SEVEN STEPS TO DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE YOUR COMPANY

Is your company desperately in need of help. Use these solid steps from Jim Collions to get you back on track and doing better than ever! Get the information here!

INC shares…

Researcher and management guru Jim Collins has authored or co-authored six books, including Good to Great and Built to Last. On his web site there are 48 articles written or co-written by him. But speaking at the Womens Presidents Organization’s annual conference last week in Atlanta, Collins boiled it all down. Do these 10 things, he said, to dramatically improve your company.

1. Download the diagnostic tool atjimcollins.com, and do the exercises with your team. Yes, I thought this was self-serving at first. Then I looked it, considered that it’s free and doesn’t require you to sign up for anything, and immediately saw his point.

2. Get the right people in the key seats. This comes from Collins’ famous observation that building a company is like driving a bus. You need a driver, but you also need the right people in all the key seats. So, says Collins, figure out how many key seats you have, and make a plan that will make sure you get all the key seats filled by the end of the year.

3. Once a quarter, have a brutal facts meeting. Be careful about who you include in this meeting. You will be discussing just the brutal facts. This is not the time to express opinions or strategize. Repeat: Only discuss the brutal facts.

4. Set a 15 to 25-year big, hairy audacious goal (BHAG). This is a goal that is concrete enough, and ambitious enough, to guide your company’s progress for years. Collins writes that “With his very first dime store in 1945, Sam Walton set the BHAG to ‘make my little Newport store the best, most profitable in Arkansas within five years.’ He continued to set BHAGs, which continued to get larger and more audacious, as his company grew.

5. Commit to a “20-mile march” that you will bring you to your big hairy audacious goal. Collins makes the analogy to someone who is trying to walk across the county. The best approach, says Collins, is to attempt to travel the same distance every day. If you’re on a 2-mile march, says Collins, you don’t bolt 30 miles ahead when the weather is good. You go 20 miles. When the weather is bad, you can’t sit inside and complain – you still have make 20 miles.

What does this have to do with entrepreneurship? In his research, Collins found that companies that perform consistently do much better than those that do spectacularly one year and are feeble the next. That’s because if you overextend in good years, when opportunity appears to be everywhere, you may not have the resources to get through the lousy years. The 20-mile march is a metaphor for the milestone that you can reach day-in and day-out.

6. Place at least one really big bet in the next three years, based on having fired bullets first. No entrepreneur has unlimited resources, just as no small army has unlimited gunpowder (this metaphor may be dated, but you get the point). The best use of limited gunpowder, or resources, says Collins, is to fire bullets to ensure that your aim is calibrated properly and that you can indeed hit your target. Only when you’re sure of your ability to hit your target should you load lots of gunpowder into a cannonball and fire away. “Fire bullets to calibrate. Fire cannonballs to go big,” says Collins.

7. Practice productive paranoia. Collins says he fondly refers to his entrepreneurial subjects as PNFs, or paranoid neurotic freaks.  “Successful companies have three to ten times the cash on their balance sheets as their peers even when they are very small,” says Collins. Or as one of the CEOs he studied said to him, “We’re very proud of the fact that we’ve predicted 11 of the past three recessions.”

How exactly can one practice productive paranoia? Collins recommends making a plan that will allow you to go for an entire year with no revenues, and still survive.

Get the entire article at INC!

 

