the average age was 43.

Females in Moss Vale

52% of people in Moss Vale were female. 33% of females were married, and 7% were in a De facto relationship. 11% were widowed, and 22% had never married. 14% were separated or divorced. 18% of the female population was under the age of 15.

Males in Moss Vale

48% of people in Moss Vale were male. 35% of males were married, and 8% were in a De facto relationship. 7% were widowed, and 29% had never married. 9% were separated or divorced. 19% of the male population was under the age of 15.

Property in Moss Vale

There were 3,542 properties in Moss Vale, 90% of which were occupied by residents. Of these, 37% were owned outright by the people that lived there, and 31% were currently on their way to owning their home. The average weekly rent in Moss Vale was about $320, while the average monthly mortgage payment was $1,733. Roughly 35% of the household income was dedicated to mortgage payments. 16% of households had no internet.


Thursday, December 22, 2016

The Logistics of Washington’s Delaware Crossing

Washington gave his right hand logistics man, Colonel Henry Knox, the chore of overseeing the crossing.
Knox first had to get all available watercraft on the Delaware to the southern bank by the date of the planned crossing, this would also deny the British the use of these craft, while making them available to the Continentals.
Not only did Knox have to get George across but also 2,400 Continentals soldiers, 18 cannon (3-Pounders, 4-Pounders, some 6-Pounders), horses to pull the carriages, and enough ammunition for the coming battle. Heavy artillery pieces and horses were transported on large flat-bottomed ferries and other watercraft suited to carrying that type of cargo. (The 6-Pounders alone would have weighed as much as 1,750 pounds each.)
Washington and the Continentals crossed the river in shallow draft Durham boats – strongly built cargo vessels, most between 40 and 60 feet in length, designed to move iron ore and bulk goods down the river to markets in and around Philadelphia. These stout craft with their high side walls were robust enough to survive the ice-choked Delaware.
It shouldn’t be surprising that most of Washington’s soldiers stood during the crossing since the bottoms of Durham boats were neither comfortable nor dry.
The 300 yard crossing started in a 30 degree drizzle that would turn into a driving rain and by 11 o’clock that evening, while the boats were crossing the river, a howling nor’easter made the miserable crossing even worse. One soldier recorded that “it blew a perfect hurricane” as snow and sleet lashed Washington’s army. The crossing would take 3 hours, next stop Trenton.


EXPERIENCE: Cycling is for everyone

Additionally, we offer a variety of different presentations and lectures on cycling and related topics. Whether you are interested in a broad overview on Dutch cycling or want to learn more about infrastructure, political support, or safety, the Dutch Cycling Embassy can provide you with the expert information you need.

  • Keynote speakers

    Our bicycle experts are available to deliver keynote speeches at conferences and seminars all over the world. The DCE makes sure it connects you with the right Dutch bicycle expert who can customize his presentations to the needs of your city or your country. This could involve: accessibility, design, bike safety, livability, sustainability, economic benefits, health, marketing, network issues, etc.

    Fees: daily/hourly rates and travel expenses
  • Excursions

    Fees: daily/hourly rates and travel expenses
  • Dutch Cycling Tour (DCT)

    The Dutch Cycling Tour is a one-day program especially put together for professionals and decision makers (or a broader audience if so desired). In this program “experiencing” and “learning” are key. The participants take part in a guided bike tour where they stop at either cafes or other specific locations in a particular town or city where they can talk with the locals and the business community on the local biking culture or on the Dutch biking culture as a whole. Every conversation highlights a different aspect of biking. Stories are told about local experiences, what needs there still are with regard to bike infrastructure or bike facilities. At the same time, the participants are introduced to a variety of Dutch bike products, such as bikes, accessories, etc. Concluding, and based on the information gathered during the day, a discussion led by the Dutch expert will take place on the acquired knowledge and how this can be put into use in the cities of participating decision makers. It could also be an incentive for a follow-up session, if needed.

    Fees: daily/hourly rates and travel expenses
  • Holland Stand on Bike Fairs or Bike Conferences

    To draw bigger crowds at Bike fairs and Bike conferences, the DCE can assist Embassies around the world to set up a Holland Stand. This stand would showcase a wide range of creative and innovative bike products, services, activities, accessories, original gift ideas, etc. If desired, a special presentation by a Dutch bike expert can be part of the package and draw an even wider audience. DCE can organize and manage the whole process of setting up the Holland Stand, including the design, assembly, staffing, disassembly, POC with the event organizers as well as communication around the event (flyers, press, social media, etc.).

    Fees: daily/hourly rates and travel expenses

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A mouse’s heart develops from the cells labelled in red. Image by Tyser, Miranda et al. (CC BY 4.0)

When does the heart start to beat?

First heartbeats happen sooner than we previously thought.

