Part VI UCSD EDC2014 Review

In the afternoon of day one, Drs. Kerri Boutelle and Ivan Eisler provided two seminars on the topic of intensive multi-family treatment of eating disorders and the day was rounded out with a roundtable session with these researchers along with Dr. Jim Lock.

Ian D. Keating:
Ian D. Keating:

Again, the treatment focus is on adolescents and young adults still primarily residing with their families of origin. But when I asked during various question periods that afternoon, it seems as though they have applied these approaches within adult settings (usually within partner and spouse interactions).

While I believe that group therapy settings for teenagers or young adults with eating disorders often just give wings to competitive restriction within the group, these multi-family settings appear to flip the usual “they just become better at restricting” group dynamic.

Dr. Boutelle laid out why the UCSD Eating Disorders Center has developed this intensive multi-family therapy program (IFT):

  1. Not everyone has access to trained family based treatment (FBT) therapists.
  2. It boosts treatment for non-responders.
  3. It assists with various transition points through the phases of recovery.
  4. It helps the parents develop skills to take home such that they become the change agents for further improvements in their child’s outcomes.

By offering a multi-family program it can broaden the number of patients who get the benefit of FBT and there are some pretty impressive benefits for the patient when families collaborate beyond their nuclear pod.

The program itself is a 5-day intensive process where 35+ hours of treatment are delivered over those five days. From two to six families will be involved and the diagnoses will include eating disorder classifications as the primary condition (AN, BN, ARFID, EDNOS etc.) with secondary conditions that might be present of depression, anxiety, OCD etc.

The program is conducted on a monthly schedule at the University of California, San Diego Eating Disorders Center for Treatment and Research in La Jolla California at present.

IFT is designed to mobilize carers to take action towards recovery. When a patient develops an eating disorder the family interactions tend to veer towards accommodation and avoidance across the entire family. The carers have an opportunity to develop and practice skills that are easily transferred into the home environment. IFT allows for parents to “get on the same page” and develop the ability to function in unison. It also allows for family structure to be modified so that recovery is fully supported. To go from a space of avoidance, delay and accommodation to active advocacy for continued recovery is almost as hard for the family members as it is for the patient.

The current IFT programs are for those ages 8-23 (the adolescent stream) and those ages 18-35 (the adult stream). Of course most of the families within the adult stream are still patients living in their childhood homes and not adults entering the program with their partners or spouses.

In the adolescent stream, the treatment is modeled on FBT. Within the adult stream, the treatment involves both FBT and temperament-based treatment.

The therapist acts as a consultant and coach. The primary goals are to empower the parents to support recovery; to restore healthy eating; and to separate the child from the illness.

IFT also incorporates the parent-to-parent consultation that allows families to share with each other and through that process gain both skills and motivation to encourage further progress towards remission.

Likely the most powerful facet of IFT is removing the isolation that the family experiences. If you look at the forums on this site, you see the relief that patients can experience when they discover that others are experiencing their same struggle and difficulty through recovery. IFT is providing that same de-pressurization for parents. It allows both parents and patients to overcome stigmatization and social isolation. They learn from each other. It stimulates new perspectives and reflectivity. It offers mutual support, feedback, solidarity and raises hope.

Because UCSD Eating Disorder Center is a research and care facility, there is much research discipline that has gone into the development of IFT and it has taken eight years of moving it from single- to multi-family treatment.

There are three phases within the IFT program. The first phase involves observation and assessment. This phase involves the therapist/coaches watching the eating disorder symptoms and behaviors at meals and how the family interactions unfold. From there recovery and interfering behaviors are defined and the plan for applying targeted interventions is drawn up.

The intervention and instruction phase involves facilitating insights as and where they might be applied; providing instruction and skills-training; facilitating the in-vivo (meaning in this case as mealtimes unfold) application of the skills; and identifying the recovery guidelines.

The final phase includes reinforcement and planning: practicing the skills and constructing a discharge and home-recovery plan.

The entire IFT program includes two individual family therapy sessions, two psychiatric and medication evaluation sessions, 20 supervised therapeutic meals and snacks and five target therapeutic components.

The therapeutic components involve patient skills training, parent management skills training, behavioral contracting, interceding between patient and parents and psychoeducation for parents and patients.

In the parent-only management training it helps for parents to understand that they all usually apply things that don’t work. Scare tactics don’t work. Rewards also don’t work.

It is at this point I sadly recognize that I must have hit a post-lunch slump because my own notes seem incredibly sparse when I match them to the 67 slides that comprise Dr. Boutelle’s presentation. Apologies to both my readers and to Dr. Boutelle that what follows from this point forward likely does not do the presentation justice.

The therapists within the IFT program wear many hats. They flow between authoritative and collaborative efforts with the patients and their families.

As many here will attest, talking about eating and actually eating are two different activities altogether. IFT is designed to create the crisis of eating as family meals are shared and accomplished in the presence of the IFT treatment team.

In addition, the treatment team facilitates multi-family activities that greatly enhance opportunities for novel ways of acting and interacting. Therapy sessions may involve the therapist in a circle with the teens while the involved parents sit on the outskirts of the session to listen in and learn.

Dialectical behavior therapy is applied for distress tolerance, emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness.

Throughout the IFT program there is a cycle of didactic training followed by multi-family group discussion, observation and reflection, culminating with in vivo practice at mealtimes.

The core philosophy of the parent management training is a focus on contingency management as a way to alter behavior. The child’s behavior changes when the parent’s response to the child’s behavior changes. Parent management training aims to extinguish parent responses such as threats, nagging, screaming, yelling, guilt-trips etc. and replace them with reinforcing responses such as validation, consequences, disassembling the task into smaller tasks, remaining calm, creating consistency, and offering up if/when statements.

Mealtimes are where the therapist acts as a coach to help both parents and patients practice behaviors that allow the families to reach the goals they have set.

Those goals are framed within the behavioral contract. The contract is developed and agreed to by the parents and patient, with therapist coaching and guidance.

These contracts are successful for a variety of reasons. Those with eating disorders have a low tolerance of uncertainty and a high aversion to harm along with a lack of internal motivation to recover. The contract includes a detailed relapse prevention plan.

There is an overarching goal defined with 2 to 3 target behaviors identified. The child’s feedback is sought for defining motivation as parents’ beliefs about motivators are often not what the child finds motivating. The behaviors are limited to two or three targets as often parents tend to ruminate on everything and will get mired in the details.