'Spell check' for DNA developed

THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

Share on print Machine errors in gene sequencing can cause biologists to misinterpret which genes or microbial species are in their samples. The new software will help to pick up these errors. Image: dra_schwartz/iStockphoto A PhD student from CSIRO and The University of Queensland has found a better way to 'spell check' gene sequences and help biologists better understand the natural world. The student, Lauren Bragg, is a member of the Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, which sits within UQ's School of Chemistry & Molecular Biosciences. Along with her co-authors, Lauren has contributed to the May issue of the prestigious journal Nature Methods highlighting her new approach and its software implementation called Acacia. Acacia analyses the output of next-generation gene sequencing instruments which read the four-letter alphabet of As, Cs, Ts and Gs – the 'bases' that code for DNA and spell out the genes of different living organisms. Acacia specifically applies to important parts of microbe genes called amplicons. Just as a computer spell checker finds typing errors in words, so Acacia finds errors in the DNA code of amplicon sequences produced during gene sequencing. Acacia shows clear improvements over the two error-correction tools currently used by biologists for amplicon sequences and it's easier for biologists to use. Lauren's development of Acacia is part of the field of bioinformatics, a blend of computer science, statistics and biology. Despite her surname, however, she is modest about her achievements. "It's exciting to be published in a journal like Nature Methods but I get more satisfaction from hearing how my software is helping biologists fix sequencing errors," she said. Machine errors in the long lengths of A, C, G and T code can cause biologists to misinterpret which genes are there, or which microbial species might exist in a environmental samples from, say, a waste water treatment plant or from the ocean or even our guts. Acacia works by using the statistical theory of likelihoods to analyse the code for DNA bases which may have been mistakenly added or deleted – common errors in gene sequencing. "The Nature article is our way of telling the international biology community that there's a new software tool they can use for error-correcting that's pretty easy to use, quick and reliable." "That way, they won't think they've discovered a new microbe species when they haven't or overlooked one they should have found," she said. The method, or algorithm, that Acacia uses took 18 months for Lauren to fully develop and test. Now it's nose to the grindstone to get the thesis done. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

Fastest growing volcano found

GNS SCIENCE

Share on print The Monowai Cone grew around 8.5 million cubic metres in three weeks, the fastest volcanic growth ever recorded. Image: GNS Science Scientists have found a submarine volcano in New Zealand waters that has undergone the fastest episode of collapse and growth ever recorded at a volcano. The Monowai Cone, part of the Monowai Volcanic Centre, is a giant submarine volcano about 1,000km northeast of the North Island that underwent a mighty geological upheaval during five days in mid-2011, and provided scientists with new insights into the behaviour of submarine volcanoes. The volcano added about 8.5 million cubic metres of lava and debris to its summit during the brief period it was under observation. The newly erupted material raised the summit area by 79m, while a collapse at another part of the summit saw a sudden height reduction of 19m. The volcanic growth structures included at least four new summit cones. The observations were made unexpectedly during a three-week survey of the volcanoes in the Kermadec Arc from the German research ship Sonne. The findings have been published this week in the prestigious science journal Nature Geoscience. One of the joint authors of the paper was marine geologist, Cornel de Ronde of GNS Science. “The rate of change we observed is a reminder of how rapidly geological processes such as submarine volcanism and landsliding can occur.” Dr de Ronde said as well as providing insights into the dynamics of seafloor volcanism, the observations had implications for geohazards such as tsunami. “It’s well documented that any sudden displacement of the seabed has the potential to trigger a tsunami. Submarine landslides and submarine volcanism can set off a tsunami that can travel across the ocean,” he said. Monowai is one of the most active submarine volcanoes in the Tonga-Kermadec arc, a 2500km-long chain of submarine volcanoes stretching from New Zealand to just north of Tonga. Geophysical surveys from research ships dating back to the early 1980s had shown regular and significant changes to the summit area of Monowai. But the changes observed in mid-2011 were the most dramatic and rapid seen to date. The scientists estimated that in a four-year period starting in 2007, Monowai volcano could have undergone up to a dozen growth and collapse phases. The scientists suspected a growth spurt was underway when they approached Monowai on the Sonne in May 2011 and observed discoloured seawater and gas bubbles rising above the volcano. During this period, seismic stations at several Pacific Island locations, including the Cook Islands, recorded a five-day swarm of shallow earthquakes located at Monowai. When the Sonne returned to Monowai later in the three-week voyage, the scientists found part of the Monowai summit had collapsed and another part had grown substantially. The new material at the summit was most likely erupted ash and volcanic debris, Dr de Ronde said. The scientists believe the rapid changes they observed were larger than at most other volcanoes. Only Mount St Helens and Mount Vesuvius had recorded larger growth rates. “The rate of change we observed is a reminder of how rapidly geological processes such as submarine volcanism and landsliding can occur.” Dr de Ronde said the rapid growth rates at Monowai helped to shed light on the factors that controlled the ‘emplacement of surface magma’ at submarine volcanoes. The contributing factors included the gas content of the magma, the upward pressure regime, crustal thickness, the tectonic setting, and local stress field. “It’s remarkable that we were able to capture such dramatic geomorphic changes on the seafloor within the duration of a single research voyage.” Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

