.
Originally, rt-ai had its own SPEs for collecting sensor data but this led to quite a bit of duplication between rt-ai and SNC. The embedding technique completely removes the need for this duplication as rt-ai SPNs can hook into any SNC data stream, no matter what hardware generated it.
The screen capture above shows an example that I am using as part of the driveway detection system that I have been running for quite a long term now to detect vehicles or people moving around the driveway – this post describes the original system. The heart of this is an NCS 2 inference engine with some post processing code to generate email alerts when something has been detected. All of the SPEs in this case are running on the same Raspberry Pi 4 which is humming along nicely, running inference on a 1280 x 720 10fps video stream. Now that this SPN has been embedded in SNC, it is possible to save all of the annotated video using standard SNC storage if required or else further process and add to the metadata with anything that connects to SNC.
rt-ai SPNs can be used to create synth modules (basically SPN macros) that can be replicated any number of times and individually configured to process different streams. Alternatively, a single SPN can process data from multiple SNC video streams using an SNC fan out SPE, similar to this one.
So what does this do for rt-ispace? The whole idea of rt-ispace is that ubiquitous sensing and other real-time data streams are collected in SNC, AI inference distills the raw streams into meaningful data and then the results are fed to SHAPE for integration into real world augmentations. Embedding rt-ai SPNs in SNC provides the AI data distillation in a highly efficient and reusable way.
Using shared memory for rt-ai inter-SPE transfers
The screen capture above couldn't have been obtained previously as it is passing uncompressed (RGB888) video between rt-ai SPEs on the same node (a Jetson Nano in this case). The CVideoView window is showing the output of the simple network using the CSSDJetson SPE to classify objects and also computes the frames per second and latency of received frames. The source of the frames is a Logitech C920 webcam running at 1280 x 720, 30fps. It shows that the latency is around 128mS at around 15fps.
This screen capture shows what happens when shared memory isn't used. Actually, the latency here is misleading as it seems to be the link from the CUVCCam SPE to the MQTT server that is causing the bottleneck when running uncompressed video. The latency goes monotonically upwards until there is no memory left as there is no throttling on that interface since normally it isn't a problem.
There doesn't seem to be much benefit when passing smaller messages between SPEs.
This screen capture above shows shared memory being used when transferring JPEG frames. The one below is with shared memory support turned off.
This just shows that bouncing off the MQTT server within the same node is pretty efficient, at least when compared to the latency of the inference.
Being able to pass large messages around efficiently, even if only point to point within the same node, is quite a step forward by itself. For example, it makes it practical to create networks that pass RGBD frames around.
Shared memory support in rt-ai2 uses the Qt QSharedMemory and QSystemSemaphore wrappers to make things simple. When a design is generated, rtaiDesigner determines if shared memory has been enabled for the network, if the publisher and subscriber are on the same node and if the connection is point to point (i.e. exactly one subscriber). If so, the publisher and subscriber SPEs are told to use shared memory instead of MQTT for that particular connection. The SPE configuration file for the publisher SPE also includes the shared memory slot size to use and how big the pending transmission queue should be. The system is set up at the moment to always use three shared memory slots forming a rotating buffer. The shared memory slots are created by the publisher and attached by the subscriber.
To minimize latency, every time the publisher places a new message in the next shared memory slot, it releases a QSystemSempahore to unblock a thread in the subscriber that can then extract the message, free the shared memory slot and process the received message.
This implementation of shared memory seems to work very well and is highly reliable. In principle, it could be extended to support multiple subscribers by replicating the shared memory slot structure for each subscriber.
Jetson Nano SSD-Mobilenet-v2 SPE for rt-ai
Following on from the earlier work with the Jetson Nano, the SSD-Mobilenet-v2 model is now running as an rt-ai Stream Processing Element (SPE) for Jetson and so is fully integrated with the rt-ai system. Custom models created using transfer learning can also be used – it's just a case of setting the model name in the SPE's configuration and placing the required model files on the rt-ai data server. Since models are automatically downloaded at runtime if necessary, it's pretty trivial to change the model being used on an existing Stream Processing Network (SPN).
The screen capture above shows the rt-ai design that generated the implementation. Here I am using the UVCCam SPE so that the video is sourced from a webcam but any of the other rt-ai video sources (such as RTSPCam) could be used, simply by replacing the camera SPE in the design using the graphical editor – originally this design used RTSPCam in fact.
Using 1280 x 720 video frames, the SSDJetson SPE processes around 17fps. This is not bad but less than the 21fps achieved by the monolithic example code. The problem is that, in order to achieve the one to many and many to one, heterogeneous multi-node network graphical design capability, rt-ai currently uses MQTT brokers to move data and provide multicast as necessary. Even when the broker and the SPEs are running on the same node, it is obviously less efficient than pointer passing within monolithic code.
This "inefficiency of generality" isn't really visible on powerful x86 machines but has an impact on devices like the Jetson Nano and Raspberry Pi. The solution to this is to recognize such local links and side-step the MQTT broker interface using shared memory. This optimization will be done automatically in rtaiDesigner when it generates the configurations for each SPE in an SPN, flagging appropriate nodes as sources or sinks of shared memory links when both source and sink SPEs reside on the same node.
Shared nothing – sometimes being selfish is the way to go
Lock-free code is all the rage these days but it's not just a fad. Having recently quantified the performance impact of a single lock on shared memory it's easy to understand why eliminating locks (and indeed any other kind of kernel interaction) is the key to high performance.
A logical consequence of this is that threads must share no state (memory, disk or anything else) with any other thread unless it can be done in a safe manner without requiring synchronization. While there are some patterns that can be used for this, in general the solution is the shared nothing (or sharded) architecture where each thread works completely independently.
Coupled with core-locked threads, shared nothing architectures are capable of extracting the last drop of performance out of the underlying hardware. Suddenly that multi-core CPU looks like a very loosely coupled bunch of bare-metal processors.
One core == one thread
Jetson Nano and rt-ai
The Jetson Nano is an obvious platform for rt-ai to support, to go with the existing Intel NCS2 and Coral edge platforms. One nice plus is that the Jetson Nano comes basically ready to go, all set up for inference.
The screen capture above shows the Nano running the detectnet-camera example code using a webcam as the source generating 1280 x 720 frames and SSD-Mobilenet-v2 as the model. Performance was not bad at 21fps running at 10W, 16fps running at 5W. The heatsink did get very hot in a pretty short space of time however!
Installing the rt-ai runtime was no problem at all and it was easy to utilize the H.264 accelerated pipeline in rt-ai's RTSP camera capture module. The screen capture above shows this running along with a viewer, demonstrating basic rt-ai funtionality.
Next up is to roll the detection code into an rt-ai Stream Processing Element (SPE). This will generate identical metadata to the existing SSD detectors, allowing full compatibility between server GPU, Jetson, NCS 2 and Coral SSD detectors.


Wonder and Inspiration Delivered — Since 1942
Floating Ball Game
(Click image to enlarge)
Item Number: _PHONE_
Price: $3.00
This item is available for giftwrap!
Game, Floating Ball
Floating Ball Game - Demonstrates Bernoulli's Principle - Law of Pressure Differential
Another classic science toy that is not only fun but teaches real scientific concepts. Made of wood. Comes with two styrofoam balls. See how long you can make the ball float. Challenge family and friends. Great party favor or holiday gift.
The floating ball game is an excellent example of "Bernoulli's Principle". As air is forced around the ball it must move faster in order to "catch up" on the other side. The result is a decrease in air pressure around the ball that in turn keeps the ball in place. The force is strong enough to resist other forces acting on the ball such as a subtle tap from your finger. The force can also overcome gravity if the flow of air is strong enough. This can be demonstrated by turning the base of the pipe 15-20 degrees - the ball will remain suspended in the air flow even though it is not directly above it.
Give it a try and see what you can discover!
Warning: Choking Hazard -Small Parts. Not for children under 3 years. /!\ Warning: Choking Hazard -This toy is a small ball. Not for children under 3 years.
SKU _PHONE_
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Scientific Method / Science & Exploration
Derailing inflammation using a fake DNA packaging protein
A synthetic mimic of a protein that normally wraps up DNA can suppress the …
Researchers have figured out how to manipulate the packaging of DNA to shut down a harmful inflammatory response. Most of our cells contain the same complement of genes, but different cell types develop because they express genes at different times and levels. This continues to be true throughout our lives, as cells turn genes on or off in response to environmental signals. One way to switch genes on and off is to change the structure of the DNA.
All DNA is spooled around proteins called histones. When it is wound more tightly, genes cannot be activated; when it is more relaxed, the DNA transcription machinery can get in. Histones that are chemically modified with an acetyl group bind to DNA loosely, and thus genes spooled around acetylated histones are more likely to be expressed.
Inflammation is used to mount an immune response, yet excessive inflammation can often damage their host. To modulate the expression of inflammatory genes, scientists have made a molecule that masquerades as an acetylated histone.
The BET family of proteins assembles histone-containing complexes that regulate inflammatory gene expression. So the researchers called their fake histone I-BET, since it was found by screening synthetic compounds for those that can Interact with BET.
The researchers posited that I-BET may work in two ways. By binding to BET, it blocks the protein from binding to acetylated histones, thereby leaving them accessible to enzymes that can deacetylate them. But its binding to BET may also prevent the formation of large complexes on the DNA.
I-BET has no obvious effect on its own. But, when it's around, immune cells have a reduced response to chemicals that are linked to bacterial infections. Those same chemicals can cause shock when injected into mice, but I-BET blocked that too.