The target behaviors are converted into concrete rules and there are short-, medium-, and long-term rewards and consequences assigned to those behaviors as well.

Here is an example of an overarching goal: “To restore Amy to health so that she can enjoy a healthy, active life and gain independence.” The long-term goal for Amy is “to go to university.” The rules and guidelines for Amy require of her that she eat 100% of the 3 meals and 2 snacks provided to her each day. Contingencies for Amy will allow for her to go outside to play with her dog for 10 minutes a day if she meets her daily goals.

Let’s imagine that Amy refuses to eat one of her meals or snacks. There are consequences assigned to that scenario. Every successful day involves a short-term reward of having her phone back in the evening. A short-term consequence of refusing a meal or snack is that her phone is not returned to her in the evening and she will not leave the home for any reason for 24 hours except to attend school. Should this happen three days in a row, then Amy is no longer able to go to school unless she finishes her breakfast and snack before school that day.

Families enter these programs immobilized and fearful— AN impacts the entire family in this way. The psychoeducation facet of IFT reduces blame and helps parents to work constructively with the temperament and personality traits present in those with AN.

It was patently obvious that those involved in the IFT program are passionate about it and it is not hard to see why: to be part of restoring hope to a patient and her family that have come to believe remission is as likely a possibility as immortality, is a truly life-altering process.


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gala: segmentation of nD images

Gala is a python library for performing and evaluating image segmentation, distributed under the open-source, BSD-like Janelia Farm license. It implements the algorithm described in Nunez-Iglesias et al., PLOS ONE, 2013.

If you use this library in your research, please cite:

Nunez-Iglesias J, Kennedy R, Plaza SM, Chakraborty A and Katz WT (2014) Graph-based active learning of agglomeration (GALA): a Python library to segment 2D and 3D neuroimages. Front. Neuroinform. 8:34. doi:10.3389/fninf.2014.00034

If you use or compare to the GALA algorithm in your research, please cite:

Nunez-Iglesias J, Kennedy R, Parag T, Shi J, Chklovskii DB (2013) Machine Learning of Hierarchical Clustering to Segment 2D and 3D Images. PLoS ONE 8(8): e71715. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0071715

Gala supports n-dimensional images (images, volumes, videos, videos of volumes...) and multiple channels per image.

Build Status Coverage Status

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 1

Indices and tables


Sciency Words: Entropy

October 19, 2018

This is not the first time I’ve written about entropy. In fact, entropy was the subject of my very first (sort of, see footnote) Sciency Words post way back in 2011.  I was still trying to figure out this science stuff back then, and I was also still trying to figure out this whole blogging thing. It’s a little embarrassing to look at that old post now, so I hope none of you will click this link to see it for yourselves.

Back in 2011, I defined entropy as disorder.  Specifically, I said:

Entropy: (noun) A measurement of the amount of disorder in a mechanical system.

This thing about disorder is a very common and rather superficial way of defining entropy.  I’ve since seen and heard the term defined in lots of different ways, some more or less appropriate depending on which scientific field you’re talking about.

My favorite definition today is:

Entropy: (noun) a measure of the amount of energy in a closed thermodynamic system that is no longer available to do work.

And according to the second law of thermodynamics, the total entropy of a closed system will always go up.  This is true whether you’re talking about a steam engine or a living organism or the entire universe.  In any closed system, entropy keeps going up.

When I wrote that original Sciency Words post on entropy back in 2011, it didn’t occur to me to look up the word’s etymology.  That’s a shame, because this turned out to be one of the easier etymologies I’ve researched. I kind of assumed entropy would have some long, convoluted history tracing back to ancient Greece.  I mean, the word looks like an ancient Greek word to me.

But no, the word entropy was coined as recently as 1865 by German physicist Rudolf Clausius, the same person who originally formulated the second law of thermodynamics.  According to Wiktionary.com, the word is formed by analogy with the word energy, which comes from two Greek root words meaning “in work” or “in the process of working.”  So entropy derived from two Greek words meaning “in transformation” or “in the process of transformation” (so at least I was on the right track thinking the word looked like Greek).

This has led me to think up yet another way to define entropy, a definition that I feel stays a little more true to that “in transformation” meaning that I suspect Clausius was going for.  Let me know what you think of it in the comments.

Entropy: (noun) the gradual but inevitable transformation of what is useful into what is useless.

Footnote: I actually wrote several blog posts before that titled Sciency Words, but those really weren’t the same, and I wouldn’t consider them part of the Sciency Words series.

Sciency Words: STEM vs. STEAM, Part Two

October 12, 2018

In last week’s episode of Sciency Words, I told you about STEAM education, a variation of STEM education, but with an A added to represent the arts.  There’s a passionate and sometimes vitriolic fight happening in the education world about this.  If I had to pick sides, I guess I’d be on team STEAM; but I hate picking sides in something like this because this whole STEM vs. STEAM fight amounts to what I like to call a “failure of language.”

What I mean by that is that the whole STEM vs. STEAM thing is all about words.  Words, words, words.  Nothing more.  Every time we invent a new word, we create a sort of mental box.  To define our new word, we put certain things in the box, and we keep other things out.  To some extent, we have to do this; otherwise, language wouldn’t work.

But when we start sorting concepts into different mental boxes, we may inadvertently start erecting mental barriers as well.  As a child growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, I never heard about STEM or STEAM.  Those terms hadn’t been invented yet.  Even so, young me came to understand that the arts and sciences were absolutely different from each other.  There were hard barriers between them.  I worry that an unintended consequence of STEM has been to make those kinds of barriers harder and taller, and I’d like to believe that STEAM might help break those barriers down.

As a matter of education policy and the allocation of grant money, maybe STEM is the more useful word to be using.  When we can take a bunch of big concepts (like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, along with all the interdisciplinary challenges that come with those subjects) and put them together in the same mental box, we suddenly have the ability to communicate complex ideas in simple ways.  STEM education is important.  The fact that this term exists and we all more-or-less understand what it means is a huge success of language.

But what I’ve seen of this STEM vs. STEAM debate strikes me as a case study of how a success of language can start to look like a failure.  I can think of other examples as well. Any time we start insisting that things (or worse, people) belong in separate boxes, we’re allowing mere words to create real divisions, and we’re making the communication of ideas between the two sides more difficult.

