Fractal Artwork: Dimension and Complexity as a Guide for Aesthetics

Jackson Pollock is an artist famously known for his technique of paint dripping to create various works of art, using a pouring technique to create designs as opposed to more Euclidean shapes produced by brush strokes.  Due to this method of painting and the results it produces, Pollock’s works can be described to be fractal images, with his style being “Fractal Expressionism” [1].  Characterizing these fractal images comes in the form of fractal dimension, having a value that ranges between 1 and 2. A dimension of 1 would have no fractals, and values closer to 1 tend to be sparser; on the other hand, a dimension of 2 would be completely filled, and values near this would be more intricate and complex [2].

Determining the fractal dimension of a piece is done by the box counting method.   First, a computer generated mesh consisting of identical squares, or boxes, is placed on a digital image of the painting.  Next, scaling qualities of the fractal pattern are determined by calculating the proportion of filled squares to empty ones.  The number of occupied squares, given by N(L), is compared to the width L, where N(L) is a function of this width.  N(L) scales according to the power law that N(L) is asymptotic to L^-D, where D is the dimension.  Then, a scaling plot is created between –logN(L) and logL.  Finally, if the painting is of fractal pattern, this plot will produce a straight line, where the dimension D is the gradient of this straight line [2].

Using this method, we can characterize the fractal art of Pollock, and any other forms of fractal images.  Analyzing Pollock’s work in this way, mathematicians were able to identify “periods” in his work, in which his artwork would stay near a given value of fractal dimension during a time period of a few years [1]. In fact, the fractal analysis of characteristics in Pollock’s work shows that the fractals produced are not simply a consequence of paint being poured, but moreover by his own technique, involving deliberate and specific pouring, along with body motions.  Furthermore, Pollock’s work in this analysis meets 6 specific criteria. Some of these include having two fractal sets within his pieces, due to his techniques, as well as fractal patterns occurring over distinct length scales [1].  These criteria can then be used to identify Pollock’s work, as other artists trying to replicate his images will not meet the criteria when analyzed.

Figure 1. A graph of the change in fractal dimensions Pollock exhibits over time [1]

Aside from Pollock’s work, fractal dimension characteristics can also be used as a means to quantify aesthetics.  As stated previously, pictures range in fractal dimension value from 1 to 2; determining which values are considered aesthetically pleasing to viewers could help ascribe a number to aesthetic works.  One study conducted used participants to give preference when shown a number of fractals, each with different dimension [2].  This particular study had shown that participants preferred a fractal dimension of around 1.3 to 1.5, which was consistent throughout multiple types of fractals, including natural images and parts of Pollock’s works. It is important to note that a control was held, showing that preference was not dependent density, but over complexity alone.  A different study compared these various types of fractals, which found that natural images were most often considered the most beautiful, as well as having the highest fractal dimensions [3].  Finally, one last study had asked participants to rate sets of images, each having one of two fractal dimensions and one of two Lyapunov exponents [4].  This exponent quantifies the unpredictability of the process used to generate fractal images; in this case, the range falls between 0.01 and 0.84 bits per iteration, with the higher the number producing a more chaotic image.  This study found that the mean preference was 1.26 in fractal dimension, and 0.37 for the Lyapunov exponent, reflective of many natural images.

Figure 2. Fractal dimension preference graphs for different sets of fractals [2]

These various studies all attempt to affix a number as to what is deemed to be aesthetic.  By isolating a variable such as fractal dimension and running tests to see what is preferred, we can begin to find what constitutes an aesthetic fractal image.  However, these studies are still rooted in subjectivity, as well as being confined to very specific images that can be analyzed as data.  Therefore, quantifying art in this fashion does not define what art truly is.  Regardless of this fact, it does help to bridge a gap and allow some form of rating to be applied to a mostly qualitative field.

References:

[1]  Taylor, Robert P., et al. “Authenticating Pollock paintings using fractal geometry.” Pattern Recognition Letters 28.6 (2007): 695-702.

[2]  Spehar, Branka, et al. “Universal aesthetic of fractals.” Computers & Graphics 27.5 (2003): 813-820.

[3]  Forsythe, Alex, et al. “Predicting beauty: fractal dimension and visual complexity in art.” British journal of psychology 102.1 (2011): 49-70.

[4]  Aks, Deborah J., and Julien C. Sprott. “Quantifying aesthetic preference for chaotic patterns.” Empirical studies of the arts 14.1 (1996): 1-16.

[5]  Jones-Smith, Katherine, and Harsh Mathur. “Fractal Analysis: Revisiting Pollock’s Drip Paintings.” Nature 444.7119 (2006): E9-E10. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

Bilingual Brains: Function, Structure, and Neuroimaging

The mere existence of those who speak multiple languages raises many questions in terms of brain structure and function. Namely, how do people acquire new languages and, once acquired, where does the brain ‘place’ these languages? Furthermore, does language processing happen in the same place for all of a polyglot’s languages? Luckily, today’s neuroimaging tools provide us with a non-invasive way of answering these questions. Firstly, we must consider what we know of the bilingual brain without the use of neuroimaging. It has already been observed that bilingual people suffering from aphasia (an inability or difficulty in comprehending and formulating language due to a stroke or other brain-related trauma) did not always suffer its effects in the same way for each language. This suggests the possibility that bilingual brains ‘store’ languages in different parts of the brain at least some of the time. It is also already known that early on in language learning the second language is processed by a sort of translation from the first language and that as proficiency is gained the use of the second language becomes a more fluid and unconscious process. Functional neuroimaging processes like positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) now allow us to directly observe these processes in action thus understanding why and how they occur (Perani 2003).

