November 30, 2006

Michael Crichton's Next

Michael Crichton, author of popular books such as Jurassic Park has written a new novel about genetic engineering, titled Next. I didn't much like his previous book which expressed unwarranted reservations about the reality of global warming, but this bit from a review of his book seems to me to be right on the money:
Slick, sanctimonious Dr. Robert Bellarmino at the National Institutes of Health touts future genetic cures he doubts will ever happen. Bellarmino knows that individual genes don't determine specific traits such as homosexuality, violence, high IQ, short stature or resistance to Alzheimer's disease; their interaction with other genes and with the environment is staggeringly complex. But it's good for the research business to pretend otherwise. When doctors bend the rules in long-odds attempts to provide the cures for inherited illnesses that the public demands, Bellarmino works to shield them from censure.

Nature article on Antikythera mechanism

From the BBC:
For example, the Moon sometimes moves slightly faster in the sky than at others because of the satellite's elliptic orbit.

To overcome this, the designer of the calculator used a "pin-and-slot" mechanism to connect two gear-wheels that introduced the necessary variations.

"When you see it your jaw just drops and you think: 'bloody hell, that's clever'. It's a brilliant technical design," said Professor Mike Edmunds.

The New York Times:
The mechanism, presumably used in preparing calendars for seasons of planting and harvesting and fixing religious festivals, had at least 30, possibly 37, hand-cut bronze gear-wheels, the researchers reported. An ingenious pin-and-slot device connecting two gear-wheels induced variations in the representation of lunar motions according to the Hipparchos model of the Moon’s elliptical orbit around Earth.

The functions of the mechanism were determined by the numbers of teeth in the gears. The 53-tooth count of certain gears, the researchers said, was “powerful confirmation of our proposed model of Hipparchos’ lunar theory.”

Jo Marchant writing in Nature:
The researchers realized that the ratios of the gear-wheels involved produce a motion that closely mimics the varying motion of the Moon around Earth, as described by Hipparchus. When the Moon is close to us it seems to move faster. And the closest part of the Moon's orbit itself makes a full rotation around the Earth about every nine years. Hipparchus was the first to describe this motion mathematically, working on the idea that the Moon's orbit, although circular, was centred on a point offset from the centre of Earth that described a nine-year circle. In the Antikythera Mechanism, this theory is beautifully translated into mechanical form. "It's an unbelievably sophisticated idea," says Tony Freeth, a mathematician who worked out most of the mechanics for Edmunds' team. "I don't know how they thought of it."

Charette also hopes the new Antikythera reconstruction will encourage scholars to take the device more seriously, and serve as a reminder of the messy nature of history. "It's still a popular notion among the public, and among scientists thinking about the history of their disciplines, that technological development is a simple progression," he says. "But history is full of surprises."

François Charette in Nature:

From the paper:
The Antikythera Mechanism shows great economy and ingenuity of design. It stands as a witness to the extraordinary technological potential of Ancient Greece, apparently lost within the Roman Empire.

Nature 444, 587-591 (30 November 2006)

T. Freeth et al.

November 29, 2006

The Gagauz of Moldova

Annals of Human Genetics (Online Early)

The Gagauz, a Linguistic Enclave, are not a Genetic Isolate

Ivan Nasidze et al.

November 23, 2006

Copy number variation in humans

From the paper:
We obtained the optimal clustering with the assumption of three ancestral populations, with the African, European and Asian populations clearly differentiated

Nature 444, 444-454 (23 November 2006)

Global variation in copy number in the human genome

Richard Redon et al.

Link (Free access)

November 17, 2006

Phylogeography of mtDNA haplogroup L1c

Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2006 Oct 5; [Epub ahead of print]

Phylogeography of the human mitochondrial L1c haplogroup: Genetic signatures of the prehistory of Central Africa.

Interindividual variation of human mitochondrial DNA has been extensively studied over the last two decades, and its usefulness for reconstructing evolutionary relationships of extant populations has been proved. However, some mitochondrial lineages still need to be studied using a combination of larger and tailored datasets and increased level of resolution in order to shed light on their origin and on the processes underlying their present distribution. In this study, we analyze the phylogeny of the L1c haplogroup of human mitochondrial DNA using sequence data from hypervariable regions 1 and 2 obtained from 455 individuals (extracted from a total sampling of 2542 individuals) belonging to sub-Saharan African and African-American populations. We propose a substantial revision of L1c phylogeny, by introducing one new sub-haplogroup (L1c4), two new L1c1 clades (L1c1b and L1c1c), and by reassigning the previous L1c1a1 sequences to a clade which we termed L1c5. The new phylogeny encompasses distinct lineages with different evolutionary histories. In fact, based on population frequency, internal variation and mismatch distribution, we propose that L1c1b, L1c1c and L1c2 originated in Bantu ancestors, whereas L1c1a, L1c4 and L1c5 evolved among Western Pygmies. The population structure of L1c is not comparable to any known mitochondrial or, even, Y-chromosomal haplogroup, and challenges the current view that most of mtDNA variation in Pygmies might reflect admixture with Bantu or a persistence of plesiomorphic characters. In fact, the unique feature of the L1c is that it retains a signature of a phase common to the ancestors of the Bantu and Western Pygmies, while encompassing some specific sub-clades which can indicate their divergence. This allowed us to attempt a phylogenetically based assessment of the evolutionary relationships between the two groups. Taking into consideration estimates of the time to the most recent common ancestor of L1c and its clades together with archaeological and paleoclimatological evidence, we propose that the ancestors of Bantu and Western Pygmies separated between 60 and 30kya.

Human eye color explained by a three-SNP haplotype

A very exciting new preprint in AJHG describes how a haplotype defined by three SNPs, i.e., single-letter changes in the genetic code, describes most variation in human eye color. I am sure that this paper will make the news once its edited version appears, but this is very exciting development for many different reasons.
  • First, it shows that a very striking observable difference among humans can be explained by minute differences in the genetic code. This should be a reminder to those who engage in grocery-style genetics. Quantity matters not.
  • Second, eye color is an important phenotypical character that people actually care about. Genetics becomes exciting when it's about stuff that people are interested in (intelligence, eye color, the chance of getting cancer before 40, etc.).
  • Third, we are finally getting to the point where genetics can be used to infer characteristics of organisms that are not preserved in bones. This will doubtlessly lead to applications in ancient DNA research (see also here).

American Journal of Human Genetics (preprint)

A three-SNP haplotype in the first intron of OCA2 explains most human eye color variation

David L. Duffy, Grant W. Montgomery, Wei Chen, Zhen Zhen Zhao, Lien Le, Michael R. James, Nicholas K. Hayward, Nicholas G. Martin, Richard A. Sturm

We have previously shown that a QTL linked to the OCA2 region of 15q accounts for 74% of variation in human eye color. We conducted additional genotyping to clarify the role of the OCA2 locus in the inheritance of eye color and other pigmentary traits associated with skin cancer risk in white populations. Fifty eight synonymous and non-synonymous exonic SNPs and tagging SNPs were typed in a collection of 3839 adolescent twins, their sibs, and parents. The highest association for blue:non-blue eye color was found with three OCA2 SNPs; rs7495174 T/C, rs6497268 G/T and rs11855019 T/C (P-values of 1.02x10-61, 1.57x10-96, and 4.45x10-54 respectively) in intron 1. These three SNPs are in one major haplotype block with TGT representing 78.4% of alleles. The TGT/TGT diplotype found in 62.2% of samples was the major genotype seen to modify eye color, with a frequency of 0.905 in blue or green compared with only 0.095 in brown eye color. This genotype was also at highest frequency in subjects with light brown hair and was more frequent in fair and medium skin types, consistent with the TGT haplotype acting as a recessive modifier of lighter pigmentary phenotypes. Homozygotes for rs11855019 C/C were predominantly without freckles and had decreased mole counts. The minor population impact of the nonsynonymous coding region polymorphisms Arg305Trp and Arg419Gln associated with non-blue eyes, and the tight linkage of the major TGT haplotype within the first intron of OCA2 with blue eye color and lighter hair and skin tones, suggest that differences within the 5’ proximal regulatory control region of OCA2 gene alter expression or mRNA transcript levels and may be responsible for these associations.

November 16, 2006

Personality traits of voters for US presidential elections

Personality and Individual Differences (Article in Press)

Voters’ personality traits in presidential elections

Claudio Barbaranelli et al.

Being rich lowers mens' attractiveness to women

Personality and Individual Differences (Article in Press)

Too good to be ‘true’? The handicap of high socio-economic status in attractive males

Simon Chu et al.

Empirical evidence concerning human mate-choice preferences suggests that females should select partners on the basis of cues to genetic quality and/or ability to contribute resources to childcare. Paradoxically, while high levels of both factors should be an attractive combination to females, they might also dissuade females from entering into a relationship with such males since, by definition, they are likely to be highly attractive to other females, and therefore might increase the likelihood that such a male may cheat or desert the relationship. If so, females should be wary of entering into long-term relationships with physically attractive, high status males as compared with males of lower physical attractiveness or status. We asked females to rate a number of different males in terms of attractiveness as a long-term partner. Females were presented with attractive, average and unattractive male faces paired with lonely-hearts advertisements implying high, medium or low socio-economic status. Highest ratings were consistently given to attractive males of medium status rather than high status. We suggest that females see physically attractive, high status males as being more likely to pursue a mating strategy rather than parenting strategy. Under particular circumstances, high socio-economic status in males can be subtly counter-productive in terms of attractiveness as a long-term partner.

November 13, 2006

Culture and ratings of attractiveness of different body shapes

Evolution and Human Behavior

Changing perceptions of attractiveness as observers are exposed to a different culture

Martin J. Tovée et al.