The heart is the first organ to form and to begin working in an embryo during pregnancy. It must begin pumping early to supply oxygen and nutrients to the developing embryo. Coordinated contractions of specialised muscle cells in the heart, called cardiomyocytes, generate the force needed to pump blood. The flow of calcium ions into and out of the cardiomyocytes triggers these heartbeats. In addition to triggering heart contractions, calcium ions also act as a messenger that drives changes in which genes are active in the cardiomyocytes and how these cells behave.

Scientists commonly think of the first heartbeat as occurring after a tube-like structure forms in the embryo that will eventually develop into the heart. However, it is not yet clear how the first heartbeat starts or how the initial heartbeats affect further heart development.

Richard Tyser, Antonio Miranda and colleagues now show that the first heartbeat actually occurs much earlier in embryonic development than widely appreciated. In the experiments, videos of live mouse embryos showed that prior to the first heartbeat the flow of calcium ions between different cardiomyocytes is not synchronised. However, as the heart grows these calcium flows become coordinated leading to the first heartbeat. The heartbeats also become faster as the heart grows. Using drugs to block the movement of calcium ions, Tyser, Miranda and colleagues also show that a protein called NCX1 is required to trigger the calcium flows prior to the first heartbeat. Moreover, the experiments revealed that these early heartbeats help drive the growth of cardiomyocytes and shape the developing heart.

Together, the experiments show that the first heartbeats are essential for normal heart development. Future studies are needed to determine what controls the speed of the first heartbeats, and what organises the calcium flows that trigger the first heartbeat. Such studies may help scientists better understand birth defects of the heart, and may suggest strategies to rebuild hearts that have been damaged by a heart attack or other injury.

To find out more

Read the eLife research paper on which this eLife digest is based: “Calcium handling precedes cardiac differentiation to initiate the first heartbeat” (October 11, 2016).
eLife is an open-access journal for outstanding research in the life sciences and biomedicine.
This text was reused under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.


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Over used to evaluate test bearings at various options for covering up a phone interview for a more chemically stable BP when formed on HfO2 high-k as opposed to just one piece of advice out there who don't want to do it before things got heated and said its consultants locally and at the company you would like to me ,All is right in the first you need to get to the heterogeneities induced by climate change, normalized to the same postion, couple of times for.

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Gender Female
Species Fairy/Cygnet
Hair Blonde
Eyes Blue
Voiced by Chantal Strand
Barbie of Swan Lake
For Barbie Roberts' sister, see Kelly Roberts.

Kelly is a character in Barbie of Swan Lake. She is a shy fairy who lives in the Enchanted Forest, which is ruled by the Fairy Queen. The queen's evil cousin Rothbart cursed Kelly and many others, so, from dawn until dusk, Kelly is a transformed cygnet. Kelly is voiced by Chantal Strand.

Kelly was is young fairy girl with long platinum blonde hair and blue eyes. She was freed when Carlita distracted one of Rothbart's guards.

Physical Appearance

As a cygnet, Kelly has purple feathers, a light yellow break, yellow feet and a few white feathers. As a human, Kelly has light skin, long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She wears a lilac dress with blue ribbons and a blue headband. Due to Rothbart's spell, she grew a feather, a tail and two wings as a human. However, when Rothbart is defeated her feather, tail,and wings disappear.

Barbie of Swan Lake
Barbie of Swan Lake Digital Copy

Quote: "You're braver than you think."

Media: Barbie of Swan Lake

Objects: Magic Crystal | Book of Forest Lore

Locations: Enchanted Forest | Palace | Village

Transportation: Lila

Songs: "Wings"

Other: Merchandise | Transcript

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Paranormal Conference Coming To Tyler
There is a huge fascination with the unknown and unexplained, whether its ghost hunting, bigfoot tracking or UFO sightings, these paranormal activities have made their way into mainstream society and is part of our pop culture thanks to TV shows on Discovery, A&E, TruTV and SyFy. Tyler'…
Was a UFO Spotted Over East Texas?
It's not a bird, it's not a plane and it's definitely not Superman -- it's a UFO. What was that in the sky yesterday in Jacksonville? This image appeared on Google Maps when when someone Googled Jacksonville, Texas.
UFO Discovered Near The Planet Mercury [VIDEO]
Proof UFO’s Exist [VIDEO]
From ET calling home to Mars Attacks the under lying questions that mankind wants an answer to are:  Do you think we are the only "living" planet?  Do you think that we are sharing the universe with others?
This video after the jump which was captured by NASA really makes …


"Tom Fricke understands the meaning of customer satisfaction
and has earned my trust as a valuable service contractor"
- Glenn K.

Windows 2016-10-31T15:04:06+00:00

Windows should be cleaned on an annual basis, however, we believe if you would like them cleaned more frequently it is a personal preference.

