View Of Mind Research Articles

Heritability estimation of conventional cardiovascular disease risk factors in Asian Indian families: The Calcutta family study

The genetic causes of the components of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and their intercorrelation are indeed complex and only partly understood. Keeping this view in mind, the present work was undertaken to estimate the heritability of conventional CVD risk factors using family study method. A total of twenty-four nuclear families inhabiting in Calcutta and adjacent areas was chosen randomly. Up to first degree relatives including father, mother and other sibs of the proband were considered as participants in the study. Anthropometric measures namely height, weight, waist circumference as well as skinfold thickness at biceps, triceps, subscapular and suprailiac were obtained using standard techniques. Body mass index (BMI), percentage of body fat (PBF), fat mass (FM), waist-hip ratio (WHR), sum of four skinfolds (SF4 ), arm muscle circumference (AMC), arm muscle area (AMA), arm fat area (AFA), systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were also considered. To estimate’heritability’ in the study, the mid parent-offspring model was used where’heritability’ (h2 ) was equivalent to regression co-efficient (b). The regression sum of square (RSS) and total sum of square (TSS) ratio was also calculated both for mid parent-offspring and single parent-offspring. This ratio was considered as a measure of’heritability’ in the study with consideration that RSS is the variation due to genetic factor and the TSS is due to genetic and other additive factor. It was observed that the estimated heritability for BMI ranges from 0.69 to 0.31 using mid-parent off spring model while the range using single parent-offspring model was from 0.40 to 0.16. The range of heritability for SBP in mid parent-offspring model was 0.16 to 0.44 and 0.05 to 0.54 for single parent-offspring model. To conclude, it seems reasonable to argue that in the study a moderate to high h2 was evident for body fat level, body composition and blood pressure measures which indicate a moderate to high aggregation of gene(s) in the family.

Soma and Psyche

Soma and Psyche Richard Shusterman I In the ancient legend of Cupid and Psyche, Venus was jealous of Psyche’s beauty and plotted to punish her by binding her through love to a hideous creature that would appear once Cupid scratched Psyche with his arrow of desire while she slept, so that she would fall in love with the next thing she saw upon awakening. But when Cupid saw her beauty, he was so overwhelmed that he accidentally wounded himself with his own arrow and thus fell deeply in love with her. The tale then describes how Venus unsuccessfully tried to keep Cupid and Psyche apart, which makes a nice allegory for the difficulty of separating the soul from desire. Though this mission may seem as undesirable as it is unlikely to achieve, we should recall that philosophers have frequently embraced it, seeking a therapy from desire. But this tale of desire and soul evokes an equally difficult mission that has been even more central to our philosophical tradition: the separation of Soma from Psyche, of body from soul. Because so many thinkers see the body as the irrepressible source of problematic desires (including erotic ones), we could identify soma with Cupid in this legend. But in another [End Page 205] reading, the soma could be likened to the vile thing with which Psyche (the beautiful soul) was meant to be punished by being bound to and enslaved by it through desire. In any case, since Plato’s Phaedo, one famous definition of philosophy has been learning to die by separating the soul from its troublesome bodily prison that hinders its pursuit of knowledge. Though we may reject this philosophical project on ontological grounds or axiological grounds, affirming that there is a basic union of body and soul (or of body–mind) and that it is essentially valuable, there remains the problem of how to characterize this union, if not explain it. Even if we regard the union as an ontological given that does not require explanation (in the way that dualist views of body and mind need to explain how such ontologically different entities can be united and smoothly interact in a single self), we still face the philosophical question of how to characterize that aspect of ourselves we call body and how we distinguish it from our mental life so that we can better determine how they are related in the body–mind union. There is also the question of how to render this union more harmonious and fruitful, how to create better coordination between the mental or psychic aspects of our experience and our somatic functioning. If soma and psyche are indissolubly bound together, how do we treat tensions and malfunctions in their connection and collaboration? Should we try to improve their coordination by raising our mental consciousness of bodily feelings and actions, by thinking through the body more attentively, by developing a heightened, reflective body consciousness? Or does such increased awareness only magnify our problems of coordinated body–mind functioning by distracting us from its goals in the external world of action and leading us to a psychologically unhealthy self-awareness and critical self-examination. If so, how do we reconcile the dangers of somatic self-study with the central philosophical quest for self-knowledge through critical self-scrutiny, without excluding the body from the self? The articles collected in this special issue were written specifically to address these questions. With one exception, they were first presented (in German) at a conference entitled “Leiblichkeit und Reflexion,” held November 13–14, 2009, at the University of Potsdam, just outside of Berlin.1 The conference was organized in the framework of a three-year collaborative research grant by the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung that was devoted to the topic “Personale Verschränkungen zwischen Körper und Leib. Philosophische Anthropologie und pragmatist Soma Philosophy [End Page 206] im systematischen Vergleich.” This project was directed by Professor Hans-Peter Krüger and me. We hereby thank the Humboldt Stiftung for its generous support of our research (including the translation of the following texts into English), just as we thank the editors of the Journal of Speculative Philosophy for publishing them...

DISASSEMBLING THE MIND? A REVIEW OF GARY MARCUS'S KLUGE: THE HAPHAZARD CONSTRUCTION OF THE HUMAN MIND

The main thesis of Kluge (Farber and Farber, paperback edition, 2009) is that the human mind is an evolutionary kluge (rhymes with huge, not sludge). As Gary Marcus informs us, the term was popularized by Jackson Granholm's 1962 article ‘How to Design a Kludge’ where it was defined as ‘an ill-assorted collection of poorly matching parts, forming a distressing whole’. A kluge may be clumsy and inelegant but, surprisingly, it works. And the mind, according to Marcus, is ‘[t]he most fantastic kluge of them all’. Unlike the view of the human mind that is advanced here, Kluge itself is not a kluge. It is clear, smooth, well-organized, well paced and well written; it can comfortably be read in a few sittings. Unlike a kluge, the parts match well, the collection is not ill-assorted, the whole is not particularly distressing – and, as I will argue, logically speaking it does not work.

Surviving without a Brain: A response to McMahan on Personal Identity

In his Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life, Jeff McMahan defends what he calls the embodied mind view of identity, and then puts forward several arguments in support of the view that physical continuity of the brain is crucial to our survival. He ultimately denies that psychological continuity is of any importance. His strategy is to recommend, by means of thought experiments, intuitions that support the importance of physical continuity of the brain and then argue against the plausibility of the notion of psychological continuity to which psychological theorists appeal. This paper is specifically concerned with the alleged importance of physical continuity to our survival. It responds to the positive and negative aspects of McMahan’s case by arguing that thought experiments that recommend the psychological view are far more compelling than he allows them to be and that psychological theorists can make do with a notion of psychological continuity that is immune to his criticisms.

Insightful thinking

We trace how cognition arises beyond the skin. Experimental work on insight problem solving is used to examine how external artifacts can be used to reach the goal of assembling a ‘cheap necklace’. Instead of asking how insight occurs ‘in the head’, our participants in Experiment 1 can either draw solution attempts or manipulate real objects (specifically, chain links that make up a necklace). Even though performance with real chain links is significantly more successful than on paper, access to objects does not make this insight problem simple: objects themselves do not shape cognition. This challenges extended mind views. While failure often results from the inappropriate (to the current insight problem) application of hill-climbing, material artifacts can trigger solutions. In Experiment 2, we used ‘open link’ conditions of the concretized problem to prompt participants to act (or think). Solutions arrived via insight, serendipity, or trial-and-error. By investigating how objects are used, we show that they do more than supplement neural events. Rather, participants monitor and anticipate the effects of action (and thinking) within an organism-environment system. By analogy, language too draws on experience of monitoring real-time effects as bodily dynamics play out in a normative and cultural world. In engaging with public language, it is likely that verbal patterns function by constraining anticipatory (action-based) cognitive processes.

A Comparative Study on the Mind and Desire View of Sim Dae-yun and Li Zhi - Focusing on the difference between Sim Dae-yun’s thought and the leftist Yangming learning -

A Comparative Study on the Mind and Desire View of Sim Dae-yun and Li Zhi - Focusing on the difference between Sim Dae-yun’s thought and the leftist Yangming learning -

The New USDA: Cultivating Change

In proclaiming the week of August 23–29 National Community Gardening Week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack noted, “Community gardens provide numerous benefits including opportunities for local food production, resource conservation, and neighborhood beautification. But they also promote family and community interaction and enhance opportunities to eat healthy, nutritious foods. Each of these benefits is something we can and should strive for.” Vilsack’s statement was the latest in a string of signals in the past 7 months that suggest significant changes are afoot at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). On 29 July 2009 Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan inaugurated a new rooftop garden at the offices of the USDA Economic Research Service. In early spring, Vilsack “broke pavement” for a vegetable garden known as the People’s Garden, which was planted in front of USDA headquarters across from the National Mall. And a March 2009 planning meeting to discuss the People’s Garden and other sustainability initiatives, chaired by Vilsack, included people not typically seen at USDA meetings in the past: representatives from community garden associations, local food policy councils, botanical gardens, and the Rodale Institute, a nonprofit organization in Pennsylvania dedicated to organic farming research. Vilsack “talked about sustainability, linking agriculture, food, and human health in a way that you haven’t heard [from USDA],” recalls Rose Hayden-Smith, a fellow at the Minneapolis-based nonprofit Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and master gardener for the California Cooperative Extension service.

A Moral Imperative for Children

IT IS UNCLEAR WHY THE UNITED STATES LACKS BROAD, COMprehensive policies that consistently address the status of children (those younger than 18 years). In the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF’s) Innocenti Report Card 7 on child well-being in wealthy countries, an analysis of child well-being is composed of 6 dimensions: material well-being, health and safety, educational wellbeing, family and peer relationships, behaviors and risks, and subjective well-being (as measured by child report). These 6 dimensions are captured in a broad survey designed to monitor the progress of children from a holistic view. The dimensions reflect the concepts articulated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries listed in the report are the 21 of 30 participating countries for which complete data were available. In this analysis, the United States ranks 21 of 21 countries for health and safety and 20 of 21 countries for all composite measures, excluding subjective well-being, which, ironically, is not reported for US children. There are some possible explanations for the lack of focus on child well-being in the United States. In a recent article, it was stated that the United States is “a nation built on commitment, certainly to freedom and capitalism.” Both freedom and capitalism carry their burdens with respect to societal commitment to children. An example is the lack of universal health insurance in the United States. Vladeck, in reflecting on this subject, considers historical, cultural, political, and structural explanations for why the United States is the only industrialized, advanced nation to not have universal health insurance for its population, inclusive of its children. He proposes that Americans as a group have more negative attitudes about government than most other individuals from other countries. Furthermore, he states that this rejection of government is a general cultural tendency to reject authority with a preference for individualistic, independent, and, perhaps, “freer” choices. The politicalstructural explanation for the lack of universal coverage is grounded in the fabric of capitalism, an opportunistic, supplyand-demand system that does not generally support the redistribution of wealth. Vladeck further argues that political contributions are often evaluated in terms of “simple return on investment.” A simple return on investment places material gain above all and is the framework for operation. Many have tried to counter the arguments against broad support for children by precisely framing the need in economic terms. “Investing” in children, it has been argued, is sound policy and merits support because it is an investment in “human capital.” In arguing on behalf of children, many have sought to define the “whole child,” a life span approach, gains in disability-adjusted life-years, and even a holistic view of mind and body. There is wisdom in achieving the goal of improved outcomes for children during the course of their lives and, thus, maximizing benefit for society as a whole. These efforts are laudable but must be embedded in basic concepts and understanding of the intangible, that is, that a human life has no price. Noneconomic arguments must be part of a civilized society. These arguments must rest on the belief of right and wrong. Competing forces to achieving holistic policies of child health in the United States are also represented by the lack of support for a truly comprehensive, integrated health system encompassing mental health. In 1982, Knitzer spoke out for the most vulnerable in pointing out in stark terms the plight of children experiencing socioemotional problems. She used case examples to discuss a system that had failed to deliver needed services to children and also helped to humanize the many stories that could not be envisioned by others. She included children from all walks of life, but often from impoverished circumstances, who were burdened with depression, aggression, posttraumatic stress, and other serious emotional disorders. Her lens into the lives of these children was cast nationally—and in differing communities to get a broad representation of the problems, the challenges, and, most importantly, the reachable solutions. Two basic principles have emerged from discussion of her work—the need for universal access to health care and that health is always inclusive of mental health. It is unfortunate but not entirely surprising, then, that the United States (along with Somalia) has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The convention and its 54 articles articulate the fundamental rights of children. Starting with a preamble, the convention ar-

PERSONS AND THE EXTENDED‐MIND THESIS

Abstract.The extended‐mind thesis (EM) is the claim that mentality need not be situated just in the brain, or even within the boundaries of the skin. Some versions take “extended selves” be to relatively transitory couplings of biological organisms and external resources. First, I show how EM can be seen as an extension of traditional views of mind. Then, after voicing a couple of qualms about EM, I reject EM in favor of a more modest hypothesis that recognizes enduring subjects of experience and agents with integrated bodies. Nonetheless, my modest hypothesis allows subpersonal states to have nonbiological parts that play essential roles in cognitive processing. I present empirical warrant for this modest hypothesis and show how it leaves room for science and religion to coexist.

Integrated Perspectives

This column discusses the concepts of an integrated psychotherapeutic approach to patient care and explores some of the underlying principles that make it beneficial. Using the terms spirituality and psychotherapy in the same sentence may seem strange because there has been a long history of mutual skepticism, if not antagonism, between the two. In the past, mental health professionals and ministers have seen science and religion as separate, and attempts to connect them have been dismissed as disruptive and unhealthy (Fallot, 2001). We only need to go back to Freud (1927/1964) to see how this attitude of separateness and disconnection has been perpetuated. He characterized religion as an illusion, and connected it with pathology such as obsessive compulsive behavior. This attitude fostered the view that spirituality was irrelevant at best and indicative of pathological thinking at worst, encouraging many therapists to avoid the topic altogether. In sessions, then, any discussion of experiences was often viewed as regressive and dysfunctional (Fallot). Over the years, however, there have been attempts by noted therapists such as Jung and others to integrate these two aspects of spirituality and psychotherapy. In the last 20 years, a growing number of voices have joined in the discussion (Fallot, 2001). Many therapists now are beginning to consider the healing opportunities available when incorporating a more holistic view of mind, body, and spirit. Even the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has begun to consider the of religion and spirituality in psychiatry. For example, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) (APA, 1994) includes a category, religious and spiritual which, while it focuses on problems, separates spiritual issues from psychological problems for the first time. In addition, a model curriculum is being presented to the APA to help train psychiatric residents in issues (Fallot). These moves signal a shift in thinking by the psychiatric community away from separation toward integration, as therapists begin to speak of the major role spirituality and religion can play in our modern world (Lukoff, 2000). Such a dramatic shift in thinking is easy to understand when looking at the growing sense of isolation and alienation present in the patient population, which the psychiatric community can no longer ignore. With families eroding and communities no longer available to provide support, there is a growing sense of confusion and conflict about values, standards, and priorities (Aponte, 1996). People who come into therapy today are looking for something more. As Nicholas (1994) states, Patients not only are coming into therapy with confusion about their own individual morality but are seeking to compensate for the lack of reliable and humane guideposts that are available in society as a whole (p. 5). In this atmosphere, therapists are looked to for support as clients struggle with a loss of meaning and a sense of emptiness. A therapist who focuses on traditional therapies can provide only transitory relief for the emptiness and is limited because the process speaks primarily to individual pathology rather than the wider aspect of humankind (Karasu, 1999). Practicing psychotherapy with a wider inclusion of spiritual issues involves a willingness to explore one's own attitudes and beliefs. This may be a difficult task for therapists who may feel unprepared both educationally and experientially. Studies have shown that mental health professionals tend not to be involved in practices and beliefs, seeing them as a small part of their life (Lukoff, Lu, & Turner, 1992; Shafranske, 1996). They may see themselves as spiritual but not (Fallot, 2001). This difference in self-image may make it difficult for therapists to explore traditions with their clients or to see the value of doing so. …

Sexual Selection, Automata and Ethics in George Eliot'sThe Mill on the Flossand Olive Schreiner'sUndineandFrom Man to Man

This paper brings together two related areas of debate in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The first concerns how the courtship plot of the nineteenth-century novel responded to, and helped to shape, scientific ideas of sexual competition and selection. In The Mill on the Floss (1860), George Eliot strikingly prefigures Darwin's later work on sexual selection, drawing from her own extensive knowledge of the wider debates within which evolutionary theory developed. Maggie Tulliver's characterisation allows Eliot to explore the ethical complexities raised by an increasingly powerful scientific naturalism, where biology is seen to be embedded within morality in newly specific ways. The second strand of the paper examines the extension of scientific method to human mind and motivation which constituted the new psychology. It argues that there are crucial continuities of long-established ethical and religious ideas within this increasingly naturalistic view of human mind and motivation. The contention that such ideas persist and are transformed, rather than simply jettisoned, is illustrated through the example of Thomas Henry Huxley's 1874 essay on automata. Turning finally to focus on Olive Schreiner's Undine (1929) and From Man to Man (1926), the paper explores the importance of these persistent ethical and religious ideas in two novels which remained unpublished during her lifetime. It argues that they produce both difficulty and opportunity for imagining love plots within the context of increasingly assertive biological and naturalistic accounts of human beings.

The Adaptive Brain: Aging and Neurocognitive Scaffolding

There are declines with age in speed of processing, working memory, inhibitory function, and long-term memory, as well as decreases in brain structure size and white matter integrity. In the face of these decreases, functional imaging studies have demonstrated, somewhat surprisingly, reliable increases in prefrontal activation. To account for these joint phenomena, we propose the scaffolding theory of aging and cognition (STAC). STAC provides an integrative view of the aging mind, suggesting that pervasive increased frontal activation with age is a marker of an adaptive brain that engages in compensatory scaffolding in response to the challenges posed by declining neural structures and function. Scaffolding is a normal process present across the lifespan that involves use and development of complementary, alternative neural circuits to achieve a particular cognitive goal. Scaffolding is protective of cognitive function in the aging brain, and available evidence suggests that the ability to use this mechanism is strengthened by cognitive engagement, exercise, and low levels of default network engagement.

Phytochemicals Investigation on a Tropical Plant, Syzygium cumini from Kattuppalayam, Erode District, Tamil Nadu, South India

2 Abstract: The developing countries mostly rely on traditional medicines. This traditional medicine involves the use of different plant extracts or the bioactive constituents. This type of study provides the health application at affordable cost. This study such as ethnomedicine keenly represents one of the best avenues in searching new economic plants for medicine. In keeping this view in mind the present investigation is carried out in Syzygium cumini seed of Kattuppalayam, Erode District, Tamil Nadu, South India. The results suggest that the phytochemical properties of the seed for curing various ailments.

Nanotechnology: Considering the Complex Ethical, Legal, and Societal Issues with the Parameters of Human Performance

Keywords Nanoethics.Enhancement.ELSI.Ethical.Legal.SocialimplicationsofnanotechnologyIntroductionExamining nanotechnology as a platform technology,as a technology that readily merges and convergeswith other technologies, allows us to contemplate theapplications and implications of using these tinydevices to enhance or extend human capabilities.The contemplation of the intended and unintendedconsequences of human enhancement begs for strik-ing a balance between opposing forces; and theseforces are not static but dynamic and ever changing.The law is not static: it is constantly subject tochange, extension and interpretation, and evolution,whether by legislation or judicial decisions. So, it iswith this point of view in mind, that thus we examineboth the positive and the negative aspects of theethical, legal, and societal implications of usingnanotechnology for human enhancement. First, weconsider why nanotechnology is different fromprevious technologies, and then we explain why asubdivision of nanoethics within the broader disci-pline of bioethics is prudent. In sections three, four,and five, we consider the possible benefits, potentialrisks, and distinctions between therapy and enhance-ment. Finally in sections six and seven, we examinethe status of current laws and make recommendatonsfor how to go about updating them.How Small is Nano-sized and Why Does SizeMatter?The term ‘nano’ has become part of everydaylanguage, although it is often somewhat misused.From the IPod Nano (an illustration that the market-ing industry is not above exploiting the term ‘nano’for commercial gain) to the phrase ‘I’ll be there in anano,’ the term has become a popular expression of

What Ever Happened to Francis Glisson? Albrecht Haller and the Fate of Eighteenth-Century Irritability

This article investigates the reasons behind the disappearance of Francis Glisson's theory of irritability during the eighteenth century. At a time when natural investigations were becoming increasingly polarized between mind and matter in the attempt to save both man's consciousness and the inert nature of the res extensa, Glisson's notion of a natural perception embedded in matter did not satisfy the new science's basic injunction not to superimpose perceptions and appetites on nature. Knowledge of nature could not be based on knowledge within nature, i.e., on the very knowledge that nature has of itself; or--to look at the same question from the point of view of the human mind--man's consciousness could not be seen as participating in forms of natural selfhood. Albrecht Haller played a key role in this story. Through his experiments, Haller thought he had conclusively demonstrated that the response given by nature when irritated did not betray any natural perceptivity, any inner life, any sentiment interiéur. In doing so, he provided a less bewildering theory of irritability for the rising communities of experimental physiology.

Do We Have Any Justified Moral Beliefs?*

In this fine book, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong argues for a "moderate Pyrrhonian" skeptical view about justified moral belief.1 His argument rests on the thesis that the justification of a belief is a relation between that belief and a class of alternatives (83-87). On this thesis, the "contrast-class view," we can assess the justification of a belief relative to various contrast classes. Sinnott-Armstrong argues that there is no showing that any particular class has epistemological priority (97-103; 117-129); because of this we should suspend belief about whether any moral beliefs are justified "without qualification" (130; 251). This is his "Pyrrhonian moral skepticism." Sinnott-Armstrong also argues that moral nihilism cannot be ruled-out (99, 133); given this, no positive moral belief is justified relative to contrast classes that include moral nihilism. Nevertheless, he thinks, some moral beliefs may be justified relative to alternatives that are taken seriously in ordinary deliberation (130-131). This is his "moderate moral skepticism." Sinnott-Armstrong's arguments are rich and subtle. His book includes a sophisticated assessment of debates in epistemology as well as a thorough examination of the epistemological resources of metaethical theories. I cannot do justice to all of this. I will attempt merely to raise problems for the contrast-class view and for Sinnott-Armstrong's position that nihilism cannot be ruled-out.

THE USE OF SCAFFOLDING STRATEGIES AMONG ESL LEARNERS IN THE COMPREHENSION OF LITERARY TEXTS

Research involving comprehension among adult learners has been tremendously influential in the field of learning. This has led researchers across various disciplines to study the strategies adult learners use in an attempt to gain understanding of materials read. For example studies conducted by O’Malley and Chamot (1985) involving beginning and intermediate ESL students resulted in identification of 26 language learning strategies. On the other hand, Kalmbach (1986) identifies retelling as a form of strategy that could enhance comprehension among learners. One interesting aspect highlighted by the sociocultural theory is the use of scaffolding as a form of strategy to make sense of information. Various researches carried out in this field have shown the importance and effectiveness of scaffolding strategy. For example, studies by Donato & McCormick (1994) and Anton & DiCamilla (1998) on second language users of English have identified several scaffolding strategies that assist learners in gaining knowledge. Bearing this view in mind, this paper discusses how a group of teacher trainees of differing proficiency levels attempt to create meaning of two selected short stories. The study mainly focuses on the types of scaffolding utilized by teacher trainees from three different levels of proficiency; dyads of high proficiency, dyads of low proficiency and dyads of mixed proficiency. Based on the transcripts of the recorded discussions, the findings indicate that the types of scaffolding utilized by the respondents differ based on their proficiency levels. (234 words ). Keywords: Scaffolding strategies; Comprehension processes, Literary texts

John Dewey and the savage mind: Uniting anthropological, psychological, and pedagogical thought, 1894–1902

In 1902 influential American philosopher John Dewey wrote a short essay on anthropolo-gists'view of the savage mind, arguing that it had had been unfairly dismissed as inchoate and incapable, when in fact the savage had much to teach scholars about the "present mind." The ideas presented in Dewey's essay were not only theoretical; they also served as the basis for his entire curriculum his famous laboratory school at the University of Chicago. Thus, the author argues that Dewey's pedagogical thought informed his anthropological thought, and vice versa.

Distance Education In The Age Of Globalization: An Overwhelming Desire Towards Blended Learning

The aim of this paper is to discuss the nature and status of distance education in the age of globalization, i.e. how best it fits for the present educational scenario. In this connection, we will discuss how Blended Learning (hence after, BL) is one among the other learning strategies mostly helpful for the learners. Keeping this view in mind, this paper is divided into three sections. The first section aims to discuss the nature of distance education in the age of globalization. The second section devotes a discussion on why we need blended learning in ODL system and in which way it plays a vital role for maximizing the benefit of the learners, tutors, and the institutions. The third section explains the pros and cons of blended learning to evaluate how successfully it can be implemented in the ODL system. The paper concludes with an established view that blended learning is a globalized approach to the distance education.

Removal of Cd (II) and Pb (II) from aqueous environment using Moringa Oleifera seeds as biosorbent: A low cost and ecofriendly technique for water purification

Ever-growing list of chemical contaminants released into the environment through excessive industrialization on a large scale includes numerous chemical pollutants more prominently heavy metals. The discharge of heavy metals in aqueous system and their removal have been a challenging task for environmentalists for last one decade. Keeping these views in mind, the present study highlights the efficacy of shelled Moringa oleifera seeds (SMOS) in decontaminating Cd (II) and Pb (II) ions from aqueous environment both present as single metal and as binary metal solution. The extent of adsorption capacity for Cd (II) and Pb (II) on Moringa oleifera seeds for binary metal ions [76.59% and 81.10%] was found to be low as compared to single metal ions [85.10% and 96.10%]. Morphological changes observed in Scanning Electron Micrographs of native and treated SMOS indicates the existence of biosorption phenomenon. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry of the exhausted seed biomass highlights amino acids-metal interaction responsible for sorption phenomenon. The sorption capacity of regenerated biomass remained almost constant after three cycle of sorption suggesting that the lifetime cycle was sufficient for continuous application.