Even facial color is attractive in women

The study I had posted about earlier.

Evolution and Human Behavior
Volume 27, Issue 6 , November 2006, Pages 433-442

Bernhard Fink et al.

Evolutionary psychologists have proposed that preferences for facial characteristics, such as symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism, may reflect adaptations for mate choice because they signal aspects of mate quality. Here, we show that facial skin color distribution significantly influences the perception of age and attractiveness of female faces, independent of facial form and skin surface topography. A set of three-dimensional shape-standardized stimulus faces—varying only in terms of skin color distribution due to variation in biological age and cumulative photodamage—was rated by a panel of naive judges for a variety of perceptual endpoints relating to age, health, and beauty. Shape- and topography-standardized stimulus faces with the homogeneous skin color distribution of young people were perceived as younger and received significantly higher ratings for attractiveness and health than analogous stimuli with the relatively inhomogeneous skin color distribution of more elderly people. Thus, skin color distribution, independent of facial form and skin surface topography, seems to have a major influence on the perception of female facial age and judgments of attractiveness and health as they may signal aspects of underlying physiological condition of an individual relevant for mate choice. We suggest that studies on human physical attractiveness and its perception need to consider the influence of visible skin condition driven by color distribution and differentiate between such effects and beauty-related traits due to facial shape and skin topography.

Female advantage in recognizing emotional facial expressions

Evolution and Human Behavior

Elizabeth Hampson et al.

November 10, 2006

Origin of mtDNA haplogroup H

U. Roostalu et al.

The Perfect comedy face

November 08, 2006

Switch to Blogger beta

I have switched the blog to Google's blogger beta. Everything seems to work fine so far, but the site feed has a new address. You might want to update it in your news reader, since I'm not sure whether the old feed will continue to be updated (I will know after posting this).

UPDATE: Yep, the old feed still works.

UPDATE: The gmail-like system of search+label rocks! I just labeled all 911 posts of the blog in a few minutes right from the dashboard. Another great feature: no more waiting on the "publishing 34%" whenever you change your template or republish a post.

Intelligence and socioeconomic success

Intelligence (in press)

Tarmo Strenze

Microcephalin haplotype from Neanderthals

Bruce Lahn continues his work on the Microcephalin haplogroup D. In a new paper in PNAS he and his team suggest that this brain gene may have introgressed into the modern human gene pool ~37kya from a separate Homo lineage, possibly the Neanderthals. Note that this is an open access article.

UPDATE (May 15, 2010): Neandertals had ancestral MCPH1 allele; hence this paper's inference is essentially falsified.

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.0606966103

Patrick D. Evans et al.

November 07, 2006

Mongoloid components in Eastern Europe

Slavs and other eastern Europeans are typically Caucasoid although one does not seldom find among them individuals with certain attenuated Mongoloid influences. The extent of Mongoloid admixture in eastern Europe will eventually be determined by autosomal admixture studies which sample the relevant source populations of the Mongoloid component in Europe, namely the Uralic and Altaic speakers of Siberia and Central Asia.

At present, the only study which studied the genomic study of a Slavic sample of Russians (Science 20 December 2002: Vol. 298. no. 5602, pp. 2381 - 2385) determined a 93% membership coefficient in the main Caucasoid cluster, with a 3% membership in the main (East Asian) Mongoloid cluster. Unfortunately Central Asian Turkic and Finno-Ugrian populations from Europe and Asia were not sampled.

The presence of Mongoloid mtDNA types in East Europe is well established, but it should be remembered that movements from the east did not usually involve large numbers of women (*). Therefore, one expects that inference from mtDNA will underestimate the total number of immigrants.

Moreover, as I have pointed out before, Turkic speakers of Central Asia were likely to possess majority components of Caucasoid Y chromosomes associated with Mongoloid mtDNA components. Today, haplogroup C chromosomes make up a large component of Y-chromosome variation in Central Asia (including the famous "Genghis Khan" line), but these were probably added (from the east), late in history, since the Mongol expansion is at the end of the great period of Altaic migrations to the west (Huns, Seljuks, Ottomans, Bulgars, etc.)

As a result a proportion of the eastern immigrants into Europe would be undetectable with Y-chromosome markers, namely the substantial fraction with Caucasoid Y chromosomes and Mongoloid mtDNA. The male immigrants of this type would impart their Y chromosomes in the regions they invaded, but not their maternal mtDNA. In the Altai-Kizhi group, for example, 71% Caucasoid Y chromosomes are associated with 76% non-Caucasoid mtDNA.

Consider a population with 3/4 Caucasoid Y chromosomes and 3/4 Mongoloid mtDNA. Consider that the migrant group consists of 3/4 men and 1/4 women. Under such circumstances we would expect approximately the same rate of Mongoloid mtDNA and Y chromosomes in the recipient population. Moreover, the inferred admixture proportion from the frequencies of Mongoloid mtDNA and Y chromosomes would underestimate the true rate of Mongoloid admixture by a factor of 2.

Unfortunately, the presence of Mongoloid Y chromosomes has not been properly studied until now. In the recent Y chromosome study of the Czech Republic for example, the main Mongoloid Y-haplogroups (C, Q, O) likely to have accompanied the women bearing the 3% Mongoloid mtDNA were not examined and could be part of the Y*, P*, and K* paragroups. Similarly, none of these haplogroups were studied in a recent study on Poland and Germany.

In conclusion:
  • The mtDNA evidence suggests a very low-level introgression of Mongoloid components into Eastern Europe.
  • The extent of this admixture is likely to be underestimated by the genetic profile of the source population and the excess of male migrants.
  • The best estimate of the admixture rate will be determined by autosomal studies that sample relevant Uralic-Altaic source populations, but is probably unlikely to amount to more than a few percentage points.
(*) Except in folk migrations such as those of the Kalmyks.

November 06, 2006

ASHG 2006 abstracts

The meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics took place this October and the abstracts of the meeting are online in a big pdf file. A few items of interest:

The genetic variation and population history in the Baltic Sea region
Sharp genetic borders within a geographically restricted region are known to exist among the populations around the northern Baltic Sea on the northern edge of Europe. We studied the population history of this area in greater detail from paternal and maternal perspectives with Y chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA markers. Over 1700 DNA samples from Finland, Karelia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden were genotyped for 18 Y-chromosomal biallelic polymorphisms and 8 microsatellite loci, together with 18 polymorphisms from the coding area of mtDNA and sequencing of the HVR1. Y chromosomal haplogroups from the biallelic data indicate both various phases of gene flow and existence of genetic barriers within the Baltic region. Haplogroup N3, being abundant on the eastern side of the Baltic, differentiates between eastern and western sides of the Baltic Sea, just like R1b that has a reverse frequency pattern to N3. The typically Scandinavian haplogroup Ia1 has a high frequency of up to 40%, separating not only Sweden but also Western Finland from the other populations. The frequency of haplogroup R1a1, most characteristic to Slavic peoples, varied substantially across the populations. In addition to biallelic markers, Y-chromosomal microsatellite loci were analyzed for a more detailed approach to the history of the paternal lineages in the region. We also analyzed mtDNA markers with special interest for sub-haplogroups of H and U, that among other haplogroups, show substantial variation between the populations (e.g. haplogroups H1, H2, T and J1). In conclusion, our current Y-chromosomal and mtDNA data suggest various incidents of gene flow from different sources, each reaching partly different areas of the Baltic region, which can be thus seen as a meeting point of a not only culturally but also genetically diverse set of populations.
Asian Nomads traces in the mitochondrial gene pool of Slavs.
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variability was studied in a sample of 179 individuals representing Czech population from west Bohemia. MtDNA analysis revealed that the majority of Czech mtDNAs belongs to the common West Eurasian mitochondrial haplogroups. However, about 3 per cent of Czech mtDNAs encompass East Eurasian lineages (A, N9a, D4, M*). Comparative analysis of published data has shown that different Slavonic populations contain small but marked amount of East Eurasian mtDNAs (e.g. 1.3 per cent in Eastern Slavs, 1.8 per cent in Western Slavs, and 1.2 per cent in Southern Slavs). It is noteworthy that Baltic populations (Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians) have avoided a marked influence of maternal lineages of East Eurasian origin (0.3-0.6 per cent). The two East Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups, Z1 and D5, are present in gene pools of North European Finnic populations (Saami, Finns, and Karelians). Unlike them, Slavonic populations in general are characterized by heterogeneous mtDNA structure, defined, in addition to Z1 and D5, by haplogroups A, C, D4, G2a, M*, N9a, F and Y. Therefore, different scenarios of female-mediated East Eurasian genetic influence on Northern and Eastern Europeans should be highlighted: (1) the most ancient, probably originated in the early Holocene, influx of Asian tribes, which brought a few selected East Asian mtDNA haplotypes (like Z and D5) to Fennoscandia (Tambets et al. 2004), and (2) gradual gene flows of historic times occurred mostly in the Middle Ages due to migrations of nomadic peoples (such as the Huns, Avars, Bulgars, Mongols) to Eastern and Central European territories inhabited mainly by Slavonic tribes. We suggest that the presence of East Eurasian mtDNA haplotypes is not original feature of gene pool of the proto-Slavs, but mostly is a consequence of admixture with Central Asian nomadic tribes, who migrated into Central and Eastern Europe in the early middle Ages.
Use of Forensic Markers in the Assessment of Population Stratification.
Assignment of individuals to population groups is important to genetic case control association studies, admixture mapping, medical risk assessment, genealogy, and forensic studies. Polymorphic sequences can be used to infer ancestry but their utility for such an application is related to the number of alleles and relative frequency differences of these alleles between the population groups under study. Multiple study designs differing in numbers and types of polymorphic markers with differing levels of informativeness make comparison of studies difficult. The use of commercially-available highly-informative markers that are used internationally in forensic applications could provide a universal first tier analysis for assignment of individuals to population groups prior to inclusion in association and admixture studies. We evaluated the utility of the PowerPlex kit of 16 markers from Promega for this purpose. Multiple population groups including African, Bengalis, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Crypto Jews, Sephardic Jews, and Dutch were genotyped using the PowerPlex kit. The data were analyzed with STRUCTURE (Pritchard et al.) using an admixture model, correlated alleles and 3 clusters. Africans, Asians (Bengalis, Koreans, Chinese and Japanese), and Caucasians (Dutch, Sephardic Jews, and Crypto Jews) were clearly delineated. Individuals showing admixture were detectable and their removal resulted in more discrete clustering. An independently collected and genotyped set of Dutch individuals was indistinguishable from the original Dutch group providing reproducibility across data sets. The sensitivity conferred by the number of markers used in the analysis was assessed by removing markers. Delineation of population groups was apparent when 14 markers were used, although clusters were noisier; however it was not possible to delineate population groups when only 8 markers were used. The use of forensic markers is a promising strategy for clustering individuals into population groups and will be an inevitable outcome of their forensic use.
Evaluation of Ancestry and Linkage Disequilibrium Sharing in Admixed Population in Mexico
National Institute of Genomic Medicine, Mexico. More than 80% of the Mexican population is considered Mestizo, resulting from the admixture of ethnic groups with Spaniards. To generate an initial estimate of ancestral contribution (AC) of populations from Europe, Africa and Asia to the Mexican Mestizos, we genotyped 104 samples from the states of Sonora (n=20), Yucatan (n=17), Guerrero (n=21), Zacatecas (n=19), Veracruz (n=18) and Guanajuato (n=8) using the 100K Affymetrix SNP array, and used data from the International HapMap Project as the parental population information. From 3,055 ancestry informative SNPs reported by Smith et al. and Choudhry et al., we identified 105 present in the 100K array and used them to calculate AC from each population to our sample. To infer AC we used Structure software under the admixture model. Based on this analysis, the average AC in our samples is 58.96% European, 10.03% African and 31.05% Asian. Sonora shows the highest European contribution (70.63%) and Guerrero the lowest (51.98%) where we also observe the highest Asian contribution (37.17%). African contribution ranges from 7.8% in Sonora to 11.13% in Veracruz. Based on these data, we grouped our population according to European AC (<50%,>70%). We used the Carlson algorithm to derive European tagSNPs from the 100K marker set. To explore Linkage Disequlibrium Sharing (LDS) between Mestizos and Europeans, we calculated the proportion of tagSNP-marker pairs that maintained an r2≥0.8 in each evaluated population. In general, comparison of LDS between European and Asian population is ~73%, whereas comparison with African population is ~40%. Mestizos from Guerrero show the lowest LDS (74%), whereas those from Sonora show the highest (77%). Similar results are seen in the group of lower (<50%)>70%) European ancestry. Our results suggest that the Mexican Mestizo population shows ancestry-based stratification that will requiere the appropriate corrections to avoid spurius results in association studies. Our results show that admixed populations have unique patterns of LD depending on levels of ancestral contribution.
European mitochondrial haplogroups exhibit differential risk of developing presbycusis.
The genetic basis of human presbycusis (age-related hearing loss) is unknown. This common disorder is characterized by difficulty understanding conversation, particularly in noisy backgrounds. Audiograms of presbycusics show sloping hearing loss, with greatest deficiencies at the highest frequencies, and over time an individual’s hearing loss progresses into the lower frequencies that are more important for understanding speech. We investigated the hypothesis that the mitochondrial (mt) genome plays a role in presbycusis. Subjects of European ancestry, all over age 58, were tested using both classical and advanced audiometric measures and then genotyped to determine mt haplogroups. We found that subjects belonging to haplogroup H (N=93) had better hearing than other Europeans (N=80), with the greatest differences observed in the right ear at 3 kHz (p=0.017) and 10-14 kHz (p=0.016). The difference at 3 kHz correlates with the common noise notch location, and thus may indicate a difference in susceptibility to noise damage. Distortion product otoacoustic emissions also indicated better hair cell health in haplogroup H subjects, at higher frequencies and in the right ear (average DPOAEfor 4-6 kHz, p= 0.010). These results support the hypothesis that a mitochondrial factor influences susceptibility to the development of presbycusis. We are currently investigating the mt genome for causative mutations linked to the haplogroups.

Estimating the split time of Human and Neanderthal populations
Previous genetic studies of Neanderthal ancestry have used mtDNA and thus have been limited in their conclusions on the relationship of humans and Neanderthals. We present here the first use of Neanderthal genomic DNA to assess the joint history of human and Neanderthal populations. Our data consist of 37kb of short fragments of genomic DNA sequenced in Neanderthal. By studying the degree to which modern human diversity is shared with Neanderthal we can assess the time at which the human and Neanderthal populations split. We use a flexible simulation based approach that demonstrates the power of using human variation data in such analyses. We find that the two populations split ~400,000 years, predating the emergence of modern humans. Our best fitting model predicts that the Neanderthal lineage will be outgroup to the human population ~52% of the time.
The Genetic Structure of Human Populations in Africa.
Africa contains the greatest levels of human genetic variation and is the source of the worldwide range expansion of all modern humans. Knowledge of the genetic population boundaries within Africa has important implications for the design and implementation of genetic epidemiologic studies of Africans and African Americans, and for reconstructing modern human origins. A dataset consisting of ~3.7 million genotypes has been generated from the Marshfield panel of 773 microsatellites and 392 in-del polymorphic genetic markers. These markers were genotyped in ~3,200 individuals from >100 diverse ethnic populations across Africa as well as in 118 African Americans and in the CEPH Human Genome Diversity Panel, consisting of 1048 individuals from 51 globally diverse populations. Preliminary analysis of population structure using the program STRUCTURE1 indicates considerably more substructure amongst global populations (estimate for the number of genetic clusters, K, is 12) and amongst African populations (K = 9) than had previously been recognized2. Population clusters are correlated with self-described ethnicity and shared cultural and/or linguistic properties (e.g. Pygmies, Khoisan-speakers, Bantu-speakers, etc). African Americans have predominantly West African Bantu (~80%) and European (~17%) ancestry, although individual admixture levels vary considerably. These results justify the need to include a broad range of geographically and ethnically diverse African populations in studies of human genetic variation. 1Pritchard JK, et al. Genetics 155:945-59 (2000) 2Rosenberg NA, et al. Science 298:2381- 5 (2002).
Patterns of admixture in Latino populations
We examined the diversity of 13 Latino populations from seven countries (Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil) typing 745 autosomal microsatellite markers in 250 individuals. Estimates of genetic ancestry for these populations varied substantially. Native American ancestry varied between 19.6% and 70.3%, European ancestry between 26.9% and 70.6%, and African ancestry between 1.1% and 9.8%. Genetic structure analysis provides evidence of a genetic continuity between pre- and post-Columbian populations for specific geographic regions. For instance, a Chibchan-Paezan ancestry is detectable in Latinos from lower Central America and northwest South America. Individual admixture estimates vary considerably between populations. Some Latinos (e.g. Mexico City) show marked variation in individual admixture, whereas others (e.g. Antioquia and Costa Rica) show little variation. This variation is likely to reflect the history of admixture of each geographic region examined: some Latino populations are still undergoing substantial admixture whereas others underwent admixture mostly in early colonial times. These results have important implications for admixture mapping and association mapping studies in Latino populations.

Genomic diversity and population structure of Native Americans
We examined 745 autosomal microsatellite markers in 432 individuals sampled from 24 indigenous populations in the Americas. These data were analyzed jointly with similar data available in 54 other indigenous populations from across the world (including an additional 5 Native American groups). The populations from the Americas show lower diversity and more differentiation than populations from other continental regions (global Fst=0.08). Signals of long-range linkage disequilibrium are detectable to a greater extent in Native Americans than in other populations, as are signals of recent bottlenecks followed by population growth. A negative correlation is observed between population diversity and geographic distance from the Bering Strait, an observation consistent with the north-to-south dispersal of humans upon initial entry into the continent. A higher diversity is observed in western vs. eastern South American populations, potentially reflecting differences in long-term effective population size or in colonization routes within South America. Phylogenetic trees relating Native American populations show a marked differentiation between Canadian and other Native populations. Canadian natives also show a detectable shared ancestry with contemporary Siberian populations, which is less visible for more southerly Americans. A substantial agreement is observed between phylogenetic relatedness and population affiliation according to the linguistic classification of Greenberg.

The rare nonsynonymous SCN5A-S1103Y variant in Caucasians is due to recent African Admixture as revealed by 100k SNP genotyping.
The SCN5A-S1103Y variant is an established and confirmed risk factor conferring an odds ratio up to 8.5 for cardiac ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (Splawski et al, Science, 2002, Burke et al., Circulation, 2005, Plant et al., J. Clin. Invest. 2006). In Africans it is a common nonsynonymous SNP (MAF=8%), but it is rarely observed in Caucasians (Chen et al, J. Med. Genet. 2002). In a Bavarian family appearing of entirely Caucasian descent and affected with long QT Syndrome we have detected this variant in heterozygote state as the only causal nonsynonymous variation upon diagnostic ion channel resequencing. To resolve the question, whether in the family the variant was (a) of ancient African descent, (b) due to recent African admixture or (c) a de novo mutation, we analyzed the genetic segment it resided on. Dense SNP genotyping in admixed individuals allows to infer the ethnicity of chromosomal regions if allele frequencies are known in the original populations. Ethnicity inference for any given locus can be carried out by applying the product rule to a sliding window of neighboring SNPs or via modeling ancestry by hidden Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods (Tang et al. Am. J. Hum. Genet, 2006). By 100k SNP genotyping of the Bavarian family, we demonstate that the S1103 variant is due to recent African admixture (b) and could rule out possibilities (a) and (c). This application demonstrates that inferring ethnicity of chromosomal regions by high density SNP genotyping is a powerful approach with prospects also to admixture mapping of disease loci and population stratification correction of genomewide association mapping of complex disease loci.

