Beyond Heaven and Earth

An approach to understanding religion that draws on both humanities and natural science but rejects approaches that employ simple monisms and radical dualisms. In Beyond Heaven and Earth, Gabriel Levy argues that collective religious narratives and beliefs are part of nature; they are the basis for the formation of the narratives and beliefs of individuals. Religion grows out of the universe, but to make sense of it we have to recognize the paradox that the universe is both mental and material (or neither). We need both humanities and natural science approaches to study religion and religious meaning, Levy contends, but we must also recognize the limits of these approaches. First, we must make the dominant metaphysics that undergird the various disciplines of science and humanities more explicit, and second, we must reject those versions of metaphysics that maintain simple monisms and radical dualisms. Bringing Donald Davidson's philosophy—a form of pragmatism known as anomalous monism—to bear on religion, Levy offers a blueprint for one way that the humanities and natural sciences can have a mutually respectful dialogue. Levy argues that in order to understand religions we have to take their semantic content seriously. We need to rethink such basic concepts as narrative fiction, information, agency, creativity, technology, and intimacy. In the course of his argument, Levy considers the relation between two closely related semantics, fiction and religion, and outlines a new approach to information. He then applies his theory to discrete cases: ancient texts, modern media, and intimacy

Grange Insurance Audubon Center-FIRE PROTECTION LIFE SAFETY REPORT

This technical approach narrative presents the intent and methodology of the Fire Protection and Life Safety systems for the Grange Insurance Audubon Center located at 505 W Whittier St. Columbus OH 43215. The primary goal of the structure is to provide life and property protection in a fire scenario while taking into account the costs of implementing the criterion and risks associated with the facility. This will be achieved through the appropriate application of requirements listed in the 2015 International Building Code (IBC) and the International Fire Code (IFC) as adopted by the City of Columbus, Ohio, and any reference standards and guidelines. Prescriptive requirements analyzed in the body of this report include building construction, egressing, fire alarm systems, and fire suppression systems. The effectiveness of the fire protection systems will depend on a holistic view of the design, operation, and maintenance of these systems. In addition to a prescriptive analysis of the building, a performance-based analysis is performed. The intent of the performance analysis is to demonstrate the protection of occupants not intimate with the initial fire development, and the improvement of the survivability of occupants intimate with the initial fire development. The building is found to be fully compliant in accordance with the required codes, except for a single dead-end corridor which exceeds allowable length. A solution to this compliance issue is described in the body of the report. The performance-based analysis identifies three potential design fire scenarios: a multipurpose room table fire, a kitchen fire, and a lobby furniture fire. Fire modeling efforts finds that the existing building geometries provide adequate pooling of smoke such that occupants are not exposed to untenable conditions for at least 20 minutes after ignition, at which point they are able to escape the building

Geometry, Dynamics, and Emergence: Cowrie Form, Image Geometry, and Coupled Subcritical Oscillations

Living Systems are dynamically controlled by processes that they themselves create: here we study the emergence of the sophisticated control regimes in models of biological systems. A major route to understanding in Biology today is discovering which genes lead to what, almost always neglecting a story for how the genes achieve their ends. From an understanding perspective this is disappointing, and we strive to make more holistic models which try to get at the underlying nature of biological logic. Towards this end, we notice geometric regimes in cowrie growth and work towards a falsifiable and explanatory mechanistic model, aiming to make the case for the importance of mechanics and dynamics in development. We also present the first systematic study of globally-coupled subcritical limit cycle oscillators, exploring a rarely remarked upon dynamical regime. This regime is biologically interesting as it has bistability between oscillations and quiescence and is a simple excitable media which could be used as a reduced neural model. I am interested in clustering in the system as an example of symmetry breaking in identical systems; small differences in initial conditions lead to differentiation of the oscillators into particular varieties, analogous to cell fate decisions. Progress on these problems works towards illuminating the biological approach to self-assembly

Cal Poly Supermileage Vehicle Braking System

The Cal Poly Supermileage Vehicle (SMV) team has requested this team to design the braking systems for the 2021 Supermileage vehicle in accordance with the 2020 Shell Eco-marathon rules, weight restrictions, and team budget. A braking system consists of the front brake pedals, front pedal mount, cable management to the brake calipers, and the rear caliper mounts. This report outlines the concept design that our project group has developed for the redesign braking systems. Background research, objectives, and concept design developments, final design, manufacturing notes, and design verification testing data are documented for the project sponsors

Wound-healing and benzodiazepines: does sleep play a role in this relationship?