There is no question that being bilingual effects the structure of the brain and can be beneficial to the health of the bilingual speaker. The below image displays the regions with higher activation and higher white-matter integrity in bilinguals.

Figure 1. Effects of Bilingualism on the Brain. Green depicts grey matter regions that show high activation during bilingual language switching, red-yellow depicts areas of higher white matter integrity in bilingual adults as compared to monolingual adults. (Bialystok 2012)

These structural differences have long been attributed to the repeated finding that bilinguals have better working memory and better ability to switch attention/tasks. It has also been shown that bilinguals activate the regions of their brain that speak either language no matter what language is being utilized. It is this joint activation that creates what is known as higher neuroplasticity in polyglots, also contributing to lower rates and later onset of dementia in bilinguals (Bialystok 2012).

These structural differences in the separation of languages in bilinguals have been physically observed. A 2004 study mapped the functional separation of languages by electrical stimulation. The research finds that language-specific sites exist in all speakers. However, in 60% of bilinguals, their language use was contained not in one language site, but two. Furthermore, it was found that language production resulted from the use of not only language-specific sites but also shared sites. This means that bilingual brains have physical areas dedicated to respective languages separately, but that there is also an overlap in the use of these areas (Lucas 2004).  This lends physical evidence to the belief in bilingual neuroplasticity in that bilinguals undoubtedly get more use, and more varied use, of certain parts of their brains. Furthermore, a 2006 study used fMRI imaging to exactly place where it is in the brain that bilinguals control language processing. The study concludes that the left caudate (see Figure 2) “plays a significant role in language control”. In essence, it is the left caudate that controls which of the previously mentioned language specific sites are activated and how they interact, allowing the bilingual to speak two distinct languages. (Crinion 2006)

Figure 2. Location and activation of the left caudate. Bilinguals were presented semantically related word pairs in two different languages and it was the left caudate that showed most activity, meaning it may be this region that controls language-switching.

Unfortunately, research has also been done to show that bilingualism may effect the speaker’s ability to separate languages. A 2005 experiment asked bilingual patients to press a button if the name of the object shown to them started with a vowel but not with a consonant, and vice versa. Specifically, in this experiment patients were speakers of German and Spanish. A control group of monolingual German or Spanish speakers was also tested. It was found that bilinguals made more mistakes in their answers and their responses were slowed by about 100 to 200 milliseconds. This was timed physically and by fMRI imaging (Rodriguez-Fornells 2005).  It can be inferred that this delay is a consequence of the language-specific sites and shared sites that are used simultaneously in bilinguals, as shown in the previous study. However, a 100 to 200 millisecond delay in response does not quite constitute a worrisome consequence of being bilingual, especially in light of all of its benefits. The results of all of these studies, while they answer many questions, warrant further exploration into the structure and function of bilingual brains. Moreover, questions about the function and structure of the brains of those who speak more than two languages has not been explored.

References

Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I., & Luk, G. (2012, April). Bilingualism: Consequences for Mind and Brain. Trends in Cognitive Science, 16(4), 240-248. Retrieved October 30, 2016.

Crinion, J., Turner, R., Grogan, A., Hanakawa, T., Noppeney, U., Devlin, J., . . . Price, C. (2006, June 9). Language Control in the Bilingual Brain. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 312, 1537-1540. Retrieved October 30, 2016.

Lucas, T. H., II, McKhann, G. M., II, & Ojemann, G. A. (2004, September). Functional Separation of Languages in the Bilingual Brain: A Comparison of Electrical Stimulation Language Mapping in 25 Bilingual Patients and 117 Monolingual Control Patients. Journal of Neurosurgery, 101, 449-457. Retrieved October 30, 2016.

Perani, D. (2003). Functional Neuroimaging and the Bilingual Brain. Friulian Journal of Science, 4, 115-131. Retrieved October 30, 2016.

Rodriquez-Fornells, A., Van der Lugt, A., Rotte, M., Britti, B., Heinze, H., & Münte, T. F. (2005). Second Language Interferes with Word Production in Fluent Bilinguals: Brain Potential and Functional Imaging Evidence. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17(3), 422-433. Retrieved October 30, 2016.

Psychology and Security

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the security of our airports have been under extreme scrutiny. Trillions of dollars have been used in the operation of the TSA where a huge sum of that money is being used in highly advanced technological systems (Herstein, Mikti). Although these systems are state of the art, there still remains many flaws as the operations are run by human individuals.