Allele frequency estimates from DNA pools for 317,000 SNPs for multiple European and worldwide populations and discovery of Ancestry Informative Markers for Europe.
The identification of Ancestry Informative Markers (AIMs) and inference of individual genetic history is useful in many applications, including studies of geography and evolution of human populations, forensic sciences, pharmacogenomics, admixture mapping and association studies of complex diseases. While many AIMs have been reported that define strong genetic differences between major continents, it is more difficult to identify markers that reflect subtle, within-continent diversity, such as the heterogeneous ancestry of European Americans contributed by different populations within Europe. We have analyzed DNA pools, each for a different population, on Illumina HumanHap300 BeadArrays to estimate allele frequencies for ~317,000 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms for 9 European, 6 African, and 2 Amerindian populations in the Human Genome Diversity Project collection. We have also evaluated the performance of this method by analyzing three HapMap pools (YRI, CHB, and JPT), for which the true allele frequencies are already known from the International HapMap Project. We found that the allele frequency estimates differed between replicate chips by less than +/-5% for 95% of the SNPs, and that the estimated frequencies and the true frequencies differed by +/-5-10% for 90% of the SNPs. The data for nine European populations, from western Caucasus, Scotland, Tuscany, Sardinia, France, Iberia, Russia, Northern Italy, and a Basque region, showed a clear excess of SNPs having large allele frequency differences (e.g. >30%) between most pairs of populations, compared to what would be expected given the sample sizes. These results provide a valuable resource of European AIMs for monitoring within-continent stratification in association studies. We are currently validating the most informative SNPs by individually genotyping samples that formed the pools as well as those from additional European populations.

Mitochondrial haplogroups are associated with asthma and total serum IgE levels
Maternal history of asthma and/or atopy is a major risk factor for the subsequent development of asthma and allergy in childhood. Although mitochondrial mutations have been implicated in several maternally inherited monogenic disorders, no studies of mitochondrial polymorphisms and asthma have been reported.Weevaluated whether common mitochondrial haplogroups are associated with asthma and total serum IgE levels. 8 common mitochondrial single nucleotide polymorphisms (mtSNP) were genotyped in two cohorts of European ancestry: 512 adult women with incident asthma and 517 matching controls participating in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and 654 children ages 5-12 years with mild to moderate asthma participating in the Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP). Genotyping was performed using TaqMan® probe hybridization assays. 93 random NHS samples were run in duplicate for all assays and demonstrated 100% concordance. In the CAMP Study, genotype data from probands’ mothers was also 100% concordant across all assays. Completion rates in both cohorts were > 95% for all markers. mtSNP 9055 was seen at higher frequency in NHS asthma cases (frequency 11.1%) than controls (8.0%, p = 0.02). Association analysis using haplo.score identified two haplogroups associated with asthma: one haplogroup at a frequency of 3.83% among cases compared to 1.27% among controls (p=0.0002) and another at a frequency of 9.97% among cases and 11.3% among controls (p=0.04). The CAMP Study is a case-only (family-based) cohort, thus precluding evaluation of mitochondrial SNP associations with asthma status. However, quantitative analysis of mitochondrial haplogroups identified two haplogroups of 11.0% and 1.87% frequency that were associated with log-transformed total serum IgE levels, an important intermediate phenotype in asthma and atopy (p=0.006 and 0.01, respectively). These data suggest that common mitochondrial haplogroups influence asthma diathesis.

November 05, 2006

Actual vs. Observable Criminality

Inspired from this Telegraph story:

November 03, 2006

Y chromosomes of Czech Republic

From the paper:
The position of Czech samples in the genetic landscape of central Europe emerges in Correspondence Analysis (Fig. 2). In the first dimension the Czech samples are clustered and positioned in between the Polish and German samples. In fact Hg’s R1a and N3-Tat (more frequent in Poland) have the largest negative loadings on this dimension, whereas Hg’s K*-M9 and J2*-M172 (more frequent in Germany and Italy) have the largest positive ones. The second dimension is mainly contributed by Hg’s I-M170, E3b1-M78, and K*-M9 (negative loadings) vs. Hg P-DYS257*(xR1a). Thus, the position of the three Balkan populations in Figure 2 is in line with the focal distribution of Hg’s I and E3b1 in this area (Cruciani et al., 2004; Pericic et al., 2005).

These seem to agree with my observations regarding a recent study on Germans and Poles:

as well as the observational evidence.

American Journal of Physical Anthropology
(online early)

Y-chromosomal variation in the Czech Republic

F. Luca et al.

To analyze the contribution of the Czech population to the Y-chromosome diversity landscape of Europe and to reconstruct past demographic events, we typed 257 males from five locations for 21 UEPs. Moreover, 141 carriers of the three most common haplogroups were typed for 10 microsatellites and coalescent analyses applied. Sixteen Hg's characterized by derived alleles were identified, the most common being R1a-SRY10831 and P-DYS257*(xR1a). The pool of haplogroups within I-M170 represented the third most common clade. Overall, the degree of population structure was low. The ages for Hg I-M170, P-DYS257*(xR1a), and R1a-SRY10831 ap peared to be comparable and compatible with their presence during or soon after the LGM. A signal of population growth beginning in the first millennium B.C. was detected. Its similarity among the three most common Hg's indicated that growth was characteristic for a gene pool that already contained all of them. The Czech population appears to be influenced, to a very moderate extent, by genetic inputs from outside Europe in the post-Neolithic and historical times. Population growth postdated the archaeologically documented introduction of Neolithic technology and the estimated central value coincides with a period of repeated changes driven by the development of metal technologies and the associated social and trade organization.

November 01, 2006

Genetic impact of the caste system in India

This article has appeared in PubMed but not yet posted on the Human Genetics website.

Hum Genet. 2006 Oct 31; [Epub ahead of print]

Y-chromosomal insights into the genetic impact of the caste system in India.

Zerjal T, Pandya A, Thangaraj K, Ling EY, Kearley J, Bertoneri S, Paracchini S, Singh L, Tyler-Smith C.

The caste system has persisted in Indian Hindu society for around 3,500 years. Like the Y chromosome, caste is defined at birth, and males cannot change their caste. In order to investigate the genetic consequences of this system, we have analysed male-lineage variation in a sample of 227 Indian men of known caste, 141 from the Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh and 86 from the rest of India. We typed 131 Y-chromosomal binary markers and 16 microsatellites. We find striking evidence for male substructure: in particular, Brahmins and Kshatriyas (but not other castes) from Jaunpur each show low diversity and the predominance of a single distinct cluster of haplotypes. These findings confirm the genetic isolation and drift within the Jaunpur upper castes, which are likely to result from founder effects and social factors. In the other castes, there may be either larger effective population sizes, or less strict isolation, or both.

Machiavellian intelligence hypothesis

Yann points me to a new PNAS article.

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.0601428103

The dynamics of Machiavellian intelligence

Sergey Gavrilets and Aaron Vose

The Lancet publishes global sex survey

Scientific American reports:
Some of the primary findings of this meta-analysis are unsurprising: Monogamy is the dominant sexual pattern globally. Married individuals--which constitute most people studied--have the most sex. Men report having engaged in sex with more partners than women in a given year. Instances of males with multiple partners, however, were more frequent in industrialized nations, Wellings says, than in places such as Africa, where sexual health education is relatively unsophisticated. "We certainly expected to see that in African countries there would be an equal prevalence of multiple partnerships," she says. "I don't think we expected to see less reporting of them."

That is just one of many surprises found in the meta-analysis. Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence that young people are engaging in sexual intercourse at earlier ages--the first instance of sexual activity for both genders generally occurs at between 15 and 19 years of age globally. "There's always a tendency to think that things are going to 'hell in a handbasket,'" remarks Richard Parker, the sociomedical sciences department chair at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. "A lot of what we say we think about trends in sexual behavior are basically kind of knee-jerk, impressionistic conclusions that we make, rather than because we looked at the data." Another surprising finding is that married women are actually at greater risk of unhealthy sexual behavior-they find it harder than single women do to convince their partners to use condoms.

One optimistic finding is that condom use is up worldwide. From 1993 to 2001, in 19 African countries, the rate of condoms employed to prevent pregnancy increased from five to 19 percent of the time; at the last instance of intercourse, the increase was from 19 percent to 28 percent. Wellings explains, however, that "there are parts of this that are reassuring and parts that are not: If you look at the [cross-national] data on condom use, you then see a big difference between the richer and poorer countries." Although numbers have improved in less developed parts of the world, condom use still lags far behind industrialized nations. "The protection of risk behavior is less prevalent in the poorer countries," she says.

