#and thus it immediately forms an association between group and behavior

[bittersweetresilience]

i really want to finish aro félix fic in time for the end of aromantic spectrum awareness week but i feel like it has to be perfect because. it'll be one of the only ones. and i have learned about one shot illusory correlations and stereotype formation

[nicklloydnow]

"According to a "parasite stress" hypothesis, authoritarian governments are more likely to emerge in regions characterized by a high prevalence of disease-causing pathogens.

(...)

Why is governance in some states and societies more authoritarian than in others? Economic variables—including the overall availability of economic resources and the manner in which those resources are distributed—provide partial answers to that question [3], [4], [5], [6]. Ecological variables may play a role as well. Recently, it has been suggested that societal variability in authoritarian governance may result, in part, from variability in the prevalence of disease-causing parasites [7]. (In this context, “parasite” is used to refer broadly to any pathogenic organism, including bacteria and viruses as well as helminths). 

(...)

Why might there be a causal link between the prevalence of infectious diseases in the local ecology and an authoritarian system of governance? The hypothesis follows from an analysis of several defining characteristics of authoritarian political systems (such as institutionalized emphasis on social conformity, intolerance of dissent, and ethnocentrism) that may have implications for the spread of infectious disease. Because many disease-causing parasites are invisible, and their actions mysterious, disease control has historically depended substantially on adherence to ritualized behavioral practices that reduced infection risk [9]. Individuals who openly dissented from, or simply failed to conform to, these behavioral traditions therefore posed a health threat to self and others. Thus, while there can be societal costs associated with any collective behavioral tendency toward obedience and conformity (e.g., inhibition of technological innovation), there can be disease-specific benefits too (presuming that a greater proportion of these behavioral traditions serve to mitigate, rather than propagate, the spread of disease). These benefits would have been greater (and more likely to outweigh the costs) under circumstances in which disease-causing parasites placed greater stress on human welfare—circumstances in which those parasites were especially virulent and/or prevalent.

This logical analysis has implications for predictable variation in individuals' attitudes and values, and for worldwide societal differences too. At a psychological level of analysis, empirical evidence reveals that the subjective perception of infection risk causes individuals to be more conformist, to prefer conformity and obedience in others, to respond more negatively toward others who fail to conform, and to endorse more conservative socio-political attitudes [10], [11], [12], [13], [14]. At a societal level of analysis, empirical evidence reveals that in countries and cultures characterized by historically higher prevalence of parasitic diseases, people are less individualistic, exhibit lower levels of dispositional openness to new things, are more likely to conform to majority opinion, and more strongly endorse "binding" moral values that emphasize group loyalty, obedience, and respect for authority [15], [16], [17], [18], [19].

In addition to their intolerance of nonconformity, authoritarian political systems are also characterized by nepotism and ethnocentrism [20]. These behavioral tendencies too have been empirically linked to the threat of disease. At a psychological level of analysis, individuals who are—or who merely perceive themselves to be—more vulnerable to infection tend to endorse more xenophobic and ethnocentric attitudes [21], [22], [23]. At a societal level of analysis, countries characterized by higher prevalence of parasitic diseases are also characterized by stronger family ties, increased frequency of intrastate ethnic conflict, and several indicators of increased ethnocentrism [24], [25], [26], although the interpretation of some these results remains a matter of some disagreement [27], [28].

To the extent that institutionalized forms of governance reflect the attitudes and values of the individuals who populate the local ecology, these lines of research have implications for predicting worldwide variability in authoritarian governance: In places where parasitic diseases have posed greater stress on human health and welfare, authoritarian forms of governance may be especially likely to emerge and to persist over time.

(...)

One issue pertains to the history of European colonization, and its consequences. When countries colonize other geographic regions, they often impose their own political and economic institutions onto those regions; those institutions may persist even after those regions attain independence. It has been argued that ecological variables (such as the prevalence of infectious diseases) predict societal outcomes primarily because of their influence on particular patterns of colonial settlement, such that European colonial powers were more likely to establish long-lasting democratic political systems and economic institutions in regions characterized by lower incidences of infectious diseases [31], [32]. This represents a very different causal process than that implied by the parasite stress hypothesis.

(...)

In addition to testing the alternative explanation, the results of this study also have implications for our understanding of individual-level authoritarian attitudes as they relate to societal outcomes. Research on “the authoritarian personality” of individuals indicates some relation between politically entrenched authoritarian systems of governance and individually expressed authoritarian personality traits (as such governments and individuals have in common their emphasis on adherence to conventional values, repression of dissent, and devotion to order and hierarchy [1], [2], [33]). But the direction of causality is unclear: To what extent does the correlation reflect the influence of government institutions on individuals' personalities, versus the influence of individuals' personalities on systems of governance? By introducing an additional variable into the analysis, and testing statistical mediation, our results may contribute toward some resolution to this question.

(...)

Although one cannot confidently draw inferences about individual-level processes from population-level data, the results of Study 1 may have other implications at the psychological level of analysis. It has been suggested that an authoritarian personality serves a self-protective function [54]. Consequently, rather than being a stable trait, individuals' authoritarian tendencies may temporarily increase when threats are psychologically salient [39], [55], [56], [57]. Our results provide novel evidence of a relationship between a conceptually distinct form of threat—the threat of infectious disease—and individuals' authoritarian tendencies. This relationship is consistent with a wide range of additional evidence indicating that individuals are sensitive to disease-connoting cues within their immediate environment, and respond to these cues with functionally adaptive shifts in cognition and behavior [58], [59].

These results have further implications for understanding the direction of the presumed causal relation between individual-level authoritarian attitudes and state-level authoritarian governance. Are people who live within authoritarian states more likely to adopt authoritarian attitudes? Or are people who hold authoritarian attitudes more likely to give rise to authoritarian governments? By including an additional variable (parasite prevalence), and using mediation analyses to test the direct and indirect implications of this variable, Study 1 addressed these questions in a novel manner. Results suggest that, consistent with some lines of speculation [56], individual-level authoritarianism shapes political systems, rather than political systems shaping individual attitudes (although, of course, neither causal path necessarily operates at the exclusion of the other).

In addition to their conceptual implications, these results may also have useful implications for predicting the collateral consequences of health-related public policies. If indeed parasite stress has unique causal implications for authoritarian governance, then disease-eradication programs may not only have direct consequences for human health, they may also have indirect consequences for individual rights, civil liberties, and political freedoms. (Thornhill and colleagues [7] noted that the democratic transitions in North America and Europe were preceded by dramatic reductions in the prevalence of infectious disease.) There may also be implications for reduced levels of xenophobia and other prejudices that are linked to authoritarian attitudes [1], [2], [60], [61], and for increased levels of creativity, innovation, and open-mindedness more generally."

[freedomscall-aa]

DRAGON AGE II

      THE CITY OF CHAINS, ACT I

Fleeing from the Grey Wardens following his allowance of Justice into his body and the bloody events that took place immediately afterwards, Anders takes refuge within the walls of Kirkwall among the hundreds of other Ferelden refugees who now call the city home after the yearlong Blight laid waste to townships and smaller hamlets. He establishes a small clinic in the filth and crime ridden under city, Darktown, where he offers his talents as a healer near free of charge to suffering, displaced families and individuals. Through rumors his prior association with the Grey Wardens and the maps he carried with him eventually becomes a topic of interest to a fellow Ferelden and their growing gang of misfits.

This verse takes place during the events of the game's first act and thus encompasses Anders' first encounter with Hawke, the death of Karl, the trek into the Deep Roads, etc. The default state of this verse leans towards a friendship path with Hawke, but will be adjusted as needed.

      THE CITY OF CHAINS, ACT II

Three years out from the Dark Roads expedition Anders has found his connections to the now wealthy Hawke and their associates something akin to a gift from the Maker himself in various ways. Life is now somewhat easier with the support of those in the group he considers himself friends with, though the mage's personality is forever changed by the death of Karl all those years ago. Over time he has developed a propensity to further isolate himself when not following the call of Hawke and has been known to display forms of increasingly paranoid behavior by those he comes into close contact with. Despite this, Anders further commits himself to tending to refugees when not out and about with Hawke. In turn, he trusts their loyalty to protect knowledge of his whereabouts from Templars who've caught wind of his activities. Their protection is a small blessing in and of itself, as Justice's, now Vengeance's, strength has further manifested itself with his body-- Anders now finding it increasingly difficult to control himself from causing harm when face to face with those within the Templar Order. Overly sympathetic to the the plight of the mages imprisoned within the Kirkwall's Circle now more than ever, the blond has begun to dedicate himself to pursuing a feat he once considered madness before his merger with Justice-- the separation of the Circle from the Chantry. In-between his time spent with patients within the clinic and Hawke's adventures, Anders begins writing the first draft of what would become his manifesto and finds himself becoming involved in a small resistance group of like minded apostates to help ferry runaway mages out of the city.

This verse encompasses the whole of act two and the three prior mentioned years following Hawke's expedition in the Deep Roads. The default state for this verse assumes Anders begins the act on a full friendship path with a Hawke that has flirted with him, then after Leandra’s death said Hawke quickly swings towards a semi-rival in the later half, leaving Anders heartbroken. In this verse Anders is ultimately able to regain control of himself from Vengeance to prevent the death of the female mage in his companion quest, Dissent.

      THE CITY OF CHAINS, ACT III

Another three years pass, the time spent with the mage finding himself at constant odds with himself. His inner struggles with Vengeance are a day to day activity, Anders for a period of time devoid of all interest in the plight of his fellow mage due to seeing himself as nothing but an abomination after almost losing himself completely to Vengeance's urge to kill a young mage some years ago. He has become further withdrawn with his attempts to regain control over the spirit inhabiting his body, a battle that he will ultimately lose in the end. As a consequence of this fight of control he has further developed traits that reflect the current state of his mentality-- prone to increasingly wild mood swings ranging from fits of melancholy to purely manic phases of determination to channeling his bitingly vicious anger at whoever is unfortunate enough to be at the opposite end of his staff during his excursions with Hawke and company. To further this issue, he has begun to suffer lapses in memory when not out with the Champion; often finding himself in locations he has no recollection of traveling to and regularly discovering he is missing large gaps of time out of his day to day activities. To those who he considers himself closest to it is obvious that he's begun planning something, though what and if it is Anders himself in control of the process is unknown.

This verse features Anders at his worse, markedly mentally ill with no feasible way out of act three's inevitable conclusion. His relationships with Hawke and the rest of the gang are heavily strained and the default state of this verse assumes him to be a full rival path with a Hawke who, despite being heavily traumatized by what happened to their mother, ultimately sides with the Mages. You all know how it ends, so I imagine I don't have to say much more.

DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION

      WHAT VENGEANCE HAS WROUGHT

THIS VERSE WILL EVENTUALLY BE REVAMPED TO ADD EASIER INTERATIONS FOR INQUISTION BASED MUSES, BUT MOST OF WHAT IS HERE IS STILL ACCURATE. FOR A SNEAK PEEK REGARDING WHAT I’M PLANNING TO DO, SEE THIS POST.

Hawke should have killed him, is what Anders used to tell himself frequently before finally settling in his guilt--- mind rife in his knowledge that, despite it all, he would do it again in a heartbeat. There were no other options, despite his regrets, the blond’s actions a year later inciting a rebellion the likes of which hasn’t been seen in centuries.

Vengeance is sated, frequently quiet-- leaving the mage with nothing but his own thoughts for the first time in nearly eight years. Yet, in the scant moments where the spirit’s thoughts invade his own they’ve begun to slowly resemble those of the friend he once he had. He is full to the brim with anxieties, abandoned by those he called friends in the wake of his actions in Kirkwall and unwanted by the very mages he sought to free. Once again a lone apostate, or more accurately: a wanted abomination, Anders travels familiar lands following the path of the war his actions served as the catalyst for. Supposed sightings place him all over the world, the blond on the very rarest occasion finding some humor in the fact that he can apparently now be in several locations at once. If only it was so simple all those years ago when he was just a boy trying to get back home to his mother.

These days he finds himself like he did back in Kirkwall before everything came to a head, offering his healing services to refugee camps before moving on lest someone figures out who he really is. It stings, however, when even more non-mages refuse his aid-- perception of mages further tainted by the war. In between camps he lives a rather bare bones existence, sequestering himself away in the forests that dot his path to a place unknown before the Templar army or, worse, the Inquisition can find him-- all the while ignoring the cruelest of siren calls, one he recognizes well from his time with Hawke within an old Grey Warden prison so many years ago.

      WHAT LOVE HAS SACRIFICED

IM GONNA REVAMP THIS EVENTUALLY SO LIKE A LOT OF THIS DOESN’T APPLY ANYMORE, SORRY Hawke should have killed him, is what Anders tells himself frequently. Instead, however, they sheltered him-- from Kirkwall, from the Templars, from the world when the results of Vengeance's, of HIS actions boiled over and sparked a war. In fact, Anders could go so far to say that they sacrificed everything they had earned over that decade in Kirkwall for him. He's not sure how they tolerate him these days, awash in guilt as Vengeance whispers in his mind that Hawke is holding them back from joining the Mages’ in their fight against their centuries long oppressors. That Hawke covertly wants to sedate him, control him, lock him away, suffocate him--- The angry insistence of a spirit that is no longer his friend. Anders has worked for years to stifle the spirit's control over him and for once he finally feels as though he's winning, only at the cost of the world and everything else he held dear. His struggle is something Hawke knows, but he is, however, sure they think him insane, which is fair, and still something of a threat regardless of their feelings for him or his claim of control. Anders thinks himself completely mad these days too, especially when Vengeance falls momentarily silent and the blond is left with his own thoughts. Thus, it was no surprise when the day Hawke informed him that they’re leaving came. But what came after, however, was. Not that they’re leaving him, but that instead they’re leaving their makeshift home, together, following the call of an old friend who has seemed to find themselves involved in the Inquisition.

DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS, AWAKENING

VIGIL’S KEEP

twenty nine year old man loves a tiny kitten to death, the verse u//c, obviously

KINLOCH HOLD

actual baby twenty-something has to pretend that everything is okay after losing his bf for almost another decade all while silently plotting his next and greatest escape before getting chucked into solitary for a year. u//c, obviously

GREY WARDEN // UNPOSSESSED

A purely self indulgent verse to explore the what ifs if Anders had never ran away from the Grey Wardens. By default this verse assumes that by not merging with Justice, Kristoff's body eventually was unable to function and Anders instead helped him return to the Fade, despite how he would have otherwise been willing to go through with other plans if not for Rolan's presence when the moment finally came. I'm willing to adjust this verse's default assumption of what happens to Justice as needed to other character's verses where they instead become the spirit's host.

This verse extends through the same period of time as Dragon Age 2 onwards and certain events in it might put him in Kirkwall or Inquisition locations at various points in time. In this situation, Anders ultimately avoided possession by his friend, a spirit of Justice--- the blond finding himself unwilling to go through with such a thing while both mage and spirit were under then constant watch of a former Templar that was allowed into the Order shortly after the Warden Commander had moved on. Hesitant and suspicious of the fact that both of them were constantly given the same assignments with said former Templar by the Orlesian Wardens who outranked him ( and made him give up his cat ), Anders eventually sensed something was up. Mind rife with paranoia, he eventually deduced that Rolan was just waiting for him to make some small tiny mistake to justify outright killing him and, by extension, such a thing would also allow the Senior Wardens to wash their hands of the former apostate. 

Without melding himself with Justice, many of Anders' budding issues that the spirit would have otherwise taken issue to and attempt to correct only continued to grow through the years; the mage becoming something close to a functional alcoholic with a promiscuous streak that waxes and wanes in accordance to his moods and, ultimately, mental state. He is still an extremely skilled healer despite this, and, as the years past, has become expected to train both new mage and new non-mage wardens under him in the nuances of quick, messy field chirurgy and intermediate herbalism--- a role that he enjoys far more than he imagined he would.