El Al airlines, the flag carrier of Israel, employs a different technique in screening its passengers. In addition to the normal security procedures encountered at most international airports, El Al interviews every one of its passengers. The airline trains its staff extensively to use “psychology” rather than “technology” for security measures (Herstein, Mikti, Jaffe). The airline gets a list of the passengers on each flight and compares it to the list of suspicious passengers from the Israeli intelligence. Rather than using full body scanners that can cause passengers much discomfort, El Al finds researches information on all of its passengers and looks for suspicious clues such as when reservations were made and how tickets were purchased. The interrogation tactics used by El Al are often aggressive and unpredictable with those from Arab and Palestinian descent facing additional questioning (Fraley, Shaver). 

El Al also uses a mix of psychology and technology in its airline with all of its cabin crew having served in the Israeli military. The cockpit door is closed before passengers board the plane, opened after all the passengers have disembarked and never opened during the flight (Stevenage, Guest). Even during an incident when a hijacker had shot a stewardess and were holding two hand grenades the pilot refused to open the cockpit door. The crew and passengers were able to overpower the hijackers. Luggage is also passed through regular x-ray screening and then placed in a pressurized box which detonates any explosives. On every flight, up to five armed sky marshals are aboard the aircraft to prevent any potential danger (Hayward, Erik, Tamaryn).

The cost of using these security tactics cost the airline $90 million a year. Overall, the security measures being used has been very effective without having a single tragedy in over 40 years (Fraley). 

Figure 1: Chart showing the layers of security in an Israeli Airport

References

Herstein, R. and Mitki, Y. (2008) ‘How El Al Airlines transformed its service strategy with employee participation’, Strategy & Leadership Journal, 36(3), pp. 21–25. doi: 10.1108/10878570810870758.

Herstein, R., Mitki, Y. and Jaffe, E.D. (2008) ‘Communicating a new corporate image during privatization: The case of El al airlines’, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 13(4), pp. 380–393. doi: 10.1108/13563280810914810.

Fraley, R. Chris; Shaver, Phillip R. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 75(5), Nov 1998, 1198-1212. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.75.5.1198

Sarah V. Stevenage, Richard M. Guest, Combining Forces: Data fusion across man and machine for biometric analysis, Image and Vision Computing Journal, 2016

Hayward J. Godwin, Erik D. Reichle, Tamaryn Menneer, Modeling Lag-2 Revisits to Understand Trade-Offs in Mixed Control of Fixation Termination During Visual Search, Cognitive Science Journal, 2016

The Growing Gap Between the Number of Inpatient and Outpatient Surgeries

In 2008, a group of researchers funded by the World Health Organization (WHO) gathered data from 192 member states of WHO and estimated there were approximately 234 million major surgeries that took place worldwide (Weiser et al., 2008). The general types of surgery can be labeled to the following: ambulatory surgeries, inpatient surgeries, and a more specific kind, organ transplants.

Outpatient surgery, also known as ambulatory surgery, is an operation that is completed within 24 hours, which does not require an overnight hospital stay. Most of these cases are related to eyes, ears, nose, mouth, pharynx, and skin. On the other hand, inpatient surgery is a surgery where the patient must stay in the operating room for more than a day. Most of the cases are related to obstetrical, respiratory, and cardiovascular structures. Urinary, female genital, musculoskeletal, and nervous surgeries were more evenly distributed to both categories (Wier et al., 2012). In the United States, the total number of surgeries at community hospitals increased by 17 percent between 1992 and 2012. In which, there were 17.3 million cases of outpatient surgeries, which is equivalent to 65% of the total surgeries. Whereas a decade before then, outpatient surgeries only made up 54% of the total, approximately equal to 12.3 million (American Hospital Association, 2014).

Figure 1. Ambulatory versus inpatient surgeries by body system in 2012. Retrieve from Wier et al., 2015.

The number of outpatient surgeries has been surpassing that of the inpatient surgeries for the past decade. One of the possible factors that account for this increasing gap could be the specific types of operations that are more frequently performed each category. An infamous example is organ transplant. It is one of most risky types of inpatient surgery, whereas the process may include the removal and the replacement of a failed organ in the body. Not only it is dangerous, the chances of success are very low. Even after the surgery, the organ may not be compatible with the body and cause internal failure (Bioethics, 2004). There was a total of 119,873 transplants worldwide in 2014, and America is the leading country of organ transplants. In 2015, there was a total of 30,970 transplants performed in the U.S. Organ transplants are highly competitive among its recipients. On average, about 80 people receive organ transplants every day but there are still twenty-two people dying daily waiting for an available organ. 95% of the adult Americans supports organ transplant but only half the supporters are registered donors. Currently, there are 119,000 people on the U.S. national transplant waiting list, but the number of available organs is very limited (US. Department of Health & Human Services).

Figure 2. The number of patients on the waiting list, donors, and transplants yearly in the United States. Retrieved from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2015.

Figure 3. The number of organs transplanted per million population; the United States has the most organ transplant cases worldwide. Retrieved from GODT, 2016.