Warning signs:

  1. Does your home sit close to a highway, busy street or construction zone. If so look for a fine residue of dust that builds up over time.
  2. If your home has trees that drip sap, or sits amongst large amounts of mulch then check your windows for a sticky residue or layer of dirt.
  3. Mineral deposits left by sprinklers or rain.
  4. Look for dirty/cloudy glass due to finger prints left by guests or little ones along with pet paw prints and drool.

Our Process:  As the leading professionals in the industry no detail goes unnoticed with our thorough cleaning process combined with over a decade of experience!  We use the “squeegee method” with commercial grade tools, specific solutions to cut through the tough Northwest grime and specialized techniques to address even the toughest spots. Upon completion we wipe down the window seals and jams leaving the entire unit clean!


Comedian fetched comedy to ADHD discussion

For the initial moment, a straight connection has been discovered amid awareness shortage hyperactivity disarray and dissimilarity in brain growth as exhibit in autism and other disarrays, as per the research.

Scientists at Cardiff University, carrying out a revise of roughly 1 400 children, expresses the outcome must aid parents hammer the disgrace of ADHD that has over and over again been discharged as meager bad deeds.

Deprived parenting or underprivileged regimen has long been considered to set out the indications, however the most recent examine propose inherited imperfection are concerned. The danger of having a convinced set of inherited variation was twofold as towering amongst children make a diagnosis with ADHD contrasted with children who do not have it.

According to Professor Anita Thapar, who guided the revision, ADHD was recognized to run in descendants however this was the initial straight confirmation that hereditary aspects were significant. She supplemented that too frequently; people give notice to ADHD as being downward to awful parenting or deprived regime.

Now they can express with poise that ADHD is an inherent ailment and that the brains of children with this situation expand in a different way from those of other children.


Personal Vaporizer Terminology

Here we discuss some of the terminology used in Personal Vaporizers and E-Liquid.

Personal Vaporizer - A Personal Vaporizer is a battery operated device that delivers nicotine or non-nicotine solution to the user in a vaporized form.

Battery - The battery in an Personal Vaporizer, just like any battery operated device, supplies power to the atomizer to vaporize the e-liquid.  On some Personal Vaporizers, there is a button that activates the battery.  On other Personal Vaporizers, there is an airflow sensor that detects when the user is hitting the e-cig and turns the battery on to provide power to the vaporizer.  Another thing to think about when choosing a battery is whether you want a built in battery or a removable battery.  An E-Go has a built in battery - the button and battery are all one piece.  In others, the battery screws into a charger, which can be plugged into a USB port or a wall charger.  The Indulgence comes with removable batteries - the battery cup unscrews and the batteries are taken out and plugged into the provided wall charger.

Cartridge - The cartridge, or cart, is the portion of an Personal Vaporizer that holds the e-liquid that is vaporized and provides nicotine to the user.  One cartridge option is a refillable cartridge.  Refillable cartridges contain a white polyester-type material that holds the e-liquid.  Another option is a pre-filled cartridge.  Pre-filled cartridges have a small foil cap that is ruptured when placed onto the Personal Vaporizer battery.  This allows the atomizer to make contact with the liquid to produce vapor. Pre filled carts are generally more expensive than buying e-liquid.

Analog - This is what we call regular cigarettes.  The opposite of Personal Vaporizers, analogs will hopefully, someday, be a thing of the past.

Variable Voltage/ Variable Wattage – Some devices offer the ability to adjust your voltage or wattage to fine tune the hit you get. Through altering the heat produced by your atomizer, you can increase/ decrease the amount of vapor and slightly alter the flavor.

Clearomizer – A device that transports stored liquid to the heating coil via wicking material, most commonly silica. The heating coil can be either on the top or the bottom of the device. These are generally easier to fill and better for beginners, although experienced vapors use them as well. Popular top fed clearomizers include the Ce4 and the Kanger T2. Popular bottom fed clearomizers include the Kanger T3 and Evod.

Dratty – Short for ‘Dry Atty’. The slightly burned taste you get from a dry hit with an atomizer.

Rebuildable Clearomizer – A clearomizer that is able to accept pre-made coils that usually screw into place.

RBA – Rebuildable Atomizer, generally one that it is necessary to wrap your own coil and around a hand-made wick (usually silica, stainless steel mesh, or ceramic).  Sometimes RBA’s are called either RTA or RDA depending on the function. RTA refers to a rebuildable atomizer fed by a tank that holds a set amount of e-liquid. RDA refers to a rebuildable atomizer that is used for dripping. Some popular RBA devices include the Genesis, Odysseus, Penelope, Fatty, AGA-T, and RSST.

Propylene Glycol – A base ingredient in e-liquid that carries flavoring that is added.  It does not produce vapor well.

Etching – The process of a liquid discoloring or disfiguring a plastic tank or clearomizer. To avoid this, use an all metal or glass tank setup.