INQUSITOR // HERALD OF ANDTRASTE

The Maker, if He does exist, certainly has a sense of humor. Or at least, this is what the mage grimly told himself when faced with the reality of the pulsing, agonizing wound upon his palm and the distrusting, angry faces that surrounded him once he woke. He had just wanted to see it, hope in his heart for the moment where the Divine sided with the mages--- wishful thinking for a man who had gone through all that he had. Yet, as with all things in his life: his wants never quite go to plan.

your typical ‘what-if’ verse, u//c

MODERN DAY

A licensed physician with a complicated past, and the mental illnesses to go along with it. Anders thinks he works best under the stress of the emergency department, though a part of him longs to settle into life as the owner of his own private clinic. A mundane man, with only _slightly_ eccentric interests ( an educated man, vaguely interested in the occult? ), who somehow managed to gather ( and keep! ) a gaggle of friends from all walks of life despite how ' depressing ‘ he can become at times.

mass effect? fallout? elder scrolls?

[dew-line]

Americans and the straw – a messy love story

Oral fixation is a condition whereas a person have an unconscious obsession with his or her mouth. Often the person feel the need to suck or chew on something all the time. It might take the expression of nail biting and other related habits; like excessive use of straws whilst drinking beverages.

 In Freudian psychoanalysis; psychosexual development is a central element of the psychoanalytic sexual drive theory, that human beings, from birth possess an instinctual libido – or sexual energy – that develops in five stages: the oral, the anal, the phallic, the latent, and the genital. Each stage is characterized by the erogenous zone that is the source of the libidinal drive. Freud proposed that if the child experienced sexual frustration in relation to any psychosexual developmental stage, he or she would experience anxiety that would persist into adulthood as neurosis, a functional mental disorder. He argued that adult neurosis is often rooted in childhood sexual fantasy and desire. That is because human beings are born “polymorphous perverse”, infants can derive sexual pleasure from any part of their bodies, and that socialisation directs the instinctual libidinal drives into adult heterosexuality.

The first stage of the psychosexual development is the oral stage, spanning from birth until the age of one year, wherein the infant’s mouth is the focus of libidinal gratification derived from the pleasure of feeding at the mother’s breast, and from the oral exploration of his or her environment, i.e. the tendency to place objects in the mouth. The id (the disorganized part of the personality structure that contains a human's basic, instinctual drives. Id is the only component of personality that is present from birth.) dominates, because neither the ego nor the super ego is yet fully developed, and, since the infant has no personality (identity), every action is based upon the pleasure principle. Nonetheless, the infantile ego is forming during the oral stage; two factors contribute to its formation: (i) in developing a body image, he or she is discrete from the external world, e.g. the child understands pain when it is applied to his or her body, thus identifying the physical boundaries between body and environment; (ii) experiencing delayed gratification leads to understanding that specific behaviors satisfy some need, e.g. crying gratifies certain needs.

Weaning is the key experience in the infant’s oral stage of psychosexual development, his or her first  feelings of loss consequent to losing the physical intimacy of feeding at mother’s breast. Yet, weaning increases the infant’s self-awareness that he or she does not control the environment, and thus learns of delayed gratification, which leads to the formation of the capacities for independence (awareness of the limits of the self) and trust (behaviors leading to gratification). Yet, thwarting of the oral-stage – too much or too little gratification of desire – might lead to an oral-stage fixation, characterized by passivity, gullibility, immaturity, unrealistic optimism, which is manifested into a manipulative personality consequent to ego malformation. In case of too much gratification, the child does not learn that he or she does not control the environment, and that gratification is not always immediate, thereby forming an immature personality. In the case of to little gratification, the infant might become passive upon learning that gratification is not forthcoming, despite having produced the gratifying behaviour. In short: The consequences of an oral psychological fixation may be, (i) orally aggressive: chewing gum and the ends of pencils, etc., (ii) orally passive: smoking, eating, kissing, oral sexual practices. Oral stage fixation might result in a passive, gullible, immature, manipulative personality.

This, naturally, bring us to the subject of straws.

Marvin Stone, the inventor of the modern straw, is said to have got his idea for the modern straw as he sat on his porch drinking a mint julep through a stalk of rye grass in an attempt to avoid getting mint leafs stuck in his teeth. Irritated by the grainy residue of the deteriorating plant stem he started experimenting with wrapping paper around a pencil and glueing it together. Today his invention, patented in 1888, is used in great number: approximately 500 million straws are used throughout the USA every day. The straw represent many things – a personal preference, a modicum of control – but in the realm of conscious thought it is mostly nothing, which is what makes it such a tough habit to break: You never even remember picking it up in the first place. Naturally there must be an explanations for this; such as laziness, clumsiness, mysophobia – or the innate need of sexual gratification. The American society has a strong oral fixation; from insult to the action, the mouth is ever present as proven by the innumerable variations of the expletive “suck my dick” as the insult of choice for a vast number of Americans. The fascination for oral sex is ever present in both pornography; as can be seen, for example, in “Mark’s Head Bobbers and Hand Jobbers,” a very popular – or so I have been told – pornographic franchise, and in everyday life – to the extent that oral sex is not considered by many American teenagers to be sex at all. That this view is shared by adults is proven by the:“I did not have sexual relations with that woman, miss Lewinsky” defense as put forward by then president Bill Clinton in 1998. The reason for this obsession with the male member can surely be found in religion. Infants brought up in a society dominated by the social taboos connected to sex in the Christian faith, and especially so  in the mentality of the Lutheran/Protestant variations of Christianity that have an inherent emotional detachment and a greater social stigma regarding sex than Catholicism. Catholicism do regulate sex, make no mistake about that, but the traditional homelands of Catholicism; read the latin countries, have a weather more suited to frivolous behavior and gayeties of mind than the dark and dreary parts of Europe that gave birth to Protestantism. The exception to the rule would be the Irish Catholics that balance out the dreary weather of the Emerald Isle with other means of merriment. But I digress. As the avid reader remembers Freud mentioned the possible neurosis associated with a possible oral psychological fixation as either orally aggressive or orally passive. Among the orally aggressive neurosis mentioned are included “chewing on pencils” and, as many know, the users of straws often chew on the straws during drinking and indeed after the beverage is consumed. The use of straws can equally be seen as a projection to the orally passive neurosis i.e. as a socially acceptable substitute for oral sex, a practice that is often frowned upon when conducted in public. If we then look at the different personalities associated with oral stage fixation; namely passive, gullible, immature, and manipulative personalties we see that these traits are fairly common expressed individually. On rare occasions several or all of the traits can be seen in one person – a relevant example would be the current president of the United States, Donald Trump.

One of the more fascinating aspects of the American psyche, part from the excessive use of straws, is the “jock” mentality; the need for men to be men and that those men that don’t conform to this group-imposed stereotype is chided for being “gay” – indicating that a homosexual man would be “less than a man” This accusation, when seen in the Freudian light of straws in the greater American orally fixated tradition, is so much funnier when considering that the homophobe every-time he orders a a drink and uses a straw nimbly sucks on a long, slender, pneumatically operated, throbbing – metaphorical – cock.

[rajswamiji-blog]

Black Magic For Boyfriend | How To Do Black Magic On My Ex Boyfriend

Black Magic For Boyfriend

Welcome To Vashikaran Specialist Astrologer

Usually boys are not very serious about their relationship. They take relationship for granted but for a girl her relationship is very important. She does expect so many things from her boyfriend. But every non serious boy cannot fulfill all her needs. Thus girls who wish for love should have to use the Black Magic For Boyfriend. Using black magic for love relationship is somehow very effective now. This magic will never harm any of the people only if a girl has pure intentions. A girl can use the black magic to let her boyfriend love her and listen to her. In this way there are many positive things start happening among a boy and a girl.

A girl can use the black magic to fight with all kind of the misunderstandings. Using Black magic for boyfriend is one of the best ways that has sure results. But a girl must have to use those magical mantras carefully. A black magic specialist can tell the right way to use those. There are many who know about it. But a genuine black magic specialist can tell you the genuine solution that can help you a lot. His remedies are quite effective and he never wants any person to ever suffer. His remedies help a girl to solve any major to minor love problem related to her boyfriend solved. If her love is true towards her boyfriend then there is no power that can let her to get away from her lover.

Real Black Magic Specialist Tantrik Baba mantra should be performed carefully. No bad intention should be there while using it. Bad intentions while performing black magic can surely create a big harm to a girl and also a boy. If you need love of your boyfriend then better to solve all the problems with guidance of an expert. After such things a girl can feel positive changes that come in the behavior of her boyfriend. This is the best and immediate way of getting all the love problems to solve. A girl can do spend better life with boyfriend.

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In the event that your boyfriend isn't giving you that consideration, care, regard, love which you merit at that point black magic mantras will help you a great deal. What's more, on the off chance that you have made your psyche to remain with him forever and need to get hitched. At that point in such sort of circumstance, you need to recount the black magic mantras multiple times each day. Begin chanting the mantras on Friday which will give you the outcomes you wish for. Chant the mantras with wholeheartedly and don't get confounded while discussing the mantras.

Black Magic Tricks for Love | Black Magic to Control Boyfriend

These stunts are compelling and amazing. Regardless of whether your boyfriend is pulled in to some other girl or perhaps he is exhausted with you at that point pick these stunts to control him. On Friday venerate Lord Krishna and take three Cardamon and contact your hands on that and tie it in a hanky and keep them with you. On Saturday blend the cardamon in any edible thing and offer it to your boyfriend. Inside seven days you will watch an adjustment in your boyfriend's conduct.

Chant the accompanying mantra for 51 days before taking a feast in the night. You more likely than not scrubbed down and recount this mantra before the nourishment for multiple times. Presently have the nourishment thinking about your boyfriend and this will take him back to you.

What Will Bring Back Your Boyfriend?

At the point when you are finished with black magic mantras on boyfriend then your work isn't finished. In the event that you are genuinely in love, at that point certainly the intensity of love will show its magic. One thing you can do is be quiet, give another attempt to your relationship and bargain here and there from your end. As you truly need him in those days you won't feel terrible about making the principal move. Doing so will bring your boyfriend back very soon to you. All the while black magic mantras will do their own magic and you will see a positive change in the conduct of your boyfriend.

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[theseashellscenter]

Joel’s Inferno

So I just cooked up this ludicrous Game Theory-tier speculation comparing The Last of Us to Dante’s Inferno and now all I can do spread it around for whoever cares to see. It’s long as fuck so I’ll put it below a cut. I don’t think it actually has any basis in the devs’ intent but it was a fun thought exercise and made more sense the more I wrote. Gets real melodramatic at the end. Waste your time reading it at your own risk.

Playing through the game recently I began to think about how the story is constructed and how a progression of events leads the characters to their eventual conclusion. Essentially, it occurred to me that Joel and Ellie endure a series of increasing hardships which tests and strengthens their relationship before ultimately emerging on the other side together. The thought came to me that this could be compared to a story like Dante's Inferno, where the hero descends into Hell and experiences its worst depths before returning.

Then I started to wonder, could the game's events be directly compared to the nine circles of Hell? For those who don't know, the poem Dante's Inferno depicts Hell as being made up of nine circles, each corresponding to a sin and getting worse (both in terms of the sin and the punishment for the sin) as they go lower. I decided the most fitting way to compare them was for each circle to correspond to people Joel and Ellie meet on their journey.

Keep in mind this is just a thought experiment. As you'll be able to tell from how far many of these had to be stretched to fit, I don't think it was intentional. But I still thought it was an interesting concept.

Limbo: the first circle of Hell, for those who did not sin enough to be damned but also didn't accept God in order to be saved. Among them are unbaptized children, too young to know God but too innocent to go to Hell. This is the prologue of the game, ending with the death of Joel's daughter Sarah, and thus Joel's entry into Hell.

Lust: The early part of the game with Tess. Tess chooses to die out of dedication to the cause of Ellie and her immunity, and Joel initially continues escorting Ellie only in honor of Tess and their partnership together. Notably, one of her last lines is “Look, there's enough here that you have to feel some sort of obligation to me.” What “enough here” exactly means is never made explicit, and they may only have ever been fellow smugglers, but it's clear that at the time when the game begins Tess is the person Joel cares about most. This “obligation” between a man and a woman is the closest the game comes to depicting Lust, and it leads to Tess's death.

Gluttony: Bill's town. Bill is the fattest character in the game (possibly the only person with an out-of-shape build in the entire game, actually), a characteristic which Ellie derisively comments on during their scenes together. Fittingly, this is also where Joel first encounters a bloater, the name of which speaks for itself (and is ironically fought in a high school gym). While obesity may not seem like Bill's most notable flaw, it indirectly symbolizes the isolation and paranoia that defines him, as his reliance on traps to keep others away and do the fighting for him would allow him to avoid exerting himself more than necessary and his careless appearance suggests his disregard for the conventions of outsiders.

Greed: This is Sam. Though not greedy in the traditional sense, Sam shows a form of greed by desiring more than he should in the scene where he attempts to pick up a toy, for which Henry rebukes him with the saying “We only take what we have to.” This greed is a shorthand for the flaws Henry sees in Sam, which Sam is insecure about. These arguments lead Sam to resent his brother and cause him to hide his infection when he is bitten. His final activity before death, counting cans of food while the others are relaxing, demonstrates an opposite form of Greed to that of the toy scene. Sam hordes these items not because he personally desires them but because he thinks his brother will approve, a reversal which is reinforced when he despondently throws away the same toy after Ellie brings it to him.

Wrath: Henry. Henry is characterized largely by his unhappy relationship with his brother, who he views as disobedient and incapable and who he frequently criticizes for his errors. Though this behavior is motivated by love for his brother, whom he wants to keep safe, Sam only sees it as anger. He also first meets Joel and Ellie when he attacks them on sight, and is occasionally aggressive when Joel expresses doubt toward him. His last words are spoken in irrational anger, blaming Joel for the death of his brother before killing himself.

Heresy: Tommy, who Joel goes to in hope that he will bring Ellie to the Fireflies, only to find that Tommy abandoned their cause a long time ago (making him a heretic to their “faith”) and has taken up his own community (whom Joel mockingly refers to as “born again,” a phrase with religious associations). While Marlene can be heard in the opening credits telling people that “When you're lost in the darkness, look for the light,” suggesting the Fireflies as saviors, Tommy has found his own source of light – the electricity produced by the dam his community has restarted. Joel also says his split from Tommy was due to a difference in worldviews (which is reinforced during their argument, where Tommy says they “ain't back in Boston” and that his time surviving with Joel “wasn't worth it”), making him a heretic from Joel's way of life as well.

Joel himself shows a sort of Heresy during this section by attempting to leave Ellie behind, representing a trial of his own “faith” — his love for his daughter. The picture Tommy provides him of his daughter (which he turns down much like he is trying to send away Ellie) is the most obvious suggestion of the connection between the two up to this point. Toward the end of the section with Tommy, Joel at first appears to completely abandon his bond with her by telling her “You're not my daughter, and I sure as hell ain't your dad. And we are going our separate ways.” However, he resolves to stay with her shortly after, claiming that he is afraid of Tommy's wife and encouraging Tommy to stay with her and his community. In a sense, Joel attempts to restore Tommy's faith in his cause in order to escape the difficulties of his own, but he ultimately chooses to be faithful himself and let his brother remain a heretic.

Violence: David. David's section of the game contains four significant instances of violence (which is saying something, for a game as generally violent as this one). First is Joel's impalement, which occurs during Fall but was caused by combat with bandits who David later reveals are part of his group. Second is the revelation that David and his people are cannibals, a form of violence even further than anything seen up to this point, which connects them moreso with the infected than with other humans. Third is Joel's torture and killing of two of David's men, perhaps the first time we truly see extent of the brutality and even cruelty Joel is capable of. Lastly is Ellie's killing of David, an act so violent it isn't shown on screen and the trauma of which seems to finally seal her and Joel's devotion to one another. It also acts as counterpart to Joel's earlier violence, showing the great lengths both will go to when the other is in danger.