This may not qualify as a scientific term, or even as a linguistics term, but it’s a term I’m using more and more in all the seemingly pointless arguments our society keeps getting into these days:

Okay, I’m going to get off my philosophy of language soapbox.  Now it’s your turn.  What do you think of STEM, STEAM, and the ways language succeeds and/or fails us?

Sciency Words: STEM vs. STEAM, Part One

October 5, 2018

I don’t think I’ve ever done a two-part episode of Sciency Words before, but this turned out to be a more complicated and controversial topic than I originally expected.  I have some strong feelings about this, but for now I’ll keep those feelings to myself and endeavor to be fair to both sides of the debate over:

Our story begins in the early 2000’s.  Studies were being published.  Important meetings were happening at the National Science Foundation.  There was a growing concern about the state of education in the United States.  Children were not learning what they needed to know in certain specific fields.  It seemed that a whole generation of young people would not be prepared for the high-tech job market of the future.

Thus, the concept of STEM education was born.  STEM, of course, is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  There’s been a strong push in recent years to get children excited about these subjects, to get them interested in pursuing STEM careers, and rightfully so.  Our world is changing, and children should be prepared for that.

But has this emphasis on STEM gotten out of hand? Has STEM led to a deemphasizing or even a devaluing of the arts?  Some worry that it has, and this has led to a new push to turn STEM into STEAM, with the A representing art.

The argument goes that the arts, or at least certain key aspects of the arts, are just as important in the high-tech world of tomorrow as the more traditional STEM fields.  As an example, think of a smartphone.  Think of the design team that figured out what the phone should look like, what it should feel like in your hand.  Think of the people who designed the user interface, with all those little icons that show you what your phone can do, and all those musical dings and beeps and whistles that let your phone tell you you got a text message, or that your download in complete, or that your battery is running low.  All those little niceties of design—it takes artists to do that.

But some people really are not happy about getting the arts mixed up with STEM.  Yes, the arts are important for a well-rounded education.  Yes, there’s a place for artists in the jobs market of the future.  But remember how our story began.  There was a growing concern that children were not getting the education they needed in certain specific fields. This was a crisis in the American education system, and the crisis is not over yet.  STEM education is only now starting to get the attention—and also the grant money—it so desperately needs.  We need to stay focused on the biggest problem areas in our education system.

Now I try to keep these blog posts fairly short.  I hope I did an okay job summarizing both sides of this issue, but if you think I left important points out, please feel free to yell at me in the comments below.  I’d especially love to hear from educators who may be on the front lines of this debate.

As for my own opinion… I guess if I had to choose sides, I’d be on team STEAM.  But I hate choosing sides in something like this.  From my perspective, more than anything else, this fight looks like a failure of language.  I’ll explain what I mean by that in part two.

Sciency Words: Alien

September 28, 2018

The First Planet Had the First Aliens

An Alien by Any Other Name

Attack of the Bug-Eyed Monsters

Sciency Words: Tau Level

September 14, 2018

I first came across this term in a press release from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  It has to do with Mars, and the global dust storm that’s been happening there these last few months, and that Mars rover that we may have lost.  But most of all, this tau level thing has to do with Beer.

No, not that kind of beer.

I’m talking about Dr. August Beer, a 19th Century German physicist who studied how light passes through and/or gets absorbed by various substances.  Dr. Beer is best remembered for Beer’s law, which (according to several papers I looked at… click here or here or here) is used to calculate how much sunlight makes it through the Martian atmosphere to reach the planet’s surface.

In those calculations, the Greek letter tau (τ) represents the amount of dust or other particulate matter that’s floating around in the atmosphere.  The more dust in the air, the higher the tau level.  And the higher the tau level, the less sunlight reaches the ground.

As you can imagine, you need to measure the tau level on Mars each day (or rather, each sol) and predict what the tau level will be tomorrow (I mean, solmorrow) if you’re trying to run any sort of surface mission on Mars that depends on solar power.  And in the future, when we have a well-established colony on Mars, don’t be surprised if the term tau level features prominently in the local weather reports.

P.S.: I had an idea that got too convoluted, but I really wanted to make a “don’t drink and drive” joke involving Beer’s law and our possibly wrecked Mars rover.

Sciency Words: Garn Scale

September 7, 2018

In 1985, Senator Jake Garn of Utah became the first sitting member of Congress to fly in space.  Florida Congressman Bill Nelson followed a year later.  I guess NASA felt it would be good for somebody in Congress to see firsthand how the money for the space shuttle program was being spent.

Senator Garn’s Wikipedia page quotes several astronauts. Apparently not everyone was thrilled about Garn’s mission, but some of them had nice things to say. Astronaut Charles Bolden, who would later go on to become NASA Administrator, said:

Jake Garn was the ideal candidate to do it, because he was a veteran Navy combat pilot who had more flight time than anybody in the Astronaut Office.

And Charles Walker, one of the astronauts who flew with Senator Garn, had this to say:

[…] I think the U.S. space program, NASA, has benefited a lot from both his experience and his firsthand relation of NASA and the program back on Capitol Hill. As a firsthand participant in the program, he brought tremendous credibility back to Capitol Hill, and that’s helped a lot.

Jake Garn may have had a lot of piloting experience before his mission, and afterwards he may have had a lot of positive things to tell his colleagues in Congress, but the mission itself… well, let’s just say weightlessness did not agree with the senator’s stomach.

As a result, Garn’s name has become something of a slang term at NASA.  The Garn scale is an informal, off-the-cuff system to quantify how space sick someone becomes while in space.  Apparently it’s not unusual, even for the most experienced astronauts, to get a little space sick.

A zero on the Garn scale represents not getting space sick at all.  If you do get sick, you’ll probably score a tenth of a Garn, or a quarter of a Garn—some fractional amount of a Garn.  It’s said that no one has ever reached one full Garn’s worth of space sickness, except of course, Senator Garn himself.

Hopefully the senator has a sense of humor about all this.

Sciency Words: Space Adaptation Syndrome

August 31, 2018

While doing my recent research on hypogravity and its effects on the human body, I’ve seen the term space adaptation syndrome come up a few times. I figured it would make a good Sciency Words post. Then I discovered, to my surprise, that I’d already done this one!

So today I’d like to present to you, apparently for the second time:

Yeah, we could just call it “space sickness,” but this is Sciency Words, so we have to call it “space adaptation syndrome.” Because NASA has a rule that all space related terms must be turned into acronyms, we can also call it “S.A.S.”