And from WebMD:
Some of the survey's major findings:

# While there is no major trend toward earlier sexual experience, a trend toward later marriage has led to an increase in premarital sex.
# Married people have more sex than unmarried people do.
# Sexual activity among single people is more common in industrialized countries than in developing countries.
# First sexual experience is often forced or sold.
# Monogamy is the dominant pattern in most parts of the world. Men report more multiple partnerships than do women. Such men are more likely to live in developed nations.
# Marriage is no safeguard of sexual health. It is more difficult for married women to negotiate safe sex and condom use than it is for single women.
# Among girls who marry at a very young age, "very early sexual experience within marriage can be coercive and traumatic."
# Condom use is increasing, but condom-use rates remain low in many developing countries.
# Public health measures to improve sexual health should focus not only on individual behaviors but also on broader issues such as gender, poverty, and mobility.
# Public-health messages intended to reduce sexual risk-taking "should respect diversity and preserve choice."
# School-based sexual education delays and does not hasten onset of sexual activity.

Chess and Intelligence

A casual reading of this abstract might give the wrong impression that intelligence is not necessary for achievement in chess. However, the actual results are that chess players, and even more, elite chess players have substantially higher intelligence than average. However, given that someone is a chess player, the researchers found that their ability, measured by a "chess test" or an international testing was not very significantly predicted by their general intelligence. Thus, we may say that intelligence seems to be a necessary pre-condition for chess achievement, but other factors tend to predict the chess ability of those who are intelligent enough to be good at chess.

Intelligence (online early)

Does chess need intelligence? — A study with young chess players

Merim Bilalić et al.


Calculate Road Distances in US
how to calculate distance between cities in US:

To find the distances between cities in US and other useful information such as average speed, driving time, the recommended breaks, fuel consumption, fuel price, type in the above fields the names of localities - FROM Glenview,IL TO Leander,TX and then press ENTER key or click on DISTANCE button.

Change the route for US
After generating the route Glenview,IL - Leander,TX could be changed by simply dragging the line with the mouse. The change can be applied to any intermediate points of that route as well as the points of departure and arrival.
average speed Glenview,IL - Leander,TX
driving time Glenview,IL - Leander,TX
recommended break Glenview,IL - Leander,TX
fuel consumption Glenview,IL - Leander,TX
fuel price Glenview,IL - Leander,TX.

Adjustment of fuel consumption and fuel price for Glenview,IL - Leander,TX

terms of using distancesonline.com


Also found in: Dictionary, Wikipedia.

(kərăk`təkəs) or

(kərăd`ək), fl. A.D. 50, British king; son of Cymbeline. After the Roman invasion of A.D. 43, he led British resistance until defeated in A.D. 50. He was captured and taken to Rome. Emperor Claudius, admiring his courage, spared his life.

, Caractacus, Caradoc
died ?54 ad, British chieftain: led an unsuccessful resistance against the Romans (43--50)
References in classic literature ?
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Bringing Caractacus Potts to life was no mean feat in the original stage version of the Ian Fleming story.
Casualty actor Lee, who is also starring in the Hippodrome's pantomime Aladdin this Christmas, plays the inventor of the flying car Caractacus Potts.
The Casualty star will play Caractacus Potts alongside former EastEnders and Coronation Street actress Michelle Collins as Baroness Bomburst and Welsh actor Andy Hockley as Grandpa Potts.
With help from his consultant, six-year-old son Barney, the real world Caractacus Potts hopes to challenge all perceived wisdom, tip the world upside-down and reinvent the way we look at life starting with designing a floating house to beat the floods.
At the Olde Bookshop in Formby, children's author Rachel Braddock will be in store from 10am tomorrow to do a reading and sign copies of Caractacus Cat.
Dick, who played eccentric Caractacus Potts in the classic 1968 family film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, about a magical car, did not require medical attention after the incident.
We sent Cool Cascade and King Caractacus to the races but unfortunately neither of them finished their races.
Al and Lexie's ultimate mission is revealed when the old man Caractacus tells them of the Word Hunters and the quest to rescue words from extinction.
What was the name of the car driven by Commander Caractacus Potts?
Caractacus, Three Choirs Festival Worcester Cathedral It's a pity Caractacus isn't heard more often these days.
The film is based on a book by 007 author Ian Fleming and tells the story of Jeremy and Jemima Potts who live with their widowed father Caractacus Potts, an eccentric inventor, and his equally peculiar father, who rebuilds and restores a wrecked old racing car.


Facilities and Amenities

We offer :-

* Round the clock security to ensure the safety & security of our guests

* Children play area

* Open Ground for outdoor sport activities like: Cricket, Volley Ball, Basket ball and other games.

* Banquet Hall for conference,corporate training programs and family get-together.

* Our restaurant serving healthy delicious and nutritious vegetarian and non-vegetarian food.

* Indoor games like Carrom & pack of playing cards.

* Mount View Sports Park

* Rain Dance

* Waterfall (Only during rainy season)

Important things to know:

* Only Idea & BSNL network operate fully in entire resort.

* Being located in rural sector, electricity is erratic but we do have inverter backups in all accommodation units; however it last for 3-4 hours only..

* No room service available & food shall be served in restaurant within the restaurant timings.

* Drinks are not permitted in restaurant & common area.

* 50 sitter bus is not permitted at all. We suggest you to take a 25 or a 35 sitter bus.


Toll Free

Learning Training Sequences of Taijiquan

by Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming, March 16, 2017

Every taiji master has his own sequence of training, emphasizing his methods and content. The following is a list of general training procedures according to my experience with three taiji masters and his teaching experience of more than thirty years. This section is a guide only to the bare hand training procedures of taijiquan.

The general sequence of taijiquan training is as follows:

  1. Understanding the fundamental theory of taijiquan
  2. Relaxation, calmness, and concentration practice
  3. Breath training
  4. Experiencing and generating qi
  5. Qi circulation and breathing
  6. Still meditation
  7. Fundamental stances
  8. Breath-coordination drills
  9. Fundamental moving drills
  10. Solo taijiquan
  11. Analysis of the martial applications of the sequence
  12. Beginning taiji pushing hands
  13. Fundamental forms of taiji jing training
  14. Heng and ha sound training
  15. Fast taijiquan
  16. Advanced taiji pushing hands
  17. Advanced taiji jing training
  18. Qi expansion and transportation training
  19. Martial applications of taiji pushing hands
  20. Free pushing hands
  21. Taiji fighting set
  22. Taiji free fighting

Before the taiji beginner starts training, he should ask himself several questions. Why do I want to learn taiji? What benefits do I hope to gain? Am I likely to continue training for a long time? After you have answered these questions you should then ask, Does this taiji style offer what I want? Is this master qualified? Does this master have a training schedule? How long and how deep can this master teach me? Will this master teach me everything he knows, or will he keep secrets when I approach a certain level? After I have studied for many years, will I be able to find an advanced master to continue my study? In order to answer these questions, you have to survey and investigate. You have to know the historical background of the style and the master’s experience. Once you have answered the above questions, then you can start your taiji study without any doubt or confusion.

Six Steps to Learning to Taijiquan

The first step in learning taijiquan is to understand the fundamental theory and principles through discussion with your master, reading the available books, studying with classmates, and then pondering on your own. You should ask yourself: How does taijiquan benefit the body and improve health? How can taiji be used for martial purposes? What are the differences between taijiquan and other martial styles? Once you have answers to these questions, you should have a picture of the art and an idea of where you are going. The next question to arise should be, How do I train to obtain the relaxation, calmness, and concentration skills that are the most basic and important aspects of taijiquan? This leads you to the second step of the training.

However, if you want to advance to martial applications, you should train and master Daoist, or reverse, breathing. You should be able to expand and withdraw the muscles of the abdomen area easily. After you have trained your breath correctly, you should then begin to sense the qi in your abdomen and dan tian. This will lead to the fourth step—generating and experiencing qi. If you are interested in knowing more about taijiquan and breathing, please refer to the book Tai Chi Qigong, published by YMAA.

Usually, qi can be generated in two ways: externally and internally. To generate qi externally is called wai dan (外丹), and when it is generated internally, it is called nei dan (內丹). Interested readers should refer to the author’s books Qigong for Health and Martial Arts and The Root of Chinese Qigong, published by YMAA. Through training qi generation you will gradually realize what qi is and why smooth qi circulation benefits the body. You will also build up your sensitivity to the movement of qi.

Fundamental Stances

The above six steps are purely mental training. When you practice these, you can simultaneously practice the fundamental stances, which build the root for the taiji forms. You should be familiar with all the stances and should practice them statically to strengthen your legs. Also, at this stage you can begin fundamental breath coordination drills. These drills are designed for the beginning student to train the following: (1) coordination of breathing and movement; (2) coordination of qi circulation and the forms; (3) smoothness and continuity; (4) relaxation; and (5) calmness and concentration of the mind. These drills will help you experience qi circulation and the mood or atmosphere of taiji practice. After you have mastered the fundamental stances and fundamental drills, you should then go on to the fundamental moving drills.

In fundamental moving drills, a few typical forms are selected from the taiji sequence to train proper movement, in addition to the five points mentioned above. These drills are discussed in author’s tajiquan books: Tai Chi Qigong and Tai Chi Chuan Classic Yang Style, published by YMAA.

The taiji solo sequence is constructed with about forty apparent techniques and more than two hundred hidden techniques. It is practiced to enhance qi circulation and improve health, and is the foundation of all taiji martial techniques. It usually takes from six months to three years to learn this sequence, depending on the instructor, the length of the sequence, and the talent of the student. After a student has learned this sequence, it will usually take another three years to attain a degree of calmness and relaxation, and to internalize the proper coordination of the breathing. When practicing, not only the whole of your attention, but also your feelings, emotions, and mood should be on the sequence. It is just like when a musician or a dancer performs his art—his emotions and total being must be melted into the art. If he holds anything back, then even if his skill is very great, his art will be dead.

