Religion as Identity, the Changing Face of Paiwan Spirituality

The Paiwan are an indigenous group living in Taiwan. Traditionally, they identify themselves as the descendants of a marriage between a human woman and a serpent. This first husband has been deified, and it is believed that after death, spirits join it on a holy mountain. In the past, the majority of villages sacrificed a portion of their intake of food stuffs to both gods and spirits in a quintennial celebration. Other stories and domains of the religion dealt with a parallel spiritual realm, responsible for most ailments, and cured by witches and priests.Cultural and religious practices of the Paiwan have survived occupation by the Chinese Qing Dynasty, the Japanese, and the post-World War II move of the Republic of China to the island, though not without adapting and changing major elements. Some of the practices have also been adjusted to fit in with mass conversions to Christianity. Yet the religious ceremonies of the Paiwan are being practiced by fewer and fewer people in the modern era as the populations lose their younger generations to the opportunities of the larger cities. Modernization within the group has been dictated by foreign pressures, and drives to unify Taiwan as a single cultural entity. This has led to the reidentification of the Paiwanese religion as a uniquely Taiwanese tourist draw. Today it seems as if disappearing ceremonies, such as the Maleveq (Five Year Ceremony), have been revived through tourism. The desire by Taiwan to identify itself separately from mainland China has led to renewed interest to identify and encourage indigenous development. This has generated new interest in the preservation of religious practices for the Paiwan, specifically. Yet as religion is made spectacle, it is also simplified. Defining cultural elements are often lost in translation, while cultural motifs can be preserved in image only as they are made available for sale on art objects. In the end, tourism can be seen as a means of preserving dying religious practices, and a new step in the evolution of a spirituality

Multiple magneto-phonon resonances in graphene

Our low-temperature magneto-Raman scattering measurements performed on graphene-like locations on the surface of bulk graphite reveal a new series of magneto-phonon resonances involving both K-point and Gamma-point phonons. In particular, we observe for the first time the resonant splitting of three crossing excitation branches. We give a detailed theoretical analysis of these new resonances. Our results highlight the role of combined excitations and the importance of multi-phonon processes (from both K and Gamma points) for the relaxation of hot carriers in graphene.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figure

A micro-magneto-Raman scattering study of graphene on a bulk graphite substrate

We report on a magneto-Raman scattering study of graphene flakes located on the surface of a bulk graphite substrate. By spatially mapping the Raman scattering response of the surface of bulk graphite with an applied magnetic field, we pinpoint specific locations which show the electronic excitation spectrum of graphene. We present the characteristic Raman scattering signatures of these specific locations. We show that such flakes can be superimposed with another flake and still exhibit a graphene-like excitation spectrum. Two different excitation laser energies (514.5 and 720 nm) are used to investigate the excitation wavelength dependence of the electronic Raman scattering signal.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

The association among diet, dietary fiber, and bowel preparation at colonoscopy

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Pre-colonoscopy dietary restrictions vary widely and lack evidence-based guidance. We investigated whether fiber and various other foods/macronutrients consumed during the 3 days before colonoscopy are associated with bowel preparation quality. METHODS: This was a prospective observational study among patients scheduled for outpatient colonoscopy. Patients received instructions including split-dose polyethylene glycol, avoidance of vegetables/beans 2 days before colonoscopy, and a clear liquid diet the day before colonoscopy. Two 24-hour dietary recall interviews and 1 patient-recorded food log measured dietary intake on the 3 days before colonoscopy. The Nutrition Data System for Research was used to estimate dietary exposures. Our primary outcome was the quality of bowel preparation measured by the Boston Bowel Preparation Scale (BBPS). RESULTS: We enrolled 201 patients from November 2015 to September 2016 with complete data for 168. The mean age was 59 years (standard deviation, 7 years), and 90% of colonoscopies were conducted for screening/surveillance. Only 17% and 77% of patients complied with diet restrictions 2 and 1 day(s) before colonoscopy, respectively. We found no association between foods consumed 2 and 3 days before colonoscopy and BBPS scores. However, BPPS was positively associated with intake of gelatin, and inversely associated with intake of red meat, poultry, and vegetables on the day before colonoscopy. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support recent guidelines encouraging unrestricted diets >1 day before colonoscopy if using a split-dose bowel regimen. Furthermore, we found no evidence to restrict dietary fiber 1 day before colonoscopy. We also found evidence to promote consumption of gelatin and avoidance of red meat, poultry, and vegetables 1 day before colonoscopy.Dr Jacobson has acted as a consultant for MOTUS GI and Remedy Partners. All other authors disclosed no financial relationships relevant to this publication. Supported by NIH/NIDDK R21DK105476. (R21DK105476 - NIH/NIDDK)Accepted manuscrip

Using the fractional interaction law to model the impact dynamics in arbitrary form of multiparticle collisions

Using the molecular dynamics method, we examine a discrete deterministic model for the motion of spherical particles in three-dimensional space. The model takes into account multiparticle collisions in arbitrary forms. Using fractional calculus we proposed an expression for the repulsive force, which is the so called fractional interaction law. We then illustrate and discuss how to control (correlate) the energy dissipation and the collisional time for an individual article within multiparticle collisions. In the multiparticle collisions we included the friction mechanism needed for the transition from coupled torsion-sliding friction through rolling friction to static friction. Analysing simple simulations we found that in the strong repulsive state binary collisions dominate. However, within multiparticle collisions weak repulsion is observed to be much stronger. The presented numerical results can be used to realistically model the impact dynamics of an individual particle in a group of colliding particles.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, 1 table; In review process of Physical Review

Project #82: HFWH Vertical Treatment Zone

Problem Statement: Limited Emergency Department bed capacity and increased acuity resulted in increased left without completing service (LWCS) resulting in increased patient safety risk. Goal: Design a new patient throughput workflow to provide safe, timely and quality patient-centered care resulting in decreased LWSC, decreased arrival to provider times, decreased LOS of the discharged patient, and increased patient satisfaction.https://scholarlycommons.henryford.com/qualityexpo2023/1007/thumbnail.jp

Surface and electronic structure of MOCVD-grown Ga(0.92)In(0.08)N investigated by UV and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies

The surface and electronic structure of MOCVD-grown layers of Ga(0.92)In(0.08)N have been investigated by means of photoemission. An additional feature at the valence band edge, which can be ascribed to the presence of In in the layer, has been revealed. A clean (0001)-(1x1) surface was prepared by argon ion sputtering and annealing. Stability of chemical composition of the investigated surface subjected to similar ion etching was proven by means of X-ray photoemission spectroscopy.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Efficient optical activation of ion-implanted Zn acceptors in GaN by annealing under 10 kbar N2 overpressure

We continue our investigations into the optical activation of Zn-implanted GaN annealed under ever higher N2 overpressure. The samples studied were epitaxial GaN/sapphire layers of good optical quality which were implanted with a 1013 cm−2 dose of Zn+ ions at 200 keV, diced into equivalent pieces and annealed under 10 kbar of N2. The N2 overpressure permitted annealing at temperatures up to 1250°C for 1 hr without GaN decomposition. The blue Zn-related photoluminescence (PL) signal rises sharply with increasing anneal temperature. The Zn-related PL intensity in the implanted sample annealed at 1250°C exceeded that of the epitaxially doped GaN:Zn standard proving that high temperature annealing of GaN under kbar N2 overpressure can effectively remove implantation damage and efficiently activate implanted dopants in GaN. We propose a lateral LED device which could be fabricated using ion implanted dopants activated by high temperature annealing at high pressur