Introduction to Autoencoders

Autoencoders are neural networks models whose aim is to reproduce their input: this is trivial if the network has no constraints, but if the network is constrained the learning process becomes more interesting.

Simple Autoencoder

The simplest AutoEncoder (AE) has an MLP-like (Multi Layer Perceptron) structure:

  • One input layer
  • One hidden layer
  • One output layer

The main difference between the AE and the MLP is that former’s output layer has the same cardinality of its input layer whilst the latter’s output layer cardinality is the number of classes the perceptron should be capable of classifying. Moreover, the AE belongs to the unsupervised learning algorithms family because it learns to represent unlabeled data; the MLP instead requires labeled data to be trained on.

The most important part of an AE is its hidden layer. In fact, this layer learns to encode the input whilst the output layer learns to decode it.

The hidden layer plays a fundamental role because a common application of AEs is dimensionality reduction: after the training phase, the output layer is usually thrown away and the AE is used to build a new dataset of samples with lower dimensions.

  • input vector
  • parameters matrix of layer -th, in charge of projecting a -D input in a -D space
  • bias vector
  • activation function applied to every neuron of the layer .

The simplest AE can therefore be summarized as:

The AE is the model that tries to minimize the reconstruction error between the input value and the reconstructed value : the training process is, therefore, the minimization of a distance (like the ) or some other chosen metric.

From the information theory prospective the loss can be seen as:

Constraints are everything

It can be easily noticed that if the number of units in the hidden layer is greater than or equal to the number of input units, the network will learn the identity function easily.

Learning the identity function alone is useless because the network will never learn to extract useful features but, instead, it will simply pass forward the input data to the output layer. In order to learn useful features, constraints must be added to the network: in this way no neuron can learn the identity function but they’ll learn to project inputs in a lower dimensional space.

AEs can extract the so-called latent variables from the input data. These variables are an aggregated view of the input data, that can be used to easily manage and understand the input data.

Dimensionality reduction using AEs leads to better results than classical dimensionality reduction techniques such as PCA due to the non-linearities and the type of constraints applied.

From the information theory point of view, the constraints force to learn a lossy representation of input data.

Number of hidden units

Limit the number of hidden units

Constraining the number of hidden units to be less than input units

The simplest idea is to constrain the number of hidden units to be less than the number of input units.

In this way, the identity function can’t be learned, but instead, a compress representation of the data should be.

Sparse AE architecture

Do not constraint the number of hidden units, make the network learn to turn off the right ones.

To impose a sparsity constraint means to force some hidden unit to be inactive most of the time. The inactivity of a neuron depends on the chosen activation function .

If the activation function is the

being close to means to be inactive.

Sparsity is a desired characteristic for an autoencoder, because it allows to use a greater number of hidden units (even more than the input ones) and therefore gives the network the ability of learning different connections and extract different features (w.r.t. the features extracted with the only constraint on the number of hidden units). Moreover, sparsity can be used together with the constraint on the number of hidden units: an optimization process of the combination of these hyper-parameters is required to achieve better performance.

Sparsity can be forced adding a term to the loss function. Since we want that most of the neurons in the hidden layer are inactive, we can extract the average activation value for every neuron of the hidden layer (averaged over the whole training set ) and force it to be under a threshold.

If the threshold value is low, the neurons will adapt their parameters (and thus their outputs) to respect this constraint. To do this, most of them will be inactive. Let:

the average value for the -th neuron of the hidden (number 2) layer.

Defining the sparsity parameter as the desired average activation value for every hidden neuron and initializing it to a value close to zero, we can enforce the sparsity:

To achieve this, various penalization terms to the loss function can be added. The common one is based on the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence: a measure of the similarity of two distributions.

In this case, the KL divergence is measured times between a Bernoulli random variable with mean and a Bernoulli random variable with mean used to model a single neuron.

In short, the divergence increase as the difference between and increase. Therefore this is a good candidate to be added as penalization term to the loss, in that way the learning process via gradient descent will try to minimize the divergence while minimizing the reconstruction error.

The final form of the loss thus is:

Adding noise: DAE

Instead of forcing the hidden layer to learn to extract features from the input data , we can train the AE to reconstruct the input from a corrupted version of it .

This allows the AE to discover more robust features w.r.t. the ones that could be learned from the original uncorrupted data.

This kind of constraint gave rise to the Denoising AutoEncoder (DAE) field.

DAEs have the same architecture of the AEs presented above, with just 2 differences:

  1. Input corruption step
  2. Loss function

Input corruption

For every element in the training set, it’s required to generate a corrupted version.

can be any function to corrupt the input data and it depends on the data type. For example, in the computer vision field can be added Gaussian noise or salt and pepper noise.

Moreover, AEs have been used to introduce the Dropout. Dropout is a simple technique to prevent neural networks from overfitting and it’s highly related to the input corruption: in fact, it consists of dropping out neurons (setting their output to ) casually with a specified probability.

Dropout is, therefore, an input corruption method and can be applied to improve the quality of the learned features of the hidden layer.

Loss function

Any loss function can be used, the only thing to pay attention to is the relations between the value to reconstruct.

In fact, we’re interested in minimizing the reconstruction error between the original input and the corrupted decoded output.

Therefore the minimization process should be:

Common usage

As previously mentioned, autoencoders are commonly used to reduce the inputs’ dimensionality and not to decode the encoded value. The extracted compressed representation can be used for:

  • Statistical analysis on the data distribution. At this purpose it possible to visualize a 2D representation using t-SNE
  • Classification: classifiers works better with non-highly dimensional data
  • One-Class Classification (OCC): if the AE has been trained on a single class only, it’s possible to find a threshold for the reconstruction error such that elements with a reconstruction error greater than this threshold expose differences from the learned model. It can somehow be seen as an outlier detection procedure.

Moreover, if the decoder has not been thrown away it can be used to perform Data denoising: if the AE trained is a DAE it has the ability to remove (some kind of) noise from the input, therefore a DAE can be used to do data preprocessing on a noisy source of data.

Autoencoders have been successfully applied to different tasks and different architecture have been defined.

In the next posts, I’ll introduce stacked autoencoders and convolutional autoencoders and I’ll mix them together to build a stacked convolutional autoencoder in Tensorflow.

Related Posts

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Camera calibration guidelines

The process of geometric camera calibration (camera resectioning) is a fundamental step for machine vision and robotics applications. Unfortunately, the result of the calibration process can vary a lot depending on various factors. There are a lot of empirical guidelines that have to be followed in order to achieve good results: this post will drive you through them.

Ethereum on Raspberry Pi: secure wallet and complete node with redundant storage

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Understanding Tensorflow using Go

Tensorflow is not a Machine Learning specific library, instead, is a general purpose computation library that represents computations with graphs. Its core is implemented in C++ and there are also bindings for different languages. The bindings for the Go programming language, differently from the Python ones, are a useful tool not only for using Tensorflow in Go but also for understanding how Tensorflow is implemented under the hood.

Analysis of Dropout

Overfitting is a problem in Deep Neural Networks (DNN): the model learns to classify only the training set, adapting itself to the training examples instead of learning decision boundaries capable of classifying generic instances. Many solutions to the overfitting problem have been presented during these years; one of them have overwhelmed the others due to its simplicity and its empirical good results: Dropout.

Convolutional Autoencoders in Tensorflow

How to implement a Convolutional Autoencoder using Tensorflow and DTB.

Convolutional Autoencoders

The convolution operator allows filtering an input signal in order to extract some part of its content. Autoencoders in their traditional formulation do not take into account the fact that a signal can be seen as a sum of other signals. Convolutional Autoencoders, instead, use the convolution operator to exploit this observation. They learn to encode the input in a set of simple signals and then try to reconstruct the input from them.

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24 April 2017

Residual cardiovascular risk in the Middle East: a perfect storm in the making

An Editorial from the R3i Trustees
Prof. Jean Charles Fruchart, Prof. Michel Hermans, Prof. Pierre Amarenco Continuing our theme of residual cardiovascular risk in developing regions we turn our attention to countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), a region in critical health flux. Already in 2010, ischaemic heart disease was the leading cause of death and disability in the region 1, driven by the dual epidemics of type 2 diabetes and obesity. Data from the International Federation of Diabetes show that more than 35 million people living in the MENA region have diabetes and this number is expected to double by 2040. One in 10 adults has diabetes, half of them undiagnosed 2. Furthermore, evidence that the prevalence of obesity and related cardiometabolic risk factors is increasing in children and adolescents 3, highlights a perfect storm for cardiometabolic disease in this region, overturning improvements in life expectancy and other health indicators previously reported.