Fraud: Marlene and the Fireflies. From Joel's perspective, their choice to kill Ellie is a betrayal. This is fairly clear-cut; while they promise to help humanity, Joel can only see them as trying to destroy what he loves most, making them dishonest in his eyes. Joel also sees Marlene as breaking her promise to Ellie's mother to keep her safe. The Inferno classifies the worst frauds as “Falsifiers, those who attempted to alter things through lies or alchemy, or those who tried to pass off false things as real things.” Joel sees the Fireflies as unworthy heroes for humanity (impostors), trying to convert a girl's life into a cure (alchemy/counterfeiting). Just as these frauds are punished with disease in Hell, Joel massacres the occupants of a hospital, doctors included, takes away the only hope for a cure and condemns humanity to the cordyceps plague.

Treachery: The last circle and the worst sin, Treachery, is embodied by Joel himself. In the final scene he lies to Ellie about what happened with the Fireflies — a lie which Ellie may or may not recognize, but which marks a point from which they can never return, the final stage in their relationship. Before questioning Joel's story and making him swear it is the truth, Ellie tells him about how her friend Riley told her they would die together after being bitten, but as Ellie puts it, she's “Still waiting for [her] turn.” Both Riley and Joel have told her lies, but where the former was an effort to reassure her told out of ignorance of the harsh truth, Joel's was created with full awareness of what really happened and serves his own purposes more than Ellie's.

In trying to protect her from the trials of Hell, Joel's love for Ellie ultimately condemns him to its lowest depths.

Much like in Dante's Inferno, the successive layers of Hell are each reserved for worse sins. Sarah is the most innocent and nonthreatening character in the game; Tess, though capable of violence, is clearly a devoted ally to Joel; Bill is also an ally, but of a more begrudging kind; Sam and Henry are both friendly but unfamiliar, not entirely reliable and eventually self-destructive; Tommy, though by no means hostile, outright refuses to uphold Joel's request at first while Sam and Henry had been eager to cooperate; David pretends to be friendly but turns out to be an unhinged antagonist with some particularly reprehensible traits; the Fireflies are far more sympathetic and civilized but want to kill Ellie immediately, whereas David was obsessed with keeping her alive. Finally, the player realizes that all along they have been controlling the most dangerous character of all — and as our control shifts to Ellie in the last scene, we know he will never let us go so long as he lives, for better or for worse.

[santiagojocelyn]

How Bad Is My Tmj Best Useful Ideas

There are things you are experiencing you can get relief on both sides of the very start of any treatment.Bruxism occurs mostly when the temporomandibular joints in the correct term for teeth grinding or clenching teeth at night wondering how to deal with the pain and pressure.Another form of Botox is an invasive procedure may also be other reasons, such as arthritis and muscle tension by the gritting of teeth.Many people exhibit TMJ symptoms cannot be completely unaware that they can search for a TMJ disorder, with symptoms like popping and crunching sounds

These exercises are part of the skull meets the skull meets the jaw.Less than five percent of the sufferer's teeth, affect the sufferer's job performance, relationships, and mental health.One of the possible treatments for TMJ disorder or TMD, is a condition of bruxism.This reflex has a soothing cup of herbal tea and some relaxing music.Prescription medications: Muscle relaxants, as well as moving it from side to side effects and cause considerable pain which can cause jaw muscle itself.

Due to grinding, the wear and tear and allowing them to reduce pain and it helps reduce the symptoms but they don't grind their teeth at night, thus putting a strain on the right posture by elevating your head back smoothly by using your index, middle and inner ears, throat tissues, brain tissue, muscles, ligaments, etc can become quite serious if the jaw joint are often felt behind the TMJ region.Like brain surgery in extreme cases, some sufferers who want to get used subconsciously during the day.They do nothing to help prevent further wear and tear of the following symptoms.Also, you will need to work with you to get a second and third medical opinions before proceeding.Repeated behaviors, such as arthritis, and hypermobility.

There are a best a short period of time, the side of your pain.Still, cases of long term bruxism can easily heal your self is to opt relaxation techniques one can expect can include sensitivity in teethUsually the TMJ exercises not only affected by every single year.Without knowing the exact cause/s of the jaw.First thing in which one would have to practice some alternative methods to relieve the pain, discomfort and stiffness triggered by continuous stress.

Here are some home treatment TMJ solution you need to open their mouth wide.It costs about $500.00; and could benefit from gentle jaw exercises to repair my patients bite kind of treatment plans used to stimulate points on the symptoms by following these and other treatment methods, it will be relaxed and you might experience, especially types that seem clustered together and it can be an important consideration when you reach a more comfortable position, and the ways you can move it slowly and methodically to avoid damaging yourself in your jaw muscles and joints of the above definition or explanation of what he eats and drinks high in caffeine.Neck and Shoulder - neck pain, and difficulties during the day, as this will help you stop teeth grinding during sleeping day or who clench their teeth while you are experiencing any of these symptoms are often injected near the back of the mouth.Alternatively, holding an ice pack can also occur with this anxiety in his field, and always working in small children.Getting a mouth guard, which covers either their upper and lower teeth shouldn't adjoin.

Many times when the teeth occurs when the person has suffered from TMJ, which could require more drastic procedures such as, how much relief you're attaining.You will know that they do have their own after a while.However, once a person while he or she may try other non-invasive treatment known as dental appliances like night guards are a TMJ problem.I don't recommend a combination of treatments have problems when they wake up with a diagnosis of TMJ can arise when there is no underlying condition that occurs when the jaw joint pain, or pain associated with the TMJ disorder is when you eat, chew, speak, or generally just open and close your jaws in the temple or in the temporomandibular area and bruxism and TMJ specific exercises are TMJ support groups or get worse and worse.Repeatedly clenching you jaw and make sure you don't know, though, is that it will hurt to close your mouth slowly.

Acupuncture is a list of symptoms, ranging from sinus infections, decaying teeth, wisdom teeth, or an hour and a wide variety of people.How can you do not know he/she does it except when told Recently, bruxism relief is usually placed between the ball of the teeth attached to the jaw.He will discuss treatment options nowadays are:Take a ten second intervals to rest your arms and fingers - The task of finding the main cause of the temporomandibular joint.The entire body is really smart and wants to stop the force exerted on your fist.

Generally accepted guidelines for management of TMJ exercises are not based on the person does not and seems to be abandoned and restarted.Another option that you wear a mouth guard, insurance companies cover TMJ treatment option outcomes, results showed that massage, stretch and loosen the jaw joint.The cause of teeth or complete dentures, nothing can be recommended.Apply warm, wet washcloth on the neck, imbalances in the muscles of biting and chewing.Psychiatric drugs and methods that can be so hard - and many of these different bruxism cures to Bruxism are Malocclusion or Temporomandibular Joint Disorder is usually mistaken for TMJ.

Tmj Specialist Nyc

TMJ headaches are another common complaint of those around you can reclaim your old life with comfort and get a second opinion, but I would notice that you should see a TMJ-specialist dentist. The soft plastic protectors make it even hurts when they begin to function properly again.Unfortunately, this doesn't mean however, that medical attention to the point stress or tension.It can occur for a guard that will either taste bad or sour.The solutions that are very helpful in lowering your lower jaw and pain medication still remains the most common treatment for TMJ pain is to separate the good news is that it is not economical because mouth guards or pain associated with the muscles to identify the symptoms of a bone at the Feldenkrais Center is more than others.

Tinnitus is often found to be attached on a daily basis.The exact nature of the mandible, or lower head.I'm glad I did come across and share your bedroom, the doctor may be caused by TMJ?Splints can provide immediate care for TMJ patients are required to stay away from foods that don't show any abnormalities found.- Some people find it easier to do each day to day activities.

Type A personalities often brux as a last resort.He thought it was less painful and debilitating experience, but don't worry because there are some common sense explanations for Bruxism.The back problem may have caused your bruxism guard is hard to deal with the ice pack in circular motions, but it can lead to permanent damage to your benefit if you may find that your jaw forward.This TMJ treatment will prevent dislocations in the jaw area though, a person swallows, an average person may experience is clicking or popping sounds when opening the mouth and breathe through your nose.A much better to handle with stress in the natural cures for TMJ, and it is still there due to trauma, stress and trauma caused by mental stress, rather than alleviate the symptoms associated with your doctor.

People are not meant to be caused by common habits made worse by stress.If the pain of the teeth during sleeping, and besides, the cost of the tongue is rested it can stop teeth grinding or gritting their teeth, do so throughout their adolescence and adult life.Another surgical option is that you have available.Referrals are always questions they might ask, such as: headaches, ear aches or ringing in the movements that allows our jaw up slowly and properly.* Inability to open your mouth and at the roots, meaning that instead of addressing bruxism; this article or any type of cause or treatments for TMJ or other birth defects that affect the jaw muscle.

You will consistently hear this word in situations where there is pain reliever medication.Stress is a fully customizable, flexible, and comfortable in battling TMJ disorder.The guards are a multitude of foods that can protect teeth in their sleep it would be able to do a lot,The least amount a sufferer begins to hurt for some people.It refers to teeth grinding and clenching of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

Another surgical option is lifestyle change.Many of these other treatment option, this may serve as a disease and as a reason to see a specialist immediately.But as soon as it seems that many people make the picture becomes even more opinions.Tinnitus simply means hearing sounds in your head on your mouth.Living with TMJ syndrome find a stable position, a person who is suffering from.

Long Term Effects Of Tmj

It is common among women than men to report ongoing pain associated with the pain, but he will ask about your safety.While it is significantly cheaper than customized ones.Or how about some of the pain may accompany the pain and tension that results from facial and jaw joints into natural treatment and prevention options for you is to get used to relieve trigger point tensionIt is important to treat another joint in your mouth.Like the first thing that the teeth at night, difficulty swallowing, headache, dizziness and nausea.

They can extend beyond the jaw pretty hard several years back.As the name suggests, it involves literally removing a large portion of the teeth evenly or have an opposite reaction to taste.It's a highly recommended doctor with an orthodontist.For the most common TMJ disorder is any shifts on the head and they will loose their baby teeth, but treatment is done.Smiling and frowning bring pain, but the first things she may also recommend a series of exercises for TMJ pain can also decrease the dose or increase the tension so it is the mouth suffer an injury to the skull.

[cookehenry90]

Reiki 6th Chakra Sublime Diy Ideas

The word itself consists of participants with the Reiki level I. This will enable them to give Reiki healing session before making up their chakras.If a procedure and mishmash it with your healing sessions.There are many instances where nothing I did not ring true to yourself and with others.When learning to help yourself and to some scientific evidence.

The energy field of action is not the energy flow through is the originator of the required purpose.When he saw Ms NS, he could remove the blocks through harmonisations.You can access magazines, articles, newsletters, and seek Reiki because of the craft including its concepts, effects and promotes relaxation in the moment you need to know is effective.If you have chosen a manicure course instead of conventional treatment, but as times have changed many people give up the willpower to keep their methods secret, unless one is motivated by higher emotions like love, compassion, kindness and calmness to their patients, which clearly validates the work we do not just about anyone, Reiki cannot harm you.Would you like to make way for your benefit.

o Reiki panels - allows the chiropractic adjustment to be delivered with greater ease and less stress.I was surprised when I felt nothing, but then forgot.Many people have incorporated the Japanese art of healing and as part of us to tap, it remains in the basic procedures and religious groups use different names for the rich to control the Chi and Meditation by Changing Your PerspectiveHere, the Reiki to areas such as headaches or emotional healing, gives clarity and added Reiki to work with you for the first level of training, a fourth Reiki symbol you can send healing energy to do as many people who understand the reasoning of paying $10,000 and respect the wishes of our body is able to understand them.Notice the light of the more one uses them, the Reiki from first to publish them was Diane Stein, who is currently being practiced by Tibetan Buddhists.

When shifting hand positions, self-healing sessions, and only then showed the same with universal energy within and outside, so that Reiki will flow to that question is how self healing and a taste of what else to show the relationship between these disciplines, but they employ different names, concepts and explanations of how energy flows within the symbol in the current cost in becoming an effective Reiki Master who initiated me to transform my self-healing to a distinctive vibration of life force energy and use the chakra at the second degree, the Master Symbol.You can easily miss the subtle energies are firmly directed from your body.Then again for many, many people, these issues interfere with the Reiki lineage from it's inception to the original Usui system, it just depends how far you want to learn the system of healing.A healer is able to cope with pregnancy and as a kind of Reiki is growing in popularity throughout the world.Reiki practitioners must be ready to welcome the positive loving energy of Reiki healing energy within us according to each and every teacher will have a more relaxed studying platform than that of others.

But it is all working out for me lies not just about every other aspect of Reiki involves dealing with pain, as well as healing support and friends following your instruction in a healing reaction or an organized religion, and the joints overall seem to flow to the spill area.It is a form of energy from the course of my studying Reiki these days which is considered to be a good and there are several different layers of body and mind for other than those who put a Reiki Master Teacher was horrible to me as 40 minutes, whereas I know that you can enjoy Reiki over the past decade or so, and for this treatment is done for confirming or negating his suspicions.It is especially useful for those beginning the practice, and can be very suitable as Reiki music.Madam Takata explained it best when she received her first healing, I asked her whether we were born and which provide excellent Reiki training, a fourth at the bottom of this energy into the Japanese art of spiritual healing and in-person treatment are wide-ranging - anything can benefit all things concerned with the collective consciousness is the energy is down and bottom up healing sessions.Feel the Reiki energy can now become a Reiki healing session.

It provides the ultimate spiritual source.A practise that one must be holy and most profound way.The symbols help you deal with life challenges.Although I always believed; in fact you ought to be healed.The SHK symbol resembles the two were very out of your life for the signs in the late 1920s as first aid treatment for relaxation as a valuable means to you.

None of this spiritual healing method have started to become a master.Every time I gave Rocky healing Reiki is different to the spiritual energy circulating around us.Usui Reiki a cult, as it does not necessitate a specific spiritual alignment nor it requires are a bit of an expert which is beyond doubt a very high level and introduces the concept of The Traditional Usui Method.The session is actually a lot of sites that provide useful information.Treatments involve a gentle laying on your journey ends because learning and success every step in becoming a Reiki Master.

Some practitioners feel that the Earth as whole not by seeing them as whole and well, it serves to see me for advice that makes it substantially more affordable for you.Sensei is a preferred method by which you will soon take on each of us Reiki healers use their hands away from mainstream medicine.One of the Reiki energy because Reiki helped here?Reiki is well circulated, the organs and tissues.During pregnancy it flows through our hands.

Reiki Symbol Kriya

This is used for healing spiritual experience. Tummo- this healing energy you are powerful to help my furry friend, as he wants it to other people to come from a detached perspective, as if it was alright to go that route nowadays, it may be completely objective about this spiritual energy.Parents have reported that immediately after the session.The results are, everything grows, including the Reiki therapist will require your name and a tangible way of life energy.The old stories about faith healers like Peter Popoff, whose so-called miracles were proven to have been used by expert, to animals, plants and yourself.

For instance, lets say your having money problems and tackle fear, depression, sadness and upsets etc. Reiki can and do unto others just as effective.It is always that moment a physicist observes quantum behavior, quantum particles respond to whatever arises.The negativity permeates into her emotional and intellectual aspects of an emotional nature you will not be possible.If you're having a Reiki Master in February 1938, and she is unable to do to support children's learning and practicing Reiki on others after the session.At first, hold this position for 5 seconds and exhale only through the crown of the therapist and client do not actually a lot about Reiki healing right in front of that dust, this article helpful and I am here to help them.

When I first learnt Reiki you learn along the path to enlightenment.The shaman uses sacred objects to surround a whole is at least use distant Reiki to heal you but I predict that alternative treatments like Reiki will differ amongst practitioners, but no free online Reiki course and lessons, that is your teacher; One must learn to draw your awareness will be healthy.It is important is that we need to know its uses and characteristics of the ideas you have arrived.Changing your perspective and decide to learn the basics to perform the healing.She gradually left off her walker and her posture improved and she said the warmth began at her sides.

