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03 July 2009

“Secrets of Schizophrenia and Depression ‘Unlocked’”: From yesterday’s slashdot discussions

[0]Oracle Goddess writes “According to the US National Institute for Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, scientists have discovered a remarkable similarity between the genetic faults behind both [1]schizophrenia and manic depression in a breakthrough that is expected to [2]open the way to new treatments for two of the most common mental illnesses, affecting millions of people. Previously schizophrenia and depression were assumed to be two separate conditions, but the new research shows for the first time that both have a common genetic basis that leads people to develop one or the other of the two illnesses.”

from the just-a-little-less-crazy-loose-in-the-world dept.
posted by ScuttleMonkey on Thursday July 02, @11:27 (Medicine)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/07/02/1347210

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/07/02/1347210

Links:
0. http://psoug.org/
1. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2009/schizophrenia-and-bipolar-disorder-share-genetic-roots.shtml
2. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/unlocked-the-secrets-of-schizophrenia-1727987.html

Posted 03 July 2009 † Jack § Mental Health ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:
03 July 2009

“HIV/AIDS Vaccine To Begin Phase I Human Trials”: From yesterday’s slashdot discussions

An anonymous reader writes “An HIV/AIDS vaccine developed in Ontario has [0]applied for Phase 1 human trials. Safety and immunogenicity studies of the vaccine, dubbed SAV001-H, have already been completed on animals. Phase 1 human trials will check the safety of the vaccine on HIV positive volunteers. Phase 2 will then test immunogenicity.”

from the soon-enough-mandatory-like-gardasil dept.
posted by timothy on Thursday July 02, @15:21 (Medicine)
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/07/02/192249

Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/07/02/192249

Links:
0. http://communications.uwo.ca/com/western_news/stories/hiv%10aids_vaccine_reaches_milestone_20090702444563/

Posted 03 July 2009 † Jack § Testing ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:
03 July 2009

“Enthusiasts Convene To Say No To SQL, Hash Out New DB Breed”: From yesterday’s slashdot discussions

[0]ericatcw writes “The [1]inaugural NoSQL meet-up in San Francisco during last month’s [2]Yahoo! Apache Hadoop Summit had a whiff of revolution about it, like a latter-day techie version of the American Patriots planning the Boston Tea Party. Like the Patriots, who rebelled against Britain’s heavy taxes, NoSQLers came to share how [3]they had overthrown the tyranny of burdensome, expensive relational databases in favor of more efficient and cheaper ways of managing data, reports Computerworld.”

from the sql-like-a-pig dept.
posted by timothy on Thursday July 02, @17:56 (Databases)
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/07/02/219247

Discuss this story at:
http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=09/07/02/219247

Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com/
1. http://blog.oskarsson.nu/2009/06/nosql-debrief.html
2. http://developer.yahoo.com/events/hadoopsummit09/
3. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9135086

Posted 03 July 2009 † Jack § Technology ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,
25 June 2009

“On the Humble Default”: From yesterday’s slashdot discussions

from the ne-pas-décider-c’est-décider dept.
posted by kdawson on Wednesday June 24, @01:48 (Programming)
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/23/2338230

Hugh Pickens sends along Kevin Kelly’s paean to the default. “One of the greatest unappreciated inventions of modern life is the default. ‘Default’ is a technical concept first used in computer science in the 1960s to indicate a preset standard. … Today the notion of a default has spread beyond computer science to the culture at large. It seems such a small thing, but the idea of the default is fundamental… It’s hard to remember a time when defaults were not part of life. But defaults only arose as computing spread; they are an attribute of complex technological systems. There were no defaults in the industrial age. … The hallmark of flexible technological systems is the ease by which they can be rewired, modified, reprogrammed, adapted, and changed to suit new uses and new users. Many (not all) of their assumptions can be altered. The upside to endless flexibility and multiple defaults lies in the genuine choice that an individual now has, if one wants it. … Choices materialize when summoned. But these abundant choices never appeared in fixed designs. … In properly designed default system, I always have my full freedoms, yet my choices are presented to me in a way that encourages taking those choices in time — in an incremental and educated manner. Defaults are a tool that tame expanding choice.”

Links:

  • http://hughpickens.com/slashdot/
  • http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2009/06/triumph_of_the.php
Posted 25 June 2009 † Jack § Complex adaptive systems § Technology ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,
16 June 2009

Unable or unwilling providers of $$: Evaluation & complex adaptive systems, part 3

I am beginning to understand that the chief issues with evaluating projects and interventions in complex human adaptive systems is not whether it can be done well but whether government and non-government providers of funds accept such evaluations.