Over two million surgeries happened annually around the world. Depending on the condition of the patients, physicians and health care workers determine if the patient requires overnight stays at the hospital. The total number of surgeries performed has been increasing since 1992. The  number of inpatient surgeries is increasing with more stability compared to the number of outpatient surgeries. One factor to examine is the limitation of organ transplants held for the past decade. Organ transplant made up approximately 10% of the total surgeries performed in the U.S. The number of patients on the national waiting list for organ transplant is increasing every year, but the number of donors or available/suitable organs are highly restricted. There wasn’t a clear increase either in the number of donors or transplants for the last 12 years (figure 3). The restricted limit on the available resources provided for this type of surgery can be a great factor contributing to the steady increase in the number of inpatient surgeries.

Literature cited

American Hospital Association. (2014). Utilization and volume. In: Trends Affecting Hospitals and Health Systems, chapter 3. http://www.aha.org/research/reports/tw/chartbook/index.shtml.

Center for Bioethics. (2004). Ethics of Organ Transplantation. University of Minnesota’s center for bioethics.

Global Observatory on Donation and Transplant (GODT). (2016). WHO-ONT. WHO Collaborating Centre on Donation and Transplantation.

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Health Resources & Services Administration. (2015). Organ Donation Statistics. U.S. Government Information on Organ Donation and Transplantation.

Weiser, G.T., Regenbogen, S.E., Thompson, K.D., Haynes, A.B., Lipsitz, S.R., Berry, W.R., and Gawande, A.A. (2008). An estimation of the global volume of surgery: a modeling strategy based on available data. Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

Wier, L.M., Steiner, C.A., and Owens, P.L. (2015). Surgeries in Hospital-Owned Outpatient Facilities, 2012. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project.

The Mysteries and Explorations and Explanations of Black Holes

Black holes have become a relatively recent phenomenon within the science and more specifically, the physics community. Their introduction has stirred up massive debate within the community and many scientists have tried to explain them through mathematical means, as theories, and consequently because of the mathematical explanations, they make sense. Black holes are said to be incredibly massive and have such an intense gravitational force, that they literally slow down light and pull it in. Consequently, it is said that nothing can escape a black hole. To get an idea of how massive a black hole can be, consider the mass of the Earth. A black hole with the mass of the Earth would only be about the size of a dime. In origin, however, “black holes consist of a location where matter densities approach infinity (a “singularity”) surrounded by an empty zone of extreme gravitation from which nothing, not even light can escape” (Barceló, 2009).

Black holes are originally formed from the “dark remnants of collapsed stars” and “harbor unfathomable mystery behind the curtain that is its ‘event horizon’” (Barceló, 2009). A black hole can arise from massive clouds of gas as opposed to the death of a star in some instances, forming when a blobs of interstellar gas collapse under their own weight without forming stars (Ionescu & Klainerman, 2009). Another mysterious but defining characteristic of a black hole is the event horizon. The event horizon is a “causal boundary that separates the interior and exterior of a black hole, and prevents any signal originating from the interior from reaching the exterior” (Barausse et al., 2013).

While they are still being explored and discussed, at one point they were considered and supposed to be “perfect trapping systems at the classic level” (Lochan & Chakraborty, 2016). Furthermore black holes display thermal characteristics and this thought is furthered by Stephen Hawking showing black holes to be radiating “at a characteristic temperature inversely proportional to their masses” allowing for this idea of a black hole to have entropy which turns out to be proportional to their area of horizon, in the Einstein theory (Lochan & Chakraborty, 2016).

As surprising as it is, black holes have their own category of being supermassive as well. The irony being that they are incredibly massive enough. They are thought to be the sites from which “the highest energy cosmic rays are launched” and can be around hundred million times “more energetic than the highest energy particles that are currently being produced at the Large Hadron Collider” (Maccarone, 2014). To add on to this incredibly massed phenomenon, the merging of black holes sounds simply catastrophic, and it would be since the merging is “a likely source of strong gravitational radiation” (Maccarone, 2014). There is much to ponder about black holes and they are still very much only theoretical.

Figure 1. Space time diagram (schematic) of a black hole with a universal origin (Barausse et al., 2013).

Works Cited:

Barausse, Enrico, and Thomas P Sotiriou. “Black Holes In Lorentz-Violating Gravity Theories.” Classical & Quantum Gravity 30.24 (2013): 244010-244031.

Barceló, Carlos, et al. “Black Stars, Not Holes.” Scientific American 301.4 (2009): 38-45.

Ionescu, Alexandru D., and Sergiu Klainerman. “On The Uniqueness Of Smooth, Stationary Black Holes In Vacuum.” Inventiones Mathematicae 175.1 (2009): 35-102.

Lochan, Kinjalk, and Sumanta Chakraborty. “Discrete Quantum Spectrum Of Black Holes.” Physics Letters B 755.(2016): 37-42.

Maccarone, Thomas. “Black Hole Studies: Overview And Outlook.” Space Science Reviews 183.1-4 (2014): 477-489.