I-BET seems to affect genes that come on later in the immune response; primary response genes were not affected. This is because these later genes had not yet formed the necessary complexes on their chromosomes to activate gene expression—their histones were not yet acetylated. This was the case in animals as well as cultured cells.
This suppression of inflammation by I-BET is a proof of principle for drugs that that can selectively regulate gene expression by interfering with the assembly of histone dependent transcriptional complexes on the chromosomes. And it demonstrated that the epigenetic state of genes—the presence of acetylated histones at their promoters—is a phenomenon we can exploit to therapeutic ends.
Nature, 2010. DOI: 10.1038/nature09589 (About DOIs).
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9 Reader Comments
 1. New Asthma or allergy drug? Yes, please!
 Or new drugs for auto-immune diseases would be good. My mom suffers from fibromyalga and most of the treatment is for symptoms, not the root cause.
 694 posts | registered
 2. Carrie wrote:
 New Asthma or allergy drug? Yes, please!
 Yeah I think my mom suffers from fibromyalgia as well but she won't talk to her doctor about it. She's a horrible patient. Anyway my wife suffers from Crohn's/Colitis and this could be helpful for her as well.
 I have no idea how you would target the drugs to the right places if they were found to be helpful.
 1466 posts | registered
 3. Sounds like it's be good for rheumatoid arthritis too.
 65 posts | registered
 4. Such treatments certainly sound like they would be much safer and more reliable than corticosteriods, avoiding the nasty side effects.
 441 posts | registered
 5. This will be a wonder drug for those with inflamitory diseases.
 430 posts | registered
 6. Call me when there's a pill...
 9618 posts | registered
 7. If this can replace corticosteroids and the like, this has some sweet implications! Steroids can cause all sorts of problems, including cushing's syndrome which has it's own set of complications. Asthma and allergy patients such as myself need steroid-free treatment to avoid these complications.
 203 posts | registered
 8. This thread has honed in nicely on the big problem in all therapies: specificity. Whether we are discussing cancer, immune function, stem cells, gene therapy, or nuclear weapons, the challenge to target the desired time and place is more difficult than inventing the intervention.
 The work discussed here is a good starting place. It would be especially clever if a small molecule inhibitor (as discussed here) could be coupled to a big molecule that is"smart" in its delivery. But that is not the most popular kind of therapy. It can't be given as a pill, and costs a lot. So I repeat my call for more basic research that reveals fine details about these transcription complexes, and will permit subtle, rather than global, modulation.
 132 posts | registered
 9. Yeah... as someone in the midst of using steroid drops for uveitis/iritis... I really hope this develops into something that is an effective replacement for steroids. That would be awesome!
 114 posts | registered
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text:
Malay is the
official language of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
The populations in each of
these countries speak a different dialect of Malay.
The dialects are as follows: "Bahasa
Indonesia", "Bahasa Malaysia", and "Bahasa Melayu".
The word "bahasa" simply means language
It is not uncommon for Indonesian children, such as these, to speak more than
Talk about this Web Page!
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Copyright (C) Zeuter Development Corporation, 1996. All rights reserved.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text:
Part B Exam Content
The standard required in the OSPHE will be that which could be reasonably expected of a public health trainee with at least two years' (whole time equivalent) of service-based training left, and is normally achievable by someone in training after passing Part A MFPH.
The examiners will assess candidates' ability to use knowledge and skills appropriately in public health settings.
The OSPHE is a test of skills and attitudes relating to every day public health issues in commonly experienced settings. The examination is a role-play examination run to time to represent the practice of public health in everyday settings and are mostly based on the real experiences of question setting examiners in the workplace. You will not be required to be familiar with NHS procedures or practices. The OSPHE is a'show how' assessment rather than a 'knowledge' or 'know how' assessment, which will already have been completed in Part A.
The following skills will be tested:
- The ability to demonstrate presenting communication skills (verbal and non verbal) appropriately in typical public health settings: presenting to a person or audience.
- The ability to demonstrate listening and comprehending communication skills (verbal and non verbal) appropriately in typical public health settings: listening and responding appropriately.
- The ability to assimilate relevant information from a variety of sources and settings and using it appropriately from a public health perspective.
- The ability to demonstrate appropriate reasoning, analytical and judgement skills, giving a balanced view within public health settings.
- The ability to handle uncertainty, the unexpected, challenge and conflict appropriately.
The subject matter used in the examinations will draw on material from a wide range of topics encountered in everyday public health practice. The scenarios themselves will also be varied across the six stations of the examination.
- Health Protection (including Infection, Immunisation, Screening and Environmental subject matter).
- Health Promotion and Health Improvement (including lifestyle and behavioural interventions at individual and population level, partnership working and wider determinants of health).
- Quality healthcare: technical aspects of commissioning which require expert advice or assessment utilising public health skills. Examples include the application of technical material to health or health care provision.
- Quality healthcare: Implementation of health or healthcare interventions and working with patients, the public, professionals or organisations.
- Media/high profile 'public':
media - newspaper, radio pre-recorded;
member of parliament or local council leader;
press officer of NHS or partner organisation.
- Other non health service public health 'specialist'/key 'public health improvement' partner:
meeting with/briefing for senior professional (e.g. professional whose job focus has strong public health element such as Director of Children's Services or an informed chair of a non health or other organisation);
meeting with or briefing for new PH trainees or non-specialist staff;
meeting with other senior officer of council or other partner organisation to discuss PH actions.
- The Lay public:
meeting with local councillor/non-NHS health partnership chair or member;
meeting with member of the public on an issue pertinent to them;
meeting with representative of patient forum or pressure or lobby group.
- Healthcare staff - clinical and general management:
briefing to chair of NHS committee or board (non-clinical);
meeting with healthcare manager - commissioning or CE or other senior;
meeting with healthcare professional involved in care delivery - GP/Consultant/Nurse/ AHP.
In addition to the topic areas, there are four types of scenario reflective of mainstream public health practice:


"Plant genetics from Mendel to Monsanto" with Dame Ottoline Leyser
29 November 2019
Plants and photosynthetic microbes have the extraordinary ability to convert light energy to chemical energy and as a consequence, they are the foundation of virtually all ecosystems and all agricultural systems on the planet.
The characteristics that make plants successful in natural ecosystems are often antithetical to agriculture and over 1000s of years we have domesticated plants to make better crops. The molecular genetics revolution of the 20th century has simultaneously provided a means to understand the relationship between plant genes and plant characteristics, and the ability to target and/or select specific genetic changes in plant genomes.
This combination of knowledge and technology opens the possibility for designer crops, and raises interesting questions about the governance of our food system.


text:
The Coming of the Coal-Free Campus
When you think about the typical college campus, a towering coal plant belching pollutants like mercury and fly ash is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. At more than 60 colleges and universities across the country, though, that's just what you'll find. Virginia Tech's coal plant burns more than 43,000 tons of coal each year, for example, and students often wake to find ash coating their windows.
But college students across the United States are asking their schools to clean up their act. More than 30 campuses have teamed up with the Sierra Club's "Beyond Coal" campaign to move their schools toward 100 percent clean energy solutions. Already, 16 student groups have gotten commitments from their schools to become coal-free. According to coal campaign coordinator Kim Teplitzky, several more campuses look poised to join the ranks when the academic year begins in the fall.
Five-plus years of student organizing paid off in 2010, when Cornell University announced plans to become coal-free as early as this year. The school has already reduced coal usage by 80 percent. At Ball State University in Indiana, a switch from coal to geothermal power will soon completely eliminate the school's reliance on coal, cutting its carbon footprint in half and saving $2 million in the process.
Other schools have been more resistant to pressure from student activist groups. University of Iowa students have been working for the better part of a decade to move the school off coal. Graham Jordison, who now works for the Sierra Club as Iowa's campus organizer, got involved as a student when he realized the school's on-campus plant was dumping coal ash near the banks of the Des Moines River. Though Jordison cites small victories—such as getting schools to purchase renewable energy credits and increase energy efficiency—the fight is far from over. "It's not an easy path," he admits, "but on each campus we've made progress."
Jen Horton wrote this article for New Livelihoods, the Fall 2011 issue of YES! Magazine.
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Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Answer: Can you find the original source of this picture?
 It's not every day you look for swordfights...
And yet, that's what this week's Challenge is all about: What's the story with this image that I found in a well-known magazine?
1. What is this an image of? (What's going on here?)
I'm no fool--I'll first try right-clicking on the image (Control+click on a Mac) to Search Google for Image.
Unfortunately, Google's Search-By-Image doesn't find any other versions of this image; neither does Yandex or Bing.
Next image search engine? I tried next for the search, and found it easily.
Search results from
These results found a version in the Adobe stock photos, eBay, and multiple hits at the website (which is where I first saw it, in an article in the print edition). The Economist's version of the illustration is a high-quality version, but it's clearly cropped from the original.
How do we figure out what's happening in the image?
I opened the first hit (a link to and found that the descriptor for the image is "A German student's duel at Gottingen. The Mensur, as practised by German fraternities, is a fast yet rarely-lethal affair with cuts accepted as marks of honour."
That's a great clue about what to search for next:
 [ mensur ]
this leads to the Wikipedia article about Mensur, which tells us that it's a German dueling tradition--the duels among students that often lead to dueling scars, a "smite" (German Schmiss), seen as a badge of honor, in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th. This is a non-lethal duel, with the eyes protected by iron spectacles, made of strong wire net instead of glass. Cuts to the head are accepted as part of the calling of honor, which is why we have the classic image of a German military officer (of a certain age) showing dueling scars.