Given the high cardiometabolic risk in the MENA region, residual cardiovascular risk is also an important issue, as highlighted in this month’s Focus article. In this study, individuals with a history of ischaemic stroke living in this region were shown to be at high risk of recurrent stroke and myocardial infarction (MI), which were more likely to be fatal. These events also tended to occur at an earlier age when compared with individuals living in non-Arab countries 4. What is especially notable in this study is that socioeconomic cardiovascular risk factors, such as unemployment, limited education and lack of health coverage were key contributors to the significant difference in the risk of recurrent events in this region; when adjustment was made for these factors, this difference was largely attenuated.

Why are socioeconomic factors so relevant to residual cardiovascular risk in this region? Clearly that question merits further evaluation. However, in the interim we need to bear in mind that the MENA region has been in a state of political flux, with the Arab uprisings and associated conflicts, which undoubtedly have impacted the economies in this region. Furthermore, the demographics of the region, with both ageing and population growth, adds to the economic disparities, even in the higher-income, oil-producing countries.

Unless urgent action is taken, the burden of cardiometabolic disease will challenge already stretched human and financial resources in the MENA region. Although 9% of the global diabetes population live in the MENA region, local governments spending amounts to only 3% of the world’s healthcare diabetes budget 2,5. Even with investment in health education, it is clear that patient knowledge lags behind. As highlighted in a recent survey among diabetes patients in the United Arab Emirates, misconceptions about diet and lifestyle and blood testing are prevalent 6. Medication adherence is also a recognized issue 7. Furthermore, while the number of smokers in Europe and the US continues to fall, the reverse trend is evident across the Middle East 8, which may help to explain why smoking remains a factor contributing to residual cardiovascular risk as in the study reported by Abboud et al (2017) 4.

Thus, as well as tackling issues linked to poverty and economic development, patient education is also a priority. Given that education underpins the mission of the Residual Risk Reduction Initiative, the Foundation has a key role to play in addressing the challenge of residual cardiovascular risk in the MENA region. There is much to do………………….

1. Mokdad AH, Jaber S, Aziz MI et al. The state of health in the Arab world, 1990-2010: an analysis of the burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors. Lancet 2014;383:309-20.
2. International Diabetes Federation Facts and Figures.
3. Al-Daghri NM, Aljohani NJ, Al-Attas OS et al. Comparisons in childhood obesity and cardiometabolic risk factors among urban Saudi Arab adolescents in 2008 and 2013. Child Care Health Dev 2016;42:652-7.
4. Abboud H, Sissani L, Labreuche J et al. Specificities of ischemic stroke risk factors in Arab-speaking countries. Cerebrovasc Dis 2017;43:169–77.
5. Mokdad AH, Forouzanfar M, Daoud et al. Health in times of uncertainty in the eastern Mediterranean region, 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Lancet Glob Health 2016;4(10):e704-13.
6. Hashim MJ, Mustafa H, Ali H. Knowledge of diabetes among patients in the United Arab Emirates and trends since 2001: a study using the Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Test. East Mediterr Health J 2017;22(10):742-8.
7. BMC Public Health. 2016 Aug 24;161:857. doi: 10.1186/s12889-016-3492-0. Improving adherence to medication in adults with diabetes in the United Arab Emirates.
8. UAE losing fight against smoking.


The heart of Federico Infascelli’s questionable claims.

Retraction Watch is a great website. As the name implies, it focuses on a key aspect of quality control in science, the retraction of scientific papers that have already passed peer-review and were published when serious concerns about those papers come to light.

Retracting published papers is similar to phase IV clinical trials – tracking side effects of drugs that have already been approved and are on the market so regulatory agencies can monitor for post-marketing concerns and recall the drug if necessary.

Infascelli’s woes

Recently the journal animal retracted a paper by Italian researcher, Federico Infascelli. Here is there announcement:

It looks to me like the authors of retraction statement are trying very hard not to use the words, “scientific fraud.” The “observed irregularities” essentially were due to alleged digital manipulation of images of electrophresis gels. Retraction Watch recounts a Nature report which stated:

The included picture is taken from the now-retracted article, showing images of electrophoresis gels. Let’s be clear – these images are the data. Those bands represent identified pieces of DNA. When you add or delete bands from the images, you are manipulating the data. Data manipulation is scientific fraud.

This is the second paper by Infascelli retracted due to concerns over data manipulation (the first was retracted in January). A third is under investigation but has not yet been retracted. All of these papers were used to raise concerns about the safety of genetically modified crops and have been used for anti-GMO lobbying.

Given this revelation, I don’t see how any research by Infascelli or his team can ever be trusted. He now joins Seralini as a researcher who publishes dubious articles which seem motivated by an anti-GMO ideology. In Seralini’s case he was not accused of fraud, just egregiously poor scientific rigor.

A deeper problem

This one paper is not an isolated event. Nor is the problem unique to Infascelli, or even anti-GMO papers. There are two aspects to this phenomenon I want to consider – scientific fraud in general, and the emergence of an ideologically-motivated scientific fringe or subculture.

Scientific fraud is increasingly being recognized as a serious problem. I don’t want to overstate the issue – most scientific studies are perfectly legitimate, and the system tends to work itself out over the long haul. Fraud is the exception within the scientific literature, but it happens often enough to be a serious problem.

Estimating the prevalence of fraud (or more generally, “misconduct”) is difficult, because first you have to agree on an operational definition. Then there is the problem of finding and reporting all cases of misconduct. A recent paper estimates that there have been hundreds of recent cases of exposed misconduct in the US, and about 50 cases per year in the UK alone.

An anonymous survey sent to researchers found that 2% admitted to outright fabrication of data. However, 33% admitted to some dodgy research practices. These practices include throwing out data that contradicts their hypothesis, deliberately fudging the design of studies in order to get a desired result, and altering a study design at the request of the sponsor.

Fudging the study design has a powerful effect on the outcome. Simmons et al showed that such design manipulation can generate a false positive result to a 0.05 significance from dead-negative data 60% of the time.

All of this is why independent replication is so important. This is part of the reason we set the threshold for being convinced by scientific evidence as high as we do – it has to rise above the noise of false positives. That noise is a lot louder than many people realize. Small studies, one-offs, or outcomes that only seem to come from one researcher, are just not convincing.

In addition to the background noise of varying degrees of scientific misconduct, there appear to be dedicated scientific subcultures that always seem to produce results that are against the scientific mainstream but consistent support a particular ideological position.

There are a few researchers who consistently produce results which call into question the safety of GMOs, for example, despite the fact that the rest of the scientific world finds that genetically modified foods are safe for human consumption.

There are a few researchers who consistently produce results which call into question the safety of vaccines, despite the fact that the rest of the scientific world finds that approved vaccines are generally safe and effective.

The same can be said about anthropogenic global warming and the safety of cell phones. Unfortunately, these outlier researchers produce the impression that there is more of a controversy than there really is. They create “two sides,” and the press often misses the fact that those sides are decidedly asymmetrical.

They also produce scientific studies that can be cited by those with a particular political or ideological opinion, giving their position the false appearance of being science-based. Work by Seralini and Infascelli has become the centerpiece for anti-GMO lobbying, for example.

Solutions to scientific misconduct?

Fortunately, I think we are already heading in the direction of addressing the issue of scientific misconduct. Efforts like Retraction Watch are helping. Journal editors need to have more of a process in place to sniff out fraud and misconduct during the peer-review process. Failing that, any concerns about misconduct raised post-publication need to be taken seriously, investigated, and then transparently corrected when necessary.

Obviously when a researcher is found to have committed brazen fraud, their career must be over. Their research can never be trusted again.

However, there is a vast gray zone of scientific misconduct that can be addressed through education. Researchers need to be explicitly trained about the nature of scientific misconduct, how to avoid it, and put on notice that such misconduct will not be tolerated.

The institution of science depends upon both transparency and trust. That trust is a product of the culture of the institution. Scientific culture cannot tolerate cutting corners, looking the other way, compromising rigor to get a desired outcome, fudging protocols, or yielding to pressure.

To a large extent the culture of science does promote honesty and transparency, but it seems we need to make a push even further in that direction.

Posted by Steven Novella


Posted on

More on wills

The executor/executrix must apply to the court for a grant of probate after the testator dies, that is, if he dies leaving a will. After grant of probate is made, the property of the deceased can be distributed. The application is dealt with under the non-contentious powers of the Court. This means that the Registrar of the High Court peruses the application and supporting documents and approves the grant.{{more}}

Where there is some conflict with regard to the will, it becomes a contentious matter and has to be heard by a High Court Judge.