Parks key to physical activity

DEAKIN UNIVERSITY

Share on print The research found that more people exercised at parks after they'd been upgraded. Image: oversnap/iStockphoto Improving community health could lie in the quality of neighbourhood parks, a Deakin University study has found. Health researchers with Deakin’s Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research examined whether improvements to parks increased usage and park-based physical activity of users. They found significant increases in the number of visitors and levels of exercise undertaken at one park after the facilities had been upgraded. “Parks are important places for people to spend their leisure time and be physically active,” explained Deakin health researcher Dr Jenny Veitch. “Understanding how we can attract residents to spend time at local parks and encourage them to be more physically active is an important public health initiative. This is particularly the case in disadvantaged neighbourhoods where residents are at increased risk of being inactive which can lead to poor health.” For the study, the researchers examined two parks in the same neighbourhood, one of which was about to be refurbished. Both parks were similar in size and mostly open spaces with few amenities. Upgrades to the one park included a fenced dog park, an all-abilities playground, walking track, barbeque area, landscaping and fencing. How many people used the parks and their levels of activity were monitored three months before the park improvements, three months after the improvements and one year later. The results of the study point to the positive effect improving facilities can have on usage and the types of physical activity undertaken within local parks. “We found that four times more people used the upgraded park a year after the changes, with more people walking and engaging in vigorous activities such as running or playing ball sports. While less people used the unchanged park and the activity levels remained pretty much the same,” Dr Veitch said. “What our study has shown is that improving existing parks can encourage people to make use of the facilities and increase their levels of physical activity. “The findings have implications for future park-renewal projects and can help urban planners and designers to develop parks that attract users and facilitate greater levels of physical activity.” The results of this study are published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

Sea lions fuel ocean life

FLINDERS UNIVERSITY

Like whales, sea lions are contributing to marine ecosystems in the most fundamental way possible, research by a Flinders graduate has found. Dr Trish Lavery, who established that Southern Ocean sperm whales offset their carbon emissions by defecating iron on phytoplankton, has found that the digestive mechanisms of Australian sea lions mean that they too are making vital nutrients available to the first tier of the marine food chain. Her research, published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE, found that the sea lion gut has a characteristic microbiome, or bacterial profile, that is high in types of bacteria able to metabolise iron and phosphorus. “While bacteria are net consumers of nutrients in energy-poor environments, in nutrient-rich environments like the surface of a faecal particle, bacteria can make soluble more vital nutrient elements from faecal matter than they require for their own growth,” Dr Lavery said. “This leads to leaching of these nutrients into the surrounding waters where they can become available for free living phytoplankton microbes.” Dr Lavery said the sea lions may therefore help to keep nutrients where they can be incorporated into the food chain. “The bacteria in Australian sea lion faeces may limit nutrient sinkage to depth and enhance the persistence of nutrients in the photic zone where they are available to support primary production by phytoplankton.” And for creatures whose cold marine environment makes a layer of protective fat a valuable asset, Dr Lavery also found evidence that the metabolism of sea lions is actually geared towards obesity. Her study found a ratio of crucial bacteria similar to that in previous studies of obese humans and obese mice. “This suggests that the gut microbiome may confer a predisposition towards the excess body fat that is needed for thermoregulation within the cold oceanic habitats foraged by Australian sea lions,” she said. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