Credibility of Reputable Yelp Users

Yelp has a large presence in the world of business. Not only are small businesses affected by Yelp, but large businesses as well. Reviews hold great influence over such entities. In a survey, 90% of consumers read reviews. Of that number of people, 88% trust the reviews that they read. Furthermore, 86% hesitate to purchase from businesses that have negative reviews (Ward). There is no doubt that Yelp has an enormous impact on the decisions of its readers because it allows them to make a wiser choice given first-hand details about their options. There is much to consider when reading reviews. First and foremost, is the reviewer credible? Unfortunately, businesses that are not doing as well in the market look to fake reviews in order to attract more business. The influence that Yelp has incentivizes businesses to falsify their ratings or even post negative ratings on the profiles of their competitors.

Figure 1: Percentage of Filtered Reviews by Quarter (Luca)

Are reviews still trustworthy in the face of these counterfeits? As much as it may seem that many businesses would pay for positive reviews, roughly about 16% of businesses are actually filtered in Yelp as suspicious (Luca). It is important to note that this percentage may be low due to the fact that it is hard to determine what is legitimate. There is no difference among the writers of real and fake reviews besides their intent. What’s important is that users know about the existence of these fabrications. In a survey, users that read reviews take cues on reputation based on the number of friends and reviews (Lim et al.). Furthermore, in a designed experiment with electronic Word-Of-Mouth messages, it was found that credibility in general can be damaged if there are too many positive reviews (Doh et al.). Therefore, hiring people to write positive reviews to help the business can backfire. Thankfully, this sets a limit on the extent that businesses can go out of their way in order to get ahead.

There’s one question that we ignored that becomes the underlying force of these reviews. Why do they exist? Genuine reviewers are not paid or incentivized materialistically so there wouldn’t seem to be any motivation to take time out of their day to rate businesses. Findings on these online communities show that a consumers’ inclination for social interaction, concern for others, and increment of self-worth drive people to continually post reviews (Hennig-Thurau). These reasons will not only keep Yelp alive but drive it to further influence our consumer lives in the future.

Works Cited

Doh, Sun-Jae, and Jang-Sun Hwang. “How consumers evaluate eWOM (electronic word-of-mouth) messages.” CyberPsychology & Behavior 12.2 (2009): 193-197.

Hennig‐Thurau, Thorsten, et al. “Electronic word‐of‐mouth via consumer‐opinion platforms: What motivates consumers to articulate themselves on the Internet?.” Journal of interactive marketing 18.1 (2004): 38-52.

Lim, Young‐shin, and Brandon Van Der Heide. “Evaluating the wisdom of strangers: The perceived credibility of online consumer reviews on Yelp.” Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication 20.1 (2015): 67-82.

Luca, Michael, and Georgios Zervas. “Fake it till you make it: Reputation, competition, and Yelp review fraud.” Management Science (2016).

Ward, Cheryl, et al. “‘Yelp’Gives it Four Stars: Consumer Attitudes towards Ratings and Reviewers.” (2016).

Viral Effects on our Immune System

Viruses have the capability to take advantage of our own immune system and use our own cells to produce copies of itself. In this sense, viruses can be extremely deadly to the cells and eventually even lethal to the organism itself. They infiltrate cells by the receptors on their outer protein code and bind to the membrane of cells. Once they enter the cell, they use the cell’s own protein builders and DNA replication methods to produce copies of itself until the cell actually lyses where the viral copies can infect other cells and repeat the process.

Visual representations of 2 different virus types. The influenza has protruding proteins that bind to the membranes of cells. The bacteriophage injects it’s genetic material within the bacteria.

Viruses can even have long term effects on the immune systems of eukaryotes. It can effect both the humoral and cellular immunity of an organism (Notkins 1970). Mice born with a virus were found to have more difficulty producing antibodies. In fact, in some cells the productivity was decreased by as much as 99%. Without antibodies the response rate to infection is greatly decreased, giving the virus more time to infect and spread. In fact, in a similar experiment conducted with mice, when they were injected with a viral gene during their developmental stages, they showed no immunity to that virus when reintroduced to it later in life (Oldstone 1991). This is noteworthy, as vaccines, which are used to cure viruses, are essentially weakened forms of the virus.

In eukaryotes such as plants, it has been found that an adaptation to combat this viral method of infection is through ‘RNA Silencing’ (Voinnet 2001). RNA silencing is where translation is controlled and gene expression is stopped. When DNA is read/proofread, and it notices the foreign genetic material, RNA silencing occurs and makes sure the proteins are not produced. They “block” the transcript through methylation.  And yet, some viruses have shown an alternate adaptation that allows them to greatly decrease the levels of “killer cells” that target the virus (Stern-Ginossar 2007). The virus deregulates the production of ligands, during infection, that helps bind natural killer cells that target virus-infected cells. These killer cells destroy infected cells before they have the chance to “explode” with viral copies and infect other cells. Putting a crutch on this mechanism greatly weakens our immune system response.

One of the deadliest viruses out there is the HIV/AIDS virus. The reason it is so deadly is because it targets and attacks our immune system, making it weaker, thus giving more power and time to the virus to grow and multiply. Now, many cells in the human body have specific surface proteins that will only allow certain molecules to pass through. The surface protein T4, expressed in both the brain and lymphoid cells, has been found to relate with the deadliness of HIV/AIDS (Maddon 1986). The virus, once bound to the T4 surface protein, internalized the information of the T4 in order to easily enter cells in the lymphatic system and the brain, areas where the current virus are heavily located/targeted. This is how the virus “learned” and became such a deadly force. It used our own information against us.