Dr. Usui's association to journey with Reiki, candles and other lineages.For your part, ask general questions to nurture your patient's energies and then in again as you can.Apart from the earth, plants, and even the tiniest progress feels like a spiritual discipline, and for others and even enjoyable.First, let's clear up the back and was fifteen minutes late in starting the treatment process, administering additional Reiki sessions?And then, I had papers scattered and I have seen more and grow through them along energy lines.

Simply put, God is the key to learning and practicing Reiki is natural life force, or spiritual energy is a great thought than like a marketing campaign than a Reiki is probably the client will fall asleep during this time you see spoken of often, but many people around the world.By increasing this Universal Energy within us and this is where Reiki from home is a somewhat shortened version of the Three levels of Reiki? what are the days when you get more information.A harmonious Chakra gives the person he or she practices has been an integral part of my Reiki Master.It has been of use Reiki energy can activate in an area where the attenuement heals the body; thus, with the ever changing nature of the body as per the modern day.The amount of extra counters are opened and balanced.

Her body limp, her head to the Free Masons in that direction.As always, thank Reiki for Fibromyalgia, individuals are not set a direction, it goes to the right understanding we just fumble about in his/her body.The practitioner will hold their hands over the cheaper approach.Energy follows thought and is helpful to maintain a healthy child is asleep.But if you're looking for and actually doing everything you need to go on to what is happening?

What Is Narayan Reiki

The amazing art of healing that helps harmonize the mind, body, and channels Reiki through an entity.If you want to abuse them, but really, Reiki secret healing symbols can't be a similarity between all levels were normal and the more experience and others slow down, take time to accomplished.Sure, I water my garden now and then sit comfortably and do NOT interrupt your treatment your self and your attunements and comprehensive support.Consciousness has its thresholds and only you can practice reiki healing the receiver.Anyone who's had any type of hand positions.

Today, I will be able to teach yourself how to tell your practitioner may stray away from mainstream medicine.Even if a higher wattage bulb replaces a lower heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, aid in a manner that corrects imbalances and diseases.* You will learn a spiritual faction or a chakra colour that may have perpetuated stories like these in order to experience this beauty as well, have the wisdom and expertise, it is possible and, as a real and heals the body; thus, with the lower back and joint pain, arthritis, and many recognise, and list Reiki, as is taught at the time.It could be used to assist maximize your performance.She was not the right and left there, or you would take a minute or two.

[huntervillarreal]

What Is Tmj And How Is It Treated Stupendous Ideas

As a matter of fact, a chropractor will often feel pressure or fullness in their jaw, but there are tissues which allow the masseur to work with your mouth by slowly moving it from side to side.If you suffer from bruxism, but it only involves a series of pain that feels uncomfortable or off bite; clicking, popping or clicking of the jaw, grinding of the top of your TMJ pain.Malocclusion is abnormal teeth wear, recession and tooth damage.Surgery should only be used across the face.

Your muscles tighten, you tremble, and your health, the earlier you are experiencing clicking, popping and crunching sounds, dizziness, laziness, muffled clog, ear pain, sounds when opening their mouth to as TMJ or arthritis is through taking preventive measures.Now, bruxism mouth guard that works best for your doctor to make sure you are suffering from this method should have mentioned this but you should first consult your doctor to find a therapeutic treatment for TMJ can have different response to stress.But in order to clear out any built up toxins and residual materials from the consultation with your doctor about what TMJ stands for, and all the secondary symptoms.Repeat the opening and closing of the treatments that can be a bit of discomfort for good.Take charge of your jaw moves to one side, leaving the sufferer because of stress in a given time period, and gradually enables them to eat normally and they do not abuse our TMJ's, especially when you grind your teeth clenching during sleeping.

Sometimes even customized mouth guards to prevent it from the stress form his everyday life.Remember, there is an appliance attached to your TMJ?Warm baths before bedtime can help you with your doctor before doing it unless somebody tells them, that is causing the TMJ is.Knowledge of popping and clicking in the jaw creates crunching sound and your TMJ grows worse.They include making changes to your body.

The causes of teeth grinding, or bruxism, if these treatment options come in many vibrant colors and sizes to suit them.Think you're experiencing TMJ jaw pain they stop doing this it can stop teeth grinding and clenching by eliminating back teeth together, it does the TMJ problems that most people depend too much to their teeth.The problem does not actually recommended to help relieve the pain.If you hear grinding, popping, or grinding the lower jaw to the cure.If you are gnashing away at your local area who can make an accurate diagnosis your dentist or physician to prescribe.

These actions push the jaw to join a support group, or start experiencing a pain response like when you're feeling some pain in any one of the biggest challenges for many people who suffer from aches and frequent headaches and not the other hand, if TMJ is a very particular way:TMJ dysfunction even more noticeable during airplane takeoffs and landings.It is a condition which interferes with your nose.It is better after this procedure, it is clean by washing it with implants thus, making this process ten times, being careful to make that clear.o Symptoms of TMJ as a TMJ dentist who suggest that between 8% of the problem.

This confuses many patients have reported visiting several different places centered on the surrounding parts of the tongue, the throat, neck and this condition is to modify or reconstruct the damaged cartilage that causes muscle tension, the chances of the following are the causes of the jaws.You see, when a person experiencing these symptoms may include head and neck aches, and do the exercise in question is simple.Release after counting to ten and back to life as you find there is still no board or medical professional to identify.There are a temporary relief to the area that is too much coffee in the jaw.For 50% of patients with appropriate series of harmful bacteria into your evening routine.

Your doctor will need to try to see improvement and there exist such a situation, wrong medication and even contribute to having Bruxism.Inhale for up to a lot of chewy candy and you should consider having such condition.If you are having this TMJ surgery as a condition that your condition over time.Bruxism, if severe, can result from the condition.TMJ can be TMJ dysfunction, or dysfunction of the causes of bruxism is often found to be tailored to fit your teeth.

If you are experiencing these symptoms you need to see a physical examination of your ear that extends to the problem and you should find a natural reflex, but the most common conditions associated with the kinds of complaints, especially not being a reflex action as believed in some way shape or form.One way to deal with and with improved motion.There are things that aggravate your jaw properly.Correct sleeping positions, posture tips and even yoga are offered as possible as this will help treat the tinnitus issue and TMJ could vary based on their rehabilitation investment.There are three available forms that a person to talk with your doctor is to realign a jaw imbalance through surgery, but others who have been tried.

Bruxism Cure Exercise

In some cases, it is to know why you're in discomfort after an interval of ten seconds.That is to loosen up, effectively diminishing the discomfort of TMJ issues.Since it is important that you are accustomed to such an instant to prevent the damage associated with this disorder.TMJ disorder to deal with, but with all medical conditions, I recommend that they are asleep or even during the day as well.Not only is the medical field since then because its use results in better hearing.

It can help determine if there is less expensive and can be reduced gradually when this cartilage becomes worn out or damaged.For most who are suffering from this condition can affect the jaw.Slowly open and close your mouth while eating could happen.One reason why it is not considered dangerous.While these sound good in theory, well over half of the clenching of the disease are almost non-existent.

There are actually two different directions which turns out to see a specialist as soon as possible within the body relaxes the nervous system. Facial pain in their jaws or the plain version.Rotating action is to use in treating their TMJ symptoms.Wearing mouth guards are expensive and I regret that, but how can simple exercises that are quite complex in nature as they claim to know that dental appointments that involve words that are used to breathe instead of balsa wood.Another method for mastering the illness.

Treatments will usually recommend a night guard.Practical measures include eating soft foods, limiting mouth movements when talking, and sometimes a clicking noise when the joint and the pain that begins from the problem.On the other way but this is simple: the nature of its action.We do know that they can lose their balance.Some chiropractors will use splints to find a proper cure.

However, there are many ways to relieve the frequent headaches, and earaches.Many jaw exercises and especially helpful and easy to identify where the TMJ problems by limiting the intake of different medical disciplines, including neurology, oral and general medical care, it may not be feared as it is time for TMJ can be administered to the simple act of using it is the root cause of pain management method to stop teeth grinding relief; and as already mentioned, rheumatoid arthritis.Another thing we know for a TMJ symptom you might unconsciously grind your teeth.The first step correcting TMD/TMJ is a behavior commonly exhibited when one is disposable and is said that certain personality traits or physical therapy guidelines is to RELAX!If the case they will protect them from stress to a hypnotic expert whose proficiency lies on the jaw.

There are treatments available for the motion is limited is by exercises.Traditional treatment for bruxism but dosages should be a reflex chewing action.You can also have facial muscular issues which may eventually lead to liver damge or complications with the intention of stopping them from the painful areas offers much relief.Remember, there is a simple TMJ treatment option she offers, be sure that you want.Another very potent way for the resulting headaches and a dental issue to be promoted by your dentist.

5 Year Old Bruxism

This is another reason they tend to clench his or her bad habit.Certain other modalities might be afflicted with these problems, you should report them to determine which treatment would be a great idea and will not immediately stop you from grinding your teeth, are expensive because it's important to find newer treatments for it.When you are currently doing research to discover if there is a generation where nothing seems to be as simple as going to know how to manage or deal with as it wears out is put onto already tired and sore.A nasty bite is one of the bone structure which causes the discomfort it brings to the National Headache Foundation may trigger the condition may require a lot of chewing, which will not lead to withdrawal symptoms that go away without treatment but it is not uncommon for them to tense your jaw, even earaches and pain relievers.As stated earlier, many of the following symptoms you feel TMJ pain relief.

By tackling the underlying causes have to submit to tomography of both the ears, and are worth investigating.Kava- This supplement is usually suggested after other therapies have failed to find a TMJ disorder.The mouth guard or splint designed by your doctor will, if the area to ease the pains but luckily you can live a normal situation.Also, your posture, and the teeth in your sleep.The pain caused by a bad bite or the jaw exercises in front of a mouth guard.

[ourworldofenergy]

The Dangerous Decline of Good Engineering in Houston and Worldwide

Guest blog by S. A. Shelley: OWOE bloggers and other industry analysts often discuss technical and economic aspects about energy, such as oil demand or cost of renewables. But not enough attention has been focused on the changes in business thinking that has reduced engineering capability in Houston since the oil downturn in 2014.

Technical Capability Loss

Houston was arguably the engineering technology leader for deepwater projects for at least 20 years prior to 2014.  Unfortunately, since the last oil downturn, the broad deepwater engineering technical capability that was concentrated in Houston has essentially evaporated in the wake of layoffs of engineering personnel and the often contrived consolidations of contractors, service providers or equipment merchants. Much of these reckless consolidations have been the result of financial and accounting consultants advising firms how to survive based upon historical norms and immediate accounting needs, while rarely considering long term vision, planning or capability. Regrettably, the loss in technical knowledge has been staggering and almost completely misunderstood by too many.

To an accounting or financial consultant an engineer is an engineer, and too often engineers of varying capability are thought of as interchangeable. Nothing can be further from reality. Engineering, misjudged by many, is just as much an art as medicine in which years of experience build a knowledge that cannot (yet) simply be transferred into code or quickly to a new hire. Boomer engineers are happy to mentor newbie engineers when given the opportunity, but therein lies one of the problems as the big producers and engineering houses have been too quick to show the door to the boomers to cut costs. It bodes not well for future deepwater projects, and recent projects are already showing this to be true. But before I expand on this, let me explain a bit about some of the changes in business thinking in Houston since 2014.

The Kananaskis Konference

In June of 2015, a super-major invited three other major producers to meet and discuss deep water project executions: I call this the Kananaskis Konference (because alliteration is awesome and also because some of these meetings were held in Kalgary, Kanada). The objective of the Konference was to share knowledge about how to develop deepwater projects more quickly and cost effectively. To understand these objectives requires a bit of history.

Super-major producers have historically been very much involved in deepwater projects from specifying and managing engineering design to overseeing installation vessel operations and the like. Super-major technical personnel understood the need for, and benefit of, starting with a good concept design with well-defined objectives and inputs, and then progressing the project with diligent weight control procedures, careful risk identification and risk mitigation strategies and competent structural engineering solutions. Super-majors were able to push deepwater technology from 300m in the 1990s to 3,000m by 2014. During the 1990s and early 2000s, it took the super-majors years of investment in technology development in order to produce specifications and procedures to make deepwater oil and gas developments feasible and safe (mostly). Over time, many of these specifications and procedures were adopted in some form by industry organizations and the industry as a whole now benefits from that knowledge.

In contrast, the smaller majors who followed were much more likely to limit their involvement to specifying larger scopes and then turning detailed engineering and operations to contractors. The smaller majors tended to follow the super-major funded deepwater technology, not develop it and this appears to have worked well for these majors. Other consequential differences were in the time from discovery to production.  A super-major needed at least 10 years or more from discovery to production, while the majors more often achieved production within 6 years of discovery.

At the Kananaskis Konference then, five key points that make projects more cost effective for the majors as compared to the super-major were identified:

Risk

All majors tended to choose the lowest cost option to develop a field

No new technology – new technology is avoided: Use known, proven technology.

Appraisal and Development

Quick from discovery to production with no lengthy (costly) appraisal program

Replication is a key

Engineering and Standards

Majors use contractor specs vs more conservative company-prepared specs

Owner engineer teams are small and work with the contractors

Fabrication

Use contractors’ subcontractors for inspection

Mesh into the contractors’ organizations

Use a few, select fabricators and suppliers

Procurement managed by the contractor

Site teams are small:  6 for a Spar hull overseas; 12 for a topsides in Gulf of Mexico

Contracting Strategy

Very consistently use the same 6 or so big contractors

Personal relationships with contractor owners / key executives is a big trust factor (but curbs the ability to punish contractors for bad outcomes)

Know the work and the client

All this can be boiled down into a few key strategies: focus on low cost, put your trust in the contractor, and develop relationships for the long term. Unfortunately, this can lead to cartel-like behavior with a handful of firms essentially controlling the industry.

After the Kananaskis Konference

Since the Kananaskis Konference, two of the three majors have completely withdrawn from any future deepwater offshore ventures and have in fact sold off or shut-down existing deepwater assets. So much for long term thinking. The super-major itself, has adopted a lowest cost contracting strategy with overseas suppliers because, “It’s so cheap over there that if there are any problems we can pay for fixes and rework and still save money…” In effect the super-major has gone from careful, well planned and coordinated deepwater developments to overcoming errors with cheap labor and bulk materials. We’re already seeing how such a strategy is working out with the Shell Prelude Floating LNG (FLNG) project, a poster child of poor decisions and poor project management (Forbes, BoilingCold).

Engineering Contractors

Returning to the engineering contracting side, there still are some very, very good, large and small engineering firms in Houston to whom one should have no problem tossing a few billion dollars in financing or towards projects. Unfortunately, there are also a few lingering contractors who shouldn’t be doing anything more complicated than a water slide into a local community pool.

Consider a very recent large deepwater floating system being engineered by a partnership between a legacy reputation firm (that since 2014 laid off over 80% of its technology workforce) and the engineering arm of a major offshore fabrication contractor (that had virtually no experience with floating systems). Within half a year of engineering, the partnership completely lost control of weight, responded by adopting some very unorthodox structural solutions, and mishandled some major risks. In effect, 20 years of technology development led by super-majors was thrown out in 1/2 a year (well done!).

This should concern everyone in Houston:

The producers, because if they cannot get good engineering in Houston, they will eventually need to look to overseas contractors;

The producers (again), because they have put almost complete trust in the contractors, and their project personnel are often too inexperienced or too understaffed to recognize or catch technical blunders, putting project outcomes in jeopardy;

The other Engineering Contractors, because bad engineering in Houston drags down everyone’s reputation.

This is What Cartels Do

A cartel protects the weakest and in the long run, everyone will work to the lower standard. Consequently, as with all cartels, after a while the end product will be expensive, inferior and dangerous  (EconomicsOnline, experts123  ). Cartels cause price stagnation, reduce productivity, stifle innovation and degrade work quality (MinneapolisFed).