Where there are two or more wills, it is the latest will that will be accepted to probate. A codicil is not a will. It is made after a will is made to add to the wishes of the testator, to provide more information by way of explanation or to revoke parts of the will.

When a codicil is made, it means that it would be interpreted alongside the most recent will.

The will is executed when the testator signs the will in the presence of one or two witnesses. He can, however, acknowledge his signature to a second witness. This means that the two witnesses do not have to witness the will at the same time.

The will must be in writing and the testatorâs signature must be affixed. However, a will which ended with âyour loving motherâ was accepted to probate. The signature must be carried at the foot or at the end of the last page. The testatorâs mark (an âXâ) could be made instead. When the testator dies, the witnesses would be called upon to indicate that they did see the testator sign.

The probate section of the court processes the will and makes a grant to the executor (male) or executrix (female) who is the personal representative. He or she is regarded as a trustee when a gift is left in trust for a minor.

If for some reason the testator loses his will, he can make another without any adverse effects.

If for some reason the testator changes his mind about the way he has allocated his property, he can revoke his will by burning, tearing or destroying it. He can do it for himself or direct some one to do so in his presence. He must have the intention to revoke it. Where it was done by mistake, and the pieces were kept, a will was admitted to probate.

A valid marriage would revoke a will unless it was made with the expectation of marriage. That is, if a gift is made in contemplation of marriage, it would be valid even after the marriage. This must be conveyed in the will.

Ada Johnson is a solicitor and barrister-at-law.
E-mail address is:


Vacuum Dog

Not awe inspiring, but definitely a dog’s life.

I hate vacuuming, but you wouldn’t know it by the number of vacuums in my house.

I have six if you count the living ones.

I will never match the natural vacuum skills of my dogs. As is often the case, immediately after I was done vacuuming up this little Photoshop project, a significant amount of shredded cheese that was destined for the trash ended up on the kitchen floor. Moments later is was as though the cheese shreds never existed.

I’m fairly certain the dogs enjoy vacuuming more than I do.


Employee Driving Record – What it is and Why You Might Need It

There are many records that are kept on us throughout our lives in various government and private databases. The driving record is only one such file. However, it is a highly important one as it is part of any standard background check. It can influence a variety of elements in your life.

As a driver, your driving record can affect your ability to obtain car insurance, determine whether you will be hired for a variety of jobs, be used as evidence of character in court proceedings, and tarnish your reputation. You might have to worry about it being used to foster unlawful discrimination in the workplace against you or the possibility of it creating a hostile work environment (see What Constitutes a Hostile Work Environment). As an employer, the employee driving record is part of a standard background check and can help you weed out undesirable hires and save you many headaches further down the road.

What is an Employee Background Check?

Before we get in deeper regarding employee driving record checks, you might want to know exactly what is an employee background check. Employee background checks are a series of factual verifications completed by an employer to determine employability of a job candidate. While they tend to be run primarily by potential employers, there are other situation in which they might be used, some of which were noted above.

Whenever you find yourself having a background check run on you or needing to run an employee background screening on someone else, there are several items you should expect to be looked into. While an employer might not run all of these checks, they are able to do so if they so choose. The company can examine your criminal history, verify employment history, verify character references, authenticate your reported education and credentials, look for problems in your credit history, check for issues with your driving record, and even run a Patriot Act search. A newer element of some companies' background checks includes looking at your social media presence. These items are standard elements of a background check and the information can easily be obtained from a wide variety of sources. The information is not private and you cannot keep it hidden; there are many employee background check companies who can readily obtain this information.

Depending on the reason for running the background check, the results could be used to come to a wide variety of conclusions about yourself. For an employer, it could be used to determine if you are experienced in your field, likely to hurt the image of a company, or a potential liability. They can also use it to decide whether or not to issue you a driver certification. An insurance company could use it to determine how much to charge you or if they should insure you at all. If you are applying for housing or a loan, it can be used to determine your eligibility. Even in legal matters, it can be used to establish your character.

Why Run a Background Check on Yourself or on a Potential Employee?

The advantages to running a background check on an employee or potential employee are likely clear. When you employ someone, you need them to be both a good worker and a good citizen. Employees are the face of the company to the public and their image is the company's image. For each employee or potential employee, the employer must perform a risk assessment. Someone who switches jobs every few months may be too high of a risk when compared to the cost of training. An employee who has a criminal record could become a PR disaster should he or she reoffend. A person who has been in frequent accidents might prove to be careless in ways that can affect their performance at work.

On the other side, it is harder to see why running a background check on yourself would be valuable. You know who you are and what you have done. What could there be to learn?

Believe it or not, there is a lot you can learn by running a background check on yourself.

When going into the job application process, you should prepare for it as if you are gearing up for a big exam. You need to do your research and learn how to play to the desires of the various employers you are applying to. When you know exactly what they are looking for, you can play up your strengths as they align with what the company is seeking.

You should also have a very clear understanding of your own weaknesses. While, as noted above, you know yourself and what you have done, it is very different when you see it all laid out on paper. By viewing these details of your life in an almost clinical manner, it is easier to step back and see yourself the way your potential employer would see you.

By looking at yourself objectively, it becomes easier to spot your weaknesses and determine your plan of action for addressing them with your potential employer. It can also help you strategize in terms of what you need to play up about yourself in order to minimize these hiccups in the eyes of your employer.

Something else to consider is the possibility of there being mistakes or evidence of fraud in your background check. Discovering these things ahead of time can save you a world of trouble later on. For example, my father had a criminal background check run by his employer as part of a revolving set of background checks they complete on all employees; it came back saying there was a warrant for his arrest for the robbery in a state he had never even visited. Luckily, his employer knew he had not done this—in fact, his being at work was his alibi for the crime. However, not everyone would be so lucky in the same or similar circumstance.

Can an Employer use Background Checks to Discriminate?

The answer to this question depends on two variables. One, how would you define discrimination? Two: where do you live?

If you define discrimination as treating you differently based on the information obtained in a background check, chances are this will not be considered unlawful discrimination no matter where you live. Most states have provisions in place for employers that protect their right to reject potential employees whom they feel pose a threat to the safety of their employees and customers, could compromise the security of information and operations, or whom stand to hurt the image of the company. Many states also allow employers to fire an employee for almost any reason, problems with background included. In any state, if an employer can prove that firing an employee is the reasonable course of action, the firing will be ruled as justified.

However, each state can define what constitutes "reasonable course of action" by its own standards as long as it is in compliance with federal law. For example, the state of Hawaii restricts employer consideration of criminal offences to those committed within the last 10 years and any offence considered must directly relate back to the position the convict applied for. In other words, sex offences committed in the last 10 years would bar a person from working with children, but a conviction on a driving offence would not, unless the position was to transport the children. In Missouri, on the other hand, there is no law restricting the use of background checks as a routine element of the hiring practice.

At the moment, there are ongoing court cases and legislation which could lead to actions taken by employers based on background checks being labeled as discriminatory. These primarily relate to decisions based on arrest records instead of convictions and denial of employment to convicts who do not "present an unacceptable risk".

One area in which an employer should be careful to avoid discrimination is in selectively running background checks or aspects of background checks. If an employer elects to run a check on a potential employee, they must run the same check on all potential employees applying to that position. An employer cannot look at an applicant and decide they seem like a criminal, then run a background check on only that applicant. Additionally, particular care should be used when deciding whether to take action based on a background check of a current employee. Termination of employment should not be the selected course of action unless it is clear that what you have discovered about the employee presents a conflict with their position of employment. Finally, there have been cases where reports have been inaccurate or incomplete - such as reporting an arrest without reporting that the person was exonerated. Take care to get the entire story before making a decision. And always make certain that the employee or potential employee is aware that the background check is going to be run and the scope of what the check will cover.

No matter how reasonable the running of a background check may be, there is the chance that its use could be challenged. As law is like a living organism, constantly evolving, it is vital that employers stay up to date with the law. However, running background checks is good business practice as it can help you avoid lawsuits in the future over negligent hiring practices.

What to expect if you are Fired or Refused a Position Based on Background Check Information

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the employee or potential employee must be informed in advance of action being taken based on a background check. This is determined at the federal level and covers all 50 states in the United States. In informing the individual being fired or declined employment, the employer or potential employer must a notice with a copy of the consumer report used to inform their decision and a copy of "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act,"; this should be obtained from the company that ran the background check.

Notice is to be given in advance of the action being taken as it allows the employee or potential employee the chance to review the report for inaccuracies and make their case as to why they should still be kept in or given the position.