                                                                       Sources                                                                      

Notkins, A. L., S. E. Mergenhagen, and R. J. Howard. “Effect of Virus Infections on the Function of the Immune System.” Annual Review of Microbiology Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 24.1 (1970): 525-38.

Oldstone, M.b.a. “Virus Infection Triggers Insulin-dependent Diabetes Mellitus in a Transgenic Model: Role of Anti-self (virus) Immune Response.” Trends in Genetics 7.7 (1991): 205.

Voinnet, O. “RNA Silencing as a Plant Immune System against Viruses.” Trends in Genetics 17.8 (2001): 449-59.

Stern-Ginossar, N., N. Elefant, A. Zimmermann, D. G. Wolf, N. Saleh, M. Biton, E. Horwitz, Z. Prokocimer, M. Prichard, G. Hahn, D. Goldman-Wohl, C. Greenfield, S. Yagel, H. Hengel, Y. Altuvia, H. Margalit, and O. Mandelboim. “Host Immune System Gene Targeting by a Viral MiRNA.” Science 317.5836 (2007): 376-81.

Maddon, Paul Jay, Angus G. Dalgleish, J.steven Mcdougal, Paul R. Clapham, Robin A. Weiss, and Richard Axel. “The T4 Gene Encodes the AIDS Virus Receptor and Is Expressed in the Immune System and the Brain.” Cell47.3 (1986): 333-48.

The Intense and Untested Social Stress of Outer Space Missions

One of the most important aspects of a human’s well-being is their mental health. Our mind is molded and maintained by our interactions with others and our environment. New experiences keep our mind sharp for everyday tasks. As an astronaut, however, there is not much along the lines of new experiences. Severing the connection between a human and the rest of their planet has a profound effect on their mental and emotional well-being and must be continuously analyzed and aided to ensure that the mission goes according to plan.

Kanas et al. describe the mental journey of an astronaut in three parts: anxiety due to the novelty and gravity of the mission, depression and boredom during the majority of the mission, and “immature behavior” and excitement to return home at the end (Kanas et al. 2000). In fact, the midway point of a mission usually has the most profound negative effect on the astronaut as they only then realize how long they will spend away from Earth (Kanas et al. 2009). This depression has the potential to cripple an astronaut to the point where they would be able to perform tasks in an emergency situation (Kanas et al. 2009).

Russian psychologists have defined a mental illness called asthenia – characterized by irritability, insomnia, lack of appetite, and fatigue – to properly detail the mental conditions many astronauts suffer through (Kanas et al. 2000). This illness is not yet recognized by the United States, but the issues of international space efforts only start there. The need for a undeniably cohesive team of astronauts is paramount to the success of any mission. Any international team, as will inevitably come about in the future, must not only speak the same language, but recognize the customs and habits of the others. Different cultures create different politics, manners, and expressions of emotions just to name a few differences. These differences are so intrinsic to the people experiencing them that “depressed mood may be more likely to co-occur with anxiety among Americans but with fatigue among Russians” (Kanas et al. 2009). With the possibility of a Mars mission lasting several years, the different cultures would not only need to respect each other, it seems that they would almost need to fuse together.

With radio communication times between Earth and Mars reaching 22 minutes, the crew needs to be fully autonomous (Kanas et al. 2009). While there may initially be a leader or a cohesive group, it is an almost insurmountable challenge for this group to survive all the social stressors of isolation. Different nationalities may form different groups and discriminate against each other, leaders can be challenged to no end, and harmless interactions may be misinterpreted due to cultural differences (Kanas et al. 2000, 2009). The monotony of this social hierarchy is likely to lead to its collapse (Palinkas 2007).

Mars is our by far our closest cosmic neighbor – if we cannot figure out a solution on how to create functional social groups here, we will likely never be able to travel to any other celestial body. Even this close the the Earth, our planet appears as a tiny speck in the sky as a constant reminder of how isolated the are from their friends and family. Interplanetary astronauts will not have access to any of the cushy accommodations (such as real-time contact with Earth) of orbiting vessels such as the ISS (Kanas et al. 2000).

Figure 1: The Earth and Moon as seen from Mars, taken by the Curiosity Rover

Not much data exists as a guideline on how astronauts should be trained for such long-term missions. We are not even sure if our training regiments for current short-term missions are sufficient in any way for a mission to Mars. Multiple sources recommend an intense, isolated team experience in extreme locations such as Antarctica, where residents suffer from many of the same mental stressors as astronauts would (Palinkas 2003, 2007; Kanas et al. 2008, 2009). Intense training over several months with the crew and ground control would be needed to form a bond which would certainly be tested in the depths of space.

If the social structure of these initial missions work out and humanity is able to spread its wings out into the solar system, the social stress of exploring space will only decrease as it becomes more accessible for the general population. Once a sizable and functional population of humans is established on Mars, a new society will be born.