Most astronauts experience space adaptation syndrome at some point, usually during training or during their first few days in space. Relapses are also known to happen. As you can imagine, NASA really wants to figure out what causes S.A.S. and how to prevent it. This is one of the reasons they recently left an astronaut in space for almost a full year.

Mr11 Year in Space

This is totally how the year in space mission happened.

At present, S.A.S. seems to be similar to motion sickness. It is also sort of the exact opposite of motion sickness. Think of it this way:

  • Motion sickness: your inner ear senses motion, but your eyes do not (because you’re playing with your phone in a moving car, for example). In this case, your eyes are feeding your brain false information.
  • Space adaptation syndrome: your eyes see that you’re moving (or not moving), but in the absence of gravity, your inner ear hasn’t got a clue what’s going on. So in this case, your eyes are trustworthy; it’s your inner ear feeding false information to your brain.

The good news is that we humans can adapt. Our brains learn to rely less on our inner ears, allowing the business of human space exploration to continue.

The bad news is that once we humans adapt to space, returning to Earth becomes a problem. I’m not talking about bone loss or muscle atrophy. I’m talking about balance. All of a sudden, your inner ear is working again, and your brain has to relearn how to do this balancing and walking stuff.

There is also a concern—and I’m not sure how seriously to take this concern—that the human body might adapt too well to space. You might spend so much time up there, becoming so acclimated to zero-G, that your brain and inner ear will never function properly together again. You’ll never walk again. You’ll never be able to come home. You’ll be stuck in space for the rest of your life.

That would suck.

Or maybe it wouldn’t. To be honest, if I ever get to go to space, I probably won’t want to come back anyway.

P.S.: Here’s a bonus Sciency Word: lead-head. Lead-head is what astronauts call immunity from space adaptation syndrome.


Ch. 5 The Integumentary System Flashcards Preview

Human Anatomy > Ch. 5 The Integumentary System > Flashcards

Flashcards in Ch. 5 The Integumentary System Deck (33):

Functions of the Skin

- thermoregulation (sweat glands, vasodilation (loss heat), vasoconstriction)
- blood reservoir (mainly dermis)
- protection from external environment
- cutaneous sensations
- excretion and absorption
- synthesis of vitamin D

outer, thinner layer that consists of keratinized stratified squamous Epithelium; consists of four principle cells:
1. keratinocytes: (90% of cells) produce keratin which provides protection against microbes, chemicals, heat and abrasion
2. Melanocytes: (8%) produce the pigment, melanin that protects against damage by ultraviolet radiation
3. Langerhans cells: (intraepidermal macrophage cells) arise from red bone marrow and involved in immune responses, damaged by UV light
4. Merkel cells: (tactile cells) deepest layer of the epidermis, function in the sensation of touch along with the adjacent tactile (merkel) discs

Stratum Basale

deepest layer of epidermis, continuous cell division to produce keratinocytes
nuclei are large with abundant ribosomes, small Golgi complex and few mitochondria
intermediate filaments keratin protect deeper layers from injury
melanocytes and Merkel cells are found in this layer

Facts about the skin

- covers the body and is the largest organ of the body by surface area and weight
- 2 square meters and weighs 4.5-5kg and form about 7% of body weight
- .5-4mm thick, thinnest on the eyelids, thickest on the heels; average thickness is 1-2mm
- skin is organ because it performs a specific function, blood vessels, nerves

Stratum Spinosum

- 8-10 layers of thorn-like keratinocytes with bundles of tonofilaments
- cells in superficial layers are flat
- intermediate keratin filaments are present, provides strength and stability
- melanocytes and Langerhans cells are present and include arm-like processes

Stratum Granulosum

- 3-5 rows of flattened keratinocytes undergoing apoptosis
- keratohyalin converts keratin intermediate filaments into keratin
- lamellar granules fuse with the plasma membrane and release a lipid-rich water repellent secretion
- granules prevent water loss and microbe entry

Stratum Lucidum

- present in only thick skin areas (fingertips, palms, soles)
- 4-6 layers of clear, flat, dead keratinocytes containing large amount of keratin and thickened plasma membrane
- parallel arrangement of keratin provides an additional level of toughness in thick skin

Stratum Corneum

- 25-30 layers of flattened dead keratinocytes
- cells are extremely thin, flat, plasma-membrane-enclosed packages of keratin called corneocytes or squames that are shed and replaced by cells from the deeper strata
- protect deeper layers
- constant friction stimulates increased cell production and keratin developing a callus (thickening of skin)

- composed of dense irregular connective tissue
- collagen and elastic fibers provides tensile strength
- divided into two layers

Papillary Region

- 1/5 of the thickness of the dermis, superficial layer
- consists of areolar connective tissue containing thin collagen and elastic fibers, dermal papillae (undersurface, taller and numerous in sensative regions), capillary loops, corpuscles of touch (Meissner's corpuscles), and free nerve endings detect cool, warm, tickle, pain and itching

Reticular Region

- attached to subcutaneous layer, contains bundles of thick collagen and elastic fibers (dense irregular tissue), adipose cells, hair follicles, nerves, sebaceous glands, and sudoriferous glands, blood vessels
- tension lines in the skin indicate predominant direction of underlying collagen fibers
- provides extensibility and elasticity, striae appear when stretched too much

extensive stretching of the collagenous fibers (internal damage) within dermis causes stretch marks
- obesity, pregnancy, and weight lifting

loosening of both layers of dermis causes wrinkles and increases with the age of a person

Lines of Cleavage

- underlying collagen fibers tend to orient more in one direction than another in reticular region
- predominant in palmar surface of fingers and are arranged in parallel to long axis of the digits
- important to plastic surgeons

- yellow-red or brown-black pigment produced by melanocytes (located mostly in the epidermis where it absorbs UV radition)
- amount of melanin causes the skin's color to vary from pale yellow to red to tan to black
- melanocytes are more concentrated in the skin of penis, nipple, areolae, face and limbs
- melanocytes are about same in number in all people, skin color is due to the amount of melanocytes produced
- freckles are accumulation of melanin

oxygen-carrying pigment in red blood cells; located in erythrocytes flowing through dermal capillaries

yellow-orange pigment found in the stratum corneum, dermis, and subcutaneous layer

