The Mental, the Mind and the Body

I would like to give an account of the mental, the mind and the body. To begin, let us consider some of the differences between objects and activities. An object has spatial extension and can exist at an instant of time. Objects are considered to have properties whose spatio-temporal conjunction is commonly thought to define what the object is. No temporal extension seems to be necessary for the object to be what it is. The object can exist at an instant. Similarly, the object can remain through time what it is, without changing any of the properties commonly thought to be internal to it. In contrast, an activity does not have spatial extension at an instant, though the object performing the activity does. Yet the activity necessarily has temporal extension. There is no activity at an instant. As a consequent, the continuance of the activity through time requires continuance in the change that is the activity

Cell lineage tracing reveals the plasticity of the hemocyte lineages and of the hematopoietic compartments in Drosophila melanogaster

Much of our knowledge on hematopoiesis, hematopoietic compartments, hematopoietic cell lineages and immunity has been derived from studies on the vertebrate immune system. The sophisticated innate immunity of insects, the phylogenetic conservation and the power of Drosophila genetics allowed the investigation of immune cell (hemocyte) lineage relationships in Drosophila melanogaster. The development of the hemocyte lineages in Drosophila is a result of a precisely regulated succession of intracellular and intercellular events, though the nature and extent of these interactions are not known. We describe here a cell lineage tracing system set up to analyze the development of hemocyte lineages and functionally distinct hemocyte subsets. This system allowed us to distinguish two major embryonic hemocyte lineages, the crq and Dot lineages, in two, physically separated compartments, the embryonic macrophages and the embryonic lymph gland. We followed the fate and development of these lineages in the construction of the larval hematopoietic compartments and during the cell-mediated immune response, the encapsulation reaction. Our results revealed the considerable plasticity and concerted action of the hematopoietic compartments and the hemocyte lineages in the development of the innate immune system and in the course of the cell-mediated immune response in Drosophila

Malindi’s futures. challenges and potentials of anticipating future visions through scenario planning

Malindi town (population 110,000) located along the Indian Ocean coast is the largest urban center in Kilifi county, Kenya. The town's economy focuses heavily on tourism. Rapid tourism development during the 1970s and 1980s has a significant social, economic and cultural impact on the local community. Furthermore, rapid urban growth combined with Malindi's lack of urban planning regulations has led to deficient urban development decisions. In the recent decade, tourism in Malindi has declined considerably, leaving the town in socioeconomic downfall. Numerous resorts are now closed, and an alarming amount of locals find themselves unemployed and without proper training. The first strategic urban development plan for Malindi was finalized in 2016, focusing primarily on land use regulations and infrastructure development strategies. Although it acknowledges the imperative need for Malindi to diversify its economy, the current urban development plan lacks a holistic vision. This thesis explores how scenario planning can be used to create a compelling future vision for Malindi, which would shape the urban development of the town. It uses literature review for understanding the context, analysis for recognizing the current challenges and opportunities, theoretical review for arguing the use of scenario planning, and lastly, scenario making for presenting the scenario planning methodology. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate the usability of scenario planning and to build knowledge regarding scenario making. Four scenarios are formed based on research and analysis. They all aim at generating urban rejuvenation; integrating local culture, values, and traditions; raising the quality of life; and empowering local communities towards economic growth. In the first two scenarios, Malindi recognizes the current decline in international touristic interest as an opportunity to redirect its strategy towards attracting more Kenyan and East African visitors. The first scenario focuses on integrating informal communities, supporting the development of local businesses, and emphasizing local culture and values. The second scenario focuses on environmental sustainability, green economic growth, and building a circular economy based on agro-industrial ecological development. The third scenario focuses on improving the livelihoods of the suburban communities and building human capacity and describes Malindi's development following the support of agricultural entrepreneurship. The final scenario explores how Malindi urban fabric develops if the local government continues to strive to attract international tourism while pursuing economic growth by supporting commerce and services. The future opportunities that emerge from the four scenarios provide meaningful insight into viable possibilities for future development of Malindi

Those Who Did Teach

Review of Writers and Their Teachers. Ed. Dale Salwak. Bloomsbury, 2023. 137 pages

Éditorial

La diversité des textes présentés dans cette seconde livraison des Cahiers du Centre de Recherches historiques, renvoie à la diversité même de l'activité scientifique de notre Laboratoire. On ne s'étonnera pas qu'un ensemble de quelque 150 personnes se soit organisé en équipes plus restreintes, rassemblées autour d'un programme de recherches aux contours suggérés par les questions intellectuelles du moment. Nous avons souhaité que leurs responsables présentent tour à tour les grandes lignes d..

Predicting flammable gas mixtures in Hanford double-contained receiver tanks

This study presents a methodology to estimate the maximum concentrations of flammable gases (ammonia, hydrogen, and methane) which could exist in the vapor space of a double-contained receiver tank (DCRT). DCRTs are temporary storage tanks which receive highly radioactive liquid wastes from salt well pumping of Hanford single-shell tanks (SST). The methodology of this study could be used in other applications involving the storage and transfer of radioactive liquid wastes which generate or contain various dissolved flammable gases

Joint Angle Calculations using Motion Capture and Deep Learning Pose Estimation while Running

Marker based motion capture is currently the most accurate method of measuring human kinematics; however, it is expensive and is often limited to lab environments making it unsuitable for many applications. Two-dimensional methods are available through open source code, but it is unclear which of these methods provides the greatest accuracy. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to quantify the accuracy of pose estimation from a monocular electro-optical sensor with deep learning to infer segment end points and pose estimation utilizing two open-source code approaches. METHODS: One subject ran at 6.5 m/s for 15 s while being recorded with Vicon Nexus and an iPhone both running at 240 Hz. Visual 3D computed joint angles from the marker data. The iPhone view was placed perpendicular to the sagittal plane. Deep learning algorithms produced 2D pose information that was translated into hip, knee, and ankle sagittal plane joint angles. Pearson r correlations compared MediaPipe and OpenPose joint angle estimations through 15 s of running to the motion capture data. RESULTS: Markerless methods showed correlation values compared with Visual 3D of hip (MediaPipe = 0.968, OpenPose = 0.975), knee (MediaPipe = 0.983, OpenPose = 0.964), and ankle (MediaPipe = 0.928, OpenPose = 0.904). Both markerless methods showed limitations on predicting maximum flexion and extension angles. Although the correlation values were high, in practice these differences in maximum range of motion may impact any future interpretation of data. CONCLUSION: Care should be taken when utilizing extreme joint angles when using deep learning algorithms. Although at this point the open source methods are not as accurate as marker based motion capture they could enable the collection of data from a larger population of people given the ease of data collection, this could facilitate crowd sourced data collection with much larger sample sizes than are traditionally feasible