If adverse action is still taken after the employee or potential employee is given the chance to review, they must be informed of the following:

  • their employment was terminated or denied due to information revealed by the report

  • all the needed information of the company that issued the report

  • that the company that issued the report did not make the decision and cannot provide information regarding it

  • and that the person who was terminated or denied employment can contest the accuracy of the report with the company and get a free report within 60 days.

Can Background Check Results Create a Hostile Work Environment?

If you are hired despite compromising revelations in your background check, or a background check is conducted after you have already been employed, there is the possibility that this information could be used to create a hostile work environment. When you are discussing this concept, there are two ways to look at it. You can view it via a more colloquial definition or the legal definition.

In colloquial terms, a person might label a work environment hostile if they feel uncomfortable, disliked, or displaced at work. For example, a person who feels excluded and unwelcomed by his or her coworkers might be inclined to label the work environment hostile. They might feel as though they do not want to go to work and find themselves feeling depressed. However, such a situation would fail to fall under the legal definition of a hostile work environment.

Legally, for a workplace to meet the definition of a hostile work environment, according to Pospis Law, it must meet a limited set of criteria. Essentially, a hostile work environment exists when the adverse conduct is based on the protected status of the employee: race, color, religion, pregnancy, sex/gender, national origin, age, disability, and/or sexual orientation.

The majority of items revealed during a background check are not likely to be directly related to a protected status. There are court cases which have tried to make the argument that since certain demographics are more likely to be convicted of a crime, background checks can lead to discrimination and hostility; however, these cases have yet to lead to a change in federal law. If you can prove that information revealed during a background check lead to discrimination and hostility based on a protected status - such as what church you attend—you may have legal standing.

How does a Driving Record Affect Driver Certifications?

For any job requiring a driver certification for employment, a driving record will be used to determine employment eligibility. Depending on the types of offences, amount of offences, and how recently they were committed, there is a strong chance that an applicant with a flawed driving record will be denied employment in such a position.

Driving Records and the Ability Impaired

If you have an incident on your driving record which can be explained by the presence of a disability, you should be able to present evidence demonstrating that the incident occurred due to the disability. The disabled are given protected status, which means that you cannot be denied employment due to anything related to your disability.

However, if the incident occurred due to your being temporarily impaired due to your own actions, such an incident legally does not need to be looked over. For example, if you have a DUI on your record, potential and current employers do not need to overlook this offence. Drinking, while it does impair you temporarily, is not a disability. The length of which such offences remain on your record varies by state. For example, driving while ability impaired in New York results in a permanent mark on your record.

Getting the Driving Record and Other Background Check Items

As you can now see, obtaining a driving record and other background check items can be vital for both the employer and the employee. Employers can use such information to help them determine the best candidate for a position and avoid lawsuits over negligent hiring practices. Employees can use it to strengthen their abilities during the application process and catch errors before they cause problems. If you are looking to start your background check process, begin by contacting 4SafeDrivers, either online or at 1-877-753-6667 today.

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In Age of Empires III, there are five ages in which you can improve your civilization: the Discovery Age, Colonial Age, Fortress Age, Industrial Age and Imperial Age.

Discovery Age

Discovery Age (2 KB)

The Discovery Age is a generalized term to refer to the era during the 16th century in which European civilizations had attempted to circumvent the Ottoman Empire in favor of another economic route to India and Asia. In doing so, the European civilizations which took part, foremost consisting of Spain, Portugal, England and France, 'discovered' other inhabited continents relatively unknown to European influence.

In the Discovery Age, players start with a Town Center, several settlers and an Explorer. The Explorer, who replaces the scout from previous games in the Age of Empires series, is an unkillable unit which has the special ability of sniping environmental hazards. The Discovery Age is one of the most important eras for discovery because you are incapable of building any military. It's relatively peaceful, but since it's so easy to get to the Colonial Age, the peace ends quickly. Exploring and food-gathering are the most common tasks.

Colonial Age

Colonial Age (2 KB)

Cost: 800 Food

The Colonial Age is used to describe the period directly after the Discovery Age, in which the European civilizations that took part in the discovery process, including civilizations which hadn't, began to populate and build settlements in the newly discovered continents. Colonialism consisted of economic and political domination over a regions resources, labor and regional markets by an already established state.

In AoE III, the Colonial Age is a key period in which players may actively interact with their Home Cities and local Native American tribes. They may also attempt to attack or limit the growth of an enemy civilization, hoping to take their fragile colony out early.

Fortress Age

Fortress Age (2 KB)

Cost: 1200 Food, 1000 Gold

The Fortress Age is most likely referring to a period in the mid-1700's in which European nations desired to strengthen their positions in the North American continent by creating large forts and by using heavy artillery.

The Fortress Age in AoE III allows for the continuation of developments made in the Colonial and Discovery Ages. By the time a player reaches the Fortress Age, military improvements and economic improvements exponentially increase. Heavy artillery is available to the players, and that alone makes this age deadly. Large-scale battles are not uncommon.

Industrial Age

Industrial Age (2 KB)

Cost: 2000 Food, 1200 Gold

The Industrial Age may refer to the Industrial Revolution which took place during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Industrial Revolution was a massive economic, social and technological change facilitated by the introduction of steam power and the use of automated machinery in manufacturing. Although the Industrial Revolution started in Europe, the effects eventually spread worldwide with the advancement of transportational, economical and communicational technology.

In AoE III, the Industrial Age sees the growth and peak of militaristic and economic developments. By this period in the game, most players tend to have many outposts and are easily capable of producing large armies of militaristic units. Their civilization is usually very well developed to have been able to survive the past three ages, and most skirmishes end by this age.

Imperial Age

Imperial Age (2 KB)

Cost: 4000 Food, 4000 Gold

The Imperial Age is most likely refering to the acquisition of an empire, historically in regards to the British Empire of the 19th century. The Imperial Age focused on a policy of expanding a nation state across the world in the desire to gain economic and political superiority through the use of mercantilism, war and diplomacy.

The Imperial Age in AoE III is a crucial era in determining who wins and who loses a game. Considered the breaker of a long, stalemated game, the Imperial Age is expensive, though highly desirable. The technological improvements available to a player are massive, and can make them virtually unstoppable.

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Abstract: PT Bank Kalbar Pontianak is one of the enterprises engaged in banking services. To win the competition and become the leading bank in West Borneo, Bank Kalbar have a vision and mission. The Bank's vision is to become a leading bank Kalbar (regional champion) in the respective regions with competitive products and services, has an extensive network, and professionally managed in boosting regional economic growth. vision, as mentioned above in addition be based on a foundation of good corporate governance (GCG) and risk management, should also be supported by three pillars, namely a strong institutional resistance, ability as an agent of regional development and the ability to serve the needs of the community. Problem in PT Bank Kalbar Pontianak associated with computer networks is the quality of the data that is less than the maximum network which broke the network, the data transfer speed is less than the maximum time for each Uploud and Download long enough. QoS (Quality of Service) is technology that applied to the WAN (Wide Area Network) that allows network administrators to be able to handle a variety of effects due to congestion (congestion) on the traffic flow of packets in the network. QoS parameters are delay / latency, jitter, packet loss, throughput, MOS, echo cancellation and PDD. QoS is needed to minimize packet loss, delay, latency and delay variation (jitter), convincing performances, mixing voice and data packets on the network is dense, and can optimize the queues to priority services such as traffic voice and traffic shaping / buffering on the network WAN. Based on calculations, it can be concluded the average value for each parameter for peak hours and hours of quiet is a delay of 24.36 ms with the index of 4, jitter of 20.44 ms with the index of 4, throughput amounted to 28.48% with the index of 4 , packet loss amounted to 0% with the index of 4.
Kata kunci: Quality of Service, Delay, Jitter, Throughtput, Packet Loss
Penulis: Nurjali
Kode Jurnal: jptlisetrodd160509

Artikel Terkait :


Admission criteria

The Department's Admission Committee will review each application using the following criteria.

Grade point average

The Department of Mechanical Engineering requires an overall undergraduate cumulative GPA of at least 3.3 for M.S. applicants. Ph.D. applicants are required to have an M.S. cumulative GPA of 3.5 or better.

The Graduate School requires that applicants have a GPA of at least 3.00 (on a 4.00 scale) for the last 90 quarter-hours or 60 semester-hours of graded undergraduate coursework to receive consideration for admission.

Academic rigor

The admission committee will review the quality and difficulty of courses taken and universities and colleges attended.