Subcutaneous Layer

- not part of the skin but among its functions
- attaches the skin to the underlying tissues and organs
- areolar tissue or fiberous collagen fibers with adipose tissue
- contain lamellated (pacinian) corpuscles which detect external pressure applied to skin
- storage depot for fat and contains large blood vessels

local, harmless overgrown of melanin-forming cells
can become malignant upon exposure to excessive UV light

- yellowish or brown spot that represent localized areas of excessive melanocyte activity
- degree of pigmentation varies and depends on both sun exposure and heredity

- congenial anomaly that results in skin discolouration due to blood vessels that proliferate and form a benign tumour
- capillary hemangiomas (strawberry-colored birth marks)
- cavernous hemangiomas (port-wine stains)

Hair Characteristics

- protection, reduction of heat loss, sensing light touch
- composed of dead, keratinized epidermal cells
- shaft: superficial portion of the hair, projects from the surface of the skin
- root: penetrates into the dermis
- hair follicle: surrounds the root; consists of an epithelial root sheath which in turn is surrounded by a dermal root sheath

Papilla of the Hair

located at the base of a hair follicle is the bulb; it has an indentation called the papilla of the hair where blood vessels provide nourishment to the growing hair

Hair Matrix

- part of bulb
- arise from stratum basale, the cite of cell division
- gives rise to the cells of the internal root sheath (forms cellular tubular sheath of epithelium between external root sheath and the hair), hair colour (melanocytes)

Arrector Pili

- extends from the superficial dermis of the skin to the connective tissue sheath around the hair follicle
- nerve endings stimulate the arrector pili muscles to contract, pulling hair shafts perpendicular to surface (goosebumps)
- insulate or look intimidating

Hair Root Plexus

-sensitive to touch, initiates nerve impulse if hair shaft is moved
- dendrites of neurons surrounding each hair follicle

Sebaceous Glands

-oil glands, simple branched acinar glands connected to hair folicle
- lining of cuboidal cells, secrete an oily substance called sebum, which prevents dehydration of hair and skin
- inhibits growth of certain bacteria

Sudoriferous Glands

- produce sweat by exocytosis through pores of into hair follicles
- eccrine or apocrine sweat glands

Eccrine (merocrine) sweat glands

- simple, soiled tubular glands, located deep dermis
- an excretory duct that opens at a pore at the surface of the epidermis
- more common than apocrine glands
- sweat helps to cool body by evaporating, insensible perspiration (evaporates before perceived) sensible perspiration (larger amounts and is seen as moisture)
- eliminates small amounts of wastes
- not on margin of lips, nail bed, glans penis, clitoris, labia minora, and eardrum

Apocrine Sweat Glands

- emotional sweating or cold sweat and sexual excitement
- larger ducts and lumens
- found mainly in skin of the axilla, groin, areolae, and bearded facial regions of adult males
- decompose proteins which causes body odor
- enlarge during ovulation and shrink during menstruation, become active only after puberty

Ceruminous Glands

- modified sweat glands located in the ear canal; and nearby sebaceous glands
- produce waxy substance called cerumen (ear wax) which provides a sticky barrier that prevents entry of foreign bodies into the ear canal

- composed of hard, keratinized epidermal cells located over the dorsal surfaces of the ends of fingers and toes
- nail body: visible portion of the nail, does not shed
- free edge: extend past the distal end of the digit
- nail root: buried in a fold of skin
- lunula: whitish, crecent-shaped area of the proximal end of nail body
- hyponychium: secures nail to fingertip
- eponychium: cuticle is a narrow band of epidermis that adheres to the margin of nail wall
- nail matrix: cell division occurs resulting in growth of nail

Functions of Nails

- help grasp and manipulate things
- protect against trauma to the ends of the digits
- scratching
- provide support and counter pressure to the palmar surface of the finger to enhance touch perception and manipulation


architecture, building exterior, built structure, window, text, building, western script, residential structure, snow, residential building, no people, day, glass - material, house, cold temperature, outdoors, winter, communication, wall - building feature, city

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Sun Energy Solutions

Visit this site for interesting facts and information about Sun Energy Solutions. Learn about Sun Energy Solutions. Description together with definition of Sun Energy Solutions.

Sun Energy Solutions

Sun energy solutions is nothing but the solutions that are provided by or provided through the sun energy. To be more detailed, when a problem occurs , we naturally tend to find a solution either permanently or temporarily to solve the problem. Similarly, sun energy is used to solve a wide range of problems in terms of energy and also has been proven as an effective method and so, it might be adopted as the permanent solution also when required by us.

What is the present scenario?

In the present day scenario, we humans depend on the coal for energy production. But coal is a non renewable source of energy , which means it will be unavailable for us , on earth after few years or days based on  how efficiently we use coal. Adding to this, the energy produced by means of coal , pollutes the environment also, with the emission of carbon monoxide. The place to live in is becoming toxified day by day due to these hazardous gas emissions. So, we need to start adopting the new techniques which will be not only useful for us but also, makes the environment clean. So the product developed should be mainly eco friendly, that is, not creating any harm to the environment.

What changes can be done?

Firstly, we have to concentrate on developing an eco friendly product that creates energy at the affordable cost . The answer for all these requirements would be, “sun ENERGY” and they can be developed with great efficiency and storage units to store the energy and they could provide energy whenever needed, irrespective of the climate. An estimation fact reveals that, there are still 3000 million people in this world without electricity. So this sun energy could be used at these remote areas and also can be worked efficiently. Though the cost of manufacturing it is high, one time investment policy makes it easier to adopt and also it needs less maintenance .

What are the solutions provided currently?

The solutions provided currently with the help of this sun energy is mainly , ELECTRICITY. Electricity is one of the important factors required in the earth for humans. For the sun energy production, the sun panels are constructed at first. And then the storage units are set up for storing the energy in them, so that they can be used later. The sun panel setup consists of the photovoltaic cells, which are responsible for obtaining rays from the sun and converting them into the required form of energy. Photovoltaic cells are mainly made of silicon cells and when sun rays falls on them, they get excited thus producing energy. Then with the appropriate converters the light energy is converted into electrical energy and stored in the batteries setup along with them.

Apart from these electricity purposes, the sun energy is also used to provide energy for space ships from early 1950’s. Thus with the sun energy one could fulfil their complete needs comprising electricity and also other uses like sun cooker etc.