2. Where and when did this image first appear?
I know the image is a cropped version of some earlier publication, the question is--how do I find the full illustration? I hope it was published in some journal. If I can find the full illustration in situ, then maybe I can find the publication.
One of the interesting hits in the Tineye results page was to (the Italian eBay). Turns out there are LOTS of mensur images there. And that made me wonder if some there were some for sale on the US eBay. Tried:
 [ a student german duel in gottingen ]
 and--what do you know!--I found this image, exactly what I was looking for:
The seller is counting on someone wanting a single page of an archival newspaper. This worked out well for my search because if you look at the full image,
you'll see at the very top of the page:
Where it clearly (although in tiny font size) says that this illustration is from "The Graphic," page 181, publication date of Aug 21, 1880. ("The Graphic" was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 and ran until April 1932 when it changed title to "The National Graphic," running between April and July 1932, when it ceased publication, after 3,266 issues.)
3. Can you find an online version of the original publication?
My search was straightforward:
 [ "the Graphic" newspaper archive ]
which leads to a number of different archival resources. I spotted among them, so I went there first.
 (Why? Because I know this site typically has excellent scans of their documents, along with a great search tool and viewer. It's just a great resource. It DOES require a subscription, which I happily pay each year. You might be able to access it through your local library, as they very well might have a subscription that you can use.)
On the site I selected "The Graphic: An Illustrated Weekly Newspaper" and then searched for "a german student duel" -- that gave me the one hit I was looking for: Page 181, publication date of Aug 21, 1880.
Closeup of the mensur duelists (from the scan)
Search Lessons
1. There are multiple search-by-image engines out there: Use them all! I tried Google, then Yandex, then Bing, then Tineye. They're all great, but they also all gave very different results. This is partly due to algorithmic differences, but also partly due to differences in the pages they crawl. If they don't have it in their data, they can't serve the result to you. Use all of them!
2. Pick up partial clues from what you DO find. I found the word "mensur," which I'd never heard before, as a description of this image. That's a mighty handy word to know if you're trying to understand what's going on here. Knowing that single word then led me to a full-page image, which gave me the date and the name of the publication.
3. Don't underestimate the value of eBay and other for-sale sites. I've found more useful clues for historic information in for-sale images than you can imagine. While I might not purchase the item for-sale, the image posted is incredibly useful for getting additional context and more search terms. That's how I figured out that this illustration came from "The Graphic," and what the date of the image was. Handy!
Congrats to all of the SRS searchers who found the answers.
Search on!
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text:
In 1861, Thomas Graham's investigations on diffusion led him to classify substances as crystalloids or colloids based on their ability to diffuse through a parchment membrane. Crystalloids passed readily through the membrane, whereas colloids (from the Greek word for glue) did not. Intravenous fluids are similarly classified based on their ability to pass through barriers separating body fluid compartments, particularly the one between intravascular and extravascular (interstitial) fluid compartments. This chapter describes the salient features of crystalloid and colloid fluids, both individually and as a group. This is a must-know topic in the care of hospitalized patients, and several reviews are included at the end of the chapter to supplement the text.
The principal component of crystalloid fluids is the inorganic salt sodium chloride (NaCl). Sodium is the most abundant solute in the extracellular fluids, and it is distributed uniformly throughout the extracellular space. Because 75 to 80% of the extracellular fluids are located in the extravascular (interstitial) space, a similar proportion of the total body sodium is in the interstitial fluids. Exogenously administered sodium follows the same distribution, so 75 to 80% of the volume of sodium-based intravenous fluids are distributed in the interstitial space. This means that the predominant effect of volume resuscitation with crystalloid fluids is to expand the interstitial volume rather than the plasma volume.
As indicated by the horizontal bar that is second from the top, infusion of 1 L of 0.9% sodium chloride (isotonic saline) adds 275 mL to the plasma volume and 825 mL to the interstitial volume. Note that the total volume expansion (1100 mL) is slightly greater than the infused volume. This is the result of a fluid shift from the intracellular to extracellular space, which occurs because isotonic saline is actually hypertonic to the extracellular fluids.
The prototype crystalloid fluid is 0.9% sodium chloride (NaCl), also called isotonic saline or normal saline. The latter term is inappropriate because a one normal (1 N) NaCl solution contains 58 g NaCl per liter (the combined molecular weights of sodium and chloride), whereas isotonic (0.9%) NaCl contains only 9 g NaCl per liter.
The pH of isotonic saline is also considerably lower than the plasma pH. These differences are rarely of any clinical significance.
The chloride content of isotonic saline is particularly high relative to plasma (154 mEq/L versus 103 mEq/L, respectively), so hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis is a potential risk with large-volume isotonic saline resuscitation. Hyperchloremia has been reported, but acidosis is rare.
Ringer's solution was introduced in 1880 by Sydney Ringer, a British physician and research investigator who studied mechanisms of cardiac contraction. The solution was designed to promote the contraction of isolated frog hearts, and contained calcium and potassium in a sodium chloride diluent. In the 1930s, an American pediatrician named Alexis Hartmann proposed the addition of sodium lactate buffer to Ringer's solution for the treatment of metabolic acidoses. The lactated Ringer's solution, also known as Hartmann's solution, gradually gained in popularity and eventually replaced the standard Ringer's solution for routine intravenous therapy.
Lactated Ringer's solution contains potassium and calcium in concentrations that approximate the free (ionic) concentrations in plasma. The addition of these cations requires a reduction in sodium concentration for electrical neutrality, so lactated Ringer's solution has less sodium than isotonic saline. The addition of lactate (28 mEq/L) similarly requires a reduction in chloride concentration, and the chloride in lactated Ringer's more closely approximates plasma chloride levels than does isotonic saline.
Despite the differences in composition, there is no evidence that lactated Ringer's provides any benefit over isotonic saline. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the lactate in Ringer's solution provides any buffer effect.
The calcium in lactated Ringer's can bind to certain drugs and reduce their bioavailability and efficacy. Of particular note is calcium binding to the citrated anticoagulant in blood products. This can inactivate the anticoagulant and promote the formation of clots in donor blood. For this reason, lactated Ringer's solution is contraindicated as a diluent for blood transfusions.
NORMOSOL OR PLASMA-LYTE
The major feature of these solutions is the added buffer capacity, which gives them a pH that is equivalent to that of plasma. An additional feature is the addition of magnesium, which may provide some benefit in light of the high incidence of magnesium depletion in hospitalized patients.
Magnesium administration can promote hypermagnesemia in renal insufficiency and can counteract compensatory vasoconstriction and promote hypotension in low flow states.
Dextrose is a common additive in intravenous solutions, for reasons that are unclear. A 5% dextrose-in-water solution is not an effective volume expander. The use of 5% dextrose solutions was originally intended to supply nonprotein calories and thus provide a protein-sparing effect. However, total enteral and parenteral nutrition is now the standard of care for providing daily energy requirements, and the use of 5% dextrose solutions to provide calories is obsolete.
A 5% dextrose solution (50 g dextrose per liter) provides 170 kcal per liter (3.4 kcal/g dextrose).
The addition of dextrose to intravenous fluids increases osmolarity (50 g of dextrose adds 278 mosm to an intravenous fluid) and creates a hypertonic infusion when 5% dextrose is added to lactated Ringer's solution (525 mOsm/L) or isotonic saline (560 mOsm/L). If glucose use is impaired (as is common in critically ill patients), the infused glucose accumulates and creates an undesirable osmotic force that can promote cell dehydration.
Other undesirable effects of glucose infusions in critically ill patients include enhanced CO2 production (which can be a burden in ventilator-dependent patients), enhanced lactate production, and aggravation of ischemic brain injury.
The proportion of a glucose load that contributes to lactate formation can increase from 5% in healthy subjects to 85% in critically ill patients. This can produce an increase in circulating lactate levels, even when infusing 5% dextrose solutions. Patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery were given either a Ringer's solution or a 5% dextrose solution intraoperatively to maintain normal cardiac filling pressures. As shown, the 5% dextrose infusions were associated with a 125% increase in arterial lactate levels (from 1.85 to 4.15 mmol/L). Thus, in patients with circulatory compromise, abnormal glucose metabolism can transform glucose from a source of useful energy to a source of toxin production.
The disadvantages noted above, when combined with a lack of documented benefit, favor the recommendation that the routine use of 5% dextrose infusions be abandoned in critically ill patients.
As mentioned earlier, colloids are large molecules that do not pass across diffusional barriers as readily as crystalloids. Colloid fluids infused into the vascular space therefore have a greater tendency to stay put and enhance the plasma volume than do crystalloid fluids. The colloid fluid in this case is 5% albumin, and as demonstrated, the plasma expansion with this colloid fluid is nearly twice that produced by an equivalent volume of isotonic saline (500 mL versus 275 mL, respectively). This is the principal benefit of colloid fluid resuscitation: more effective resuscitation of plasma volume than that produced by crystalloid fluids. Much of this potency is related to the colloid osmotic pressure exerted by each fluid.
COLLOID OSMOTIC PRESSURE
Large solute molecules that do not move freely across barriers separating fluid compartments create a force that draws water into the large solute compartment. This force opposes the hydrostatic pressure (which favors the movement of water out of a fluid compartment) and is called the colloid osmotic pressure (COP) or oncotic pressure. As would be expected, the ability of each fluid to expand the plasma volume is directly related to the COP; that is, the higher the COP, the greater the volume expansion. If the COP of a colloid fluid is greater than the COP of plasma (i.e., greater than 25 mm Hg), the plasma volume expansion exceeds the infused volume. The 25% albumin solution, which has a COP of 70 mm Hg and a plasma volume expansion that is 4 to 5 times the infused volume.
