Bridges

This entry discusses the linguistic (prosodic) features of the Ancient Greek poetic phenomenon of the metrical bridge, a position in a line of verse where a word division is either disallowed or strongly disfavored

Home Garden Hotbeds

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Race and Christian Interpersonal Relationships

Unfortunately no one seems to have a workable and effective plan to resolve societal racial tension that continues to exist in America and in the rest of the world. However, the Bible gives clear instructions as how to resolve racial conflicts. Having grown up in Hawaii, Caleb Brown shares his experiences about racial differences in that state and proposes biblical solutions to all interpersonal conflicts

The Mental Database

This article uses database, evolution and physics considerations to suggest how the mind stores and processes its data. Its innovations in its approach lie in:- A) The comparison between the capabilities of the mind to those of a modern relational database while conserving phenomenality. The strong functional similarity of the two systems leads to the conclusion that the mind may be profitably described as being a mental database. The need for material/mental bridging and addressing indexes is discussed. B) The consideration of what neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) between sensorimotor data and instrumented observation one can hope to obtain using current biophysics. It is deduced that what is seen using the various brain scanning methods reflects only that part of current activity transactions (e.g. visualizing) which update and interrogate the mind, but not the contents of the integrated mental database which constitutes the mind itself. This approach yields reasons why there is much neural activity in an area to which a conscious function is ascribed (e.g. the amygdala is associated with fear), yet there is no visible part of its activity which can be clearly identified as phenomenal. The concept is then situated in a Penrosian expanded physical environment, requiring evolutionary continuity, modularity and phenomenality.Several novel Darwinian advantages arising from the approach are described

Differentiating Averroes’ Accounts of the Metaphysics of Human Epistemology in his Middle and Long Commentaries on Aristotle’s De Anima

Averroes (an Islamic Andalusian philosopher in the 12th century) discusses the metaphysics of human epistemology extensively, and his socio-religious context sheds light on this discussion. Several of his works, most prominently his three commentaries on Aristotle’s De Anima, attempt to explain how finite, particular minds interact with universal, eternal intelligibles. Current scholarship focuses on the two longer commentaries, the Middle Commentary and the Long Commentary, but there is no consensus regarding which of these presents Averroes’ final articulation of the metaphysics of human epistemology. Those who maintain that Averroes wrote the Middle Commentary last tend to minimize the differences between the two accounts. This paper does not take a position on the chronology of Averroes’ works. Rather, it seeks to demonstrate that, even if Averroes wrote the Middle Commentary last, in light of Averroes’ socio-political environment, it is evident that the accounts of the metaphysics of human epistemology in the Middle and Long commentaries differ substantively

The Hebraic Monarchy as God’s Redemptive Response to Israel’s Unfaithfulness

The first portion of this paper will argue that the Old Testament portrays the monarchy neither as God’s chosen method of relating to his people, nor as an intrinsically evil institution, but as God’s redemptive response to Israel’s unfaithfulness. The second portion addresses a potential objection to this portrayal by arguing that Moses serves primarily as a type for Samuel, not the monarchy

Research on the effects of altered gravity and other factors on the growth and development of higher plants

The establishment, maintenance and use of the NASA-UCSC Botanical Centrifuge is discussed. The broad goals of this project were: (1) to establish facilities for conducting experiments under conditions of sustained centrifugation; (2) to pursue research on the gravitational physiology of higher plants; (3) to develop experimental hardware suitable for studies of plant development in the weightless condition; and (4) to accommodate visiting investigators whose researches are of interest to the NASA Biomedical Program and who may require for some limited time, the use of a medium size centrifuge with associated facilities appropriate for plant physiological studies

Infrared observations of small solar system bodies

Infrared reflectance spectra were measured of dark primitive asteroids in the 2 to 5 micron wavelength region. The search was for organic complexes such and CN, CH, and NH in dark material on small bodies in the solar system. A search and study was made of volatiles such as nitrogen, methane, ammonia, and carbon monoxide, both as free ices and hydrates/clathrates, on icy surfaces in the outer solar system, using high resolution spectra obtained with a multichannel cooled grating, infrared spectrometer. An absorption that can be attributed to X-C (triple bond) N in the matrix of dark materials on the primitive asteroids

Infrared observations of small solar-system bodies

A major accomplishment during last year is the recongition of and modeling of the solid-state greenhouse effect for icy satellites. Recent observations of eclipse reappearances suggest that this effect may in fact be observed on Europa and Ganymede. Also the PI has obtained important new data on Europa and Enceladus. Evidence for the transient presence of a volatile, perhaps NH3, OH, on Europa has been obtained. Newly obtained spectra of Enceladus suggest that it does not at present have ammonia or methane in detectable quantities on its surface