Other types of Sun energy


AN expressionist view of wood and water marked Paddy Baile out as the winner of the 10th annual open exhibition mounted by Cranleigh Arts Centre, which continues until September 1.

Vigorously tackled in impasto swipes and washes of oil paint it confidently conjured a copse of semi-abstracted trees casting a long reflection in muted shades of green and cream lit by fiery touches of red.

The all-encompassing theme for this year’s competition, which was judged by an invited panel, was Reality and Illusion and the strongest contenders were the ones fired by the wilder shores of imagination.

Easily the most memorable painting was, A Midsummer Night’s Moon , by previous
winner Brian Dunce, which cleverly conjured a  fantasy world within an atmospheric shifting interior.

Composed as a large diamond and painted in mixed media to create contrasting tactile areas and fresh focal points, it was a vision of a glowing rose in a blue jug lit by a shadowy moon hanging in a midnight sky embellished with magical symbols.

A sharply painted view through a window and sweeping shadows incorporated within the painting intensified the sense of being inside and looking out on a dream-like night.

The overall standard was uneven but several compositions stood out not least for imaginative content.

Sheila Smith delivered a powerfully surreal image in her acrylic painting of a man leaping through a keyhole from day to night.

She kept up the momentum with a geometric abstract of spiralling red and yellow squares on green that played optical tricks.

Photography was well represented with a dreamy black and white photograph capturing the movements of a ghostly dancer by Carol Hicks and a striking image of a mosaic of the head of Christ emerging from an inky veil-like shadow by Sue Roche.


It’s the debate that tore the Internet wide open this week after an audio file, originally taken from Reddit, was posted to Twitter that posed a simple question: What do you hear?

The answer is indisputably "laurel." Or maybe it's "yanny."

What do you hear?! Yanny or Laurelpic.twitter.com/jvHhCbMc8I

— Cloe Feldman (@CloeCouture)May 15, 2018

So what gives? David Pittman, a psychology professor at Wofford College, chalks the debate up to a confluence of factors. He said it comes down to how your auditory system — the combination of your ears and brain — perceive what turns out to be a really mucked up audio file.

Pittman said research shows that the brain is limited in the number of sounds we can pay attention to at any one time, as demonstrated by dichotic listening tests first performed in the 1960s.

“When we’re processing sounds that come in, we’re really limited in the number we can pay attention to at any one time — especially if that’s happening simultaneously,” Pittman said.

Pittman said the way the brain processes sound can even be influenced by when the sounds actually reach the right and left ears.

“People are only able to detect one,” Pittman said. “So sounds entering the right ear reach the brain’s language centers faster, and the left ear gets blocked.”

Pittman said the audio file shared this week actually has a lot of environmental background noise included. In this case, Twitter poster Chloe Feldman said she originally plucked the recording from a Reddit thread. The original Reddit poster said the sound was a recording played from Vocabulary.com.

Along the way, higher frequency sounds were introduced, Pittman said, that help some listeners' brains decipher the recording as “Yanny.”

Pittman said you can play around with your perception by manipulating your environment.

“Higher frequencies don’t travel as well through the environment as do lower frequencies,” Pittman said. “So if you’ve got the speakers right in front of your face, or listening with headphones, you might increase the chances you’ll hear 'yanny.'"

He called the viral video an important reminder that sometimes our senses can fool us.

“We’re so used to trusting what our senses tell us, but sometimes they’re wrong,” Pittman said.

He likes to use a similar illusion when illustrating a point for his classes regarding how environmental context could shade a listener’s perception. He often asks his students to write about “youth in Asia.”

“Because it’s a science class, I get all these papers back about humane treatment of animals — or in this case, euthanasia,” Pittman said. "But context really matters in the way we perceive things."


Aston Martin DB9 production ends

Aston Martin DB9 production ends

Production for the Aston Martin DB9 has ended after 13 years, clearing the way for the first customer examples of its successor, the DB11, to be built.

Aston Martin tweeted an image of the last nine DB9s, showing them at the end of the Gaydon production line wearing badges labelling each as a ‘last of nine’. The cars were finished by the brand’s Q customisation department.

Built at Gaydon since its inception in 2003, the DB9 was an all-new model that helped spawn the underpinnings for the following DBS, Vanquish and Rapide. A similar trend is expected with the DB11, but Aston claims that that car’s structure is even more versatile, suggesting each future model could be significantly different, despite their shared underpinnings.

Production of the DB11 and its new twin-turbocharged V12 engine will commence next month. Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer has pledged to personally inspect the first 1000 cars, with each gaining a plaque to signify his approval. Pre-production cars have already gained such badges, as shown below.

First customer deliveries of the DB11 are expected to arrive shortly before Christmas.


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7 September 2017 12:00 am

Food & Beverage Controller

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Category: Management
Job type: Full-time
Employment Type: Full-time
Skills: Bachelor’s Degree or Equivalent and would have a minimum 7 years relevant experience. Knowledge of Food Safety Management as well as materials management experience are essential for this position.

You will be responsible for the organization, review and development of the materials control department. In this role, you will be asked to review, verify and control all material movement, transactions and reports, including receipt, issuance, usage and wastage, and attain robust cost controls pertaining to materials through verification and audit processes utilizing system reports and manual verification, developing a team of employees to drive efficient control measures implementing corrective actions where required.

In this position, you will set up, own and continuously develop material planning processes, create, review and participate in development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's). You will address key raw material processing functions, measuring product yields are in line with purchasing as well as regularly monitor measuring equipment to ensure specification weights are being adhered to.

Additionally, you will carry out specific auditing at various points of the production process, example final customer order physically matches the dispatched load ensuring up counts and down counts are actioned accordingly to reduce over boarding of meal. You will lead your team to success by overseeing daily activities as recruiting, training, developing and discipline to ensure a high standard of service delivery.

Also, you will ensure correct system processes/budget codes are adopted and orders are approved in accordance with company policy. You will use your analytical skills to review and verify all wastage reports and provide feedback to management and stakeholders on trend analysis in order to control cost and budget.


Are Small Frequent Meals Keeping You From Your Goals?

In it’s simplest form the method to lose weight is to expend more calories than you take in daily. The notion of eating five to six small meals throughout the day is thought to control hunger and allow your body to burn the calories from each meal more quickly and easily. This recommendation is the go-to of the fitness industry and with people “in the know” however, science evolves, and so this notion is no longer a straightforward one.