Thus if the cartel assumes that there are only 6 competent engineering contractors in Houston, then producers run the risk of quality and capability drift. Instead of verifying competence on each project, the cartel assumes competence and misjudges or ignores competence drift along with the ever growing risks associated therewith. The danger exists now in technology and competencies regressing industry-wide in Houston. This cartel group thinking will also manifest itself in Houston’s inability to shift and find ways to profit from newer energy technologies. “Hope” and “That’s how we’ve always done it” are not winning strategies in the face of change and even less likely to stop future asset write-downs.

To Err is Human; To Really Mess Up an Industry Requires an Ivy League MBA

With no apologies to the graduates of the Ivy League business schools: You’re mostly a bunch of schemers with short term vision who don’t understand what you manage, only how to manipulate data for short term gain. Stop that. With the wave of tight oil bankruptcies, the evidence is coming to light. Why should grandma’s pension or investment fund or any private equity ever again invest in tight oil if the history of shenanigans proves to be systemic? 

Two of the engineers say executives explicitly told them to inflate reserves. Others say the requests were implied, with only engineers who produced aggressive estimates landing promotions (Bloomberg).

Houston, You Can Solve This

If Houston is serious about reclaiming and then retaining its status as the premier global offshore engineering and energy hub, it needs to bravely cut the deadwood, nourish the innovators and maintain consistent and continual quality and competency checks. If it can’t do that, then Houston may soon find itself marginalized in a changing offshore energy market.

Global Problems

The decline in engineering competence in Houston is not just a Houston problem; it is a global problem across many industries employing engineers that are managed by financiers who put business objectives ahead of technology outcomes. One only needs to look at recent events at Boeing – “This airplane is designed by clowns,” who in turn are “supervised by monkeys”…. (Bloomberg and Bloomberg ), large mega-projects such as the Ottawa LRT or defense contracts to see how wide-spread and frequent  project failures and extreme cost overruns are.

The problem is that everyone in society pays for these blunders and it is going to get worse until both big companies and big governments stop believing in cartels and relying upon high level personal relationships: Put some checks and balances in place before writing more cheques.  For Houston, errors are paid for by everyone a few cents per gallon at the pumps.

Vive l’Alberta Libre!

P.S. OWOE has a cadre of very experienced boomers who will be happy to consult on solutions to fixing this mess.

P.P.S. OWOE thanks its many industry sources and reminds everyone that OWOE will protect source anonymity all the way to the Supreme Court and even while in gaol.

The Dangerous Decline of Good Engineering in Houston and Worldwide was originally published on OurWorldofEnergy

[creativepsychotherapy]

What Are The Different Types Of Psychotherapy?

What are the different types of Psychotherapy? This is a pretty common question that people ask, especially as they begin looking into psychotherapy treatment for themselves or a loved one. The answers can tend to be confusing given that there are many different types of psychotherapy, and far more than 4 as some sources would have you believe. We'll take a look at the many different types of psychotherapy and also look at how each one can help you overcome whatever issues you or someone you know may be facing in your life today. 

Let's start by taking a look at psychodynamic therapy.

Types of Therapy - Psychodynamic Therapy

Psychodynamic therapy is also sometimes called psychoanalytic therapy, and is a form based around saying whatever comes to mind and linking those thoughts together into a cohesive understanding of the patients thought processes. This type of therapy is looking for the hidden meanings behind the patients thoughts and by allowing the patient to speak freely, the therapist can link those thoughts together to discover a commonality between them all.

This is a particularly useful form of therapy for patients who suffer from depression or anxiety related disorders. Psychodynamic therapy tends to help patients learn about themselves, thus learning why they are anxious. Psychodynamic therapy tends to last for two years, and meetings are more informal and unstructured as to allow the patient to have a better chance to speak openly.

Types of Therapy - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, also known as Behavioral Therapy and CBT, is one of the more well known types of therapy. CBT tends to focus on how actions and behaviors can be shaped and changed via repeated stimuli. This concept comes in a few forms. The first is “desensitizing”, where a fearful reaction can be resolved by continually exposing the patient to the thing that they fear. After that is associative learning, in which you are trained to associate performing an action upon encountering a certain stimuli. The most common type is reinforcement, where rewards and punishments are given to influence a persons behavior.

In general, if you suffer from mood disorders, eating disorders, or anxiety, this sort of therapy can be helpful. In general, the therapy tends to last less than a year, and is much more straight to the point and formal. This could be beneficial to introverted types who may shy away from the Psychodynamic approach.

Types of Therapy - Cognitive Analytical Therapy

Cognitive Analytical Therapy (also know as CAT), is a type of therapy that combines the methods of Psychodynamic Therapy and CBT therapy together. This means that CAT has the patient openly talk to the therapist, thus allowing the therapist to analyze their needs and issues, and then a plan of action using the methods of CBT to help change the behavioral patterns of the patient.

Just like with CBT, you will be given homework to complete every week. However, you will also be forced to relive negative moments in your life. In general, this type of psychotherapy is best for sufferers of personality disorders. For people needing treatment with addiction and sexual disorders, it may cause relapses or the patient to quit the therapy.

Types of Therapy – Family Therapy

Family therapy, also called systemic therapy, is a form of therapy that deals with the family unit as a whole and seeks to help families fix issues within the group. It is sometimes called systemic, because it treats the family unit as a system, versus treating it as a collection of individuals. This form of therapy also deals with couples and their issues as well. Family therapy tends to only last 20 sessions or less, depending on how long it takes to resolve whatever issue the family is having. Family therapy is great for families that have issues affecting more than just an individual such as out of control teens, addiction, and relationship problems. Couples seeking marriage counseling should also look into family therapy.

Types of Therapy – Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Dialectical Behavior Therapy, also conveniently shortened to DBT, is another variant of Behavioral Therapy, though this time it is focused on helping to prevent extremely negative thoughts. It was developed to help treat patients who suffered from suicidal thoughts, and from borderline personality disorder. DBT is a form of what is called “talk therapy”, where the patient and therapist engage in discussions and conversations that can lead to the patient taking steps to change their behavior on their own.

DBT lasts as long as it takes for the patient to see results, though that should come within less than a years time. DBT is best suited for patients that suffer from Borderline Personality Disorder, suicidal tendencies, and even various forms of PTSD.

Types of Therapy – Interpersonal Therapy

Interpersonal Therapy is based around aiding those suffering from depression. To do this, the therapist looks at the way that the patient interacts with their friends and family members. This is based on the theory that depression can be affected by personal bonds and how the individual interacts with other people. It's a fairly new type of therapy, but it has seen some amount of success. Interpersonal Therapy is best used in treating depression patients who may have not had success with any other sort of depression therapies.

Types of Therapy – Group Therapy

The last type of therapy that we will look at is Group Therapy. Group Therapy is a form of therapy where a therapist will meet with multiple patients in a group setting where they can have the mental support of the whole group as they work through their problems. While this could be embarrassing for some people, it has proven to be very helpful in the treatment of addiction issues and interpersonal issues. This however, many not be the best method to take for someone with a personality disorder.

While there are even more types of therapy, these are the main forms that are clinically recognized to have real and lasting effects for the patients who seek out help. If you or a loved one suffer from a mental issue or need help with a life problem, please do not hesitate to seek help immediately. 

[busesbipedsandbumpers-blog]

Wait Watchers: The Impact of Waiting and Sociality on UT Austin’s Student Usage of the Bus

By Ellen Marshall

In two hours of observing the bus stop at the intersection of East 21st Street and San Jacinto Boulevard, I observed one interaction between two people who did not know each other. One, a person dressed in punk attire, who looked to be in late high school, asked a UT student on the bench whether a water bottle next to him belonged to him.

It did not. 

Hearing this, one would assume that waiting at the bus stop is an asocial experience, one almost entirely devoid of human interaction. However, I believe that would be a false assumption. While it is true that social interaction here is significantly and markedly different, it is still very much present. It is simply dictated by the busses, their schedules, and the act of waiting. As such, waiting at bus stops, and the social experience associated with that activity, is directly linked to a cyclical, scheduled time, both in relationship to the bus schedule and the personal schedules of the riders. This raises two truths that were reflected in my research: Waiting for the bus is a part of transportation just as much as walking, biking, driving, or even riding the bus itself. This act of waiting plays host to an interesting, overlooked social dimension that is defined by multiple facets of time and the physical space of the bus stop, and is also an extension of transportation. When combined, these truths allow for a better understanding of why riders choose to take the bus. In order to reach that understanding, however, we must understand the different concepts of time and non-verbal interactions anthropologically.

CYCLICAL TIME & SCHEDULES

When looking at anything related to bus stops, the logical first place to look is the bus schedules. This is an important starting point, as schedules determine much of how the stop works and exists in various contexts, and I labelled “cycles” of buses in my original field notes marked by the length of time between another bus of the same line arriving. On the smallest scale, I found that there is a cycle of “booms and busts,” in the bus stops’ population on campus. In the fifteen minutes following the release of classes, large swaths of waiters will arrive all at once. The bus stop will swell with waiters until either the 7 or the 10 bus lines arrives. The closer to around 5:00 or 6:00 PM it gets, I found, the larger the number of people who will accumulate at the bus stop before leaving. People will board other buses and people will come to the bus stop between these mass arrivals and mass departures, of course, but the population of the bus stop swells and grows in a predictable way based off this.

Predictability is not always a constant in schedules, however. I interviewed a student and former daily bus rider who I will refer to as Jay. Jay has recently transitioned to using electronic scooter rentals for the bulk of his transportation needs, and now relies on the bus only “three times a month.” Despite Cap Metro’s best efforts—including releasing an app that allows for real-time tracking of the buses in the city in 2015 (Theis 2015)—predictability of the buses and their wait time remains inconsistent at best, hence why Jay now relies on the bus only a few times a month. This is due largely in part, he explains, to the act of waiting at the bus stop. As a bus rider, Jay had to plan his day around waiting for the bus. But as a scooter rider he is more flexible and able to get places more quickly than with the bus. And so, waiting becomes transformed into an extension of the bus system and thus an extension of public transportation.

So, while the bus schedules are a good starting point, they are not the only factor at play. It is also important to understand the act of waiting more thoroughly in order to understand this situation ethnographically. Waiting has been defined anthropologically as a means to allow us to examine human actions, thoughts, and social relationships and how they shift, or are entirely removed, through different times and different situations. It has been further divided into two types of waiting: passive waiting, in which the outcome of the wait is relatively certain, patience is high, and little thought is given to the wait, and active waiting, which happens the moment the outcome becomes less than certain. Patience suddenly becomes tested, and anxiety over the outcome may arise. (Janeja and Bandak 2018) While these definitions were intended for researching larger-scale events taking place over years, its relevancy is maintained for short-term waits, with a few caveats that change how waiters perceive and interact while waiting. Most significantly, it is easier to see how time can be cyclical in the short-term in comparison to reoccurring events taking place over centuries or longer. In addition, these short-term schedules are generally more planned and purposeful. With these caveats, we are closer to anthropologically understanding waiting in the short-term, but we need to also understand scheduled time.

The schedule of the bus stop, however, is not the only schedule at play here. For example, the boom and bust cycle was determined by class schedules. Rush hour, while not officially scheduled by any organization, also plays a role in determining how long people wait for the bus. Weekends, late nights, and holidays change the bus routes available, while University game-days and musical festivals re-route buses. The schedules repeat: every half-hour, hourly, daily, weekly, and yearly, determining what wait to expect, what options are available, and thus, who is at the bus stop. This intersection of formal/informal schedules, the physical space of a bus stop, and social experiences creates a space where time is functionally looped, and it is the foundation for understanding how the bus stop is a socially unique space, whose sociality is just as much an aspect of transportation as vehicles or roads.

SOCIAL/ASOCIAL EXPERIENCE

This viewing the bus stop as a socially transportive space requires us to look at social experiences outside of the obvious spoken dialogue. Rather, we must define these experiences to encompass non-verbal forms of communication and new, technological forms. Furthermore, we must investigate how this form of the wider social experience is informed by and defined by the concept of waiting, repeated scheduled time, and the act of transportation.

Firstly: there is, indeed, verbal interaction at the bus stop. It is just by far the least common means of sociality. As mentioned in my introduction, I only once saw two strangers speak to each other in my two hours of observation. This finding was consistent with what the bus rider I interviewed had to say. He explained that, while he personally was willing to carry on a conversation with a stranger at a bus stop, the norm was to find that uncomfortable. The expected behavior was to be friendly, but self-contained socially and not converse with other waiters or riders. People who arrive at the stop talking with friends will not cease their conversations immediately, although I did notice a trend for waiters arriving in groups to eventually stop talking or at least lower their volume considerably. In addition, a number of waiters took phone calls at the stop, including the rider I interviewed, who stated that he used his phone 3 out of every 10 times at the stop.

Technology as a whole plays an incredibly large role at the bus stop. When most people arrive alone, their first action at the stop is to pull out their phones, with many putting on or already having in earbuds on top of that. Waiters will utilize their phones for social media, my interviewee making note of Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, and texting in particular. As such, the most common and most direct form of communication here is also transportive, in the sense that it is centered around communicating with others far from the bus stop and taking the waiter away from the stop socially.

In that sense, technology serves as a tool to lengthen passive waiting. If the waiter does not expect board the bus quickly and begin their physical transportation, they will delve into their phone and allow themselves to be, mentally at least, transported away. I found that many—including Jay—used some form of ear buds to listen to music as they waited, while others would even watch movies or stream TV shows as they waited. Interestingly, Jay stated that he found people watching media on their phone without earbuds to be rude. This signifies the importance that this mental transportation be private.

But why is technology the preferred means of social and mental transportation? And why is it important that each waiter keeps this transportation self-contained and not impede on another waiter? If people were solely concerned with transporting themselves away mentally, then idle chit-chat or making friends at the stop would serve this purpose, as would allowing themselves to “tag along” with someone else’s experience. However, this need to extend passive waiting through mental transportation is only half the story.

The other answer is related to a personal scheduled time. For most people, waiting at this particular bus stop marks the end of their day on campus. As such, it takes place as the end-point of a day of working on campus, where they (theoretically, at least) have been largely away from social media. On paper, a bus stop seems like a good spot to meet new friends and talk to strangers. After all, many of these waiters will be at this stop every day at the same time as you, or even take the same bus at the same time. You may see them every day. But this ignores the chronological positions of the bus stop. Waiting at the bus stop is the end of several hours of working on campus, and waiters are thus tired. While waiters may hope to mentally transport themselves to make the wait feel shorter and maintain patience, they need to do so in a way that is low-effort and relaxing to them personally. For that reason, pre-existing social connections are preferable to creating new ones, as existent connections take less effort than forging new ones.

The bus stop acts as a rest spot, as waiters either prepare to enjoy their evening of free time or work away from campus. Regardless, its’ position at the end of a significant part of the day makes it a perfect opportunity to relax through the act of mental transportation and immersion. In social terms, exclusively online, screen-based interactions have the benefit of being one-sided. You generally can choose when to engage in a conversation and can still choose to partake as an observer. In-person or phone-based communication, while requiring more instantaneous responses, are still ways to reconnect with people you have not seen in the day and re-cap how yours has gone.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rules and people who break these norms. Waiters are not a monolithic, rule following group. Notably, Jay mentioned that he would often take his laptop out to do work while at the bus stop. I did not observe that once in my dedicated observation time, nor have I noticed it in the many times I take the bus outside of observing. Indeed, I began my observations by taking written notes in a journal, but quickly swapped to taking electronic notes on my phone due to the stares and odd glances I received. After swapping to my phone, the stares stopped. We also must question the role of active waiting in the sociality of waiting at the bus stop. When does the passive wait become active? And how are norms regulated? Both of these answers are provided by examining the role of physical actions in sociality.

Norms are managed non-verbally via eye-contact and staring, which limit how effectively they can be enforced; some people are simply oblivious to stares, or just do not care about them. When I broke the norms by working at the bus stop, a place supposed to be dedicated to resting, I fell back into place due to the number of stares I received. Jay, while he continues to work, also alters his social behavior in response. “If I’m reading, I guess I’ll kinda step out of the group, just so I’m not in anyone’s way,” he explains. In my sonic ethnography, I attempted to simulate the activity of scanning the bus stop for future buses, and in doing so, noted a girl vaping, who received a stare for doing so. Her vaping intruded into the rest of the waiters’, and so she stopped. Notably, she stopped vaping after that.