Albumin is a transport protein that is responsible for 75% of the oncotic pressure of plasma. Heat-treated preparations of human serum albumin are commercially available in a 5% solution (50 g/L) and a 25% solution (250 g/L) in an isotonic saline diluent. The 25% solution is given in small volumes (50 to 100 mL) and because the accompanying sodium load is small, 25% albumin is also called salt-poor albumin.
A 5% albumin solution (50 g/L or 5 g/dL) has a COP of 20 mm Hg and thus is similar in oncotic activity to plasma. Approximately half of the infused volume of 5% albumin stays in the vascular space. The oncotic effects of albumin last 12 to 18 hours.
The 25% albumin solution has a COP of 70 mm Hg and expands


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Rabbit Pose: The Fun way to Progress Writing Skills
Rabbit pose can be challenging, especially for younger children. Encourage your child to try this activity along with you, but if they are not enjoying it, please don't insist. They may not be quite ready yet. Try the less challenging rabbit pose (see further down) instead.
Before you start
Find a clear space on the carpet or a mat. Make sure you both have a clear space around you so you are not likely to bump your heads! When young children does this pose they may look down at their feet and hands instead of straight ahead.
Take off your shoes and socks to prevent slips and to help your child feel the mat with their feet and hands accurately.
Always seek advice if you are unsure about whether Rabbit pose is suitable for yourself.
How to do rabbit pose
Squat down on the mat or carpet with your child. Show them how they can balance on their feet with their hands down in front of them – so they can use their hands to balance as well.
Guide your child to reach forward with their hands first, keeping their feet still.
With your hands out in front, slowly bring your weight forwards so that you're taking more weight through your shoulders, arms and hands. Encourage your child to copy.
Now it's time to move your feet! With your weight on your hands, hop both your feet towards your hands, like a bouncing bunny.
Repeat your rabbit yoga pose, lolloping forward a few times so your child has a chance to refine their hops.
On their first attempts your child may tend to land on their knees as they hop, instead of their feet. If this is the case show your child the pose again – this time emphasising how a bunny lands on his back paws!
A variation of rabbit pose
Try jumping over a river or grass. Your child will probably find rabbit pose easier to do if they have something to look at and jump over.
Whilst you are both squatting down, place a narrow scarf, streamer or piece of ribbon on the floor in front of you both.
Show your child how they can place their hands over the streamer first and then hop their feet over it!
The benefits of rabbit pose
How rabbit pose helps to support writing skills
Progressing writing skills doesn't always mean doing more writing! In fact paediatric occupational and physiotherapists will often suggest whole body activities (just like rabbit pose) to help a child refine their hand skills. Here are 3 ways in which rabbit pose can help support writing skills:
1. Gaining strength to support writing
To sit correctly, your child needs to have active tummy muscles, otherwise they may tend to slump forwards.
If your child's shoulder muscles are active and strong, they will use these muscles to support the weight of their arm, freeing their delicate hand muscles for writing. If shoulder muscles are inactive or weak your child may try to support their whole arm with their hand muscles and this can lead to a very tight pencil grip and hand ache.
2. Refining sensory organisation skills
As they do rabbit pose variation (jumping over a scarf or ribbon), your child will be organising huge amounts of different sensory information in their brain e.g. information from their visual, touch and movement (proprioceptive and vestibular) senses. This sequence of:
taking in sensations > processing sensations in the brain >in order to do a specific activity
is powerful way of practising and developing sensory organisation! When a child is learning to write, good sensory organisation skills will help them to focus on relevant sensory information e.g. their pencil grip and hand movements and to 'filter out' irrelevant sensory information e.g. a sound outside, a picture hanging on the wall, or the feel of their clothing.
3. Stretching & developing hand muscles
As your child takes weight through their hands they will be activating and gently stretching out their hand muscles, preparing them for writing and drawing activities.
A more challenging rabbit pose
Want to make Rabbit pose harder? See if you and your child can do rabbit pose backwards!
Squat down on the floor as before. This time place your hands close to your feet between your legs. Once again tip forwards so your nose is in front of your knees and you are balancing more on your arms, but now hop both your feet backwards. Move your whole body backwards onto your feet, so you're squatting again and repeat the action to keep hopping backwards.
A less challenging rabbit pose
Rabbit pose can be difficult as the movement sequence requires mature co-ordination skills.
If your child is younger, or is struggling with rabbit pose, encourage them to either:
Bend and straighten their knees whilst they are standing – the start of jumping or
To play in the 'squat' position – reaching down for toys on the floor and then putting them in little containers. Most young children can squat in a perfect position!
A Rabbit Poem for A Spring Weekend
Our resident paediatric physiotherapist, Sue Heron, loved this poem as a child.
Remember to twitch your nose as you say it and get your rabbits and bunnies in the right order!
Rabbit Poem by Georgia Roberts Durston
There once was a rabbit, who developed the habit, of twitching the end of his nose,
His brothers and sisters, and various others, said "Look at the way he goes!"
Now one clever bunny, said "That's very funny, I'll practice it down in the dell"
The rest said "If he can, we're positive we can" – and they did it remarkably well.
Now all the world over, where rabbits eat clover and scribble and scratch with their toes,
There's isn't a rabbit, who hasn't the habit, of twitching the end of his nose!
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History of pocket squares
Pocket squares as a fashion accessory for formal attire have only been around since the beginning of the 20th century. Especially popular in the 1920s, men used to wear a pocket square in combination with a suit, a vest, and the era's typical fedora hat.
The origins of the pocket square:
Initially pocket squares came from the linen handkerchiefs used for personal hygiene. Handkerchiefs have been used for over 600 years. It is said that the handkerchief was invented by Richard II of England (_PHONE_) "as a little piece of cloth for the lord king to wide and clean his nose". Initially only the upper class adopted the use of a linen hankerchief, but by the 17th century the handkerchief was as quite common among all classes throughout western Europe.
Pocket Squares as a fashion accessory:
Initially handkerchiefs were placed in the trousers' pockets since it was seen as un-clean to show a "used" handerchief in the visible breast pocket of a man's jacket. As 2 piece suits came into fashion in the 19th century, many men started to place their clean pocket square into the breast pocket of their jacket to protect it from dirt and other objects, such as coins, in their trousers' pockets. After use the pocket square would move from the breast pocket to the trousers' pockets.
The look of the pocket square in the breast pocket became more popular, especially after specific folding techinques came into use. By the 1920s the pocket square had become more of a fashion accessory than having any other purpose. Often times men had a poacket square in their breast pocket, and another handerchief in their trousers meant for wiping their hands or cleaning their nose.
Later on, during the 40s and 50s the linen handkerchiefs were viewed us unhygenic. The kleenex company, founded in 1924, was the first company to make disposable handkerchiefs. As a result, the linen handkershief was replaced, and only used as a fashion accessory in form of a pocket square. Pocket squares are still today a very fashionable piece of accessory for any formal or even business attire.
Pocket Squares and Handkerchief history: How did the pocket square become a fashion accessory for men.
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Word wall posters to visualize complex math vocabulary!
Give your students a unique visual perspective to help them retain complex math vocabulary with Math Graffiti posters. The definition for each word is contained within the image!
These unique posters feature a colorful graphic depiction of key vocabulary that can be used as an individual lesson or posted in the classroom. Create a "Math Word Wall" to enhance classroom learning every day. The Spanish translation of each concept is also featured on the card.
Each word wall poster is 11" x 17", printed on durable, full-color stock.
Click on the "More Information" link to see the complete word list.


Here's how to check the ethernet hardware address on Linux systems. This is also called the MAC address:
 1. Open terminal
 2. Type ifconfig
 3. Look for the address from eth0
Being able to do this is absolutely essential to being a tech. You need to be able to lookup basic computer information and diagnose network connectivity issues.
There are more Linux commands where that came from. Check out the Basic Linux Commands post for more commands you should get to know.
Update: There's a fun online terminal you can play with called JSLinux. This is a great area to practice your commands like this one!
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Making the right decisions, Staying motivated
Do small changes really make a big difference?
Image credit: iStock/Kikovic
The expression 'one step at a time' can be applied to a lot of different things, including getting healthier. Whether you want to tone up, lose weight or just improve your fitness in general, you've probably been told to take things one step at a time.
The idea is that small changes can all add up to big differences, but is this really case? After all, wouldn't it be better to just go big or go home as this will help you achieve your goals faster?
While you may not believe it, small changes really do add up over time, meaning that it is worth taking things slowly and fully managing what you're changing in order to reach your targets. If you don't believe us, read on to see what big differences your little changes can make.
Step by step is easier to manage
It doesn't matter if you're changing the way you eat or trying to exercise more, changing this bit by bit is the best way to do it. Subtle changes, such as eating more vegetables or walking more, help to provide a foundation for other lifestyle alterations you'll make.
It is much easier to get to the gym every day if you start off by walking more or swimming regularly, as these low-impact exercises help to build up strength and endurance, as well as get you into a routine. They will help make larger changes easier to manage, leading to a better chance of success in the long-run.
Similarly, making small changes with food will mean you have a better chance of sticking to a diet rather than suddenly deciding to cut everything out all at once.