Sai Hamko Bhi Taro - Sai Baba Devotional Song

Shirdi Sai Baba

Sivapuranam SPB_

Sivapuranam

Crying Babies

“If in any house He could not find any butter or curd to steal, He would go into a room and agitate the small children sleeping there by pinching them, and when they cried He would go away.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 10.8.29 Purport) Parents know how difficult it is to get young children to remain steady and calm. Depending on the demeanor of the child, just getting them to behave properly is difficult enough. You’re basically walking a tightrope the whole time. Sometimes all it takes is a visitor coming into the house and making strange faces in front of the child. They mean well, for they are delighted at the vision of pure innocence. But from the youngster’s perspective, the visitor is a stranger whose motives aren’t known. And since they have no way of communicating their fears with words, the baby starts to cry. Feeding, putting them to sleep, and a host of other pacification options are tried by the parents to get their children to stop crying. Should someone come and foil that effort, especially if they do it on purpose, the parents are justified in their intense dissatisfaction. In a small village many thousands of years ago one person took great fun in making calm babies cry, and because of His divine nature that nuisance is celebrated and honored to this day. Why would He do what He did? What did the children do wrong? What was the fault of the parents that He would torture them like this? You see the young boy was the owner of everything in the sacred land of Vrindavana. Though only a small child under the care of Yashoda and her husband Nanda, Krishna was the very Personality of Godhead worshiped by all the householders through their daily routines. The mornings began with worship of Vishnu in the homes, and then as the day progressed, the fruits of labor were meant for the benefit of the same Vishnu. “Mother Yashoda was firmly convinced of the Vedic injunctions about the importance of cows and the holy name of Vishnu; therefore she took all shelter in the cows and the name of Vishnu just to protect her child Krishna. She recited all the holy names of Vishnu so that He might save the child.”  (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vol 1, Ch 6) If a dangerous situation arose, the prayers would go out to Vishnu for protection. Indeed, Yashoda herself recited the many names of Vishnu after her son Krishna would somehow escape from danger. In the Vedic tradition, Vishnu is the name given to the Supreme Lord that addresses His position of all-opulence. Vishnu is everywhere. Simply by exhaling He creates this and many other universes, and by inhaling the same immeasurably large collections of matter come back into Him. He is not an angry God or someone who demands that others worship Him. Just as the SDK provided by a software manufacturer allows the end-user to make whatever programs they like, the universe with its many small and large playing fields gives the occupants free rein when deciding which tasks to take up. Vishnu is the object of worship for those who know how to use the playing fields properly. In some religious traditions He is referred to by a more generic name, such as God or the Almighty. The Vedic scriptures give more details because with more information the end-user can make a better decision on how to move forward. The living entities are users of the material elements, capable of dominating matter, which is dull and lifeless. When you know that there is a supreme controller who has a personality and intelligence to go with it, you can use your position superior to matter to utilize everything around you for the controller’s benefit. This is how the residents of Vrindavana behaved. Their days were spent working on the farms, taking care of the cows and growing crops, but their purpose was always Vishnu worship. Thus it was not surprising that the very same object of worship would appear in their midst as a seemingly ordinary human being. The human goes through a typical life cycle, and the infant years are the most conducive to accepting love from others. The young child is the essence of innocence and they look so cute that even the hardest heart is melted upon seeing them. Think of how people smile and act nice to a baby who is a stranger, but when the same child grows up into an adult the same treatment will not be offered. The individual hasn’t changed; just their visible manifestation is different. From the difference in treatments, we can conclude that the childhood form is the most conducive to accepting the kind sentiments of the living entity. That kindness is within all of us; it just takes the right target to extract the feelings fully. Vishnu as young Krishna was the emblem of attractiveness, so His vision would delight everyone. What good is having a delightful vision if no one gets to see it? Therefore Yashoda’s adorable child would roam through Vrindavana and do different naughty things. Sometimes He would break into the cowsheds and release the calves. They would then drink the milk from their mothers before anyone