Folly to the Greeks: Good Reasons to Give up Reason

A discussion of why a strong doctrine of 'reason' may not be worth sustaining in the face of modern scientific speculation, and the difficulties this poses for scientific rationality, together with comments on the social understanding of religion, and why we might wish to transcend common sense

TID and SEE Testing Results of Altera Cyclone Field Programmable Gate Array

Total ionizing dose (TID) and single event effects testing was performed on Altera Cyclone FPGAs. The devices exhibit slight performance degradation to a TID of 1 Mrad (Si), but also exhibited single event latchup at a low LET

Thermal Tolerance in Tropical Versus Subtropical Pacific Reef Corals

Upper lethal temperature tolerances of reef corals in Hawaii and at Enewetak, Marshall Islands, were determined in the field and under controlled laboratory conditions. Enewetak corals survived in situ temperatures of nearly 34° C, whereas 32° C was lethal to Hawaiian corals for similar short-term exposures. Laboratory determinations indicate that the upper thermal limits of Hawaiian corals are approximately 2° C less than congeners from the tropical Pacific. Differences in coral thermal tolerances correspond to differences in the ambient temperature patterns between geographic areas

INCREASING PATIENT DEMAND FOR HOME MEDICINES REVIEWS: A MARKETING PLAN RESEARCH STUDY

Objectives: 1. To deliver a marketing plan which proposes strategies to increase consumer uptake of HMRs. Sub -objectives were to assess the: Awareness levels of eligible non-recipients prior to participation in this study Perceived potential benefits and barriers of having an HMR Perceived HMR facilitators Satisfaction levels of HMR recipients Intention to have an (another) HMR if the GP suggested it Intention to ask the GP for an (another) HMR and to recommend the service to others Drivers of perceived benefits, barriers and facilitators; drivers of satisfaction, intention to have and to ask GP for an (another) HMR Medicine information sources Differences across specific low incidence consumer groups vs. the broad HMR target population. 2. To investigate the extent to which pharmacists could cope with an increased demand for HMR services due to a possible increas e in consumer awareness and demand for HMRs. Key findings 1. Very low HMR awareness among eligible non-recipients 2. Extremely high HMR satisfaction levels among HMR recipients 3. Very positive HMR perceptions among eligible nonrecipients after being informed about the service Further research Focus on patients/carers of non-English speaking backgrounds, patients with cognitive disabilities, those who have recently been discharged from hospital and those who have refused to have an HMR Longitudinal studies for investigation of HMR effects on an individual’s attitudes/long-term behaviours Very strong latent demand for HMR service Immense opportunity to increase HMR uptake through direct-to-consumer promotion (For marketing strategies see poster 1 “Marketing Plan”)Pharmacy Guild of Australi

Efficient characterisation of large deviations using population dynamics

We consider population dynamics as implemented by the cloning algorithm for analysis of large deviations of time-averaged quantities. We use the simple symmetric exclusion process with periodic boundary conditions as a prototypical example and investigate the convergence of the results with respect to the algorithmic parameters, focussing on the dynamical phase transition between homogeneous and inhomogeneous states, where convergence is relatively difficult to achieve. We discuss how the performance of the algorithm can be optimised, and how it can be efficiently exploited on parallel computing platforms.</p

Improvement in visual search with practice: Mapping learning-related changes in neurocognitive stages of processing

© 2015 the authors. Practice can improve performance on visual search tasks; the neural mechanisms underlying such improvements, however, are not clear. Response time typically shortens with practice, but which components of the stimulus–response processing chain facilitate this behavioral change? Improved search performance could result from enhancements in various cognitive processing stages, including (1) sensory processing, (2) attentional allocation, (3) target discrimination, (4) motor-response preparation, and/or (5) response execution. We measured event-related potentials (ERPs) as human participants completed a five-day visual-search protocol in which they reported the orientation of a color popout target within an array of ellipses. We assessed changes in behavioral performance and in ERP components associated with various stages of processing. After practice, response time decreased in all participants (while accuracy remained consistent), and electrophysiological measures revealed modulation of several ERP components. First, amplitudes of the early sensory-evoked N1 component at 150 ms increased bilaterally, indicating enhanced visual sensory processing of the array. Second, the negative-polarity posterior–contralateral component (N2pc, 170–250 ms) was earlier and larger, demonstrating enhanced attentional orienting. Third, the amplitude of the sustained posterior contralateral negativity component (SPCN, 300–400 ms) decreased, indicating facilitated target discrimination. Finally, faster motor-response preparation and execution were observed after practice, as indicated by latency changes in both the stimulus-locked and response-locked lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs). These electrophysiological results delineate the functional plasticity in key mechanisms underlying visual search with high temporal resolution and illustrate how practice influences various cognitive and neural processing stages leading to enhanced behavioral performance

Efficient characterisation of large deviations using population dynamics

We consider population dynamics as implemented by the cloning algorithm for analysis of large deviations of time-averaged quantities. Using the simple symmetric exclusion process as a prototypical example, we investigate the convergence of the results with respect to the algorithmic parameters, focussing on the dynamical phase transition between homogeneous and inhomogeneous states, where convergence is relatively difficult to achieve. We discuss how the performance of the algorithm can be optimised, and how it can be efficiently exploited on parallel computing platforms.Comment: 23 pages, final versio

The Challenges of Pluralism: Locating Religion in a World of Diversity

This is a postprint (author's final draft) version of an article published in the journal Social Compass in 2010. The final version of this article may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0037768610362406 (login may be required). The version made available in OpenBU was supplied by the author.The author argues that religious pluralism is the normal state of affairs. Religion itself is multi-dimensional, and the several dimensions of religious and spiritual experience can be combined in myriad ways across individual lives. Preliminary findings from new research are presented, detailing modes of spiritual discourse that include mystery, majesty, meaning, moral compassion, and social connection. These dimensions find expression across multiple social institutions. In addition, religion is multi-traditional and organized by plural producers of the goods and services and events that embody and transform religious tradition. Finally, it is argued that religious pluralism must be studied in terms of the structures of power and privilege that allow some religious ideas to be given free voice, but limit the practice of other religious rituals or the gathering of dissident religious communities