Patients who have suffered burns frequently experience psychological consequences, among which anxiety disorders are prominent. Benzodiazepines are commonly administered to treat these symptoms. The effects of benzodiazepines on healing may not be direct but rather are modulated by alterations of the sleep architecture. This hypothesis is supported by studies that demonstrate the effects of benzodiazepines on the immune system and the inflammatory profile under both normal sleep conditions and during sleep deprivation, particularly rapid eye movement sleep deprivation.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Associacao Fundo de Incentivo a Pesquisa (AFIP)Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo-FAPESP (CEPID)Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Departamento de PsicobiologiaUNIFESP, Depto. de Psicobiologia2011/14462-0 e 2010/14768-098/14303-3SciEL

Wound-healing and benzodiazepines: does sleep play a role in this relationship?

Patients who have suffered burns frequently experience psychological consequences, among which anxiety disorders are prominent. Benzodiazepines are commonly administered to treat these symptoms. The effects of benzodiazepines on healing may not be direct but rather are modulated by alterations of the sleep architecture. This hypothesis is supported by studies that demonstrate the effects of benzodiazepines on the immune system and the inflammatory profile under both normal sleep conditions and during sleep deprivation, particularly rapid eye movement sleep deprivation

Influence of food restriction on lipid profile and spontaneous glucose levels in male rats subjected to paradoxical sleep deprivation

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the paired consequences of food restriction and paradoxical sleep deprivation on lipid profile and spontaneous glucose levels in male rats. METHOD: Food restriction began at weaning, with 6 g of food being provided per day, which was subsequently increased by 1 g per week until reaching 15 g per day by the eighth week. At adulthood, both rats subjected to food restriction and those fed ad libitum were exposed to paradoxical sleep deprivation for 96 h or were maintained in their home-cage groups. RESULTS: Animals subjected to food restriction exhibited a significant increase in high-density lipoprotein levels compared to animals that were given free access to food. After the paradoxical sleep deprivation period, the foodrestricted animals demonstrated reduced concentrations of high-density lipoprotein relative to their respective controls, although the values for the food-restricted animals after sleep deprivation were still higher than those for the ad libitum group. The concentration of low-density lipoproteins was significantly increased in sleep-deprived animals fed the ad libitum diet. The levels of triglycerides, very low-density lipoproteins, and glucose in foodrestricted animals were each decreased compared to both ad libitum groups. CONCLUSION: These results may help to illustrate the mechanisms underlying the relationship between sleep curtailment and metabolism and may suggest that, regardless of sleep deprivation, dietary restriction can minimize alterations in parameters related to cardiovascular risk.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Associacao Fundo de Incentivo a Pesquisa (AFIP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq)Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP-CEPID)Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Departamento de PsicobiologiaUNIFESP, Depto. de Psicobiologia98/14303-311/12325-6 e 10/14768-0SciEL

Environment Prototypicality in Syntactic Alternation

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Influence of food restriction on lipid profile and spontaneous glucose levels in male rats subjected to paradoxical sleep deprivation

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the paired consequences of food restriction and paradoxical sleep deprivation on lipid profile and spontaneous glucose levels in male rats. METHOD: Food restriction began at weaning, with 6 g of food being provided per day, which was subsequently increased by 1 g per week until reaching 15 g per day by the eighth week. At adulthood, both rats subjected to food restriction and those fed ad libitum were exposed to paradoxical sleep deprivation for 96 h or were maintained in their home-cage groups. RESULTS: Animals subjected to food restriction exhibited a significant increase in high-density lipoprotein levels compared to animals that were given free access to food. After the paradoxical sleep deprivation period, the foodrestricted animals demonstrated reduced concentrations of high-density lipoprotein relative to their respective controls, although the values for the food-restricted animals after sleep deprivation were still higher than those for the ad libitum group. The concentration of low-density lipoproteins was significantly increased in sleep-deprived animals fed the ad libitum diet. The levels of triglycerides, very low-density lipoproteins, and glucose in foodrestricted animals were each decreased compared to both ad libitum groups. CONCLUSION: These results may help to illustrate the mechanisms underlying the relationship between sleep curtailment and metabolism and may suggest that, regardless of sleep deprivation, dietary restriction can minimize alterations in parameters related to cardiovascular risk