could extract the milk. The cow is so nice because it provides enough milk for both its children and the human population. But if the calves drink the milk first, there will be nothing left for the owners to consume. Thus the general procedure is to first milk the cows and then let the calves feed. The milk production relies only on one ingredient: love. When the mother is able to love her child she will provide more than enough milk. That love flows fully when the cows and the children are protected. It’s interesting to note that the cows loved Krishna just as much as they loved their calves. Thus simply by seeing Krishna their milk bags would become full. The delight of Nanda Maharaja took great pleasure in angering the cowherd men and women with His naughty behavior. Seeing what Krishna had done, they would chase after Him in anger but they couldn’t catch Him. On the off chance they were fortunate enough to catch up with Krishna, from seeing His charming face they would forget about what made them angry. Krishna’s favorite activity was eating butter. He wouldn’t eat only the butter that was at home either. He would visit the homes of the neighbors, with or without their permission, and eat the butter they had saved up. If the butter ran out, He would break the pots in anger. If there was excess butter, He would distribute it to the monkeys of Vrindavana. Again, this is typically considered rude behavior. You shouldn’t steal what belongs to others. Yet as Vishnu, Krishna had a right to enjoy His property. What were the neighbors saving their butter for anyway? Everything in this world is meant for Vishnu’s enjoyment. Since the best use of the materials is to sacrifice them to the Supreme Lord, Vishnu is also known as Yajna. If your heart is pure, even if you’re not explicitly performing a ritualistic sacrifice, Krishna will come and enjoy what you have anyway, accepting it as an offering. If there was no butter, Krishna would sometimes pinch the young children of the house. Pinching would then make the children cry, and Krishna would then run away, as if He had no part in the act. Of all of Krishna’s pastimes, this is likely the most amusing. One can connect with the Supreme Lord in a variety of ways. Sight is one way, but a vision doesn’t stay in front of us for too long. Physical sight lingers through mental sight, which can be recalled to memory at any moment. Better than seeing God is hearing Him, and so the most potent method of religious practice is the chantingof the holy names, something which the residents of Vrindavana were quite accustomed to. As Krishna is actually the origin of Vishnu, just by saying His name the residents were already calling out to Vishnu. The name of Rama represents the same Vishnu as well,  and since the maha-mantra contains both of these names, reciting it is the best way to connect with God. “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”, is a direct call to the butter thief of Vrindavana, and it can be repeated over and over again. Just as the cow produces so much milk when her calf cries, the Supreme Lord runs to the scene whenever He hears a devotee chanting His holy names without any motive for personal gain. The holy name is the direct representation of Krishna, and in Vrindavana the crying of the babies pinched by the Lord was the indirect representation. That crying sound, though normally annoying, ended up being pleasurable for the parents because it indicated that young Krishna had been in their home. He didn’t ignore His devotees, even if they were preoccupied with household work. The parents had taken great effort to care for their children, but they also needed to spend just as much time thinking about Krishna. Why else are we given an existence? Why do we have ears if not to hear the liberating sound of Krishna’s names? These pastimes relating to Krishna are included in the Shrimad Bhagavatam, which is meant to be heard from the mouth of a devotee who loves Krishna as much as the residents of Vrindavana did. The neighbors complained about Krishna’s antics to His mother, but when they were finished complaining, they realized that they really enjoyed Krishna’s favor. They liked that He would come to their homes and cause mischief. Better to put up with the antics than be ignored by the delight of Vrindavana. He was Yashoda and Nanda’s son and Balarama’s younger brother, but He was also the entire community’s reason for living. Remember His activities every day and He will favor you with the same interruptions. In Closing: After much time sleeping baby placed on bed, That they’ll wake up too soon and cry parents dread. Crying is way for babies to parents to communicate, To say if they’re hungry or something they don’t appreciate. If their child made to cry on purpose parents don’t like, Delicate balance broken for no reason, anger it ignites. But Krishna would pinch babies to make them cry, That sound notified that Yashoda’s son came by. Ran after Him and then to Yashoda to lodge complaint, Krishna took great fun, smiled as if He acted like a saint. As the Vishnu they worshiped Krishna was the same, Thus for their pleasure to Vrindavana He came.