You'll find it less stressful
Changing anything to do with your health can be stressful, especially if you try to do too much at once. You may be able to stick to a big change at the start – such as hitting the gym on a daily basis – but this can soon take its toll and leave you feeling mentally and physically exhausted.
The more stressed you become, the greater chance there is of you cheating on your diet or starting to skip workouts more often, which can see you backslide quite quickly. Instead, the ease with which you can fit small changes into your routine will help to reduce the chances that you get stressed out.
Not only will this increase your chances of success, it also means that you'll have fewer issues when it comes to making another small change. This means you're able to build on your achievements and will soon meet your goals.
There is less impact on your lifestyle
One of the major problems with big changes is that you often end up needing to alter your daily routine or larger parts of your lifestyle in order to accommodate them. This can be incredibly difficult to do and mean that it is harder to keep up with them, as other things will get in the way.
Again, this increases your chances of not achieving what you set out to, which can ultimately see you give up. However, taking things one step at a time means that small changes can be fit around your daily schedule so you aren't having to change everything to accommodate them.
Maintaining your lifestyle and routine – such as still going out with friends and not getting home from work ridiculously late – will ensure you see results but still get to do the things you love. While you may sacrifice time watching TV for lifting weights or swap a bar of chocolate for a piece of fruit, these are easy to manage.
It all adds up
Yes, simply walking more or eating extra vegetables may not seem like it will do you as much as good as spending hours at the gym each day or cutting out all carbohydrates and sugar, but the differences all add up.
Huge changes like a full diet overhaul aren't sustainable so you'll likely burn out and go back to your old ways or at least cheat a lot more as you're depriving yourself of things you love. In comparison eating more fresh fruit and vegetables and drinking more water will give you more energy, leave you feeling fuller for longer and help you cut down on foods that don't do you any good. This will see you lose weight in a safe and manageable way, meaning you're more likely to maintain your weight loss.
Similarly, those few extra steps each day help you burn more calories, improve your endurance and benefit your health. You'll find you can walk further and further each day, building on your success. It will also allow you to start exercising in other ways as you go on without causing you pain or discomfort.
Every little change you make adds up to a big difference that is easier to stick with in the long-run. Large changes may show you more short-term wins, but if you're in it for the long haul, it's best to remember that slow and steady wins the race.
Related posts:
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Health and fitness trends that are going to rule 2017
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Category: Family Support
Frequently Asked Questions About Sand Tray Therapy
March 23, 2021 • Kelly Montgomery
Having irrational worries about a serious illness is natural. However, if it becomes obsessive and disrupts your daily social function, you might be experiencing health anxiety or previously known as hypochondriasis or illness anxiety disorder. This condition can be associated with a person's excessive exaggeration about the physical symptoms of the disease.
A person experiencing hypochondriasis might be overly concern about typical body sensations. This misinterpretation of body functions may result from different reasons. Some of the possible causes are extreme stress, anxiety disorders, childhood trauma. It may also be rooted in other mental health issues such as depression.
There are two categories for people with anxiety: care-seeking and care-avoidant. Care-seeking individuals tend to spend a lot of their time seeking medical advice. They tend to look for several treatments from multiple specialists. The latter avoid medical care because they don't trust doctors to take their symptoms seriously.
Health anxiety commonly occurs in people in their early or middle adulthood. However, children may also experience obsessive thoughts on their medical condition. Children, in particular, might express their emotions, thoughts, and negative feelings through playing.
Sand tray therapy can be a helpful technique. It is a therapeutic yet creative method to release stress and express negative thoughts. During the sessions, it allows the participants to construct their situation and illustrate their present mood. British pediatrician Margaret Lowenfeld developed this in 1921.
After studying psychodynamic psychology, Lowenfeld decided to utilize sand trays as a form of therapeutic technique. She focused on establishing the therapy and its integration into child psychotherapy in 1928.
Nowadays, there is an application of humanistic strategy in sand tray therapy. This approach focuses on the ability of the patients to find answers or solutions within themselves. Allowing them to realize their problems could facilitate healthy behavioral change freely. If the clients are having difficulties in expressing themselves vocally, they can substitute it for traditional therapy.
Interested to the about sand tray therapy and what are the benefits it can provide your family? We've listed some of the frequently asked questions below.
How does sand tray therapy work?
A therapist starts by providing a child with a sandbox. It typically contains toys, figurines, and miniature objects. The child is generally free to play around with the tray as the therapist observes from the sidelines. They study the recurrent symbolism to the overall organization of the items on the sand. As the treatment progresses, the therapist may add or remove toys. They may also introduce new recreational activities.
What is sand tray therapy?
A mix of play and art, sand tray therapy uses world-building exercises. It helps a child process an unpleasant or traumatic experience. The approach focuses on providing a safe space for creative expression instead of psychotherapy, which involves in-depth discussions.
What is the difference between the sand tray and sandplay therapy?
Although both approaches use sand for therapeutic purposes, they have defining differences. In sand tray therapy, a strong client-provider relationship is critical to facilitate treatment. The patient has to open up to the therapist while the provider actively supports their recovery.
On the other hand, sandplay therapists do not interfere with the patient while in their sand world. Sandplay therapy can help individuals who are not as comfortable or capable of verbal expression.
Is sand tray therapy evidence-based?
Yes. Studies show that it is instrumental in helping children who have gone through trauma, abuse, and neglect. Although their experiences may differ, there are common threads in how child victims express themselves through sandplay. Allowing children to create a world that reflects their lived experience enables the therapist to gain insight into their mental state.
Through this, they can support the child's recovery. Sandplay content usually becomes more organized in subsequent sessions. Results like these suggest progress in the patient's recovery.
What are the benefits of sand play?
The textile experience of handling and can help a child's physical development. As they shift items around during sandplay, it improves their muscle control and eye-hand coordination. More importantly, the open-ended nature of sandplay encourages creativity and imagination.
How do you make a sand tray?
Although you can buy a pre-made sand tray, you can also try making your own. You can use plywood sheets as the base and craft boards for the sides. Secure the tray using wood glue and nails before painting the structure. Once the paint has dried, add sand and figurines.
How do I become a certified sand tray therapist?
You would have to complete a minimum of 120 hours of education. The coursework will touch on critical areas in sandplay therapy. It will discuss the theoretical roots of techniques in handling complex trauma. You may also enroll in specific electives to deepen your knowledge.
How does playing with sand help a child's development?
Engaging in sensory activities builds neural connections that support a child's cognitive development. It also gives children the freedom to tap into their imagination and create without limitation. Sand play can also promote social skills. It teaches children to compromise, share resources, and negotiate when playing with a group.
What age is appropriate for play therapy?
Play therapy is appropriate for children aged 3 to 12 years old. Basically, it is for those who have yet to develop strong problem-solving and social skills. Although it is primarily for children, individuals of all ages can benefit from play therapy.
Why would a child need to play therapy?
If a child is experiencing developmental delays, play therapy can uncover the root of the issue. It is necessary to understand that children do not yet have fully developed cognitive capabilities. They are, however, to make sense of the world mainly through play. Through this form of therapy, a provider attempts to look at how a child sees the world. Play therapy can also be for children exhibiting behavioral problems.
What is Jungian sandplay therapy?
Sandplay therapy is a nonverbal therapeutic approach based on the work of Dora Kalff and Carl Jung. The person-in-therapy gets free rein to create an internal and symbolic world in a sand tray. Sandplay can provide a way to express the unconscious mind and help a patient recover from trauma.
Is play therapy evidence-based?
Studies show that playtime helps support a child's physical and mental development. It can also help those who have gone through a traumatic experience. Play therapy allows children to communicate and resolve their distress the best way they know-how.
How does play therapy help a child?
Play therapy allows a healthcare provider to get to know a child through play. For instance, they may give a child a playhouse to gain insight into the family situation. Based on their analysis, a therapist can provide the necessary support. Through this, they can help the child find the answers to their problems.
How is kinetic sand used in therapy?
Children can manipulate kinetic sand as they wish. It gives them a sense of control over their play environment. Research shows that the freedom to create and take down their creations helps them recognize their agency. Over time, sand play can contribute to their cognitive development. Additionally, kinetic sand is an excellent sensory play option because of its density. It is more moldable than beach sand.
Like any other mental health illness, having health anxiety can also negatively impact your professional and personal lives. Constantly worrying about the wrong diagnosis or even exaggerating your symptoms is mentally exhausting.
It is possible to develop health anxiety within the family. Having a family member who excessively worries about your health can lead to a poor understanding of yourself. Sometimes, it may also lead to look for evidence to confirm a serious disease conveniently.
And this could not be more frightening for you. The family must take part in the healing process. Much like any other mental health condition, it is always better with a support system.
Undergoing therapy with your family can be emotionally demanding. If your children cannot verbally communicate with you as their parents, maybe it is time to consider other options.
Through sand tray therapy, the child can express themselves creatively and freely. It can also help recreate scenes that reflect reality. Through this, it is easy to visualize how to eliminate the obstacles possibly.
In sand tray therapy, healing through play and imagination can take place. It can help facilitate the exchange of deeper thoughts. Then, it can lead to an open discussion of emotions, thoughts, and feelings. The family can connect on shared experiences as well as grow together.
The stigma on seeking mental health and having a mental health condition significantly affects treatment for most patients. In some cases, psychotherapy and medication are not enough to provide progressive results. Your therapist and psychiatrist can help you choose suitable therapy for your family.