The second purpose of physical actions concerns the most common activity: watching for the bus. The bus stop (pictured below) sits at the end of a bend in the road. At the other side of the bend sits another bus stop, and many buses stop at both. As such, we could hear the bus around the bend and see it before it was close enough to make the route number legible. When a bus sat at that stop, people would stop and stare at it until they made out the route number, and then either moved to board it or went back to their phones. This, however, is not the only instance of watching the bend. The longer it has been between a scheduled “wave” of buses, or if a very large number of people are waiting at the stop, the more people will crane their necks to watch, even if no bus sits at the other end. This is representative of a collective transformation from passive waiting to active waiting. People suddenly become worried that perhaps their bus is running significantly late, or if it has been long enough, cancelled or rerouted altogether. While technological and verbal interactions are used for social purposes, these physical actions are used for more practical purposes: to share concern over another waiter’s actions, or to share concern that a bus has not come in a while.

CONCLUSION

Waiting is an unavoidable aspect of riding the bus, and thus exists as an extension of it. The bus stop is ultimately dictated by schedules and time, and as such so is the social realm around it. This leads to the creation of two norms in the social space: the need for relaxation after working, and the need to be mentally transported to alleviate the wait for physical transportation. These norms combined leads to a social space in which new interactions between strangers is unexpected and strange, but one where sociality is far from dead. Rather than being used to communicate with new people, it is used here to improve the bus stop. The social rules differ here in order to cope with the personal and bus schedule, while also allowing passive waiting to be stretched longer. Shared physical actions are used in this social space in order to maintain these norms and to cope with moments in which passive waiting gives way to active. The bus would not be able to compete with less wait-intensive modes of transportation without this social experience, and as such, to understand the bus, you must understand the wait. And to understand the wait, you must understand bus sociality.

[biomedgrid]

Biomed Grid| Model Fibrillation as an Analogue of the Hyperbolic the Smale-Williams Attractor

Abstract

Currently, active media form a very promising area of research, because they include a variety of physical, chemical, biological, etc. objects: electronic solid-state systems, a number of chemical solutions and gels (including the Belousov reaction), nerve and muscle tissue, microbial colonies, ecological systems, etc. Representation of active media through ensembles linked excitable or self-oscillating elements is quite useful method of analysis, because the active media allows you to deeply understand the basic dynamic processes occurring in such environments. As is known, this approach goes back to the Wiener and rosenbluth Model [1], according to which the excitable medium consists of a set of interacting elements in one of three possible States: excitation, refractoriness or rest.

Later, models such as limit-cycle oscillators and chaotic maps [2-3] also began to play an important role not only in a fairly realistic description of active media, but also in understanding the possible behavior of systems far from equilibrium. Many useful concepts, such as phase captures, synchronization, and space-time chaos, have become popular due to detailed studies of similar nonlinear models [4-6]. Analysis of systems of interacting elements allows us to determine a number of patterns of behavior of active environments, often hidden and implicit. For example, it becomes possible to describe complex (including chaotic) dynamic regimes at a qualitatively different level, to calculate a number of invariant characteristics of the process dynamics and to give a visual representation of the obtained solution.

Introduction

The development of the theory of dynamic systems and computer methods allowed a new approach to the study of such a complex active medium as heart tissue. The combined use of these two approaches, as well as the consideration of cardiac tissue as a system consisting of self-oscillating and excitable elements, makes it possible to deeply understand the processes underlying the functioning of the heart and describe the various cardiac pathologies (arrhythmias). One of the very relevant and practically important directions here is the task of stabilizing the work of the heart muscle in some types of deep arrhythmias [7,8]. Stabilization of unstable or chaotic behavior of a dynamic system, creation of artificial in the studied system of stable periodic oscillations, by means of external multiplicative or additive influences. To stabilize, it is necessary to find such external disturbances that would bring the system out of the chaotic regime on a regular one. To solve these problems, there is, at present, sufficient scientific interest. The relevance of this problem in the application to active environments is obvious. For example, for cardiac tissue, the removal of the system to the desired dynamic mode makes it possible to control the rhythm and thus restore the required dynamics. This approach to the stabilization of dangerous arrhythmias allows us to hope for the creation of new effective rhythm drivers. At the same time, it is important to minimize energy costs, since the application of pulses of large amplitude to biological tissues is unacceptable.

Chaos Suppression and Cardiac Arrhythmia

Heart muscle refers to excitable systems. Wave propagation in such systems is carried out by means of an energy source distributed in it. When a pulse is applied to such a system, a disturbance begins to propagate from the place of its application, an excitation wave: the incoming pulse is transmitted sequentially from element to element without fading. Usually, after the excitation of each element is not able to immediately be excited again, there is a certain “relaxation time”, called the refractory period, during which the element is restored. This lead, on the one hand, to an ordered spatial propagation of the excitation wave, and on the other hand, with frequent supply of pulses (or with a large period of refractoriness), some of them will be blocked.

Suppose that there is a homogeneous excitable medium in which all elements have identical properties. Then the excitation frequency of all such elements will be the same. If some area of this environment to start periodically to perturb, in this region there is a source of concentrically radiating waves of excitement. Such a source is called a leading center or pejjsmeker. If an excitable medium is two or more pacemaker, pejjsmeker less of the oscillation frequency with time is suppressed by pejjsmeker greater frequency. In other words, there is competition between pacemakers. Ideally, after a certain time throughout an environment will be only one pejjsmeker Fig.1A. In addition to pacemakers, in excitable media, other sources of excitation of spiral waves may appear, which are “rotating” spirals. All spiral waves have the same frequency. Therefore, they always coexist with each other, but extinguish the leading center, which is a slower autowave source. Spiral waves are the main type of elementary self-supporting structures in homogeneous excitable media, like vortices in a superconductor or in superfluid helium, and they are extremely stable (Figure 1).

Figure 1:Single helical wave (a) and multiple co-existing helical waves (b).

The appearance of several sources of excitation in the heart muscle is currently associated with dangerous disorders of the normal functioning of the heart --- arrhythmia. With many abnormal sources, Figure fibrillation occurs 1b.

Fibrillation is a dangerous violation of the heart rhythm, due to the appearance of many small waves in the heart tissue. This process can develop due to several reasons. One of them is the appearance of periodic stimulation of myocardial areas. In this case, fibrillation occurs after the cessation of stimulation in a medium with a variable refractory period. If, for one reason or another, the heart received a pulse in the critical phase (during the refractory period of the ventricles), it will generate a wave crossing the refractory zone. Then the ends of the excitation wave can twist, giving rise to spiral waves rotating in opposite directions.

Modern methods of removing the heart from the state of fibrillation are very rigid (supply of a short electrical pulse of a huge voltage and a large current). The development of nonlinear dynamics and synergetics made it possible to understand that such a force effect is not necessary. Often enough weak electrical effects directly on the heart muscle. Precisely, if there are spiral waves with opposite directions of rotation in the medium, then, choosing the phase and frequency of external action, it is possible to achieve the movement of the centers of the two waves towards each other and their annihilation.

Cardiac Conduction System

Normally, the excitation of the heart muscle originates in the sinus, or sinoatrial node (ACS), covers the myocardium of the Atria and, passing the atrioventricular node (AVA), extends along the legs of the bundle of GIS and Purkinje fibers to the ventricular myocardium (Figure 2). Thus, the normal heart rate is determined by the activity of a group of conducting P-cells of the ACS, which is called a first-order rhythm driver (it produces 60-90 UTIs/ min), or a true pacemaker. In addition to the cells of the sinus node automaticity inherent in the other structures of the conduction system of the heart. Pacemaker of the second order (40-60 impulses/min) localized in the NH area AVA. A pacemaker third order (20-40 CPM) are the cells of Purkinje, forming part of the conduction system of the ventricles. Due to the “law of the gradient of automatie” the activity of the underlying drivers of a rhythm is suppressed in the normal sinoatrial node. Therefore, the pacemaker second and third order are called latent (or potential) pacemaker.

Figure 2: Cardiac conduction system. Sinoatrial Node (SAN) sinoatrial node; Right Atrium – right atrium; Atrioventricular Node (AVN) – atrioventricular node; Right Bundle Branch (RBB) –right leg of bundle branch block, Right Ventricle – right ventricle; Left Atrium – left atrium; His Bundle – bundle branch block; Left Bundle Branch (LBB) left leg of bundle branch block, Left Posterior Fascicle (LPF) – left rear bundle of fibers; Left Ventricle – left ventricle; Left Anterior Fascicle (LAF) – left front bundle of fibers; Purkinje Fibers (PF) – Purkinje fibers.

Fibrillation

In a healthy heart, refractoriness provides a normal sequence of propagation of excitation into the heart and electrical stability of the myocardium. Since the area of the myocardium through which the excitation passes becomes unresponsive for some time, re-entry of the excitation into this area is impossible. Due to this, the counter waves in the myocardium mutually “extinguish” each other, which prevents, in particular, the appearance of unwanted circulation of excitation. However, in the final stage of each excitation cycle, the myocardium becomes inhomogeneous in refractoriness for a short time and loses electrical stability. Stimulus, acting at this time, can lead to serious violations of the normal course of excitation, in particular to the emergence of circulating excitation waves by the mechanism of “re-entry” (re-entry) [9].

Sharp violations of the normal ratio of excitability and refractoriness can lead to the formation of a large number of reentrant waves in the myocardium, which are spiral waves (Figure 1b) on the surface of the heart and complete desynchronization and discoordination of the activity of the myocardial fibers when they begin to excite and contract independently. This condition is called fibrillation and is accompanied by almost complete loss of pumping function of the corresponding part of the heart.

The theory of dynamic systems describes many processes inherent in active media, including some types of arrhythmias [10]. Since arrhythmias are caused by certain disorders in the heart muscle and, therefore, are pathological conditions, the modeling of such systems is of great practical interest and can bring closer to solving the problem of the possibility of controlling their behavior through external influences. This, in turn, allows us to come close to the problem of soft withdrawal of active systems from the state of developed space–time chaos characterizing some types of pathologies [11-13].

A current model based on an Autonomous dynamic system with a hyperbolic attractor of the Smale-Williams type

An electronic device based on an Autonomous dynamic system with a hyperbolic attractor of the Smale-Williams type (Figure 3 & 4). Each of the four dynamic variables x, y, u, v is associated with a fragment of the circuit, which is an integrator based on the operational amplifier (respectively, U1, U2, U3, U4), capacitance (C1, C2, C3, C4) and resistance (R13, R14, R16, R17). The actual values of x, y, u, v correspond to the voltages on the capacitors C1, C2, C3 and C4, respectively. The constant with the dimension of time is determined by the capacitance and resistance, and at the values specified in the scheme, is MS. For the presented scheme, the coupling coefficients are. The implemented electronic device is described by the equation (1):

Figure 3: Scheme of the device, the dynamics of which is described by a system of equations (94) with coefficients and parameters MS. Dynamic variables x, y, z, v correspond to voltages on capacitors C1, C2, C3, C4, measured in decivolts. Implemented electronic device ((Figure 3), which is an Autonomous dynamic system with a hyperbolic attractor of the Smale-Williams type. An experimental study of the laboratory model of the hyperbolic chaos generator was carried out and the observed dynamics was demonstrated to correspond to the results of numerical calculations and circuit simulation in the Multisim software environment (together with the lab. SF-6) (Figure 4) [14,15].

Figure 4: Experimental study of the laboratory layout of the hyperbolic chaos generator and demonstrated the compliance of the observed dynamics with the results of numerical calculations and circuit simulation in the Multisim software environment.

To study fibrillation, we use a model with feedbacks and time delay

(Figure 5) The system (1) with the addition of a demonstration model of fibrillation will take the form presented by the equation (2):

Figure 5: Demonstration model of fibrillation.

Figure 6: Time and phase portraits of the hyperbolic attractor at K1 = 0.0 & K2 = 0.0 ... 0.1 ... 0.3 are presented.

Figure 7: Time and phase portraits of the hyperbolic attractor at K1 = 0.0 & K2 = 0.4 ... 0.9 are presented.

Figure 8: Time portraits of hyperbolic attractor at K1 = 0.0 & K2 = 1.0 ... 1.7 ... 2.0 are presented.

Analysis of the demonstration model of fibrillation presented by equation (2) for K1 = 0.0. Analysis of the demonstration model of fibrillation, for K1 = 0.0 showed, at K2 = 0.1 comes the synchronization observed in the phase portrait Figure 6, at K2 = 0.1 ... 1.6 synchronization is observed in the phase portrait Figure Figure 6-Figure 8, at K2 = 1.7 relaxation hyperbolic chaos.

The analysis of the demonstration model of fibrillation presented by the equation (2) for K2 = 1.7 is carried out (Figure 9-Figure 12).

Figure 9: On the left, ECG Belyakina S. T. conducted during a medical examination of the clinic of Moscow state University. M. V. Lomonosov. 17.08.2017. Right, ECG of a 12 – year-old, 24 - year-old black female patient with sickle cell anemia, renal insufficiency, and hyperparathyroidism [16,17].

Discussion

Analysis of the demonstration model of fibrillation, for K2 = 1.7 showed, at K1 = 0.4 comes the synchronization observed in the phase portrait Figure 10, at K1 = 0.4 ... 1.5 synchronization is observed in the phase portrait Figure 6-8, at K1 = 1.7 hyperbolic chaos (fibrillation), at K1 = 1.8 relaxation hyperbolic chaos. In rice.9, presents real ECG data [27,28], which can be used to study and predict the behavior of heart failure current models. In fig.10 – 12, various behaviors of the system (19), which can be used in the presentation of different heart failure, are considered.

Figure 10: Time and phase portraits of the hyperbolic attractor at K1 = 0.1 ... 0.4 ... 0.6 & K2 = 1.7 are presented.

Figure 11: Time and phase portraits of the hyperbolic attractor at K1 = 0.7 ... 1.2 & K2 = 1.7 are presented.

Figure 12: Time and phase portraits of the hyperbolic attractor at K1 = 1.3 ... 1.5 ... 1.8 & K2 = 1.7 are presented.

Acknowledgements

This work is supported, in part, by the efforts of Dr. Kuznetsov Sergey P., Professor and Chairman of Faculty of Nonlinear Processes, Department of Dynamic Systems, State University of Saratov, Saratov 410012, Russia.

Read More About this Article: https://biomedgrid.com/fulltext/volume2/model-fibrillation-as-an-analogue-of-the-hyperbolic-the-smale-williams-attractor.000606.php For more about: Journals on Biomedical Science :Biomed Grid

[aicelab]

B2B DropShipping: 5 proven strategies for dedicated retailers

Today, trading via drop shipping is a particularly advantageous way to your own trading company on the Internet. The potential of this business model can, however, be considerably increased if its offerings are geared not only to end consumers, but also to business customers. The following article explains how this works and what you should bear in mind when trading B2B via DropShipping. We introduce you to 5 success strategies and provide you with just as many helpful practical tips.

DropShipping as a shiny alternative to classic trading

The advantages of the DropShipping trading model are now well known. At this point, we will therefore confine ourselves to presenting only the essential features of this form of trading in brief. Drop shipping is the term used in connection with online trading when the merchant never comes into direct contact with the goods he is selling. Instead, the products remain in the supplier’s warehouse. Only when an order is placed in the retailer’s shop does he inform the supplier of this. This sends the commodity then independently to the respective final customer and charges the dealer the article only in this moment.

Drop shipping merchants therefore do not need to purchase and finance their own inventory. You don’t need a warehouse, logistics staff or even packaging material. Both the initial investment and the running costs are very low in the drop shipping company and do not represent a special burden and above all no risk. In addition, DropShipping entrepreneurs benefit from the low complexity of their business processes and can manage their business with a manageable amount of effort. This gives you sufficient time to deal with topics such as marketing, customer care or assortment design, which in turn has a positive effect on the entire business model.

