Children, brain development and the criminal law

The legal system needs to take greater account of new discoveries in neuroscience that show how a difficult childhood can affect the development of a young person's brain which can increase the risk adolescent crimes, according to researchers. The research will be presented as part of an Economic and Social Research Council seminar series in conjunction with the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology.

Neuroscientists have recently shown that early adversity – such as a very chaotic and frightening home life – can result in a young child becoming hyper vigilant to potential threats in their environment. This appears to influence the development of brain connectivity and functions.

Such children may come to adolescence with brain systems that are set differently, and this may increase their likelihood of taking impulsive risks. For many young offenders such early adversity is a common experience, and it may increase both their vulnerability to mental health problems and also their risk of problem behaviours.

These insights, from a team led by Dr Eamon McCrory, University College London, are part of a wave of neuroscientific research questions that have potential implications for the legal system.

Other research by Dr Seena Fazel of Oxford University has shown that while social disadvantage is a major risk factor for offending, a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) - from an accident or assault – significantly increases the risk of involvement in violent crime. Professor Huw Williams, at University of Exeter, has similarly shown that around 45 per cent of young offenders have TBI histories, and more injuries are associated with greater violence.

Professor Williams said: "The latest message from neuroscience is that young people who suffer troubled childhoods may experience a kind of 'triple whammy'. A difficult social background may put them at greater risk of offending and influence their brain development early on in childhood in a way that increases risky behaviour. This can then increase their chances of experiencing an injury to their brains that would compromise their ability to stay in school or contribute to society still further."

Professor Williams wants to see better communication between neuroscientists, clinicians and lawyers so that research findings like these lead to changes in the legal system. "There is a big gap between research conducted by neuroscientists and the realities of the day to day work of the justice system," he said. "Although criminal behaviour results from a complex interplay of a host of factors, neuroscientists and clinicians are identifying key risk factors that – if addressed – could reduce crime. Investment in earlier, focussed interventions may offset the costs of years of custody and social violence".

Dr Eileen Vizard, a prominent adolescent forensic psychiatrist, will talk at the event Neuroscience, Children and the Law, about how the criminal justice system needs to be changed to age appropriate sentencing for children as young as ten years old, whilst also providing for the welfare needs of these deprived children. Laura Hoyano – a leading expert on vulnerable people in criminal courts – will discuss the problems children face when testifying in criminal courts.

Provided by Economic & Social Research Council

"Children, brain development and the criminal law." June 18th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-children-brain-criminal-law.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

Don’t Break The Oath

“Understanding that Rama’s beauty, patience, age and ancestry were completely perfect, the king remembered his own oath and thus started to lament.” (Janaki Mangala, 48) rūpa sīla baya baṃsa rāma parisurana | samujhi kaṭhina pana āpana lāga bisūrana || You think long and hard about a difficult decision. You don’t want to mess up because the stakes are high. Rather than make an impulse move, you get advice from the people you trust. This way you gather all sorts of opinions and viewpoints that you may not have considered yourself due to the attachment you have to the particular situation. Finally, you settle upon something, a move that will hopefully satisfy your wishes and alleviate your concerns. If you are a man of honor, this decision represents your vow, something you can’t break. But then later on, after the decision is made, a wildcard enters the equation. If you knew about this beforehand, you never would have made your vow. So now you are in trouble. What to do? This was the situation faced by a famous king many thousands of years ago. He was childless when he found a beautiful baby girl in the ground one day while ploughing a field for a sacrifice. What an odd place to find a young child? How was she still alive? Who had placed her there? These things didn’t matter to King Janaka once he picked her up. Though he was above the influence of the senses, he couldn’t help but harbor affection for this innocent girl, wiping the dust off her face. He wanted to bring her home immediately, but he knew that he shouldn’t take someone else’s property. Then a voice from the sky told the king that the girl was his daughter in all righteousness, or dharma. Dharma was important to Janaka. A king who doesn’t follow dharma isn’t much of a king. To be a good protector, one must be able to govern the citizens in such a way that they all stay happy, regardless of their situation. The only way to make this a reality is to follow the established law codes of scripture, which are presented nicely in the Vedas. If you go on your own whim, others will then have license to do so as well. As desires for personal satisfaction are sure to clash, the result is stiff competition. Man’s actions are then guided by the motto of “win at all costs”. In fact, this is the situation at present, where government leaders operate on the mentality that whoever will provide them the most votes should gain the most favor from government. Never mind that every person is equally a citizen and that the leader should be impartial. Send money to a candidate and you will get a seat at the table of power should they get elected. Janaka’s guiding principle was to defer to dharma, so he was thrilled to hear that this girl was actually his daughter. The higher powers decided he should raise her as his own daughter, that he was worthy of having her and that she would bestow good fortune upon him. The baby girl was Lakshmi Devi appearing on earth to grace the line of Videha kings with the greatest fortune of all, the appearance of the Supreme Lord in their kingdom. Janaka, of course, did not know these things. He had a spontaneous and loving attachment to his daughter. This attachment made arranging for her marriage quite difficult. As Janaka belonged to the royal order, he typically would find a suitable match based on strength. The ability of the prince to protect his daughter would be the overriding factor in determining his eligibility for marriage. The suitable match would also be determined off personal characteristics calculated from the alignment of stars at the time of birth. The problem was that Janaka didn’t know his daughter Sita’s exact date of birth or who her parents were. How then was he going to find a suitable match? Comparing horoscopes using Vedic science takes the guesswork out of these arrangements. Janaka met with his counselors, and they settled upon a compromise. The king would hold a contest. Whoever could lift Lord Shiva’s bow would win Sita’s hand in marriage. First come, first serve. No round robins or heats. Whoever could lift it first would win the contest. The idea was that the bow was too heavy for anyone to lift. Just as Sita had amazingly appeared from the ground, her future husband would have to appear on the scene and miraculously lift the bow. There was another side to this contest that Janaka didn’t immediately realize. If someone should attempt to lift the bow and fail, they would be automatically disqualified from marrying Sita. The focus was on finding someone who could lift the bow, which meant the elimination factor was ignored. But what if someone showed up to Janaka’s city who was perfect in every way? What if their beauty was unmatched and their ancestry sparkling? What if they had tremendous patience and dedication to chivalry? What if they were quite strong and had a charming visage? Then what could the king do? Wouldn’t you know it, this is precisely the predicament that arose. Though princes from around the world came to participate in the contest, two notable warriors didn’t get the invitation. They were away from home at the time, protecting the sadhus from the enemies of the demigods. A sura is known as a demigod or devotee in Sanskrit. Their enemies are the asuras, the negation of the word “sura”. “How can someone be an enemy of a sadhu, a person who has no possessions and who hardly bothers anyone? A demigod is adeity in charge of a particular aspect of creation. Why should they have enemies?” As we know, sometimes the workings of the criminal mind are impossible to figure out. There are bad guys out there, whether we like it or not. Since they do horrible things, someone needs to be there to punish them, to protect the innocent from their influence. Rama and Lakshmana, though very young, were quite able to protect a notable sadhu named Vishvamitra. He was being harassed by night-rangers who fought dirty. In conventional warfare, the participants wear identifiable uniforms and engage in conflict once the other party is ready. It seems strange, but warriors usually follow some sort of standard procedure when engaging in armed conflict. Oh, but not these night-rangers. They would not announce their presence until the moment of attack. Should they be spotted, they could use illusion to disappear from the vision. They would take on another shape to mask their appearance as well. Rama’s first test was to fight against and kill a very wicked female night-ranger named Tataka. Rama was very hesitant to kill her since she was a female. Vishvamitra had to insist a few times to Rama to fight with as much force as possible. The night-ranger would use illusion quite often to try to escape, but no one can live when the Supreme Lord decides that they shouldn’t. Rama was the Supreme Lord appearing on earth in the guise of a human being. The purpose given for His descents is to annihilate the miscreants and defend the pious, but in reality there needn’t be a specific purpose. Whatever makes the Supreme Lord happy, He does. He finally killed Tataka, and Vishvamitra was pleased with Him. He then gave both Rama and Lakshmana secret mantras to be used in fighting. The group subsequently went to Janaka’s kingdom while the contest was going on. The king welcomed them hospitably, and was enamored by the vision of Rama and Lakshmana. As Rama was the elder brother, Janaka wondered if He should maybe participate in the contest. Seeing that Rama was perfect in every way, Janaka became lost in transcendental bliss. He had previously felt brahmasukha, or the pleasure of merging into the impersonal effulgence of the Lord, but this new happiness defeated that many times over. After that initial happiness, Janaka remembered his vow. “Oh no! What if Rama tries to lift the bow and fails? Then He can’t marry Sita, though He is perfect for her.” In this way Janaka felt a kind of fear in devotional ecstasy. This emotion is described in more detail in Shrila Rupa Gosvami’s Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, which is nicely translated and commented on in the book known as The Nectar of Devotion, authored by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. In devotional service, or bhakti-yoga, there are different tastes that are available to the devotee. Sometimes fear is an enhancer of delight, as through that trepidation one thinks even more about God. Thus Janaka’s worrying over the contest was on par with his happiness over first seeing Rama. There needn’t be any worry, though. Lord Rama was meant to arrive in Janaka’s kingdom and marry Sita. Only He would be able to lift Mahadeva’s bow and thus prove to the world that Sita could only be His wife. Janaka’s regret would soon disappear, as his vow would further glorify both Sita and Rama, the divine couple who bestow good fortune upon the surrendered souls. In Closing: Daughter Sita to Janaka is very dear, That wrong husband chosen is underlying fear. With announced contest of bow matter considered rectified, Priests, counselors, friends and even king now satisfied. Contest rules simple, first come first serve, Lifting Shiva’s bow meant Sita they did deserve. But if perfect match arrived Janaka did not consider, The case with Rama, but on vow the king must deliver. Thus there was worry that with vow he made a grave mistake, But king relieved when Shiva’s bow in His hand Rama did take.

'Hallucinating' robots arrange objects for human use

A robot populates a room with imaginary human stick figures in order to decide where objects should go to suit the needs of humans.

(Phys.org) -- If you hire a robot to help you move into your new apartment, you won't have to send out for pizza. But you will have to give the robot a system for figuring out where things go. The best approach, according to Cornell researchers, is to ask "How will humans use this?"

Researchers in the Personal Robotics Lab of Ashutosh Saxena, assistant professor of computer science, have already taught robots to identify common objects, pick them up and place them stably in appropriate locations. Now they've added the human element by teaching robots to "hallucinate" where and how humans might stand, sit or work in a room, and place objects in their usual relationship to those imaginary people.

Their work will be reported at the International Symposium on Experimental Robotics, June 21 in Quebec, and the International Conference of Machine Learning, June 29 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Previous work on robotic placement, the researchers note, has relied on modeling relationships between objects. A keyboard goes in front of a monitor, and a mouse goes next to the keyboard. But that doesn't help if the robot puts the monitor, keyboard and mouse at the back of the desk, facing the wall.

Above left, random placing of objects in a scene puts food on the floor, shoes on the desk and a laptop teetering on the top of the fridge. Considering the relationships between objects (upper right) is better, but he laptop is facing away from a potential user and the food higher than most humans would like. Adding human context (lower left) makes things more accessible. Lower right: how an actual robot carried it out. (Personal Robotics Lab)

Relating objects to humans not only avoids such mistakes but also makes computation easier, the researchers said, because each object is described in terms of its relationship to a small set of human poses, rather than to the long list of other objects in a scene. A computer learns these relationships by observing 3-D images of rooms with objects in them, in which it imagines human figures, placing them in practical relationships with objects and furniture. You don't don't put a sitting person where there is no chair. You can put a sitting person on top of a bookcase, but there are no objects there for the person to use, so that''s ignored. It The computer calculates the distance of objects from various parts of the imagined human figures, and notes the orientation of the objects.

Eventually it learns commonalities: There are lots of imaginary people sitting on the sofa facing the TV, and the TV is always facing them. The remote is usually near a human's reaching arm, seldom near a standing person's feet. "It is more important for a robot to figure out how an object is to be used by humans, rather than what the object is. One key achievement in this work is using unlabeled data to figure out how humans use a space," Saxena said.

In a new situation the a robot places human figures in a 3-D image of a room, locating them in relation to objects and furniture already there. "It puts a sample of human poses in the environment, then figures out which ones are relevant and ignores the others," Saxena explained. It decides where new objects should be placed in relation to the human figures, and carries out the action.

The researchers tested their method using images of living rooms, kitchens and offices from the Google 3-D Warehouse, and later, images of local offices and apartments. Finally, they programmed a robot to carry out the predicted placements in local settings. Volunteers who were not associated with the project rated the placement of each object for correctness on a scale of 1 to 5.

Comparing various algorithms, the researchers found that placements based on human context were more accurate than those based solely in relationships between objects, but the best results of all came from combining human context with object-to-object relationships, with an average score of 4.3. Some tests were done in rooms with furniture and some objects, others in rooms where only a major piece of furniture was present. The object-only method performed significantly worse in the latter case because there was no context to use. "The difference between previous works and our [human to object] method was significantly higher in the case of empty rooms," Saxena reported.

The research was supported by a Microsoft Faculty Fellowship and a gift from Google. Marcus Lin, M.Eng. '12, received an Academic Excellence Award from the Department of Computer Science in part for his work on this project.

Provided by Cornell University

"'Hallucinating' robots arrange objects for human use." June 18th, 2012. http://phys.org/news/2012-06-hallucinating-robots-human.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

PAINTINGS WITH PAINTER

THIS WINNING STRATEGY HAS BEEN PROVEN TO GROW SALES

Customers are curious. They like to know what’s going on behind the scenes and they don’t want to feel nosy for asking. To grow sales, beat them to the punch. Make your business as visible as possible, you might be surprised by the increase in your annual sales. Learn how this strategy worked wonders for these 3 businesses!

Entrepreneur shares…

For years, bakeries have created space for icers to show off their frosting prowess in front of customers in hopes of selling more cakes. But you don’t have to be in the food business to amp up the interactivity with prospective buyers.

Here are three different businesses that can attest to the benefits of letting customers watch their employees work:

Car Mechanics

Auto-repair shops have traditionally been among the biggest targets for customer complaints. But one Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company believes it has solved the problem of consumer trust. Honest-1 Auto Care, a chain of 26 auto-repair and maintenance shops, lets customers watch through a lobby window as their cars are being repaired.

“Many people like the knowledge that it’s an option for them to watch their cars being worked on. Most customers will periodically stand at the window,” says Jack Keilt, president and CEO. “With our name being Honest-1 Auto Care and the normal perception-mistrust of the automotive repair business, we wanted to create a way to build trust with our customers.”

This “honest approach” results in customers referring Honest-1 to friends and family, Keilt says, as well as a lot of repeat business. Honest-1 estimates that about two-thirds of customers come back for future repairs.

Furniture Makers

RVP 1875, a furniture shop in Jefferson, Iowa, puts on quite a show for customers. Employees dress in clothing circa 1875 and build furniture using only 19th century tools and techniques. “Having people watch the process is a giant part of our draw,” says Robby Pedersen, a furniture maker and owner of RVP 1875. “We double as a working museum, and I find that a typical customer is far more likely to order a piece after I demonstrate some tools and techniques of the trade. Our customers tell their friends and family about what they’ve seen and heard at our store and an order may come from that.”

He estimates that 75 percent of buyers have watched him work before deciding to buy. In addition, RVP 1875 offers classes and apprenticeships in furniture making, as well as a general store where other artisans, such as tinsmiths, soap makers and stained-glass artists, perform their trade and sell their wares.

Artists

Many shops let customers get involved in framing a favorite photo or print. But the team at CanvasPop, a 6,000-square-foot art factory in Las Vegas, Nev., takes this concept one step further. Customers can watch their favorite photos go from printing on canvas to framing. “This is a way for us to show people our approach to handcrafting high-quality canvas prints,” says Adrian Salamunovic, co-founder. “Our employees take great pride in their work. Having customers visit our art factory allows our employees to see our customers as real people – it’s amazing for morale.” Workers sign the back of each canvas with a sticker that says, “Lovingly Framed By ________.”

“This touch really makes our products and the experience even more human,” Salamunovic says. Another plus: Inviting in customers enables CanvasPop to get feedback. “We use this time together to ask customers questions about their product preferences,” Salamunovic says. About 200 customers visit the factory each year, but the majority of orders are made online.

Winemakers

The bottling operation at Standing Sun Wines

Photo courtesy of the company

At Standing Sun Wines, a family-owned winery in Buellton, Calif., the tasting room provides a clear view of the processing equipment that de-stems, crushes, ferments and presses the grapes. So, while you sip wine, you can see how it's made, too. When people see multiple things going on, they inevitably begin to ask questions, says John Wright, owner and winemaker. "These questions lead to increased interest, and increased interest leads directly to sales."

Related: Location-Based Check-Ins on the Rise with Consumers

Many people email Wright later to learn more about the wine that was being produced on the day of their visit. "I tell them which wine they saw produced that day and they buy it," Wright says. "They feel a connection to that wine. Maybe they saw it as grapes coming in on a truck or maybe they watched it being de-stemmed or crushed." Since the winery opened the tasting room in September 2011, more visitors have joined its cellar club, boosting club member sales by 50 percent.

Crafters

Glassblower Corey Duda at the Simon Pearce studio in Quechee, Vt.

Photo courtesy of the company

Some people who visit Simon Pearce's pottery and hand-blown glass facility in Queechee, Vt., say they find it "hypnotic" to watch the craftsmen at work. "Allowing guests to visit our workshops and speak with our glassblowers is the best marketing we can do," Ross Evans, director of marketing, says of the more than 300,000 people who visit the manufacturing facility every year. "It's a real competitive advantage to allow guests to look under the hood and really experience the process."

Although Evans can't quantify how much customer engagement translates into sales, he believes the more educated customers are about the process of glassblowing, the more likely they are to buy a vase they've seen being made. "The reality is, so many of the things we buy today are made overseas, we have lost that connection to the maker," Evans says. "By keeping our workshops open to the public, we allow guests to feel deeply connected to the process of making glass, and in turn, they form a stronger connection to specific products. It also means they form a stronger connection to the brand." 

Thanks for  Entrepreneur 

Lambeth Hochwald

Lambeth Hochwald is a freelance journalist, whose stories have appeared in magazines such as Coastal Living, O The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple and Redbook. She is also an adjunct professor at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.

 

The neurological basis for fear and memory

Fear conditioning using sound and taste aversion, as applied to mice, have revealed interesting information on the basis of memory allocation.

European 'Cellular mechanisms underlying formation of the fear memory trace in the mouse amygdala' (FEAR Memory TRACE) project is investigating memory allocation and the recruitment of certain neurons to encode a memory. By studying conditioned fear memory in response to an auditory stimulus, the researchers have delved into pathological emotional states and neural mechanisms involved in memory allocation, retrieval and extinction.

Prior research has revealed that the conditioned fear response in mice is located in a specific bundle of neurons in the amygdala. Memory allocation modulation is due to expression of the transcription factor, cyclic adenosine 3', 5'-monophosphate response element binding protein (CREB) and possibly neuronal excitability.

FEAR Memory TRACE focused on the electrophysiological properties of neurons encoding the same memory. The project also aimed to ascertain the biophysical mechanisms in the plasticity changes recorded in the specific set of neurons in the fear memory trace.

Recording information on auditory fear conditioning and conditioned taste aversion, the scientists used intra-amygdala surgery using viral vectors and electrophysiological experiments to detect neuronal excitability.

Transfected by virus, CREB tagged with green fluorescent protein together with the gene for channelrhodopsin2 were used in neural control experiments. Combined, these two elements caused neuron firing in specific nerve cells. Molecular techniques included western blot for protein detection, genotyping and viral DNA preparation.

Behavioural tests on long- and short-term memory of mice involving fear conditioning and taste aversion showed increased memory performance at the three-hour point rather than the five-hour point. The intrinsic excitability of the mice receiving both shock and the tone was increased at three hours, not five, compared to mice that only received the tone.

As the project continues to its close in two years, the aim is to identify biophysical mechanisms involved in recruiting neurons that compete with each other for a specific memory. FEAR Memory TRACE will also develop computational models to assess the role of these mechanisms in memory performance.

Information on biochemical processes in neural mechanisms has wide application in many clinical situations including patients suffering memory loss, such as stroke victims. Fear response manipulation can be applied in treatment of neuroses and phobias.

Provided by CORDIS

"The neurological basis for fear and memory." June 18th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-neurological-basis-memory.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

MRI images show what the brain looks like when you lose self-control

This image shows brain activity when people exert self-control. Credit: University of Iowa

New pictures from the University of Iowa show what it looks like when a person runs out of patience and loses self-control.

A study by University of Iowa neuroscientist and neuro-marketing expert William Hedgcock confirms previous studies that show self-control is a finite commodity that is depleted by use. Once the pool has dried up, we're less likely to keep our cool the next time we're faced with a situation that requires self-control.

But Hedgcock's study is the first to actually show it happening in the brain using fMRI images that scan people as they perform self-control tasks. The images show the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)—the part of the brain that recognizes a situation in which self-control is needed and says, "Heads up, there are multiple responses to this situation and some might not be good"—fires with equal intensity throughout the task.

However, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)—the part of the brain that manages self-control and says, "I really want to do the dumb thing, but I should overcome that impulse and do the smart thing"—fires with less intensity after prior exertion of self-control.

This image shows brain activity after people have been engaged in self-control tasks long enough that self-control resources have been depleted. Credit: University of Iowa

He said that loss of activity in the DLPFC might be the person's self-control draining away. The stable activity in the ACC suggests people have no problem recognizing a temptation. Although they keep fighting, they have a harder and harder time not giving in.

Which would explain why someone who works very hard not to take seconds of lasagna at dinner winds up taking two pieces of cake at desert. The study could also modify previous thinking that considered self-control to be like a muscle. Hedgcock says his images seem to suggest that it's like a pool that can be drained by use then replenished through time in a lower conflict environment, away from temptations that require its use.

The researchers gathered their images by placing subjects in an MRI scanner and then had them perform two self-control tasks—the first involved ignoring words that flashed on a computer screen, while the second involved choosing preferred options. The study found the subjects had a harder time exerting self-control on the second task, a phenomenon called "regulatory depletion." Hedgcock says that the subjects' DLPFCs were less active during the second self-control task, suggesting it was harder for the subjects to overcome their initial response.

Hedgcock says the study is an important step in trying to determine a clearer definition of self-control and to figure out why people do things they know aren't good for them. One possible implication is crafting better programs to help people who are trying to break addictions to things like food, shopping, drugs, or alcohol. Some therapies now help people break addictions by focusing at the conflict recognition stage and encouraging the person to avoid situations where that conflict arises. For instance, an alcoholic should stay away from places where alcohol is served.

But Hedgcock says his study suggests new therapies might be designed by focusing on the implementation stage instead. For instance, he says dieters sometimes offer to pay a friend if they fail to implement control by eating too much food, or the wrong kind of food. That penalty adds a real consequence to their failure to implement control and increases their odds of choosing a healthier alternative.

The study might also help people who suffer from a loss of self-control due to birth defect or brain injury.

"If we know why people are losing self-control, it helps us design better interventions to help them maintain control," says Hedgcock, an assistant professor in the Tippie College of Business marketing department and the UI Graduate College's Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience.

More information: Hedgcock's paper, "Reducing self-control depletion effects through enhanced sensitivity to implementation: Evidence from fMRI and behavioral studies," was co-authored by Kathleen Vohs and Akshay Rao of the University of Minnesota. It will be published in January 2013 in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Provided by University of Iowa

"MRI images show what the brain looks like when you lose self-control." June 18th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-mri-images-brain-self-control.html

Comment:
My self control is completely depleted by the first chocolate and the whole box/bar will soon be consumed.  Self control can be refreshed by flashing the list of chores before my eyes e.g. mowing lawns, washing car etc and resistance soars back to maximum, temptation to mow lawns successfully averted.

 

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

IN BUSINESS, FOLLOWING YOUR INSTINCT IS PARAMOUNT

How to Follow Your Gut

It’s scary trying to convince yourself and your team to follow you based on a “feeling.” But sometimes that’s the best thing to do.

The most frustrating advice I ever received came from a mentor who told me, “Just follow your gut.”

I had no idea what that meant nor how to do it. He made it sound as if my gut would suddenly appear in front of me and gesture for me to follow it.

Want to know why it’s so hard to follow your gut? Because it requires you to stop giving a damn about what everyone else thinks.

Entrepreneurs spend so much of their lives comparing themselves to others and measuring their progress by some impossible ideal. Covers of magazines show 20-something who became billionaires off their brilliant ideas. Your bank account, meanwhile, looks more than a little pathetic. (I know mine does.) You start to feel that, whatever success is supposed to look like, you’re not achieving it as well as the person next door.

So you worry that you’re going to make a flop out of this thing called life. And that gut you’re supposed to follow? It gets buried in the fear and envy and self-loathing. So, you pick up every self-help book you can find and seek out best practices. But you don’t get it right. You just keep stumbling. Until one day you wake up and say, “What have I got to lose?” That’s the day you dig our gut out and let it beckon us in the right direction.

But it’s a cycle. And your gut will lead you astray again. (Sometimes badly astray.)

My gut plagues me constantly. I have advisors and investors and consultants and cofounders and most of the time, not a single one of them agrees with my gut. It takes a great deal of effort to convince dozens of smart people that you should go in a direction because you “feel” you should. There’s no evidence. Just an instinct.

Continue reading this article at INC.com after the break!

 

காதல் புயல் Kathal Puyal -குறும் படம்.

AMAZON.COM FOUNDER’S FUTURE MILLION DOLLAR PROJECTS

Do you ever wonder who the Albert Einstein’s or Thomas Edison’s of our generation are? If so, Jeff Bezo’s definitely makes the list. Find out what new projects he has in the works, which are likely to be million to billion dollar successes!

Yahoo Finance shares….

Jeff Bezos changed the way we shop, with Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) He transformed how many of us read, with his Kindle e-reader.

He has a few other potentially life-changing ideas, too. In a patent application made public in August 2011, for example, Mr. Bezos is listed as one of two inventors of a “system and method for protecting devices from impact damage.”

The famously secretive Mr. Bezos acknowledged that his name is on the airbag-patent application but declined to elaborate on the air bag. “I can’t talk about the future road map, I’m sorry,” he said in an interview. “I don’t even want to say whether or not we’re working on it.”

Some of history’s greatest innovators have been among its most idiosyncratic, and Mr. Bezos shows signs of fitting that mold. He is the latest businessman to use his fortune to fund ambitious and what some might consider far-fetched plans.

Howard Hughes, after making his name making movies in the 1920s and 1930s, devoted himself to developing and personally testing the world’s fastest planes. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson has attempted to set speed records on sea and in air. Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison has competed for the America’s Cup sailing team he backs himself.

David Risher, a former Amazon executive, said his former boss “thinks in decades and centuries…Unlike most of us, Jeff is hard-wired for the very long term.”

Mr. Bezos has already gained some fame with his Blue Origin space-travel project. But the 48-year-old, whose net worth is estimated at $20 billion, is quietly putting time and money into some other less-public side projects that have little or nothing to do with online shopping.

While he declines to discuss his phone air bag, he is a bit more willing to discuss his project to build a 200-foot-tall clock designed to last millennia. He has financed a group, the Long Now Foundation, that is building what he calls “The 10,000 Year Clock” deep inside a mountain on his West Texas property, not far from his rocket-launch site.

It’s like a grandfather clock on a grander scale, Mr. Bezos said. When it’s finished, it will play an elaborate cuckoo-like sequence for the anniversary of every year, decade, century, millennium and 10 millennia.

People who visit the clock when it is finished years from now will also be treated to a daily chime sequence that has been choreographed by musician Brian Eno, who serves on the project’s board.

“The reason I’m doing it is that it is a symbol of long-term thinking, and the idea of long-term responsibility,” said Mr. Bezos, who has spent at least $42 million on the timekeeper. “We humans have become so technologically sophisticated that in certain ways we’re dangerous to ourselves. It’s going to be increasingly important over time for humanity to take a longer-term view of its future.”

Mr. Bezos’s biggest ambitions are astronomical. Last year, he hired undersea experts to scan the ocean floor to find the massive engines that propelled the Apollo 11′s space capsule from Earth to outer space. In March, he wrote on his website that the team had been successful.

The Amazon founder said on the site that he hopes to raise some of the five engines, using private money, and return them to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. “NASA is one of the few institutions I know that can inspire five-year-olds,” he wrote. “It sure inspired me and, with this endeavor, maybe we can inspire a few more youths to invent and explore.”

Get the entire article at Yahoo Finance!

 

Scholarships in Korea

Seoul National University , SNU is one the top ranked university in the world. You can check its ranking in the world. It is in to 50 and 100 universities in the world.

So, must try for the admission here.

You can get admission in SNU on scholarship as SNU 's professors have many funds and can support you.

But you have to email the professors in a way which i will explain below, if you get confirmation from professor , that he may support you , then you can continue there.

One bottleneck : The application fee about 75 $ , which can be pay by using credit card, if not then make a bank draft as mentioned in the guide.http://www.useoul.edu/upload/admission/Spring.pdf?7c2a12d5493f633a998f0bf8f7efa5ca

Other Bottleneck: English scores such as IELTS and TOEFL. Although you can apply on the basis of English proficiency scores, but it reduces your chances of getting admissions

There is a drawback or some problem with this kind of professor scholarship : If you are successful in getting funds/scholarship from professor, then you have to work hard for publications as if you do not have publications or results, then you may have serious problems regarding funding/scholarship. So, be sure before applying it that you are ready to work hard.

There are also a few university scholarship , on which you can apply

http://www.useoul.edu/apply/graduate/scholarships/for_applicants

Admission Procedure

First of all email the professors according to the tips given below . when you get confirmation of scholarship from them, then you should apply for admission. OR apply with the university scholarships

the admission timeline is

2013 Spring Admissions Timeline http://www.useoul.edu/apply/graduate/timeline

The dates and deadlines below are for the application to the program that starts in Spring 2013

Online Application  http://www.useoul.edu/apply/graduate/timeline  

http://www.useoul.edu/upload/admission/Spring.pdf?7c2a12d5493f633a998f0bf8f7efa5ca

Deadline l Jun.11(Mon)~Aug. 2(Thu), 2012

* Note that the entrance to the program is in March 2013.

Submission of Documents

Deadline l Jun.11(Mon)~Aug. 3(Fri), 2012

The required documents should arrive at the SNU Office of Admissions by this date. Applicants must have already completed the online application.

Announcement of Admissions Decision

Nov. 9(Fri), 2012 * Results will be posted on a notice of SNU website NOTICE

Announcement of Admissions Decision

Nov. 9(Fri), 2012

* Results will be posted on a notice of SNU website NOTICE

Tuition Payment  ( If you get Professor scholarship, you do not need to pay this)

Deadline : Feb. 2013 (TBA)

* At the branches of NONGHYUP Bank nationwide

http://www.useoul.edu/upload/admission/Spring.pdf?7c2a12d5493f633a998f0bf8f7efa5ca

 Tips to get professor scholarship

Let me explain to you the easiest way to get admission and scholarship (both fee and living expenses) is first of all, you should search relevant professors of your choice and research interest. Then you should make a tailored made CV according to the interest of those relevant professors and send him/her that CV along with a short email stating your introduction and show your interest that you want to do master/Ph.D under his/her supervision.

If a professor shows interest it means almost you have 99% chances that your admission is confirmed. 

So, first of all, you should try to find "Faculty" => Professors profiles on the university website.

http://www.useoul.edu/gradaute-school?cid=220&ct=md

You can find the respective faculties in the list.

 Then what you have to do is:

1. Read all your major professors profiles, research interests and projects. (You can also find the research interests of professors by finding on Google their published research papers)

2. Make your CV research oriented and also easily readable and good looking. (Also according to the professor you choose to apply. Relate your previous work plus final year project with that professor's work and show him your interest in his work)

Important Note for Electronics plus Computer majors ( In Korea, professors like if you are good in programming languages and it is good if you have distinction in programming skills and you can show them)

3. Write an email. (Please be short in writing email, as professor has not so much times to read it fully just write main but few sentences)

4. Send your email and CV to as many professors as you can (keep in mind only interested professors may reply you, so don't be disappointed)

Note: If you are interested in any specific professor and he/she does not reply you then you must contact him/her by" telephone". Please keep in mind that many professors do not reply, so in that case, you must contact him/her by telephone.

IMPORTANT:

1. Maybe if you face some trouble while opening website then please install "Korean" language tools.

2. Deadlines and time is very important.

3. Try to get any English proficiency certificate. Sometime it increases chances of scholarships.

If any updates, I will let you know.

4. Once the ball starts rolling (getting in contact with professor) Come up with a project plan or SOP (Statement of purpose, Research plan) that what you are going to research about. Indulge yourself in writing new project proposals if required.

FEW MORE THINGS

 Professor scholarship

This solely depends on professor and university does not give you money in this case. These are easy to get but hard to maintain sometimes, because sometimes if professor is not happy with your performance, then he can give you financial problems. So be ready to do hard work.

University scholarships

University scholarships are few and hard to get , but good than professor scholarship as in this case you will not be depended on money by professor. But when you apply for this scholarship, if you contact the professor before in the way as mentioned above, then you have better chance to get this scholarship. Although university scholarships mostly do not require professors recommendations but if you are successful to get one before applying, then it is good chance for you to get that scholarship

That is all for the tips

Also undergraduate students can apply. they can see this link but it is difficult to get  undergraduate scholarships, but they can try.

http://www.useoul.edu/apply/under/timeline

One most important Thing

Do not stop trying and do the best

Best Regards

Waqar 

kalacharam

Kaaranam (Short Film)

Very Useful Infomation...Guys pls share

நயினை நாகபூஷணி அம்மன் ஆலய கொடி 2012

                   நயினை நாகபூஷணி அம்மன் ஆலய மகோற்சவ தின முதல் நாள் கொடியேற்றம் 19 .06 .2012 மிகச்சிறப்புற நடைபெற்றதன் காணொளி இணைப்பு.

நயினைக்கு வந்த யானை.

                    நயினை நாகபூசணி அம்மன் ஆலய மஹா கும்பாபிசேகத்தை முன்னிட்டு ஆலயத்தின் புதிதாக அமைக்கப்பாட்ட 108 அடி உயர ராஜ கோபுரத்தின் நுழை வாயில் கதவினைத் திறப்பதற்காக நயினாதீவுக்கு கொண்டு வரப்பட்ட யானை.இவ் யானை நயினாதீவு வங்களாவடி இறங்குதுறையில் இறக்கப்பட்டு நயினாதீவு செம்மனத்தம் புலம் ஸ்ரீ வீரகத்தி விநாயகர் ஆலயத்திற்கு சென்று அங்கிருந்து விகாரைக்கு சென்று அதன்பின் நாகபூசணி அம்மன் ஆலயத்திற்கு சென்றதன் காணொளி.