Yoga, Christians Practicing Yoga, and God: On Theological Compatibility, or Is There a Better Question?

Houston is a wildly diverse city; nonetheless it should come as no surprise that the Houston Chronicle “Belief” section frequently features stories about church expansions or declines, pastoral developments, and other reports on Christian communities. Christians, after all, make up over 70% of the city’s population. A provocative cover of a 2011 Belief section, however, shed light on a very different face of religion in Houston. The cover featured an image of local yoga teacher and entrepreneur Jennifer Buergermeister donning fashionable yoga attire and in the posture of a South Asian goddess, complete (thanks to clever photography) with six arms. The headline read, “THE SOUL OF YOGA.” In the article, journalist Shellnutt quotes Buergermeister on how yoga helped her connect with “God as a creator, as a source” and brought her “closer to my divinity.” Another local yoga teacher and entrepreneur, Roger Rippy, was also interviewed for the article and is quoted denying that yoga is a religion because it is not based in dogma, but it is, nonetheless, “about your own particular practice and your own particular relationship with God.”

Branding yoga: The cases of Iyengar Yoga, Siddha Yoga and Anusara Yoga

In October 1989, long-time yoga student, John Friend (b. 1959) travelled to India to study with yoga masters. First, he went to Pune for a one-month intensive postural yoga programme at the Ramamani Iyengar Memor­ial Yoga Institute, founded by a world-famous yoga proponent, B. K. S. Iyengar (b. 1918). Postural yoga(De Michelis 2005, Singleton 2010) refers to modern biomechanical systems of yoga which are based on sequences of asana or postures that are, through pranayama or ‘breathing exercises’, synchronized with the breath. Following Friend’s training in Iyengar Yoga, he travelled to Ganeshpuri, India where he met Chidvilasananda (b. 1954), the current guru of Siddha Yoga, at the Gurudev Siddha Peeth ashram. Siddha Yoga is a modern soteriological yoga system based on ideas and practices primarily derived from tantra. The encounter profoundly transformed Friend, and Chidvilasananda initiated him into Siddha Yoga (Williamson forthcoming)

The Malleability of Yoga: A Response to Christian and Hindu Opponents of the Popularization of Yoga

FOR over three thousand years, people have attached divergent meanings and functions to yoga. Its history has been characterized by moments of continuity, but also by divergence and change. This applies as much to precolonial yoga systems as to modern ones. All of this evidences yoga’s malleability (literally, the capacity to be bent into new shapes without breaking) in the hands of human beings

Heterogeneous Rank Beamforming for Industrial Communications

This paper proposes a novel hardware beamforming architecture, which is capable of utilizing a different number of Radio Frequency (RF) chains in different parts of the bandwidth. It also shows that a proportional fairness scheduler will effectively utilize the high rank part of the bandwidth in a multi-user setting, thus operating more efficiently and effectively than classical beamforming schemes.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figures. Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communication

Current practice and recommendations for modelling global change impacts on water resource in the Himalayas

Global change is expected to have a strong impact in the Himalayan region. The climatic and orographic conditions result in unique modelling challenges and requirements. This paper critically appraises recent hydrological modelling applications in Himalayan river basins, focusing on their utility to analyse the impacts of future climate and socio-economic changes on water resource availability in the region. Results show that the latter are only represented by land use change. Distributed, process-based hydrological models coupled with temperature-index melt models are predominant. The choice of spatial discretisation is critical for model performance due to the strong influence of elevation on meteorological variables and snow/ice accumulation and melt. However, the sparsity and limited reliability of point weather data, and the biases and low resolution of gridded datasets, hinder the representation of the meteorological complexity. These data limitations often limit the selection of models and the quality of the outputs by forcing the exclusion of processes that are significant to the local hydrology. The absence of observations for water stores and fluxes other than river flows prevents multi-variable calibration and increases the risk of equifinality. The uncertainties arising from these limitations are amplified in climate change analyses and, thus, systematic assessment of uncertainty propagation is required. Based on these insights, transferable recommendations are made on directions for future data collection and model applications that may enhance realism within models and advance the ability of global change impact assessments to inform adaptation planning in this globally important region

Conformational adaptation of 2H-Tetraphenylporphyrin at Fe/Si(1 0 0) interface during metalation

a b s t r a c t Many recent studies have highlighted the possibility to tailor the physical and chemical properties of porphyrin at the molecular level to design novel catalysts, sensors and devices with applications in electronics, opto-electronics, etc. In the present work we study the electronic properties of 2H-Tetraphenylporphyrin (2H-TPP) on iron (Fe) and iron silicide (Fe3Si) onto Si (1 0 0) substrate using X-ray and Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS & UPS). The results revealed that the iron atom is coordinated by TPP molecules at Fe/Si system. XPS results provide evidence of the iron coordination with TPP molecules. The UPS analysis show the fine structure in the electronic spectra related to HOMO states below the Fermi level