For many of our government agencies and foundations on this side of the Atlantic evaluation is another management tool to assure compliance and accountability. Of funding sources of which I am familiar linearity is a necessary given for programs in education, some health, substance abuse treatment and prevention, welfare and other human services, urban development. This attitude was captured several years ago when Susan Sclanfani, assistant secretary for vocational and adult education at ED, spoke of her aims for a math and science initiative she had taken from NSF, “We hope to be able to tell [teachers] that, if you do a, b, and c, you’ll be sure to see results.” (P. 1863, Science, Vol 307, 25 March 2005.)

Ben Ramalingam and Harry Jones in their monograph for the Overseas Development Institute discuss this split between complexity of human systems such as development and the aid, or funding, system. Here’s two paragraphs from their section, “ The challenge of applying complexity science to development and humanitarian work,” that I think are particularly relevant and balanced:

Complexity, for many, is seen as an indulgence. This has led to organisations that are increasingly rigid, risk-averse and bureaucratic; it has meant led to the prevalence of tools and techniques that are linear and simplistic in their scope and outlook (Bakewell and Garbutt, 2005), it has meant change at the level of ideas is much more likely than at the level of ground-level practices (Killick, 2005); it means that one can always predict who will do what, when and how (Seaman, cited in Kent, 2004); and it means that the adaptive learning of particular actors are short-circuited, or worse, suppressed. It means that, when mistakes are made in this complex system of governments, NGOs, UN agencies and donors, everyone points the finger at everyone else (Smillie and Minnear, 2004).

Aside from the political will, there are other more practical issues to consider. Organisations may not have the resources to bear the analytical burden of examining the systems they operate in; most reporting frameworks are geared to a linear mindset; they may not have the scope to incorporate a realistic understanding of the uncertainties of their efforts when planning and implementing projects and programmes; they may not have it in their hands to ensure that those acting to solve a problem address it in a coherent manner; the pressures of accountability to donors or the public may not allow for such uncertainties to be honestly and openly addressed. The following is a summary from a 2004 report on future dynamics of crisis in humanitarian agencies addressing the take-up of complex conceptual frameworks:

‘Coherent analytical frameworks, while a step in the direction of more effective programs, are no panacea … The challenges for agencies in adopting wider conceptual frameworks are many. Slow uptake may be associated with the burden of more complex analysis and the problems of perceived reliance on outside expertise. A framework requires an elaborate combination of qualitative and quantitative indicators and therefore agencies need to create, teach, develop, sustain, and monitor complex analysis at the national and program levels. Since not all agencies have access to expertise, affiliations with academic or training institutions may be useful. The reluctance to adopt complex frameworks may also reflect an awareness of the difficulties in using these tools for better programming … Agencies need to use these frameworks to advocate and justify more innovative programming. Similarly, donors need to be more flexible and open to tailored responses’ (Feinstein International Famine Center, 2004).

You can get the references that are cited from the document itself. It is a very good read. It is written with Toussaint Reba and John Young (October 2008). Exploring the science of complexity: Ideas and implications for development and humanitarian efforts, 2nd Ed, Working Paper 285. London: Overseas Development Institute (ODI). Go to their website, http://www.odi.org.uk/, and click on the “publications” link.

Did you catch the “uk” extension. See what I mean. It seems that most of the effort at getting us in the social change endeavors to recognize complexity are people in the UK and in Europe. Here in the States the ones calling our attention to complexity are in DOD and in public health! One of my earlier post dealt with an engineering perspective on public heath in the context of CAS. I recently found two articles tackling evaluating community situations described as complex adaptive systems:

  • Olney, C. A. (2005). Using evaluation to adapt health information outreach to the complex environments of community-based organizations. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 93(4) supplement
  • Hargreaves, M. B. (2007). Using complexity science to improve the effectiveness of public health coalitions. International Conference on Complex Systems, New England Complex Systems Institute, Quincy, MA.
Posted 16 June 2009 † Jack § Complex adaptive systems § Management ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:
06 June 2009

Lots of words, but what about doing?: Straightening our bookcases

I’ve started picking up the books scattered around and putting them back into shelves— kind of organizing them as I go. I began with our bookshelf where we try to keep our main Christian books.

We’ve got bibles— all kinds of bibles in all kinds of translations and versions: NEB, REB, NASB, NRSV, RSV, NIV, KJ, NKJ, Peterson, Phillips; parallel, chain-linked, open bible, Dake’s, references in the center, references on the sides, no references. We’ve got Strong’s and Vine’s and bible dictionaries and atlases. We’ve got commentaries on books; hermeneutics on interpreting scripture; origins of traditions; histories of Christianity and the “Church.”