GRE General Test

The Department of Mechanical Engineering requires the following minimum GRE scores:

  Old Exam New Exam
Verbal 450  (350 if English is not native language) 150  (143 if English is not native language)
Quantitative 700 155
Analytical Writing 4.0  (3.5 if English is not native language) 4.0  (3.5 if English is not native language)

Three letters of recommendations from people who are familiar with your engineering and research abilities. Please note that recommenders will automatically receive an email from UW requesting the recommendations only after you have submitted your application and paid the application fee.

Statement of purpose

A one-page summary of your technical and research interests, career goals, and how you envision your proposed degree contributing to these goals.

Professional experience

Include a resume, if applicable.

English requirements for foreign nationals

Applicants whose native language is not English must demonstrate English language proficiency. Please refer to the UW Graduate School Memo 8 for further information regarding this requirement.

For reference, these are the average GPA and GRE scores for accepted graduate students.

Year Program GPA GRE-Quant. GRE-Verbal GRE-Writing
2016/17 Ph.D. 3.76 164 158 4.0
2016/17 M.S. 3.62 161 157 4.0
2014/15 Ph.D. 3.83 164 158 4.1
2014/15 M.S. 3.64 163 157 4.0


Feeling faint

S: 20st4lb C: 17st1lb G: 11st0lb Loss: 3st3lb(15.85%)
Hello Rapscallion Cat!
I did feel AWFUL first time I did Exante, by day 4 and 5 I could hardly move. Not faint though. Drink plenty water (not too much though!) don't do very much, be kind to yourself, and see how you feel in 2 more days. Good luck xxx
You could try some high protein snacks if you are struggling, ie hard boiled eggs, chicken, ham etc and ensure that you stay hydrated and try not yo of too much especially in this weather xx

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Why teach Latin?

There are so many advantages to studying Latin—whether or not you want your child to be a Latin scholar. Some of the benefits:

The last goal requires a climb to the top of the mountain—but many of the other goals can be realized with a shorter course of study, if you choose a program that matches your goals. So read on, even if you're not sure you want to climb all the way to the top!

English vocabulary enrichment

Our Latin ancestor

Many English words are descendants, or derivatives, of Latin words. Often a whole group of English words comes from the same Latin ancestor, or root! Knowing that Latin root word unlocks a whole family of English words. Children are excited when they figure out the meaning of a new word on their own from their understanding of the context and of Latin roots!

Vocabulary power

Which is easier—to learn, separately, the definitions of transportation and portable and import and export and deport . . . or to know that they all come from the Latin word meaning carry, which unlocks the whole word group? Oh, and it also helps to know that "trans-" means across . . . because now you're a step ahead when it comes to transform and translate and trans-Atlantic! And similarly for the other prefixes and suffixes. Latin derivatives make up a huge percentage of "big words" in English, the kinds of words your child will meet in literature study and on the SAT.

Derivative worksheets!

The Great Latin Adventure includes full-featured derivative worksheets that expose children to good writing, teach them useful English words, and reinforce their Latin vocabulary learning. To read more about how the derivative worksheets work in the overall chapter structure, take a chapter tour.

"The derivative worksheets are simply unparalleled among all the Latin programs I've encountered"
Karen K.-C., co-op founder

A jump start on Romance languages

Shared vocabulary, similar verbs

Since Latin is the ancestor language for French, Spanish, Italian, and more—the Romance languages—children who study Latin first have a leg up in learning vocabulary in the modern Romance language. A great deal of vocabulary will be similar and familiar. Also, since both Latin and the Romance languages have similarly inflected verb systems, the task of mastering the verb system in, say, Spanish, will be familiar to a Latin student.

The evolution of language, and the etymology bug

Just as important, by studying Latin first, then a Romance language, children get a first-hand look at the historical evolution of language. I (Katharine) still remember encountering the word fenêtre in French. I wasn't studying French yet, but my classmate was. Looking at his book between classes, I saw this word. I was studying Latin—but I was able to tell that fenêtre must mean window. The resemblance to Latin fenestra was the key! And that also meant that the "ê"—an "e" with a circumflex sign—was how the French conveyed what Latin conveyed with "es." Aha! Later, when I did study French, this was borne out in more French and Latin pairs. But in at least one French-English pair, too: French prêtre means priest. Our English word, this time, still has the "s" which the French circumflex sign replaces.

This began for me a lifelong interest in etymology. It might do the same for your child, too!

Learning how an inflected language works

I touched on inflection in the last section in relation to verb systems, but Latin is actually heavily inflected in both its noun and its verb systems.

Changes in word form signal meaning

An "inflected" language is just a language in which changes in word form—usually changes in word endings—have grammatical significance and carry meaning. This is by contrast with English, in which we much more often use word order to do the same thing. (We have a trace of inflection in our pronoun system: I ate the peanut; you gave the peanut to me. Both pronouns refer to Katharine, but they have different forms to show that one is the subject and the other is the object of a preposition.)

How about New Testament Greek?

Latin's heavily inflected noun system is very similar to the noun system of other important languages. Greek stands out among these, as many users of The Great Latin Adventure would be delighted for their children to be able to read the New Testament in its original Greek!

Or Russian or German or . . . ?

Russian and German are also heavily inflected—and modern and spoken, to boot. I've studied both Russian and New Testament Greek, and having studied Latin first was a great help. I was able to move to those other languages and concentrate on the new alphabet and the new vocabulary, and in the case of Russian, on the fact that it was spoken. The inflectional system just was not mysterious, and I knew how to approach learning and translating. I am thankful for the boost that early Latin study gave me.

What you'll take away if you don't go all the way . . .

I should say, though, that if you are interested in this aspect of Latin study, you will want to be aware that different programs explore the terrain of Latin using different topic sequences.

. . . Depends!

What difference does this make to you? A lot! I've discussed this more elsewhere [link to a few places], but The Great Latin Adventure takes a path through Latin grammar that explores Latin's inflected noun system in greater depth, sooner, than is common in programs for beginners.

This was deliberate, and the advantage for you is that even if the only Latin you ever do is The Great Latin Adventure, your child will grasp the essential features of an inflected language. Instead of knowing just forms and chants that will be of little value in the next language, your child will know how an inflected language works—valuable wisdom to take into the study of many other languages.

The GLA takeaway

Not everyone who starts Latin wants or needs to keep going all the way to reading original Latin works, so it's important to know that you'll have something to take away even if you don't go all the way. With GLA, you will.

Biting your children with the language bug

As you can tell, I've been bitten with this bug, and it started with Latin! (Well, it started with one day of French vocabulary relay races in Grade 2 . . . then I moved to a different state and a different school . . . I got to study English grammar beginning in Grade 4, and actually enjoyed the tables of easy-to-confuse English verb forms like lie, lay, laid . . . then finally I was able to study Latin in Grade 7
. . . then was able to add French in Grade 8 . . . then had the opportunity to take Russian at Princeton, and majored in it.)

All right then, the language bug more or less started with Latin! And beginning with Latin, then adding French, also infected me with the etymology bug, as I mentioned earlier, and this helped me write the derivative worksheets for The Great Latin Adventure. (I'm grateful that users really enjoy this feature.)

Who is your child?

You'll never know what God has placed inside your child unless you explore. You may have a linguist there . . . why not find out? Studying Latin is a great way to discover who your child is.

A much better grasp on what grammar is for

What is grammar, anyway? When we study English, do we ever really find out? Well, it has something to do with rules. We're supposed to learn it. It's supposed to help us write better. Etc. But why? How?

There's nothing like studying another language to help children appreciate what grammar really is. That's because the first great discovery about grammar that students make in a foreign language is that the grammar is not the same as English grammar. It's similar in some ways—maybe—and different in others. Definitely.

Grammar paints a picture before it gives orders

Right there, that tells a child something. It tells him or her that grammar is descriptive first, before it is prescriptive. Grammar describes how a given language works before it tells us what to do! It describes how a language works, and we are students of that description in order to use that language powerfully and well.

Not a few people have said that English grammar made no sense to them until they studied another language and encountered a second grammar. Then the light came on. Of course, you can achieve this benefit with a language other than Latin, but given all Latin's other benefits, it's a great place to begin, and you'll gain this benefit as well.

Learning orderly thinking

Our immersion days

We learn language by immersion when we are young—when we are truly surrounded, twenty-four hours a day, by nothing but that language, and when our developing brains are uniquely wired for language acquisition by that method. What to do once we are older and we desire to learn a second language?

The grammar-translation method

Many believe that the most efficient way to learn another language after very early childhood is past is by the time-tested grammar-translation method. The Great Latin Adventure is a grammar-translation program. It achieves a greater focus on translation, sooner, through a unique topic sequence, but it belongs in the family of grammar-translation programs. Grammar is presented first in each new lesson, explicitly, and then new exercises and translation are introduced which draw on and apply the new grammar. It's a tried-and-true method, and very doable for parent-teachers who may not have a background in the language themselves.