Motion Cueing Algorithm for Effective Motion Perception: A frequency-splitting MPC Approach

Model predictive control (MPC) is a promising technique for motion cueing in driving simulators, but its high computation time limits widespread real-time application. This paper proposes a hybrid algorithm that combines filter-based and MPC-based techniques to improve specific force tracking while reducing computation time. The proposed algorithm divides the reference acceleration into low-frequency and high-frequency components. The high-frequency component serves as a reference for translational motion to avoid workspace limit violations, while the low-frequency component is for tilt coordination. The total acceleration serves as a reference for combined specific force with the highest priority to enable compensation of deviations from its reference values. The algorithm uses constraints in the MPC formulation to account for workspace limits and workspace management is applied. The investigated scenarios were a step signal, a multi-sine wave and a recorded real-drive slalom maneuver. Based on the conducted simulations, the algorithm produces approximately 15% smaller root means squared error (RMSE) for the step signal compared to the state-of-the-art. Around 16% improvement is observed when the real-drive scenario is used as the simulation scenario, and for the multi-sine wave, 90% improvement is observed. At higher prediction horizons the algorithm matches the performance of a state-of-the-art MPC-based motion cueing algorithm. Finally, for all prediction horizons, the frequency-splitting algorithm produced faster results. The pre-generated references reduce the required prediction horizon and computational complexity while improving tracking performance. Hence, the proposed frequency-splitting algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art MPC-based algorithm and offers promise for real-time application in driving simulators.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables, conference (DSC 2023

Redox balance keepers and possible cell functions managed by redox homeostasis in Trypanosoma cruzi

The toxicity of oxygen and nitrogen reactive species appears to be merely the tip of the iceberg in the world of redox homeostasis. Now, oxidative stress can be seen as a two-sided process; at high concentrations, it causes damage to biomolecules, and thus, trypanosomes have evolved a strong antioxidant defense system to cope with these stressors. At low concentrations, oxidants are essential for cell signaling, and in fact, the oxidants/antioxidants balance may be able to trigger different cell fates. In this comprehensive review, we discuss the current knowledge of the oxidant environment experienced by T. cruzi along the different phases of its life cycle, and the molecular tools exploited by this pathogen to deal with oxidative stress, for better or worse. Further, we discuss the possible redox-regulated processes that could be governed by this oxidative context. Most of the current research has addressed the importance of the trypanosomes’ antioxidant network based on its detox activity of harmful species; however, new efforts are necessary to highlight other functions of this network and the mechanisms underlying the fine regulation of the defense machinery, as this represents a master key to hinder crucial pathogen functions. Understanding the relevance of this balance keeper program in parasite biology will give us new perspectives to delineate improved treatment strategies.Fil: Mesias, Andrea Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Patología Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud. Instituto de Patología Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Garg, Nisha Jain. University Of Texas Medical Branch; Estados UnidosFil: Zago, María Paola. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Patología Experimental. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud. Instituto de Patología Experimental; Argentin

Health, well-being, and the ascetic ideal: Modern yoga in the Jain Terapanth

This dissertation evaluates preksha dhyana, a form of modern yoga introduced by the Jain Shvetambara Terapanth in 1975. Modern yoga emerged as a consequence of a complex encounter of Indian yogic gurus, American and British metaphysical thinkers, and modern ideas about science and health. I provide a brief history of the Terapanth from its eighteenth-century founder, Bikshu, to its current monastic guru, Mahaprajna, who constructed preksha dhyana. I evaluate the historical trajectory that led from the Terapanth's beginnings as a sect that maintained a world-rejecting ascetic ideal to its late twentieth-century introduction of preksha dhyana, which is popularly disseminated as a practice aimed at health and well-being. The practice and ideology of preksha dhyana is, however, context specific. In the Terapanthi monastic context, it functions as a metaphysical, mystical, and ascetic practice. In this way, it intersects with classical schools of yoga, which aim at ascetic purification and release from the world. In its popular dissemination by the samanis, female members of an intermediary Terapanthi monastic order, it functions as a physiotherapeutic practice. The samanis teach yoga to students in India, the United States, and Britain whose interests are primarily in yoga's physical and psychological benefits. In this way, it is a case study of modern yoga, which aims at the enhancement of the body and life in the world. I demonstrate how the samanis are mediators of their guru, Mahaprajna, and thus resolve ancient and contemporary tensions between ascetic and worldly values. I also demonstrate how Mahaprajna and the samanis construct preksha dhyana as a form of modern yoga by appropriating scientific discourse and attributing physiological function to the yogic subtle body. I argue that preksha dhyana can be located at an intersection with late capitalist cultural processes as well as New Age spirituality insofar as its proponents participate in the transnational yoga market. Finally, I conclude with some thoughts on the successes and failures of the Terapanth in its attempt to globally disseminate preksha dhyana