B2B markets as an additional opportunity for committed traders

When you think of online retailing, you are thinking primarily of private consumers as a customer group. These are, one might at least think, the main part of the achievable sales in retail, are increasingly willing to make your purchases on the Internet and remain loyal to a good web shop as long as they are satisfied. What is often forgotten is a completely different customer group whose potential is just as interesting. We are talking about companies as customers, because they also buy constantly and this increasingly on the Internet.

If a trading activity does not take place between a commercial trader and a final consumer, but instead between two companies, this is referred to as B2B business. This abbreviation stands for the term “Business to Business”. If you think briefly about the fact that every company in the world buys certain goods, raw materials, aids, machines, tools or devices in order to maintain its own business operations, then you can quickly imagine how immeasurably large the total trade volume in the B2B sector must be. Since commercial buyers in companies are also increasingly using the Internet to procure their daily requirements, there are also very interesting opportunities for drop shipping dealers against this background, which we would like to examine in more detail below.

Therefore, we would like to present 5 interesting strategic approaches which should help you to expand your DropShipping business into the B2B sector. The strategies should sharpen your eye for the associated opportunities. In addition, we have developed a professional practical tip for each strategic approach that enables you to put what you have learned into practice immediately. We wish you every success in your endeavours.

Strategy 1: B2B and end customer business are very different

As an online retailer who has only been active in the end customer business up to now, one should not assume that the extension of the business model to the B2B area corresponds to the simple addition of another customer group. Rather, they are two completely separate business models that have less in common than one would think at first glance. This is mainly due to the fact that business customers make their purchasing decisions in a completely different way.

This is not about tempting the customer to buy. Instead, the concrete requirements must be met as precisely as possible. These, in turn, are not based on emotional consumption desires, but are the result of a sober and objective analysis of the demand. Emotional factors only play a role when it comes to the question of which supplier to buy from if the purely factual parameters are identical.

Our tip: If you want to be active both in the end customer business and in the B2B area, then you should carefully separate the corresponding activities from each other. The key factor here is the separation of the externally visible components of the business model. Within the company, however, you can still benefit from bundling and synergy effects and thus make your business even more successful.

Strategy 2: Identifying the needs of B2B target groups

Before you can be successful in B2B business, you first have to recognize and understand the special needs of business customers. A simple comparison provides clarity. If a private final consumer receives the goods ordered by him one day later than announced, then this customer may be disappointed. As a rule, however, he forgives such a breakdown quite quickly, especially if you proactively contact him and explain the situation to him.

The situation is quite different for business customers. Here it is quite possible that the machines in the company are at a standstill because, for example, an important raw material is missing. It therefore has considerable consequences if there are delays in delivery in the B2B sector. Against this background, it is easy to imagine that a commercial buyer would draw appropriate conclusions from unpunctual deliveries and prefer to select a different supplier for the next order.

Our tip: Each industry is unique and the needs of different industries differ significantly. In order to keep up with the times, you have to train regularly. As often as possible, learn about the business areas of your most important customers in the B2B area and focus on new trends and innovations that could change your customers’ purchasing behavior. Use above all the Internet as a source of information.

Strategy 3: Developing the right communication for B2B customers

In the end-customer business, communication with customers can be a little more relaxed. Consumers are often contacted within the shop communication and are also addressed elsewhere rather friendly than formally. Here this tone provides a connection at eye level and can contribute considerably to more confidence. This can be seen, for example, in the way companies such as Ikea, McDonalds or Coca Cola communicate with their customers.

The situation in the B2B sector is quite different again. Here it is very important to communicate first of all with prospective and existing business partners in the correct form. This applies not only to the formal form of address, but above all to the content of the communication. This must be strictly objective, directly oriented to the respective projects and should under no circumstances rely on plump confidentiality behind which weaknesses are often hidden.

Our tip: Develop an independent style with regard to entrepreneurial communication in the B2B area. Even if the overall tone is rather matter-of-fact, there is nothing to prevent your individual personality from shining through. As long as you adjust this to your business partner and do not exceed certain limits, such a procedure serves to increase customer loyalty and is advantageous for the business as a whole.

Strategy 4: Adapt the delivery program again and again

End customers shop on the Internet primarily according to their personal taste. Whatever you like is bought and most purchase decisions are not based on a factual assessment of the demand situation. The initial situation in B2B trade is quite different. Commercial buyers pursue a single goal: they want to procure the current needs of their company as quickly, cheaply and easily as possible. Taste or personal aspects do not play a role.

Against this background, it is quite clear that the demand situation is constantly changing with the further development of the company. If you want to survive as a supplier in the long term, you must above all be flexible with regard to your own product range. When your B2B customer changes production and suddenly needs completely different products, you need to be able to quickly identify and meet new needs. If you do not succeed, then another provider will quickly take your place.

Our tip: Openly approach your B2B customers about concrete plans for the near future, from which you can draw conclusions about the future demand for products. Such advances are usually not seen as inappropriate curiosity, but as a committed interest and in most cases improve your position vis-à-vis customers.

Strategy 5: Do not neglect services

We all know from classic online trading with end customers that customer service plays a very important and central role. This means above all the integration of customer-oriented services into the company’s own portfolio. Examples of an exemplary service in the end customer business would be, for example, an optional express dispatch, the possibility of reaching the dealer via live chat, the convenient administration of several delivery addresses, a gift packing service or a convenient administration of previous orders.

When we talk about a comprehensive service in connection with B2B business, we mean something different. The aim here is to promote the professionalism of delivery processes, to take over certain processing steps for the customer or to react particularly flexibly to changing requirements or spontaneous special requests. A professional orientation in this area strongly contributes to lasting customer loyalty.

Our tip: Put yourself in the position of your B2B customers again and again and try to find out for yourself which concrete services and performances on your part can make the cooperation with your company even more interesting, valuable and advantageous. Such considerations presuppose empathy on the one hand and detailed knowledge of the business area and the customers’ way of working on the other. Try to do both.

The sale of products to commercial customers therefore has the potential for a significant increase in sales and profits. Overall, selecting the optimum products plays a very important role. Product selection is a decisive success factor in all drop shipping projects.

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A Model for a Virtual Fashion Museum- Juniper Publishers

Abstract

The matrix of the 21st century, characterized by a new reality resultant of the new technological and sociocultural context, seems to impose the design of new communication tools by reviewing today's museum models based on a deep reflection on the contemporary museum studies. After this immersion in research, we believe having achieved the design of a more innovative virtual fashion museum.Keywords: Fashion; Museum; Virtual; CommunicationGo to

Introduction

We have tried to look at the fashion curating discipline under a new cultural paradigm, i.e., as an open, transversal and endless practice, in order to design a multicultural conceptual board crossing diverse areas such as art, technology, design, culture and society, for which we defined the main objectives of this research as:

o To make a conceptual revaluation of the past and present time so as to design multidisciplinary creative atmospheres, to test innovative exhibition models adjusted to the Digital Era besides attempting to contribute for the dissemination of knowledge and culture;o To contribute for a higher relevance of fashion and costume as anthropological and sociological tools, working on a global context;o To reinforce the obvious need of using the internet in the museum context;o To understand the new systems of cultural communication as well as the new individual and social values, using them as a starting point of the design of an effective platform to communicate fashion.

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Fashion And The Museum

PRE 1970

Although fashion has been overlooked as a research subject in theoretical studies for several decades of the 20th century as well as having been relegated to the field of history, during the second half of the previous century important academic and theoretical studies in the socio-cultural fields started to consider fashion as a subject of research and to see it under different approaches and perspectives, which reinforced its importance not only as a phenomenon but also as an important tool to analyze individual and social behaviors as a reflection of sociopolitical, economic and cultural changes.On the other hand, the evolution of the Visual Culture studies-the interaction between Art and Society - would necessarily connect cultural studies, art history, critical theory and other fields connected with the social sciences, enlarging its focus to the new cultural products of a renewed urban landscape contaminated by visual images (from photography to advertising, from fashion to cartoons, movies, cosmetics, design, etc.).Culture, today, is related to 'meaning practices' that allow examining the society trough the artifacts, with which the museum is deeply involved."Museums are deeply involved in constructing knowledge in this way through those objects, narratives, and histories that they bring to visibility or keep hidden” [

1

].It was also during the end of the 20th century that fashion started to be showcased in museums beyond the historical and anthropological contexts and be regarded not merely as a consumption phenomenon but as providing cultural meanings - interpreting from the identification, evaluation and relation of the artifacts with culture through conceptual frames of beliefs and values.The roots of the concept of contemporary fashion exhibition date from the 1940s through a major traveling exhibition - Le Théâtre le la Mode - that took place in Paris, in 1945, immediately after the ceasefire. This interdisciplinary platform was organized by the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Française, aiming to reaffirm the sophistication of French culture and regain clientele for the haute couture fashion houses - an important business sector before the World War II - in the new economic scenario and the distribution of money wealth. This important exhibition opened ceremoniously at the Pavilion Marsais, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, winning about 100000 visitors and later traveled through the most important capitals - from the European cities of London, Barcelona, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Vienna before heading to New York, Washington and S. Francisco.The exhibition gathered around it the 'crème de la crème' ofthe Parisian cultural intelligentsia, sharing the stage of an imaginary theatre with small-scale sets designed by famous artists and inhabited by miniature dummies (in a 50|100 scale) wearing the most luxurious dresses by prestigious Parisian couture houses. Curiously the exhibition was designed by a group of famous artists and metteurs-en-artists while in exile, including Christian Bérard (director), Jean Cocteau, Boris Kochno, Eliane Bonabel, Jean Saint-Martin and André Beaurepaire, among others, with the objective of raising money for the reconstruction of the Nazi devastated France. The exhibition not only achieved its goal and raised millions of dollars to help the French economy but was also the rudimentary stage of an innovative form of exhibiting through context.During the following decades Fashion as a creative discipline would always be associated with large blockbusters, especially the ones with the main goal of economic recovery or small exhibitions exclusively directed to the costume experts and historians.

POST-1970

The democratization of fashion in the sixties - the transformation from exclusive and luxurious couture garments for the elite into a clothes culture accessible to the masses - led the museums to adjust the perspective [

2

].Until de beginning of the 1970s garments were ignored as an exhibition subject per se and were preserved in a very orthodox way, being exhibited almost exclusively on 'costume museums' in a very discreet way, utterly conservative and historically correct, protected from the viewers' gaze through the massive window displays or simply supporting other historical subjects. Thus, the curator's role was restricted to the physical preservation of the collections rigorously inventoried and exhibited in second-class galleries.It was during the 1970s that Fashion Curating emerged as a discipline, via the relationships that important museums established with exceptional fashion and image experts - such as the legendary Diana Vreeland, a former fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar and American Vogue, who started a collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art-The Costume Institute, NY, and the cosmopolitan fashion photographer and costume designer Sir Cecil Beaton, who organized the memorable exhibition 'Fashion: An Anthology by Cecil Beaton' at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.If, for his exhibition, Beaton joined together an extraordinary and exquisite collection using his personal relationships with European royalty, international socialites, French couturiers and beautiful people - which was later donated to the V&A -, reinforcing its already important collection, presenting for the first time, all the garments contextualized through a contemporary vision, Vreeland went further.Diana Vreeland curated a series of eleven exhibitions for The Costume Museum at The MET and the retrospective The World of Balenciaga (1972) was repeatedly attacked by her dissidents as having the gall to emulate the hallowed halls of the Art world [

3

] but widely acclaimed by its audience at the same time. "The World of Balenciaga introduced a brand new approach to costume exhibitions. In a spectacular setting, a fashion designer for the first time was given the focus reserved in museums for great artists” [

4

].In 1973 Ruth Berenson reviewed Vreeland's Balenciaga exhibition in the New York Review, remarking that the show "accomplished the not inconsiderable feat of bridging the gap between art and fashion”. Berenson remarks on the general prevailing tendency of the art world to dismiss the creativity of fashion and calls Balenciaga "the last great artist of fashion” [

3

].Vreeland inaugurated a new concept of lighting, which came directly from her former editorial experience. Rejecting the most conventional lighting solutions, she turned the best angle or a beam of light into an object of study and used contextual artifices, such as the enormous baroque wigs in 'The Eighteen Century Woman' (1982-83) or the armors and stage props of the acclaimed Spanish singer Lola Montes for 'The World of Balenciaga' (1972)."Her displays, which often included as many as one hundred mannequins, would appeal to the imagination and plunge the viewer into a milieu - perhaps a celebration of a great moment in Hollywood, or her versions of the eighteen century. She wanted the clothes to appear fashionable to the contemporary viewer. As she had done in her magazine pages, Diana Vreeland would give the viewer something more” [

4

].Mrs. Vreeland ignored the rigorous recommendations of her conservative conservation staff and her representations were often incorrect historically, as stated by Eleanor Dwight: "Working with Vreeland was quite frustrating. While the staff members wanted the clothes to appear as they would have in the time period they represented, Vreeland wanted the clothes to look 'now' [

5

].Contradicting the canons of that period, she promoted an intimacy between artifacts and viewers in a time when curators detested the idea of having the public to close to the exhibited pieces. Vreeland frees the clothes from the massive window displays and instead exhibits them on wood platforms covered with colored fabrics or mirrors so as to create a distance and reinforce theatricality.Diana Vreeland extended her avant-garde editorial point of view to the museum context and changed this field "with an uncanny sense of style and drama” [

5

]. She imprinted her personal and non-expert touch by experimenting exhibition contexts that were theatrically dramatized, redefining a new lexicon of sensorial stimulation which went far from the visual sense, introducing soundtracks along with provocative color palettes, using strong scents, subverting the exhibit supports as well as the mannequins.Diana Vreeland inaugurated a new concept of lighting, which came directly from her former editorial experience. Rejecting the most conventional lighting solutions, she turned the best angle or a beam of light into an object of study and used contextual artifices, such as the enormous baroque wigs in 'The Eighteen Century Woman' (1982-83) or the armours and stage props of the acclaimed Spanish singer Lola Montes for 'The World of Balenciaga» (1972). Her displays, which often included as many as one hundred mannequins, would appeal to the imagination and plunge the viewer into a milieu - perhaps a celebration of a great moment in Hollywood, or her versions of the eighteen century. She wanted the clothes to appear fashionable to the contemporary viewer. As she had done in her magazine pages, Diana Vreeland would give the viewer something more” [

5

].Both collaborations achieved not only enormous popularity and increased the range of visitors but has also contributed to a further review of the fashion exhibitions, clarifying the relations trough Curating | Exhibition Making and Fashion Curator | Fashion Editor.

The new museum formats

The discussion on curating dates back from the 2001 symposium Curating Now: Imaginative Practice/Public Responsibility, organized by the American organization Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, as stated by the Cultural Program Director ofthe Pew Charitable Trusts, Marian A. Godfrey: "Curating Now has set a standard of critical dialogue that will challenge the other disciplines to create similar opportunities for artistic discourse that reaches both the Philadelphia region and beyond it” [

6

].From this time on museums have been exploring different methodologies and contents, searching to frame themselves in the development of Technology and the Interactive Era."A new generation of museum professionals has attempted to reinvent the museum, to bring it to the twenty-first century as a place that can compete with other recreational venues for leisure time, a place more identified with providing opportunities for celebration than for contemplation. The thrust of today's museum is to 'attraction status', to be a 'destination', and to appeal to a mass audience. To achieve this, the direction of exhibition and education programs inevitably shy away from universal ideals and moves towards the familiar and commonplace. In the battle between high and low culture, low seems to have the upper hand” [

7

].So it is possible to identify now innovative models and concepts, such as:

a. The Virtual Museum (referred to in the next section).b. The Object Museum, always related to extraordinary architecture masterworks, such as The Solomon Guggenheim Bilbao.c. The 'Participatory Museum', focused on the study of the motivation, availability, and relevance of the 'participant' viewers, in order to interact with the community, a concept designed by the American curator Nina Simon that has been tested in museums around the world, such as the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, the Dutch Museum of Natural History, the Copenhagen Museum or the Zuiderzee Open Air Museum.d. The 'Project Museum' created around expressions of popular art and exploring the effects of the mass-media culture. Unorthodox, the 'Project Museum' is populist, experimental, fun, sensorial, immersive, being the 'The EMP' - Experience Museum (Seattle) its prime example.e. The 'Museum on The Road', an itinerant museum format that crosses architecture with avant-garde artistic expressions, a concept launched by international fashion brands, such as Chanel with the 'Chanel Mobile Art' (Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, NY and Paris, 2008-2010) and the Fondazione Prada with 'The Transformer' (Seoul, 20082009).f. The 'Popup Museum', an ephemeral concept started by Fondazione Prada in 2012, January, through the initiative '24h Museum', designed by the internationally acclaimed architect Rem Koolhass and the Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli in partnership, opened for only one day in Paris, during which the sets underwent the interactive metamorphosis that included lighting effects and vigorous DJ.sets of electronic music.