When you finish learning the solo sequence, you should then start discussing and investigating the martial applications of the postures. This is a necessary part of the training of a martial arts practitioner, but it will also help the nonmartial artist to better understand the sequence and circulate qi. With the instruction of a qualified master, it will take at least two or three years to understand and master the techniques. While this stage of analysis is going on, you should begin to pick up fundamental (fixed-step) pushing hands.

Pushing hands trains you to listen (to feel) the opponent’s jing, understand it, neutralize it, and then counterattack. There are two aspects of pushing hands training. The first emphasizes feeling the opponent’s jing (ting jing, 聽勁) and then neutralizing it, and the second aspect emphasizes understanding the emitting of jing (dong jing, 懂勁) and its applications. Therefore, when you start the fundamental pushing hands, you should also start fundamental jing training. Jing training is usually difficult to practice and understand. A qualified master is extremely important. While training jing, the coordination of the sounds heng (哼) and ha (哈) become very important. Uttering heng and ha can enable you to emit or withdraw your jing to the maximum and coordinate the qi with it, and can also help to raise your spirit of vitality.

When you finish your analysis of the sequence, you have established the martial foundation of taijiquan. You should then start to train speeding up the solo sequence, training jing in every movement. In fast taiji training, practice emitting jing in pulses with a firm root, proper waist control, and qi support. In addition, develop the feeling of having an enemy in front of you while you are doing the form. This will help you learn to apply the techniques naturally and to react automatically. After practicing this for a few years, you should have grasped the basics of jing, and should start advanced pushing-hands and jing training.

Advanced (moving-step) pushing hands will train you to step smoothly and correctly in coordination with your techniques and fighting strategy. This training builds the foundation of free pushing hands and free fighting. Advanced jing training enables you to understand the higher level of jing application and covers the entire range of jing. During these two steps of training, you should continue your qi enhancement, expansion, and transportation training to strengthen the qi support of your jing. The martial applications of pushing hands should be analyzed, and discussed. This is the bridge that connects the techniques learned in the sequence to the real applications. When you understand all the techniques thoroughly, you should then get involved in free pushing hands and learn the two-person fighting set.

The taiji fighting set was designed to train the use of techniques in a way that resembles real fighting. Proper footwork is very important. Once you are moving and interacting fluidly, you can begin to use jing. The final step in training is free fighting with different partners. The more partners you practice with, the more experience you will gain. The more time and energy you spend, the more skillful you will become.

The above is an excerpt from Tai Chi Chuan Martial Power: Advanced Yang Style by Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming


Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Legends about Yohanan ben Zakkai

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: When the Talmud Replaced the Temple as the Structure at the Heart of Jewish Life Judaism became a religion of laws, haunted and bound by the absence of a home for Jewish sovereignty.
The destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. might easily have meant the death of Judaism. As we have seen again and again in the Talmud, the Temple was the center of Jewish belief and practice in a way that we can hardly imagine today. It was the only place where Jews could sacrifice to God, the only place where God’s spirit dwelled on Earth—not to mention a powerful symbol of Jewish sovereignty. The fact that Judaism managed to survive after the Temple was burned to the ground is the most remarkable of the many acts of renewal and transformation that have preserved Jewish life over thousands of years.

The legend of Yochanan ben Zakkai is a vivid parable of how Judaism managed to endure that trauma. ...
Incidentally, Josephus has a somewhat similar account of his own prophecy that Vespasian would become emperor, an account also told by the Roman historian Suetonius. Also, the departure of the Shekhinah from the Temple described in the final paragraph is modeled after the departure of the divine glory in Ezekiel 10.

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.


Whole Language: Getting Started Moving Forward

by Linda Crafton (1991, Richard C. Owen. ISBN 0-913461-19-9) Professional Book.

Whole Language: Getting Started Moving Forward by Linda Crafton is a book for you if you're just getting started in whole language. In a clear and engaging style, she examines and explains the philosophy from the ground up, but she includes the specifics: how do you set up the first day of first grade. What happens to whole language in the upper grades? Does it have application to high school learners? Always, she tells why not just what. Her appendices are almost as important as the body of her text. There she supplies reading lists that are intended to serve as the basis of sets of books in your classroom.

Crafton's book is full of good ideas to elicit response from students. I've used her exit slip technique with adult learners as well as with children and it's an excellent reflective strategy to put responsibility on the listener as well as the conductor of the lesson. Here are her exit slip directions:

"1. Following the initial demonstrations and at the end of a school day, or any important learning activity, distribute one 3 x 5 card to each student.

2. Ask students to write one thing they learned during the day, or from a particular activity, on one side of the card. On the other side students are to write one question they still have. Present this part of the strategy in an open-ended manner so students are free to consider content or process issues in their responses.

3. Collect the cards for review.

4. Select several questions to use in a whole group setting the following morning or during the class meeting. Questions can be answered directly by the teacher, orally or by writing on the card, or students can be invited to respond. Selected questions can be put aside for future study or be used to inform the teacher about topics for Mini-lessons.

1. Exit Slips can be used throughout the reading of a text, much like a written Say Something. The first part of the strategy, then, serves as a reflection of what has been learned; the second part, a reader-generated question.

2. Rapid Reflection is a verbal form of Exit Slips. Throughout the school day -- at the end of important discussions, demonstrations, Mini-lessons, or any learning engagement -- students can be asked to reflect on the experience quickly and, at random, call out a response.

Responses can be focused by asking open-ended questions before Rapid Reflection begins:

What was surprising for you?
What were you thinking about the most?
What was one question that you have?
What is one idea you are excited about?"


Reactions involve interaction of atoms or molecules to form new molecules or atoms by making or breaking electronic bonds.

A reaction is a force exerted by a support on an object: sometimes called support reaction. Using this definition, a reaction is an external force.

The process of combining or separating material at an atomic or sub-atomic level. Reactions absorb or release energy. Nuclear reactions involve interaction in the nucleus to form new elements.

See also: Chemical Reaction, Force.

Previous PageView links to and from this pageNext Page

Subjects: Mechanical Engineering Physics


Ecology and behaviour: Mating

Behavioural observations

A close up of two foxes one on a wall and the other sniffing it
A pair of foxes; © Everything is permuted

For a long time, foxes were generally thought to be monogamous - a male pairs with a female fox and the pair stay together for life. There are many reasons why researchers came to this conclusion.

First, by observing foxes it was seen that the area over which a male fox roams, and which he defends against other foxes (his territory), largely overlaps the area occupied by the female. During the mating season, the pair are often seen together because the male follows the female closely. Also, once the female has given birth to the cubs, she spends the majority of her time in the den nursing them. During this period the male can be observed making frequent trips to and from the den to provision his mate. He then does the same to provision the cubs once they start eating solid food at about four weeks of age.

Other evidence, however, suggests that fox mating behaviour is not so straight forward. For example, during the mating season, female foxes are sometimes seen surrounded by several male foxes. Also, some studies have shown that, during the mating period, male foxes leave their home territories - and therefore their mate - and wander in search of other females. Also, in both Europe and North America, communal dens have been recorded where two or more litters of cubs are raised together.

The genetic study in Bristol

A DNA strand superimposed on the image of a graph

Recent genetic studies have helped unravel the mating system of foxes. Half of the DNA in an individual comes from his father, the other half from his mother. So, by examining DNA, it is possible to ascertain an individual's parents. Examining the DNA of cubs and adult members of urban fox social groups in Bristol, UK, revealed quite a complex picture. Dominant males mated with their own female but also with females from their own and other fox groups. Subordinate males (males further down the group hierarchy) did not mate with the dominant female in their group but mated with females from other groups. Bristol foxes were definitely not monogamous!

What happened after mange hit the population

The study described above was carried out between 1990 and 1994 when fox density in Bristol was one of the highest recorded for any fox population. In 1994, however, sarcoptic mange reached Bristol and the vast majority of foxes were infected and died. A second genetic study was then undertaken to find out whether the mating behaviour of foxes was different because fox density was so much lower.

This study showed that, at lower density, foxes were less promiscuous: dominant males mated with the dominant female in their own social group and with females from neighbouring groups, but to a lesser extent than at higher fox density. Subordinate males (males further down the group hierarchy) were not present. So, with fewer foxes and hence less competition, male foxes were less promiscuous but still not monogamous.

Question & Answer

TopAre foxes monogamous?

Foxes have a complex mating system. In some areas they are monogamous (one male paired with one female). In other areas they are polygynous (one male paired with two or more females). One study has also found promiscuous foxes. In short, foxes may or may not be monogamous.

  • Baker, P.J., Funk, S.M., Bruford, M.W. & Harris, S. (2004) Polygynandry in a red fox population: implications for the evolution of group living in canids? Behavioral Ecology 15, 766-778.
  • Lloyd, H.G. (1980) The red fox. Batsford, London.


Journal article

The Movement Error Rate for Evaluation of Machine Learning Methods for sEMG-based Hand Movement Classification

There has been increasing interest in applying learning algorithms to improve the dexterity of myoelectric prostheses. In this work, we present a large-scale benchmark evaluation on the second iteration of the publicly released NinaPro database, which contains surface electromyography data for 6 DOF force activations as well as for 40 discrete hand movements. The evaluation involves a modern kernel method and compares performance of three feature representations and three kernel functions. Both the force regression and movement classification problems can be learned successfully when using a nonlinear kernel function, while the exp- χ2 kernel outperforms the more popular radial basis function kernel in all cases. Furthermore, combining surface electromyography and accelerometry in a multimodal classifier results in significant increases in accuracy as compared to when either modality is used individually. Since window-based classification accuracy should not be considered in isolation to estimate prosthetic controllability, we also provide results in terms of classification mistakes and prediction delay. To this extent, we propose the movement error rate as an alternative to the standard window-based accuracy. This error rate is insensitive to prediction delays and it allows us therefore to quantify mistakes and delays as independent performance characteristics. This type of analysis confirms that the inclusion of accelerometry is superior, as it results in fewer mistakes while at the same time reducing prediction delay.