Tackle this sentence!

In a grammar-translation program, consider the multi-step thought process involved in translating from English into Latin a sentence like the pirates captured the terrified sons and daughters of the king in the palace on the hill. Actually, just consider sons and daughters! First you have to know that this is a compound direct object, receiving the action of the transitive verb captured. Then you have to know that in Latin, the direct object goes into the accusative case. Then, you need to recall the Latin words for son and daughter. Then, you need to remember the accusative plural forms for these words—out of around a dozen possible forms for each word. Then you need to put those forms down on your paper in a reasonable location in relation to the other words in the sentence. (Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order, but there are tendencies.) And similarly for every other element in the sentence!

Latin and . . . truth tables?!

To do this accurately and fluidly requires orderly thinking—and learning to do it helps develop orderly thinking. When I first encountered logic truth tables in tenth-grade geometry class (no, I don't know why they were put there . . . ), I believe that my early training in Latin was actually a help. Multi-step reasoning was not new to me—because of Latin translation. It's exciting the way good mental habits from one subject can carry over to another! Some benefits of studying Latin emerge in symbolic languages as well as spoken languages.

Yet Latin also helped me with Russian, a spoken, inflected language—Latin study doesn't just produce "puzzle-solvers."

"I love the way you teach—so logically, thoroughly, and engagingly!"
Kimberly P., homeschooling Mom

In GLA, I labored to be clear, simple, incremental, accurate, so that you learn to teach and your child learns to think and to translate.

Access to valuable literature in Latin

The pinnacle of Latin achievement is to read great works in the original Latin, from the histories of Caesar to the Latin Vulgate Bible. Rome produced historians, thinkers, poets whose work is still worth reading today—and best read in the original.

But does everyone need to reach the peak?

Some of you will start Latin with your children and go all the way to the peak, the pinnacle. Others will start Latin to explore: to find out what gifts God has placed in your child. To achieve some of the other benefits we've talked about. To serve as a springboard into a love of other languages, or even just into greater appreciation for and mastery of English itself. There are many reasons to study Latin, and many ways to go about doing it!

So why study Latin? Latin rewards the climb

So, why study Latin? Latin's not the only language that matters, and yet Latin study is especially able to richly reward you and your children—whether you go all the way to the peak, or use a shorter course of Latin study as a launching pad. Just be careful to choose a program that supports your Latin study goals, whatever they are, and which gives you a payback even if you don't go all the way to the top.


With this being my last column for 2017, I’m going to try and answer the three biggest issues facing Arsenal in 2018, as they try to keep up with their rivals and not let another season slip into the abyss that is Europa League football.

1. Will they keep being sentimental?

Jack Wilshere had his best game in an Arsenal shirt since scoring ‘that’ goal against Norwich four years ago when he ran the show against Crystal Palace.

He controlled the tempo of the game, beat defenders off the dribble, and Tiger Woods would have been proud of the lob wedge he pulled out to set up Alexis Sanchez for Arsenal’s third goal.

He’ll never be as quick as he once was, but that was as close to ‘the old Jack’ as we’ve seen in a long time.

Can he play there regularly in the future? Yes, but the player beside him has to be able to cover for Jack defensively.

In Arsenal’s last two games, they’ve conceded almost identical counter-attacking goals to Phillipe Coutinho and Andros Townsend, mainly because neither of our central midfielders could keep up with play.

It’s bad enough that the defence treats the 18-yard line as if it’s the coffee creme in a tin of Roses and avoids it like the plague, but when the midfielders can’t fill in the gaps, then the opposition will always have chances on the counter.

If Jack is to play more often, then he needs someone who can do the hard work beside him so that it frees him up to push further forward.

The problem Arsenal have is that the exact same premise applies to Ramsey, who has excelled this season because of the freedom he has to make attacking runs whenever possible.

Having both of them play centrally denies them of the one thing they both need; freedom.

When faced with a similar problem in 2015 because Santi Cazorla was undroppable, Ramsey was shifted out to the right.

But when Arsenal play 3-4-2-1, that option doesn’t exist, because you have Alexis, Mesut Özil and Alexandre Lacazette in those forward positions, and they aren’t being dropped.


Pediatric Surgeon Dr. Saad Saad

Dr. Saad Saad just retired from his medical career as a pediatric surgeon. He has been in the industry for the past 47 years. His career time was filled with sacrifice, innovations as well as service. Dr. Saad was born in the late 1940s in Palestine. During this time, Palestine was undergoing dramatic and rapid changes. When Israel was being formed, many Palestinians were forced to relocate. At a young age, Saad Saad moved to West Bank with his family. Later the family moved to Kuwait where Saad spent much of his childhood. His father always reminded him that he did not have a country as well a passport and for him to make it in life and get respected, he had to pursue higher education. This statement stuck with him for the rest of his life.

While still in high school, Dr.Saad Saad and his brother went to a construction site in Kuwait. On this day the sun was so hot like any other summer day in Kuwait. The heat was reflecting on Saad which made him feel ill and eventually fainted out of the same. That evening after gaining consciousness, Dr. Saad realized that he was not meant for the outdoor labor. In his thoughts, he came to understand that there was only one place that was always cool with air conditioning in entire Kuwait. That place was in an operating room, and his journey into pediatric surgery began then. Due to this, Dr. Saad Saad advice is that one can be whatever they want to be as long as they set their mind on it and accept nothing but success. He never changed his goal since that time. With guidance from his dad to pursue a career that would require years of education and the passion of working in a relaxed environment, Dr. Saad set his mind.

According to Dr.Saad, never wait for tomorrow for something you can do today. This rule has made him successful because of being efficient with his time. He made sure to make the most out of his day because he knew that work ethic was one key to good performance. Learn more :


JUST IN: President Donald Trump just spoke out at a Pennsylvania rally to call on Congress to stop funding sanctuary cities.

The Daily Caller reported that he demanded that Congress stop giving money to cities that disobey federal immigration laws in an attempt to better protect American lives.

“I’m calling on Congress to stop funding sanctuary cities so we can save American lives. The funding bill should not give precious and massive tax payer grants to cities aiding and abetting criminals,” Trump said. “It’s what they do.”

This comes after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Thomas Homan launched an investigation into Oakland, California Mayor Libby Schaaf for obstruction of justice because she warned illegal aliens of ICE raids in the area.

Schaaf has received over 1,000 “angry calls” since issuing the warning that saved around 800 illegal immigrants from arrest. ICE officials were still able to arrest 232 illegal aliens, most of whom were criminals, in the raids, yet they said 800 illegal immigrants evaded arrest thanks to Schaaf. The Oakland mayor proudly boasted afterwards, “I definitely consider myself part of the resistance.”

Homan also released a statement saying the raid had been meant to target “sanctuary cities” that limit cooperation between ICE and local law enforcement.

“Sanctuary jurisdictions like San Francisco and Oakland shield dangerous criminal aliens from federal law enforcement at the expense of public safety,” Homan said. “Because these jurisdictions prevent ICE from arresting criminal aliens in the secure confines of a jail, they also force ICE officers to make more arrests out in the community, which poses increased risks for law enforcement and the public.”


Types of paranormal beliefs and why

We need more challenges to beliefs, not less what is belief a belief is a mental attitude that some proposition is true because it is a type of disposition. There is always a part of us who believes in something that is outside the field of science even though it has been proven scientifically by some to be untrue. Complete paranormal services is a pennsylvania based team of serious minded professionals who are focused on research, investigation, and the documentation of. Women more open than men to some paranormal beliefs a closer look at the data reveal that belief can differ by gender. Surge in spiritism: most americans believe in paranormal the survey found certain types of people are more likely to hold such beliefs. Bigfoot, ufos and ghosts: science explains our belief in the paranormal psychological research sheds new light on “magical thinking” — and why we.

types of paranormal beliefs and why

On the relationship between paranormal belief and schizotypy among adolescents andreas hergovicha,, reinhard schotta, martin arendasyb ainstitute of basic. Beliefs and why people believe in the paranormal or supernatural on studybaycom - persuasive research paper (due 8/7) length, online marketplace for students. The chicago cops seem sincere in their belief that their we are a team of paranormal paranormal investigator. Why do people insist on spreading certain beliefs there will always be those types of people spread their certain beliefs of the paranormal.

Children experiencing paranormal activity depending on your beliefs and perceptions while this article cannot begin to explain all types of paranormal. This appears to be a change from his earlier view that paranormal and religious beliefs were driving for different types of paranormal experiences and beliefs. Eyewitness to the paranormal: the experimental psychology of the and perceptions of a paranormal or supernatural type and beliefs in paranormal.