Categories: Family Support
Frequently Asked Questions About Health Anxiety Forum
February 19, 2021 • Kelly Montgomery
Most people do not like to talk about anxiety. Perhaps that is because they do not want to experience judgment and discrimination from others. Many still believe in mental health stigma, which explains why some mental illness individuals do not feel confident to discuss their psychological struggles.
As you can see, there is always a thin line when dealing with mental health issues. People often criticize others' ability to connect with themselves and often judge them for not coping. Unfortunately, those become why people with mental health keep their condition from everyone else and do not seek any help. But some people are brave enough to express their feelings and thoughts. These individuals are the ones who push themselves to get better. With that said, let us try and focus on understanding what anxiety is all about and how it affects their lives.
Here are some of the frequently asked questions we can use as a guideline.
Can health anxiety cause physical symptoms?
Unfortunately, yes. Most people with health anxiety are often unable to function or enjoy life due to persistent and excessive fears and worries. They become preoccupied with minor physical abnormalities or


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- Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building - _URL_ -
10 MW Dubai Skyscraper Makes 10X More Renewable Energy Than It Needs
Posted By Bridgette Meinhold On March 10, 2010 @ 10:00 am In Architecture,Renewable Energy,Sustainable Building | 4 Comments
The 10 MW Tower is an eco skyscraper and renewable energy generating machine that harvests wind and solar power. A 5 MW wind turbine sits at the top of the building harnessing the wind, while the power of the sun is collected via a 3 MW concentrating solar system plus a 2 MW solar updraft system. Designed by UAE-based Studied Impact, this 50 story skyscraper will put out 10 times as much energy as it needs, pumping renewable power back into the Dubai electric grid.
Studied Impact, headed by architect Robert Ferry, is also responsible for designing the Almesien Tower, another solar concentrating skyscraper. Ferry's newest design is planned for the Al Quoz neighborhood in Dubai, and would be located on an empty lot with clear access to sunlight on all sides. The bottom three floors would include shopping, commercial areas and restaurants and would be designed to fit in with the surrounding architecture, although the soaring tower would stick out compared to the low lying buildings surrounding it. On top of the retail podium would be a living roof top garden watered with condensate from the building's air handling units.
Renewable energy systems have certainly been incorporated into buildings before, but never on such a grand scale. The design and architecture for the 10 MW Tower is actually centered around the renewable integrated systems. Based upon meteorological data for the Al Quoz site, the 5 MW horizontal axis wind turbine is capable of operating for 1,600 hours per year, while the two solar systems could operate for 2,400 hours per year, adding up to a yearly output of approximately 20,000 MWh. The estimated embodied energy of the tower is 360,000 MWh, so the energy generation would be able to neutralize its environmental impact in less than twenty years, which no other skyscraper has ever done.
The solar concentrating system is built into the south facing facade and consists of 1,600 heliostatic mirrors that direct the sunlight to a receiver mounted above the mirrors on a cantilevered arm. Molten salt is used as the working fluid to run a steam generator at 500 deg C. The mirrors shade the building partially, but also allow some sun in, which strikes a double curtain wall. Behind the wall is an interstitial greenhouse space reaching all the way to the top of the tower. Air is heated and rises up the 600 m tall chimney and turns the blades for the 2 MW solar updraft turbine.
This incredible design for a skyscraper moves far beyond energy efficiency and sustainable materials. This mixed-use residential and office building could potentially have a negative impact. Although it's located in a questionable spot without much else around it in terms of public transportation or an urban core, the concept is really fascinating and certainly deserves more study.
+ Studied Impact
Via Land Art Generator Initiative
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You have an Alexa device that comes with various features. With this, you can do a lot of activities like giving an instruction, then it performs it very well. But sometimes there may be some problems in Alexa like Alexa Error 701 enter stop. This often occurs when your device cannot connect to the Internet.
Without delay, let us give you detailed information about both the reasons and remedies to keep it. Before that you should know some tips so that you do not see this problem in the future:
Here are some additional tips for preventing Alexa Error 701:
- Always try to keep your router and Alexa devices up to date with the latest software.
- Do not use too many devices with your network at the same time.
- Also, keep your router away from metal objects or other devices that may interfere with the signal.
- Place the Wi-Fi extender in a central location in your home.
- If you're still having problems, try going to your router.
Causes of Alexa Error 701
There are many factors causing enter stop error 701, due to which this problem increases. Let us know about them only then you will be able to understand their solution very well.
- First of all, talk about the reason then the connectivity problem increases the error 701 error a lot. Whenever you don't get a stable connection then it is inevitable that there will be various kinds of internet connection problems. Due to these problems, a weak signal is received by your Alexa device, then this device is not able to operate properly.
- If the software version of the device is too old and you haven't updated it yet. Then some files may be corrupt or it may not be able to coordinate properly with its hardware. In such a situation, this error will definitely appear in front of you.
- If there is any connection problem in your router or modem, then it also comes in front of you due to an incomplete network connection setting.
- Your router is placed in a location where it can make a sufficient connection to your Alexa device. If it is not then Alexa error 701 will come.
How To Troubleshooting Alexa Error 701
Here are some things you can try to fix Alexa Error 701:
Check your internet connection
- If you abruptly encounter this message while using an Alexa-enabled device, you should check the stability of your internet connection.
- In addition, verify whether your WiFi network is functioning effectively.
- If the problem persists after verifying this, restart your router or modem. This issue will be resolved once your internet connection has been reset and restored.
Power cycle your Alexa device
If the above solution didn't work for you then you can put your election device into power cycling mode. By power cycling you will see that your internet connection is working in sufficient condition to connect with Alexa device and with this Alexa Error 701 is not appearing at all.
To do this, disconnect the Alexa device from the power source. Wait a few seconds then plug-in it again. Now you have to wait for 1-2 minutes here, under which Alexa connects to the network and runs smoothly.
Reset your Alexa device
To troubleshoot the error 701 alexa issue, you can also try factory setting your Alexa device. Doing a factory reset makes it work just like it did when it came new.
Sometimes we keep doing something or the other in our daily life, which also spoils the setting of Alexa.It is also critical to repair such a scenario. You must utilise the following options to execute a factory reset:
- Press and hold the reset button on your Alexa device for about 5 seconds
- Then, release the button and wait for your device to reset.
Update your Alexa device
Alexa continues to provide various types of updates from time to time, making it even more vital for you to install them on your device.
In such a situation, keep your device updated, for which follow these steps:
- Tap on Devices
- Go to Echo & Alexa
- Tap on Settings
- Select the About option
- If any update is available, update it with the latest version
Contact Amazon customer support
If none of the solutions is working for you then you can take more help regarding this by visiting Customer Support. There the officials will solve your problem of this by knowing the smallest things you.
Contact an Amazon representative: _PHONE_
Email: [email protected]
After knowing the solutions and reasons mentioned above, you must have understood how easy it was to deal with this problem. All you have to do is always keep your internet connection stable and at high speed. In such a situation, this problem is never going to bother you at all in the future.


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Human genes for azoospermia
Azoospermia is the medical condition of a male not having any measurable level of sperm in his semen. It is associated with very low levels of fertility or even sterility, but many forms are amenable to medical treatment. In humans, azoospermia affects about 1% of the male population and may be seen in up to 20% of male infertility situations.
Synonyms: azoospermia, DOID:14227, Azoospermia (finding), Azoospermia finding, Azoospermia


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This is a quick activity that is best used during the first week of school. It allows students to show the knowledge that they already have of Hispanic culture, and to get to know each other at the same time. It introduces common cultural topics that will be discussed later on in the year, such as famous Hispanics, festivals, food, geography and sports.
Students "survey" each other and try to find people who can answer each of the questions. The first student to get all boxes filled wins. Then, the teacher can use these questions to discuss culture with the class.


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A white canopy bed has a bed head, or a tester, with high posts on every corner at least four feet tall which supports a retractable cloth cover. Still found in many homes today and popular in resorts and hotels for their romantic attraction. The term canopy dates from the 14th century of France. French word canopy meaning bed curtain back to the Latin word canopied and anterior to it, from the Greek konopeion, the couch with the mosquito curtain. It all comes from conops, mosquitoes or mosquitoes.
Considered today as elegant, White canopy bed has its origins really ordinary and mediocre. It may interest you to know that the canopy bed evolved from the box bed, the usual wooden box wrapped around the bed. The early houses of the Middle Ages lacked insulation that could really provide warmth and protection. The houses in those days were made of wicker and pelleted with thatched roofs. The doors and windows provide obstructions that interfere with the wind.
12 Picture Gallery: The Origin of White Canopy Bed
They only filter the snow from the wind as it passes the house. It was so cold that even if you were wrapped in bed with a pile of blankets it was not too warm. With this need, a bed box with a closing door is designed. Indeed, it is helpful to withstand the wind from the bed because the actual bed is inside a wooden box thus, maintaining warm air all around. That's the article about White canopy bed.
This post topic: Chaise Lounge


The Asian American community is the fastest growing minority in the United States and has a very significant impact on the U.S. economy. This means that as a business owner or C-level executive, you cannot afford to ignore this growing community, and more importantly, you should start thinking about positioning your marketing efforts in a way to attract potential customers in this segment of the whole American Market. Here are some of the main reasons why you should start creating tailor-made marketing campaigns to Asian Americans.
1. Fast Demographic Growth
Asian Americans are extremely diverse, coming from around 40 Asian countries, resulting in close to 6% of the entire American Population. From 2000 to 2010, the population of Asian Americans grew by roughly 46%, and that continues to grow. As they become a significant percentage of the entire U.S. population, there's no reasons for businesses not to engage in marketing activities especially targeted at this group of individuals.