We have books on different denominations and their take on Jesus and traditions. The Friends (aka, the Quakers) and Mennonites next to the Anglicans, Episcopals and Methodists; Presbyterians standing next to Baptists. (Our own version of an ecumenical world council.) Rounding these out are treatises on organization of the church and proper leadership for the church and its missions and ministries— all supported by scriptures and traditions and historical research, all ernest, sincere, compelling, yet so very different from one another.

And we have our cherished volumes— worn, dog-eared, underlined books that meant so much to us at our beginning of this journey with Jesus: Oswald Chambers, Watchman Nee, Andrew Murray, A. W. Tozer, Derek Prince, C. S. Lewis, Jean Vanier, Basilea Schlink, Roy Hesson, Dorothy Day, Gene Edwards, Madame Guyon, John Wimber. And some newer dudes: John Shea, Stanley Hauerwas, Robert Banks, N. T. Wright, Shane Claiborne, Leonard Sweet, Brian McLaren, John Bevere.

What’s the upshot of all this? (Besides having to start next on our fiction and music books, stories and play and education and drugs and statistics and research stuff?) Upon reflection there is a lot of ink devoted to Jesus Christ and living “the life.” What we have is not even an under-the-fingernail worth. And more is pumped out daily. And we blot it all up— to the delight of commercial publishers and ministries. Don’t we need to read less and more start “doing the stuff?”

Posted 06 June 2009 † Jack § Books § Missions ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: , ,
03 June 2009

Answers & a 2nd set of questions on the Golden Age of Radio Quiz, 2 of 8

Last week I asked if you could remember the shows sponsored by ten well-known (at that time) products. I’ll give you the answers and then ask if you can remember the opening announcements of five popular shows. But first the answers to last week memory test as given by Frank Buxton and Bill Owen:

  1. Spry shortening was the long-time sponsor of “Aunt Jenny” and her real-life stories. She and Danny (played by Dan Seymour) would sit in her sun-lit kitchen and sample the goodies she made with Spry as the story unfolded.
  2. Lux … presented Hollywood on “The Lux Radio Theater.” This program, whose best-remembered host was Cecil B. DeMille, himself, presented radio adaptations of motion pictures with as many of the original stars as could be afforded by the budget. Lux was a brand of soap and detergent.
  3. “Cream of Wheat is so good to eat, yes, we eat it everyday” introduced “Let’s Pretend,” a long-running Saturday morning children’s program presided over by Nila Mack. CBS considered “Let’s Pretend” such a high quality program— and it was— that they hesitated over whether to have a sponsor at all. Finally they decided that Cream of Wheat was of equal caliber and they accepted the product as the program’s sponsor. How times have changed.
  4. Wheaties, Breakfast of Champions, sponsored “Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy.” Jack, and his friends Billy and Betty Fairfield, attended Hudson High School for whom they daily waved the flag but never seemed to stay around long enough to graduate. They were always off on some adventure with their Uncle Jim.
  5. Campana Balm, with that push-button device that you clamped to your kitchen wall to dispense the lotion, brought you “The First Nighter” program, which, though it allegedly emanated from The Little Theater off Time Square, was actually broadcasted from Chicago for most of its career.
  6. Walter Winchell (”Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. North and South America and all the ships and clippers at sea. Let’s go to press. Flash!…”) was sponsored by Jergens Lotion while it was “The Jergens Journal.”
  7. Although Chase and Sanborn coffee sponssored several programs during radio’s golden age we remember Edgar Begen and Charlie McCarthy best. Sunday night, eight o’clock. Right?
  8. If you’re our age you had a “Little Orphan Annie” Ovaltine Shake-Up Mug. Maybe you still do.
  9. “Oxydol’s own… Ma Perkins.” That was the announcer’s introduction and that’s how closely identified that program was with the laundry soap. This close association of product to the daytime serial gave rise to it being called a soap opera and ushered in a whole new genre of programming that has lasted to this day.
  10. “Fibber McGee and Molly” was created by writer Don Quinn and Jim and Marion Jordan (Fibber and Molly, respectively) expressly for Johnson Wax… of Racine, Wisconsin, as we recall. The Jordans had been doing a program called “The Smackouts” about a garrulous shopkeeper who was always just “smack out” of everything when the wax company was looking for a new show. They sponsored Fibber and Molly for almost all of that program’s life. It became the first program to integrate the commercial directly into the story line. Remember Harlow Wilcox (”Hello, Waxy”) coming to 79 Wistful Vista and after chatting a bit working the conversation around to the virtues of Johnson Wax? Sure you do. I bet you also remember the hall closet. Someone, or the absent-mined Fibber would be about to open the closet door to Molly’s pleading, “Don’t open that door.” Too late. The audience would hear an avalanche of tumbling junk ending with the tinkling of a tiny hand bell. And Fibber would announce, always, “I gotta get that closet cleaned out one of these days”

Now for this week’s questions.