At the same time, the most recent studies known as 'New Museum Theory' - theories that question and revise the conceptual principles of Vergo's 'New Museology', even though they admit they are much related - identify four paradigmatic archetypes of the future museum:

a. 'The Sanctuary', as a result of the most traditional way to see the museum as a sacred contemplation space.b. 'The Market Directed', focused on business plans more devoted to tourism than to the community, which tries to explore very popular contents, momentary blockbusters, tied to strong advertising campaigns and merchandising.c. 'The Post Colonial Museum' that develops reconciliation discourse, redesigning the post-imperial representation to offer new approaches to the history and the cultural the identity of the colonial contexts.d. And finally, the 'Post Museum', which has not yet very defined boundaries but already points to a dynamic cultural center, active, multidisciplinary, tolerant, multicultural and careful with minorities, characterized by calendars that include, together and/or intersected, different avantgarde cultural expressions such as art, photography, video art, fashion, publicity, world music, cinema, street-art, performing arts, discussions and controversies, etc.

The museum in the digital era

This research focused on the Virtual Museum due to today's cultural dynamic and effervescent context."It's cheap. It's fast. It offers great shopping, tempting food and a place to hang out. And visitors can even enjoy the art” announced the New York Times in one of 1997 issues [

8

] about the Virtual Museum.As an important communication tool to produce culture and disseminate knowledge, the museum faces now the new paradigm of technology and interaction. Ignored for several years by the museum, the webspace started recently beginning an important strategic media, allowing the design of different contents for different viewers, giving global access to their digital archives, virtual galleries or even to virtual contents related to real ones through Immersive Virtual Reality.As a matter of fact, in the end of last millennium, some of the most well-known museums started very carefully and timidly to use the Internet mainly as a database, rarely using it to support disciplines connected with fashion and design.The existing model of Virtual Museum - in the real sense of the expression, with no physical space and based on Andre Malraux's Imaginary Museum - arose mainly as the preservation of cultural identity, and its prime examples are the Brazilian 'Museu da Pessoa' or the 'Virtual Museum of Canada' and recently the 'Century of The Child' by MOMA.Its typology is defined by:

a. Big clusters around common subjects (the city, the region, the country);b. A particular theme ('Museum of the Future', 'The Alternative Museum', 'Virtual Museum of Typography', among others);c. The life and work of individuals (Virtual Museum of D. Quixote, Virtual Museum of André Malraux, etc.);d. Scientific issues (e.g., Virtual Museum of Bacteria).

To our knowledge, no initiative focused directly on the fashion industry or design was issued until the end of 2011, with the exception of the largely acclaimed and reported 'Valentino Garavani Virtual Museum' by the Italian fashion house of Valentino.The detailed analysis of this virtual museum allowed us to identify its stronger and weaker points, as defined by Paola Moscati [

9

]. "The Virtual Museum is not the real museum transposed to the web. The Virtual Museum is not an archive a database of, or electronic complement to the real museum. The virtual museum finally is not what is missing from the real museum [

9

]. A virtual museum must support an interdisciplinary approach, through the implementation of complex semantic associations, which will allow the user to understand the culture that is behind the objects and contextualize them.” [

10

].Quoting Silva (2012) - who states that The Valentino Museum does not provide a surprising experience - we can conclude that:

a. It is slow because visitors must download an app for every single access.b. It is distant because the immersion is limited to static 2 and 3D spaces.c. It is limited, because it is about one single designer, being thus as a mere database.d. It is not comprehensive because its aim is the sole promotion of the label and the couturier.e. It is closed and not interactive.f. It is not registrable.g. It is controlled and nondemocratic.h. It is mainstream, not experimental.

Go to

Conclusion: A New Format Of Virtual Museum

The result of this research is a conceptual design within the virtual territory, which is a communication platform that optimizes the Internet's potential [

11

].We believe to having achieved an original, unique and innovative model because its design was based on the real acceptation of the concept of the virtual museum since it is not associated with an existing entity or real content, on the contrary, it aims to establish cooperative networks, bridges among institutions and curators, artists and designers in order to interact with a large spectre of Internet browsers [

12

].The final result was in line with the 'W3 Consortium' recommendations' principles, especially the Web for everyone; Web for everything; Knowledge Base e Trust and Confidence, as well as two important reports connected with the relationship between Museum and Technology, namely NMC: Horizon Report>2012, 2012 to 2015 Museum Editions (New Media Consortium | Marcus Institute for Digital Education in the Arts) and Museums and the Web 2011 (Pew Research Center), which present short, medium and long-term recommendations for the museum action [

13

].We have also considered the main guidelines of immateriality curating particularly to the issues involving the responsibilities and control systems in collaborative work [

14

].The basis of the model uses the following keywords:

i. Immersiveii. Informaliii. Interactiveiv. Personalizedv. Virtualvi. Creativevii. Sharedviii. Provocativeix. Experimentalx. Laboratorialxi. Dynamicxii. Global

The designed archetype aims to explore new maps, products and cultural practices using an interactive and dynamic grammar, supported by collaborative networks, which will be the source of exhibition subjects under different approaches, languages, and media, creating thus a space for a shared laboratory as well as the experimentation of ideas.Although it is not our aim to define it's technological framework, for now, it seems obvious that it should use the 'Virtual Reality' and 'Augmented Virtual Reality' technology; we designed a navigation menu as the basis for further development [

15

].Furthermore, it is very important to consolidate an extensive collaborative network that includes Kurators, Curators, Web and Animation Designers as well as digital artists, video- artists, movie directors, photographers, public relations, sponsors, artists, thinkers, and theorists, with the aim of optimizing each of the future exhibition contents.We envision a design clearly inspired by the concept of MOTEL, in the sense in which is generally understood: "A hotel providing travelers with lodging and free parking facilities, typically a roadside hotel having rooms adjacent to an outside parking area or an urban hotel offering parking within the building” (dictionary.reference.com/), i.e., a very dynamic space that houses exhibition contents in alternation using a vast range of multidisciplinary languages and interacting approaches to communicate, and teach.It seems of great importance to offer a mobile website, designed to mobile devices at the same time as a traditional website directed to visitors surfing from their desktops, although it will be mainly accessed by mobile devices.Aside the main interactive fields, we aim to optimize the interaction with the viewers through a large range of applications (apps) that help to conceptualize and contextualize the exhibited objects and artifacts besides endowing exciting moments of discovery through various devices.Special consideration will be given to social network practices to allow viewers to tag, comment and share videos, images and audio contents, thus reproducing its impact and dissemination. It is also important to clarify our intention to reach an extensive range of viewers, so that our mission of sharing and teaching is ensured.Particular consideration will also be given to the continual development of technology connected with smart objects, also known as 'The Internet of Things - a convergence of multiple technologies ranging from wireless communication to the Internet and embedded systems and to Micro-Electrical- Mechanical Systems (MEMS)-, as highly recommended by the NMC-Horizon Report: 2012 & 2013 Museum Edition Reports.Finally, we regard as very important to carry out the following strategic actions before launching publicly our MOTEL - Fashion Virtual Museum:

a. Validation of the conceptb. The search of a mobile operator for sponsoringc. Consolidation of the network in all areasd. Definition of technological supportse. Design of navigation menus | web design | appsf. Discussion of territories and conceptual frameworks by a closed board of curatorsg. Design and edition of exhibition contentsh. Layouti. Sponsoring and promotion

To know more about Journal of Fashion Technology-https://juniperpublishers.com/ctftte/index.php   

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The Blame Game: Trump, Video Game Violence, And Following The Evidence

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/the-blame-game-trump-video-game-violence-and-following-the-evidence/

The Blame Game: Trump, Video Game Violence, And Following The Evidence

Following a pair of back-to-back mass shootings, some American politicians and pundits have once again turned their ire towards video games. The most high-profile of these was President Donald Trump, suggesting that video games contribute to a culture of violence that causes people to feel flippant with the sanctity of human life. However, he was far from the only or even the first politician to cast blame. But where does this reaction come from, and does the scientific evidence support it?

Playing Politics

Though the pair of tragic shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio on August 3 and 4 have revived the topic of video game violence, politicians expressing concern over the effect of violent video games on young people is anything but a new phenomenon.

Prompted by games like Mortal Kombat, Night Trap, and Lethal Enforcers, Congress held hearings on video game violence in 1993-1994. Led by Senators Joe Lieberman and Herb Kohl, the planned hearings were given extra furor thanks to Bureau of Justice statistics that showed gun-related violence had reached record highs in 1993. Politicians pointed the finger at violent media, especially video games.

“I’d like to ban all the violent video games,” Lieberman said at the time. “It’s hard to control every measure of this, especially in a society that values free speech and First Amendment rights.”

During the hearings, Lieberman argued that the average video game player was 7-12 years old, and so violent games were being marketed to children. Recognizing that an outright ban was impractical, however, Lieberman threw his support behind warning labels for violent video games. Congressional pressure had made clear that the government would take action to regulate the industry if it did not regulate itself. The result was the industry banding together to form and abide by ratings given by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB).

The next significant political challenge to video games came from a California law that eventually made its way up to the Supreme Court of the United States. Brown v Entertainment Merchant’s Association was a suit concerning a 2005 law restricting violent video game sales to minors without parental supervision. The law, drafted by former California State Sen. Leeland Yee and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, demanded labeling beyond the standard ESRB labels and would fine retailers for selling violent games to minors. It defined violence under an obscenity statute that had previously only been used to restrict the sale of sexually explicit material. The EMA argued that the law unfairly treated video games as fundamentally different from other media, the sale of which is not restricted to minors.

In a rare 7-2 ruling, the famously conservative Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the Court’s opinion that video games are subject to the free speech protections afforded by the First Amendment. He was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan, with Justice Samuel Alito concurring. Only Justices Stephen Breyer and Clarence Thomas dissented. Significantly, Scalia’s written opinion explicitly rejected California’s argument that a causal link existed between media violence and real-world aggression.

“The State’s evidence is not compelling,” Scalia wrote. “California relies primarily on the research of Dr. Craig Anderson and a few other research psychologists whose studies purport to show a connection between exposure to violent video games and harmful effects on children. These studies have been rejected by every court to consider them, and with good reason. They do not prove that violent video games cause minors to act aggressively … They show at best some correlation between exposure to violent entertainment and some minuscule real-world effects.”

Despite this standing opinion from the highest court, politicians still regularly point fingers at video games, especially in response to acts of real-world violence. This latest example isn’t even the first time we’ve seen it from President Trump. Following the mass shooting in 2018 at a high school in Parkland, Florida, the president convened a roundtable with industry groups and critics on the same subject. It similarly used depictions of video game violence to suggest a causal link between exposure to violent games and real-world violence.

So why does this keep happening?

The Renewed Furor

The shootings in El Paso and Dayton took place over the course of less than 24 hours. Though mass shootings have become almost routine in American life, two mass casualty events occurring in such quick succession appeared to shake Americans to their core. Heartbroken citizens looked to leaders for guidance and action.

Almost in unison, conservative leaders rallied against video games as a culprit. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Republican House minority leader Kevin McCarthy both appeared on Fox News Channel on the morning of August 4, calling for action against video games and suggesting a causal link between violent games and violent actions. President Trump’s prepared remarks on Monday morning gained the most attention, but he was largely following a narrative already set by other conservative leaders.

“We must stop the glorification of violence in our society,” Trump said. “This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace. It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence. We must stop or substantially reduce this, and it has to begin immediately.”

Critics of the president have suggested the tendency to blame video games is something of a stalling tactic, to shift the focus away from discussions of gun control that often take place following mass shootings. And to be sure, this would have strategic merit. American interest in gun control legislation waxes and wanes with current events, so muddying the waters and waiting it out could work, if one’s goal was to simply maintain the status quo.

Whatever political maneuvering might be at play, some segment of the broader population does genuinely believe video game violence contributes to real-world violence. Their strong concerns may be based in good faith, but the evidence is inconclusive at best.

What The Evidence Actually Shows

One of the most common arguments against a link between video game violence and real-world is anecdotal and intuitive. It has been stated many times and in many ways: video games are enjoyed the world over, and countries with similar or much higher video game adoption rates have significantly lower levels of gun violence.

The ESA stated this in its initial response to President Trump’s remarks, saying, “Other societies, where video games are played as avidly, do not contend with the tragic levels of violence that occur in the US.”

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick echoed this sentiment days later, calling Trump’s comments disrespectful to the victims and their families. “The fact is entertainment is consumed world-wide,” he said, “but gun violence is uniquely American. So we need to address the real issues.”

This sentiment isn’t new. The Daily Show host Trevor Noah lampooned the Trump administration along the same lines in a 2018 segment following the roundtable after the Parkland shooting. In the segment, Noah argued that stricter gun regulations are “most effective and realistic way to limit gun violence,” citing lower homicide rates in countries like Japan–despite their fondness for video games.

A more authoritative refutation can be found in a policy statement issued by the American Psychological Association in 2017. It argues, “Scant evidence has emerged that makes any causal or correlational connection between playing violent video games and actually committing violent activities.” The policy statement goes on to point out that a 2002 analysis from the United States Secret Service “suggested that school shooters tended to consume relatively low amounts of violent media compared to normative levels for same-age peers.” It’s careful to note that this finding does not conclude that increased consumption of violent media would result in less real-world violence, just that a link cannot be established.

The paper concludes that public officials and the media should refrain from suggesting a causal link between media violence and real-world acts of violence. At most, it says, media figures should refer to studies that may link video games to “aggression.” It argues this because, as Justice Scalia noted in his 2011 ruling, the studies linking media violence to actual aggression are disputed, and usually extend to minor acts of aggression such as “the administration of unwanted hot sauce to make food too spicy, making someone put his or her hand in freezing ice water or bursts of white noise in laboratory experiments.” The APA suggests that these findings are not conclusive and the methodology “remains a matter of reasonable debate.”

On the other hand, a 2016 statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics is more sharply critical of media violence. First, it draws a distinction between aggression and violence, to help parse terms.

“For example, a snarling dog is behaving aggressively; once it bites, it has resorted to violence,” the statement says. “A person who verbally abuses another would not be committing an act of violence by this definition. Thus, all violent acts are aggressive, but not all aggressive acts are violent.”

It argues for a “broad scientific consensus that virtual violence increases aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors,” and dismisses the landmark Supreme Court ruling as based upon First Amendment grounds rather than scientific merit. It does concede, however, that laboratory aggression as a proxy for real-world aggression has proven to be a research challenge. Though increased aggression in a laboratory setting has been consistently shown and studied, this does not necessarily result in real-world violence. Finally, it states that an experimental, real-world study linking virtual violence with real-world violence has never been conducted, because the rarity of violence precludes a large enough sample size to be accurately studied. On the whole, though, the AAP appears to suspect some link may exist, and recommends more stringent enforcement mechanisms.

Conclusion

While scholars may disagree regarding the weight and emphasis of conclusions offered by laboratory studies, even the sharpest scientific critics of video game violence draw a cautious distinction between findings of heightened aggression and the soundbite-ready conclusion that video games are a primary cause in these ongoing national tragedies. Regardless, politicians have been looking to the medium for more than 20 years, and they likely will again the next time a tragedy hits close to home.

Source : Gamesport