2. Entrepreneurs and Business Owners
22% of the American startups valued at over $1 billion were founded by Asian Americans. They are entrepreneurs, inventors, and create jobs for other Americans in fast-growing companies and industries. According to the U.S. Census, between 2007 and 2012, businesses owned and operated by Asian Americans, grew by nearly 25%, and registered the highest growth of sales revenue (nearly 40%).
3. Highly Educated
Asian Americans tend to have a very high level of education. By norm, the Asian culture has work ethic and formal education as two very important pillars. 42% of all adults in this segment of the population have at a minimum a college degree, which is higher than any other group of the American population. Not to mention that they tend to score the highest GPAs both in high school and college.
4. Purchasing Power
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2014 the median Asian American wage was about $74,000 per year, this is over 30% more than that of a White American. They have the greatest purchasing power of the whole American Population, which means that they'll most definitely consume more, spend more money, invest more, this is all good for business.
If you're not tailoring your message to this hugely important segment of the American population you're definitely missing out. Asian Americans have the lowest rate of unemployment, great education and high purchasing power.
AAM Team
Content Manager at Asian American Media
Asian American Media is a media website with content about business, marketing, and the Asian American community. We bring you the best videos and articles on these topics from experts in their respective fields.
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text: A Kentucky crop used to feed a worldwide addiction may soon help prevent a worldwide epidemic. A protein from the tobacco leaf could be the key ingredient in an HIV prevention drug for women, and the technology is only found in Owensboro, Kentucky. To the average person, a few lab stations, plants in a greenhouse, and an unknown chemical in a jar may not mean much, but to scientists like those at Kentucky Bioprocessing, inside this small jar could be a half a million doses of an HIV preventative solution using the protein Griffithsin found in tobacco leaves. The Owensboro Cancer Research Programs Dr. Kenneth Palmer says this technology could save womens lives around the globe, "In many developing countries women dont have the power to negotiate whether their partner wears a condom or abstains...they need female-controlled intervention methods to protect themselves." The drug is a gel, to be used like a spermicide. Palmer says besides condoms, this may be the only other way to prevent sexually transmitted HIV, and they hope to find a way to produce a lot of it - as cheaply as possible. He says thats the glory of plant-based pharmaceutical, "We can plant acres and acres of greenhouses and farm fields, such as we know how to do in Kentucky." KBPs Hugh Hayden also says this breakthrough gives validation to Owensboros scientific community, "Its groundbreaking because it publicises the development of an important product, its also groundbreaking to have peer reviewed validation of a system we developed here. Palmer and his colleagues are also exploring turning the drug into a film -- dissolving quickly and being less obvious to the womans partner. Scientists say, in preliminary tests the drug has not caused any inflammation in animal subjects nor in human cervical tissue grown in the lab. Researchers say its likely the drug will be into phase one clinical trials within the next few months.


text:
The Picture Show
Mon December 10, 2012
A Black And White 1860s Fundraiser
Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 5:05 pm
They look like any other 19th century vignettes and portraits of children kneeling in prayer or cloaked in the U.S. flag.
But these cartes de visite (a calling card with a portrait mounted on it that was all the rage during the 1860s) featured Charles, Rebecca and Rosa — former slave children who looked white.
I saw a couple of the cards on Tumblr and wanted to know more about them, so I called Mary Niall Mitchell, associate professor of history at the University of New Orleans. Mitchell had researched the group for her book, Raising Freedom's Child: Black Children and Visions of the Future After Slavery, and gave me some history and context for the images.
Down For The Cause
The cards were sold in _PHONE_ by a group that included Union Maj. George Hanks and representatives of the American Missionary Association and the National Freedman's Relief Association to help raise money to pay for schools for emancipated slaves in New Orleans.
"They need to raise money for these schools, and someone somewhere along the way decided to take a group of freed people to the North to raise money for the cause," where they were also photographed for the cartes, according to Mitchell.
"They realized that the sympathies that people would have for children who looked white but had been slaves was going to be greater than the sympathy they might have for black-skinned children," she says.
And this group of portraits wasn't the first to be used in this way. In a September 2002 article Mitchell writes:
"The decision to display white-looking children was due, in part, to the earlier success of a girl child named Fanny Lawrence, who had been'redeemed' [or adopted, perhaps] in Virginia. As Fanny had done, Rosa, Rebecca, and Charles captivated white northern audiences. In an account of the group's appearance in New York, these children were singled out: 'three of the children,' said the Evening Post, 'were perfectly white, and had brown hair.' "
We're All In This Together
The way the children posed was deliberate as well, Mitchell says. Dressing the girls in frills and using prayer poses were ways to make the viewers think of their own children when they looked at the photos.
"I think the flag picture is probably one of the more evocative ones of both sort of the past and the future, because wrapping in the flag, it says, you know, they deserve the protection of citizenship and they are young people who will become citizens one day," Mitchell explains.
More importantly, Mitchell says, the portraits appealed to people's racial empathy at a time when they were angry about fighting to end slavery.
"There are deserters everywhere, basically people are fed up and tired and sick and poor and everything else, so these pictures were a way of appealing to people's sense that white people have a stake in this."


text:
ClassDojo teachers can now collaborate to improve student skills and behaviors, and with ClassDojo's newest features, students build important skills across all of their classes and grade levels.
ClassDojo — the popular behavior and skills development app used by millions of teachers around the world — today released a new set of features aimed at teachers eager to work together on the application. Teachers across 180 countries already use ClassDojo daily to give feedback to students for important behaviors and skills like curiosity, participation, and grit. Until now, teachers could only encourage students in their own classes. With this new set of collaboration features, teachers within a school can safely connect with each other, give feedback within each other's classes or for specific students, and even review student reports from other classes.
Over the course of 2014, ClassDojo has launched multiple features which strengthen relationships between teachers, parents and students. As research shows, students learn important behaviors and skills faster when there is strong alignment and encouragement from all their teachers, peers and parents. Just as ClassDojo Messaging strengthens the parent-teacher relationship, Shared Classes and Shared Students creates stronger teacher-teacher networks within schools:
- Shared Classes lets multiple educators teach the same class. This feature is especially useful for elementary school teachers, teaching assistants, and any situation where an entire class is taught by multiple teachers.
- Shared Students enables teachers in the same school to share students across different classes and view their student reports. Individual students can now move between different teachers and classes, but still build on their progress over time. This makes ClassDojo much more feasible for older grades, allowing teachers to better understand how their students are performing in other classes very quickly.
Indeed, the company says this has been middle school and high school teachers' greatest request. These two features have been beta-tested for some time ahead of today's widespread release.
As they are already well received by early testers, the company expects to roll out many enhancements in the coming months, ultimately leading to easier sharing and collaboration between teachers in the same school.
"The launch of Shared Classes and Shared Students is a huge moment for our teachers," said Sam Chaudhary, CEO and cofounder of ClassDojo. "So far, millions of teachers have enjoyed using ClassDojo individually within their classrooms, and though it's been effective, we believe teachers working together can unleash greater power from the platform. With [this] launch, for the first time, teachers are able to easily use ClassDojo together across their whole school or grade level. Teachers have a simple, nohassle, schoolwide system they can use to help students build skills and behaviors, students get more consistency across the school day, and parents finally get a unified view of what's happening at school."
Shared Classes and Shared Students are available now, and teachers can access them by
signing up for a free account at _URL_.


Four-thousand footers
In mountaineering, the four-thousand footers (or "4ks") refers to a group of mountains in New England of interest in the sport of "peak-bagging". Each peak is at least four thousand feet above sea level, and also meets a more technical criterion of topographic prominence.
Most often, the term "four-thousand footers" refers to the White Mountains Four-Thousand-Footers List established (and revised from time to time) by the Appalachian Mountain Club. This list of peaks may be referred to as the "Four-thousand footers of New Hampshire," or "The Four-thousand Footers of the White Mountains". The AMC calls it the White Mountains list, but most hikers call it the New Hampshire list because it does not include Old Speck (4,170 ft), located in Maine (and outside the White Mountain National Forest) but within the White Mountains.
The AMC also maintains a list of New England 4000-Footers, including peaks in Vermont and Maine (none in Massachusetts, Connecticut, or Rhode Island are tall enough to qualify). Other lists of 4000-footers, not maintained by the AMC, include the original set of four-thousand foot mountains for peak-bagging: the 46 High Peaks in the Adirondacks. Those who have climbed them all are Adirondack Forty-Sixers or just "46ers".
The AMC has revised its 4000-footer lists, as surveying became more accurate or the selection criteria were adjusted, with the White Mountains list growing from 46 peaks in the 1950s to 48 (unchanged in number since 1982). The proper inclusion or exclusion of several peaks is still a matter of some dispute.
The 48 lie in the White Mountain National Forest and within two of the northernmost counties of New Hampshire, namely Coos and Grafton counties. All peaks except those of Mount Washington, Mount Moosilauke and Cannon Mountain are on land owned by the Forest Service, and even these three are completely surrounded by it.
Prominence criterion
A "prominence" criterion is intended to exclude peaks which are considered local peaks of some larger mountain, rather than "independent" peaks. Prominence is the vertical separation between a peak and the low point of the highest ridge connecting it to a higher peak. In other words, prominence is the minimum distance a hiker MUST descend before climbing to reach a higher peak.