References

Palinkas LA. 2007. Psychosocial issues in long-term space flight overview 25:33

Kanas N, Sandal G, Boyd JE, Gushin VI, Manzay D, North R, Leon GR, Suedfeld P, Bishop S, Fiedler ER, Inoue N, Johannes B, Kealey DJ, Kraft N, Matsuzaki I, Musson D, Palinkas LA, Salnitskiy VP, Sipes W, Stuster J, Wang J. 2009. Psychology and culture during long-duration space missions 659:677

Kanas N, Salnitskiy VP, Grund EM, Gushin V, Weiss DS, Kozerenko O, Sled A, Marmar CR. 2000. Social and cultural issues during Shuttle/Mir space missions 647:655

Kanas N, Manzey D. 2008. Space psychology and psychiatry 1:12

Palinkas LA. 2003. The psychology of isolated and confined environments: Understanding human behavior in Antarctica. Abstract

The Drawback of Classroom Instruction: Distractions

Classroom instruction is the standard for public education in this day and age. It is arguably the most effective and efficient way of large group instruction. A significant drawback of this method, which has surely occurred to everyone at least once, is loss of focus, also known as being distracted. “Classroom distractions may be defined as those events which take teachers and/or their students off the intended instructional tasks. This includes any behavior, activity, or event that comes to the attention of either the teacher or his/her students” (Behnke, 1981). Distraction is one of the biggest reasons why some students underachieve while others do not.

An experiment was conducted where two testing sessions were held where one included distractions and the other did not. “Distractions occurred soon after the beginning of each of the six timed subtests… The distractions used were as follows: 1) an alarm-type bell went off; 2) two kittens were dropped into the room, then removed; 3) the lights were blinked three times; 4) a radio playing the World Series was turned on for 30 seconds; 5) a person entered to bring the examiner a note and dropped an armload of papers; 6) two teachers entered the room talking, did a ‘double-take’ and left; 7) a book was dropped; and 8) a child came in, asked for someone who was not present and left” (Trentham, 1975).

Figure 1: Test scores of two test-taking groups, one with distractions and the other without

As shown in Figure 1, the non-distraction group scored higher than the distraction group. This supports the idea that students need a distraction-free environment to perform at their best.

One of the biggest classroom distractions is the use of electronics. The use of a laptop during a lecture can single-handedly make-or-break the lecture. “Cynthia M. Frisby, associate professor of strategic communication at the University of Missouri, has noticed students on MySpace and eBay during her lectures. She has noticed more failing grades… Now she bans laptops in her large lectures courses… The result? ‘Huge increases in attention and better performance on exams,’ she says” (Bugeja, 2007).

There’s no denying that using a laptop for non-instructional purposes can destroy the purpose of the lecture. But if technology were used for the purpose of the class, it makes a significant difference. Findings show that “technology use predicts self-directed learning and student engagement but has a negligible overall relationship with academic performance” (Rashid, 2016). If a student is engaged and is interested in more, research on the internet can propel the student by learning extra material in and out of the classroom.

The use of electronics is a way of self-distraction. In many other cases, a distraction will occur from another student. An experiment shows “that distracting inattentive behavior on the part of one student, in the form of a verbal off-task comment or nonverbal actions, leads other students to stop attending to the reading lesson… Inattentive behavior appears to diffuse through the group in short spurts… with distraction leading to more inattention immediately following the distracting behavior” (Felmlee, 1985). A student has no individual control over distractions created by a classmate. Even so, it is clearly shown that a single distraction can lead to the loss of attention from many of the students. It is up to the professor to limit these distractions in the classroom by not allowing such things to occur.

References

Behnke, G., Labovitz, E. M., Bennett, J., Chase, C., Day, J., Lazar, C., & Mittleholtz, D. (1981, January). Coping with Classroom Distractions. The Elementary School Journal, 81(3), 135-155.

Bugeja, M. J. (2007, January 26). Distractions in the Wireless Classroom.

Felmlee, D., Eder, D., & Tsui, W. (1985, September). Peer Influence on Classroom Attention. Social Psychology Quarterly, 48(3), 215-226.

Rashid, T., & Asghar, H. M. (2016, June 6). Technology use, self-directed learning, student engagement and academic performance: Examining the interrelations. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 604-612.

Trentham, L. L. (1975, Spring). The Effect of Distractions on Sixth-Grade Students in a Testing Situation. Journal of Educational Measurement, 12(1), 13-17.

The Role of Green Technology in Sustainable Building

Green technology is an essential component of green building. It is responsible for reducing waste, pollution, and energy usage throughout a building’s lifetime. Different green technologies are incorporated during construction with the goal of being able to achieve sustainability, the property of meeting the needs of society without damaging or depleting natural resources (Yusof & Mydin, 2014). The use of green technologies also improves comfort, satisfaction, and indoor air quality while lowering expenses for equipment maintenance (Oberndorfer et al., 2007). Small ecosystems, solar energy systems, and green materials are examples of commonly used technologies in sustainable building.