The goal of this study was to assess the relationship between the five factor model of personality and the belief in the paranormal paranormal beliefs and. The review of the empirical literature has failed to find a single there are some types of belief associated with paranormal belief that it is insufficient.

Types of paranormal beliefs and why

The paranormal, who believes, why they believe and why to distinguish types of paranormal belief demonstrate convincingly why paranormal belief.

  • Beliefs and why people believe in the paranormal or supernatural on studybaycom - english language, research paper - javascript.
  • Esp or extrasensory perception is perception the existence of esp and other paranormal powers such the belief in psychic dogs seems to be.
  • Belief in the paranormal reflects normal brain activity carried to an extreme why we believe in esp, ghosts & psychic phenomena newsweek media group travel.
  • Supernatural or natural anthropology and the paranormal of the types of functional approach to paranormal belief is im lewis' theory.
  • Don’t believe in god maybe you’ll try ufos research indicates only that the need for meaning inspires these types of paranormal beliefs.

10 little-known mysterious ghost types johnny peters march 27 why crowd demons are attracted to and like other types of paranormal objects. Both religious and paranormal beliefs preted as esp or other types of psychic phenomena can have the same effects other studies have found that psychic. Belief in ghosts is related to the ancient concept of animism many colorful terms are commonly used to describe specific types of ghosts. How come some people believe in the paranormal as well as a “paranormal belief research has suggested that these type of intuitive beliefs often. A new study found high levels of paranormal beliefs derived in paranormal and supernatural phenomena paranormal in an effort to discover why er. Why do so many people still the truth about the paranormal psychologists studying religion have long suspected that a belief in the paranormal can be a kind. According to a gallup survey from 2005, about three out of four americans harbor at least one paranormal belief told business insider.

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An analysis of laertes in hamlet by william shakespeare

Yorick is dead during the play, But his skull, which one of the gravediggers exhumes in Act 5, Scene 1, arouses old memories in Hamlet that provide a glimpse of his childhood.

Dramatic structure[ edit ] Hamlet departed from contemporary dramatic convention in several ways. This sets up for the major theme in the play which is of course revenge. Queen Gertrude reproves Hamlet for upsetting Claudius by staging the play.

He concludes, "The Oedipus complex is a misnomer. Marcellus inquires, "What, has this thing appeared again to-night? Actors who arrive at Elsinore to offer an entertainment. In one sense, predestination saves man from worry as everything that happens to him is pre ordained by God and Hamlet seems to find comfort in that idea, although he also has human expectations to deal with.

Court jester of old King Hamlet. He also is having an inner battle in his mind of what he should do where in the first soliloquy he was not fighting with himself that way. In this play the protagonist, Hamlet goes through a major change from the beginning of the play to the end. Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

Which time, during which time, i. Surprisingly, however, the ending seems justified, in that order has been restored to the Danish kingdom, although won at a terrible price.

Change Main Character Symptom Hamlet focuses on the changes that have occurred around him and sees them as the source of his troubles: Gertrude summons Hamlet to her room to demand an explanation. Understanding Influence Character Concern The Ghost wants everybody, particularly Hamlet, to understand what happened to him—the manner of his death, and so forth.

Hamlet is also told that he should not mourn any longer by Queen Gertrude which only adds to his anger and sadness. After Gertrude drinks from the poisoned cup, Hamlet discovers that the fight he is partaking in has all been an elaborate hoax to lure him into his own death.

In the play, it seems as though Shakespeare uses religious references where the Ghost is made to represent Roman Catholicism and Hamlet to represent Protestantism.

Whether Shakespeare took these from Belleforest directly or from the hypothetical Ur-Hamlet remains unclear. Hamlet is unsure of what he wants because he wants to be free of the misery he feels all the time but he is terrified of death.

In the end of the play, Hamlet feels as though his filial piety has been completed.

The Foil Character in Shakespeare : Laertes, Claudius and Fortinbras

She tells her father, Polonius, the nosy lord chamberlain, that Hamlet had burst in upon her while she was sewing. The play is full of seeming discontinuities and irregularities of action, except in the "bad" quarto.There is little debate that Shakespeare is the greatest Renaissance tragedian, and that King Lear (pr.

c.pb. ) and Hamlet, Prince of Denmark are the best examples of his work in. Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, is a tragedy concerning a young prince named Hamlet and his quest to avenge his father’s death. One cold night, Hamlet is told by an apparition claiming to be his father that Hamlet’s Uncle Claudius murdered King Hamlet.

Hamlet Summary

Plot summary of Shakespeare's Hamlet, themes, criticism, analysis, figures of speech, study guides. The play Hamlet is one of William Shakespeare’s most well-known plays of all time. Written in the early s, Hamlet includes a series of the protagonist character’s soliloquies that to this day have been referenced in many other works.

In this play the protagonist, Hamlet goes through a major. Shakespeare, William: Hamlet Short excerpts from a Folger Shakespeare Library production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, with critical analysis by the cast and crew.

Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library; CC-BY-SA

An analysis of laertes in hamlet by william shakespeare
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Antidote to stress

A study on investment bankers in the city of London reveals that despite the impact of stress on their work and home lives, around 70% believe that admitting to suffering from anxiety or mental health issues will damage their career prospects. So they tend to “bottled” their stress and ultimately affecting their health.

For many heads of businesses and entrepreneurs, there is no “switch off time” and this can lead into the “burnout territory” before they can reap the rewards of their labour. Burnout can lead to lack of clarity and making poor or snap decisions. A business owner needs to be in control and physical and mental wellbeing is crucial to this.

Work pressure, family pressure, relationship issues, financial issues, if not managed, can lead to anxiety, depression, feeling of losing control and feeling trapped; this is something we all may have felt in some varying degrees. Sometimes the burden is so heavy that life becomes unbearable.

Escapism, alcohol, even recreational drugs have been used but never resolved the fundamental issues.

So how can Tai Chi and Qigong help you?

First we restore balance in your body.
Secondly we rebalance your mind.
Thirdly we reestablish balance in your energy flow.

When those 3 balances are restored, then you will be in tune with your nature and increase your ability to cope with your issues. You will then understand the old Chinese adage:
"Stay childlike and be one with Heaven without seeking gain all is given"

Our approach is logical and scientific, we start Taiji and Qigong training at the physical level slowly penetrating your mind and inner-self. You will always be in control of yourself and with your deepening self-understanding, this will lead you to your own realization what is the right thing to do.

Taiji and well being

A recent study of 12,461 patients from 52 countries, reveals that the risk of heart attack tripled by exercising while angry. Experts say extreme emotional triggers could have same effect on the body as physical exertion. Attempting to “blow off steam” through vigorous exercise could triple the risk of a heart attack within the hour, the same experts say.

Since ancient times, it is understood that Mind and body are intrinsically linked to one another; if your mind is not at peace, the body is also affected.

How is Taiji different from other exercises?
Taiji training works on the flow of Energy (Qi) in our body. In traditional Chinese medicine, if energy (Qi) is blocked, illness ensues. This is why some people with illnesses go through Acupuncture therapy or Herbal remedy in an attempt to unblock the energy and to restore balance.
In Taiji we train to move the energy, restoring the balance naturally, and to be strong again. In Taiji, there is an adage: “strong mind, strong body”; this came from Taiji source when it was practiced as a martial art for the battle field.

School Teacher

I had only been to a few Qigong lessons before coming to Patrick’s lessons. I knew little about Qigong and Taiji. I had thought they would be good for my general health, but had no idea of their depth, power and underlying philosophy. To gain an appreciation of these qualities, you need a teacher who fully lives and breathes them. Patrick is such a teacher.

I came to Qigong for my health as I was working extremely long hours in a very stressful environment. I have found Qigong and Taiji to be of great benefit to my general health. Together they strengthen mind and body in a very subtle and powerful way. When I was looking for a Qigong teacher, someone told me that it was essential to find and excellent teacher and authentic one. They also told me that I would know when I found one. Though I am a beginner, it is 100% clear that Patrick is such a teacher. He is a master of Qigong and Taiji and is able to effortlessly combine beginners and advance students without compromise.

Music instrument builder

I find training with Patrick is well balanced between warm up, often with Qigong and Taiji silk Reeling and form with some practical applications. Every part of the training is conducted in a calm and respectful environment with also some fun with some practical applications. Every session is very effective to readjust our body and mind to the deep meaning of the authentic Chen Taiji and I am very grateful to Patrick for the attention and patience in continously correcting and remind us of the right way for training.