This theory goes back and forth more often than a tennis ball at wimbledon and it does yet again. New research shows that eating more or less frequently does not affect your metabolism, therefore does not affect your daily calorie burn. Fans of Intermittent Fasting will like that news.

Some studies show that eating more smaller meals more frequently causes the individual to eat fewer calories throughout the day and decreases hunger as well. Some of these same studies have also shown that these people consume healthier foods and maintain a lower body mass index than individuals who eat fewer, larger meals daily.

But, while smaller frequent meals may help control large swings in blood sugar levels and decrease hunger, some suggest it may not be the most optimal way of eating for us.

If you’re a conspiracy theorist you’re probably already thinking it’s all just a ploy by the snack food industry to get us eating more frequently, subsequently reaching for their delicious snacks. I’m not saying I agree but how can we dispute that this theory became popular in the 1980’s as the snack food industry exploded in size. Prior to that, in the 1950’s and 1960’s it was normal for people to only eat three meals a day and there really wasn’t much of eating or snacking at your desk or in the car. Perhaps the lower obesity levels in during that era can be a result of these habits.

So, should you kick that diet plan you just paid for to the curb because it tells you to eat five or six meals a day? Not so fast. It may work for you, it may not. Things like this really come down to the individual – what works for others may not work for you and vice versa. Two of my biggest pet peeves are one, people who prescribe cookie cutter diet plans to everyone and two, those who prescribe meal plans because it’s the in thing to do – see gluten free eating for one, but I digress.

If you’re starting a meal plan with whatever goal in mind – losing weight or building muscle, pay attention to how your body reacts to each meal and each individual food item in the meal, including the frequency of your meals. Make notes and don’t be afraid to make adjustments or discuss your findings with you personal trainer or nutritionist. And yes, I wouldn’t be doing myself a service if I also didn’t say if you’re not intolerant to something, research before cutting it out of your diet.

About Athletes and Models


The Tiniest Chameleon in the World has Been Discovered

On a small island off Madagascar, a group of scientists have discovered a species of chameleon that are tiny enough to perch easily on the head of a match.  The new species is called Brookesia micra and is the tiniest ones every discovered.  In addition to this tiny chameleon the scientists have also discovered three other species of tiny chameleon.

The adult males of this species only grow to just over a half inch from their nose to the bottom.  The lead researcher has stated the team has already had experiences finding small lizards in Madagascar.  They searched for this tiny sleeping chameleon in the dark using just flashlights and headlamps.  At night they climb up into the branches, which are just four inches off the ground, to sleep but all four of the newly discovered species are very active during the day. When they are sleeping they are very easy to just pick up because at night they do not move at all.

The Tiniest Chameleon in the World has Been DiscoveredThese four species have been discovered on the northern regions of Madagascar.  Three of the species were found on expeditions during 2003 and 2007.  Two of the species are in danger of becoming extinct because of deforestation and habitat.  According to Frank Glaw, lead researcher, the latest tiny chameleon discovered may represent the limit of miniaturization that is possible for a vertebrate with complex eyes.


Finnish Nissua

Cooking Recipes Catalogue

INGREDIENTS (for 3 servings):

  • Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Stir in the margarine, sugar and salt until melted. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
  • Pour milk mixture into a large bowl. Beat in eggs, 1 1/2 cup flour, cardamom and yeast mixture. Cover and let stand for 20 to 30 minutes, or until bubbly.
  • Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into three equal pieces and then divide each piece into thirds. Roll out with your hands until the pieces are long enough to braid. Braid three pieces together to form a loaf; repeat twice to make three loaves. Place on lightly greased baking sheets and let rise for 40 minutes, until nearly doubled. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  • Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until golden brown. Move to a wire rack to cool completely.
  • In a small bowl, mix together butter and confectioners' sugar. Stir in vanilla and 2 teaspoons milk to make a spreadable frosting. Spread the frosting over the cooled bread.


 学术报告——Characterization of carbon nanotube and graphene polymer nanocomposites-力学
2012-12-05 来源：大连理工大学工程力学系    (点击： )

Polymeric materials have been widely used in almost every sector of industry. It is known that substantial enhancement in physical and mechanical properties of polymeric materials can be achieved by blending them with micro- or nano-sized particles to form nanocomposites. Recently, carbon nanotube (CNT) and graphene have been added into polymers to improve their electrical conductivity and mechanical properties. Potential applications include organic field emitting displays, photovoltaic cells, electromagnetic-wave interference materials and nanocomposites with excellent mechanical performance. In spite of these promising applications, the fundamental understanding of conductivity and toughening mechanism in CNT and graphene polymer nanocomposite is still lacking, largely due to the complicated interactions between the nano-sized filler and the polymer matrix. In this presentation, our recent work on synthesis and modelling of CNT and graphene polymer nanocomposite will be introduced. The mechanical properties of CNT, graphene and filler-polymer interface were investigated using molecular dynamics simulations, taking into account the effects of atomic defects chemical functionalization. Extensive experiment and numerical simulation were carried out to investigate the conductivity of CNT nanocomposites.

Dr.Cheng Yan is an associate professor in materials engineering at QUT, with expertise in processing and characterization of composites, metallic materials,nanomaterials, numerical simulation and mechanical properties and failure of various materials and structures. He has been awarded 2 competitive Australian Research Council (ARC) fellowships (APD and ARF) and granted over $5 mfrom various research funds, including 9 ARC projects.Dr. Yan has generated 200 publications with over100 ininternational journals, and maintained broad collaboration with leading international universities and research organizations. Recently, he was awarded the inaugural Queensland International Fellowship. He is the member of steering committee of ATN-ISTA nanotechnology network and Australia Fracture Group.


Meet Misa. She is a mature female lab/pit mix who spent over a month at the very busy Riverside shelter.  We think she is about 8 years old. She came into the shelter in rough shape, emaciated, with major hair loss and some old wounds.  It is clear her previous life was a tough one. When we told the staff there we wanted to rescue her they were over the moon. During her time there she had won over the hearts of volunteers and staff and they all really wanted to see her make it out of the shelter to safety.

She was kenneled with other dogs at the shelter but now that she is feeling better she has shown some signs that she would do best as an only dog.  She loves going for walks and laying on her bed in the sun.  She is so grateful for all the love and affection she is receiving out of the shelter. She would be an easy dog to please, a soft scratch behind her ears, a bully stick every once in a while and a stroll around the block.  She would be forever grateful to have the life that eluded her during her first 8 years.