Related material


Web Results

Definition of bend over in the Idioms Dictionary. bend over phrase. What does bend over expression mean? Definitions by the largest Idiom Dictionary.

English[edit]. Verb[edit]. bend over (third-person singular simple present bends over, present participle bending over, simple past and past participle bent over). To bend one's upper body forward and down while standing or kneeling. Synonyms[edit]. stoop. Derived terms[edit]. bend over backwards. Translations[ edit].

Nov 14, 2017 ... There are many reasons you might feel dizzy when bending over, and most of them aren't serious. Here's what you should know and when to see a doctor.

Bend over backwards definition: to make a special effort , esp in order to please | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples.

Synonyms for bend over backwards at Thesaurus.com with free online thesaurus, antonyms, and definitions. Dictionary and Word of the Day.

bend over backwards (to do something) meaning, definition, what is bend over backwards (to do something): to try very hard to be helpful: Learn more.

bend over backwards definition, meaning, what is bend over backwards: to try extremely hard to help or to please someone: . Learn more.

If you have osteoporosis or have had broken bones in the spine, you should avoid exercises that involve bending over from the waist. Some examples include : figure4. Sit-ups; Abdominal crunches (also referred to as stomach crunches); Toe-touches. Many exercises and activities such as yoga, Pilates, tennis and golf may ...

To bend over backwards is to work extra hard to make something happen, particularly to help someone or to make them happy. If your smart friend bends over backwards to help you pass your math test, you owe her a huge thanks.


Welcome to WHISPers, a Wildlife Health Information Sharing Partnership event reporting system with current and historic information on wildlife morbidity or mortality events in North America. Events typically involve five or more sick or dead wild animals observed in the same general location and time period. This information is collected opportunistically and provided here by multiple State, Federal, and other agencies to enhance collective understanding of disease in wildlife populations.

Popular Searches

20 Most Recent Events

● = Mortality/Morbidity
▲ = Surveillance
Shapes located at center of county
Shape color determined by the primary diagnosis of its most recent event
Nut/Met/Dev = Nutrition/Metabolism/Development
TypeEvent IDStart DateEnd DateAffectedStatesCountiesSpeciesEvent Diagnosis
123095/11/19915/20/19913AKKenai Peninsula, AKFork-tailed Storm PetrelEmaciation (NOS)
123598/1/19919/15/19911000AKValdez - Cordova, AKBlack Scoter, Surf Scoter, White-winged ScoterEmaciation (NOS)
121368/10/19909/28/19905000AKSitka, AKWhite-winged Scoter, Surf ScoterEmaciation (NOS)
1219410/14/199010/14/1990200AKYakutat, AKGreater Snow Goose, Trumpeter Swan, Unidentified Duck, Canada GooseDrowning (NOS) [suspect]
117208/17/19889/15/198840AKKenai Peninsula, AKBlack-legged KittiwakeEmaciation (NOS)
123105/11/19915/20/1991100AKKenai Peninsula, AKBlack-legged KittiwakeEmaciation (NOS)
118553/24/198910/18/198938000AKValdez - Cordova, AKUnidentified Waterfowl, Unidentified Avian, Southern Sea Otter, Unidentified Cormorant, Unidentified Grebe, Unidentified Loon, Unidentified Gull, Unidentified Procellariidae, Unidentified Shorebird, Unidentified Passerine, Unidentified Alcid, Unidentified RaptorToxicosis (petroleum, NOS)
119518/28/198910/9/19891824AKKodiak Island, AKUnidentified Shearwater, Black-legged Kittiwake, Unidentified Avian, Unidentified Murre, Tufted Puffin, Unidentified Murrelet, Unidentified Gull, Northern Fulmar, Unidentified Storm Petrel, Cassin's AukletEmaciation (NOS)
113757/18/19868/18/198618AKAleutians West, AKThick-billed Murre, Short-tailed Shearwater, Black-legged Kittiwake, Red-legged Kittiwake, Horned PuffinEmaciation (NOS), Parasitism (gastrointestinal/hepatic), Trauma (NOS)
114275/22/19865/22/198613AKValdez - Cordova, AKBald EagleToxicosis (pentobarbitol)
109361/1/19833/15/198310AKKenai Peninsula, AKTimber (Gray) WolfEctoparasitism (Trichodectes canis)
115874/23/19874/24/19872AKKodiak Island, AKBald EagleToxicosis (pentobarbitol)
110278/6/19848/10/19842000AKAnchorage, AKMallard, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Common SnipeUndetermined [suspect]
116585/9/19889/1/1988977AKAnchorage, AKMallard, Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Bald Eagle, Least Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Trumpeter SwanOpen [suspect]
108658/5/19839/30/1983100000AKKodiak Island, AKShort-tailed Shearwater, Northern Fulmar, Black-legged Kittiwake, Red-legged Kittiwake, Unidentified Murre, Sooty ShearwaterOpen [suspect], Emaciation (NOS)
113638/1/19868/24/1986646AKBristol Bay, AKShort-tailed Shearwater, Unidentified Gull, Horned Puffin, Sooty ShearwaterOpen [suspect]
103997/15/19797/23/1979111AKBethel, AKUnidentified Murre, Northern Fulmar, Unidentified Avian, Unidentified Kittiwake, Unidentified Alcid, Thick-billed Murre, Crested Auklet, Common MurreDrowning (NOS), Loss of Waterproofing
108518/1/19839/30/19833000AKAnchorage, AKMallard, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, American WigeonToxicosis (phosphorus) [suspect]
1004011/9/195112/24/1951200AKYukon - Koyukuk, AKUnidentified Sea LionOpen [suspect]
123809/8/19919/12/1991750AKAleutians West, AKSooty Shearwater, Unidentified PetrelOpen [suspect]

View 100 most recent events


AhmadiAnswers | Chapter 39 verse 22
page-template,page-template-full_width,page-template-full_width-php,page,page-id-16809,page-child,parent-pageid-13609,do-etfw,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,side_area_uncovered_from_content,qode-theme-ver-9.1.3,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-,vc_responsive

Chapter 39 verse 22

Similarity With The Vegetation Of The Earth

“Hast thou not seen that Allah sends down water from the sky, and causes it to flow in the form of streamlets in the earth and then brings forth thereby herbage, varying in its colors? Then it dries up and thou seest it turn yellow; then He reduces it to broken straw. In that verily is a reminder for men of understanding.” (Chapter 39 Verse 22)

This ayah as well draws a analogy between man and the earth’s vegetation which fulfills its existence by slow degrees until it reaches a stage and finally dies. All humans are included in this.


Commercial Timbers

H. G. Richter and M. J. Dallwitz

Juglans australis Griseb., Juglans spp. (Nogal, tropical walnut)

Nomenclature etc. JUGLANDACEAE. + J. boliviana Dode; J. jamaicensis C.DC. (Syn.: J. insularis Griseb.); J. neotropica Diels.; J. olanchana Standl. & Williams. Trade and local names: nogal (cAm, sAm), Tropischer Nussbaum (DE), tropical black walnut (GB, US). Not protected under CITES regulations.

Tree. Geographic distribution: Mexico and Central America and tropical South America.

General. Growth ring boundaries distinct. Heartwood basically brown red, with streaks. Sapwood colour distinct from heartwood colour. Density 0.55–0.7 g/cm³.

Vessels. Vessels present. Wood diffuse-porous. Vessels arranged in no specific pattern, in multiples, commonly short (2–3 vessels) radial rows. Average tangential vessel diameter 134–285 µm. Average number of vessels/mm² 11–18. Average vessel element length 515–812 µm. Perforation plates simple. Intervessel pits alternate, average diameter (vertical) 11–13 µm. Vessel-ray pits with reduced borders or apparently simple, rounded or angular, of the same type in adjacent elements and unilaterally compound and coarse. Tyloses in vessels present, thinwalled. Other deposits in heartwood vessels not observed.

Tracheids and fibres. Fibres of medium wall thickness. Average fibre length 1042–1935 µm. Fibre pits mainly restricted to radial walls, simple to minutely bordered.

Axial parenchyma. Axial parenchyma present, banded. Axial parenchyma bands scalariform, fine, up to three cells wide. Axial parenchyma as strands. Average number of cells per axial parenchyma strand 4–8.

Rays. Rays 7–11 per tangential mm, multiseriate (also if only few), (1–)3 cells wide. Rays of two distinct sizes. Rays composed of two or more cell types (heterocellular). Heterocellular rays with square and upright cells restricted to marginal rows, mostly 2–4 marginal rows of upright or square cells or with more than 4 marginal rows of upright or square cells.

Storied structures. Storied structure absent.

Secretory structures. Intercellular canals absent.

Cambial variants. Included phloem absent.

Mineral inclusions. Crystals present, prismatic, located in axial parenchyma cells. Crystal-containing axial parenchyma cells chambered. Number of crystals per cell or chamber one. Silica not observed.

Illustrations. • Transverse section. Juglans neotropica. • Tangential section. Juglans neotropica. • Radial section + crystals. All tropical Juglans species possess prismatic crystals in chambered axial parenchyma cells (right). Juglans neotropica.


Tuesday, March 14, 2017

In Detail

In Detail

A collection of photos of normal objects, in everyday surroundings, in detail.