I had a few years suffered of lower back pains and I had visited a chiropractor often to improve and heal my back but since I started Taiji practice, I haven’t had any problems and I am improving my posture and motor skill greatly. The other major benefit I gained practicing Taiji is a better mental attitude and a more relaxed mind and body, something we can all do with in this hectic life. I appreciate having a teacher that has a high level Taiji skills and being a true representative of the Chen Taiji as he has been a student of Grand master Chen Xiaowang, there is no better way to understand and learn Taiji. Patrick is always ready to explain in different ways all aspect of the art to make us understand and gain skills required to advance in the art. Knowledgeable in all aspect of Taiji from physical practice, historical and philosophical background, Patrick is an all rounded teacher and is a great pleasure to be part of his class and receive such a beneficial teaching.

Karate Black Belt and Hospital administrator

I find the training challenging and thought provoking. It has made me more insightful regarding my Karate training and enabled me to take a calmer and more introspective view of my training in general. Overall I find I am calmer and have developed more self-awareness.

As a teacher, Patrick is patient and listens and answers all queries with insight and understanding. He clearly has belief and knowledge of if his art and thoughtfully passes this on.

UK Central Government Commercial regulations

I have been practicing Taiji and Qigong for a number of years and participated in competition at varying Level with a gold a medal at the World Taiji Championship in Taipei. The training offered by Sifu Patrick Wan is all encompassing, very invigorating and cater to the needs of all pupils at all levels from beginners to more advance. I find the training very hands-on, interactive and conducted in a friendly but yet professional atmosphere.

I have benefited enormously from the teaching of Sifu Patrick Wan. The training provides me with relaxing techniques, knowledge and discipline which are transferable to cope with the challenges of everyday life. I turned up at each lesson leaving with new experiences and enhanced development in the rudiments to the more progressive elements of Taiji and Qigong to help my practice, skill level and health. Sifu Patrick Wan is a teacher and coach with a wealth of experience and knowledge in Taiji and Qigong. He is generous in imparting his immense knowledge and experience; he is approachable and he has mastered the heart of making all of his pupils feeling at ease. Classes are interactive but conducted in a relaxed but professional way and all pupils are given the opportunity to field questions and given opportunity to address learning and development needs without feeling awkward. A “rare” teacher and coach.


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Reliable Strategies for Pyschosis Causes That You Can Use Immediately

The reason is found over choices at the mutterings of US investors the administration has made to debt holders out of respect. Family interventions, where families take part along with the man experiencing psychosis in therapy sessions, have been found to lower the relapse of psychotic episodes. Sometimes, hospitalization becomes required to protect against the individual from harming themselves and their nearest and dearest. It is by far the most frequent complication of malaria and might cause death. These symptoms include things like thinking someone is attempting to harm them. It's imperative to recognize the signs of malaria early on, because in the event the disease advances to malaria, it may cause death within 24 to 72 hours.

pyschosis causes

Occasionally people experiencing psychosis can get agitated and be in danger of hurting themselves or others. Postpartum psychosis is considered an emergency, meaning it's a significant condition requiring urgent therapy. Its not feasible to identify who's very likely to come up with psychosis. If anyone you know is experiencing psychosis, it's far better to visit a psychiatrist. Psychosis is an indicator of illness, and people with psychosis has to be evaluated and ought to find appopriate medical therapy. The expression psychosis means a mind or soul which differs from normal.

There's not just one cause of psychosis. It does not have many medical complications. People with psychosis have comprehension. For a lot of people, it can be extremely frightening. In rare circumstances, it can also happen as a side effect of some types of medication or as a consequence of an overdose of the medication. Psychosis demands therapy, usually. Someone experiencing reactive psychosis will normally recover in a couple of days to a couple weeks, based on the origin of the stress.

In such conditions, delivering the dosage that is suitable under strict medical supervision is necessary for minimizing the adverse outcomes. Usually medication is essential to take care of postpartum psychosis. Even in instances that are severe, medication and treatment can offer assist. On occasion , psychiatric drugs such as antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications could be utilised in the treatment. Drugs like LSD cause users to discover things that aren't actually there, yet this result is temporary.

In certain folks, a sort of shock treatment called electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) may be an alternative. Treatment for psychosis is dependent upon its cause. Medical treatment for those with psychosis has improved in the past couple of years. Such a therapy intends to enhance family connections, and the household is encouraged to turn to the individual in treatment into a sort of therapeutic agent. Support groups or Group therapy may also supply somebody who experiences psychosis an chance to relate to and encourage other people who've been through similar experiences. Whenever there's an underlying medical cause, therapy may concentrate on such a illness. There are two kinds.

Removing Social Stigma And also Providing Early Intervention A person's reaction to medicine is created in our genetic makeup, which is why there is not at one-size-fits-all drug for mental illness such as bipolar affective disorder, anxiety, ADHD, schizophrenia, among other psychological health and wellness conditions. And study has actually shown that an individuals connection with their relative can positively or negatively influence their mental illness. Currently this is a quite touchy topic so if a mental health and wellness customer remains in truth relinquishing control of moneying to insure no purchase of prohibited compounds occurs, one must guarantee the controlling program is respectable, in good standing, and also competently handled. Now looking at the present scenario, today if we aim to relate the term nature in regard to health after that it will not be wrong. Excellent psychological health and wellness guarantees an all-round educational encounter that enhances social and also intellectual abilities that lead to confidence and much better qualities. Moreover, it must end up being open secret that a psychological impairment is absolutely nothing worse than a handicap which individuals with such a disorder are never unsuited for culture. They could have to see a counselor or specialist to learn about programs designed in order to help them handle daily concerns. At its the majority of basic, mental disease indicates that a person is incapable of working separately in culture due to some kind of troubles with how they experience the globe mentally. Damiana extract is believed to assist with migraines, depression, worried dyspepsia, and boosting and preserving psychological as well as physical capability. Real estate is just one of the most fundamental human requirements, no matter whether one has a mental illness or is thought about totally healthy and balanced. Psychological wellness medical diagnosis videos are a terrific resource of details for individuals along with health care specialists. If they feel their child may have a psychological ailment, minimizing the stigma will make it easier for parents of such youngsters to speak about their issues. Getting steady real estate is most likely the most crucial factor for psychological health care customers on the road to recuperation. Anxiety, anxiety as well as tension are the most noticeable kinds of psychological wellness problems that are influencing people in today's culture. Nevertheless when a youth has a number of troubles, both mental health and wellness and also forensic, a mix of devices is chosen. Our connection with nature is like a basic element that assists in maintaining health. Because the development of life, the nature has always featured as vital elements in health promo versions. Youngsters from busted family members need to be given special focus lest they establish anxiety related disorders. Having a good mental health doesn't necessarily indicate that we are unsusceptible to every sort of psychological accessories or bad times. Moreover in previous few years, it has actually likewise been found that gardening therapy have an expanding body of study data which points to the many psychological advantages of involving with nature. Students with mental troubles socially isolate themselves, as well as create anxiety disorders as well as focus troubles. When clients have issues in the mental health and also forensic arenas, both strategies should be used to the level possible. For mental health experts, one have to concentrate after discovering affordable or government subsidized real estate for the psychological health care consumer, ideally in a scenario which eliminates them from their instant atmosphere (as it is prone to lead to relapses or proceeded drug abuse, and so on). Most major cities have government subsidized low-income apartment complexes that you can consider for such customers. If they feel their child could have a mental illness, decreasing the preconception will certainly make it much easier for moms and dads of such youngsters to speak about their concerns. Acquiring steady real estate is likely the most crucial factor for psychological health care customers on the roadway to recuperation. Stress, depression and also stress and anxiety are the most prominent types of psychological health conditions that are impacting people in today's society. Nevertheless when a young people has numerous troubles, both mental wellness and also forensic, a mix of tools is favored. When these feelings are extremely acknowledged inside an individual's life, it could absolutely trigger some psychological disruptions or mental diseases. There are no ideas or convictions that one needs initially because the real technique itself is merely an open recognition to the present minute. There are many different kinds of emotional conditions, any of which could impact any type of one of us at any kind of place of time in life; for this reason, very early mental health medical diagnosis ends up being crucial. When we are sick, our body battles the ailment as well as likewise, when we are having mental health issue, we must establish our psychological strength to combat the issues related to our psychological health and wellness. When estrogen degrees drop in menopause, ladies tend to observe issues with their mental health, consisting of memory lapses, stress, depression, fuzzy reasoning, as well as state of mind swings.

Call 855-809-8011 to schedule your consultation at our local BELLE WEST VIRGINIA 25015 offices.

Borderline Personality Disorder | Anorexia