For the AMC's 4000-Footer lists, the minimum prominence for inclusion on the list is 200 feet. Earlier versions of the list required either 300 feet of prominence or a quarter-mile of separation.
Four Thousand Footer club
A committee of the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) served as a focus for settling on the criteria and collecting the information that verifies the peaks as meeting them; it also maintains a list of the Four Thousand Footer Club's "members": those who request recognition for having climbed all of the 48, in each case travelling by foot, at least between leaving a point on a caror truck-accessible road and returning to that or another such point. The first of these recognitions was listed in 1958.
Some climbers undertake (usually after having completed the 48) to climb them within more stringent conditions. The club maintains a second list of those who climb each peak in winter (defined as beginning and ending the hike between the time and date of the winter solstice and the spring equinox.
Other variations on climbing the 48, not officially recorded, include:
 - reaching the summits in a specific order (e.g., alphabetically or by elevation),
 - reaching each summit on a moonlit night,
 - reaching each summit from all four cardinal compass points,
 - reaching each summit in the same winter,
 - reaching each summit twelve times, once in each of the twelve months (but not necessarily twelve consecutive months) (As of 2007, seven climbers claim this)
 - meeting various combinations of the above restrictions in the same climbs.
The New Hampshire list
The following is the current list of Four Thousand Footers of the White Mountains, along with their respective elevations (in feet), in descending order. Note that some of these names do not appear on maps, and some alternative names are indicated below.
 1. Washington: 6288 ft
 2. Adams: 5774 ft
 3. Jefferson: 5712 ft
 4. Monroe: 5384 ft
 5. Madison: 5367 ft
 6. Lafayette: 5260 ft
 7. Lincoln: 5089 ft
 8. South Twin: 4902 ft
 9. Carter Dome: 4832 ft
 10. Moosilauke: 4802 ft
 11. Eisenhower: 4780 ft
 12. North Twin: 4761 ft
 13. Carrigain: 4700 ft
 14. Bond: 4698 ft
 15. Middle Carter: 4610 ft
 16. West Bond: 4540 ft
 17. Garfield: 4500 ft
 18. Liberty: 4459 ft
 19. South Carter: 4430 ft
 20. Wildcat: 4422 ft
 21. Hancock: 4420 ft
 22. South Kinsman: 4358 ft ("South Peak")
 23. Field: 4340 ft
 24. Osceola: 4340 ft
 25. Flume: 4328 ft
 26. South Hancock: 4319 ft
 27. Pierce: 4310 ft
 28. North Kinsman: 4293 ft ("North Peak")
 29. Willey: 4285 ft
 30. Bondcliff: 4265 ft ("The Cliffs")
 31. Zealand: 4260 ft ("Zealand Ridge")
 32. North Tripyramid: 4180 ft ("North Peak")
 33. Cabot: 4170 ft
 34. East Osceola: 4156 ft ("East Peak")
 35. Middle Tripyramid: 4140 ft
 36. Cannon: 4100 ft
 37. Wildcat D: 4070 ft ("Wildcat Ridge")
 38. Hale: 4054 ft
 39. Jackson: 4052 ft
 40. Tom: 4051 ft
 41. Moriah: 4049 ft
 42. Passaconaway: 4043 ft
 43. Owl's Head: 4025 ft
 44. Galehead: 4024 ft
 45. Whiteface: 4020 ft
 46. Waumbek: 4006 ft
 47. Isolation: 4004 ft
 48. Tecumseh: 4003 ft
The New England list
This list consists of the New Hampshire list, plus the following:
4000-Footers in Maine:
4000-Footers in Vermont:
See also
 - Smith, Steven; Dickerman, Mike (2001). The 4,000 Footers of the White Mountains. Littleton: Bondcliff Books. ISBN 1-931271-01-1.
 - Gene Daniell and Steven D. Smith (editors) (2003). AMC White Mountain Guide, 27th edition. Appalachian Mountain Club Books. ISBN 1-929173-22-9.
External links
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text:
The Role of the Board of Directors in Sustaining Organizational Change Programs: An empirical analysis of TQM, TPS and Lean change programs
Paper i proceeding, 2009
The importance of top management commitment for the success of major change initiatives such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Toyota Production System (TPS) and Lean Production (LP) has been emphasized in literature, while the role of boards, has been in less focus. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the board of directors affects the long-term sustainability of major organizational change programs.
This study is based on three case studies of the diffusion of complex organizational innovations such as TQM, TPS and LP. The first case is from the health care industry in the public sector, the second from the steel industry and the third from the automotive industry. Findings from these case studies were then compared to literature on success and failures of major change programs.
A TQM/TPS/LP transformation is a long-term process requiring a fundamental shift in management practice and culture. In the best of all worlds, a committed high quality management can contribute to sustain such change processes. In our case studies, top management commitment was key for the adoption, implementation and sustainability of complex organizational innovations such as TQM, TPS and LP. However, a committed top management does not "last forever" – in the 'world of organisations' leaders are replaced and the very units that are in focus are being restructured, merged or sold, which deeply affect the long term change processes. One of the cases studied have been able to keep stability in leadership and has successfully developed their organization to best practice in the world. The other two cases, however, have ceased to exist the way they "used to be" when they started their implementation of TQM. This pattern is however not unique and the issue of sustaining change long term falls back on the governance structure – on boards and owners. If they don't understand the essence and complexity of organisational changes such as TQM, TPS and LP, (all 'organisational innovations' consisting of essentially the same ideas and practices) – then the risk is that committed leaders are replaced with new ambitious leaders who are given new directions by boards, which basically leads to the destruction of ambitious change processes before their full potential benefits have been realized.
This study focuses on the role of the Boards in sustaining major organizational change programs. As the importance of the board has not been emphasized in literature about organizational change, this study provides additional insights into the conditions for longterm sustainability of organizational change.
long-term sustainability of organizational change
Top management commitment
Toyota Production System
Scania Production System
diffusion of innovation


Hail to the Chief: History of U.S. Presidential Anthem
hail to the chief U.S. Presidential Anthem
"Hail to the Chief" is the official anthem announcing the arrival of the president of the United States at formal events. It has been used since the early 1800s but originally had nothing to do with the American political scene.
The text is from the narrative poem, The Lady of the Lake, by Sir Walter Scott. Published in 1810, this work is set in 16th-century Scotland. Even though it is fictional, it references some things that are part of Scottish history. The story is about three men attempting to win the love of one woman during the reign of Scotland's King James V and the fighting between the highland clans and lowland Scots.
The poem is divided into six cantos; each canto has a subtitle and several verses. The second canto, The Island, contains the text referred to as the Boat Song which begins, "Hail to the Chief who in triumph advances!"
Scott's poem sold 25,000 copies in less than a year and made him famous on an international level. It was considered ideal for the stage given its plots of adventure, love and war. The next year, it was the subject of three productions in various London theaters plus one production in Edinburgh, Scotland. Out of the three London productions, one of them had a song, "Hail to the Chief," composed by James Sanderson, a songwriter and conductor of the Surrey Theater orchestra. The text was from The Lady of the Lake.
The Edinburgh production opened in Philadelphia on New Year's Day, 1812, with music composed and selected by J. A. Jones. One of the songs was the James Sanderson "Hail to the Chief" that was included in a London production. The stage version was very successful in America, particularly during the War of 1812, as it explored conflicts from all sides. The first publication of the song in the U.S. was also in Philadelphia as "March and Chorus, 'Hail to the Chief,' in the Dramatic Romance of The Lady of the Lake."
The tune first moved from theatrical productions to historical events on February 22, 1815, to celebrate the end of the War of 1812 and to honor George Washington who had dies in 1799. It was first used to honor a living president, Andrew Jackson, in 1829, and it was played for the inauguration of Martin Van Buren on March 4, 1837. Van Buren was the first president to have "Hail to the Chief" played for several occasions throughout his presidency.
It was not used to announce the arrival of the president until John Tyler took office. His wife, Julia Tyler, had it played as the president arrived for official events. It became more ritualized during the presidency of James Polk when his wife, Sarah Childress Polk had it played for his inauguration and formal events. When the drums rolled and the music began, that was the signal to clear the walkway for the president.
A president was not required to enter a formal event to "Hail to the Chief." Chester Arthur did not like the tune so he had John Philip Sousa compose something new. Sousa was the director of the Marine Band at the time and wrote the "Presidential Polonaise" for Arthur. The Department of Defense established "Hail to the Chief" as the official presidential anthem in 1954 after Harry S. Truman researched its history.
The words are rarely heard when the music is used to announce presidents. Instead, it begins with four ruffles and flourishes on drums and bugles followed by the instrumental arrangement. It is performed by military bands like the United States Marine Band. The work is also performed for the funerals of former presidents.
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Watched Pots and Quantum Cats
| Sun May 15, 2011 1:44 PM EDT
They say a watched pot never boils. This is, obviously, just an Olde Wyfes' Tayle, but it demonstrates that old wives had a surprisingly sophisticated anticipation of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. Still, there are tayles and then there are tailes. So what if it's a feline observer doing the watching? The theoretical mystery of Schrödinger's Cat provides no clear answer, so more empirical evidence is needed. We had pasta for dinner last night, which provided us with an ideal test bed to answer this question once and for all.
Here's the answer: as long as Inkblot was watching our pot last night, it didn't boil. A little later he got distracted by some Cosmic Catnip, and the pot boiled. So even if you have a brain the size of a peanut, you count as a quantum mechanical observer of the universal wave function. Science marches on.