Thank you for choosing to adopt and saving a life.


ESG insights from FY17 reporting season

ESG integration at Ausbil

Ausbil integrates environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in order to make better informed investment decisions. ESG issues can be time-consuming to research and can have complex implications on investments, which is why Ausbil has a dedicated ESG research team within its investment team. The proprietary ESG research produced by the team can feed into all four stages of Ausbil’s investment process: macroeconomic analysis, sectoral analysis, stock selection and portfolio construction. However, it is important to point out that ESG integration in an investment process does not necessarily equate to investing in companies with the very best ESG profiles, particularly in the Australian market, which offers a limited investible universe and therefore difficulty in pursuing a bestin-class approach on ESG. Rather, we believe there are alpha opportunities in companies with positive momentum on ESG drivers, particularly cultural factors.

In our experience, major cultural transformations can be particularly good at unlocking value. As an example, the Coles (Wesfarmers) turnaround in the last decade was significantly driven by cultural factors. As a result, it is important for investors to identify early signs of cultural transformation, both positive and negative.

The impact from ESG insights on individual stocks varies, but ultimately it is tied to Ausbil’s investment philosophy that earnings drive share prices and also that we have a preference to invest in companies with sustainable earnings and quality management. Sometimes ESG insights can result in adjustment to earnings forecasts and at other times it can impact our conviction about a company’s management or strategy. Ausbil believes ESG factors, particularly changes in momentum in ESG performance, can serve as good lead indicators of earnings sustainability as well as be a proxy for management quality.

Key insights from the FY17 reporting season

On a high level, there were a number of discernible general trends in the FY17 reporting season:

• Firstly, it is increasingly evident that China is becoming serious about fixing its environmental challenges. The increased environmental focus in China will result in both risks and opportunities for Australian companies, e.g., in the materials sector, while it’s also likely to lead to cost inflation in supply chains, reinforcing the main conclusions from our ESG field trip to China in 2016 and the paper ‘Is the fast fashion industry at an inflection point?’

• Secondly, many companies across industries are scaling up their automation efforts - for instance, in the extractive industries, where this can lead to productivity benefits, but also significant safety performance improvements. Other sectors where there is increased focus on automation include agriculture / food production and consumer services.

• Thirdly, many companies recorded overall safety performance improvements, at least of their own staff and on the measures published, such as lost time injury frequency rates or total recordable injury frequency rates. A large number of ASX-listed companies now have occupational health and safety (OH&S) measures as part of their short term incentive structures and the reductions in injury rates (lag indicators) follow efforts to change safety culture and behavioural changes in recent years. However, investors need to look beyond what companies report to understand a company’s OH&S risk management. Some companies have restated safety statistics over time, suggesting there could be some data quality issues, while a number of companies that reported fatalities in FY17 also (perplexingly) recorded improved performance on headline safety statistics.

• Fourthly, companies are increasingly talking about ‘culture’ and staff engagement, which we regard as positive given that many corporate scandals and failures in the past have partly been related to questionable culture. In addition, culture can be a key positive value driver and is often an integral part of profitability improvements.

• Fifthly, rising energy costs are eating into profit margins, which highlights the importance of focusing on energy efficiency e.g., in manufacturing and construction materials. Many companies are also increasingly scaling up their own energy production, including renewable energy.

In the FY17 reporting season, we believe 44% of the companies analysed have net overall positive momentum on ESG factors, while 33% were neutral and 24% negative. This is in line with what we would expect, whereby the majority of companies should be improving.

Woolworths was among the positive movers. Its cultural transformation is becoming increasingly evident and resulting in improved staff engagement and customer satisfaction, which are important elements in an industry subject to increased competition. Other examples of ongoing cultural transformation include Sims Metal Management and QUBE Logistics, which also appointed its first female director to the board.

The new management team of G8 Education is also implementing changes that could drive improved staff engagement, which in turn could drive better customer retention rates - a key business driver. JB Hi-Fi’s integration of The Good Guys appears to be tracking well and the company is experiencing positive momentum in staff engagement. We have previously seen correlation between staff engagement and customer satisfaction among companies such as Super Retail Group. A review of ombudsman statistics and customer satisfaction data also shows that Medibank Private is currently experiencing positive momentum.
Some companies reported significant improvement in safety performance, such as Fortescue Metals, Boral, Bega Cheese and Bingo Industries.

The negative movers generally referred to companies with fatalities, including a company that had previously been fatality-free for many years. There were also cases of deteriorating injury rates, deteriorating staff engagement and deteriorating CEO approval rates, which could be seen as leading indicators of cultural deterioration. There were also cases of excessive executive remuneration outcomes and companies that continue to be subject to significant structural challenges, including sustainability issues, such as obesity. The reporting season also highlighted the high ESG risk facing Australian companies operating in, or entering, developing countries, particularly in Africa.

Engagements and follow ups from the previous reporting season

As a fund manager that integrates ESG, Ausbil puts significant emphasis on active ownership or engagement on ESG issues. In addition to proxy voting, Ausbil also frequently engages with companies on ESG issues as part of the reporting season. Typically, when Ausbil meets with a company, Ausbil is represented by a portfolio manager, a stock analyst and an ESG analyst. In the reporting season, Ausbil discussed a wide range of ESG issues, such as succession planning, changes to executive remuneration structures, OH&S risk management, cultural change, staff engagement, geopolitical risk and much more with these companies.

In some cases, Ausbil also actively encouraged companies to adopt industry-best practice and other measures to reduce downside risk, such as better disclosure on climate change (including scenario analysis), adoption of more effective whistleblower channels and whistleblower protection and more.

Engagements can sometimes be long journeys, but on a positive note, in the FY17 reporting season, Ausbil saw good development in some areas where we have previously engaged, such as improvement in supply chain risk management. For example we witnessed consolidation of supply chains, which means a greater opportunity to influence suppliers on labour and environmental standards, as well as improved disclosure on rehabilitation provisions and some adjustments to executive remuneration.

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The near-perfect reflection in glassy water of the couple and their dog is a nice touch—but even without it, the gentle backlighting and the dog's leaping posture would make for a strong image. The high contrast against a clean gradient sky lends a graphic quality to the image that is softened by the warm light and the diagonals in the poses.
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