I like detail, every type of detail: the detail that goes into a homework assignment, the detail in someones’ stories and the detail in art. Throughout my art career, detail has always been one of my focus, so why not continue it into this project. I think that often times we look around the detail, focusing on the "global village" rather then the individual elements of it. In this project I wanted to focus on both the detail of the natural world along with detail in the man made world. While nothing is completely visible on where it is, focusing on the detail more then any thing else. That is what this project is about, seeing the detail in everyday things, in everyday places, in detail.

Monday, February 27, 2017

The Beatles: Assessing the music and recorded sound that lead to Beatlemania

We all know the Beatles, I could probably play a song and right away know that it was indeed a Beatles song, many of you could probably even sing along to the song. These Fab Four became a phenomenon almost over night. The question is why. How did 4 guys from Liverpool become a house hold name in 6 months. McLuhan states in his book that “Myth means putting on the audience, putting on one’s environment. The Beatles do this. They are a group of people who suddenly were able to put on their audience and the English language with musical effects—putting on a whole vesture, a whole time, a Zeit” The Beatles did do this. Their use of technology and a time ready to take the message where able to attract audiences and have not lost them even today 60 years later.T he use of multi-track recordings lent the Beatles a new sound never heard before. As the technology developed, they were able to experiment more and more coming up with new sounds that elevated their message and their music. Beatlemania lay in making fans producers of their own culture with machines such as tape recorders, portable record players, and instant cameras, and in allowing them to connect with one another through the burgeoning fan press. This allowed them to have McLuhan’s sense of “All-at-once-ness”  expanding their popularity not just in England but simultaneously around the world. This even today has made the Beatles not just a one hit wonder band, but a band that has transcended throughout time.

Sunday, February 26, 2017

The work of Amélia Proulx

Voilà, Vois là
Amélia Proulx
McLuhan states that, "The interplay between the old and the new environments creates many problems and confusions. The main obstacle to a clear understanding of the effects of the new media is our deeply embedded habit of regarding all phenomena from a fixed point of view." Amélia Proulx is taking fixed point of view that most of us have on ceramics and making it musical.  During the crazing process of glazing her ceramic pieces, Amélia Proulx was inspired by the sounds produced. Expanding on this sound, she created pieces that took the sounds that most people had never heard of and made the star of the piece. Similar to McLuhan’s notion of having a fixed view, Proulx states that: "through the representation of iconic signs and various technological manipulations, my work evokes the cycles of transformation of matter and a perpetual shift of the meaning in the perception of natural phenomena. Thus, I activate ceramics in various ways to create sculptures and installations - often kinetic or sonorous- that suggest a perpetual slip of meaning in the language and in the perception of natural phenomena". Voilà, Vois là, is a piece based on the metaphor of the "fog veil:, and suggests a conflation of two time lines. The static time of hundreds of glazed porcelain drops suspended in the a structure and the combination of the liquid timeline of water particles accumulating and dripping from the porcelain drops created by the fog. This interplay between her porcelain structures and the water or sound that she produces in tandem makes her art not just transcend the normal notion of porcelain but also the environment in which it is used.

Monday, February 13, 2017

Noise in the silence

To Joy  is a song I created based off of "Ode To Joy" by Beethoven. McLuhan writes that "Theater takes place all the time, wherever one is. And art simply facilitates persuading one of this"(119). This got me thinking of the notion of hearing the same tunes in different places and how that even though you seem to get away from a sound it is still always right there. "Ode To Joy" was a random song I learned in piano class when I was little, and heard it all the time, from church to talent shows in elementary school. I have heard it so much that even though it has been years since I have played it, I still remembered how. I took layering different sounds of the same song started at different places to keep the idea that although it may sound different, there is no escaping the noise. I played each of the different tracks separately and layered them together by recording the start of the next one where I wanted to start the round. I think it gives it a kind of creepy feel, which for me reminds me how I am yet to escape the song, even now.

Monday, February 6, 2017

Reaction to Rashaad Newsome

problems and confusions. The main obstacle to a clear understanding of the effects of the new media is our deeply embedded habit of regarding all phenomena from a fixed point of view." (69) This past week we were lucky enough to be visited by Rashaad Newsome at school. While I was unable to attend his lecture, I was able to sit down at lunch with him and talk about his art. One thing that intrigued me was his mix of media, while known for his performance pieces, Rashaad also has amazing colleague pieces, videos and sculptures. Although I have very little exposure to the vogue culture that is present in a lot of his work I found it very interesting to hear him talk about how he mixed this history with his own ideas into his final pieces. That is one thing that he stated was important in creating his work: he looks at the how history and pop culture are working together.

            Another thing that Rashaad does a very nice focus on is his work in tangent with each other. Rather then just working with one piece as a solo, he uses all of his works together. He explained that a lot of times he films the live performance to make his videos, and also uses the movement of the dancers to create sculptures of the final movement. Furthermore, in a lot of his performance pieces you can his own creations being worn or in the background as well. Using all of these elements together creates a larger even more impressive work. That notion of taking the one idea and expanding it to make a larger pieces creates more depth and meaning in the works, one that Rashaad prides himself on.
To see some of his work: Rashaad Newsome

Sunday, January 29, 2017

In the Dea(p)th of Winter

Light in the Darkness
In the Dea(p)th of Winter Link

A photo album in reaction to the death of a beloved family member. Even in winter where there is sadness and darkness, there can still be beauty in loss. This project was me trying to come to grips with loss, "to continue what I was doing, and to spread joy and revolution"(119). It has been a rough winter and taking photographs was a nice break for me to just take time for me. I took this assignment as a way for me to come to grips with the world and its harshness. I took pictures just of things that I thought showed the mixture between light and darkness. This is what it came to be.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Have you ever just stoped to think about how much is going on around you? Every moment there is a constant steam of stimuli, we just take it and absorb it into what we call life. With this constant stream of stimuli, it is hard to find one's self and live in the moment. So now I implore you to take a breath, find a quiet spot, with just you and your thoughts, now listen, think, breathe and find yourself in each roll of the wave in the silence beneath the surface.
This video was created on January 19th, for that purpose, to take a break from the world and just relax for a second. I think the fact that we are in a constant stream of media creates an ironic view of what it means to get away. That is where the idea of this video came from. When I feel overwhelmed I often listen to the waves crash on the shore, well electronically, and that got me thinking. McLuhan states that "Environments are invisible. Their ground rules, pervasive structure, and overall patterns elude easy perception"(84), we live in a world today were it takes a click to get to a new world to escape to, but in reality we have not escaped at all.


The Journey Towards More Effective Giving

If you are among the fortunate ones who have managed to multiply their wealth to many millions or billions, then the decision to donate to charity is one that should not be made in a snap. Nowadays, philanthropists are becoming more and more keen that the money there are funneling to charities are being used properly and effectively.

The concept of strategic philanthropy involves giving that is built around careful research and structured strategies to make it as effective as possible. This notion has recently been the trend in giving. It is actually an attempt to go beyond the usual charity where you just give your monetary donations without knowledge on how it is going to be used. Several organizations are now in place to dispense advice to those who want to make sure that the portion of their wealth they are parting with will certainly go to good causes.

Before, people have been focusing on the administration costs. But now, philanthropists are encouraged to concentrate more on the output of their donations instead. So, charitable organizations are now pressured to produce concrete proof of results. For example, with regards to education programmes: Philanthropists would want to measure the impact of their donation to the results of these programmes.

One of the reasons why funders have turned to strategic philanthropy is the financial crisis that hit the world in the last few years. Those who are blessed enough put their money in a foundation, invest it then circulate the interest to charitable projects. But this process has produced lesser financial returns on their investments. So now, they want to focus on funding that really provide an impact. The crisis has also caused government funding to dry up, thereby leaving it up to the potential benefactors to decide about taking over and replacing the funding.

Another trend is the social impact bond, which aims to utilize private investment to block social problems and save the government money. In this phenomenon, philanthropists usually provide advance funding and are remunerated by the government if the targeted goals have been reached. The higher the social impact, the higher the return.

Some remain sceptic regarding the long-term success of social impact bonds, and others have accused them of being just another form of privatization. Still, the ultimate goal is to utilize philanthropic fund in the best way it should be — and this is exactly what philanthropists are working to achieve.

Do you think strategic philanthropy is better than the traditional? Have you involved yourself in some charitable activities lately?

Source: Triple Pundit

Study Finds Similarity Between Child Prodigies And Autistic People

Child prodigies are born, not made (mostly). Practice alone isn’t going to turn out the next 6-year-old Mozart. So finds a recent study of eight young prodigies, which sought to shed some light on the innate roots of their talent.

The study found a few key characteristics these youngsters had in common. For one, they all had exceptional working memories — the system that holds information active in the mind, keeping it available for further processing. Most people can hold seven digits at a time on average; hence, the seven-digit phone number. But prodigies can hold much more, and not only can they remember extraordinarily large numbers, but they can also manipulate them and carry out calculations that you or I might have trouble managing with pencil and paper.

The intense world theory propounds that all autism carries the potential for exceptional talent and social deficits. The social problems, the theory suggests, may ensue from the autistic person’s dysfunctional attempts — social withdrawal and repetitive behaviors, for instance — to deal with his heightened senses and memory. It’s possible, then, that the wiring in prodigies’ brains resembles that of an autistic person’s, or, their brains may function just like those with autism, but their high intelligence allows them to develop socially acceptable ways of coping with the sensory overload.

Do you believe that one can become a prodigy with lots and lots of practice, or is it just impossible because prodigies are born that way? Share your opinions with us!

Source: Yahoo News

Image: The Eclectic Garden