Constructing The Prophet: Steve Jobs and the Messianic Myth of Apple

On October 5th, 2011 the cofounder and President of Apple Inc., Steve Jobs, passed away. His death invoked a tremendous exhibit of grief from the public, complete with candlelight vigils, shrines, and a surge of digital activity praising his accomplishments. Many of the tributes and obituaries to the deceased American icon used religious language and motifs. This cooptation of sacred symbols by the media reflects a growing tendency to sacralize technology in the modern era. As traditional religions morph, many individuals search for a different means of spiritual engagement and for some, Apple’s devices are perceived as a way of connecting with the divine. In conjunction with this phenomenon, the mainstream media outlets have delineated Steve Jobs as the central figure of a religious movement by chronicling his life. Utilizing the theories developed by Wilson Moses and James Darsey on messianism and the rhetorical creation of a prophet, this thesis critically views the construction of The Messianic Myth of Apple. This narrative frames Apple as the heart of a messianic movement grounded in the ideals of change and transcendence through technology. Meanwhile, Jobs assumes the role of prophet, the savior who provides devices of individual, social, and mystical satisfaction

Short-Term Operations Support Farm Continuity in Times of Distress

Sometimes there are short-term scenarios when farm managers or key personnel are away from the farm because of personal matters, sickness, vacation, or unexpectedly passing away. Even if there is a long-term plan is to transfer the farm, there are likely day-to-day activities necessary to keep the farm running. This article and listed resources are aimed at combatting this scenario. The main goal is that were something to occur; the farm can handle the interruption as smoothly and efficiently as possible

How equitable is the scaling up of HIV service provision in South Africa?

OBJECTIVES. To assess the extent of inequalities in availability and utilisation of HIV services across South Africa. DESIGN. Cross-sectional descriptive study. Setting. Three districts reflecting different socio-economic conditions, but with similar levels of HIV infection, were purposively sampled. Outcome measures. Availability and utilisation of HIV services and management and support structures for programmes were assessed through the collection of secondary data supplemented by site visits. RESULTS. There were marked inequalities in service delivery between the three sites. Compared with two poorer sites, clinics at the urban site had greater availability of HIV services, including voluntary counselling and testing (100% v. 52% and 24% respectively), better uptake of this service (59 v. 9 and 5.5 clients per 1 000 adults respectively) and greater distribution of condoms (15.6 v. 8.2 condoms per adult male per year). Extra counsellors had also been employed at the urban site in contrast to the other 2 sites. The urban site also had far more intensive management support and monitoring, with 1 manager per 12 health facilities compared with 1 manager per more than 90 health facilities at the other 2 sites. CONCLUSION. The process of scaling up of HIV services seems to be accentuating inequalities. The urban site in this study was better able to utilise the extra resources. In contrast, the poorer sites have thus far been unable to scale up the response to HIV even with the availability of extra resources. Unless policy makers pay more attention to equity, efficacious interventions may prove to be of limited effectiveness

Effect of Dolphin Kick Timing on Breaststroke Pullout Performance

Breaststroke pullouts are now permitted to include a dolphin kick. Two variations of the pullout are distinguished by the timing of the dolphin kick within the movement. One variation uses an early-initiation of the dolphin kick (performed before the initiation of the arm pull) while a second variation uses a late-initiation of the dolphin kick (performed at the completion of the arm pull). PURPOSE: To compare the performance of two variations of breaststroke pullouts that incorporate a dolphin kick. METHODS: Fourteen collegiate swimmers (18.9 ± 1.17 years, 73.7 ± 8.54 kg, 174.5 ± 9.88 cm) who compete in breaststroke or IM races, volunteered to participate in this study and provided informed consent prior to beginning participation. Participants completed four 45.7 m (50 yd) trials of breaststroke swimming in a 22.8 m pool. In each trial, swimming speed was increased to maximum as they approached the midpoint of the swim. After completing a turn, swimmers performed one of the two designated pullout techniques and maintained maximal effort through two complete stroke cycles. Two trials of each pullout technique were completed and filmed at 60 Hz using a calibrated underwater camera. Using 12 digitized body landmarks, a 13-segment model of the body was defined and used to compute whole body center of mass location. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA’s were used to compare the time needed to travel specified distances from either the wall or the initiation of movement. Pairwise comparisons were used to follow-up any significant main effects. RESULTS: Time to 6 m from the wall was 0.12 s (pCONCLUSION:These data suggest that the early dolphin kick variation is superior by covering distance in less time after initiation of movement and increasing the distance covered underwater

How equitable is the scaling up of HIV service provision in South Africa?

Objectives. To assess the extent of inequalities in availability and utilisation of HIV services across  South Africa.Design. Cross-sectional descriptive study.Setting. Three districts reflecting different socio-economic conditions, but with similar levels of HIV  infection, were purposively sampled.Outcome measures. Availability and utilisation of HIV services and management and support  structures for programmes were assessed through the collection of secondary data supplemented by site visits.Results. There were marked inequalities in service delivery between the three sites. Compared with  two poorer sites, clinics at the urban site had greater availability of HIV services, including voluntary counselling and testing (100% v. 52% and 24% respectively), better uptake of this service (59 v.9  and 5.5 clients per 1 000 adults respectively) and greater distribution of condoms (15.6 v. 8.2 condoms per adult male per year). Extra counsellors had also been employed at the urban site in contrast to the other 2 sites. The urban site also had far more intensive management support and monitoring, with 1 manager per 12 health facilities compared with 1 manager per more than 90 health facilities at the  other 2 sites.Conclusion. The process of scaling up of HIV services seems to be accentuating inequalities. The  urban site in this study was better able to utilise the extra resources. In contrast, the poorer sites have thus far been u':lable to scale up the response to HIV even with the availability of extra resources. Unless policy makers pay more attention to equity, efficacious interventions may prove to be of limited effectiveness

Student Ensemble: Delta Omicron Jazz Musicale

Kemp Recital HallMarch 26, 2013Tuesday Evening7:30 p.m

A Reinforcement Learning Based Control Approach for Propofol-Induced Burst Suppression

High-dose propofol is being investigated for its potential antidepressant effect. Propofol is titrated to induce burst suppression, a specific EEG pattern. However, propofol is difficult to dose due to uncertainty in each patient’s pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD), and the lack of a commercially available monitor of propofol concentration. Clinicians currently infer the proper drug dose after observing the EEG response to the given dose. In this report we share our development of an automated controller to optimally administer propofol-induced burst suppression. We designed a deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) algorithm, which includes two deep neural networks and relates a 2-dimensional action space with a 3-dimensional state space. Our DDPG prototype did not satisfy our minimum training criteria. However, we share our diagnosis of current limitations in training a DDPG-based RL agent to administer propofol to PK-PD-simulated in silico patients. We also discuss potential solutions to improve RL agent training and performance

Model-Based Propofol Dosing to Improve Control of Patient EEG Dynamics

Propofol is a common anesthetic, which is being investigated as an antidepressant alternative to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Propofol can induce similar EEG effects to that of ECT, and has also demonstrated similar improvements in depression scores. However, propofol dosing is challenging because patients differ in their required drug doses. A model of the relationship between administered propofol and monitored EEG can be used to improve the accuracy and reliability of this treatment. Our objective is ultimately to automate processes in propofol’s dose determination. A summary of patient-system modeling in anesthesia will be discussed, along with preliminary results from recent open-label trials