Transforming the deep past : a phenomenological hermeneutic investigation of the journey through healing trauma and the quest for wholeness

x, 217 leaves ; 29 cmA phenomenological-hermeneutic method of research was employed to determine the nature of the lived experiences of adults as they transformed past-life trauma into wholeness in this life and the associated meanings attached to these experiences. Upon completion of the analysis, five distinct parts and 16 themes emerged. The themes illuminate the significance of childhood developmental trauma on the developing ego; the resulting splits of self; and the impact and manifestations of rejection, neglect, isolation, and abandonment within all life stages. Also illustrated is the journey through the healing of past-life and current-life trauma and the embracement of the non-dual path. The findings of this study appear to indicate that past-life regression and the non-dual perspective are beneficial healing paradigms for individuals who have experienced physical, sexual, and emotional trauma during childhood development. Keywords: healing, past-life, past life, regression, non-duality, nondualit

Possible Lingering Effects of Multiple Past Concussions

Background. The literature on lingering or “cumulative” effects of multiple concussions is mixed. The purpose of this study was to examine whether athletes with a history of three or more concussions perform more poorly on neuropsychological testing or report more subjective symptoms during a baseline, preseason evaluation. Hypothesis. Athletes reporting three or more past concussions would perform more poorly on preseason neurocognitive testing. Study Design. Case-control study. Methods. An archival database including 786 male athletes who underwent preseason testing with a computerized battery (ImPACT) was used to select the participants. Twenty-six athletes, between the ages of 17 and 22 with a history of three or more concussions, were identified. Athletes with no history of concussion were matched, in a case-control fashion, on age, education, self-reported ADHD, school, sport, and, when possible, playing position and self-reported academic problems. Results. The two groups were compared on the four neuropsychological composite scores from ImPACT using multivariate analysis of variance followed by univariate ANOVAs. MANOVA revealed no overall significant effect. Exploratory ANOVAs were conducted using Verbal Memory, Visual Memory, Reaction Time, Processing Speed, and Postconcussion Scale composite scores as dependent variables. There was a significant effect for only the Verbal Memory composite. Conclusions. Although inconclusive, the results suggest that some athletes with multiple concussions could have lingering memory deficits

Exploration of the effects of classroom humidity levels on teachers’ respiratory symptoms

Previous studies indicate that teachers have higher asthma prevalence than other non-industrial worker groups. Schools frequently have trouble maintaining indoor relative humidity (RH) within the optimum range (30-50%) for reducing allergens and irritants. However, the potential relationship between classroom humidity and teachers’ health has not been explored. Thus, we examined the relationship between classroom humidity levels and respiratory symptoms among North Carolina teachers

Building Bridges with Boats: Preserving Community History through Intra- and Inter-Institutional Collaboration

This chapter discusses Launching through the Surf: The Dory Fleet of Pacific City, a project which documents the historical and contemporary role of dory fishers in the life of the coastal village of Pacific City, Oregon, U.S. Linfield College’s Department of Theatre and Communication Arts, its Jereld R. Nicholson Library, the Pacific City Arts Association, the Pacific City Dorymen\u27s Association, and the Linfield Center for the Northwest joined forces to engage in a collaborative college and community venture to preserve this important facet of Oregon’s history. Using ethnography as a theoretical grounding and oral history as a method, the project utilized artifacts from the dory fleet to augment interview data, and faculty/student teams created a searchable digital archive available via open access. The chapter draws on the authors’ experiences to identify a philosophy of strategic collaboration. Topics include project development and management, assessment, and the role of serendipity. In an era of value-added services where libraries need to continue to prove their worth, partnering with internal and external entities to create content is one way for academic libraries to remain relevant to agencies that do not have direct connections to higher education. This project not only developed a positive “town and gown” relationship with a regional community, it also benefited partner organizations as they sought to fulfill their missions. The project also serves as a potential model for intra- and inter-agency collaboration for all types of libraries

Cooling of X-ray Emitting Gas by Heat Conduction in the Center of Cooling Flow Clusters

We study the possibility that a large fraction of the gas at temperatures of \~10^7 K in cooling flow clusters cools by heat conduction to lower temperatures, rather than by radiative cooling. We argue that this process, when incorporated into the so-called "moderate cooling flow model", where the effective age of the intracluster medium is much lower than the age of the cluster, reduces substantially the expected X-ray luminosity from gas residing at temperatures of <10^7 K. In this model, the radiative mass cooling rate of gas at ~10^7 K inferred from X-ray observations, which is <20 % of the mass cooling rates cited in the past, is easily met. The heat conduction is regulated by reconnection between the magnetic field lines in cold (~10^4 K) clouds and the field lines in the intracluster medium. A narrow conduction front is formed, which, despite the relatively low temperature, allows efficient heat conduction from the hot ICM to the cold clouds. The reconnection between the field lines in cold clouds and those in the intracluster medium occurs only when the magnetic field in the ICM is strong enough. This occurs only in the very inner regions of cooling flow clusters, at r~10-30 kpc. The large ratio of the number of H\alpha photons to the number of cooling hydrogen atoms is explained by this scenario.Comment: Updated version to be published in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Original in "The Riddle of Cooling Flows in Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies", Charlottesville, VA, USA. May 31 -- June 4, 2003, Eds. Reiprich, T. H., Kempner, J. C., and Soker, N. Website at http://www.astro.virginia.edu/coolflow