A common strategy used in green building to reduce water, energy and maintenance costs is integrating ecosystems in the building’s design. Ecosystems can perform a multitude of tasks including rainwater storage, runoff reduction, and heating and cooling buildings (Kibert & Grosskopf, 2007). Green roofs, essentially roofs with vegetation, are commonly used in green building. Although green roofs are initially costlier than standard roofs, the amount of energy they save throughout their lifetime makes up for it. A simple green roof includes a roofing membrane, an insulation layer, a waterproofing membrane, a growing medium layer, and a vegetation layer as shown in Figure 1. Plants on the roof transpire water, cooling and transporting it back into the atmosphere. This process helps reduce the heat flux inside the building. As a result, the interior of the building is cooler than that of a building with a conventional roof. Additionally, green roofs are responsible for water management. The growing medium layer, which holds the plants’ roofs, is responsible for retaining storm water thereby reducing runoff. Reducing heavy runoff in urban areas decreases the amount of polluted rainwater that enters nearby bodies of water. Finally, green gardens serve as a habitat for insects. Beetles, ants, flies, spiders, and leafhoppers are a few of the creatures that have been spotted on currently functioning green roofs (Oberndorfer et al., 2007).

Figure 1: The Layers of a Simple Green Roof, Source: Matthews, R. (2012, July 30). Types of Green Roofs. Retrieved from http://www.thegreenmarketoracle.com/

The use of solar energy is another very popular technique used in green building. Radiant light and heat from the sun are converted into electrical energy and then used for various functions. Examples of solar technologies include solar heating, solar photovoltaic, solar thermal electricity and solar architecture. Solar technologies are beneficial because they do not pollute the environment, require minimal maintenance, and have a lifespan of 20 years. Solar energy systems can be characterized as either active and passive. Active solar energy uses mechanical devices to store and distribute solar energy throughout a building. An example of active solar heating is a method that involves collecting, storing, and distributing heat through the use of pumps, fans, and blowers. Another method involves heating water with the sun and then using the water as a medium to transfer heat throughout the system (Yusof & Mydin, 2014). Companies are currently finding new ways to utilize solar energy. Alcoa, an aluminum manufacturing company, recently came up with the innovative idea of self-cleaning panels. In their design, architectural panels use sunlight to decompose organic pollutants that build up on their surface into nontoxic matter that is easily washed away by rain (Frost & Sullivan, 2011). This technology is able to massively cut maintenance costs. Passive solar energy, on the other hand, refers to the usage of the sun’s energy without the involvement of any mechanical equipment. The placement of a building so that the majority of its windows face south is a passive solar energy technique that provides maximum natural lighting and heat. Figure 2 illustrates how solar windows work during the summer and winter seasons. In addition, thermal mass, a solid or liquid material that absorbs and stores warmth and coolness, is placed to absorb solar energy entering through windows. Thermal mass includes bricks, stone, concrete, and water (Yusof & Mydin, 2014).

Figure 2: Solar Windows During the Summer (left) and Winter (right), Source: U.S. Department of Energy. (n.d.). Dynamic window coatings to reduce building energy demand. Retrieved from http://carboncycle2.lbl.gov/

In addition to green technologies, sustainable building incorporates green materials. Forty percent of all raw materials used globally, equal to three billion tons, are utilized for building and construction activities every year. Green building materials can help reduce negative environmental effects that result from the fabrication, processing, transportation, installation, and disposal of construction materials. To minimize the consumption of raw materials in construction, a set of guidelines is followed. Desired materials for green construction are resource efficient, energy efficient, water efficient, affordable, and beneficial to the indoor air quality. To avoid using raw materials, engineers choose those which are common, locally available, recycled, alternatives to natural wood, and durable whenever possible. Furthermore, engineers achieve energy efficiency and water conservation by utilizing materials, components, and systems that help reduce the consumption of these natural resources in buildings. Additionally, the use of materials that are nontoxic, moisture resistant and have minimal chemical emissions will improve indoor air quality (Mehta G., Mehta A. and Sharma, 2014). Being environment-friendly and financially beneficial has increased green technology’s popularity during these past few decades.

References 

Frost & Sullivan. (2011, June). Advances in green building technology. Advanced Coatings & Surface Technology, 24(6), 6+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/

Kibert, C., & Grosskopf, K. (2007). ENVISIONING NEXT-GENERATION GREEN BUILDINGS. Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law, 23(1), 145-160. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42842944

Mehta G., Mehta A., & Sharma, B. (2014). Selection of Materials for Green Construction: A Review. IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, 11(6), 80-83.

Oberndorfer, E., Lundholm, J., Bass, B., Coffman, R. R., Doshi, H., Dunnett, N., Gaffin, S., Kohler, M., Liu, K., & Rowe, B. (2007). Green roofs as urban ecosystems: ecological structures, functions, and services. BioScience, 57(10), 823-833.

Yusof, S. H., & Mydin, M. A. O. (2014). SOLAR INTEGRATED ENERGY SYSTEM FOR GREEN BUILDING. Acta Technica Corviniensis-Bulletin of Engineering, 7(3), 115.