Twins in Mesoamerica as a Symbol of Contrasting Duality

In cultures across the Mesoamerican subcontinent, there are examples in the archaeological and ethnographic record of myths concerned with twins and sibling pairs (Minneci, 1999). Twins in particular are seen as potent mythic pairs; however, both twins and other pairs of siblings are utilized in iconography and mythology to represent connected opposites. The idea of contrasting duality, where the two halves of each pairing are independent and yet connected to one another, is vital to the Mesoamerican way of thinking. Cultures such as the Maya and the Aztec used spouses and siblings, twins in particular, to embody contrasting counterparts of duality and completion, an idea that structures the worldviews of these two cultures. For the Maya, the most prominent example of mythic siblings would be the Hero Twins in the Popol Vuh. Mythology of the Aztec Empire includes the twins of Quetzalcoatl (meaning “Feathered Serpent” in Nahuatl, a language used by the Aztec People of Central Mexico) and Tezcatlipoca (“Smoking Mirror”), in addition to the siblings of Huitzilopochtli (“Hummingbird on the Left”) and Coyolxauhqui (“Face Painted with Bells”). These mythic examples found in the archaeological record shape the pan-Mesoamerican worldview, centered on contrasting duality and paradoxical pairings

Creativity and Songwriting

This study tested a number of theories of creativity in an experiment where a song was written and recorded every day for over 170 days using various techniques and ideas. 15 have been reworked, finalised, and released on an audio CD, attached as Appendix 1. The finished CD contains material from a number of styles and is intended to showcase the gradual progression of the songwriting process and the change in style over time, and explores the question of whether songwriting and creativity in general can be improved through regular practice. It also demonstrates a wide array of skill and fluency in songwriting and creativity gained from a large amount of practice, whilst also exhibiting examples of the material that was written in the daily songwriting practice routine. The audio CD (Appendix 1) is accompanied by a data CD containing 100 recorded demos of songs written over the course of the experiment (Appendix 2) and a thesis explaining the creative process behind selected tracks, complete with a literature review of research into the current understanding of creativity. This is explored from both a psychological viewpoint and a more subjective viewpoint, relating specifically to songwriting. The thesis also attempts to find common ground between psychological practices aimed at improving general creativity, and more specific songwriting techniques, intended to explore how songwriters can produce a higher quality or quantity of work. It addresses such issues as writer’s block, songwriting as a routine, and also the relationship between the number of songs written and the quality of those songs, whilst also autoethnographically detailing the writing process of the songs written over the 170 day period, and the experience of the artist of the effects of the practice routine. The project aimed to determine whether creativity could be improved by following a regimented practice routine over the course of a set period of time (in this case, roughly half a year). Both quantitative and qualitative data have been collected from this experiment and analysed from an autoethnographical perspective, and it has been determined that in this case, the artist’s perceived skill in songwriting has grown due to the amount of time specifically dedicated to it, the regular practice enabling a larger volume of higher quality work to be produced. Secondary research also showed that creativity in general was improved from the exercise, and that this enhanced creativity can be applied more generally than simply to songwriting

A Causal Set Black Hole

We explicitly compute the causal structure of the Schwarzschild black hole spacetime, by providing an algorithm to decide if any pair of events is causally related. The primary motivation for this study comes from discrete quantum gravity, in particular the causal set approach, in which the fundamental variables can be thought of as the causal ordering of randomly selected events in spacetime. This work opens the way to simulating non-conformally flat spacetimes within the causal set approach, which may allow one to study important questions such as black hole entropy and Hawking radiation on a full four dimensional causal set black hole.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, LaTeX; response to referee comment

The initiation of hot-salt stress corrosion cracking of titanium alloys

Initiation of hot salt stress corrosion cracking of titanium alloy

Counting entropy in causal set quantum gravity

The finiteness of black hole entropy suggest that spacetime is fundamentally discrete, and hints at an underlying relationship between geometry and "information". The foundation of this relationship is yet to be uncovered, but should manifest itself in a theory of quantum gravity. We review recent attempts to define a microscopic measure for black hole entropy and for the maximum entropy of spherically symmetric spacelike regions, within the causal set approach to quantum gravity.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Talk given by S. Zohren at the Eleventh Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity at the Freie U. Berlin, July 23 - 29, 200

The Media Family: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers, Preschoolers, and Their Parents

Electronic media is a central focus of many very young children's lives, used by parents to help manage busy schedules, keep the peace, and facilitate family routines such as eating, relaxing, and falling asleep, according to a new national study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Many parents also express satisfaction with the educational benefits of TV and how it can teach positive behaviors.The report, The Media Family: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers, Preschoolers, and Their Parents, is based on a national survey of 1,051 parents with children age six months to six years old and a series of focus groups across the country

Models for Discrete Quantum Gravity

We first discuss a framework for discrete quantum processes (DQP). It is shown that the set of q-probability operators is convex and its set of extreme elements is found. The property of consistency for a DQP is studied and the quadratic algebra of suitable sets is introduced. A classical sequential growth process is "quantized" to obtain a model for discrete quantum gravity called a quantum sequential growth process (QSGP). Two methods for constructing concrete examples of QSGP are provided.Comment: 15 pages which include 2 figures which were created using LaTeX and contained in the fil

Gauge fixing in Causal Dynamical Triangulations

We relax the definition of the Ambjorn-Loll causal dynamical triangulation model in 1+1 dimensions to allow for a varying lapse. We show that, as long as the spatially averaged lapse is constant in time, the physical observables are unchanged in the continuum limit. This supports the claim that the time slicing of the model is the result of a gauge fixing, rather than a physical preferred time slicing.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure

Health locus of control in patients undergoing coronary artery surgery – changes and associated outcomes: a seven-year cohort study

Introduction: Health locus of control is a measure of an individual’s beliefs in factors that are thought to determine health experiences. Scores are generated and form a graduated linear scale from external to internal control, with respect to their views on health causality. Health locus of control has been considered to be a relatively stable entity. However, it is not clear if this status changes in the advent of serious health challenges, such as coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The aim of this study is to explore the variability of health locus of control and its association with postoperative health in this context. Methods: In a longitudinal cohort study of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery, a purposive sample (n=215) were recruited from the waiting list and followed up postoperatively, at approximately one year and seven years later. Results: Patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery demonstrated marked fluctuations in health locus of control in their peri-operative and rehabilitative phases. Mean health locus of control became more external (often associated with poorer outcomes) peri-operatively, and more internal (generally associated with better health outcomes) in the rehabilitative period. Conclusions: Health locus of control scores were shown to be changeable during a major health care intervention, with possible consequences for patient outcomes and care needs. The significant health belief upheaval demonstrated in this cohort should be considered in assessing patients preoperatively, and managed as part of the patients’ clinical journey by both acute and rehabilitation staff. It is likely to have particular importance in individualised assessment and management of future prevention advice for patients