The intracluster magnetic field power spectrum in A2199

We investigate the magnetic field power spectrum in the cool core galaxy cluster A2199 by analyzing the polarized emission of the central radio source 3C338. The polarized radiation from the radio emitting plasma is modified by the Faraday rotation as it passes through the magneto-ionic intracluster medium. We use Very Large Array observations between 1665 and 8415 MHz to produce detailed Faraday rotation measure and fractional polarization images of the radio galaxy. We simulate Gaussian random three-dimensional magnetic field models with different power-law power spectra and we assume that the field strength decreases radially with the thermal gas density as n_e^{\eta}. By comparing the synthetic and the observed images with a Bayesian approach, we constrain the strength and structure of the magnetic field associated with the intracluster medium. We find that the Faraday rotation toward 3C338 in A2199 is consistent with a magnetic field power law power spectrum characterized by an index n=(2.8 \pm 1.3) between a maximum and a minimum scale of fluctuation of \Lambda_{max}=(35 \pm 28) kpc and \Lambda_{min}=(0.7 \pm 0.1) kpc, respectively. By including in the modeling X-ray cavities coincident with the radio galaxy lobes, we find a magnetic field strength of =(11.7 \pm 9.0) \mu G at the cluster center. Further out, the field decreases with the radius following the gas density to the power of \eta=(0.9 \pm 0.5).Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, A&A accepte

High-resolution x-ray telescopes

High-energy astrophysics is a relatively young scientific field, made possible by space-borne telescopes. During the half-century history of x-ray astronomy, the sensitivity of focusing x-ray telescopes-through finer angular resolution and increased effective area-has improved by a factor of a 100 million. This technological advance has enabled numerous exciting discoveries and increasingly detailed study of the high-energy universe-including accreting (stellar-mass and super-massive) black holes, accreting and isolated neutron stars, pulsar-wind nebulae, shocked plasma in supernova remnants, and hot thermal plasma in clusters of galaxies. As the largest structures in the universe, galaxy clusters constitute a unique laboratory for measuring the gravitational effects of dark matter and of dark energy. Here, we review the history of high-resolution x-ray telescopes and highlight some of the scientific results enabled by these telescopes. Next, we describe the planned next-generation x-ray-astronomy facility-the International X-ray Observatory (IXO). We conclude with an overview of a concept for the next next-generation facility-Generation X. The scientific objectives of such a mission will require very large areas (about 10000 m2) of highly-nested lightweight grazing-incidence mirrors with exceptional (about 0.1-arcsecond) angular resolution. Achieving this angular resolution with lightweight mirrors will likely require on-orbit adjustment of alignment and figure.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, SPIE Conference 7803 "Adaptive X-ray Optics", part of SPIE Optics+Photonics 2010, San Diego CA, 2010 August 2-

Somatosensory and motor representations following bilateral transplants of the hands: A 6-year longitudinal case report on the first pediatric bilateral hand transplant patient

A vascularized composite tissue allotransplantation (VCA) was performed at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), on an 8-year-old patient in 2015, six years after bilateral hand and foot amputation. Hand VCA resulted in reafferentation of the medial, ulnar, and radial nerves serving hand somatosensation and motor function. We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to assess somatosensory cortical plasticity following the post-transplantation recovery of the peripheral sensory nerves of the hands. Our 2-year postoperative MEG showed that somatosensory lip representations, initially observed at “hand areas”, reverted to canonical, orthotopic lip locations with recovery of post-transplant hand function. Here, we continue the assessment of motor and somatosensory responses up to 6-years post-transplant. Magnetoencephalographic somatosensory responses were recorded eight times over a six-year period following hand transplantation, using a 275-channel MEG system. Somatosensory tactile stimuli were presented to the right lower lip (all 8 visits) as well as right and left index fingers (visits 3-8) and fifth digits (visits 4-8). In addition, left and right-hand motor responses were also recorded for left index finger and right thumb (visit 8 only).During the acute recovery phase (visits 3 and 4), somatosensory responses of the digits were observed to be significantly larger and more phasic (i.e., smoother) than controls. Subsequent measures showed that digit responses maintain this atypical response profile (evoked-response magnitudes typically exceed 1 picoTesla). Orthotopic somatosensory localization of the lip, D2, and D5 was preserved. Motor beta-band desynchrony was age-typical in localization and response magnitude; however, the motor gamma-band response was significantly larger than that observed in a reference population.These novel findings show that the restoration of somatosensory input of the hands resulted in persistent and atypically large cortical responses to digit stimulation, which remain atypically large at 6 years post-transplant; there is no known perceptual correlate, and no reports of phantom pain. Normal somatosensory organization of the lip, D2, and D5 representation remain stable following post-recovery reorganization of the lip’s somatosensory response