நிம்மதியாக உறங்க வேண்டுமா?

சிலர் எப்போது பார்த்தாலும் போனும், கையுமாகத்தான் இருப்பார்கள். அவர்களுக்கு சிறிது நேரம்  கைபேசி இல்லை என்றாலும் எதையோ இழந்தது போல மாறிவிடுவார்கள். உறங்கும் போது கூட கைபேசியில் பாட்டு கேட்டுக் கொண்டோ, தலையணைக்கு அடியில் கைபேசியை வைத்துக்கொண்டோ இருக்க வேண்டும். அப்பொழுதுதான் நிம்மதியாக உறக்கம் வரும் என்ற நினைப்பு அவர்களுக்கு. இந்த செயல் தவறானது என்று சமீபத்திய ஆய்வு ஒன்றில் கண்டறியப்பட்டுள்ளது. அதாவது, கைபேசியில் இருந்து வெளியாகும் கதிர்வீச்சுகளுக்கும் மனிதர்களின் உறக்கத்திற்கும் தொடர்பு இருப்பதாக தெரிவித்துள்ளனர். இந்த கதிர்வீச்சுக்கள் மனிதர்களின் உறக்கத்தை பாதிப்பதோடு, மன அழுத்தத்திற்கும் உள்ளாவதாக ஆய்வாளர்கள் கண்டறிந்துள்ளனர். நாள் முழுவதும் உழைத்து களைத்த உடல் ஓய்வெடுப்பது உறக்கத்தின் போதுதான். ஆழ்ந்த அமைதியான உறக்கம்தான் மனிதர்களை இளமையாக வைத்திருக்கிறது என்று ஆய்வின் மூலம் நிரூபிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. நிம்மதியான உறக்கத்திற்கு அவசியமானவை என்ன என்பது குறித்து நிபுணர்கள் கூறும் ஆலோசனைகள். மனதில் சலனமின்றி இருந்தால் பஞ்சு மெத்தைதான் வேண்டும் என்றில்லை கட்டாந்தரையே போதும் நிம்மதியான உறக்கம் வரும் என்பார்கள். நாம் உபயோகிக்கும் படுக்கையும் நமது உறக்கத்தை தீர்மானிக்கிறது. எனவே அழகைப் பார்த்து வாங்குவதை விட அது நமது உடலுக்கு சவுகரியமானதா என்று பார்த்து வாங்க வேண்டும். அதேபோல படுக்கை வாங்கும்போது விலையைவிட அதன் தரத்திற்கு முக்கியத்துவம் கொடுக்க வேண்டும். படுக்கையானது மேடு, பள்ளம் இல்லாத அளவுக்கு சமமாக, கெட்டியாக இருக்கவேண்டும். படுக்கை பழையதாகிவிட்டால் மேடு-பள்ளமாகி விடும். அதில் தூங்கினால் உடம்பு வலி, முதுகு வலி, கழுத்து வலி தோன்றும். அதனால் பழையதை அப்புறப்படுத்தி விட்டு புதிதாக வாங்கிக்கொள்ள வேண்டும். தலையையும், கழுத்தையும் தலையணை பாலம் போல் தாங்கவேண்டும். அப்படி தாங்கினால்தான் முதுகெலும்புக்கு செல்லும் ரத்த ஓட்டம் தங்கு தடையின்றி நடைபெறும். அப்போது தூக்கம் நன்றாக வரும். படுக்கை அறையில் இரும்பு பொருட்கள் இடம் பெறுவது நல்லதல்ல. மரம், களிமண் போன்றவைகளில் உருவான பொருட்கள் இருப்பது நல்லது. இரும்புகட்டில்கள் தூக்கத்திற்கு ஏற்றதல்ல. படுக்கை அறையில் பூசக் கூடிய பெயிண்டுகளும் தூக்கத்திற்கு துணைபுரியும். இளம் பச்சை, இளம் நீலம், வெள்ளை, கிரீம் ஆகிய இளநிற பெயிண்டுகளை பயன்படுத்தினால் அது தூக்கத்திற்கு ஒத்துழைக்கும். படுக்கை அறையில் அதிக வெளிச்சம் இருக்கக்கூடாது. திடீர் வெளிச்சம்பட்டால் தூக்கம் கலையும். சாலை ஓரத்தில் வீடு இருப்பவர்கள் ஜன்னல் ஓரத்தில் திரைச்சீலைகளை கட்டி வாகன வெளிச்சத்தை தடுத்து, தூக்கத்திற்கு தொந்தரவு இல்லாமல் பார்த்துக்கொள்ளவேண்டும். சீதோஷ்ண நிலைக்கும், தூக்கத்துக்கும் தொடர்பு இருக்கிறது. லேசான குளிர்ச்சியுடன் சீதோஷ்ண நிலை இருந்தால் நல்ல தூக்கம் வரும். வீட்டில் ஏ.சி. இருந்தால் இரவில் 22 டிகிரி அளவில் வைத்திருங்கள். படுக்கை அறையில் தொலைக்காட்சி, கணணி போன்ற எலக்ட்ரானிக் பொருட்களை வைக்கக் கூடாது. உறங்கப் போகும்போது அவற்றின் இணைப்பை துண்டிக்க வேண்டும். ஆப்-செய்ய மறந்து தூங்கிவிட்டால் கணணி, மடிக்கணணி, தொலைக்காட்சி போன்றவைகளில் இருந்து வெளியேறும் காந்த அலைகள் தூக்கத்தையும், ஆரோக்கியத்தையும் கெடுக்கும். கைபேசியை தலையணை அருகில் வைத்து தூங்கக்கூடாது. 3, 4 அடி துரத்துக்கு தள்ளி வைக்கவேண்டும். அருகில் வைத்தோம் என்றால் போனில் இருந்து வரும் கதிர்கள் தூக்கத்தை பாதிக்கும்.

Visualization provides decision-makers with the big picture

The human brain is not very well-equipped for analysing multidimensional data. In his doctoral dissertation, Mikko Berg, M.Sc. (Tech.) examined how graphical visualizations can help people to understand complex data. One of the starting points of his work were the visualizations used in the online candidate selectors of MTV3 that placed candidates with similar opinions close to each other on a graphical map.

"Good visualizations can help people to make good decisions, such as selecting a suitable candidate in elections," researcher Mikko Berg explains.

Berg's dissertation belongs to the field of media technology and combines cognitive science, psychology and vision research. The dissertation explores how the brain processes visualization when the person handles complex data.

Berg examined how the use of visualization facilitates understanding by observing how people used the online candidate selectors created for the EU and communal elections held in Finland in 2004.

Pictures have been used as a means to communicate since cave paintings. A classic example of well-visualized number data is this diagram presenting the causes of mortality in the Crimean War in 1855 drawn by nurse Florence Nightingale.

The diagram that underlined the importance of good hygiene shows the viewer that it was seven times more likely for soldiers to die of diseases spreading in the hospitals than of gunshot wounds.

"Visualization provides viewers with an overview and helps people to understand complex data," Berg says.

He asks me to look around in the lobby of his workplace, Biomedicum. As I look at the lobby, I feel that I can see everything. In reality, all that I can remember is a rough overall image because the area of acute vision is very narrow. Our gaze quickly focuses on new details.

"The eye moves rapidly and focuses on new details three times per second. Our vision works a bit like the Internet – we get the feeling that all the data we need is immediately available, but actually it is not retrieved from the server until we need it," Mikko Berg explains.

Numerical data in table format is difficult to process for a human brain. Each numerical value has to be looked at individually and it is not easy to get a general idea of the data. "Our working memory can only store a couple of numbers or words at a time."

A graph produced using the same data helps people to obtain a general idea of the situation. Graphs also give our peripheral vision valuable hints about the areas worth looking at.

Information technology has provided us with entirely new opportunities for visualizing data. For instance the 25 questions in the MTV3 online vote matcher form a 25-dimensional answer space. It is difficult to get an overall idea of the answers provided by hundreds of candidates.

With the help of the self-organizing maps (SOM) developed at Aalto University, the candidates can be placed on a two-dimensional surface so that candidates with similar opinions are located close to each other on the map.

Good visualization reduces the load on our working memory

Based on Berg's research results, those planning visualization for the Internet should take advantage of the opportunity to use interactive features. In interactive visualization, the user can select different variables and test what happens if he or she answers a vote matcher question differently. "We understand many things better when we perform actions," Berg says.

According to the study, good visualization reduces the load on our working memory. "Our working memory can be externalised to a visualization tool. If the brain registers the area from which a piece of information can quickly be found, it becomes unnecessary to memorize non-essential data. People do not want to remember how an individual candidate answered a certain question in a election engine," Berg explains.

Creating good visualizations is difficult because the information being presented is complex. 
"It is difficult to decide who to vote for. It is a project that requires a lot of work, but good visualization can provide the tools for it," Berg says.

More information: The doctoral dissertation of Mikko Berg, M.Sc. (Tech.), Human abilities to perceive, understand, and manage multidimensional information with visualizations, was publicly examined at the Aalto University School of Science on 27 April. The dissertation belongs to the field of media technology. The opponent was Professor Erica de Vries from Université Pierre-Mendès-France. The dissertation online 

Provided by Aalto University

"Visualization provides decision-makers with the big picture." May 11th, 2012. http://phys.org/news/2012-05-visualization-decision-makers-big-picture.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

Confirmation of repeated patterns of neurons indicates stereotypical organization throughout brain's cerebral cortex

Figure 1: In the mouse visual cortex, neurons expressing id2 mRNA (magenta) are found in regularly repeating clusters. Reproduced from Ref. 1 © 2011 Hisato Maruoka et al., RIKEN Brain Science Institute

Neurons are arranged in periodic patterns that repeat over large distances in two areas of the cerebral cortex, suggesting that the entire cerebral cortex has a stereotyped organization, reports a team of researchers led by Toshihiko Hosoya of the RIKEN Brain Science Institute. The entire cortex has a stereotypical layered structure with the same cell types arranged in the same way, but how neurons are organized in the other orientation—parallel to the brain’s surface—is poorly understood.

Hosoya and his colleagues therefore examined layer V (5) of the mouse cortex, which contains two classes of large pyramidal neurons that look identical but differ in the connections they form. One projects axons straight down to regions beneath the cortex; the other projects to the cortex on the opposite side of the brain.

First, the researchers examined expression of the id2 gene in cells of the visual cortex, because these cells form clusters in that part of the brain. They found that id2 is expressed in nearly all cells that project axons downward, but not in those that cross over. Hosoya and colleagues verified this by visualizing the connections of cells using fluorescent cholera toxin, which binds to cell membranes and travels along the axons.

Further examination of gene expression patterns in tissue slices revealed that the cells are arranged in clusters aligned perpendicular to the brain’s surface, and that the clusters are organized in a regular pattern, with the same basic unit repeating every thirty micrometers (Fig. 1). They also observed the same pattern in layer V of the somatosensory cortex, suggesting that this organization is common to all other areas.

By generating a strain of mutant mice expressing green fluorescent protein in the progenitor cells that produce the cells in layer V during brain development, Hosoya and his colleagues investigated the embryonic origin of these cells. This revealed that each cluster contains neurons that are produced by different progenitor cells.

Finally, the researchers showed that the regular pattern persists in the adult visual cortex, and that neurons in each cluster show the same activity patterns in response to visual stimulation. “Our preliminary data suggest that at least several other areas in the cortex have the same structure,” says Hosoya. “It’s likely that the entire cortex has the same organization, and I expect that the human cortex has the same structure.” 

More information: Maruoka, H., Kubota, K., Kurokawa, R., Tsuruno, S. & Hosoya, T. Periodic organization of a major subtype of pyramidal neurons in neocortical layer V. The Journal of Neuroscience 31, 18522–18542 (2011). http://www.jneuros … 522.abstract

Provided by RIKEN

"Confirmation of repeated patterns of neurons indicates stereotypical organization throughout brain's cerebral cortex." May 11th, 2012.http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-patterns-neurons-stereotypical-brain-cerebral.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek