Este texto é uma proposta incentivada na disciplina de Modelagem Geoestatística do Ambiente, ministrada no Programa de Pós Graduação em Ciência do Solo da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. Ele é desenvolvido com base nos conhecimentos adquiridos a cada aula da disciplina, sendo movido e motivado por um trecho extraído do livro Geostatistics for Natural Resources Evaluation, de Pierre Goovaerts (1997, p.442): “[…] beware that uncertainty is not intrinsic to the phenomenon under study: rather it arises from our imperfect knowledge of that phenomenon, it is data-dependent and most importantly model-dependent, that model specifying our prior concept (decisions) about the phenomenon. No model, hence no uncertainty measure, can ever be objective: the point is to accept that limitation and document clearly all aspects of the model.”     Isso nos permite refletir sobre os modelos usados para estudar os fenômenos espaciais de interesse na ciência do solo, considerando aspectos relacionados tanto ao surgimento como aos rumos tomados por esse campo ao longo da história.     Não é de hoje que sabemos da importância de obter informações sobre o solo. Contudo, a necessidade de que os usuários tenham uma forma mais dinâmica de visualizar tais informações instigou – e ainda instiga - muitos pesquisadores a desenvolver formas para que isso se tornasse possível. Uma das formas mais práticas e interativas é a criação de uma forma visual por meio da criação de um mapa, como apresentado na Figura 1, tornando a informação mais intuitiva ao usuário final, que tem nele a variação das informações na paisagem. O objetivo do mapeamento é permitir que possamos dizer algo preciso sobre partes específicas da área e que não poderíamos dizer sobre o todo (\citealp*{beckett1968}).

   Lugrin R., Nyffeler C., and Ruas M.    Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne  Introduction In populated areas noise can be one of the major sources of pollution. If the presence of noise seems to go hand in hand with urban areas the introduction of vegetation could possibly reduce the discomfort it can cause to people and the possible effects it has on their health. The aim of this paper is therefore to study the correlation, which exists between greenness in urban areas and noise levels that can be measured both during day and night.As of now several studies have been published, which try to relate the presence of vegetation noise levels and the impact both have on the population. One work by Donald Aylor \cite{Aylor_1972} explored the way different types of vegetation hindered the effects of noise in the presence of different environmental factors (Wind, soil among others). After the observations, models were developed to further enlarge the scope of the study. Results showed vegetation could effectively reduce loudness. The effectiveness of this reduction relied heavily on the vegetation's structure: foliage, stems, ground structure.Another work \cite{Dzhambov_2015} aimed to link the presence of green areas with the attenuation of both psychological stress and physical health issues related to noise pollution. A survey was conducted correlating the presence of greenness and the perception of noise the population had. Results showed that the "Noise sensitivity" was clearly reduced when the access to green spaces was increased.For the present study the initial statement is that in areas with elevated greenness the noise decreases.  The area of study is the municipality of Vernier (Geneva, Switzerland). Day and night levels of noise were measured and a correlation was established with the green areas of the municipality based on satellite pictures in order to verify the hypothesis mentionned above.Data Several raster and vector layers around the municipality of Vernier were used.Four orthophotos cover the zone of interest. They are RVB images already georeferenced and have a ground resolution of 0.5 meter. They probably originate from the federal office of topography Swisstopo but this is not clearly mentioned in the data, likewise for the height model. This height model has a ground resolution of 1 meter.The noise data is provided by the Swiss noise databas \cite{nokey_f47c8}. The information is given in a raster file. It contains values of noise that were predicted by models and calculations based on noise sources data, traffic, urban fabric and terrain configuration  \cite{nokey_ecc2a}. Noise attenuation due to vegetation has not been taken into account to produce this databaseThe boundary of the municipality is stored in a shapefile as a polygon. It is projected according to the Swiss coordinates system SCR EPSG21781 as all the other georeferenced files used here.Methods  In order to obtain the results needed to do the study, both QGIS and GeoDa softwares were used following the respective "QGIS User Guide"\cite{nokey_13188} and "GeoDa User Guide" \cite{nokey_9ebde}. The data needed for the analysis was obtained from four RVB satellite images encompassing the municipality of Vernier, two raster layers with the sound levels around the municipality of interest, and one vector layer defining the boundaries of Vernier. All this content was imported to QGIS. A Virtual Raster Catalogue was then created to merge the four RVB images. Using the style properties of the catalog, both Red and Blue bands were removed so that only the green band remained visible. This allowed to keep only the reflectance information of the area, which is important to detect the vegetation. After that a 50x50m grid was created with its extent around the limits of the municipality of Vernier. With this grid all information contained in the green band raster and the day and night rasters was gathered in one single attribute table: levels of sound during day and night and of greenness in the area selected. This task was performed using the zonal statistical tool. Then, the main tool of analysis was created, namely selecting only the cells confined within the boundaries of the municipality to extract precisely the information of interest. This operation was made possible with the "Spatial Query" tool available in QGIS.In GeoDa this finer grid was exploited to extract both box maps and scatter plots. Those allow to establish comparisons between the different values of greenness and sound. They are also of interest to verify the spatial correlation between the levels of vegetation and noise, which allow for the verification of the hypothesis.Results The average values of each dataset for the commune of Vernier are shown in table \ref{350700}. There is quite a high range of values for the vegetation indicator, while the sound values for both day and night vary less. The data obtained during nighttime shows lower values as during daytime.

A document by Noemi Romano. Click on the document to view its contents.

This postmortem report will provide all readers with important information about the Open Science workshop which took place in Vienna, Austria on the 20th of September 2017. The workshop was organised by the Open Innovation in Science Research and Competence Center, Open Access Austria, Austrian Transition to Open Access and Open Knowledge Austria. All authors of this document participated at this Open Science workshop and contributed to the report in a collaborative writing effort. In this report, readers will find an overview about the Open Science Workshop structure, presented content of the workshop, all slides pictures, social media interactions and everything we have learned from organising this highly important workshop on Open Science.

* All authors contributed equally.After the conference We Scientists Shape Science organized by the Swiss Academy of Sciences in Bern in January, 2017, several participants of the Scientific Careers workshop came together to present what we found were highly relevant points of discussion, including concrete proposals for action.  

This is a preprint journal club review of Cortical Representations of Speech in a Multi-talker Auditory Scene by Krishna C Puvvada, Jonathan Z Simon. The preprint was originally posted on bioRxiv on April 10, 2017 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/124750). The authors have responded to this review, and you can find the comments on bioRxiv. The article is now published in The Journal of Neuroscience (DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0938-17.2017).  

Published in "Latitudinal Controls on Stratigraphic Models and Sedimentary Concepts", SEPM Special Publication 108, September 2017, DOI: 10.2110/sepmsp.108.02. Accompanying data and code available at https://github.com/zsylvester/channel_sinuosities.Abstract Using a script that automatically calculates sinuosity and radius of curvature for multiple bends on sinuous channel centerlines, we have assembled a new data set that allows us to reevaluate the relationship between latitude and submarine channel sinuosity. Sinuosity measurements on hundreds of channel bends from nine modern systems suggest that there is no statistically significant relationship between latitudinal position and channel sinuosity. In addition, for the vast majority of submarine channels on Earth, using flow velocities that are needed to transport the coarse-grained sediment found in channel thalwegs, estimates of the curvature-based Rossby number are significantly larger than unity. In contrast, low flow velocities that characterize the upper parts of turbidity currents in submarine channels located at high latitudes can easily result in Rossby numbers of less than one; this is the reason why levee deposits are often highly asymmetric in such channels. However, even in channels with asymmetric levees, the sinuosity of the thalweg is often obvious and must have developed as the result of an instability driven by the centrifugal force. Analysis of a simple centerline-evolution model shows that the increase in channel curvature precedes the increase in sinuosity and that low sinuosities are already associated with large curvatures. This suggests that the Coriolis effect is unlikely to be responsible for the low sinuosities observed in certain systems.Keywordssubmarine channels, Coriolis force, sinuosity, curvatureIntroduction Submarine channels are common—and often beautifully sinuous— geomorphic features of the Earth’s seafloor that serve as important conduits of sediment transport from rivers and shallow water to the continental slope and basin floor. In addition to their role in the large- scale redistribution of clastic sediment, they often correspond to locations of thick and relatively coarse-grained accumulations that can host commercially significant hydrocarbon reservoirs. Ever since it was recognized that these features exist \citep{Henry_W_Menard_Jr_2__1955} and that their planform patterns can be remarkably similar to the meandering shapes familiar from rivers \citep{Damuth_1983,Clark_1992} the assumption has been that the relevant physical processes are fundamentally the same across the globe and, therefore, there is no need for facies and architecture models of submarine channels that are specific for different latitudes.  This line of thinking has been challenged by \citet{Peakall_2011}, who have looked at the relationship between submarine channel sinuosity and latitude and suggested that channels closer to the poles had lower peak sinuosities. They concluded that this is largely due to the Coriolis force having a stronger influence at high latitudes. Experimental work relying on a rotating flume tank showed that at low Rossby numbers (that is, when the Coriolis force is larger than the centrifugal force) turbidity currents do behave differently from the conventional model \citep{Cossu_2010,Cossu_2010a,Cossu_2012}. Building on these and similar experimental results, \citet{Cossu_2015} proposed that channel systems of the Cretaceous Cerro Toro Formation, exposed in southern Chile and deposited at high paleo latitude, display low sinuosity and an asymmetric stratigraphic structure due to the Coriolis effect.In a comment on the \citet{Peakall_2011} study, we have presented evidence that the apparent pole-ward decrease in submarine channel sinuosity is unrelated to the Coriolis force \citep{Sylvester_2013}. In the present article we expand on these ideas and present additional analysis (1) of an improved and more consistent channel sinuosity measurement and (2) of the magnitude of different forces as a function of channel size and flow behavior. In addition, we briefly discuss the impact of the Coriolis effect on overbank deposits, which is an important latitudinal effect in these systems.

কাকে বলে রোগী কেন্দ্রিক চিকিৎসা? একটি চিকিৎসার কাহিনিএকটি অভিজ্ঞতার গল্প শুনুন। মাস দুয়েক আগের কথা। বাড়িতে শীর্ষাসন করতে গিয়ে মনে হয় ঘাড়ে আঘাত পেয়েছিলাম। প্রথম দু-একদিন ঘাড়ে অল্প ব্যথা করছিল । তারপর একদিন মাঝরাতে পিঠের যন্ত্রণায় ঘুম ভেঙে গেল। পিঠের ডান দিকে যন্ত্রণা হচ্ছিল, ডানহাতের বুড়ো আঙুলে সাড় ছিল না, হাত দুর্বল; তখন মনে হল কাঁধে গরম জলের ব্যাগ দিয়ে রাখি, তাহলে হয়ত আরাম হবে। জল ফুটিয়ে ব্যাগে যেই পুরতে গেছি, ফুটন্ত জল চলকে আমার ডান হাতে পড়ল, অমনি হাতের চামড়া ঝলসে গেল । একে সপ্তাহের শেষ, তায় অত রাতে ডাক্তার পাওয়া যাবে না, হাসপাতাল আমার বাড়ি থেকে বড় শহরে একশ কিলোমিটার দূরে, অতএব নিজের  প্রাথমিক চিকিৎসা  নিজেকেই করতে হল। কোন রকমে দুদিন গেল।  ততদিনে দেখা গেল যে হাতে বেশ বড়সড় একটা ফোসকা পড়েছে। ঝলসানো চামড়ার ও ফোসকার ড্রেসিং করাতে আমার পরিচিত একটি  ক্লিনিকে গেলাম। সেখানে  এক অপরিচিতা নার্স আমার চিকিৎসা করলেন। তিনি ড্রেসিং করার সময় থমথমে মুখে কাগজ দেখে মন দিয়ে কাজ করে গেলেন, আমার সঙ্গে একটি কথাও বললেন না। আমার কেমন যেন অস্বস্তি হচ্ছিল যে তাঁর সামনে একজন মানুষ বসে আছে, সে মাঝে মাঝে যন্ত্রণায় আর্তনাদ করে উঠছে, তাকে আমল দেওয়া দূরের কথা, যন্ত্রণা হচ্ছে কি না, একবার জিজ্ঞেসও করলেন না, খস খস করে কাঁচি দিয়ে, এমন ভাবে পোড়া চামড়া কেটে দগদগে কাটা ঘায়ের ওপর মলম আর পটি দিয়ে ড্রেসিং করলেন হাতটা যেন শরীরের বাইরের কোন একটা অংশ, তারপর নিপুণ হাতে পরিপাটি করে ব্যাণ্ডেজ বেঁধে দিলেন। দিয়ে  আমাকে মৃদু শাসনের সুরে বললেন, এই ভাল করে ড্রেসিং করে দিলাম, বাইরে বসে একটু জিরিয়ে নিয়ে বাড়ি চলে যান। দেখবেন যেন একটুও জল লাগাবেন না, সাত দিনে সেরে যাবে।চিকিৎসা শুরু হবার দশ দিনের মাথায় হাতের ঘা সেরে গেল, পটি খোলা হল। আমি সুস্থ হলাম। আমার চিকিৎসা যে চিকিৎসক, ফিজিওথেরাপিস্টরা,  নার্স-রা করেছেন তাঁরা সকলে অভিজ্ঞ ও দক্ষ, তাঁদের পেশাগত নৈপুণ্য প্রশ্নাতীত, ক্লিনিকটি  পরিষ্কার পরিচ্ছন্ন, তাতে প্রায় যত রকমের আধুনিক ব্যবস্থা থাকা প্রত্যাশিত সব ছিল। আমার দেশ, নিউজিল্যাণ্ডে, সরকার দেশের মানুষের চিকিৎসার ব্যয়ভার বহন করেন, তাই আমার চিকিৎসার মোট খরচ নামমাত্র, এবং আমি যথাসময়ে কোন রকম গোলমাল ছাড়াই পুরোপুরি ভাল হয়েও গেছি ।তথাপি সেদিনের নার্স ভদ্রমহিলার কাছে পাওয়া সেই নৈর্বক্তিক নিদান বলুন কি দাওয়াই, আমার মনে দাগ কেটে গেল । ব্যাণ্ডেজ করা হাতের ভেতরের যন্ত্রণা সহ্য যেমন করেছি, তেমনি আমি নিজেকে প্রশ্ন করেছি, এই যে চিকিৎসা পেলাম, এ চিকিৎসা প্রকৃত গুণমান কিভাবে বিবেচনা করব? এ চিকিৎসার গুণমান যদি নিরূপণ করতে হয়, রোগী হিসেবে তাতে চিকিৎসা পেতে গিয়ে আমার মনে যে অসন্তোষ দেখা দিল তাকে কি উপেক্ষা করব? কেন? চিকিৎসার মান শুধু কি শারীরিক ভাবে সুস্থ হয়ে যাওয়া দিয়ে বিচার করা হবে? বিশ্ব স্বাস্থ্য সংস্থার সংজ্ঞা অনুযায়ী স্বাস্থ্য কেবল শরীরের রোগমুক্তি নয়, মন ভাল হওয়া, সামাজিক ভাবে সুস্থ থাকা, সবকিছু নিয়ে \cite{3075921}। তাই যদি হবে, তাহলে রোগীর প্রতি চিকিৎসকের নৈর্বক্তিক আচার আচরণকে, যে আচরণে রোগী বিমর্ষ বোধ করেন, চিকিৎসার মান নির্ধারণে তাকেও বিচার করে দেখতে  হবে নিশ্চয়ই? কোন উপায়ে গোটা বিষয়টিকে মাপা যেতে পারে? চিকিৎসা করতে গিয়ে রোগীর পরিপ্রেক্ষিত বিচার না করা হলে সে চিকিৎসা কি মানবিক? গুণ নিরূপণ করতে গেলে সে চিকিৎসা ভাল না মন্দ? ভাল চিকিৎসার "ভাল" ব্যাপারটি কাকে বলে? অন্যদিকে  কিভাবে ভাল চিকিৎসা-প্রতিষ্ঠান চিনব? কিভাবে ভাল স্বাস্থ্য ব্যবস্থাকে চিহ্নিত করব? কিভাবে চিকিৎসার মান নিরূপণ শুধু নয়, মাপযোক করব? এই বিষয়টি নিয়ে আলোচনাই এই লেখার উদ্দেশ্য।চিকিৎসা ব্যবস্থার ও চিকিৎসার গুণমান কেন বিচার করব?আমাদের সকলের -- রোগী, চিকিৎসক, নার্স, অন্যান্য স্বাস্থ্য পরিষেবা যাঁরা দিই, এমনকি সরকারের পরিপ্রেক্ষিতেও, চিকিৎসা-ব্যবস্থার গুণমান বিচার খুঁটিয়ে দেখার একটা প্রয়োজন আছে। আমরা সবসময় চিকিৎসা ব্যবস্থা থাকা সত্ত্বেও তার সহজে নাগাল  পাই না। প্রায়ই চিকিৎসা এত সময় ও অর্থ সাপেক্ষ হয়ে পড়ে, আমরা চিকিৎসা করাতে পারি না। আবার যখন পারি, তখন নিখুঁত কারিগরের হাতে সংবেদনহীন, নৈর্বক্তিক, ও আন্তরিকতাহীন চিকিৎসা আমাদের অনেককেই সহ্য করতে হয়। আমরা যারা রোগী, তারা প্রচুর সময় ও অর্থ ব্যয় করি; তা সত্ত্বেও যে চিকিৎসা  পরিষেবা আমরা পাই তাতে আমাদের কথা কতটুকু বিচার বিবেচনা করা হয়?চিকিৎসা পরিষেবার কথা বললে তিনটি স্তরে "চিকিৎসার" কথা বলা হয়। আমারদের দেশের পরিকাঠামোয় চিকিৎসা পরিষেবা তিনটি পৃথক স্তরে দেওয়া হয় -- প্রাথমিক, মাধ্যমিক, এবং বিশেষজ্ঞ-কেন্দ্রিক চিকিৎসা ব্যবস্থা। প্রাথমিক স্তরে মূলত প্রতিষেধ-মূলক চিকিৎসা বা পরিবার কেন্দ্রিক চিকিৎসার ব্যবস্থা করা হয় । আমাদের দেশে যাঁরা সাধারণ ডাক্তারবাবু, পারিবারিক ডাক্তার, পাড়ার ডাক্তার, "ডাক্তার কাকু/জেঠু", যাঁরা বরাবর আমাদের পরিবারের কাছাকাছি থেকে চিকিৎসা করেছেন, জ্বর জারি হলে প্রথমে তাঁদের কাছে যাওয়া হয়, টিকা দিতে হলে তাঁদের শরণাপন্ন হতে হয়, এ হল সেই স্তর। এঁদের পরে মাধ্যমিক স্তরে যে ধরণের পরিষেবা দেওয়া হয় তাতে অপেক্ষাকৃত জটিল অসুখের দ্রুত নির্ধারণ ও চিকিৎসা করার ব্যবস্থা করতে হবে। তা পারিবারিক চিকিৎসকরাও করতে পারেন, বা "সাধারণ" (এখানে সাধারণ বলতে বিশেষ রোগের হাসপাতাল নয় এরকম হাসপাতাল) হাসপাতালে গিয়ে চিকিৎসা করা যেতে পারে। এর মধ্যে ওষুধের মাধ্যমে চিকিৎসা, শল্য চিকিৎসা, স্ত্রীরোগ, ধাত্রীবিদ্যা সংক্রান্ত চিকিৎসা, শিশুদের চিকিৎসা পড়ে। সরকারী হাসপাতাল, বেসরকারী নার্সিং হোম, হাসপাতাল এই ধরণের জায়গায় মানুষ চিকিৎসা করাতে যান। এর পরবর্তী  স্তরে খুব জটিল রোগের বিশেষজ্ঞ স্তরের চিকিৎসা। প্রাথমিক বা মাধ্যমিক স্তরে রোগ সারানো না গেলে মানুষকে নানা ভাবে রোগমুক্তি বা বিশেষ ক্ষেত্রে অঙ্গ- প্রতিস্থাপনার বন্দোবস্ত করা, জটিল অস্ত্রোপচার, এই ধরণের চিকিৎসা এর লক্ষ্য। এই ধরণের চিকিৎসা প্রযুক্তিগত দিক থেকে জটিল ও ব্যয়সাপেক্ষ, এর চিকিৎসা বিশেষজ্ঞরা করবেন। যে হাসপাতালে সেই চিকিৎসা হবে, তাকে স্পেশালিটি বা সুপার-স্পেশালিটি হাসপাতাল বলা হয়। ভারতে সরকারী স্বাস্থ্য দপ্তরের মানুষের কাছে স্বাস্থ্য পরিষেবার পৌঁছনর দায়িত্ব থাকে, সরকার ও সমাজ এইরকম একটি পরিকাঠামোয় পরিষেবা দেবার ব্যবস্থা করেন । এখন প্রশ্ন, চিকিৎসা পরিষেবার মান নির্ধারণ করার সময় এই তিনটি স্তরকে কিভাবে বিবেচনা করব বা তাকে কিভাবে মাপব? গুণমান নির্ধারণ করার কিবা প্রয়োজন? দ্বিতীয় প্রশ্নটিতে আসা যাক।এক, মান নির্ধারণ না বিচার করতে শিখলে, আপনি যে-ই হোন, আপনি ঠকে যেতে পারেন, এমনকি আপনার প্রাণসংশয় অবধি হতে পারে। কোন চিকিৎসা-ব্যবস্থার মান ভাল, কোনটির মান আরো ভালো, এ বিষয়টি জটিল। আমরা রুগীরা বা তাঁদের বাড়ির লোকেরা কোন বিশেষ একটি স্বাস্থ্য-সংস্থা, বা কোন একটি রাজ্যের চিকিৎসা-ব্যবস্থা, কি কোন হাসপাতালকে হয়ত ওপর থেকে দেখে ভাবছি খুব ভাল, আসলে রোগী নিয়ে সেখানে ভর্তি হতে বা চিকিৎসা পেতে গিয়ে হয়রানির শিকার হতে হয়, ভুল চিকিৎসা হতে পারে, নষ্ট সময় ও অর্থদণ্ডের কথা না হয় ছেড়েই দিলাম । আবার অন্যদিকে কোন একটি চিকিৎসা প্রতিষ্ঠানটিকে মনে মনে খারাপ ভাবছি, হয়ত সেখানে কম পয়সায় চিকিৎসা হয়, সে হয়ত বাইরে থেকে দেখতে মামুলি, তাই তাকে প্রত্যাখ্যান করলাম, অথচ সেখানেই চিকিৎসা করাতে গেলে দেখতাম তারা অতি আন্তরিক ও খুব ভাল চিকিৎসা করে। আর কিছু না হোক, অনাবশ্যক অর্থদণ্ডের হাত থেকে রেহাই পেতাম। দুই, চিকিৎসকদের কথা ভেবে দেখুন। আজকাল ভারতে হাসপাতালের ডাক্তারদের, বা প্রাইভেট প্র্যাকটিস করেন, এমন ডাক্তারদের, রোগীর বাড়ির লোকেরা বা আপামর জনসাধারণ গায়ে হাত তুলছে,  এ ধরণের অন্যায়, দুঃখজনক সংবাদ ইদানীং শোনা যাচ্ছে \cite{Ambesh2016749}। সংবাদপত্রের খবরে বহু ক্ষেত্রে দেখা যায় ডাক্তারবাবু যে চিকিৎসা করেছেন তাতে কোন ভুল নেই, তবুও তাঁকে অত্যাচার সহ্য করতে হচ্ছে । ডাক্তারবাবু ভাবছেন তিনি তাঁর জ্ঞানবুদ্ধিঅভিজ্ঞতা-প্রসূত, সাধ্যমত চিকিৎসা করেছেন, অভিজ্ঞতা ও প্রমাণের ভিত্তিতে যা চিকিৎসা তিনি করেছেন, উন্নত মানের চিকিৎসা বিচার করতে গেলে এইটুকুই যথেষ্ট। ডাক্তারের পক্ষে চিকিৎসা কতটা খরচসাপেক্ষ বা রোগী-চিকিৎসাকারী দলের পারস্পরিক সম্পর্ক বা রোগীদের রোগ নিয়ে অবহিত করা, তাদের সহজ ভাষায় বুঝিয়ে বলার ব্যাপারটি তাঁর চিকিৎসক সত্তা দিয়ে বিচার করলে গৌণ বলে মনে হবে। চিকিৎসার জটিল দিক, কারিগরি দিকটি তিনি ভাল বোঝেন, সেটিই তাঁর লক্ষ্য । অথচ চিকিৎসা ত্রুটিহীন হওয়া সত্ত্বেও তাঁকে রোগীপক্ষের অসন্তোষের শিকার হতে হল, এমনও হতে পারে তিনি হয়ত রোগীর সঙ্গে  যথেষ্ট ভদ্র ও সঙ্গত আচরণ করলেন, কিন্তু চিকিৎসাকারী দলের অন্যান্য সদস্য বা অন্যান্যরা রোগীর পরিবার বা রোগীর সঙ্গে অশিষ্ট আচরণ করাতে রোগীর বাড়ির লোক অসন্তুষ্ট হলেন, সব মিলিয়ে চিকিৎসার যাবতীয় দায়, রোগী ও তাঁর বাড়ির লোকের রোষ, বেচারা ডাক্তারবাবুর ঘাড়ে পড়ল, যেহেতু চিকিৎসা পরিষেবার তিনিই মুখ \cite{Madhiwalla_2006} । ডাক্তারবাবু চিকিৎসার মান একরকম করে ভেবেছেন, রোগী আর তাঁর বাড়ির লোকেদের চোখে সেই চিকিৎসার গুণমান আরেক রকম হয়ে দাঁড়িয়েছে। অতএব ডাক্তার ও রোগীর পক্ষ থেকে চিকিৎসার গুণের মাণ নির্ধারণের, বিশেষ করে মাপজোক করার তাগিদ আছে যাতে করে অন্তত এইটুকু বোঝা যায় যে, চিকিৎসার সামগ্রিক মানের দিক থেকে বিচার করলে কোনটি যথেষ্ট উচ্চমানের ও কোনটি নিম্নমানের তার একটা সাধারণের গ্রহণযোগ্য ব্যবস্থা থাকা উচিৎ, সে চিকিৎসার ফলাফল যাই হোক না কেন। এখানে তিনটি বিষয় বিবেচনা করার আছে। এক, ডাক্তারবাবুর দিক থেকে চিকিৎসার গুণমান শুধু রোগমুক্তি বা যথাযথ চিকিৎসা দিয়ে বিচার বিবেচনা করলে যথেষ্ট হবে না, আরো কিছু বিষয় ভেবে দেখতে হবে। দুই, চিকিৎসা কি স্বাস্থ্যের মান নিরূপণের ক্ষেত্রে আমরা প্রায়ই সরকারী, বেসরকারী, আন্তর্জাতিক, নানারকম পরিসংখ্যানের সাহায্য নিই। পাঁচ বছর বয়সের কম বয়সী শিশু মৃত্যু, বা চিকিৎসক-পিছু কত শয্যা, সেই সংখ্যার নিরিখে গোটা স্বাস্থ্যব্যবস্থার সামগ্রিক মান নিরূপণের একটা আবছা ছবি আমরা পাই। চিকিৎসা/স্বাস্থ্য ব্যবস্থার মান নির্ধারণ করতে গিয়ে তাতে কিছুটা আন্দাজ পাওয়া যেতে পারে হয়ত, তবে সে নেহাতই মোটা দাগের মাপ। এই ধরণের পরিমাপ যেহেতু সামগ্রিক তথ্য পরিসংখ্যান দিয়ে করা হয়, তাতে ব্যক্তিবিশেষের ক্ষেত্রে কি প্রযোজ্য তা বোঝা যাবে না । তিন, রোগীর পরিপ্রেক্ষিত বাদ দিয়ে রোগ নিদানের গুণমান বিচার করা এক্ষেত্রে  অর্থহীন। রোগমুক্তির বিচার যাঁরা রোগের পরিষেবা দেন, বা রোগীর পরিপ্রেক্ষিত বাদ দিয়ে করবেন কি করে? আর করবেনই বা কেন? গুণমানের মাপযোকের ব্যাপারটি আলোচনার করার আগে আরো দুটো কথা বলার আছে -- এক, স্বাস্থ্য বা চিকিৎসা ব্যবস্থার শরিকদের চিনে নিতে হবে, আর দুই, পরিকাঠামো বলতে কি বোঝাতে চাইছি সেটি স্পষ্ট হওয়া চাই।

The social and organizational history of humanity is intricately entangled with the history of technology in general and the technology of information in particular. Advances in this area have often been closely involved in social and political transformations. While the contemporary period is often referred to by such names as the Computing and Information Age, this is the culmination of a series of historical transformations that have been centuries in the making. This course will provide a venue for students to learn about history through the evolution of number systems and arithmetic, calculating and computing machines, and advanced communication technology via the Internet. Students who take this course will attain a degree of technological literacy while studying core historical concepts. Students who complete this course will learn the key vocabulary of the computing discipline, which is playing a significant role in modern human thought and new media communications. The History of Computing will be organized around the historical perspective. The relationships between social organization, intellectual climate, and technology will be examined and stressed.

Dynamical gauge fields are a fundamental concept of high-energy physics. However, learning about them typically takes enormous amounts of time and effort. As such, they are typically a bit mystical to students (including me) of other fields of physics like condensed-matter or AMO. Here, we will give a simple introduction into some of the concepts that might allow for the quantum simulation of these theories with ultracold atomic gases.The reader should know about second quantization and the basics of quantum mechanics as the arguments are based on this formalism.

IntroductionA colleague recently proposed submitting an article about work to which my lab had contributed to the journal Neurology. I said, Neurology is a fine journal—some of my favorite authors have published there (smile)—but, like many traditional journals, they don't allow authors to re-use their own words for future book chapters. That's true even if a pre-publication version ends up later on PubMed Central. At least, they don't allow this without their deciding whether to deign to grant permission in each case. It may surprise you to know that many traditional / "hybrid" journals that tout an Open Access option—usually an expensive one—allow only a noncommercial license (like the CC BY-NC license). That sounds fine until you learn that adapting your own words to contribute to a book or to a site like eMedicine counts as commercial use! Personally, in an age in which the "Paper User Interface" is almost obsolete, and I almost always find papers from PubMed or Google, giving my rights away to a journal (by copyright transfer or an exclusive license to publish) is just ridiculous.I replied to my colleague suggesting she submit instead to a journal that allowed the authors to re-use their own words freely (as with the CC BY license), and went on to explain other benefits of fully open access publishing. I've discussed some of these advantages elsewhere \cite{25580234}. She replied, "I'm curious to know how publishing in these open access platforms has been received by your department? There's a clear message in mine that they want to see pubs in journals with good impact factors, especially for promotion consideration." This is a reasonable concern, of course, and a common one, and I acknowledged that at my career stage the pressure is not on me to the same extent. But I gave her some thoughts anyway, and then I realized that others might find them interesting. So here they are.The real answerThe real answer is for leaders to judge papers (much less faculty) on different metrics. The JIF was never meant to grade the quality of an individual paper, and it does it poorly. Even collectively, higher impact factor journals are more likely to publish articles that are retracted than are lower impact factor journals (among other reasons, think about this: “novel” results imply a lower prior probability of truth). Besides, if by impact you mean total number of citations, some OA journals are way in front (e.g. Frontiers in Psychology is the most cited multidisciplinary psychology journal in the world, and there have been something over 200,000 citations to articles in PLOS ONE).Being down on the journal impact factor (JIF) is not just my opinion. You can listen to some Nobel laureates criticizing it here.Some young scientists are adopting an open-only policy and let the chips fall where they may, and several of these scientists have been quite successful. In the meantime . . .But in the meantime, here are some options for those in my colleague's position. First, there are open access  journals with a high JIF. Here is a short list of a few open access journals I've published in or considered, to show the wide range of JIFs for journals that allow authors to keep their rights:

The current crisis of veracity in biomedical research is enabled by the lack of publicly accessible information on whether the reported scientific claims are valid. One approach to solve this problem is to replicate previous studies by specialized reproducibility centers. However, this approach is costly or unaffordable and raises a number of yet to be resolved concerns that question its effectiveness and validity. We propose to use an approach that yields a simple numerical measure of veracity, the R-factor, by summarizing the outcomes of already published studies that have attempted to test a claim. The R-factor of an investigator, a journal, or an institution would be the average of the R-factors of the claims they reported. We illustrate this approach using three studies recently tested by a replication initiative, compare the results, and discuss how using the R-factor can help improve the veracity of scientific research.

Tam Hunt, UC Santa Barbara, tam.hunt@psych.ucsb.eduThe Lorentz transformations form the mathematical core of the 1905 theory of Special Relativity as well as the earlier version of relativity created by Lorentz himself, originally in 1895 but developed further in the ensuing years. These two theories interpret the physical significance of the transformations quite differently, but in ways that are generally not considered to be empirically distinguishable. It is widely believed today that Einstein’s Special Relativity presents the superior interpretation. A number of lines of evidence, however, from cosmology, quantum theory and nuclear physics present substantial evidence against the Special Relativity interpretation of the Lorentz transformations, challenging this traditional view. I review this evidence and suggest that we are now at a point where the sum of the evidence weighs against the Special Relativity interpretation of the transformations and in favor of a Lorentzian or neo-Lorentzian approach instead.1. IntroductionI’m sitting in a public square in Athens, Greece, biding my time as I write these words. The battery on my phone ran out as I was trying to navigate to my lodgings on my first night in this historic city, forcing me to stop and charge my phone for a little while. I’m waiting for the passage of time.The nature of time has been debated vigorously since at least the age of Heraclitus and Parmenides in ancient Greece. “All things flow,” said Heraclitus. “Nothing flows,” said Parmenides as a counter-intuitive rejoinder, suggesting that all appearances of change are an illusion. How could Parmenides make the case that nothing flows, nothing changes? It would seem, from easy inspection of the world around us that indeed all things do flow, all things are always changing. So what was Parmenides talking about?Parmenides’ arguments illustrate well the rationalist approach that Plato was later to more famously advocate, against the empiricist or “sensationist” approach that Heraclitus and Aristotle too would champion as a contrary approach. Parmenides and Plato saw reason as the path toward truth and they were not afraid to allow reason to contradict what seemed to be obvious sensory-based features of the world. Apparent empirical/sensory facts can deceive and, for these men, Parmenides, Plato and their followers, reason alone was the arbiter of truth. Wisdom entailed using reason to see through the world’s illusions to the deeper reality.Heraclitus and Aristotle, to the contrary, stressed the need to be empirical in our science and philosophy (science and philosophy were the same endeavor in the era of classical Greece). Reason was of course a major tool in the philosopher’s toolbox for these men too, but it seems that reason unmoored from evidence should not be used to trump the obvious facts of the world. The Aristotelian approach is to find a pragmatic balance between empirical facts and reason in attempting to discern the true contours of reality.Einstein was firmly in the camp of Parmenides and Plato (Popper, et al. 1998). He famously considered the passage of time, the distinction between past, present and future, to be a “stubbornly persistent illusion.” This view of time, as an illusory construct hiding a deeper timeless world, was based on his theories of relativity. Einstein and his co-thinkers held this view, of time as illusory, despite the obvious passage of time in the world around us, no matter where we look. The widely-held view today is that Einstein finally won the long war, decisively, between Heraclitus and Parmenides. Despite appearances, nothing flows and the passage of time is just that: only appearance.I suggest in this paper, however, that this conclusion is premature. Einstein’s thinking is indeed an example of rationalism trumping empiricism and it is time for us to take a more empirical approach to these foundational questions of physics and philosophy. Today’s physics lauds empiricism rhetorically, but in practice a rationalist approach often holds sway, particularly with respect to the nature of time.2. An overview of Special Relativity and Lorentzian RelativityIn discussing the nature of time with respect to modern physics, I will focus on the Special Theory of Relativity (SR) and avoid discussion of the general theory. Einstein’s 1905 theory of relativity adopted the Lorentz transformations directly, unchanged from Lorentz’s own version of these equations (Einstein 1905, Lorentz 1895 and 1904, in Lorentz 1937). Einstein’s key difference from Lorentz’s version of relativity (first put forth in 1895, but developed further in later work) was to reinterpret Lorentz’s equations, based on a radically different assumption about the nature of physical reality. Lorentz interpreted the relativistic effects of length contraction and time dilation—which follow straightforwardly from the Lorentz transformations—as resulting from interaction with an ether that constituted simply the properties of space (Lorentz’s ether was not some additional substance that pervades space, as was the case in some earlier ideas of the ether). Einstein, to the contrary, interpreted these effects as resulting from the dynamics of spacetime, a union of space and time into a single notion, and dismissed the ether as “superfluous.”Because Lorentz’s and Einstein’s versions of relativity both use the Lorentz transformations, they will yield in many cases the same empirical predictions. The prevailing view today, then, is that while these two theories are empirically indistinguishable there are other considerations, relating to parsimony primarily, that render special relativity the preferred approach. I discuss below, however, why we now have good empirical reasons to distinguish between these two interpretations—in favor of the Lorentzian approach.Length contraction and time dilation occur as a result of the assumed absolute speed of light because either space or time, or both, must distort if we consider the speed of light to be invariant. This is because speed is measured simply by dividing distance traveled by the time elapsed; and if the speed of light remains the same in all circumstances then space and/or time must distort in order to maintain this invariance. As an object travels closer and closer to the speed of light, its length must decrease (length contraction) and/or the time elapsed must increase (time dilation) – but only from the perspective of an observer in a different inertial frame. In the original inertial frame there is no length contraction or time dilation.“Moving clocks run slow” is a good shorthand for relativistic time dilation, but again only from the perspective of a different inertial frame. Time moves at the same rate for an observer in the moving frame of reference, no matter what one’s speed in relation to other frames. Relativistic effects only occur when considering the relationship between two different frames of reference, not in the same frame.

We demonstrate that, under Lorentz transformation, the frequency and the energy of an electromagnetic wave train form a linear relationship, emulating the equation of photon energy E = ℏω. This shows that wave-particle duality of light is compatible under space time transformation.

Time-resolved pump-probe measurements of Xe, pumped at 133 nm and probed at 266 nm, are presented. The pump pulse prepared a long-lived hyperfine wavepacket, in the Xe 5p⁵(²P1/2∘)6s ²[1/2]₁∘ manifold (E=77185 cm −1=9.57 eV). The wavepacket was monitored via single-photon ionization, and photoelectron images measured. The images provide angle- and time-resolved data which, when obtained over a large time-window (900 ps), constitute a precision quantum beat spectroscopy measurement of the hyperfine state splittings. Additionally, analysis of the full photoelectron image stack provides a quantum beat imaging modality, in which the Fourier components of the photoelectron images correlated with specific beat components can be obtained. This may also permit the extraction of isotope-resolved photoelectron images in the frequency domain, in cases where nuclear spins (hence beat components) can be uniquely assigned to specific isotopes (as herein), and also provides phase information. The information content of both raw, and inverted, image stacks is investigated, suggesting the utility of the Fourier analysis methodology in cases where images cannot be inverted.

ABSTRACT The District Attorney’s office of Santa Clara County, California has observed long durations for their prosecution processes. It is interested in assessing the drivers of prosecutorial delays and determining whether there is evidence of disparate treatment of accused individuals in pre-trial detention and criminal charging practices. A recent report from the county's civil grand jury found that only 47% of cases from 2013 were resolved in less than year, far less than the statwide average of 88%. We describe a visualization tool and analytical models to identify factors affecting delays in the prosecutorial process and any characteristics that are associated with disparate treatment of defendants. Using prosecutorial data from January through June of 2014, we find that the time to close the initial phase of prosecution (the entering of a plea), the initial plea entered, the type of court in which a defendant is tried and the main charged offense are important predictors of whether a case will extend beyond one year. Durations for prosecution are found not significantly different for different racial and ethnic population, and do not appear as important features in our modeling to predict case durations longer than one year. Further, we find that, in this data, 81% of felony cases were resolved in less than one year, far greater than the value reported by the civil grand jury.

Prior research demonstrates that improved medication adherence can produce substantial total health care savings. However, limited evidence exists to support the value of interventions to improve medication adherence. This article describes a method using alerts mailed to prescribers to improve adherence to antidepressants. The primary aim of the study evaluated the impact of written, patient-specific medication adherence alerts mailed to prescribers on overall depression-related health care costs associated with the use of antidepressant medications. The study used a clinical alert system that integrates medical and pharmacy claims data to identify and notify prescribers about patient-specific care gaps in the outpatient setting. This retrospective and observational study used health care claims from a high-risk population to match patients, identify conditions, and identify early discontinuation of antidepressant medications. The claims also allowed us to calculate changes in overall health care costs related to depression. The results show that mailing an alert to the prescriber increases the number of patients that have prescriptions for antidepressants six months after an alert from approximately 8% to 35%.  The analysis further indicated that when a patient restarts their antidepressant and continues for at least six months, their follow-up medical plus pharmacy costs will be approximate $2,671 less than if they remain non-compliant. The study supports the use of a computer system to integrate health care claims data, identify care gaps, and generate written alerts to be mailed to prescribers as a means to improve patient adherence and lower total health care costs in patients receiving antidepressants.

Clive E Adams1, Alan A Montgomery2, Tony Aburrow3, Sophie Bloomfield4, Paul Briley4, Ebun Carew4, Suravi Chatterjee-Woolman4, Ghalia Feddah4, Johannes Friedel5, Josh Gibbard4, Euan Haynes6, Mohsin Hussein4, Mahesh Jayaram7, Samuel Naylor4, Luke Perry7, Lena Schmidt5, Umer Siddique4, Ayla Tabaksert4, Doug Taylor8, Aarti Velani4, Douglas White4, Jun Xia91. Institute of Mental Health, University of Nottingham, UK2. Nottingham Clincial Trials Unit, University of Nottingham, UK3. John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.4. The Deanery, University of Nottingham, UK5. Hochschule Furtwangen University, Furtwangen im Schwarzwald, Germany6. The Deanery, University of Newcastle, UK7. University of Melbourne, Australia8. Wikipedian9. Systematic Review Solutions, UK.Contact:Professor Clive E AdamsInstitute of Mental HealthJubilee CampusUniversity of Nottingham Innovation ParkTriumph RoadNottinghamNG7 2TUPhone: 0115 823 1294Email: clive.adams@nottingham.ac.uk

A document by Mazen Afif. Click on the document to view its contents.

Early in the course of Parkinson disease (PD), treatment usually goes well. However, after five to ten years, things start to change as treatment requires higher doses of medications and side effects become more problematic. One of the most difficult problems is the development of hallucinations or delusions. Throughout the 20th century, treatment options were unproven and unsatisfactory, but the past 20 years have brought important changes. Two medications that are well tolerated in PD have now proved efficacious in randomized, controlled trials, and others are in development. Here I summarize this history briefly and provide a general plan for treating the patient with PD complicated by psychotic symptoms.

This case commentary concerns a 56-year-old patient with stage III malignant melanoma which was removed but within 7 months the patient developed secondary tumours in his vertebrae. A multi-epitope vaccination was given after which the patient developed vitiligo and posterior uveitis. The topics addressed include the different types of antigens that can be expressed by malignant melanoma, how immune surveillance fails, the immunological mechanisms involved in the side effects of vaccination, and a comparison of peptide vaccination with dendritic cell immunotherapies. This commentary was created in 2015 as part of the masters programme in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry at the University of Oxford.

This case commentary concerns a 3-month old female infant (of parents who were first cousins) who presented with persistent diarrhoea, failure to thrive, and a low lymphocyte count. The topics addressed include the typical histories for severe combined immune deficiencies (SCID), how SCID can be confirmed, and the relevance of immunophenotyping circulating lymphocytes in the diagnosis of different types of SCID. This commentary was created in 2015 as part of the masters programme in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry at the University of Oxford.

Mendelian randomisation is a technique which, fuelled by the results of GWA studies, can be used to determine causal relationships between intermediate phenotypes such as metabolite levels and outcomes such as cardiovascular disease . Much faster and cheaper than randomised controlled trials, and relatively free from the biases of observational studies, it has the potential to identify new drug targets and reduce attrition rates in the pharmaceutical development pipeline.

Dr. John SextonRelationship  of Government and Religion11  March 2017Assignment 8Supreme Court of the United States of AmericaWisconsin v.  YoderConcurring Opinion by Gurgen Tadevosyan, undergraduate student at New York University.Respondents are members of the Amish religious group. They prevented  their children from getting a state-recognized education after they completed  the eighth grade at the ages of 14 and 15. Yoder 207. Wisconsin  statute requires parents to “cause their children to attend schools until  reaching the age of 16.” Ibid. The issue raised by the respondents is  that the state statute puts a burden on their free exercise rights, secured by  the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.  The trial court concluded  that the reasonable governmental exercise of power overweighs the burden placed  on the Amish religion; thus, held in favor of the state. Although the Appellate  court affirmed, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin held that the state interest  does not overweighs the Amish’s freedom of exercise of religion; thus,  reversed.  The question presented is  whether a universally applicable law of the State of Wisconsin that requires  parents to send their children to governmentally approved schools up until the  age of 16 violates the Free Exercise Clause when applied to Amish parents for  refusing to obey it due to religious beliefs. The majority holds that, as  applied, the statute violates the free exercise of the Respondents’ religion,  as the burden placed on it overweighs the state’s interest in compulsory  education. I am writing to implement the Sherbert  test and to prove that, in this case, the rights of the Amish people to freely  exercise their religion should be respected. As applied, the Wisconsin Statute  of the Compulsory Education violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First  Amendment as it puts an unjustified burden on the bona fide religious  actions of the members of the Amish community.The case will be discussed under the Sherbert Test. It[N3]  analyzes the  constitutionality of the statute applications under two main questions. First -  does the challenged statute put a burden on the honest and good bona fide  religious beliefs of the Amish people. And second - is the compelling state  interest outweighed by the resultant burden. Cite.  The order of the prongs should be kept.  The application of a statute is impermissible  if the answers to both of the questions is ‘yes.’The Amish refusal of compelling [N5] with the  Wisconsin statute is a religious action and forbidding it is a burden on their  free exercise rights.     The evidence shows that the religious belief of the Amish people  that forces them to violate the statute is an honest and a good[N6]  part of their  identity. Desires to “return to the early, simple, Christian life deemphasizing  material success, rejecting the competitive spirit, and seeking to insulate  themselves from the modern world” are the reasons why this religion  was established in the 16th century. Yoder, 210. In our times, the Amish  community is guided by the literal reading of the Bible. Their conduct is  regulated by the Ordnung – “rules of the church community” and in the  adulthood they take a voluntary heavy obligation of following the rules of the Church.  Id. The religious values of these people are the determinants of their  actions; these rules dictate them to be a cooperative and an interdependent  community. Overall, one comes to two conclusions. Firstly, the Amish conduct  and lifestyle is deeply tied to their beliefs and secondly, these beliefs are  based on an honest, good and bona fide religion.   Unfortunately, the religious values of this group go in contrast  with the ones that the American educational system promotes.  Therefore, the compulsory education law  places a burden on the free exercise rights of the Amish respondents.  The latter emphasizes “intellectual and  scientific accomplishments, self-distinction, competitiveness, worldly success,  and social life with other students.” Id. at 211. On the contrary, the  Amish society promotes “learning through doing." Ibid. Their  community identity, which is inseparable from their religion, depends on values  such as goodness, intellect, community welfare and isolation from the  contemporary ‘worldly society.’ Ibid.  Due to these differences, the Amish students,  attending government-recognized schools, are subject to exposition and  education of values that are considered ‘spoilt’ for the sect  they belong to. Making the attendance compulsory results in a state-promoted  and enforced corruption of the religious values and beliefs that this community  is based on. If imposed, the statute and the state will suppress Amish  religious doctrine of lifestyle, which will prevent their younger generations  from learning their traditional ways of life that are inseparable from their  religion. The result will be the loss of the Amish religion and thus – the  identity. Overall, the Wisconsin statute could cause the destruction of an  entire sect because of the suppression of their freedom to exercise their own religion and  dissent from participating in activities that endanger its existence. In order to survive this intolerance, the Amish people were  forced to disobey the Wisconsin statute. The reason for their actions, backed  by religious demands, are ones aiming at freely exercising their religion,  which, in itself is their constitutional right. By requiring the parents to send their children to school until age  16, the state burdens the right of Amish people to freely exercise their religion.               The Wisconsin statute was enacted to satisfy a state interest of  the ‘highest order;’ however, as the Amish community serves those interests in  an alternative way, the burden placed on their freedom of exercise is not of a  ‘sufficient magnitude .’  The state’s asserted  interest in education is one of the cornerstones of the operation of our  democratic system. Thomas Jefferson has pointed out that some degree of  education is necessary to prepare citizens to effectively and intelligently  participate in our open political system. Yoder, 221. Educated people  have higher chances of making right[N13]  political decisions, and, most importantly, participating in our  system not only rationally, but also strategically – making choices that will both  reflect and maximize the individual’s impact on the outcome of the process.  Furthermore, it is also necessary for the  development of self-reliant and self-sufficient individuals. Ibid. Employment is  one of the ways of achieving such aims and education is key to employment and to  the personal success; it ensures the base on which people can build specialized  skills. These are the pillars on which the idea of labor division stands  and without them our society will not be able to provide the vital goods of the  cooperation; thus, of the public welfare. This chain events that education  causes of depicts how the lack of it can bring to the destruction of the state.However, the reality shows that even without attending a high  school, the Amish community manages to achieve the highest-order targets of the  state. By isolating themselves from the public welfare in any of its  usual forms, Amish have proven to be productive, self-sufficient and  law-abiding; even the Congress itself has authorized them to receive an  exemption from the obligation of paying social security taxes. Id. at  222. The experts also claim that in small communities they achieve  such interrelations that ensure their self-sufficiency and self-reliance. Yoder 223. This is a result of their interdependent agrarian lifestyle,  which is based on their religious values. By encouraging each member of the  society to forgo their individual benefit and work for the greater good, these  values ensure cooperation and maximal benefit of the collective action.  Thus, the state’s interest in using education  to promote good citizenship can be satisfied without the additional two years  of schooling.   In order to make this prosperous lifestyle sustainable, the passage  of these traditions from generation to generation should be ensured. The youth  of the Amish community is its future and educating them to these values is of  crucial importance for their existence. The decision of parents not to send their  children to school after the age of 14 and help them acquire these values,  leading to cooperative and bible-based life, is a is important in achieving  this aim. This itself represents an alternative way of educating new  generations the values that Jefferson was referring to as vital bases of our  system; thus, the objectives of the state in demanding a compulsory education  are being met by the Amish. Consequently, the Amish community “otherwise  serves” the required “state interests of the highest order” and proves that the  burden placed on their free exercise rights is not justified by a state  interest of sufficient magnitude.     The case in front of us today is one  that arose under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. As applied,  the Wisconsin Statute prohibits the Amish to prevent their children from attending  high schools; however, the members of this religious group claim that it  suppresses their freedom to exercise their religion. After analyzing the issue  under the Sherbert test, four essential answers were determined. (1) The  beliefs that the Amish people hold are religious; (2) their actions that are  challenged are strictly and tightly interconnected with their religion; (3) the  interest of the state that the Wisconsin statute aims to satisfy are of the  highest order and (4) the Amish community serves these interests in an  alternative way. Overall, the answer to the test is that the burden placed on  the free exercise of these people is not overweighed by the state interest.  Based on this, a conclusion can be drawn. The scale of justice leans towards  the Free Exercise and the Amish people should be granted it. As applied, the  Wisconsin statute cannot prohibit them from refusing to send their children to  any schools. The holding of the Appellate Court was affirmed and I agree.