And Now… Waltz Time

What does that bring to mind? Wayne King’s program. That’s how it started. Those opening announcements on radio programs never seemed to change from year to year. They did, of course, buty many of them were so ingrained in our minds that we can to this day recite them word for word. And so can you. Like, for instance… the openings, please, for…

  1. Superman
  2. Our Gal Sunday
  3. The Fat Man
  4. Bulldog Drummond
  5. Blondie
Posted 03 June 2009 † Jack § Reportage ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:
26 May 2009

Before I forget: A “golden age of radio” quiz, 1 of 8

Cleaning up this weekend, I came across this article I had ripped from the pages of FM Guide, when we were living in upper, upper Manhattan (200th Street and Dykeman) forty-some years ago. It’s a quiz by Frank Buxton and Bill Owen adapted from their then new book, Radio’s Golden Age, The Programs and the Personalities.

There are eight questions in the quiz, all with multiple answers. I’ll print one of them here each week along with the answers to the previous week’s question. I don’t expect our kids and grandkids to get much our of this, or our other young friends for that matter. But there may be a couple of us out there in the Internet ether that remembers rushing home from school to catch the latest adventure of Little Orphan Annie, Captain Midnight, Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders, Superman, Jack Armstrong. These came on before the serious newscasts with Gabriel Heater, and others. Then on Saturday morning, if you managed to be around the radio and not outside doing chores, there was Let’s Pretend and Smilin’ Ed McConnell and His Gang. Remember his catch phrase: “Pluck your magic twanger, Froggy?” The theme of the show was “Teddy Bears Picnic.” …Golly, I am waxing nostalgic already… Enough, already. Here’s the first set of items from the article, “Radio’s Golden Age.” Try to answer them. It’ll be fun?

The Sponsors
There was a fantastic sponsor loyalty in radio… so much so that many programs became inseparable from the image of their sponsor. If we give you the sponsor, can you give us the program?

  1. Spry
  2. Lux
  3. Cream of Wheat
  4. Wheaties
  5. Campana Balm
  6. Jergens Lotion
  7. Chase and Sanborn Coffee
  8. Ovaltine
  9. Oxydol
  10. Johnson Wax

Golly. How many of these are still around?

Posted 26 May 2009 † Jack § Reminiscence ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:
14 May 2009

Will revelation of “science bought & sold” effect “evidence-based practices?” I doubt it

Notre Dame professor Philip Mirowki has long written about how money sways science and how science is bought and sold. Here’s another example, again from George Siemens’ current newsletter:

The big lesson of our wikipedia-era is not that amateur information is potentially false, but rather that all information must be questioned. The last week as produced one of those lessons that information literacy educators will be using a case studies for years: Elsevier admits to producing a fake journal that looked like it was peer reviewed, but was sponsored by Merck. And then, only a few days later, it’s revealed that Elsevier published at least six journals in a similar “sponsored by” method.
The somewhat arrogant attitudes of journal editors and publishers is called into question in media environments where transparency is sought. What happens to the authority of journals when everyone is (can be) an information producer? Is all information eventually equal? What/who will be the mediators of quality? Instead of hierarchy, in an ideal world, quality is determined (vetted) by a network of experts and amateurs alike. Journals will likely continue to exist for a while, at least. But fields like education, engineering, medicine, etc. no longer need their mediative role. We can mediate our own resources in our own networks.

Posted 14 May 2009 † Jack § SPF-SIG work ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , ,
14 May 2009

Education today: Do we serve every student the same platter of food, or do they take a tray, go thru the line and make their own platter?

Education planners and teachers need to adapt to the new fragmented nature of information and communication. That’s education planners and teachers in K-12, post secondary and higher ed, and churches.
From George Siemens’ current newsletter:

Dave Snowden’s recent post on emergent meaning or prescription reflects what many of us have been saying about education: “new approaches that have become possible since technology matured from process control and information flow to the networked, fragmented and semi-structured worlds of social computing. Here as communication flow increases, patterns of meaning start to emerge.” When information is bounded in courses, books, newspapers and other frameworks that are established by experts, the primary mode of interaction is intended to be absorption. The predominant view is that information can be known, packaged, and communicated. Through social media, information is increasingly fragmented. Frameworks created to communicate no longer have the pull they once did. Hence, even the concept of a course can be questioned. What if meaning emerges as a by-product of interaction…rather than something that exists externally (in the head of an expert) and is then communicated to prospective learners? What if coherence of subject matter is produced individually, rather than externally? This - or something close to it - is the fundamental change higher education needs to understand.

Posted 14 May 2009 † Jack § Education ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: